Determine the Future (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 10)

by Sarah Noffke

  “Yes, it’s when everything is going to hell that I feel most comfortable,” Liv offered. “Then I know the universe is stirring things up right. If no wrenches are being thrown at me, I get instantly suspicious.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Well, let’s start with my general complaint because I need to vent,” Liv began. “Do you know what kombucha is or how to erase it from the Earth?”

  “It’s a tea made from fermented mushrooms, and why would you want to do that?” Sophia asked.

  “Because the dumb hippie elves you have me rehoming keep asking for it to settle their nerves, and I think if I wipe it out, they’ll shush it.”

  Sophia laughed. “Oh, yeah, how’s that going? Still having to deal with all the elf refugees, huh?”

  “It’s like they multiply daily,” Liv complained. “Their concerns about preservatives in their food or whether the air conditioning is running and drying out their dreads definitely multipies second by second.”

  Sophia laughed. “Well, believe it or not, I’m indirectly working on solving the whole elf homeland invasion problem. I hope to have a resolution soon and relieve you of the hippies and all their concerns over the use of microwaves and organics.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this indirectly business,” Liv stated.

  “Well, I have to get into the Rogue Riders’ border, which means I have to determine what kind of barrier they have. To do that, I have to fix the fairy godmother college. To accomplish that, I have to get a sweet treat for a potions maker, and that involves getting special ingredients from the Brownies.”

  Liv laughed on the other end of the phone. “We’re, like, the same person. That sounds like my morning.”

  Sophia nodded. “I’m glad someone gets it. How is it that nothing is straightforward in this business?”

  “Because that would be boring.” Liv cleared her throat. “Don’t worry about the elves. I’ll take care of them. They’re a huge headache when talking about their star charts and about how their child Dusk’s dreads are a sign that she’s showing her independence. First off, Indigo, give your child a real name. She’s not a My Little Pony. Also, she has dreads because you haven’t taught her personal hygiene, not independence.”

  “Let it all out.” Sophia giggled.

  “We’ve been feeding these hippies and most refuse to eat because the food isn’t organic,” Liv continued. “So let me get this straight. Not washing your hair or using deodorant is healthy, but putting conventional food in your body that literally keeps you alive is bad. Thank you very much, you hypocritical walrus-hugging drain on our work ethic hippies.”

  “That was beautiful.” Sophia smiled.

  Liv let out a long breath. “Thanks. I think I feel better now.”

  “Are you done?” Sophia asked.

  “For now,” Liv answered. “Anyway, the next bit isn’t as much fun.”

  Sophia tensed and prepared herself. “Go on then.”

  “Well, the House of Fourteen wants an in-person update from a Dragon Elite member on this Rogue Rider business that we have to manage, and by us, I mean me because none of the rest of them have my patient sunshine disposition to deal with the hippie elves.”

  Sophia blew out a breath. “And by a Dragon Elite member, you mean me?”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Liv replied. “I think they’re going to be kind of grumpy too, so be warned. These Rogue Riders are real jerks and giving dragonriders a bad name. There’s no distinction yet that they’re demon dragonriders, so education is probably in order. But yeah, the council requests a meeting with you.”

  “Okay. I’ll head that way after I finish up some business here. Don’t worry. I’m good at handling the House of Fourteen.”

  “Oh, I don’t worry about you, Soph. Well, I do, but not like I should. Usually, I worry about you bruising your hand on some scoundrel’s dumb face. But yeah, give the House hell. Set them straight, then save the world.”

  Sophia smiled. “Thanks for the vote of confidence. After all that is taken care of, I’ll boot the Rogue Riders out of the elfin land so we can all have some peace back.”

  “If anyone can do it, it will be you.” Liv added, “I believe in you. Familia Est Sempiternum.”

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  For the time being, Sophia tried not to think about the council at the House of Fourteen and all the headaches they intended to give her. She understood from an outsider’s perspective how the Rogue Riders muddied things for dragonriders.

  Before this, Nevin Goosemen had put a lot of effort into campaigning against the Dragon Elite. Many mortals had bought into the fear, which created all sorts of problems for the dragonriders. They’d thankfully recovered from that only to wake up to find the demon dragons truly giving them real issues globally.

  Sophia would still contend that Nevin Goosemen was wrong. Demon dragons weren’t supposed to be eliminated en masse. She had to believe there was a balance to it all. She simply had to figure out how to obtain it, and that involved putting some new high-and-mighty dragonriders who were drunk on power in their place. Then all would be right in the world—or at least for a little while.

  Sophia crawled through the small door of the Official Brownie Headquarters to find Ticker, Mortimer’s son sitting on the floor seemingly playing a game.

  “Hi, Ticker.” Sophia offered the little Brownie a smile.

  He didn’t glance up from whatever rested between his straddled legs. Sophia approached and looked over his shoulder to see what had his attention.

  It was a map—an incredibly complicated one with flaps that folded out like an accordion and lots of moving pieces like a pop-up book. There were small scrunched-up handwritten notes all over, written sideways, and upside-down and sometimes in spirals. The whole thing was one shade of blue.

  Sophia had no idea what she was looking at but got the distinct impression that it was essential and held a ton of information. The map felt old…ancient. It also felt powerful—a unique brand of magic radiated off it. She didn’t suspect it was something she’d know how to read easily, maybe not at all.

  The more she looked at the words, the more she realized they weren’t ones she recognized. Could it be written in a different language? The Dragon Elite sometimes had things automatically translated for them, but that was usually when hearing speech or speaking. It didn’t always work on different magical races since their governance was in the mortal world. After careful reflection, Sophia was certain this was the unique language of the Brownies.

  “What is this, Ticker?” Sophia knelt next to the little Brownie.

  He glanced up then, not at all surprised to find her there although he hadn’t acknowledged her until then. “Mops pap!”

  Sophia blinked around at the office. “Your Pops? His map? Where is Mortimer?” Then Sophia realized that the space was unusually dark and quiet. Usually, Pricilla buzzed around while toting her youngest child, and Mortimer often bounced a ball against his office wall while he thought through the many problems of the Brownie world.

  “Top’s phere.” Ticker set his bony finger on a box in the middle of the map with lots of different circles inside it. There was tiny writing inside each of the small rings that Sophia would need a microscope to read.

  “And your mom?” Sophia inquired.

  “Hith wim,” Ticker answered.

  Sophia nodded. She always had to readjust how she processed when listening to Ticker. “With him?”

  He nodded.

  “Are they okay?” Sophia experienced a strange foreboding feeling regarding all this.

  The little Brownie pulled on one of his long ears and made it tug down over a large eye. “Lost mikely. Naybe mot. Sill wee.”

  “What’s going on, Ticker?”

  “Drownie biscussions,” he answered. “Mew fad.”

  Sophia studied the map and the area that Ticker had indicated. The more she studied it, the more her eyes sort of blurred like she was looking at one of those
Magic Eye images where it only worked if you didn’t focus and instead allowed everything to blur together. Only then would the actual picture show up. While doing this, Sophia could have sworn that an image swam to the surface, but only for a second. She gasped. “Wait, is that place a meeting place of sorts?”

  “Crownie Bonvention,” Ticker answered. “Hempers tot!”

  “Are you saying that Mortimer and Pricilla are at a meeting with Brownies and things aren’t good? Like, the other Brownies are mad about stuff?”

  He nodded, and his ears flopped around. “Roalition cules. Soring btuff.”

  “Coalition rules,” Sophia mused and looked off as she thought. “So there must be problems and pushback from the Brownie union. Poor Mortimer. I bet he’s under so much stress, trying to quell the concerns of all the Brownies while getting the jobs done for mortals.”

  Ticker nodded and pulled at the tuft of hair on the top of his head. “Be hald.”

  Sophia couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, I hope that things get resolved. If anyone can do it, it’s your pops.” She pointed at the map that still didn’t make complete sense but noticed that figures moved on it, like the Elite globe at the Gullington that showed the placement of the dragonriders. “That map, does it belong to Mortimer?”

  Ticker nodded and pointed at himself proudly. “Gops pave. Se mupervise.”

  Sophia grinned at the little guy and affectionately patted him on the shoulder. “Mortimer must trust you an awful lot to leave you in charge. You’re a very responsible Brownie. Although I realize you have a lot of work to do, I came here because I needed something that apparently only the Brownies have.”

  Ticker’s eyes brightened with excitement. “He melp! He melp!”

  “Thanks, Ticker. I could use your help. I’m glad you were here. I need the Brownies’ special chocolate nibs, rainbow sprinkles, and grenache. Do you have that or know where I can get it?”

  The magical creature held out his small hands cupped together and his large eyes blinked. A moment later, a box neatly wrapped in shiny blue paper with a large white bow appeared in the palm of his hand. He held it up proudly, then handed it to her. “Sere Hophia.”

  “Wow, thanks. That was fast.” Sophia took the box, which was heavier than she expected for its size. She was impressed by the little Brownie who seemed so childlike, but she also knew from experience was mature and responsible. The small house elves were grownup from an early age.

  In Bermuda’s Magical Creatures book, she stated this was because they were so aligned with good and chose to serve only morally decent mortals. This was probably conjecture, but it made sense to Sophia when thinking of all the havoc the demon dragonriders had caused in such a short period of time.

  “If there’s anything I can do to return the favor, then you know I’m always happy to help,” Sophia stretched to a standing position, but not all the way since the ceilings were Brownie-sized in the official headquarters.

  “Yhank tou,” Ticker cheered and smiled up at her before returning his attention to the complicated map.

  “Does that map show the locations of all the Brownies in the field?” Sophia asked, her curiosity overwhelmed by the interesting instrument.

  Ticker nodded.

  “That must be a very powerful map,” Sophia was impressed.

  “Pery vowerful.” Ticker placed his finger on a small structure on the map that resembled a cottage with smoke billowing from the chimney. He dragged his finger across the map until he was to the top left corner, where there was an X with words that Sophia couldn’t decipher.

  A second later, a Brownie who was bigger, rounder, and older than Ticker appeared beside them with a tired expression on his face.

  He sighed, not seeming to notice Sophia standing there with the box in hand. Picking at his rat-like teeth, the Brownie gave Ticker a look of relief. “Oh, good, am I getting reassigned? About time. Those mortals aren’t the do-gooders they once were.”

  Ticker nodded at the other Brownie, then glanced at Sophia. “Teeting mime.”

  Understanding that Ticker had politely excused her, she curtsied slightly to the Brownies and smiled. “Thanks for all your help. Good luck with everything. I’ll check in later to see if you need any help.”

  “Sye Bophia!”

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Sophia was so impressed and overwhelmed by the Brownie map that she’d forgotten to ask Ticker what she should have made with the special ingredients or where to have it done. Finding the young Brownie there instead of Mortimer had thrown her for a loop too. Thankfully, Sophia thought that she’d be able to figure out the next part on her own, or at least knew where to start.

  Once on Roya Lane, Sophia suddenly got a very strange feeling. It was so abrupt that she paused to check the contents of the box of special ingredients that Ticker had given her, thinking that maybe there was something about them that made her feel weird. Although she knew they were magical, there didn’t appear to be anything nefarious about them.

  However, for some reason, Sophia couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong as she strode down Roya Lane. Consumed with trying to figure out the sudden change, Sophia became aware that many magical creatures gave her rude stares as she moved past.

  Sophia was used to getting attention when she walked down Roya Lane. As a Dragon Elite, many of the gnomes acted paranoid when she waltzed by. Her association with the House of Fourteen, which governed the magical world, also made her not everyone’s favorite person. They always seemed to think that she would break up their affairs or throw the rule book at them.

  Nevertheless, something was distinctly different about how people regarded her on Roya Lane on that particular day. Usually, the elves, gnomes, and other creatures were merely guarded when Sophia trotted by. This time though, there was a hint of hostility.

  Several times, Sophia could have sworn that she heard names thrown at her. Words like bully, tyrant, and thief.

  This was the Rogue Riders’ doing, Sophia realized as she pieced it all together. They’d been out stealing and bullying and exerting their power on the mortal and magical world. This was what Liv had referred to regarding the House of Fourteen’s concern. The demon dragonriders behaved however they liked, and the Dragon Elite were the ones who would pay the price. Things had to change. The Rogue Riders were the ones who needed the rule book thrown at them.

  Sophia hurried as the crowd ahead closed in on her at the narrowest part of the lane. She could get away from an angry mob of magical creatures, but not without incidents that would continue to make her look like the bad guy.

  Any confrontation at this point would put her and the Dragon Elite in the wrong light. She had to fix the perception. Then she could address the magical world directly.

  Those on the streets ahead all looked her way. None of them wore welcoming expressions. Unlike before, they didn’t shrink away, worried that Sophia would break up their dealings.

  Instead, they turned to face her with hostile expressions. Sophia wished she’d seen this coming, and regretted not putting a disguising spell on herself.

  Although she’d been headed to the Crying Cat Bakery, now she had second thoughts. She didn’t want to draw negative attention to the business. However, she reasoned that Lee wouldn’t care since she usually went out of her way to scare customers away, not wanting to have too much work refilling the sold-out display case of pastries. Still, Sophia didn’t want to cause trouble for her friends.

  Therefore as the crowd formed a solid line up ahead, Sophia made an impromptu decision and spun. To her horror, she found that a large, angry mob at her back blocked her from retreating.

  She was trapped.

  Sophia knew that fighting her way out of this one wasn’t an option. Based on the expressions on most of the crowd’s faces, she didn’t think that talking to them would help. Whatever the Rogue Riders had done, it hadn’t gone over well with the magical world, and they wanted to take their frustrations out on a dra
gonrider.

  As quickly as she could, Sophia created a portal as someone lunged for her—a gnome who was yelling about having all his gold stolen. Sophia leapt through the opening and hoped that her plan worked.

  She needed to get out of that part of Roya Lane right away while also staying there. Her goal was to throw off the angry mob while still getting done what she needed to accomplish.

  This new development made it even more apparent that Sophia needed to fix fairy godmother college and get the help she needed to stop the Rogue Riders. The demon dragonriders had obviously gone way too far and needed to be taught a lesson.

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Sophia slipped into the Crying Cat Bakery before anyone could spot her and shut the door with a little more gusto than she’d intended, which made Lee’s head snap up.

  The assassin baker narrowed her eyes at Sophia. “You got a lot of nerve showing your face in here.”

  Throwing her chin into the air, Sophia sighed dramatically. “No, not you too. I thought that of everyone you’d get that the Dragon Elite aren’t the problem.”

  Lee strode around the counter while wiping her hands on her apron. A red liquid that Sophia desperately hoped was strawberry jam covered them. “Dragon Elite? What do they have to do with anything?”

  “Well, you’re mad about dragonriders stealing and stuff, right? And you mistakenly think that it’s the Dragon Elite.”

  Lee pursed her lips. “I dare you or anyone else to steal something from me.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Sophia a questioning expression. “Go ahead and try it.”

  Sophia rolled her eyes, not willing to be challenged. “No, I think I’m good. But if you’re not mad about the Dragon Elite or thieving dragonriders, then why are you upset with me and asking how I have the nerve to step foot in here?”

  “Specifically, I asked how dare you show your face in here, but whatever. We won’t split hairs.”