by Sarah Noffke
Hiker nodded. “Evan, although I appreciate the offer, I think your efforts should be in passing your expertise to the new dragonriders. They still need more hands-on training. None of them have found the Great Library yet. Mahkah, I want you working with the dragons. Wilder, there are a few adjudication cases that need to be wrapped up after what the Rogue Riders pulled. Sophia, I think you’re our best bet for finding Versalee’s location using your contacts.”
“I have contacts,” Evan fussed.
“And expertise,” Sophia offered to him with a supportive smile before looking at Hiker. “Yes, I’ll get right on that. Hopefully, we can pin down this location before Versalee has a chance to create more problems.”
Hiker nodded. “Which I can almost guarantee she’s working on.”
He glanced at his riders and out the bank of windows. “Okay, get to work. We have a lot to accomplish and every minute counts. It could be the difference between winning this war and losing it.”
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Before Sophia could pop off to ask Mortimer for help to fix her problems, she got a message from Liv. It contained two pieces of information: one she’d been expecting and one that she hadn’t been.
The one that didn’t surprise her was that Alicia had completed the DPO—short for demeanor predictor orb. It would tell Mahkah which of the dragon eggs were demons and which were angels, allowing him to balance out which ones hatched at a time so there weren’t too many of one at once.
Apparently, Liv was off on a mission and Alicia was busy working on the magitech that Liv wanted to predict certain things about her unborn child. Therefore, Clark had left the DPO at the House of Fourteen for Sophia to retrieve easily.
That would be easy enough since the portal between the Castle and the House of Fourteen was still open but only accessible for Dragon Elite members who were also Royals—so really only Sophia. Hiker could pass into the House of Fourteen as the Dragon Elite’s leader, or any delegate sent to report to the Council, but that was always Sophia.
Since the House of Fourteen’s structure had changed dramatically with the exodus of the Rosario, Martinez, and Mantovani families, the Council wasn’t much interested in what the Dragon Elite were doing. They had their hands full interviewing families to replace the corrupt ones. Sophia suspected that wouldn’t change and the Council would remain uninterested in Dragon Elite business.
The House of Fourteen had only opportunities to improve with new blood and honorable families leading the Council. For the Dragon Elite, that meant there wouldn’t be the same tension between them and the House of Fourteen. The future looked bright.
The changes to the House of Fourteen also meant that the residents were shifting around. Since Sophia lived at the Gullington and Clark had moved in with Liv and Stefan at their penthouse apartment, there was little reason to keep the Beaufont residence in the House of Fourteen. For a while, it had only served as storage. Sophia believed that there were probably too many possessions that belonged to her parents and Reese and Ian that Liv didn’t want around but couldn’t get rid of.
Well, the time had finally come to deal with the family possessions. Liv had informed Sophia that she should stop by the old residence to get the DPO and anything else she wanted. The thought of rummaging through the old things filled Sophia with so many conflicting emotions.
She hadn’t known her parents. Reese and Ian, that was another story. The residence itself mostly held memories of Sophia’s life with Clark since he was the one around most when she was growing up, and this was the apartment she’d shared with him after her sister’s and brother’s death. Neither Sophia nor Clark was interested in staying in the huge Beaufont residence after Ian and Reese’s deaths so they’d downsized and all the family possessions were crammed into a large room at the back. Now Sophia had to face what she’d avoided for too long.
However, when Sophia moved out of the House of Fourteen, she’d mostly taken everything she wanted. Possessions didn’t matter much to her. When you lost so many in such a short time, it wasn’t hard to realize what was most important in life. Possessions could always be replaced. Ian and Reese and Sophia’s parents were never coming back.
A little reluctantly, Sophia stepped through the portal into the House of Fourteen, trying to decide what, if anything, she’d want to take from the old residence. She made her way to the old apartment, finding the halls of the House cold and quiet.
The door to the old Beaufont residence creaked when Sophia pushed it back—dust hit her nose along with old memories. Her gaze immediately went to the main wall in the living area, where she saw the same words she’d emblazoned on her bedroom wall in the Castle: Familia Est Sempiternum.
The words burned in Sophia’s throat as she whispered them to herself. Family was forever unless they died and you couldn’t see them ever again. Death was so permanent.
Sophia shook off the cynical thoughts, knowing they weren’t like her. She still had the memories of Ian and Reese. She still saw the love dazzle in Liv’s and Clark’s eyes when they spoke about their parents. They might be dead, but their love lived on—it had to.
Most of the furniture was covered with sheets, protecting it from the dust that had settled in Clark’s and her absence. Sophia didn’t want any of it. The Castle at the Gullington took care of everything that she could ever need or desire. Although Sophia didn’t know what her hopefully very long life held in store, she hoped always to call the Gullington home. So what did she need with coffee tables and sofas?
Sophia felt heartless, not having anything specific she wanted to take before cleaning out the old residence. Clark had gotten Reese’s spellbooks, which were either full of genius potions or things that could accidentally blow up an entire city block. It was hard to tell with Reese. She was clever and a risk-taker.
Clark had also gotten Ian’s old watch, the family photographs, and their parents’ love letters to each other throughout their years. There was nothing else to get, Sophia thought. It was all stuff. Things that wouldn’t bring them back and didn’t remind Sophia of two people she couldn’t remember and two people she couldn’t forget.
Sophia always thought that too much stuff weighed a person down. If people got too attached to an object, then it simply chained them to the Earth.
She glanced down at Inexorabilis on her hip—the elfin-made sword that belonged to Guinevere Beaufont—her mother. That meant something to her, but it had saved her life on many occasions, so she decided it was both a sentimental and smart possession. Those were the best. Watches that told the time and also a story. Pictures that told history and also captured a moment. Letters that detailed the way to love unconditionally and also smelled of the perfume Guinevere Beaufont used to wear.
As Sophia looked around the old apartment, she didn’t see anything that spoke to both her sentimental and practical sides. She sighed and walked farther into the room. The DPO sat on the shelf at the back, next to the storage room with all the things that belonged to past Beaufonts.
As Alicia had described, it was an opaque orb about the size of a softball. Sophia guessed that it wouldn’t work without a dragon’s egg so she couldn’t test it out. The magitech scientist had included a note.
I hope this works for your purposes. I may have also installed technology into the device that allows it to guesstimate when a particular egg might hatch. I thought this would give you an idea of the dragon’s timeline since this is the last remaining batch.
Sincerely,
Alicia
Sophia smiled, grateful that she knew such smart people who were also so very helpful. The bonus tech added to the DPO would be beneficial. Hiker and Sophia had worried what would happen if all thousand dragon eggs hatched in the same period. That would mean that the time of dragons would be short-lived. With this, they could have a rough idea and prepare, in addition to managing how many angel versus demon dragons hatched in a given period.
She slipped the orb into her cloak and found it to be extra heavy
. She needed to get it back to the Gullington so Mahkah could get to work with the eggs.
Standing squarely in front of the door to the storage area, Sophia sighed. She couldn’t imagine that going in the room with old possessions would make her feel any better. She was fairly certain there wasn’t anything she wanted in there since she’d searched the room for what became Liv’s wedding ring.
“No,” she said to the seemingly empty room, turned, and headed for the exit. “I don’t need anything more than what I have. My memories and the ones I love.”
“But there might be something in there for someone else,” a familiar voice said at Sophia’s back.
Chapter Seventy
Sophia halted, sighed, and rolled her eyes, realizing she should have expected an unplanned visit by the magical creature behind her. Plato had been the one to “hint” that Sophia should look for the wedding ring for Liv in the first place. Yet again, he seemed to have another mysterious agenda.
She turned and found the black and white lynx sitting casually in front of the door where she’d stood moments prior. It was useless to wonder how the strange cat had materialized there so quickly when portaling wasn’t allowed in the House of Fourteen. For starters, Plato shouldn’t even be allowed to enter the House, and it was apparent that he could. Second, it was simply Plato’s style to show up soundlessly when one least expected it. No one should ever think they were fully alone with the great lynx strolling around the planet.
“Hello,” Sophia greeted him with an amused smile.
Plato’s whiskers twitched. “Oh, are we to do pleasantries? Very well then. Hello, Sophia. How are you today?”
Again she rolled her eyes, suppressing a laugh. “I’m momentarily confused based on your initial greeting.”
He nodded. “Was it the ‘hello’ or the ‘how are you today’ part that perplexed you? The first one requires no answer, the second one does.”
“I was referring to the ominous, ‘there might be something in there for someone else’ part,” she answered.
“Oh, well, that seems straightforward enough,” Plato stated. “You don’t want anything in the storage room. I understand that. You have all you need with your memories and all.”
“But there’s someone else who might want something from that room?” she asked.
“They don’t know they want it if we’re splicing semantics.”
“With you, Plato, we’re always splicing semantics.”
“Words and meaning and intent are important,” he stated in a dignified manner.
“Liv and Clark have had their chances to go through everything,” Sophia reasoned. “So who else are you insinuating? Unfortunately, we’re the very last of the Beaufonts. I know that my parents had an impact on many. I’ve learned that much on my missions. Their reputation preceded them.”
“That it did.” He stepped to the side and glanced at the door. “How about I make a compromise with you? I’ll tell you what you’re looking for, but not who it should one day go to.”
Sophia worked to keep the irritation off her face. She reasoned that the lynx was helpful, telling her some information, if not all. It was typical for him to design situations that needed to play out and it was worthless trying to figure out how he was so all-knowing. Finally, Sophia nodded. “Yeah, okay. What am I looking for in there?”
“It’s a silver heart-shaped locket,” Plato explained. “You’ll find it on the first shelf once you enter the storage area.”
“That was really helpful,” Sophia remarked. “Are you running a fever?”
He grinned. “I’m feeling generous…well, and also I have an appointment I’m running late for.”
“Oh, how late?” Sophia glanced at the grandfather clock on the far side of the room.
“Like, a few years,” he stated matter-of-factly.
She nodded as if that made perfect sense. “Hope the person you’re keeping waiting doesn’t hold it against you.”
“They won’t,” he replied. “They don’t know we have an appointment…yet.”
Another sigh escaped her as she strode forward and opened the door. Like the last time she was in this room, she felt as though she should feel all sorts of things, yet she didn’t. The trunk of old clothes could have belonged to anyone if she didn’t know any better. Her father’s books could have been in a library, and Sophia wouldn’t know the difference. Much of what she looked at was brand-new to her.
Glancing around, Sophia found the shelf that Plato had indicated. To her surprise, and almost as if this was way too easy to involve the crafty lynx, Sophia found the silver heart-shaped locket with a long chain lying on the top shelf of the bookcase. On one side of it were the initials, “GB.” That would have been for Guinevere Beaufont. The reverse side was blank and smooth.
The locket was strangely warm in her hand when she picked it up as if someone had just had it pressed between their palms. She expected the metal to be cold. She also expected it to open, but it didn’t.
Glancing up at Plato, she furrowed her brow. “Am I not supposed to be able to open it?”
He nodded. “Only the person it will one day belong to can open the locket.”
“And they are?” she asked, drawing out the last word.
“They haven’t been born yet,” he answered.
A chill ran down Sophia’s back, making her tense all over. “That sure is an ominous admission. Did it belong to my mother? What’s inside?”
“Yes, it was the first gift that your father ever gave her,” he stated.
She blinked at the lynx. “You’re strangely helpful, and it’s making me all sorts of nervous.”
“Then you’ll hopefully feel better when I inform you that I can’t tell you what’s inside,” he said with a Cheshire grin.
A laugh popped out of Sophia’s mouth. “There’s the Plato we all know and love.”
“The feeling is mutual.” Plato wore a rare look of fondness.
Sophia glanced at the locket in her hands. “So I’m to give this to someone who hasn’t been born yet, but I’m guessing I’ll know who it is magically?”
“You’ll know because it has their initials on it,” he imparted.
Sophia blinked down at the initials “GB,” feeling extra confused. “So I’m guessing I meet a Gary Brown or a Georgia Ball on one of my adventures.”
“Maybe,” he said with a hint of mischief in his tone. “But you must wait until the person is five years old to give it to her. And change the initials.”
Now Sophia was really perplexed. Her mouth fell open, and for a moment, she was speechless. “You said that it went to the person who has the initials.”
“I did,” he stated. “It’s confusing, but in time it will make sense.”
“In at least five years,” Sophia muttered, then turned the locket over and found an engraving that wasn’t there moments prior. Her head jerked up suddenly. “Wait, where did that come from? How did it get there?”
“Magic,” he answered with a twinkle in his eyes.
Sophia brought the locket closer, reading the brand new inscription. It read: You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.
For the second time, a chill shot down her spine. She shook her head at the lynx, unsure what he was orchestrating but trusting that if Plato was going to this trouble, it was incredibly important.
Chapter Seventy-One
Sophia handed the DPO off to Mahkah when she returned to the Castle, trusting that he could figure out how to use it and explained the added feature. When Sophia first arrived at the Gullington, none of the guys were tech-savvy. Since then, she and Trin had taught them how to use mobile phones, computers, and gadgets of all sorts. Plus, anything that Alicia made would be very intuitive and easy for almost anyone to use.
Standing in front of the red brick wall on Roya Lane that led to the Brownie Official Headquarters, Sophia said what she always did to get the small door to magically appear: “This is Sophia Beaufont, Rider for the Dragon E
lite.”
However, on this occasion, absolutely nothing happened. Sophia blinked around, wondering if she was in the wrong spot. It was always a guess, roughly fifteen paces from the corner and twenty or so from the next door.
She figured she hadn’t spoken loudly or clear enough. There was a commotion down Roya Lane that might have drowned her out.
“This is Sophia Beaufont, Rider for the Dragon Elite.”
Again, nothing happened.
“Pssst,” a squeaky voice said at Sophia’s back.
She turned but didn’t at first see the person making the noise she assumed was supposed to gain her attention. There was no one in the near vicinity, and the shop behind her was closed.
“Pssst,” the voice sounded again.
This time Sophia realized that it was coming from down low…and from behind a trashcan.
She spied a pair of large pointy ears peeking out from behind the trashcan and big brown eyes.
“Ticker?” Sophia questioned softly. “What are you doing back there?”
Sensing that Ticker was trying to be discreet, she looked over her shoulder to ensure no one was watching. Confirming that the coast was clear, she nonchalantly strode over to the trashcan, where she found the tiny Brownie hiding behind it. Ducking down, she squatted beside Mortimer’s son, her heart suddenly racing with fear that something had happened to the leader of the Brownies.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” she asked, looking him over. He seemed well enough. “Are your mom and dad all right?”
Ticker nodded, his ears hitting him in the face.
She pointed over her shoulder. “Why won’t the door open? Where’s Mortimer?”
“Tig brouble,” the little brownie answered.
Sophia understood the unique way that Ticker reversed the first letters of two words to know what he’d said. His message filled her with sudden dread to know that Mortimer was in big trouble.
