by Sarah Noffke
“Allowed,” Sophia said dryly as worry started to build in her.
“Once I learned how influential the Castle could be to that which it is connected to, and I started to understand what the Dragon Elite was doing, I thought it might be smart to guard things,” Trinity explained. “I’m not saying anything will happen, but I am saying if something infected the Castle, it could take us all down with it.”
Sophia swallowed. Her head swam with dizziness. It was hard for her to believe she was a part of something so powerful.
She didn’t understand the Castle or the Gullington, but she’d spent enough time there to know, it was quite possibly the most powerful place on Earth.
Which made sense since it was where Mother Nature had chosen to reside after returning to the modern world.
Chapter Fourteen
Sophia left the Complete History of Dragonriders in her room before heading off for the House of Fourteen. The information Trinity had given her was brewing in her mind, but there was nothing she could do with it.
She could be cautious and aware. The Castle was connected to everything, and according to Trinity, the Castle and Gullington were the connecting force, the artery that had to be isolated from Trinity’s perspective.
Sophia stepped into the closet portal and sucked in a breath. She heard the wind batter the walls around the Castle and remembered there must be something bothering her. She didn’t know what it was but wondered as she traveled through the portal if it could possibly be that she didn’t feel adequate when she was at the House of Fourteen.
It still didn’t seem like the most plausible explanation. Yes, it was true she got tired of being looked at like she was still a child, but at the end of the day, she didn’t really care what others thought of her. She was a dragonrider for the Elite. What did it matter if a bunch of magicians didn’t take her seriously? Her word was law. They didn’t have anything close to her when it came to influence.
The howling wind stopped when Sophia stepped through the portal door in the House of Fourteen. She didn’t understand why. If she was to be blamed for the high winds, why wouldn’t they follow her from location to location? Maybe because the House of Fourteen had better insulation than the old Castle.
Sophia knew that was wishful thinking. The Castle was just as strong if not more so than the House if she’d learned anything from Trinity.
She’d heard wind whistle through the House of Fourteen many times before. It used to keep her up at night when she was a child. Reese, her sister, would crawl into her bed and comb her hair off her forehead. Her sister would tell her stories about a three-toed gnome she met at Roya Lane that day who sold her essence of the beach or some other weird adventure her sister had been on. Before long, the wind subsided, and Sophia would drift off to sleep.
It never happened in reverse, where Sophia fell asleep and forgot about the wind. Just like the past, she couldn’t sleep or concentrate when the winds were tumultuous. Sophia allowed her mind to trail back in her memory, to figure out what was needling at her brain, making her chest feel heavy, telling her to pay attention.
When Sophia was young, and the winds would pick up, she remembered being sad. Not just sad, more like confused. For Sophia, belonging had always been a bit of an issue. She never felt like she belonged at the House of Fourteen, mostly because she had to hide her magic since children weren’t supposed to possess it. Her siblings were always busy working, and when they weren’t, Sophia felt their loss over their parents and sister. Clark mentioned Liv often and how much he missed her.
Sophia sucked in a breath. Smelling the scents of her childhood as she progressed down the long corridor in the House of Fourteen, she wondered if it was possible that all those years ago, Sophia herself had created the high winds with her emotions? Did her confusion over belonging and her inability to take away her sibling's pain cause tumultuous emotions inside of her that stirred the wind? If so, why weren’t the winds up now when she was at the House of Fourteen like they were when she was at the Castle?
As often happened, Sophia strode on in autopilot mode, her feet taking her down paths she’d walked all her young life. Lost in thought, Sophia ran into something she at first thought was a wall.
Halting, she looked and found herself staring straight up Rory Lauren’s nose.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, not taking a step back and unsure why as the giant was pressed up against her.
Unflustered, Rory gazed down at her with his usually calm expression. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, and her chin brushed against the fabric of his plaid shirt. For some reason, she wanted to wrap her arms around the big guy and hug him. Rory was really Liv’s friend, who liked to call him her “little sidekick,” which he didn’t find amusing. That was Rory and Liv’s dynamic. He pretended to tolerate her but was secretly very fond of her, Sophia suspected.
Sophia had spent a lot of time with the giant since he’d kept Lunis’ egg before he hatched, but she didn’t know him all that well. Yet, more than anything, she really wanted to hug him right then.
“I’m fine,” Sophia replied, her voice cracking.
“Is that why you’re pressed up against me?” he asked, still staring down at her.
She managed a smile. “You haven’t moved either.”
“I was here first,” he replied.
“Do you normally stand in the middle of hallways, blocking the path?” Sophia asked, her voice amused even though she didn’t feel that way at all.
“I was drawn to this spot,” he answered.
“Oh?” she queried. She didn’t feel as awkward as she thought she should about continuing to stand so close to the giant. “By what?”
His eyes fluttered with annoyance. There was the Rory Laurens, who so often rolled his eyes at Liv. “By you, of course.”
Sophia took a step back then and immediately wished she hadn’t. She felt much colder a foot from the giant. “Me? I drew you to this spot and made you be a wall?”
The giant really was blocking the wide corridor with his large frame. Sophia could have squeezed by, but not easily.
“I’m not a wall,” he argued. “I’m a person, but I see that in your sister’s absence, you’ve borrowed her humor.”
“Said like a true writer,” Sophia mused, remembering Rory had recently quit his accounting job to follow his dream of being a novelist.
“We’re not talking about me right now,” he challenged.
“How did I draw you to this spot?” Sophia asked.
“Elemental forces related to the Earth,” he explained. “I’m guessing you were creating quite a few windy conditions at your last location.”
Sophia took another step back and peered sideways at Rory. “How do you know that? And yes. Why am I not creating wind here?”
“Because I’m a giant. And I thought so. You’re not creating wind here for multiple reasons. Chiefly because I’m here and giants neutralize, which is why you want to hug me right now.”
“I don’t either,” Sophia argued, her face flushing.
“Anyway, regardless, when giants are present, it calms the wind because we own the elemental force of the Earth,” Rory continued. “Also, I suspect whatever was really bothering you before isn’t as much on your mind when you’re in the House of Fourteen.”
Sophia thought about this. She put herself back in the Castle and felt something stir inside of her. Was there something about the Gullington creating conflicting emotions? It had to be the dragon eggs. Being in charge of them was a huge responsibility. She was reminded of why she was at the House of Fourteen.
“Are you headed to the Chamber of the Tree?” Sophia questioned, changing the subject.
“When you are ready,” he stated stoically.
“Well, I’m ready, but you’re going to have to move for me to get by,” she joked.
He held his hands out noncommittally. “Do you want a hug?”
“Will you judge me poorly if I say yes?” Sop
hia asked sheepishly.
“Judge you?” Rory questioned. “Yes. Poorly. No.”
“You will?”
“We judge everything no matter what,” he explained. “It’s impossible not to. From the moment we wake up each day, we’re judging. That’s part of what makes us conscious beings.”
“You can be quite literal, can’t you?” she teased.
With his hands still held out, he said, “I am in the business of words.”
Chapter Fifteen
The hug made Sophia feel lighter. Then it made her blush and feel totally embarrassed. Rory didn’t seem to feel anything about it. His face just remained neutral.
Sophia followed the giant to the Chamber of the Tree in silence. When he passed through the Door of Reflection, she sucked in a breath and prepared herself.
She reminded herself she was delivering good news. Her job as a diplomat to the House of Fourteen was an honor, and she demanded the respect of the Council. Still, inside she felt like the small little girl who used to wear frilly dresses and have her head patted by the older magicians she was about to present to.
“You can do this,” she whispered to herself.
“Or you can’t,” murmured a familiar voice at Sophia’s back.
She smiled to herself and turned around to find Plato the lynx casually standing in the middle of the hallway. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“It’s important to maintain a balanced perspective,” the magical creature answered. “Many think they are optimistic by telling themselves they can do something, but those could also be considered unrealistic dreams of grandeur.”
Sophia sighed. “Liv has the strangest friends.”
“Your best friend breathes fire and plays Sudoku,” Plato replied.
“It helps him to fall asleep,” she fired back. “And how do you know about that? He does that in the Cave, and I only know about it because we share thoughts.”
“I know things,” the lynx said, a familiar air of mystery in his voice.
Sophia rolled her eyes. “You’ve been in the Gullington, haven’t you?”
“Like a circus flea, I’ve been everywhere,” the black and white cat answered.
She shook her head. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to get into the Gullington.” She peered around the hallway. “But of course, I don’t know how you get into the House of Fourteen either since you’re not one of the Fourteen. You’re so strange. But onto topics we haven’t discussed, why are you here?”
“Because I have to be somewhere,” he informed her matter-of-factly, his black tail with the white tip flicking in the air.
Sophia sighed. She should have upped her dose of patience before this visit. “No, I mean, specifically, why are you here interrupting me with realistic missives to crush my dreams of grandeur? You only show up when you have some cryptic message for me.”
“Maybe this time is different,” he offered.
She stuck her hands on her hips. “Is it?”
Plato shook his head. “No, but I didn’t think you wanted to just hang out with me for high tea.”
“Yeah, you’re Liv’s cup of tea.”
“Ha-ha,” he said with no humor. “You’re going to tell the Council about the dragon eggs, are you?”
“Well, they already know since Hiker told the world,” she reasoned.
“Yes, but you want to tell them more details,” Plato teased, a hint of mischief in his voice.
“I was planning on filling them in on Thad Reinhart and the eggs, yes. Why? Do you think I shouldn’t?”
“I think there are some details you should share because they make you look good.” He teetered his head back and forth in thought. “But there are other details you shouldn’t share because they don’t make others look so good.”
Sophia thought for a moment as she tried to decipher what the lynx was trying to say. “Do you mean the fact Thad Reinhart was a dragonrider?”
“It goes to reason if the Council, and specifically certain magicians with agendas, found out the enemy who nearly destroyed the Earth was one of your own, it may reflect poorly on the Dragon Elite,” Plato explained.
“But a magician’s biggest enemy is usually magicians,” Sophia reasoned. “I mean, the Great War was instigated by one of our own founders from the House of Fourteen.”
“I understand that. I firmly believe our enemies are usually our own. Dissension is often the strongest,” Plato said, “inside families, nations, and races. You’re playing a political game here as a diplomat for the Dragon Elite. Your job is to make dragonriders the supreme rulers, and most of that will revolve around perception. It’s not all a cakewalk even if you have a thousand dragon eggs.”
“I won’t ask how you know we have a thousand since that wasn’t public record,” Sophia complained, irritation in her voice.
“Let’s go with it was a good guess, and you just confirmed it.”
“Did you actually guess?” Sophia asked.
“Sort of,” he answered. “I mean, I couldn’t count all of the eggs in that cave you’re calling the Nest. I’m no Rain Man.”
She shook her head. “I totally don’t get you.”
“Well, Rain Man is a reference to a movie about—”
“That’s not what I meant, although I didn’t get that reference either.” Sophia sighed. “So I should lie and tell them Thad Reinhart was just an evil man slash magician or something?”
Plato frowned at her. “Beaufonts don’t lie.”
“Fine, but you’re the one who is telling me to alter the truth.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m telling you to omit details that aren’t necessary. Anyway, Jude and Diabolos would call you out for lying in the Chamber of the Tree.”
Jude and Diabolos were the two regulators who oversaw all proceedings for the Council. Jude was a white tiger and Diabolos, a black crow. Whatever fueled them and made them eternal and sensors of truth and deception was ancient and mysterious magic.
“Okay, so I won’t tell the Council Thad Reinhart was a dragonrider,” Sophia promised. “Is there anything else?”
“Yes. Bianca Mantovani has a cavity in her back right molar,” Plato said.
Sophia’s face contorted with confusion. “What? How do you… Why is that important?”
She never got her answer to the question because as he often did, Plato disappeared, leaving her alone outside of the Chamber of the Tree.
Chapter Sixteen
Sophia hadn’t anticipated the pressure that assaulted her chest when she entered the Chamber of the Tree and remembered this was the place founded by her ancestors.
The domed room appeared as it had centuries prior when the founding families created the House of Fourteen. The names of the seven magical families and seven mortal ones were engraved on the tree on the wall behind the bench where the Council sat. Overhead, lights twinkled to represent the magicians all over the world. Standing in a half arc around the room were the seven warriors—all of them present on this rare occasion.
They didn’t turn to look at Sophia as she walked into the dim space, lit by firelight. Sophia took the center spot in the Chamber and waited in silence for the Council to acknowledge her.
They all had their heads down, studying their tablets filled with the day’s cases.
She waited and she tensed, telling herself the perception of the Council didn’t matter and Plato was wrong. She told herself she shouldn’t care if they saw her as a ruling force.
But it did.
Before, Sophia had wanted to be seen as equal to the royals of the House of Fourteen. Now, she wanted, needed to be seen as more powerful than them.
The problem was she didn’t feel like it.
Sophia stood with her hands tight together. She knew her sister was at her back, and her brother was at her front. It made her feel marginally better, although when Clark glanced up, he looked at her like she was anybody else. That was always the way with the Councilor. He rarely broke character
and acted indifferent as though they hadn’t been raised together and bonded by blood. Liv was the opposite. When Sophia glanced over her shoulder to her sister, the Warrior flashed her a smile and winked.
The Council droned on about unregistered magicians for a full minute before Sophia realized their discussion could go on for a long time. That wouldn’t work. A Dragon Elite representative who was trying to exert power shouldn’t wait around for their turn. They should demand it.
Even though she was trembling inside, Sophia remained steady as she took a step forward and cleared her throat. “I must interrupt to offer the Dragon Elite update to the House of Fourteen.”
All heads jerked in her direction, many wearing disapproving expressions.
“Ms. Beaufont, it is not your turn,” Lorenzo Rosario scolded.
“I understand that,” she remarked, her chin high. “But my time is limited.”
“As is the Council’s,” Bianca Mantovani stated, looking around smugly. “Now, where were we before we were interrupted.”
“Talking about the same thing you’ve all droned on about for ages,” Liv said at Sophia’s back.
Bianca shot her a murderous stare. “The issue of registering magicians is an important topic that has presented many challenges.”
“None of which you are going to resolve today,” Liv argued. “I say we have Dragonrider Beaufont give her update.”
The scowl on Bianca’s face deepened. “I don’t believe how the Council conducts its meetings are any of your concern, Olivia.”
Sophia glanced over in time to see her sister turn like someone was standing at her back. She shrugged. “No Olivia here. But my name is Liv since you’ve obviously forgotten.”
“Your name is Olivia, according to the records,” Bianca contended, belaboring the point.