by Sarah Noffke
Chapter Twenty-One
Sophia felt more confident than in a long time when she entered the Chamber of the Tree. This time, she didn’t feel like she was faking it until she made it or pretending to be powerful. For once, in front of the Council that she’d known since she was a small child, which wasn’t that long ago, she felt like the strong and authoritative dragonrider that she was.
Liv and Sophia had discussed the plan to give the seemingly evil Councilors enough rope. However, there were a few complications that could be a problem. For starters, it did include a bit of trickery, which would be difficult to pull off with the regulators prowling around the Chamber of the Tree. Jude, the large white tiger, and Diabolos, the black crow, were truth-tellers. A single lie from Sophia and the crow would probably fly down to her feet and caw loudly.
For this reason, they needed to distract Diabolos and get Jude’s attention. When the white tiger lurked next to someone, it not only meant they were telling the truth but also on the side of good. The black crow represented the opposite.
Liv had joked that Sophia could line her cloak with steak to lure the white tiger in her direction, but that would be as likely to entice Diabolos. According to Liv, the regulators weren’t foolproof and had been deceived when the Sinclairs were in power. That had given the sisters an idea.
Once Sophia stepped into the Chamber of the Tree, she strode up to the front, right in front of the Council. As usual, they continued to discuss other matters that didn’t pertain to her, most ignoring that she was present.
Liv had entered the Chamber of the Tree ahead of Sophia, and if everything had gone to plan, then she’d put a paralyzing spell on Diabolos, ensuring the crow didn’t fly down and give them away. Holding magic of this sort would take a lot of energy and attention, ensuring Liv didn’t participate in the discussions. Sophia could have only pulled this off with her sister’s help since the plan involved two people.
The next step was easy and simply involved telling an honorable truth. When all Council's eyes swiveled in Sophia’s direction, she lifted her chin and returned a look of confidence.
“Ms. Beaufont,” Lorenzo began. “We asked you to report to us on the matter of the brewing mortal wars worldwide. What do you have to say about this?”
“First,” Sophia stated. “I don’t report to you or the Council. The Dragon Elite, as I’ve told you all many times, is the ruling authority. It’s simply a matter of diplomacy that I attend these meetings to inform you.”
“Since the Dragon Elite appear to bring more problems to the world than solutions,” Bianca began in her usual snotty tone. “I think it’s yet to be determined whether you rule over anyone. Currently, I think many would rather you all disappear again.”
Sophia gritted her teeth. There were some whispers from the other Councilors. A few looked at Liv, as though expecting a sarcastic reply. That was her usual behavior during the meetings, but right then, Sophia knew her sister was concentrating on keeping Diabolos frozen. When Liv didn’t say anything, most everyone’s gaze returned to Sophia, awaiting her reaction.
Keeping her sarcastic remark sealed away, Sophia focused on saying something full of truth and heart. She held up her chin, a glint of determination in her eyes. “The Dragon Elite has dropped everything to intervene in the budding tensions worldwide. We will do all that is in our power to stop violence and restore peace once more.”
To her ultimate relief, the white tiger surfaced from a dark corner and made his way to her.
Step two of the plan complete, Sophia thought as Jude paused close to her. He was near enough to validate to everyone in the Chamber of the Tree that she was telling the truth and full of heart. However, after the next part of her rehearsed speech he would move away. Well, he’d move away if he could.
Liv was holding him in place near Sophia the same way she was keeping Diabolos from flying down. That was the reason that Liv couldn’t do anything but be present. Holding one regulator in place was taxing work. Holding two would require all of the magician’s energy.
“I think what concerns the Council isn’t what’s happening to the mortal world, but rather how it affects the magical one,” Marty Martinez stated smugly.
Sophia resisted the urge to shoot him a nasty look. She’d already assumed that the new member of the Council was in the bad camp. His statement reinforced it. If he took the bait, he’d prove it himself.
“Well, I wouldn’t be so sure that we need to be solely focused on our kind,” Sophia refuted as she rocked forward and back on her heels.
“That’s because you serve mortals,” Lorenzo stated dryly.
“True,” she affirmed. “However, even if we didn’t, it’s come to light that we need to be more mindful of mortals than ever before. Magicians aren’t the ruling force that we once were.”
Bianca leaned forward, a shadow from the dim light falling on her face and making her appear even more sinister than before. “What has come to light? What are you talking about?”
“Apparently, mortals being able to see magic makes it so they’re simply more powerful than ever before,” Sophia stated matter-of-factly, grateful that she didn’t have to worry about Diabolos calling her out for making things up.
“That makes sense.” Hester DeVries smiled down at Sophia.
“Since they’re the largest race on the planet,” Sophia continued, “it’s suspected that they’ll soon rule over magicians and the other magical races.”
“Where do you hear these preposterous rumors?” Lorenzo demanded.
“Preposterous?” Sophia pretended to be offended. She pulled Oscar Beaufont’s diary from her cloak. “It came from a very reliable source.”
“What’s that?” Clark asked the question while pointing at the book. He wasn’t in on the game, but he was playing his part perfectly.
“Oh, this is a book of predictions and invaluable information that I found from a Dragon Elite member,” Sophia stated, omitting that it belonged to one of her relatives. That wasn’t pertinent information, she and Liv decided. Having a seer in the family wasn’t exactly something that someone boasted about.
“There are real prophecies in that diary?” Raina Ludwig asked.
Sophia nodded. “Yes, and many of them have come to pass.” She leafed through the pages. “The Great War was foretold. Mortals not being able to see magic. Then there’s the fall of the Sinclairs. There are lots of smaller events.”
“We all know that prophecies can’t be trusted,” Lorenzo said with a tired sigh, dismissing the whole thing.
“I think it’s more that most don’t want to believe them,” Hester cut in, narrowing her eyes at him. “They scare most…”
“That’s definitely true,” Clark affirmed.
“What does the prophecy state that you’re referring to?” Haro asked.
“Oh.” Sophia absentmindedly flipped through the book. “Here it is. It says that mortals being able to see magic and given rights and power within the magical communities grants them an authoritative power over all races, making them the supreme ruling body.” Sophia lowered the book and shook her head. “Well, see there. We don’t have to argue about the Dragon Elite being the ruling authority. It looks like it will be mortals.”
“This is unacceptable,” Lorenzo stated. “How do we stop this?”
“Well, you can’t,” Hester stated simply.
Sophia lifted the book and turned a page. “You can, apparently, but it’s this complicated thing this guy details in the book.”
“Let me see that at once!” Lorenzo demanded.
Sophia shut the book and held it to her chest. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. This belonged to a member of the Dragon Elite. It’s our property and can’t be read by someone outside our ranks.”
“Oh, stop being unreasonable,” Bianca spat.
“Like when I needed to read the Forgotten Archives, and you all wouldn’t grant me access?” Sophia retorted.
“What is this alternative reality th
at prevents mortals from becoming all-powerful?” Haro asked. “Can you at least tell us that?”
Sophia opened the book once more. “Yes, it’s quite complicated. Apparently, there’s a device that three, maybe four magicians find. When activated, it makes them the ruling authority over all magical races, the House of Fourteen, the dragonriders, and mortals.” She kept flipping through the book, pretending to study the pages. “The book details how the magicians find this device and the map they use, which isn’t activated currently. However, it seems the Map to Power, as it’s called, does activate at some point, once the magicians come together and are ready to seek the device.” She clapped the book shut. “It’s all here, and that’s the alternate reality.”
“I’m much more comfortable with mortals being in power than three magicians,” Hester stated, shivering as though the reality brought her sudden unease.
“I agree,” Clark stated. “And they govern magic as an element because they don’t have it. So I think they’re in the more objective position.”
That wasn’t the future, but Sophia was glad that some on the Council would prefer that made-up reality.
“I, for one, don’t think that mortals have the right to have power over us,” Bianca argued.
“Maybe not,” Haro mused quietly. “Rider Beaufont, you’re right to devote the Dragon Elite’s attention to fixing the mortal’s problems around the world. We know that if things fall out of balance with them that we stand to lose magic, as we did before and after the Great War.” He nodded at the book in her hands. “You’re right to guard that. It sounds as if it’s full of information that in the wrong hands would be highly dangerous.”
“I’ll keep it safe,” she assured him. “We’ll do everything that we can to keep wars from happening with mortals. If anything, we’ve learned that we can’t stand to lose them. They hold too much significance regardless of what the future holds.”
“Well put.” Liv nearly startled Sophia when she spoke for the first time during the meeting. “Don’t mean to be an interruption.”
“Since when?” Bianca flared her nostrils at Liv.
“Well, the thing is that I have to pop off on a case so I’m excusing myself,” Liv replied.
On the heels of her statement, Diabolos cawed loudly, marking her lie.
She sighed dramatically. “Oh, fine, bird brain. You caught me. The baby is tap dancing on my bladder, and I have to pee like a racehorse.”
The black crow remained silent.
“I think that will do it for today’s proceedings,” Haro stated. “If no one has nothing else?” He looked back and forth on the bench before staring forward. “Very well, that’s all for the House of Fourteen today. Off you go.”
Sophia hung back, waiting until a few had filtered out of the Chamber of the Tree. Not Liv though. Sophia was waiting for someone else, betting they’d want to follow her out and down a dark corridor.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The long hallway between the Chamber of the Tree and the entrance to the House of Fourteen was usually lit with firelight making it eerily dark in places. The ancient language of the founders danced in golden letters if someone touched it. However, Sophia had extinguished some of the torches when she entered the corridor. She didn’t dare touch the walls.
Instead, she strode down the long hallway, pretending to be studying the book in her hands. She paused when halfway to the entryway, wondering if they were wrong. Maybe she and Liv had misjudged things. Maybe the Councilors they deemed as mischievous and conniving weren’t. Then she heard it…
The chi of the dragon granted Sophia’s ears the sound of footsteps approaching that most wouldn’t have heard.
She pretended to be searching the pages of Oscar Beaufont’s diary as if she’d misplaced something in it. When she suspected the person possibly following her was about to round the corner, Sophia faced forward, putting her back to the hallway.
She snapped the book shut and shook her head. “Well, I’m tired of waiting around for Liv. I guess she’s not coming,” she stated, as rehearsed.
Sophia started forward, her hand with the diary falling by her side as she hurried for the door to the House of Fourteen. With a simple spell, the Map to Power that she had constructed slipped from the loose pages of the book and silently fell to the floor, where it lay flat, waiting to be collected by anyone who dared to retrieve it.
A good person would return it to Sophia. A bad person would use it. A really despicable person would do all the treacherous things to get to the end of the treasure map that promised power.
As Sophia slipped out of the House of Fourteen, she slid to the side, peering through the crack she left in the door. She watched as Bianca Mantovani moved out of the shadows of the corridor and hurried to pick up the Map to Power that Sophia had dropped, seemingly by accident.
Bianca didn’t rush to the door to try and catch Sophia to return the map. Instead, the Councilor for the House of Fourteen held it proudly to her chest, a wicked grin on her face.
Only time would tell whether Bianca would do all that it took to win the prize at the end of the treasure map. If she did, then she’d stand to lose everything. If she didn’t, then Liv and Sophia had been wrong about the Councilor and her friends, and they would go on to give them another chance at redemption.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Why are we at a Chuck E. Cheese?” Sophia looked around the pizza joint filled with bright flashing lights, loud zinging sounds, and kids running every which way.
“I figured that I’d throw myself into the deep end with parenting,” Liv answered. “Get used to all of the sensory overload and lifetime of sticky hands right away.”
Sophia shook her head at her sister. “You get that you’re giving birth to a baby with soft skin that’s totally cuddly and not a toddler that throws tantrums and demands ice cream cake, right? You have time to grow into the role.”
Liv shrugged, her eyes going wide at the sight of the pizza swimming in grease that a teenager who couldn’t care less about their job dropped on the table before trotting off. “Can I get a vat of ranch dressing?” Liv called to their retreating back. She shrugged. “Something tells me I have to get my own.”
Liv pointed at the salad bar on the far corner of the restaurant and magically filled two bowls with ranch from the dressing area and made them fly through the air and land on the table. “If you want ranch, you have to get it yourself.” She winked at Sophia.
The loud dinging from a nearby machine echoed loudly for a moment, making it impossible for Sophia to hear herself think. She waited until the little kids playing the game collected their tickets and trotted off to exchange them for junk before leaning across the table. “So Bianca took the bait, as we suspected.”
“Of course she did,” Liv stated between bites, having nearly inhaled the pizza. “She’s a sneaky little Jabberwocky who will do whatever it takes to gain power so she can shove her nose even higher into the air.”
“Yeah, let’s see what she does next though.” Sophia took a piece of the pizza, although she wasn’t sure that all the ranch dressing in the world could make the cardboard-looking substance taste right.
“Well, she’s going to have to wait, is what she’s going to do,” Liv replied.
“Yeah, usually people have their plan finished before they lead the prey into their trap,” Sophia said with a laugh. “We baited the fish without having our fire ready to fry them. Well, or the tools out to filet. Or even the line ready to reel them in.”
“Although I love the fishing references,” Liv began, taking another slice of the pepperoni pizza, “we totally have this. Don’t worry. We knew we needed to bait when it made the most sense. Bianca has the map. My guess is she’ll share it with Lorenzo and maybe Marty and possibly Haro. It shows that it isn’t ready to activate yet so they’ll keep an eye on it. When we’re ready, it will light up and lead them on a wild goose chase. Then we see if they follow.”
Sophia nodde
d. “Yeah, I feel as though we did things out of order, but you’re right. This will work.”
Liv’s eyes widened. She pointed across the busy children’s party place. “Oh, there is hope in the world. They serve beer here. Billy’s birthday parties won’t squash my spirit.”
Liv was pointing to a guy carrying a pitcher of beer and a stack of cold glasses to a table.
“How very classy of the establishment,” Sophia observed. “Do we have to be buzzed to hang out with our kids?”
“I’ll get back to you on that answer,” Liv said dryly.
Sophia turned back. “I seriously doubt that you’re having Billy’s birthday parties here at a mortal establishment. You’ll probably have lavish affairs at Uncle King Rudolf’s mansion, or festive gourmet delights at Uncle Rory’s or Uncle Clark will make Billy a sixteen-layer unicorn cake.”
“Maybe Auntie Sophia will offer up Stanley for pony rides at these parties.” Liv batted her eyes expectantly at her.
“I think Lunis would eat one of my arms for even suggesting such a thing.”
“Go get some beer,” Liv urged. “I want to watch you drink it.”
Sophia shot her an incredulous glare. “You can’t have any. I’m not drinking right in front of you.”
“Please, Soph. I’m living vicariously through you. Just because I can’t doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I’m not going to be one of those types. I’m planning my baby shower, and it’s a slew of drinking games. I want all the guests plastered by the end.”
Sophia shook her head. “You’re the strangest person I know, and that’s saying a lot.”
“There’s this one game where all the guys have to drink beer from a baby’s bottle,” Liv went on. “The one who empties their bottle the fastest is the winner and also the biggest baby.”
“Can I please take over the planning for this event?” Sophia begged.
“Not a chance.” Liv shook her head. “There’s another game where guests have to bob for nipples.”