Ultimate Resolve (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 12)

by Sarah Noffke

  Thankfully, Sophia thought she knew someone who might help her with protecting them from the lava and heat in the volcano. She stepped through the portal to Happily Ever After College, enjoying the perfect spring breeze as it danced across her face and the backs of her hands.

  Bellator was much heavier than Inexorabilis and carrying both around wasn’t going to work. Unfortunately, she’d have to leave her sword behind at the Castle when they stormed into the real battle. One should usually have their most trusted weapon with them in a fight—one they’ve bonded to—but this was a unique situation that called for her to adapt.

  Fairy godmother college was always changing lately. First, it was the building, which had been redesigned after the green sludge almost destroyed the campus. Then the grounds of the college were transformed from a manicured British garden to an overgrown enchanted forest.

  When Sophia thought the school was moving in a more organic and edgy direction, the headmistress reverted Happily Ever After College to its previous ways, ordering the fairy godmothers to wear the old uniforms. They were long blue silk gowns with hoods. The professors had pink bows that tied at the collar. And everyone, students and professors alike, had gray hair making them look like the old and wise guiding fairy godmothers they were supposed to be.

  However, things had changed even further at Happily Ever After College. Where the large building that was a conglomeration of different designs once stood was instead a large Victorian mansion. Leading to it was a winding cobbled path with twisted oak trees lining it. In the distance, willow trees waved in the gentle breeze.

  The house most certainly reminded Sophia of a grandmother’s house with the wraparound porch and smoke billowing from one of the many chimneys. It was a three-story baby blue house with white trim and had to have at least a hundred rooms or more. Sophia couldn’t see the back, but there appeared to be a greenhouse and a large garden.

  She shook her head, wondering what the reason was for the continuous changes at the college. She had quite liked the building that had replaced the old one although she wasn’t sure what she thought of the new uniforms. However, it appeared that like all of the magical organizations, the fairy godmothers were trying to find their footing after the results of the Great War.

  When mortals couldn’t see magic for a few hundred years, it had sent the Dragon Elite into hiding and created many obstacles for different magical races. Now things had shifted, and with it, everyone was trying to figure out how to evolve. Hiker had stumbled quite a bit when mortals could see magic again, not knowing how to reenter the world after centuries of isolation. It appeared that Happily Ever After College was going through its own evolution.

  When Sophia entered the house, the smell of chocolate chip cookies greeted her. She drew in a long breath, enjoying the comforting warmth that filled the long hallway.

  Sophia had expected to enter the cozy mansion to find a living room and a grandmother pulling baked goods from the stove. However, it looked more like a college inside with a long hallway that led to what appeared to be a large sunroom—a green lawn winked through the glass windows at the back. Doors lined the hallway and to the left of the large entry was a grand staircase that led to the various floors. Sophia suspected that much like the House of Fourteen, the new college building was bigger on the inside, although the house's footprint was quite large already.

  To the left of the staircase was an elegant sitting room with a piano and a cozy cat curled up on a tufted sofa. The fat orange cat cracked an eye, peering at Sophia appraisingly, annoyance evident on its face for being disturbed during nap time.

  “Don’t mind Casanova,” a familiar voice said at Sophia’s back. “He’s always cross with visitors.”

  Sophia turned to find Mae Ling standing at the threshold to the second door in the hallway. She pointed at the cat. “Is he new?”

  The fairy godmother shrugged. “He is to you.” She waved her hand around. “All of this is to you, but to the other professors and me, this is how it always was for the longest time.”

  “Oh, so the new building didn’t work out then?” Sophia asked.

  Mae Ling looked around fondly. “I wouldn’t say that. I think the magic that creates Happily Ever After College simply had plans for the place.”

  Sophia was suddenly much more confused. “So you all didn’t do this?”

  Her fairy godmother smiled. “We hardly ever do anything to this place. Love creates it, and as it changes in the world, so does this place.” She indicated the room behind her. “Do you want to join me in here?”

  Sophia nodded, although she was having a tough time wrapping her mind around this new information. Quiet created the Gullington. The House of Fourteen was a product of the Founding Families. The wisdom and stories of the world manifested the Great Library. All those places were very much alive, rather than being only a place.

  Sophia always imagined she could hear a heartbeat when she was a child inside the House of Fourteen. Inside the Castle, she often thought of the building as having a personality. As things changed around the world, so did all the magical places. So it made sense that Happily Ever After, a place very similar to the others, would be a product of magic and shift as things did.

  Inside Mae Ling’s new office, Sophia suddenly felt transported back in time. There was a large desk with stationary upon it and an ink well and quill. Sitting next to a lacy lamp was an old rotary phone and a small dish with butterscotch candy.

  Mae Ling indicated the chair on the other side of the desk—a poufy armchair with pink paisley designs. “Please make yourself comfortable.”

  The office, like the house, reminded Sophia of a grandmother’s room. It didn’t seem like her fairy godmother’s style, but the small woman seemed at home as she nestled into the chair on the other side of the desk.

  “So did you wake up and Happily Ever After College had transformed?” Sophia asked, taking a seat.

  Mae Ling nodded pleasantly. “Yes, it appears that the college is resetting, but that’s taking a few iterations. Saint Valentine is very curious about the situation, but I’m certain it will be static soon…well, until it’s not again.”

  “You think the college will change again?”

  “Not for quite some time,” Mae Ling stated in a mysterious and knowing tone. “I think this will serve us for a while, until it doesn’t.”

  “Then you’ll evolve,” Sophia guessed.

  “We shall see,” Mae Ling stated. “There are many factors at play with the future, always. Usually, evolution requires a change agent. Stagnation is always an option…”

  There was such a strange edge to Mae Ling’s voice that Sophia couldn’t quite pin down. It was as if she knew something and also didn’t. Like in Oscar Beaufont’s diary where he could see the future and yet, it wasn’t certain.

  “Now, although I wish this were only a social visit,” Mae Ling continued. “You’re here because you need help, is that right?”

  Sophia nodded. “Yes, I think I need advice. Although I’ve done a lot of research, I can’t figure out how the Dragon Elite could withstand the intense heat inside a volcano.”

  “Where you need to venture to defeat Versalee,” Mae Ling stated.

  Things were always so easy with Sophia’s fairy godmother. She didn’t have to explain things because somehow she already knew, as if her crystal ball had told her. All Sophia had to do was ask for what she needed to know, in most cases.

  “Yes, and I know there are spells or maybe talismans that could protect us, but none that I’ve studied seem strong enough or foolproof,” Sophia explained. “Now I’m considering that I might need to create a spell or a potion.”

  “Sometimes, the answers we seek have already been discovered by others, and we simply don’t know about it,” Mae Ling stated.

  “Yeah, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel if I don’t have to.”

  Mae Ling offered a polite smile. “Most don’t know the history of the elves. They didn’t a
lways live on islands in the South Pacific.”

  Sophia blinked at her in confusion. “I didn’t know that. Where was their homeland?”

  “Similar to the giants and gnomes, they were in the north, but proximity bred contempt,” Mae Ling explained. “Over time, the gnomes and the elves battled for land and resources.”

  Sophia nodded. “It’s always about that, isn’t it?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Mae Ling answered. “Most of this world’s problems are because others think they don’t have enough. Really, it should be about having enough love, and then we’d never go hungry, but that lesson is hard to teach or remember, as it were.”

  Sophia took a butterscotch and stayed quiet, listening.

  “The elves were losing to the gnomes because they couldn’t protect themselves from their fire magic,” Mae Ling continued. “But they didn’t give up, and the elders of the tribes created a very powerful spell that proved successful against the gnome’s fire magic.”

  “So how did the elves end up in the South Pacific?” Sophia realized she was missing the story's point, but was too curious about the history she didn’t know.

  Mae Ling laughed a little. “It’s funny that once we have what we need to win, sometimes we don’t want it anymore. Tired of the fighting and the cold, the elves' ancestors decided to move their people to the islands of Hawaii. It was the spell they created to protect them from the gnomes that allowed them to do so. You will recall there are many volcanos on those islands in the South Pacific.”

  “That’s brilliant,” Sophia nearly exclaimed, surprised by how the story turned out. “So the elves have the spell that would protect us inside the volcano?”

  Mae Ling nodded. “I believe so, and the Elfin Council has the power to grant you the spell. However, your challenge will be getting in there since they don’t allow outsiders into the Elfin Council.”

  Sophia grinned, suddenly feeling victorious on many levels. “I think I have a contact who can get me in there.”

  Mae Ling winked at her. “I thought so. Isn’t it nice when you realize you were closer to a solution than you thought? You simply needed a little history lesson.”

  Standing suddenly, feeling a renewed excitement, Sophia said, “Yes, knowledge really is powerful.”

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  “I have to warn you,” Ainsley said in a careful voice when they stepped onto the Hawaiian island that very few other than elves had ever set foot upon. It was uncharted and hidden from the other magical races since it was the Elfin Council's location. “Most elves aren’t like me.” She wore a dark blue practical pantsuit that was both elegant and fashionable.

  Sophia was wearing her usual leather pants, combat top, cloak, and sword. “You mean most elves subscribe to hippy behavior? Yeah, I’ve been around enough to know about your race’s tendency toward a flower child lifestyle.”

  “Oh, good.” Ainsley led the way away from the beach, through the lush forest of the tropical island. “I’m glad that won’t come as a shock. Hippies are the opposite of dragonriders, who are regimented and trained for battle. The two haven’t seen eye to eye in the past.”

  “Which begs the question, why are you different?” Sophia questioned. “I’ve met a couple of elves like you, who I would dare label as normal.” She was thinking of Renswick, the demon expert who couldn’t stand being around his kind, or Subner, who had nearly killed himself to stop spouting hippie phrases.

  “I’m from one of the oldest elfin families in the north,” Ainsley explained. “It wasn’t until after the war with the gnomes when many of my people moved to the South Pacific that they took on a hippie mentality. I think it’s in the water here.”

  “So you never moved here?” Sophia asked.

  Ainsley shook her head. “At the time, I became very nomadic as a diplomat for the Elfin Council. Then I was assigned to be a delegate for the Dragon Elite because it became clear that the riders didn’t like working with hippie elves. And the rest, well, you know that history.”

  Sophia nodded. “So elves who originated from this part of the world or their families did, tend to be hippies?”

  “That’s right,” Ainsley affirmed.

  Sophia laughed, thinking of Hiker having to deal with a hippie elf as a delegate. Ainsley was a bit eccentric in her way, but she didn’t burn incense and “sage” the Castle, which would no doubt have driven the Dragon Elite’s leader completely bonkers.

  Ainsley paused right in front of a large elephant ear leaf that was blocking the path. “Are you ready to enter the Elfin Council? Few outsiders have ever seen it or set foot on this land.”

  Sophia nodded, getting the impression that she was about to be in for more than a few surprises, as well as a whole lot of hippie behavior.

  Chapter One Hundred

  When Ainsley pushed back the large leaf, Sophia was suddenly in awe of the Elfin Council. She had to admit that she expected something like the modest huts on the island that the Rogue Riders had tried to take over. This was more like a palace that stretched along the length of a green lagoon that stood between them and the Elfin Council.

  The building reminded Sophia of a Buddhist temple with its pagoda-style roofs and many different levels. Between the various buildings were open breezeways and the entire exterior was red and appeared made of bamboo. Behind the Elfin Council were the dramatic mountains that the Hawaiian islands were known for.

  “It’s beautiful.” Sophia enjoyed the smell of hibiscus flowers that bloomed all around the lagoon.

  “It is.” Ainsley gazed at the building fondly. “The appointment I set for you with the Council is soon. This way.”

  “Oh, thanks for your help with this.” Sophia followed the elf. “I hope we’re not going to be late.”

  Ainsley laughed. “They’d prefer that, especially if you said it was because you were appreciating a leaf or making a rock structure out of pebbles you found.”

  “For the love of the angels.” Sophia shook her head. “This is going to try my patience, isn’t it?”

  The shapeshifter cackled with evil delight. “If you thought your trips to vegan restaurants on Roya Lane were a lot to handle, just wait. This is like hippie-ism times one hundred.”

  “At least I only have to endure annoying behavior and don’t have to worry about a pirate shooting me,” Sophia related. It was nice to have the break from danger, especially because she knew that soon she’d have a real battle to face.

  They passed a rock garden and a large statue of Buddha on their way into the Elfin Council. At the entrance were a ton of abandoned shoes. Sophia watched as Ainsley slid off her sandals at the door and copied her, pulling off her boots.

  The inside of the Elfin Council felt like a temple when they entered—silent and full of a meditative vibe. Down one hallway, Sophia heard the chanting of what sounded like monks. Ainsley led her in the opposite direction.

  The entire space was open and light with minimal furnishings. Sophia wasn’t expecting the Council of Elves to be like the one at the House of Fourteen, sitting high upon their bench and looking down on visitors and warriors. However, she also didn’t expect to find seven elves sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle. She realized upon entering the main council room that she really should have expected this. They were hippies after all.

  “Thank you for joining us, Sophia Beaufont,” a man with silver hair, wearing a floral shirt said when they entered the large unfurnished room. He indicated an empty spot in the circle. “Please join our circle.”

  Ainsley strode forward and sank into a seated position on the floor at once, patting the spot next to her for Sophia.

  “One Who Shifts,” the man began. He sat on the opposite side of the circle, his hands pressed together in prayer. “I trust that your journeys have brought much enlightenment.”

  “The groomsmen for my wedding party have promised to wear no boxers under their kilts,” she explained. “I’m pretty certain they’re going to moon everyone when
the ceremony is over, so not as much enlightenment as annoyance.”

  The man, who Sophia got the impression was the leader of the elves, chuckled. “To be free in spirit is to be free in mind.”

  “Seeing Evan’s bare butt doesn’t sound very freeing to me.” Ainsley looked at Sophia with irritation. “You know what I mean, right?”

  “It sounds like it has the potential of blinding me.” Sophia laughed and settled into the circle. Around them were elves with their pointy ears and loose-fitting clothes. Most had stringy hair or dreadlocks, and they were all tan with pleasant expressions on their faces.

  “Welcome, dragonrider.” The man looked at Sophia directly. “I’m Dakota Skye and this is the Council for the Elves. We’re most grateful to you and the Dragon Elite for returning our homeland to our people.”

  Sophia smiled and nodded, feeling like the peaceful nature of these people was strangely contagious. “You’re welcome. I come to you with a request that I hope will aid in our journey to prevent the Rogue Riders from doing any more harm.”

  Ainsley had counseled Sophia on how to phrase things before they came to the Elfin Council. She’d advised her not to say anything about battles or fighting but instead use words like “journey.” The whole thing seemed a bit contrived, but whatever it took to get the spell that would protect the Dragon Elite inside the volcano.

  “We are open to hearing your request,” Dakota said with a calm expression.

  “I understand that the elves have a powerful spell that prevents you from being endangered when in the presence of high heats or lava,” Sophia began. “Something that you’ve used to protect your own when around volcanoes. I hoped that you would share this spell with me. It would help the Dragon Elite to bring peace to the world.”