Adapt Or Be Crushed (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 9)

by Sarah Noffke

  “It’s been moved then?” Sophia asked. “Can we open the portals back up?”

  “After the librarian is in place and there to protect the magical forcefield,” Plato answered.

  “What kind of Jedi Master are we recruiting?” Liv picked all the cheese off the garlic bread.

  “His name is Paul,” Plato informed them.

  “He sounds fancy,” Liv stated. “Where do we find this bookworm? Do we bring him nachos? How is it that we need to convince him to take the job?”

  “I don’t think nachos will do the trick,” Plato stated. “He lives on the top of a mountain in a hidden location.”

  “Cool.” Liv sank back in the booth. “I’m liking this mission more and more. Please tell me that he shoots daggers from his eyes and will try and make us explode upon gracing the drawbridge to his lair.”

  Plato shook his head. “He doesn’t have a drawbridge.”

  “Thanks for clarifying,” Liv said dryly.

  “Sophia has a map that shows all the hidden locations in the world. She got it for a recent mission,” Plato explained.

  Liv gawked at her. “Way to hold out, Soph.”

  She shook her head. “The book is called Hidden Places, and I had to use it to find a way to remove that mark on my soul. But yes, I still have it.”

  “Good,” Plato stated. “You’ll need it to find Paul’s location, which has been hidden for quite some time.”

  “Okay.” Liv drew out the word. “Why does this sound too easy? We have to find a guy named Paul who lives on a hidden mountain, but Sophia conveniently already has the map for it.” She tapped the table. “What aren’t you telling us, lynx?”

  Plato grinned in reply. “Well, you see, Paul may not want to sign on for this job right away, since it’s quite demanding and a lifetime commitment.”

  Liv rolled her eyes. “Who are these people? I’m a Warrior for the House of Fourteen with zero life insurance, no medical, and a lifetime contract.”

  “Same,” Sophia replied.

  “These wimps need to step up to the challenges,” Liv stated.

  “Others need more persuasion,” Plato declared. “And I do think that Paul is the right…no, the only person for this job who is presently alive.”

  “So why are you delaying in telling us about this mission?” Liv narrowed her eyes at her familiar.

  “I’ve put certain events into place that will hopefully encourage him to take the job without too much persuading on your parts,” Plato answered.

  “What type of events?” Sophia pushed the plate of refried beans and rice away, suddenly not so hungry.

  Plato offered them a sly smile. “Just a tiny volcano…”

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Two

  “Isn’t he so cute?” Liv asked dryly, not at all amused as she glared daggers at the lynx.

  “So cute I want to throw him off a balcony,” Sophia replied.

  “I don’t see what the problem is,” Plato argued while casually licking his paw. “I’m simply helping.”

  “Is this like when you thought I needed a new pair of sunglasses so you scratched mine up?” Liv asked.

  “You. Are. Welcome.” Plato punctuated each word.

  “They were perfectly good,” Liv shot back.

  “They made your face look tiny,” he stated. “The new aviator ones you have are much better.”

  “You have skewed priorities.” Liv went back to the plate of nachos and piled jalapeños on top.

  “How exactly are you helping?” Sophia questioned.

  “Well, Paul is receptive to the idea of being a librarian, I believe,” Plato began. “And seeing you two at his front door, well, that has the potential to warm him to it. However…my findings state that he might need a lot of convincing, which would take time and repeated events to his place, so I decided to speed things up.”

  Sophia lowered her chin. “Go on.”

  “Well, you two show up,” Plato continued. “Tell him about this great opportunity, and he’ll begin to deliberate on the idea. Now if left to his own devices, Paul might weigh his options, which is the responsible thing to do since this is a ‘till death do us part’ contract situation.”

  “Meaning until he dies, right?” Liv questioned.

  “Exactly,” Plato chirped.

  “What have you done?” Liv leaned across the table with her eyes intently focused on the lynx.

  “I have made it so his home is not as comfortable as it would be, making the rush to find a new one imminent,” Plato said discreetly.

  “His house is on top of the volcano, isn’t it?” Sophia nearly exclaimed.

  “Well, it’s easier to take a new job when you know your work from home one is no longer viable,” Plato argued.

  “But we have to trek up to the top of this active volcano to get this guy,” Liv seethed.

  “True,” Plato stated. “Which is why you might want to leave soonish.”

  “How big is this small volcano you’ve started?” Sophia asked.

  Plato shrugged. “Smaller than Mount Vesuvius, but still big enough to take out Pompeii and consequently erase Paul’s mountain from your map.”

  Sophia stood at once, realizing that they had no time to waste. She gave her sister an urgent expression. “I think we better get a move on.”

  Liv moved her chin to the side and gave her familiar a pointed glare. “Something tells me that someone didn’t just want to hurry Paul along to accept this mission, but also us.”

  He gave her a coy smile. “What can I say? If left to your own devices, my studies told me you’d be here eating and drinking all night. Chop, chop. I’ve got library books for someone else to reshelve.”

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Three

  “That cat…” Sophia opened the Hidden Places map book as soon as she and Liv were in a private place on the beach in Santa Monica. Reviewing the book of secret places didn’t seem like a good idea inside the public restaurant. Not to mention that Plato had made them exit pretty quickly after giving his orders, stating that if they didn’t, then the restaurant would suddenly be shut down by the authorities for reasons that couldn’t be disclosed to the public.

  Now the two sisters were on the beach and listening to the Pacific Ocean lap on the shore while Liv held a light orb above the book of maps.

  “Isn’t he delightful?” Liv jibed. “He wonders why I threaten to take him to the pound every so often.”

  “I don’t,” Sophia stated. “Although, imagine the poor employees there when they arrive in the morning to find the black and white cat missing from a cage locked from the outside.”

  “Always the air of mystery, that Plato,” Liv sang.

  “What I don’t get,” Sophia began while flipping through the pages and looking for something that stuck out as Paul’s mountain, which was about to erupt, “is after we locate Paul and convince him to go with us to the Great Library, how do we find it? Plato didn’t give us the new location.”

  “No, he didn’t give it to you.” Liv pulled an envelope from the pocket of her cloak. She flipped it over to show that it was sealed with wax on one side. On the other side, it said, “To be opened only by Paul—the Great Librarian.”

  “Why do you think he did it that way?” Sophia questioned.

  “Probably because for the most part, the new location for the Great Library has to remain confidential,” Liv explained. “You’ll have the portal from the Gullington, and there are others that will open back up when things are ready. But again, the details of the location mustn’t fall into the wrong hands. If Nevin Gooseman is still out there hunting for it, Plato will have to move it again. Not to mention that there will always be busybodies that want to find the place who aren’t worthy of the location.”

  Sophia nodded. “I’m guessing that’s why once the Great Librarian is in place, the Fierce will be back on the job. If someone isn’t savvy enough to find the creature who leads one to the Great Library, then they can’t find it.”

>   Liv nodded. “Exactly.” She pointed at the book of maps. “So how does this work? Think, and you find the information, like in Bermuda Lauren’s Magical Creatures book?”

  “I wish,” Sophia sighed. “No, unfortunately, it’s not that intuitive. This one requires us to study and make educated guesses. I found the location I was looking for last time because I had some clues about it.”

  “Okay,” Liv began, looking over Sophia’s shoulder and studying the maps. “We know that we’re looking for a mountain—”

  “That’s about to explode,” Sophia interrupted.

  “A volcano,” Liv added. “And we know that it’s inhabited by a Mr. Paul, no last name given.”

  “Oh, all the details,” Sophia mock gushed. “They’re simply overwhelming.”

  “They appear like that at first, but we’re obviously missing something,” Liv mused.

  “Like more information?”

  Liv shook her head. “I’ve worked with that damn lynx long enough to know he’s supplied everything we need to know. We have to fit the puzzle pieces together.”

  Sophia thought while continuing to comb through the pages. “Well, where are most of the active volcanos in the world located? Isn’t it the Ring of Fire in the Pacific?”

  “Good thinking,” Liv commended, but her tone contradicted her words. “However, Plato has probably just made this mountain an active volcano, remember? Because he wants to encourage this poor man who probably wants some peace and quiet to take a job.”

  “Right,” Sophia stated. “So we can cross off all active volcanos from the list. That narrows it down to, like, several thousand mountains.”

  Liv slapped Sophia’s arm. “Wait!”

  “You want me to punch you in the face?” Sophia asked her sister and looked down at where she’d been assaulted.

  “No, I already was earlier,” Liv stated. “And that elf paid dearly for it.”

  “What is it?” Sophia watched the expression in her sister’s eyes. Liv was working something out.

  “What did Plato say…”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “When he supplied the very little information for us,” Liv stated. “He said that the mountain we were searching for on the Hidden Places map was ‘smaller than Mount Vesuvius, but still big enough to take out Pompeii and consequently erase Paul’s mountain from your map.’”

  Sophia’s eyes widened. “If it’s big enough to take out poor Pompeii, already once assaulted by an active volcano, then it has to be in Italy.”

  “Exactly!”

  The sisters flipped through the book that only had maps of places that were hidden on the globe. It took them less than a minute to find one of Italy, and specifically of a place that detailed a beautiful mountain range south of Naples.

  “That has to be it!” Liv exclaimed.

  Sophia narrowed her eyes at the mountain that few others would know about until it exploded and sent molten lava and ash into the air. “Mount Castiglione. That has to be it.”

  The location was close enough that if erupted it would again take out Pompeii. Sophia shivered while thinking about the history of the devastating eruption that killed thousands and blanketed a city in ash for centuries.

  She looked up at her sister. “We’ve got to figure out how to get Paul to take the job, get him off the top of Mount Castiglione, and stop the eruption.”

  Liv nodded. “All in a day’s work for the Beaufont sisters. Let’s do it. Then I’m going to buy Clark’s new kitten a bow.”

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four

  “Where is your dragon when you need him?” Liv looked at the mountain that was already smoking at the top, giving small signs of the eruption that was about to happen.

  “He’s always there when I need him,” Sophia answered. “However, he’s rarely there when you or anyone else needs him since he’s not your dragon.”

  “Oh, but a little ride up to the top of Mount Castiglione would ensure that Tyson didn’t get coal again this year for Christmas.”

  Sophia laughed. “Lunis had a ball batting that coal around for ages.”

  “Cool. What does the inconveniently not present dragon not want this year for Christmas or Kwanza or Hanukah or whatever dragons celebrate?”

  Sophia didn’t answer. Instead, she put away the book of Hidden Places. It had given them enough information to portal close by, then discover Mount Castiglione’s location by using the maps. It was strange for the two sisters to walk through country roads alongside vineyards and open areas and glance at the map, then up again to find a smoking mountain that hadn’t been there moments prior.

  “That book is pure witchcraft,” Liv had remarked.

  Sophia agreed, having used it to find the Reflective Sea in the South Pacific along with some other strange places. Although they’d portaled close enough to Mount Castiglione to locate it using the Hidden Places book, like most magical locations, it was protected from portals, meaning that they had to climb the tall and nearing eruption mountain.

  “This Paul guy must know that his home is smoking and rumbling, right?” Liv questioned as they started the trek up to the top of the mountain.

  “One would think,” Sophia mused. “However, I gather that he’s a bit of a recluse. Otherwise, why would he fit the bill to be the Great Librarian, a position that doesn’t offer much opportunity to get out? So maybe he doesn’t notice that his home is rumbling and such.”

  “Although true, he might also fit the job description because the Great Librarian has to be able to wax eloquent on tons of different subject matters to know the largest catalogue of books in the world.”

  “Also true,” Sophia chirped. “I still don’t think this person is trekking around outside. My guess is he doesn’t see what we see, and more importantly, it hasn’t reached his house.”

  “Which is where?” Liv studied the mountain from where they stood at the base.

  As a dragonrider, Sophia’s vision assisted by the chi of the dragon was better than Liv’s, which gave her the clues she needed to see exactly where Paul’s stony mansion was. She pointed to the northern peak of Mount Castiglione, which had three. “It’s there. At the very tip-top.”

  “Brilliant.” Liv started forward and winked back at her sister. “I think I’ll go first. Age before beauty.”

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Five

  “There’s something I should warn you about with the Hidden Places book,” Sophia began as the sisters hiked Mount Castiglione.

  “It’s full of deception and will lead us to danger?” Liv easily kept up with Sophia, who was hiking in full armor as usual.

  “Totally,” Sophia replied. “One hundred percent, but there’s more.”

  “More, you say,” Liv joked. “Like, it’s also going to bring us fortunes and riches beyond our greatest dreams?”

  “Truly unlikely,” Sophia retorted.

  “Well, I’m all out of sarcastic replies, so pony up something then.”

  “Fair enough. I’ve only used the Hidden Places book once to find something, but I’ve concluded since then that those places in the book aren’t normal.”

  “What?” Liv acted surprised. “What strange world of normality do you live in, Sophia Beaufont?”

  “I’m serious,” Sophia urged, not trying to kid for once. “The place I had to go to remove the mark from my soul was very strange. I think it was hidden because it was extremely dangerous, and if people found it, then it would lead to really bad things.”

  “So you’re saying that Paul didn’t conceal the location of his home because he didn’t want salespeople soliciting at his door, but rather he happens to live on a mountain that most shouldn’t visit?”

  “Bingo,” Sophia affirmed.

  “Okay,” Liv began as the hike to the top grew steeper. “Let me get this straight. We’re hiking to the top of a hidden mountain where no one can find us, that we know is about to erupt with a volcano big enough to take down Pompeii and surrounding a
reas, to recruit an important person who we can’t allow to die—and this place is also full of unknown, hidden dangers that we’ll have to cross?”

  “Don’t forget that we somehow have to stop the eruption after the fact,” Sophia stated.

  “Right,” Liv chirped. “How could I forget that little milestone in our adventure?”

  Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Six

  “Should we play a game to pass the time?” Liv asked as they hiked, as if climbing a vertical incline wasn’t enough for her and she needed an extra challenge to make things interesting.

  “I’m not sure about you, but focusing on breathing is enough for me.”

  Liv shook her head from her place in front of Sophia. “You might want to up your cardio game.”

  “Well, excuse me.” Sophia pretended to be offended. “Yesterday I spent half the day battling every climate change known to man in Wyoming, all so I could fix the entire water supply in Scotland.”

  Liv shivered violently. “Did you say Wyoming? No need to say more. I’ll give you a piggyback ride if you need one. You must be exhausted, not to mention mentally beat down.”

  Sophia laughed. “The people were great. The weather, well, it seemed to have a mind of its own. But I guess that keeps you humble at the end of the day.”

  The ground under their feet rumbled, and steam issued up from below.

  “The timing of your statement and that was cute.” Liv faked a laugh. “Can you not say any more for the rest of the trip?”

  Sophia couldn’t help but laugh as they traversed the cliffs bordering what would have been an idyllic lake in other, more model circumstances. Being on yet another adventure with her sister filled her heart with joy. Yes, they were venturing up a mountain that had recently become an active volcano started by Liv’s familiar. And yes, they needed to recruit for one of the world’s most powerful positions and fast. On top of that, they needed to stop said volcano from erupting. Other than all those details, Sophia was happy that she was there with Liv.