by Sarah Noffke
Liv leaned forward, brushing Sophia’s hair out of her face. “Just world peace, my dear sister.”
Sophia’s eyes fluttered with annoyance. “Seriously, you can’t offer me anything a bit less complicated? Like new snow boots or a grappling hook?”
“Ohhh,” Liv said, looking impressed. “Yes, to a new grappling hook. Wait, no, I just got a new one on Amazon. It came next-day because the fairies who run that place are freaking amazing. Anyway, I’m good with my grappling hook for a bit, at least until the next troll tries to throw it into Crater Lake.”
Sophia laughed. “That seems like a story I need to hear.”
“It’s not that entertaining,” Liv said dismissively. “He cried when I threw him in after it. I cried too because that dude wasn’t light. But yes, just world peace. If anyone can give that gift, it will be the very Exceptional S. Beaufont.”
Chapter Eight
At the entrance to the House of Fourteen, Sophia hesitated. She worried she wasn’t using her time wisely. Maybe she should turn back and leave. She should be back at the Gullington training, she told herself. However, Mama Jamba had said the timing wasn’t right to complete training, which she didn’t understand at all. Then again, maybe she should be working an adjudicator case for Hiker, she reasoned just before pushing the door open to the House of Fourteen.
Deep down, she knew finding The Complete History of Dragonriders was crucial, without knowing why. Liv always said things you felt, “deep down” were worth paying attention to.
“If we learn to live in the ‘deep down,’ we have a lot less confusion in our lives,” Liv had once told her.
“So I need to do this,” Sophia said, pushing open the door to the House of Fourteen to find the long corridor glowing with statues and the arched ceiling overhead. The ancient symbols of the founders on the walls greeted her, dancing around in different directions.
“Only you will know what you need to do,” a warm voice said at Sophia’s back. She spun around, having not realized anyone was behind her.
She relaxed at the sight of Hester DeVries, a Councilor for the House of Fourteen and also a healer. Her short gray hair was covered in water droplets like she’d just come through a rainstorm, although it wasn’t raining on the boardwalk in Santa Monica outside the House of Fourteen.
The older magician shook her head, dispelling the rain droplets as she shrugged off the wet cloak she was wearing.
“Oh, you heard me,” Sophia said, blushing at the woman. “I was just…”
“…trying to convince yourself you’re in the right place at the right time,” Hester offered. “I feel like that’s most people, most always.”
Sophia sucked in a breath, used to having these strange conversations with the healer, and not really minding them. Hester’s sister, Trudy DeVries, was a seer, although few knew since it wasn’t something safe to be, even in the magical world. This meant Hester was usually privy to things most didn’t know, and she often slipped little tidbits into conversations with Sophia.
One of the last times they spoke, Hester had run into Sophia when her heart was breaking. Thinking she’d been kicked out of the Dragon Elite, she hadn’t realized Hiker Wallace threw people out willy-nilly. Hester had told her then the pain she felt would get worse. She’d followed this up with, “I only tell you this so you learn how to shoulder the pain. It won’t kill you for your heart to ache, but it can ruin you if you’re not careful.”
Sophia had turned the advice over in her mind ever since and hadn’t made sense of it. Knowing there was more heartbreak on the horizon shouldn’t have surprised her. That was part of life. She’d lost her connection to Lunis after, which had left scars on her heart. Since then, she’d tried to process things, so any pains she did feel didn’t ruin her. Deep down, Sophia felt Hester was referring to something very specific. A pain Sophia couldn’t avoid, but if she could, she’d do anything to deter it.
“I was just trying to rationalize being here when I have other obligations,” Sophia explained to the healer after a long silence.
Hester nodded. “That’s the story of my life. I think we often feel torn, not knowing how best to use our energy or time. Those really are our most valuable assets at the end of the day. All you must ask yourself is what you want most.”
Without thinking, the response fell out of Sophia’s mouth. “Answers,” she said at once.
The smile that flickered to Hester’s mouth made her gray eyes light up. “I dare say, the House of Fourteen is full of those and ways to get them.”
“Oh, I suppose you’re right,” Sophia said, her eyes drifting off as she thought of where she should start her investigation. The number of closets that could potentially be in the House of Fourteen was simply overwhelming.
“Incidentally,” Hester said with a wink. “Only families belonging to residents can enter their apartments here. Or that’s the way it was supposed to be set up.”
Sophia turned her head to the side, wondering where this strange tidbit came from. She remained silent.
“I accidentally learned a spell to allow me to get into any residence I wanted as long as my intent wasn’t for nefarious purposes.”
Sophia continued to stare at the strange magician before her, a curious expression on her face.
Hester held out her hand. “I’m guessing your motives would be anything but nefarious. So, if any of this interests you, then here you go.” The healer then blew on her palm.
To Sophia’s surprise, she didn’t jump back in alarm. As the sparkling dust hit her face, she simply blinked and let it wash over her, spilling a spell of sorts into her brain.
She shook her head when Hester backed up, a victorious expression on her face. She flicked the sparkles off, brushed her hands and looked around. “Well, it seems I better be off.”
Sophia, not feeling as disoriented as she thought she should be considering the last few moments, simply looked at Hester as she hurried down the corridor, leaving her alone without even saying goodbye.
Chapter Nine
It was strange, but Sophia had never learned a spell the way Hester had just given it to her. She’d mostly learned from books. Some from instructors, but never by way of pixie dust blown in her face.
The spell was clear as day in her head. She repeated it with ease, knowing everything she’d need to do it right. This was how she’d get into apartments belonging to others in the House of Fourteen. Otherwise, she’d only be allowed into the Beaufont residence, which would do her little good since she had been in every closet in the apartment. Also, she knew the Beaufont residence was empty since Clark had moved in with Liv and Sophia. Well, and she now lived at the Gullington.
To try to keep things easy, Sophia tried all the closets in the common areas. More than a few times, she got strange looks for sliding out of closets in the kitchen, hallways, and dining areas. The staff and other resident magicians didn’t stop her when she would exit a closet with a defeated expression, but they gave her questioning looks.
The good news for Sophia was she was at the House of Fourteen, which abounded with eccentrics who often did strange things. At the Gullington, there was a much more prescribed way of acting, although Ainsley defied that with every action.
Magicians for the House of Fourteen were often expected to do the unexpected, and that was good for Sophia. What wasn’t good was she’d been in over two dozen closets and only found magical cleaning supplies, cloaks which hid large things and erased small things, and fairies who didn’t like sharing their small dark compartments with Sophia.
“I’m leaving,” Sophia argued when the last fairy sought to kick her out of their spot.
With a defeated sigh, Sophia realized she was going to have to actually enter the residential areas to explore closets. She wasn’t looking forward to such trespassing.
She kept her head down as she climbed the stairs she’d passed hundreds and thousands of times. It wasn’t unnatural for her to avoid eye contact on this trek. Tha
t had been normal during her childhood since she was the strange child who didn’t talk to the others.
The families always spoke about Sophia, because they thought she was antisocial. No one suspected the truth: she was special. At age four, she’d had the powers of an adult magician and a family of siblings who had encouraged and taught her how to use those powers.
Reese, her sister, for all her eccentricities, had been very excited to teach Sophia spells she shouldn’t have learned until she was much older. Ian, for as practical as he was, also recognized Sophia’s talents should be nurtured and taught her many things only advanced magicians knew. And Clark, for as careful as he was, fostered Sophia’s talents, teaching her how to decode and decipher spells well beyond her years.
During those early years, she hadn’t known Liv since her sister had abandoned the House of Fourteen after their parent’s death. The things her sister taught her when she did return filled up more pages in Sophia’s mind than from anyone she’d ever known. No one measured up to what Liv had taught her, which were mostly matters of the heart.
When Sophia came to the first residence, she halted and checked the area around the hallway. It felt wrong to enter someone else’s residence, even if Hester had given her the spell to do it. She eyed the family crest next to the door and smiled with relief. This made it a little easier. It was the DeVries family residence, which would be occupied by Hester and Trudy. She suspected neither was in the place currently.
Reciting the spell she’d just learned from the healer Sophia watched as the magic wrapped around the lock and then sent the door back a few inches, magically opening it.
She pushed open the door and found the first closet easily. When she stepped into the space filled with traveling cloaks, she wasn’t sure why she wasn’t surprised there was no strange magical switch or whatever else she expected.
As Sophia entered each of the closets, the mission became ridiculous to her. She didn’t even know what she was looking for, and entering other people’s closets was wrong. That’s where people kept their secrets, right? That’s where their skeletons were buried and where their demons lurked. That’s where they kept the teeth of their enemies; the bad things they didn’t want others to know about. The shopping purchases they were trying to hide, at the very least.
To Sophia’s relief, there was nothing that bad in any of Trudy’s and Hester’s closets. There was also nothing to give her any clues or lead her to what the Castle wanted in return for relinquishing The Complete History of Dragonriders. She exited the residence, sealing the door back as if she’d never been there.
If she had been a bad magician, up to no good, then with that kind of access, she could have done a lot of damage. The most powerful magical families in the world were located in the House of Fourteen. All Sophia wanted was to find a closet, although she still didn’t know what she was looking for as she slipped into her dozenth residence, checking to ensure there was no one in there. To her luck, most families were still out at work, lessons, or afternoon errands. Not many returned to their residences until after dinner, which gave Sophia the opportunity she needed to do her searching.
This residence was filled with many strange artifacts Sophia spent too long studying on her way to the closets. She hadn’t spent much time with these family members, but that wasn’t saying a lot. The Mantovanis were relatively new to the House of Fourteen, not founder families like the Beaufonts.
Sophia knew the Mantovanis weren’t the nicest magical family. Bianca had inherited her parent’s superior attitude. Her brother Emilio was trying to reform, but some things were hard to change. How the Mantovanis had gotten into the House was beyond Sophia. She reasoned it had something to do with when the Sinclairs were controlling things.
Sophia stopped to both admire and gawk over a crossbow displayed as being responsible for the death of “thousands of giants.” She was certain Wilder could tell her the truth about what the weapon had done. She didn’t want him to have to experience that brutality, but strangely, she wanted to know if what the placard beside the weapon boasted was true. Sophia didn’t have a chance to investigate anymore because precisely then, someone entered the apartment, sending her to the recesses of the darkened closet, where she should have been headed in the first place.
Chapter Ten
“Get in here before someone sees you,” Bianca Mantovani said, her voice a tight whisper.
Sophia pictured Bianca wearing her usual pursed expression on her pale face, black hair tightly pulled back into a bun, and the collar of her black lace dress buttoned all the way up. Her appearance never really differed, and one could count on Bianca to always have her brown eyes narrowed, judgments scrolling through her head as she picked those around her apart.
“Your hospitality is overwhelming,” Lorenzo Rosario said in a sarcastic voice, a shuffling sound marking his footsteps as he entered the residence.
He was a Councilor for the House of Fourteen, and according to Liv, his voting history was questionable at best. Liv had never had a firm reason to distrust Lorenzo but had been skeptical of him since the beginning. Unlike Bianca, he didn’t seem to vote according to how he was told by the corrupt Sinclairs, but he did seem less interested in justice and keener on what would benefit magicians over other magical races.
Sophia pressed herself farther into the closet as the pair walked by the door, which was open a few inches, a bit of light streaming into the dark compartment. On her trip backward, she knocked into something and reached down just in time to grab the umbrella before it clattered to the floor and gave her away. There would be no way to escape the two magicians if she alerted them to her presence. There was no portaling inside the House of Fourteen, and many of the combat spells didn’t work either.
Holding her breath, Sophia held the umbrella, afraid to lean it back up against the wall and potentially make noise.
“You don’t need to sit,” Bianca said in a chastising voice. “You won’t be here that long.”
“Again, your civility leaves a lot to be desired,” Lorenzo said dryly.
“We both know this isn’t a friendly visit,” Bianca stated. “We merely have a mutual goal. Do not confuse this as a friendship. Now let’s get down to business. What have you learned?”
Sophia’s attention perked up, and she dared to lean forward and press her ear closer to the opening of the closet.
Through the crack in the door, Sophia noticed the tall, lean figure of Lorenzo Rosario stroke his short, black goatee, a studious expression in his dark eyes. “Although the House’s favor has increased among the other magical races with the expansion of the council, I don’t believe that will hamper what we’re seeking to accomplish.”
“Yes, we now have the support of the elves,” Bianca said bitterly. “That isn’t a good sign.”
Lorenzo sighed. “I agree. I did everything I could to ensure they didn’t approve of the House’s rule.”
“And Olivia Beaufont did everything to ruin your efforts,” Bianca retorted.
“That is what she does,” Lorenzo commiserated. “Even gaining the support of the elves, gnomes, and giants, I think there’s still a way to upset the new structure of the council.”
“Good,” Bianca said with relief, “because sharing a seat with those mortals and other magical races is making my skin crawl. This wasn’t the way the House was meant to be.”
“I realize you were a supporter of the Sinclairs,” Lorenzo said, starting to pace, his soft-soled shoes making note of each step. “You will have to hide your disdain for the current structure; it could ruin everything. We are up against many liberal thinkers who believe they have control over the House.”
“They are the problem!” Bianca yelled, her voice shrill, making Sophia grimace from the high-pitched wail. “The Sinclairs might have been too powerful in the end, but the God Magician had it right. Mortals don’t belong in the House, and definitely not other magical races. Magicians should be ruling the House on their own. It is ha
ving all this influence from other sources that’s disrupting the balance.”
“You know I won’t argue with you there,” Lorenzo said matter-of-factly. “We have to be careful how we manipulate things. If anyone suspects we’re trying to revert things to how they used to be, there will be hell to pay. We could both lose our positions.”
“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” Bianca stated with confidence.
“Yes, you were able to dodge a bullet when the Sinclairs fell,” Lorenzo admitted. “But I don’t think you can do it again.”
Sophia’s breath remained shallow as she listened intently. Liv had been instrumental in reforming the House after mortals were allowed to see magic again. She incorporated the Mortal Seven back into the structure, expanding the council to the Fourteen they were once intended to be. She didn’t stop there though, lobbying for the major magical races to have a vote on the council as well. Now the House was a menagerie of magical races and influences which would obviously do a better job of serving the world than when it was partisan with only votes from magicians.
“Adler was the most powerful magician in the House,” Bianca argued, making a clanking noise. It sounded like she was moving crystal glasses around. “No one suspects me. We were all following his rule.”
“Not all of us,” Lorenzo corrected. “Hence the reason he fell from power.”
“He got sloppy, is all.”
“Why yes, I’ll take a drink,” Lorenzo said smugly.
“I wasn’t offering. You won’t be staying long enough for one,” Bianca replied.
He sighed. “My point is if we aren’t going to share the same fate as the Sinclairs, then we have to be more strategic. They were bold, changing the structure of the House. I think it would be better if we let the new structure implode on itself. Then we will be standing victorious at the end, ready to put things back together with the vision only the old structure will work.”
