by Sarah Noffke
Chapter Fifteen
“What are you talking about?” Sophia questioned the fae who had trotted over to the back counter where the cash register was.
He sighed. “Your memory is horrible these days.”
“I’m certain that it’s not.” She picked up an ointment tube of Heals Pills.
“Anyway, remember I told you that Serena and the Captains were driving me crazy here at the store?”
“When and more importantly, how was that?” Sophia asked.
“Through our telepathic link, last night,” Rudolf answered while organizing the cash register area.
“There you go,” Sophia said, mostly to herself. “You realize that we don’t have that mode of communication?”
Rudolf shook his head. “Yet, you showed up here and got Serena to quit and take the Captains. They were driving me crazy. So much workplace drama. One of the employees was always crying about this or that. Then Captain Kirk constantly slept on the job.”
“They’re babies,” Sophia argued.
“There’s always an excuse. Anyway, we played that perfectly, you all questioning me about why I wouldn’t talk to employees and pretending to be mean about me not doing my job.”
“You weren’t doing your job, telling a customer to get help from a child,” Sophia stated, her eyes fluttering with annoyance.
He nodded. “Great acting. Then when you pretended to be offended about how Serena insulted a customer.”
“I was offended by that.”
Rudolf waved her off. “They’re gone now. You can drop the act.”
Sophia decided that she’d let the whole thing go, mostly because she didn’t want to spare the brain cells. She held up the tube of ointment. “We’re expanding our product line?”
With a triumphant pride in his eyes, Rudolf nodded. “Another good idea you passed to me along the telepathic wire.”
“I wish I could take credit for this,” Sophia admitted. “I think you get the kudos here.”
Rudolf shook his head. “It couldn’t have been my idea. I’d finished off a case of strawberry wine and could hardly operate the blimp.”
Sophia blinked at him, wondering where to start with that admission. “You have a blimp?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but the dragons keep getting in my way, which makes it hard to navigate it through the skies, especially when I’m bleary-eyed, if you know what I mean.”
“Wait; what?” Sophia suddenly tilted her head. “Where are these dragons that you’re flying this blimp around?”
He pursed his lips as if the answer should have been obvious. “Las Vegas, of course.”
“There are dragons over the Strip?” Sophia asked, not aware of this. It could be angel dragons. It was also likely to be demon dragons and the Rogue Riders.
Rudolf shrugged. “I guess so. I mean, they could be something else.”
“Describe them to me,” Sophia ordered. “Tell me specifically what they’ve been doing.”
“Well,” he began, drawing out the word. “They’re large and are like airplanes, except that they have wings.”
Sophia worked hard to keep her hand from pulling out her sword and ending the king of the fae. “You do get that airplanes have wings, right?”
Rudolf shook his head, clicking his tongue at her. “Maybe you want to go to the preschool we send the Captains to. I’ll pay.”
“I’m good,” Sophia said dismissively. “What have these dragons over Las Vegas been doing?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Rudolf asked. “I see them flying around and hand the blimp’s wheel over to the captain before I pass out.”
“Please tell me in that instance; you mean that you hand the steering wheel over to a qualified captain and not a child.”
His eyes slid to the side, a coy expression on his face. “Sure…”
Sophia sighed. “Okay, well, keep an eye on these dragons and report to me if anything happens.”
Although Sophia wanted to go check out the situation, she had enough going on, and if it was the angel dragons, she wanted to give them space so they could magnetize to a rider. If things progressed, then she’d go to Las Vegas and check things out, but it sounded like there wasn’t much going on besides soaring dragons.
Rudolf sat on the stool behind the counter and let out a long breath. “It’s our first lull all day.”
“That’s great.” Sophia noticed that many of the shelves were empty. “I’m glad that business is going so well.”
He nodded. “Yeah, but keeping up without the Captains will be difficult. They were excellent salespeople.”
“Have you considered hiring someone to replace them and Serena?” Sophia asked.
A loud gasp came from Rudolf’s mouth as he clapped his hand to it. “My gods, Sophia. You can’t hire people to replace your family.”
Sophia laughed at this. “I was referring to hiring someone to replace them as employees. You know, maybe someone to do the stocking and clerical stuff and another as a salesperson. You have the business starting up with Lee at the bakery so I can’t imagine you should be spending so much time here.”
Rudolf considered this. “I keep playing with the idea, but it’s hard to turn my baby over to someone else. We built this business from scratch, and it brings so much goodness to the world. I’m proud of it and want it to flourish.”
Sophia was momentarily speechless, hearing Rudolf talk in such an altruistic way. “Wow, I didn’t realize that it meant so much to you.”
He nodded, passion in his eyes. “Yeah, not seeing so many ugly magicians when I stroll down Roya Lane has helped to increase my appetite. Your kind can be sickening to look at.”
“Of course.” Sophia realized she should have seen that one coming. “Well, regardless of your reasons for the business, I agree that we need good employees. I trust you’ll find some who can keep the shop successful.”
“Your trust is well-placed.” Rudolf bowed slightly.
Sophia held up a finger suddenly. “But! No children as employees. The job description can’t require the workers to do anything illegal. You must give them all orders verbally and not through a bogus telepathic link.”
The king sighed. “If I hire two employees that I think could be a good match, I can require them to breed, right?”
“No,” Sophia said decisively.
“I can require them to marry, right?”
“Absolutely not.”
Rudolf shook his head. “Fine, but I don’t see what’s the point in having employees if you can’t control every aspect of their lives. I like playing matchmaker…well, really just God. I like playing God.”
Sophia shook her head. “You’ll be their boss and assign them work,” she stated and quickly added, “to do with the shop, and that’s it. No playing God. Only a boss who has limited authority and answers to me.”
“Who do you answer to?” Rudolf challenged.
“God, I guess, in a way.” She thought of how she worked for Mother Nature and the angels in so many ways.
“So I got tossed down the managerial ladder, I see,” he muttered grumpily.
“Yeah, sure,” Sophia said dismissively. “I came here for other reasons besides to see how you were making bad employee decisions.”
“Oh?” Rudolf appeared curious. “Is this about the location of the genie lamp that I tossed in the ocean?”
Sophia nearly fell over. “How did you know that?”
He tapped the side of his head with a victorious smile on his face. “Telepathic link. Sounds like your end might need some maintenance. Mine is working fine.”
Sophia was about to start questioning everything she knew when Rudolf added, “Oh, Liv called and mentioned it. Said you’d be stopping by and I should draw up a map of Stan’s location.”
“There we go.” Sophia realized she never needed to question her judgment and sanity where the king of the fae was concerned.
He rummaged in the drawers of the counter behind the cash regist
er. “I put something together for you that I hope helps. A little sketch that should help you find the genie’s lamp.”
Rudolf laid what appeared to be a blank piece of paper on the counter between him and Sophia. She glanced at it and his broad, prideful grin.
“I’m not criticizing you, but I feel like you could have offered a little more detail,” Sophia commented and added, “Well, any detail would have been good.”
He jerked his head up in surprise. “You don’t see it? Oh, of course, you don’t. You look with your eyes.”
“Imagine that,” she dryly replied.
Rudolf tapped his finger on the paper, and it instantly transformed to show land masses and churning bodies of water around it. Different labels for the lands and seas appeared as well as a compass in the corner. In the center of the map was an X.
Sophia was about to express her complete astonishment at the map the fae had created, which was no doubt full of helpful details she hadn’t seen before. However, before she could, he tapped the paper again, and the area where the X was zoomed in and gave them a view of the ocean. Suddenly, she saw an underwater picture of where the genie’s lamp was, showing different obstacles that they’d have to navigate like around coral reefs, rocks, sea life, and a sunken ship. At the bottom, sitting on the ocean floor was Stan’s lamp.
Sophia looked up, total amazement written on her face. “You did this?”
“I think so,” Rudolf replied. “I mean, I passed out halfway through, but I was the only person present when I awoke, and there the map was. So sure, I’ll take credit. Plus, I’m the only one who knows where I put Stan’s lamp.”
“Wow, Rudolf, this is really helpful. Thank you.”
He flashed her a toothy grin. “I’ll do whatever it takes to help Liv get away from that self-centered husband of hers that’s always off galivanting with ugly ladies.”
“Those are demons,” Sophia corrected.
“Oh, that does make more sense, now that I think about it.” Rudolf shrugged. “Anyway, once Liv uses the wish from the lamp to dump Stefan, then we can hang out once more, just like, well we never really did.”
“I don’t think she’s using the wishes from the lamp to get rid of her husband, who I know she loves endlessly.”
Rudolf sighed. “Well, what is she using it for?”
Sophia shook her head. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, remember to tell her that when she uses the last wish, she’d better be careful because then Stan will want his freedom, which he only gets if he murders his master, the person who used the three wishes and possesses the genie lamp.”
Sophia nodded, suddenly feeling very uncertain about this mysterious mission Liv had enlisted her for. “Copy that. Use wishes, then drop the lamp back into the center of the ocean and run like hell.”
“Well, you can’t run on water,” Rudolf corrected. “I’ll get you enrolled in that preschool. Then you’ll know that kind of stuff.”
Sophia picked up the map and slipped it into her cloak. “You do that. Thanks for the map.”
“You’re welcome,” Rudolf called at her back. “Oh, and one last thing.”
Sophia turned at the door, giving him a questioning expression.
“One way to avoid Stan trying to murder his master is not to use all the wishes,” Rudolf offered. “I’m not sure what Liv wants it for, but that’s a thought.”
Sophia drew in a breath, hoping they only needed one or two wishes. However, the idea that her sister was relying on wish magic was the most unsettling part of all. That wasn’t like Liv. Something was definitely wrong.
Chapter Sixteen
The commotion at the end of Roya Lane was ongoing when Sophia exited Heals Pills. She threw on her disguise as the old man magician and studied the street ahead. It didn’t make sense that the disturbance was still going on once she’d disappeared into the shop if it involved her. She reasoned that it didn’t. Still, she wasn’t looking forward to finding out what had gnomes, magicians, and other magical races yelling in the distance, all gathered around someone or something.
These kinds of disturbances on the magical lane fell under the jurisdiction of the House of Fourteen. Sophia wasn’t looking to intervene and sorely wished that a Warrior was there to break things up. Otherwise, she might have to act. She’d avoid the disturbance if she could, but the place she needed to go, the Official Brownie headquarters, was in that area.
Sighing, Sophia started down the lane, paying careful attention to the things being shouted.
“Get out of here!” someone yelled, by the sounds of it, an angry gnome.
“How dare you bring that beast to Roya Lane!” another shouted.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done!”
“Okay, break it up!” a familiar voice yelled, dividing the crowd that Sophia could see as she approached. Over the top of the group, she noticed a head of short blonde hair. Trudy DeVries, Sophia guessed. She was instantly relieved that the House of Fourteen had someone on the scene to take care of things. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about it because whatever was happening wasn’t her problem.
Sophia slipped around the back of the crowd, trying to go as unnoticed as possible, which wasn’t hard in her plain gray cloak and wearing her old man features and balding head. She went a lot more ignored than if she sported her usual look with her silver and blue armor and carried Inexorabilis. Still, Sophia kept her head down, and her face mostly obscured, blocking much of her peripheral vision.
“He’s a thief and a scoundrel!” someone yelled from the other side of the crowd.
“A tyrannical bully,” another person screamed, fury heavy in their voice.
“As far as I can discern,” Trudy DeVries yelled above the crowd, “he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“Thief! Thief! Thief!” the magicians around the center of the commotion chanted.
Sophia was almost to the other side of the angry mob, where she could see a break in the crowd and the Official Brownie headquarters up ahead.
“I don’t think this is the villain you think he is,” Trudy said, her voice clear and loud but also even. “As far as I can tell, he’s brand-new and simply confused.”
Shaking her head, Sophia was grateful that this hadn’t become her problem and that Trudy DeVries had shown up. She didn’t know who this guy in the wrathful center of a horde of pitchfork-carrying magical creatures was, but she was glad it wasn’t her. Or one of hers. The Warrior for the House of Fourteen would dispel the situation, Sophia told herself while breaking through to the other side where there were fewer people to navigate around.
“He’s one of them!” someone yelled from Sophia’s back.
“They’re all bad!” another said, and that made her pause. What were they referring to? Or more importantly, who?
She looked over her shoulder and saw Trudy’s long arms rise into the air. The woman’s above-average height made it so everyone could see her even at the center of the crowd. “That’s not true. You must learn to be fair and reasonable.”
Sophia nodded, silently commending the Warrior for her level-headed approach. She was one of the good ones. The DeVries had always been allies of the Beaufonts, and Sophia was grateful for that.
Turning back around, she hurried for the brick wall where the invisible door to the Official Brownie headquarters was.
Over the grumbling and protests of the crowd, Sophia heard a disgruntled gnome challenge, “Like the House of Fourteen has always been reasonable?”
Sophia suddenly felt sorry for the Warrior, having to deal with the wrath of a mob that she didn’t deserve.
“Yeah!” someone yelled from the crowd. “I’m not surprised to see you defending him! Of course you’d work together! The House of Fourteen and dragonriders are both corrupt!”
Freezing, Sophia held her breath. Tensed. Turned to face the angry group of magical creatures.
This just became her problem.
Chapter Seventeen
S
ophia pushed through the crowd, making quick progress although the group had tightly knitted together. It was probably because she was wearing her disguise and those she passed simply thought the hunched-over old man needed to be closer to see better.
When Sophia was close to the center of the ring of protestors, she saw something she thought she’d never find on Roya Lane—a dragon.
Standing next to a scrawny young magician with dark blond hair, glasses, and a tentative expression was a seafoam green dragon who was quite beautiful and young. Sophia recognized the dragonette from the Gullington. It was an angel dragon, and she’d grown a lot and also magnetized to a rider, it appeared.
The dragon had her head down low, cowering from the many angry fists brandished in her and her rider’s direction. That explained why Sophia didn’t spy the dragon towering over the crowd before. She suspected that this particular dragon could blast the horde of protestors if she wanted to. Still, the dragonette didn’t appear to be considering it as she snaked her neck around her rider in a protective stance, her large head cupping him to her.
The new dragonrider also didn’t appear ready to defend himself. He was weaponless, and his face was pale with fear. He kept blinking wildly and rubbing his eyes under his glasses.
Trudy DeVries held up a hand as Sophia approached, looking much more defensive than the pair next to her. “Stay back! We don’t want trouble! You all need to disperse.”
Sophia let her disguise fall away and took her normal form, earning gasps from the crowd. “I agree!” she yelled clear and loud and nodded at Trudy DeVries. “You all need to disperse.”
The Warrior for the House of Fourteen gave her a relieved look. She was probably happy that she didn’t have to fight an old man and that Sophia had come to help, the situation quickly having gotten out of hand.
Sophia heard whispering from around the crowd, but they weren’t yelling at her as they had before. A few had shrunk away, their angry faces turning to ones of hesitation. Insulting a cowering dragon and unarmed rider was one thing. However, this group knew who she was and what she was capable of, and they didn’t appear as ready to challenge her.