by Sarah Noffke
The Mysterious Lost Child
The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont™ Book 2
Sarah Noffke
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2021 LMBPN Publishing
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy
Las Vegas, NV 89109
First Edition, April 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64971-689-7
Print ISBN: 978-1-64971-690-3
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Sarah’s Author Notes
Michael’s Author Notes
Acknowledgments
Books By Sarah Noffke
Check out Sarah Noffke’s YA Sci-fi Fantasy Series
Books By Michael Anderle
Connect with The Authors
The Mysterious Lost Child Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Misty Roa
Dave Hicks
Dorothy Lloyd
Deb Mader
Debi Sateren
Zacc Pelter
Veronica Stephan-Miller
Jackey Hankard-Brodie
Diane L. Smith
Angel LaVey
If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!
Editor
The Skyhunter Editing Team
To the ladies who are responsible for keeping me sane, Jess and Cry. Some would say you’re doing a lousy job, but those dummies have no idea how crazy I’d be without you.
— Sarah
To Family, Friends and
Those Who Love
to Read.
May We All Enjoy Grace
to Live the Life We Are
Called.
— Michael
Chapter One
Not quite alive and definitely not dead, the Deathly Shadow soared through Roya Lane, slipping around corners and haunting the mostly deserted streets. The entity hadn’t been a man for a long, long time. It had been even longer since it lost its soul.
Well, one didn’t really lose that which they gave away…
When the Deathly Shadow encountered a person on the cobbled lane, they didn’t notice the smoky presence that passed through them like a ghost. However, they felt the pain and haunting anguish that the evil source left with them.
Most never knew when the Deathly Shadow had been around them. A person might feel a chill, think a draft had swept through the space, or get a strange foreboding feeling that they couldn’t place. It was also common to suddenly feel utter despair as if all hope in the world was lost. That, at its core, was the Deathly Shadow and what had made the monster what it was. The lack of hope invited in a host of misery, and it spread like a disease making the monster supremely evil.
“Finally,” the Deathly Shadow growled, slowing and circling in the misty fog settling around Roya Lane. The black creature went unnoticed most of the time, only registering to others as a plume of smoke. However, in the dark of the cobbled streets and with the thick fog it was even harder to make out the form that twisted and turned in the air, snaking its way until it centered itself in front of the Fairy Law Enforcement Agency.
“I have waited a very long time for this,” the Deathly Shadow hissed to the cold night air in a haunting voice as it lurked outside the office, watching a dark figure moving behind the agency’s large windows.
For two decades, the Deathly Shadow had searched for the girl who was both a fairy and a magician with unique blood—having learned the prophecy that she’d be born to Warriors for the House of Fourteen. For too many long years before that, the demon had searched for the key. Guinevere Paris Beaufont was it—she was the key to bringing back his body. Only her blood would work. Not simply because she was a halfling, but partly because of that.
Her parents had learned of the prophecy too and took action. Until now, the Deathly Shadow hadn’t known where to find the missing girl. However, someone had revealed the truth the night before, and word spread fast. Now the dark entity knew where the halfling was.
The problem was the Deathly Shadow couldn’t reach the fairy who was also a magician. Not presently. Not while she was at fairy godmother college. Still, as the monster lurked outside the Fairy Law Enforcement Agency, it grew more confident that its plight was drawing to an end.
The Deathly Shadow watched as someone moved behind the building’s windows. This had been where they’d hidden the girl—on Roya Lane, behind the disguise of a new identity. The person inside had to be the one who had protected the halfling all these years, keeping her hidden from the Deathly Shadow.
That time was over. It was finally the end of being disembodied for the Deathly Shadow. Of being a cloud of smoke and energy and evil thoughts. It was time to track down Guinevere Beaufont and take her life force, giving the Deathly Shadow back that which had been stolen—his body.
With a building rage that shook the stone streets of Roya Lane, the black smoke darkened, nearly solid for a
moment. The windows of the Fairy Law Enforcement Agency vibrated violently until they all shattered. The person on the other side screamed, glass exploding all over them. Then the monster swept into the office to strangle the fairy, putting him one step closer to Guinevere Beaufont.
Now that the Deathly Shadow knew where to look, he wouldn’t stop until he had blocked every escape route for the halfling, leading her straight into his waiting grasp.
Chapter Two
“What do you think the chances are that last night’s whole fiasco was a dream?” Paris asked Faraday, the talking squirrel, as she sat on the edge of her pink canopy bed and tugged on her boots.
“Do you want the news that you’re a halfling born to Warriors for the House of Fourteen, who changed your identity for no known reason and mysteriously disappeared to be a dream?” His matter-of-fact response floated over from where he sat on the windowsill and eyed the grassy lawn of the Enchanted Grounds.
Paris tied her shoes and blew out a breath. “No, actually, I don’t.”
For some reason, Paris slept better the night before than she’d remembered in a long time. She would’ve thought the shocking news of her true identity would leave her mind reeling with possibilities. However, it was the opposite.
Before, Paris always wrestled with a quiet sense of longing that she never quite understood. For some strange reason, she never questioned that her parents were absent. Now it seemed obvious to her that she should have wondered about them. Wanted to see pictures of their faces. Asked her Uncle John questions…and yet, she had never been curious about it.
Still, the longing—well, that was always there when she awoke, went about her day, and especially at night when everything got quiet. However, last night she fell into a dreamless sleep as if something suddenly lifted off her.
“It’s just that it’s a lot, and I realize now that the sun has risen that I’m not the only one who knows my little secret,” Paris confessed and stretched to a standing position.
Faraday poked his head out the open window and peered around. “According to my calculations, the entire college knows that you’re a halfling with an assorted past.”
“What are these calculations based on?” Paris leaned down and rested her elbows on the windowsill, looking out and hoping to catch a refreshing breeze on her face. Instead, she saw something that confirmed the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Faraday nodded in the direction of the various groups huddled on the Enchanted Grounds. “My calculations are based on observation.”
Paris shoved the squirrel more behind the curtain, hoping that the students pointing toward her open window hadn’t seen him. She was already the center of attention at Happily Ever After College. The last thing she needed was for everyone to know she talked to a squirrel.
She slid her back against the opposite wall and glared at the squirrel. “I hope no one saw you.”
“I don’t think they did.” He checked his tiny arms as if her abrupt action might have harmed them. “But if you wanted to get their attention, assaulting an animal would do that.”
Paris rolled her eyes. “I didn’t hurt you.”
“Only on the inside.” He sniffed. “Yes, I think that everyone at Happily Ever After College knows the news and they all appear very interested in it.”
Sighing, Paris nodded. “Maybe it’s not too late to go to jail instead of serving my sentence here at the college.”
“I fear your problems will follow you there,” Faraday stated. “Isn’t that where they’re likely to send Shannon Butcher?”
Paris gulped, realizing he was right. “Yeah, and the witch would probably tell everyone who I was.”
“I’m guessing that most of the criminals in jail were put there by your parents, Liv Beaufont and Stefan Ludwig. From what I’ve heard of those Warriors, they were quite effective at enforcing magical laws and putting those who broke them away.”
“I don’t know anything about them,” Paris admitted, the idea still so foreign that her parents were these people—who were important, apparently. Or that she never cared to think about who her parents were…not until then, as if a spell had lifted that kept her from wondering.
Faraday leaned forward and peered out the window again. “I get the impression that others here might know about the Warriors for the House of Fourteen based on the excited chatter.”
“Yeah, and all that interest is what I was worried about. I mean, I get that I was outed in front of a ton of people so I should expect many to know the news.”
“Something like this, that’s of supreme interest and a rarity will definitely spread,” Faraday observed. “According to what I’m aware of, there has never been a godmother who wasn’t a fairy, so Headmistress Starr allowing such a thing is unprecedented.”
Glancing up at the ceiling, Paris pretended to talk to the heavens. “Dear angels above, please stop with the hallucinations. I’ll be good, I promise. Or at least I’ll try.”
“Why is it that you believe you’re hallucinating?” Faraday asked. “Is this like earlier when you thought it possible that you dreamed last night’s news?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s because I’m talking to a squirrel about my problems, which he refers to as unprecedented after making ‘calculations’ and ‘observations.’”
“I don’t see what’s so weird about that,” he huffed.
“Well, I do,” she chimed. “Now that it’s all starting to sink in and I realize how much investigating I’ll need to do, I wish I got to deal with all this without everyone being in my business.”
“Will it help if I assist with the investigation?” Excitement buzzed in Faraday’s large brown eyes. “Research is my very favorite thing.”
“Whereas all other squirrels’ favorite thing is to jump from branch to branch,” Paris teased.
He grimaced. “Those squirrels are so very uncivilized. There are so many better ways to spend one’s time. Well, unless they were testing and studying the laws of gravity. Then I’d approve of such activities.”
Paris couldn’t help but laugh. “One of these days, I’m going to figure out what’s wrong with you.”
“Or what’s right with me,” he countered. “Until then, you want my help with researching?”
Paris shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. Meet me in the study area during lunch. We’ll see what we can dig up.”
“It’s not the Great Library, but I guess it will do.” He exhaled a disappointed sigh.
“Great Library?” she questioned.
His eyes widened. “It’s the best place on Earth with every volume that’s ever been written, although I’m not allowed there.”
“Because you’re a squirrel?” she guessed.
“Yeah, sure,” he chirped. “But you will be allowed entry as a fairy godmother, so maybe you’ll smuggle me in at some point.”
“Maybe,” she sang while heading for the door and waving over her shoulder. “See you later and stay out of trouble.”
“You too, although I realize that’s a lot to ask and highly improbable.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re highly improbable.”
Chapter Three
A hush fell over the crowded dining hall as soon as Paris entered. She tensed, looking at the many faces that were studying her. Whispers started to spread throughout the line of students and fairy godmothers standing in the buffet line or seated at the long table.
“That’s her,” she heard someone say in a hush.
“Magician,” someone else hissed.
That was all followed by more terse inaudible whispering that immediately made Paris want to spin on her heels and head back to her room. Maybe she didn’t need to eat—ever again. Or perhaps jail was the right place for her. She could convince the inmates that she wasn’t like her parents…or her uncle, who was also probably responsible for many being locked up in prison.
Time seemed to freeze as Paris remained stock still and everyone in the larg
e dining hall continued to regard her like she was a caged monkey.
“Oh, would you all stop staring at me!” Christine exclaimed, arriving in the room and standing next to Paris, her hands in the air. “I get that I performed a pretty awesome binding spell on Professor Butcher, but can we all move on from those events? There are better things to do with our time.” Her gaze landed on the pile of bacon on the buffet. “Like eat that maple bacon.”
That broke the tension, and all at once, everyone went back to what they were doing, filling their plates, eating, or talking.
Christine breezed by Paris, making for the buffet line.