Unsuspecting Trouble (The Inscrutable Paris Beaufont Book 3)

by Sarah Noffke

Knowing that she had a meeting at the Rogue Riders Mansion in Beverly Hills, Paris scribbled a quick note for the talking squirrel, hoping he found it and heeded her warning.

  Glancing back over her shoulder at the spot on her dresser where she left the note, she hoped that Faraday returned after dinner, anticipating that Paris had left him a cheese sandwich before his adventures. Then he would get the warning and not go on another venture that would nearly end him and possibly many others.

  Paris wanted to stay but had already set the wheels in motion for the meeting that night. It was one that she hadn’t known she’d wanted so badly, but she did. More than anything.

  The Rogue Riders Mansion appeared bigger than the last time that Paris had been there. She reasoned that it was because she’d ridden up the drive in a car instead of walking up with a new protective charm fastened around her neck. Apparently, Mae Ling had left the new amulet on her dresser that afternoon. Paris had found it when she set the note out for Faraday.

  Paris knew that it was unlikely that she could hold onto the protective charm if the Deathly Shadow wanted it. That was the point about a protective talisman. They protected but were easy to take off someone. Life was stupidly ironic.

  Paris stood frozen in front of the enormous stone mansion for a solid minute. She knew that seeing Uncle John would be healing for her. Reuniting with Clark would be interesting. Being with Sophia would be fun. Still, the bigger implications were intimidating.

  They’d all been spelled not to talk to her about anything. Now, that spell—along with a lot of others—was broken. Her family could speak. They could tell her secrets. They could tell her about her parents. That was exciting and terrifying to Paris all at the same time.

  She had heard so many amazing stories about her parents and what awesome warriors they were. About her mother’s sassiness. Her father’s bravery. How much they loved each other. But….

  What if they weren’t amazing?

  What if things didn’t measure up and Paris wished she hadn’t learned the truth? Ignorance might be bliss. Maybe not knowing the truth was better?

  Paris didn’t like the idea. It felt foreign and wrong to her, but she worried about learning about two people who had a stellar reputation in her eyes and lost it. She wasn’t sure if she’d rather sit in the Hall of Ignorance and Bliss than enter the Kingdom of Truth and Reality. One seemed right and real, and the other was merely comfortable. Strangely, Paris wasn’t sure which was which at this point.

  She stood at the entrance to the Rogue Riders Mansion for a solid minute, wondering if she should proceed or wait until the actual minute she’d told Sophia that she’d be arriving. Then she caught sight of a figure striding down the driveway where she’d come from.

  As her eyes adjusted, Paris’ eyes homed in on the familiar image of none other than Uncle John.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It felt like too long since she’d seen him.

  When Paris ran into his arms, it felt like too long since Uncle John had wrapped his hands around her. It had never been often, but enough that she knew how he gripped her tightly and made her feel like he never wanted to let her go. She currently felt the same way. This was her happy place.

  When she finally peeled away from him, he wore a concerned smile. His white hair swept to the side as usual, and a twinkle showed in his blue eyes. “You okay, Pare?”

  “Okay?” she laughed. “Thinking back, I haven’t been okay in a long time, but yeah, I’m here because I’m more okay and trying to make things even more okay.”

  He chuckled. “Spoken like you in your true style.”

  “What’s that mean?” she challenged.

  “It seems a Paris thing to say,” he replied with a smile in his eyes.

  Paris glanced at the house in the distance, thinking they should take off for it, but paused for a moment.

  “I know something about you,” she said in a coy tone.

  “I have a feeling, after your conversation with Father Time, that you know a lot about me and more,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  The real question that Paris had been rehearsing for diplomacy and sensitivity reasons tumbled out of her mouth without warning and with none of the thoughtfulness she’d practiced. “You gave up your girlfriend for me.”

  Uncle John glanced at her, utterly dumbfounded. “I-I-I…I didn’t…”

  “Papa Creola told me,” Paris argued.

  He sighed, looking heavy. “It’s not all so easy as everyone makes it.”

  “So you didn’t allow your girlfriend, Alicia, to marry my Uncle Clark so the Beaufonts could stay in power in the House of Fourteen without losing their spots?” Paris challenged.

  “Well, I did, but it’s not like I had a choice,” he answered.

  “You didn’t become a fairy of sorts and give up your place in the House of Fourteen as a Mortal Seven for me?” she continued.

  He pointed directly at her. “To that, I can say a firm no. I didn’t. I didn’t give up my position with the House of Fourteen as a Mortal Seven. That would be absurd…”

  “But you did become a fairy, didn’t you?”

  “Technically, in a way.” He squinted in the afternoon sun streaming through the trees.

  “Uncle John, will you level with me?”

  He pointed at a stone bench. “Always, Pare. I think we’re overdue for a long conversation. Why don’t you join me before the festive gathering?”

  She nodded, sat, and waited for him to join her moments later. When he did, they were quiet for a while. Finally, Paris looked at him, sincere sadness welling up in her. “You changed everything in your life for me.”

  Uncle John looked at her with complete sincerity. “No, Pare. I did everything to save this world, your mom, and your dad. Then also to save you, the person I had no idea would become my favorite in the entire world.”

  She didn’t know what to say for a long moment. He’d spoken with such sincerity. She knew it to be true. Still, it was hard to realize so much had been done on her behalf.

  “You are mortal….” she said, awe in her voice as this set in for the first time as she looked him over.

  He nodded, shame on his face. “I’m afraid so. I’m just glamour and magitech and all and nothing special. I can do magic with objects, or rather they can do magic for me, but not real well. Nothing like a real fairy but it’s been enough to fool those who matter.”

  “Uncle John, you’re the most special person I know,” Paris stated. “I’d love you as a fairy or a mortal or whatever. I mean, I’m not perfect. I’m a halfling…”

  “You’re better than perfect,” he said right away.

  “You’ve always loved me the way I was even when I was starting trouble,” she replied.

  He thought for a moment, his face suddenly looking so much older than usual. The wrinkles made him not look like himself. Finally, Uncle John said, “Pare, you have to understand that when your parents disappeared, we made decisions to keep you safe, to keep them protected, and to protect everything they represented. Your parents weren’t like two regular people when they went missing. It was like a hole got cut out of the universe and the rest of us had to fill it in.”

  “With yourselves,” Paris guessed.

  He nodded. “That’s what you do when two important people leave and give you the most important person to watch.”

  Paris didn’t agree with that at all. It felt wrong and so intimidating and scary. But what if it was right, she wondered. “Uncle John, you gave up your girlfriend,” Paris repeated.

  He smiled like he did when he let her beat him in an arcade game. “Alicia took on a job she didn’t like so much and did much more too.”

  “Like marry my other uncle?” Paris decided to be bold. What was the point in not being so?

  “Pare, you have to understand that we did a lot of untraditional things, thinking that Liv and Stefan would be back in a matter of days, then weeks an…”

  As his sentence trailed away, it set in
for Paris. She’d made this about her, but it wasn’t. It was about her parents and the ones who loved them and more. All of the people in their lives did so much to ensure they got back or that things weren’t too different when they did. She was trying to figure things out, but she had no idea what all was sacrificed in the interim of her parents being gone—or more importantly, the fact that many didn’t suppose it would be so long.

  “You thought…my mom…my dad…my parents, were going to be back any day right after they left,” Paris guessed, drawing out the words. “It has to have broken your heart every day that they haven’t.”

  “I won’t lie to you,” Uncle John said at once. “It hasn’t been easy. Raising you, well, it was unexpected. It was a blessing I never expected and embraced, never knowing when it would be over. But yes, every day that your parents have been gone has broken my heart. I’m not alone there. Your parents’ absence has made the world what we know. Illegal magical activity has been on the rise and in turn so much more. The demon population is at an all-time high. I bet you see a result of all of this at that school, Happily Ever After.”

  “Love on the decline, you mean? That’s because of my parents?” Paris asked.

  Uncle John nodded solemnly. “I think if things were operating normally in the magical world, other things wouldn’t be so out of balance.”

  “How do you know they’re out of balance?” Paris asked.

  “I feel it,” he answered. “I think we all do.”

  Paris nodded solemnly. What could she say? The magic meter was out of whack. The world was constantly under threat due to the Deathly Shadow. She felt so much more pulling for her attention, but that would need her help later…once this was all resolved…hopefully.

  “Back to what we were discussing. You changed everything in your life for one reason or another,” she stated.

  “Pare,” he began heavily. “If I didn’t give up Alicia—if I didn’t take a break from the Mortal Seven, or Clark didn’t do one thing or another, if Alicia didn’t, if a lot of other people didn’t—quite simply this world would have quit spinning on its axis. But we did, and it didn’t, and things have a chance.” He blinked at the sky in the distance morphing into blues and pinks. “I hope it does have a chance, you know.”

  “That’s why I’m here, and that’s why we’re here,” Paris stated with conviction. “We have a chance.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  As they walked up to the mansion, Uncle John explained that although the truth was out about Paris, he and Alicia couldn’t be together still. She was a Warrior for the House of Fourteen in the hope that she’d reserve Liv’s position for her. If she suddenly went back to John, everyone would know the marriage to Clark had been a hoax. They’d have to handle things very carefully when the time was right.

  “Plus, who knows if she wants to be with me.” Uncle John shrugged. “It’s been fifteen years since I’ve seen her. We simply couldn’t be around one another. None of us were allowed to see each other except for Clark, Alicia, and Sophia since they worked together.”

  “Alicia asked about you,” Paris stated. “Of course she wants you back. How could she not? I can’t even fathom giving up the person you love for all this.”

  Remorse covered his face for a moment before he recovered with a fake smile. “I love a lot of people, your mother included. Father Time knew you couldn’t remain in the mortal world and be safe. Liv had left you with me. When it was decided I’d take on the role as a detective for the Fairy Law Enforcement Agency, I didn’t question it.”

  “And you thought it might only be for a day or a week,” Paris murmured, still having trouble processing all that so many did for her and her parents. “Do you think you’ll stay as a detective now that you don’t have to? I mean, I realize Alicia can’t be with you because then she’d lose the position with the House of Fourteen, but you don’t have to be a detective anymore since I know the truth and I’m not living on Roya Lane.”

  Uncle John thought for a moment as they paused beside the front door. “I’ve thought about that. I like my job more than I thought I would, but I miss the electronic repair store. However, going back there, well, it might bring back too many memories of your mom. She worked there with me for so many years. In a way, I had it easier than Clark and Sophia because Father Time gave me a new life with you on Roya Lane. I didn’t remain in the same house that Liv had lived in, like Clark. I wasn’t in Los Angeles like Sophia, always reminded of her sister.” He pressed his lips together and smiled. “But I got you, and you’ve reminded me of Liv every single day in all the best ways. I feel bad that the others didn’t get to see you grow up, so no, I have no regrets. We all gave something up to protect you from the Deathly Shadow, but I was given the best reward in return.”

  Paris threw her arms around Uncle John’s shoulders, hugging him tightly. He seemed surprised for a moment but then pressed her tight, choking out a laugh.

  “Hey, you two shouldn’t go in through the front door,” a voice said, interrupting the pair hugging.

  Uncle John released Paris, and they both glanced up to find the large blue dragon blinking at them from the side of the house.

  “Lunis?” Uncle John said with surprise. “Is that you?”

  “I go by Sir Lunis-Awesome-A-Lot now, but yeah. I’ve grown, huh?”

  Uncle John chuckled, and Paris noticed there was a tear in his eyes. “I couldn’t say. You’ve always been large to me since the moment you hatched.”

  “Hey, Lunis.” Paris waved. “Why shouldn’t we go through the front door? Is something wrong?”

  The majestic dragon shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. I keep childproofing the house, but the other riders keep getting in.”

  Paris and Uncle John both laughed loudly.

  “The reason you should follow me around to the back is that Sophia set up dinner on the veranda, as she likes to call it,” Lunis explained. “It’s a slab of concrete, but she likes to sound fancy.”

  “Well, that will be nice.” Uncle John smiled.

  “It’s because I don’t want to be left out and every time I go inside the Rogue Riders Mansion, Sophia yells at me.”

  Uncle John pursed his lips. “That doesn’t sound like my little Sophia.”

  “Oh, well, she’s different now,” Lunis explained. “I break one priceless magical antique vase given to her by Cleopatra when we time-traveled to Egypt, and she throws a fit, and I never hear the end of it. I mean really, I told her I’d get her a new vase at Pier One that was pretty much identical, but no, she’d rather be mad.”

  Uncle John laughed and shook his head. “Lunis, you haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

  The blue dragon shot him a look of offense. “Of course I have. I’m way funnier.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  When Paris rounded the corner to the large mansion, she saw a blur of blonde hair rushing in their direction. It took her a moment to realize it was Sophia, running at Uncle John. The dragonrider moved unlike any other and was so fast. Within a second, she had thrown her arms around Uncle John’s neck and hugged him in tightly.

  “It has been way too long!” Sophia exclaimed, her chin pressed into his shoulder.

  He wrapped his arms around her, and when he hauled her off her feet, Sophia looked small although there was nothing small about the dragonrider. She felt larger than life to Paris.

  Standing back a foot, Uncle John looked Sophia over, his eyes watering. “You look the same. How is that possible?”

  Sophia beamed. “I have the chi of the dragon to thank for that.”

  “You are welcome,” Lunis chimed in from beside them.

  Sophia nodded in the dragon’s direction. “Although this one tries to take years off my life with bad jokes, it hasn’t worked.”

  “My jokes keep you young,” Lunis argued.

  “They remind me how immature you are.” Sophia winked at Uncle John. “You look great too. You don’t seem to have aged at all.”

 
Uncle John grinned. “Well, I can thank Paris for that. She’s kept me young at heart.” He turned, offering her a thoughtful look.

  “I’m sure that Pickles helps.” Clark strode forward and offered a hearty handshake to Uncle John.

  He wrung his hand with a broad smile on his face. “Yes, he definitely helps. Good to see you, my friend.”

  “Who is Pickles?” Paris had never heard the odd name.

  Everyone fell silent. Uncle John’s eyes slid to the side. “He’s…like a protector to the Mortal Seven. Specifically to the Caraways.”

  “Who are the Caraways?” Paris asked.

  The hesitation deepened on his face. “My real name was John Caraway before Father Time had it changed to John Nicholson.”

  “As a Mortal Seven, you have a protector?” The questions streamed through Paris’ brain faster than she could ask them.

  “Well, yes, all Mortal Seven have one,” Clark answered.

  “Yours is Pickles?” Paris questioned. “Where is he? Why have I never met him?”

  “Well,” John drew out the word, obviously nervous. “I haven’t needed him around since I’m not active as a Mortal Seven member. I still have my role and represent the balance needed in the House of Fourteen.”

  “The Mortal Seven are more about symbolism in modern times,” Clark explained. “They’re sometimes called on to advise on issues in the House of Fourteen or to vote, but for the most part, they’re more about keeping the balance between the magical and mortal world. They have a huge amount of energy that helps to govern magic even if they aren’t actively doing anything.”

  “So Pickles keeps you young?” Paris asked. “But he’s not around, right? So how does that work?”

  “He’s around in spirit,” Uncle John explained, still not looking directly at her. “If I ever need him, he will be here.”

  Paris scratched her head, feeling like she was missing something. “So all this time, you’ve had this protector named Pickles, but he only shows up when you need him?”