by Sarah Noffke
“He has a lot to do with weapons,” Mama Jamba reasoned. “He can ensure that it goes to good use. It was quite useless sitting on the bottom of the Pond for the last several centuries.”
“I didn’t even know it was there!” Hiker yelled.
“But now you do,” Wilder said, holding out the bow. “Do you want to hold it?”
Hiker’s face was beet red. “No. I’m good. And fine, you can take it to Subner. But as far as this mission to slaughter the Phantom—”
“Re-slaughter,” Mama Jamba corrected. “They have to bring it back to life, take its horn and kill it again.”
“Right,” Hiker growled. “As far as that goes, well, there are other matters that demand your attention, so you can’t go.”
“Oh, do you know where the lone riders are that you want me to go after?” Sophia asked, hopeful.
He shook his head. “No, this business with Mahkah has interrupted my research.”
“Oh, do you have adjudicator missions for us?” Wilder asked.
Again, Hiker shook his head. “I sent Evan on one, but I’m still combing through finding other ones that will give us the right profile. Image is everything right now, especially as we gear up to face Thad.”
“So, why can’t they go on this mission which will bond Sophia to her sword, helping her to get that much closer to finishing training?” Mama Jamba asked innocently.
Hiker’s eyes fluttered with annoyance. “There isn’t a reason. I guess you can go, but you can’t take your dragons. They need to stay with Tala until she’s recovered.”
“Thank you, sir,” Sophia said, bowing slightly.
“Don’t thank me,” he replied. “I might have just sent you to your death. I wouldn’t want to face the Phantom with the assistance of a league of dragons, and you two don’t have any.”
Wilder gave Sophia a nervous expression. “You sure you still want to do this?”
Sophia glanced back at Mama Jamba, who gave her a look that rocked her insides. “Absolutely,” she answered with confidence.
Chapter Sixty-One
Ainsley set a plate of perfectly poached eggs nestled on top of English muffins and covered in hollandaise sauce in front of Sophia the next morning at breakfast.
“Your favorite, Eggs Benedict, S. Beaufont,” the housekeeper said, before returning to the kitchen.
Sophia smiled as she cut into an egg, watching the yolk ooze out.
A moment later, Ainsley returned, laying a plate in front of Wilder. “And cinnamon French toast for you, my dear.”
“My favorite!” he exclaimed wide-eyed.
“I know,” Ainsley said, heading for the kitchen.
“Oh, man.” Evan rubbed his hands together. “That means I’m getting chocolate chip pancakes.”
He had returned from his adjudicator mission but would be headed out again later that morning, according to him.
Ainsley came through the swinging door just as Quiet entered the dining hall, covered in dirt as usual.
“And porridge for you, Evan,” she said, setting a bowl of steaming sludge in front of him.
“What?” Evan argued. “Porridge isn’t my favorite.”
“Right,” Ainsley said. “It’s your least favorite. I’m well aware. You’ve only told me that every morning I’ve served it for one hundred bloody years. But I’m not counting or anything.”
“What gives?” Evan asked, pointing at Sophia and Wilder, who were making quick work of their dishes. “Why do they get their favorite breakfast meals and I get my least favorite?”
“There are many reasons,” Ainsley began. “For one, I don’t like you. Secondly, we were running low on supplies. I’ll have to pop off to the village soon.” She glanced down at Quiet. “Porridge okay with you?”
The gnome nodded, tucking his napkin into his shirt.
The housekeeper snapped her fingers, and another bowl of steaming porridge materialized in front of Quiet.
“What are these other reasons?” Evan asked. “You had supplies enough to make them their favorite meals.” He looked at Wilder’s French toast longingly.
Ainsley tucked a strand of her red hair behind her pointy ears. “Oh, well, it’s probably their last meal, so I wanted to make it memorable.”
In unison, Sophia and Wilder set down their forks.
“Say what?” Wilder asked.
She smiled at him. “Well, the Castle and I are taking bets on whether you’ll return from facing the Phantom. It seems to think you will.”
“You bet against us?” Sophia asked, insulted.
Ainsley shrugged. “I mean, it’s a numbers game really. Most who face the Phantom are either corrupted or killed.”
“Not my mother,” Sophia argued.
“Oh, yes, your mother,” Ainsley said fondly. “She skewed the results slightly, but my money is still on you two dying or turning evil.”
Wilder pushed his plate of half-eaten french toast away. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Evan took it upon himself to grab Wilder’s plate, digging into his leftovers. “At least the Castle is on your side, mate.”
“We aren’t dying or falling victim to the Phantom’s evil persuasions,” Sophia said adamantly, a bite of ham and egg on her fork, but suddenly not hungry.
Quiet muttered, dumping a huge spoonful of sugar onto his porridge.
“I agree,” Ainsley said to the groundskeeper. “If they do that, then they will definitely be successful and slay that beast.”
Sophia leaned forward. “What? What did Quiet just say?”
Ainsley rolled her eyes. “Oh, it was plain as day. I’m not repeating, but he can if he wants.”
Quiet didn’t seem to be paying attention as he sprinkled another spoonful of sugar onto his porridge.
“Quiet, what did you say?” Sophia asked. “What can we do to be successful facing the Phantom?”
The gnome’s lips moved as he stirred his bowl, now more sugar than porridge, but no sound came out of his mouth.
“That was very kind of you to repeat it,” Ainsley said, clapping him on the shoulder before returning to the kitchen.
Sophia gave Wilder a wide-eyed expression, which he returned.
Evan grabbed for Sophia’s plate, having already finished off Wilder’s. “Man, you two are screwed.”
“Again, thanks to everyone who has been so helpful and encouraging,” Sophia said dryly. She glanced at Wilder. “Ready to go die?”
He gulped and rubbed his stomach. “Yeah, I think I might throw up on the Phantom.”
“I don’t think that will work, mate,” Evan said, shoving a large bite into his mouth. “You have to kill him, not disgust him.”
“Thanks, Ev,” Sophia said, pushing up from the table, feeling queasy too.
“You’re welcome,” he sang through a mouthful of food. “If you die, can I have your television?”
“If I die,” Sophia began, “then I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“Get in line,” Evan said with a laugh. “Most of the ghosts in the Castle haunt me. They think I’m a bit obnoxious and I think Ainsley puts them up to it.”
“I absolutely do,” Ainsley chimed in as she reentered like she’d been a part of the conversation all along. “And if S. Beaufont dies, I want her bean bag chair.”
Sophia gave Wilder a tired expression. “Are you ready to head out?”
“Yes, but I think we should go burn all your stuff first,” he replied. “That way, these scoundrels don’t benefit from your death.”
She nodded. “Good call. Let’s burn my stuff and then head to our death.”
Chapter Sixty-Two
The marshlands that stretched out in front of Sophia looked like a painting. It wasn’t until the smell of mossy water hit her nose that she knew she’d stepped through the portal into the right place.
“Why was the Phantom in Florida?” Wilder asked, beside her.
She scoffed. “Because obviously, that’s where all evil originates and
spreads out.”
He nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
Sophia pulled out the hourglass that had materialized on her bedside table with instructions on how to bring back the Phantom.
“So, what are we supposed to do?” Wilder asked, Devon’s bow clenched in his hand as he scanned the marshland.
“Once I activate the hourglass, the Phantom should materialize somewhere around here because this was where it was killed by my mother and father,” she explained.
“And I’m supposed to hold it with magic while you do your thing?” Wilder questioned.
“Yes, but we have to be incredibly careful,” Sophia stated. “I have to harvest the horn and kill it, but that’s not the biggest concern.”
Wilder lifted his foot, which made a squelching sound as it was sucked out of the mud. “Is it what Ainsley will do to us when we track mud into the Castle later?”
Sophia laughed, liking that he was breaking up the tension with humor. They both felt the daunting task before them, and thinking of returning to the Castle gave her hope. “The most important thing is that you don’t look the Phantom in the eyes. If you do, you’ll be infected by its evil.”
“Okay, don’t look the beast in the eyes,” Wilder said like this was an easy task. “I’ll just pretend he’s Ainsley when she’s questioning me about who ate the rest of the mince pies.”
“Whatever works for you,” Sophia stated, not sure what her strategy was going to be.
“All right,” Wilder said, bolstering his confidence by lifting his chest. The wind tangled his dark hair, adding to his already rugged appearance.
“Hey, don’t listen to what the others were saying,” Sophia encouraged. “We are going to do this.”
“I know,” he stated. “And I’m glad I’m doing it alongside you, but…”
She tilted her head to the side. “But…”
“Well, I mean, I get that I’ve been training for almost two centuries, but…”
It dawned on Sophia at that moment, and the realization was odd. “You haven’t been in any real battles since…”
“Since magnetizing to Simi,” he finished her sentence. “The curse had fallen over the mortals by that point, and I never had a mission.”
“Just year after year in the Gullington,” Sophia said, the idea still confounding her.
“Hiker has sent us out on adjudicator missions, but they didn’t require any combat,” he explained. “Just smooth-talking and a wink.”
She shook her head. “You know you can’t coast on your looks forever, right?”
“No, but I will while I can,” he joked. “Someone taught me, ‘Why get your hands dirty when you can strategize?’”
“Sounds like a smart person,” she chuckled.
“Clever for sure, but she’s a real pain in the ass some say,” he fired back.
“Don’t listen to those dummies.”
“Anyway, I know you went with Evan to recover the eggs,” Wilder stated.
“Yes, and we faced magical tech robots and submarines,” Sophia stated.
“I don’t know what either of those things are, but you can explain later.”
She nodded.
“And before that, you went to that facility north of the Gullington, having your other combat experience,” he went on. “Oh, and then there was when you went to recover Evan and Mother Nature.”
“Is it odd that I’ve been a dragonrider for about a minute and a half and been in more combat than you?” she asked, thinking that was where he was going with this.
“Well, it definitely speaks to your rebellious nature,” he said. “I don’t think Hiker authorized most of those missions.”
She offered him an encouraging smile. “You’ve been preparing for this all this time. Before you magnetized to Simi, you had your fair share of battles, right?”
“For sure,” he said with confidence.
“And you’ve experienced every single battle that every weapon you’ve ever touched had,” Sophia added.
“Right,” he said, seeming to grow more secure.
“So it’s in you, even if you haven’t been in action in a while,” Sophia stated. “As soon as you need to, you’re going to fall right back into it without issue because, at the end of the day, you were born for this. You’re Dragon Elite.”
Wilder smiled, a dimple surfacing on his left cheek. “You know, you’re a lot better at this motivational thing than Hiker.”
“Yeah, but for as much trouble as I give him, I recognize that he’s a good leader,” Sophia said.
Wilder nodded. “That he is. I’m glad you see it. I wouldn’t have stuck around during centuries of mundane if I didn’t believe in the man.”
“Okay, are you ready for this?” Sophia asked, holding up the hourglass.
“Yes. I admit I might have been stalling a bit.”
“Me too,” Sophia agreed and then remembered something. She pointed to the bow in his hand. “Did you figure out what its special power is?”
He nodded. “It can find a target, no matter what. And it always shoots to kill.”
Sophia’s eyes widened. “That sounds incredibly useful and also dangerous if in the wrong hands.”
“I agree,” Wilder stated. “Thankfully, it’s my hands, and I don’t plan on using it.”
“Oh, yeah,” Sophia said, realizing that she promised him he could use the bow on this mission. But if he did, then she couldn’t do her job, using her sword to kill the Phantom and bonding with Inexorabilis.
“You’re going to apologize, but don’t,” Wilder declared. “I got to recover the first and most powerful bow in the world. I don’t need to use it to experience it.”
Sophia smiled subtly. “And you’re probably one of the few in the world that’s true for.”
He shouldered the bow and held out his hands. “I’m ready to do my part with magic and watch you slay the beast.”
“Okay, then,” Sophia said, holding up the hourglass. “Without further ado.”
Chapter Sixty-Three
There was nothing that could accurately prepare Sophia for what she was going to do next. Not only was she about to face a beast responsible for spreading hate and negativity all over the world, but she was going to battle one of the first monsters her mother had slain. Killing the Phantom had been how Guinevere Beaufont had bonded to Inexorabilis, creating a partnership that lasted a lifetime, making her a stronger Warrior for the House of Fourteen, and therefore making the magical world a safer place.
For a woman who didn’t remember her mother, Sophia still felt intimately bonded to her. Guinevere’s ghost seemed to walk beside Sophia so many times in her life. Maybe it was her imagination, but she often heard a voice in her head, echoing in her heart that didn’t sound like her own. She always wanted to believe it was her mother, looking after her from wherever she might be.
The fact that Sophia’s father had also been a part of banishing the Phantom made this more symbolic. All her life, Sophia had been told by her siblings about their parent’s unyielding love for each other.
Theodore and Guinevere Beaufont had a romance that inspired novels. It was the stuff of legends. Clark, her brother, the least romantic type Sophia knew, had once told her, “One could live a thousand lives and not find a love like what our parents had. They weren’t just partners like most married couples. They had a love that others felt when in the room with them. Their feelings for each other were infectious. I’m certain that they unknowingly inspired love all around the world.”
Sophia closed her eyes and pictured her parent’s ghosts swirling around her, encouraging her. I want to make you proud, she said, directing the words to them.
She pulled Inexorabilis from its sheath as she opened her eyes. “Familia Est Sempiternum,” Sophia said aloud, feeling the sword pulse in her hand, ready for the battle to come.
“Is that the spell to unlock the hourglass?” Wilder asked, tense beside her.
She shook her head. “No, t
hose are the words that bond my family together no matter what.”
“Oh, I’m not familiar with that spell,” he stated.
She lifted the hourglass. “It’s not really a spell. It’s love, but I guess that’s the most powerful spell there ever was.”
“I can’t argue with that, Soph,” Wilder said, flashing her a smile.
She wrapped her fingers around the hourglass, muttering the spell that Father Time had included with the item. As soon as she spoke the words, the object warmed in her hand. She opened her palm and held it up to see a strange sight.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Most hourglasses dropped the granules of sand from top to bottom. This one was definitely not ordinary. At the conclusion of the spell, the sand on the bottom of the hourglass began to trickle upwards, gliding into the top.
“It’s reversing time,” Wilder observed.
“Actually,” Sophia corrected, “it’s reversing one event in time.”
Wilder looked out at the marsh, his eyes narrowed on the long grass as it swayed in the wind. “When will it be here?”
Sophia drew in a breath. “As soon as the last granule slips into the top,” she said, recalling the instructions.
He cut his gaze to the hourglass, nervousness covering his face. “Not long now.”
“Just remember,” she warned, “don’t look into his eyes. Anywhere else.”
The last granule rose up, landing at the top with the rest. Sophia’s heart sped up. She lowered her hand, slipping the hourglass into her pocket. It had done its job, or at least she hoped.
The minute that ticked by was the longest sixty seconds of her life. The rustling of the wind made her jump. The rolling of the puffy clouds in the blue sky seemed to hold a sinister edge like they might turn into storms at any moment. And when the marsh fell completely silent, Sophia knew the moment of reckoning was upon them.
She stepped forward, holding Inexorabilis in both hands. It’s time we bond, she said to the sword, feeling a small twinge run up her arm.
A thundering like a hundred horses streaking across the ground echoed in Sophia’s ears. She didn’t look back at Wilder. Instead, she kept her eyes peeled on the landscape in front of them.