Adapt Or Be Crushed (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 9)

by Sarah Noffke

  “Because Trin likes you,” Wilder added.

  “Because I want the job done right,” Hiker argued and narrowed his eyes at the two riders before looking at Sophia.

  She didn’t budge. If the leader of the Dragon Elite wanted information from his new housekeeper about the status of breakfast, he could find out for himself. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

  He threw his hands and chin into the air while sighing dramatically. “I swear, if I want anything done around here, I have to do it myself.”

  Sophia’s stubbornness paid off though, because Hiker stomped toward the kitchen. She knew that he wasn’t having an easy time since Ainsley left. He had to deal with more than the loss of his housekeeper for the last few hundred years.

  However, she didn’t think that coddling him with Trin would do him any favors. Whereas Hiker and Ainsley had been nothing but confrontations, the Viking was almost avoiding Trin, as if he hadn’t come to terms with the fact that she’d formally replaced the elf as housekeeper.

  “Oh, good,” Mama Jamba sang as she strode into the dining hall. “I’m not late.”

  “Late?” Evan laughed. “You have time to do your hair and makeup and press your track suit and you still won’t be late for breakfast.”

  Mama Jamba glared at the dragonrider. “I’ll have you know that I’ve already done all those things.”

  Wilder glanced up at Mama Jamba and batted his eyelashes. “And may I say that you look lovely and all your efforts weren’t lost on me? Although I don’t think you need anything to enhance your elegance.”

  Evan coughed, and it sounded very much like, “Suck up.”

  Mama Jamba didn’t seem to notice as she slipped into her seat and bounced her hand under grayish-blue curls. “You know, I did a lot of things right on the day I decided you’d be born, Wilder.”

  “You’re the only one who understands me, NO10JO.” Evan groaned and patted the cyborg dog’s head who was stationed beside him.

  “Ainsley didn’t want the dog in the dining room.” Sophia gave him a pointed glare.

  “I don’t see Ainsley anywhere around here, do you?” Evan looked around the dining hall.

  “I think,” Mama Jamba began, good naturedly, “That just because Ainsley is gone, doesn’t mean her rules are.”

  Evan shook his head and continued to pet the dog under the table. “Of course they are. It’s a new era. One where I can finally have a little freedom. Which is good because I’m going to stock up on food for the next time that Trin falls asleep on the job.”

  Hiker strode out of the kitchen, his face uncertain.

  “And?” Mama Jamba looked at the placemat before her, as if wondering where the food was and hoping it would magically appear.

  “It’s going to be a little longer,” he answered, little confidence in his voice.

  “The Castle and her…” Sophia’s voice trailed away.

  He nodded and sat. “They’re working things out. It seems that the more I tried to help, the worse it made things.”

  Wilder laughed. “By help, you mean you yelled?”

  Hiker’s face blossomed to a fine shade of red. “No, not at first…I didn’t understand what the problem was. The food was sitting there on the main counter, appearing to get cold while we all waited.”

  Sophia lowered her chin and sighed. “You do know that even if the Castle has created the food, it doesn’t mean it’s ready until the timer goes off, right?”

  He narrowed his eyes at Sophia. “That’s why I told you to go and check on the kitchen. I didn’t know that, but apparently you did.”

  She shrugged. “It’s in the Complete History of Dragonriders.”

  “I wouldn’t know since I’m not allowed to read the book,” he grumbled.

  “That’s bizarre.” Wilder looked sideways at Sophia. “So the food will appear but can’t leave the kitchen until the timer dings?”

  She nodded. “Sometimes. The preparation is different every day, depending on multiple factors.” Sophia had taken it upon herself to brush up on this part of the history of the Castle, interested in some of the challenges that Trin would face. The factors that dictated food preparation or cleaning or maintenance were dependent on who was in the Gullington, the climate around the Expanse, the morale worldwide, and how many crickets were hiding in the Caves. It was quite the strange equation.

  Quiet and Mahkah entered the dining hall. The gnome halted as his eyes narrowed on the cyborg dog, then Evan. He muttered under his breath, and Sophia felt his hostility.

  “Speak up, little guy. I can’t hear you,” Evan sang and continued to stroke the dog. However, he disappeared a moment later—simply vanished from his spot. NO10JO also disappeared from the floor.

  Sophia stood and looked around. Wilder did the same, then pointed.

  “Looks like the dogs will be taking breakfast al fresco.” Wilder motioned to the Castle window where Evan and NO10JO could be seen sitting outside on the Expanse, surprise on both their faces.

  Mama Jamba shrugged. “I told him that just because Ainsley was gone, it didn’t mean her rules were.”

  Quiet nodded and sat next to Mother Nature.

  “Can we not talk about that?” Hiker seethed.

  He said “that” but he meant “her,” and Sophia knew it.

  They all missed Ainsley, but each of them showed it differently. Many of them tried to be respectful to Trin, knowing that she was filling a big void in the Castle—or at least trying to.

  The cyborg strode through the kitchen door with her face covered in sweat and her many electronic parts hissing. She carried a tray of buttermilk pancakes, which she set down in front of Mama Jamba with great relief, as if they weighed a ton.

  “Very good,” the old woman said proudly.

  “About time,” Hiker muttered.

  Trin spun around to face him. “That’s all I could manage after you stormed in and spooked me. The rest of you will have to settle for a store of protein bars that I have.”

  “I love protein bars.” Wilder smiled.

  “That’s fine,” Sophia stated.

  “Absolutely,” Mahkah echoed.

  Quiet didn’t at all look pleased, but simply kept his chin down.

  “Fine, but you’ll need to work on this,” Hiker scolded.

  “I have done nothing else,” Trin assured him, hurrying back for the kitchen.

  Evan stomped back into the dining hall, appearing madder than hell. However, NO10JO didn’t follow him past the threshold. The cyborg dog stopped at the door and cowered as Quiet looked over his shoulder at him.

  “That’s a rotten trick.” Evan glared in Quiet’s direction.

  Sophia was going to defend the gnome, but before she could, a strange purple glow took over her vision. It was happening more and more, and blanketed her ability to see properly. She blinked and tried to recover.

  “It’s happening again,” Wilder said at her shoulder, more of a statement than a question. He’d been watching her and knew what was going on. When the purple glow overcame her, she appeared disoriented.

  She shook her head and tried to dispel the effect, which was a result of being cursed by the evil spirit that put a mark on her soul. “It’s fine.”

  “It’s not,” Hiker argued. “You need to get Papa Creola to help you.”

  “He’s working on it.” She was grateful that the strangeness was receding, making it easy for her to see again. The hallucinations were always different, but not bad when at the Gullington. She could sleep if she had the piece of hair from Mama Jamba. Still, things weren’t ideal after being cursed.

  “In the meantime, I don’t want you on a case,” Hiker stated. Before Sophia could argue, he held up his hand. “That’s final. You get cured first. But the rest of you…” He motioned around the table at the men. “Now that the Dragon Elite’s name has been cleared once more, the adjudication missions are coming in fast.”

  “Woot!” Wilder exclaimed, either because
he was excited to be on a mission again or because Trin had entered, carrying an armful of protein bars.

  She dropped them on the table and strode back to the kitchen.

  Evan eyed them, not at all impressed. “You outdid yourself,” he called over his shoulder to the housekeeper.

  “She’s trying,” Sophia argued as she grabbed a chocolate chip cookie dough protein bar and tore it open. She took a bite and chewed mechanically, hardly tasting it.

  “Where are we with finding the demon dragons?” Hiker looked straight at Mama Jamba who was delightedly digging into the only hot food on the table.

  “I started an hour ago.” She licked off the maple syrup covering her lips.

  “I can’t believe you lied to me and said you were working on that tracking spell when you were creating that time ball,” he seethed.

  She calmly looked up. “Can’t you, though?”

  “You’re not supposed to lie to us,” he argued, sounding almost hurt. Maybe this was because Mother Nature had deceived him. Or maybe it was because what she had been working on was for Ainsley, to help her see how her life would have been different if she made different decisions.

  “A mother’s job is to make decisions that benefit their children,” Mama Jamba stated. “You don’t have to understand them, now or later. But if lying is what I have to do, well, so be it.”

  He shook his head, grabbed a protein bar, and looked it over like it was a piece of trash.

  Everyone reluctantly took bites of their protein bars. No one appeared happy about the breakfast option.

  It was Evan who threw his down, unsatisfied. “I’ll go ahead and say it. I miss Ainsley.”

  Wilder nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

  Mahkah released a small commiserating sigh. “Every day.”

  It was Quiet’s expression that made Sophia speechless though. She could have sworn that a tear slipped from his eye before he turned his head away and nodded.

  Chapter Three

  The sunlight glistened across the glossy green grass of the Expanse, making it seem unreal. Sophia pulled in a breath of fresh air and enjoyed the coolness in her lungs. The herd of sheep baaed as they grazed. Quiet could be seen in their midst, but he seemed perplexed by something.

  Sophia was about to investigate further. She didn’t have a mission demanding her attention since she was cursed and Papa Creola hadn’t yet alerted her to a cure. However, Lunis poked his head out of the Nest at that moment and immediately swooped down in her direction.

  She smiled up at her dragon, feeling especially sentimental that morning with Ainsley gone and the realization that she wasn’t coming back finally settling in. It had been a week since she departed and things felt like they’d never be normal again, but then, maybe that was because Sophia didn’t feel normal.

  However, to her surprise, Lunis didn’t smile back as usual when greeting her in the morning. He had the same worried expression as Wilder plastered across his face.

  “You’ve had another episode,” he stated rather than asked.

  Sophia sighed. “It was quick. Over before it started.”

  “That’s impossible,” he said smugly. “Something can’t be over before it starts.”

  “Sure it can,” she argued. “Time is a strange and beautiful thing. Just ask Papa Creola. It doesn’t have to make sense.”

  “That’s not the point. Don’t try to derail the conversation.” The blue dragon shook out his wings before folding them tight to his large body.

  “Am I in trouble for having hallucinations caused by an evil spirit who I was forced to face to save Baba Yaga’s grimoire from their greedy and dangerous hands?”

  “No.” He lowered his head, seeming suddenly guilty. “It’s just that I’m concerned about you. You’re not the same since then. There’s something in your eyes.”

  Sophia’s lips tightened and a sudden raw ache rose in her throat. “I’m not evil now.”

  “I know that, Sophia. It’s just that a mark on your soul is evident in your eyes and it pains me to see you this way. We have to find a way to fix you.”

  She nodded. “Yes, I worry about leaving the Gullington where the hallucinations would be worse, but that will be the only way to find the cure.”

  “I think I can offer you some help in the meantime,” Lunis began slowly. “If I divert my energy to you when you’re away, maybe that will keep the hallucinations from happening.”

  “Won’t that be costly for you?” she asked, concerned about the sacrifice her dragon would have to make.

  He shook his head. “It’s only a forced nap. A deep meditation of sorts. Not the worst thing in the world. And if I do it in Falconer Cave, then I’ll probably have good results.”

  Sophia considered this for a moment. “Okay, thank you. I guess that will work so that I can run a few errands. I need to check on the healing elixir, which I wish could work on me.”

  “Souls can’t be healed.” He slipped into his “wise” voice. “The mark must be removed, is my guess.”

  “And only Papa Creola will know how to do that.”

  He nodded. “So pay him a visit. Prod him until he gives you some information. I don’t like seeing you like this.

  Sophia leaned against her dragon and hugged him. “I know. I don’t like being like this.”

  She could sometimes forget about the mark on her soul when in the heat of battle or asleep at night, but she knew Lunis was right. When she looked in the mirror, she wasn’t herself.

  Sophia squeezed Lunis tightly, enjoying his warmth. Then a sudden blast exploded in the distance and made the blue dragon protectively swing his wing around her—holding her close.

  Chapter Four

  “What was that?” Sophia pushed out of Lunis’ wing.

  She had trouble making out the scene before them on the Expanse that was peaceful and pristine moments before. The herd of sheep all scattered while baaing loudly in fright. In the center of where the sheep had been grazing was a small black spot where the ground had been scorched. Around it were bits of sheep... Or what had once been one.

  Quiet ran in their direction with panic written on his usually calm face.

  “What happened?” Sophia asked, noticing that he was running the opposite direction as the herd.

  She couldn’t make out his voice but she saw the shape his mouth was making as he seemed to repeat the same word over and over again: Sheep.

  Looking between the scattered herd and the scorch mark, Sophia’s brow scrunched up in confusion. “There’s something wrong with the sheep?”

  He nodded, adamantly. Turning around, Quiet pointed at the herd of fluffy white sheep, then at Lunis. Then he wagged his finger, his intention clear. He didn’t want the dragon eating any of the sheep—a dragon’s main food source. It was what the dragons at the Gullington feasted on, but it was also a dragon’s preferred food worldwide and harkened back to their Scottish ancestry, according to the Complete History of Dragonriders.

  Lunis gulped as his eyes grew large. “Too late…”

  Sophia gawked at him, suddenly worried. “You ate a sheep?”

  He burped. “A little one. This morning.”

  “Are you okay?” she asked, looking him over.

  Lunis nodded, but didn’t appear totally right. “I’ve had indigestion all morning. Thought it was from the cheese puffs I had last night.”

  “Go back to eating cheese puffs.” Sophia turned to face Quiet. “Will he be okay?”

  He studied the dragon before nodding. And again, he pointed at the herd and shook his finger.

  “So the sheep,” Sophia began. “They’re exploding. How is that possible?”

  Quiet replied by simply shaking his head again.

  “It’s almost like someone is trying to harm the dragons,” Sophia seethed while looking at the hills where the other dragons lounged in the morning sunshine.

  “I think that’s an accurate conclusion,” Lunis stated.

  “If it is Nevin Gooseman, th
en how could he accomplish this?” Sophia looked between the dragon and the groundskeeper.

  Neither seemed to have an answer. “Okay,” Sophia began, “well, I’ll look into this. But in the meantime, we have to alert the dragons not to eat the sheep. We’ll have to find a new food source for them.”

  “We’ll be fine. I’ll communicate with the clan so they know too. We will eat fish from the Pond,” Lunis stated with authority. “In the meantime, you need to go to Roya Lane and find out how to remove the mark on your soul.”

  “Fine,” Sophia acquiesced. She knew Lunis was right, but felt torn between helping her dragons and herself. There was always something pulling her in different directions. She’d remove the mark from her soul first though. Then she’d find Nevin Gooseman and make him pay.

  Chapter Five

  For maybe the first time ever, Sophia was grateful to run into King Rudolf Sweetwater upon stepping through the portal onto Roya Lane.

  He didn’t look any different after his imprisonment at Nevin Gooseman’s compound, which was deserted when Rudolf took the Dragon Elite back there. The politician had unsurprisingly fled after the truth about him being behind distortion was exposed.

  Sophia had hoped that Nevin went down with his magitech army, but it appeared that he had gotten away. And now, she suspected he was behind the exploding sheep. That man wasn’t going to stop until he had ruined the dragons and the Elite.

  Sophia was more worried about what the evil magician would do now. Before he had an agenda to take down the Dragon Elite, believing they had too much power that threatened his abilities to control mortals. He was against the demon dragons and made mortals believe they’d be the death of the world. However, now he had lost everything, and no one was more dangerous than someone with nothing left to lose.

  If Nevin created and spread a deadly disease like distortion, Sophia didn’t want to think what he’d do now. She’d figure it out, right after she removed the mark on her soul.

  Priorities, she told herself. First, remove curse. Second, figure out why the sheep were exploding and stop it. Third, take Nevin Gooseman down for good.