by Sarah Noffke
“It means there are no books that detail that for every good dragon, there’s an evil one,” she said and was surprised to hear the words come out of her mouth. As soon as they did, she knew they were right.
That was actually very disappointing.
Sophia slumped with defeat. “So Nevin Gooseman didn’t learn one of our secrets from a book here at the House of Fourteen or anywhere else.” She reasoned that if there wasn’t a magical book about this here, then there wasn’t one anywhere the politician could get ahold of.
Leaning against the glass case, Sophia stared at the carpet, trying to figure out where else to look.
“Books are one way we learn information,” Plato began, sitting down. “But there are others. History has been passed down in one way or another through various means.”
“Are you referring to storytelling?” Sophia felt her patience drop.
He shrugged. “I could be,” Plato stated discreetly. “Sometimes, those stories come from those who witnessed them or from their ancestors.”
“So someone told Nevin Gooseman this information?” Sophia asked the lynx.
“Obviously,” he said with irritation at her lack of intuition.
“Like some dragonrider who knew this?” That didn’t make any sense. There weren’t any more dragonriders out there. “The Dragon Elite, besides Trin Currante, are the only ones who know this about us. I don’t think there’s anyone else who is privy to this information.”
“You know, Sophia, there are a few ways to know things,” Plato explained. “You experience them. You hear about them. Or they can be revealed through the veil.”
Sophia couldn’t believe it. “Are you actually being directly helpful by telling me something and not making me grasp in the dark?”
“Don’t get used to it,” he commented. “There’s more than you could know riding on this. I also have a poker game and can’t wait for you to unravel it all on your own.”
“So, this does have far-reaching effects, then?” she asked. The political move by Nevin Gooseman could upset the balance of the world and the position the Dragon Elite held.
“I’m responsible for picking up the buffalo wings, and the deli closes soon.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “How are you going to pick up…never mind.” Sophia shook her head. “You’re saying Nevin Gooseman learned this about the dragons from a special source then? Like a…a seer?” There were other possibilities, but it made sense that a seer would know since they could see things no one else could. The past, present, and future. Things that were hidden to everyone else was available to them.
He stretched back into a standing position. “Oh good, I won’t be late. You can leave my tip on the glass case.”
“You’re accepting money for information now?” she asked, pretending to sound offended. “I thought we were friends.”
He managed a crooked grin. “Don’t you know the best kind of friends are the ones you employ?” With that, the lynx disappeared before Sophia could reply, leaving her alone in the vast library.
Chapter Nine
A seer, Sophia thought as she made her way to the Chamber of the Tree. That at least solved the mystery, but it didn’t actually help much. She couldn’t get rid of seers. Finding them was hard enough. At least she knew that Trin Currante hadn’t broken their agreement to keep the information from the Complete History of Dragonriders to herself.
At the entrance to the Chamber of the Tree, Sophia sucked in a breath. Facing the council was never easy. She always felt she was trying to exert the Dragon Elite’s influence. After the last time, she thought things would get easier. The dragonriders had saved the House of Fourteen’s butts after coming under heat about the missing magicians.
They didn’t even have time to bathe in the goodwill they’d created before the tables were turned, and now the Dragon Elite were under fire. It was almost as if the magical communities couldn’t get a break—as if someone wanted to bring them all down systematically from within.
“I’m getting paranoid,” Sophia reasoned.
“And you’re going crazy too,” Liv said at Sophia’s back.
She turned, finding the sight of her sister to be the one thing she needed right then. She resisted the urge to hug her. Dragonriders didn’t embrace Warriors upon casually meeting in the House of Fourteen, right? That would make her seem unprofessional. The last thing Sophia needed was to be seen as the young girl who used to play ball in the corridor and relied on her siblings for everything. She needed to be seen as separate from the Beaufonts if she was ever going to be respected.
How did the phrase go? She tried to remember the words of Helen Keller. A moment later, they came to her. “A man can’t make a place for himself in the sun if he keeps taking refuge under the family tree.”
“Well, I have been conversing with your lynx friend,” Sophia joked, smiling at her sister.
Liv nodded. “That’s enough to make anyone go nuts.” She pointed at the Door of Reflection. “I guess I don’t have to tell you that you’ll be under fire in there.”
“Yeah, I’m here for damage control and hopefully a little support. I’m not sure what it looks like out there in the world, but I do know the Dragon Elite needs to have the support of as many as possible right now.”
Liv gave her an uncertain expression. “So it’s true then? About the dragons?”
The questioning expression on her sister’s face suddenly made Sophia feel defensive. Instead, she lifted her chin with confidence. “Not everyone is born good. Most of us are born a bit mixed. For some, circumstances turn them that way. It doesn’t mean that we can turn our backs on each other.”
Liv thought for a moment, hesitation still heavy on her face. “I get that those are your dragon eggs and they are important to you—”
“They aren’t just important,” Sophia interrupted. “They are the future of this planet. That’s all we have left. Those eggs are priceless. They represent justice.”
“But Soph,” Liv began, her tone careful. “What if those dragons that are born evil become a threat to this world? Is it worth having five hundred good dragons if they are fighting five hundred bad ones?”
Sophia couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. “That’s absurd. For one, they aren’t all going to hatch at the same time. What are we supposed to do, get rid of all of them because there’s a potential of being evil?”
“I’m not trying to be a pain in your ass,” Liv said, her tone calming. “I’m trying to prepare you for what you’ll encounter in there. You’re coming to the House of Fourteen to create a united front, but before you can win over the mortal world, you’re going to need to convince the magical one. Mortals are rightly scared of a bunch of evil dragons. The magical races, I’ve learned, are terrified and in a position to fight. What you’re looking at is a civil war. I know this is hard to hear, but I’d rather it come from me than someone else, or you get blindsided when you walk into the Chamber of the Tree.”
Sophia chewed on her lip, her eyes low as she nodded. “Yeah, I appreciate that, actually.”
Liv stepped forward and placed her hand on Sophia’s shoulder. “I know you have to keep those dragons. Only you and the Dragon Elite know why and how you’re going to manage the situation. It’s up to you to convince the rest of the world. And when you do that…” A smile lit up Liv’s eyes. “Well, ironically, you’ll earn the authority you’ve been after all along.”
Sophia nodded, trying to evoke confidence in the movement. “I hope you’re right. Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to do it.”
Chapter Ten
Sophia had felt less pressure when entering a battle and facing deadly forces than she did about to walk into the Chamber of the Tree. She’d known most of the Councilors all her life. They were her own, and yet, she’d never felt so separate from her race before.
She appreciated Liv’s hard words because she needed to hear them to prepare. Otherwise, she feared she would have wa
lked into the Chamber of the Tree, looking for support where there was none. Now, she knew what she needed to say when she entered. More importantly, it brought to light what she didn’t understand on her own about the Dragon Elite and the new crop of dragon eggs.
“Wish me luck,” she said to herself as she stepped into the Chamber of the Tree, half expecting Plato or Liv to reply again. Instead, it was the one voice she needed to hear more than any other.
You don’t need it, Lunis said in her head. Just speak from your heart and remember, at the end of all this, you are the one who rules, but only with benevolent force. Use reason, and you’ll have followers. Use force, and you’ll have prisoners.
Sophia’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and the sparkling lights of the dome in the Chamber.
Before, when Sophia had made an appearance in front of the council, she’d had to demand their attention. That didn’t seem to be a problem this time.
“Miss Beaufont,” Lorenzo Rosario said at once when Sophia entered. “We’ve been expecting you.”
Jude and Diabolos both glanced in her direction, showing a keen interest in her every move. She shook this off. They were the regulators for the House of Fourteen. Sophia didn’t need to worry about them because she didn’t plan to lie, which they would call out.
Speak from the heart, Lunis encouraged.
“I figured that you would be,” Sophia said with confidence, striding past the half-circle of Warriors, Liv being one of them. She stopped in front of the bench and looked up at the Councilors regarding her with scrutinizing glares.
Scrolling through her tablet, Bianca Mantovani barely glanced at Sophia. “The world is at unrest with the Dragon Elite, and the polling is showing your support is at an all-time low.”
Before Sophia could reply, Haro Takahashi let out a breath. “It’s true. I think that we may need to distance ourselves from you, depending on how you decide to proceed.”
Sophia didn’t respond. Instead, she looked to the other Councilors, her brother, Clark, Hester DeVries, and Raina Ludwig. The seat filled by the Sinclair family hadn’t been filled yet with all the upheaval the House of Fourteen had to deal with.
To her disappointment, but not her surprise, the other three Councilors remained stoic, neither agreeing nor arguing against the others.
“Very well,” Sophia began, her hands pinned behind her back. “Distance yourself. And we will remember this when we have regained our authority over the world, which I assure you we will do. How convenient that you forget, not long ago, it was your heads on the political chopping block, and it was the Dragon Elite who saved you.”
“Is that what you want?” Bianca asked, a shrill tone to her voice that went straight up Sophia’s spine.
“Of course we don’t,” Sophia replied at once. “What I wanted…what we wanted was the support of the House while we negotiate these obstacles.”
Bianca laughed. “Really, there will be little negotiating. The Dragon Elite is looking at total extinction or becoming obsolete. I don’t see why you’d assume we’d align ourselves with you.”
Sophia kept her anger at bay. “No, I see how fair-weathered you are. When you were hit with something that stole your race away, we stepped in and saved your asses. And right now you see us close to extinction, while you hold your hands up like they are tied.”
Lorenzo sighed dramatically. “I don’t see how you can expect anything else from us. You never disclosed this bit about your dragon population. We really can’t condone five hundred dragons being hatched that have the power to tear the Earth in half.”
Sophia wanted to launch into an argument about how it was the design of the angels, and there was a legitimate purpose behind it involving balance. That worked for the Dragon Elite. It wasn’t going to for the House of Fourteen. She drew in a breath.
“There is no evolution in a world where there is no conflict,” Sophia told them, her voice growing with intensity as she spoke. “It’s true that for every dragon who hatches that will join our ranks and fight for justice, there are ones who could pose a threat to us. But I ask you, the same is inevitably true for you. For every human born, half do good and the other bad, and there’s a mix in the process. Some are capable of good but do evil and vice versa. Do you send your Warriors out with the order to kill evildoers and stamp them out immediately? Is not reformation a part of your justice?”
“Well, of course,” Haro answered at once. “We must rule with a fair hand.”
“Then how are we, the Dragon Elite, expected to do away with our eggs, knowing they will hatch half good and half evil dragons?” Sophia asked. “We know this with certainty because we have a direct line of communication with Mother Nature. You know that from experience. And yet, we’re expected to act upon this when you allow magicians to go out into the world and pollute it.”
Bianca tossed her tablet to the side. “You’re trivializing this.”
“I am not,” Sophia said firmly. “I’m simply putting it in a way that you can understand. Yes, there will be evil dragons. But good outweighs evil, we believe. More importantly, the world isn’t so black and white. You may need to back up and remember that progress isn’t made when we are created the same. Horrible things have happened to this planet, but out of them, amazing growth has been the result.” Sophia closed her eyes, letting words from her favorite poet rush to her. Kahlil Gibran’s words always aided her when she lost her own. “If in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasures, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all your laughter and weep, but not all your tears.”
The council fell silent. They looked at each other for a response. When no one said anything, Clark leaned forward, a proud glint in his Beaufont-blue eyes. “What you say makes sense. So, how do you plan to mitigate?”
Sophia rolled her shoulders. “The world is worried when we want to evoke confidence. We recognize that. But they need to believe as we have. They need to see the Dragon Elite saving the day. They need to see governing bodies coming together and having faith in us.”
“You mean the House of Fourteen?” Hester asked.
Sophia nodded. “Yes, and the kingdom of the fae and elves and so forth. Then, when there are evil dragons in the world, we can deal with them. They may be a problem. They may go off on their own and mind their own business as dragons are prone to doing. But if we do not stand together, then I assure you that this world will only turn more chaotic without the support of the Dragon Elite.”
“And this magician, Nevin Gooseman?” Raina questioned. “How do you plan to deal with him?”
That was the tough question. He was one of their own, a magician, but hiding behind a political agenda surrounded by the support of mortals. It didn’t make for an easy situation for the Dragon Elite. “Nevin Gooseman is afraid of that which he doesn’t understand. I believe he doesn’t want any supremely authoritative governing body.”
“I can’t say I don’t disagree,” Lorenzo stated at once.
“Then step down from your position,” Sophia fired. “Because the House of Fourteen ruled this planet for many centuries and you didn’t seem to mind it then. I remind you it was the evil of your own members that created problems. We’ve chosen to move on and work with you and protect you since then.”
“Although that is true,” Haro began, clearing his throat.
“It is true,” Sophia interrupted. “It may be fraught with resistance, but the Dragon Elite is the supreme ruling force. We don’t want to abuse it. We don’t want our own spreading evil worldwide—quite the opposite. We are completely fine with checks and balances. We do answer to Mother Nature, after all. But we are unwilling to give up what we’ve fought for, and more importantly, it’s what this planet deserves. It needs someone who cares enough to do whatever it takes, day or night, no matter the risks to fight for justice. You preside over magician’s affairs mostly. Let me
ask, do you want the role back of taking care of the world’s matters—big and small?”
The question left the council speechless once again. Finally, Clark smiled slightly at his sister.
“I think you’ve made your point,” he said. “Proceed as you will, and you’ll have our endorsement. But do keep us informed about your growing dragon population and how you plan to manage things.”
She agreed. “Fair enough. And absolutely.”
Sophia smiled to herself, feeling tall for the first time, even with so many towering around her.
Chapter Eleven
“W-w-what the hell is going on out there,” Sophia stammered, sliding through the door of John’s Electronics Repair shop and slamming it shut behind her.
On the streets of West Hollywood, protestors and dragon-worshippers were out in full force, and things were heating up.
Alicia pulled her attention off Trin Currante. The cyborg was sitting on a workstation as if she was a patient in a doctor’s office. Several needles, like those used for allergy tests, were poking out of the skin on her “human” arm.
“It’s been like that for days,” Alicia said in her thick Italian accent. “We keep thinking it’s going to die down, but since Nevin Gooseman’s address, it’s only been getting worse.”
Sophia pressed her back against the door and let out a long breath. She was suddenly grateful that Lunis wasn’t there with her, although he had grumbled bitterly about having to stay behind at the Gullington to “babysit” the dragons.
It was strange the different ways dragonriders had been treated in her short career as one. At first, no one believed they were a thing and mistook her as an actor in the Renaissance Fair when she walked down Fairfax Avenue. The world slowly learned about their presence and was still uncertain about their return. As the Dragon Elite made strides as adjudicators, they had earned themselves a bit of fame, which had quickly spiraled into this dragon worshipping business. Now there was a divide between the two with a new group, Anti-Dragonites.