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

by Sarah Noffke

  “It’s quite the force,” Sophia observed.

  “It is. You know waterfalls represent chaos in feng shui?”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I watch a lot of Home and Garden Network when you’re not around.” He giggled.

  “So, I made my mark.” She indicated her cairn. “The waterfall appeared. Did I do it? Is the mark on my soul gone?”

  Lunis looked her over and the expression on his face told her the answer before he did. “No, I’m sorry, but it’s still there.”

  “So what am I supposed to do?” Sophia wondered suddenly if they’d made a mistake and maybe they were completely off base. Maybe this wasn’t the place they were supposed to go to lift the curse. Maybe getting away from the killer birds and murderous fireflies and making the waterfall appear were other obstacles, unrelated to cleansing her soul.

  “Wait, that’s it,” Lunis said suddenly.

  Since she hadn’t said anything, only stood there and worried, she flashed him a confused expression. “What is it?”

  “What you were thinking,” he answered.

  Sophia brow scrunched up more. She had to trail back to remember what she’d thought. Sometimes she forgot that Lunis was often in her head although he didn’t often do it when they were together and could communicate. The link was also stronger at different times depending on multiple factors.

  “What specifically?” she asked.

  “About cleansing your soul,” he answered. “You made your mark to start the process of removing the mark.” Lunis slung his head to the side and indicated the cairn she’d made. “Remember why the Warriors and Councilors pass through the Door of Reflection when entering the Chamber of the Tree?”

  “It’s to cleanse them of their fears so they can be objective in meetings.”

  “And the source of the Door of Reflection comes from here.” He glanced at the waterfall. “What if that’s it?”

  Her mouth popped open. “I’m supposed to walk through there? That water will crush me.”

  The flow was at full force now and crashed into the shallow basin below it. There was little doubt that walking through this particular waterfall would be potentially deadly for Sophia.

  “It’s about facing your fears,” Lunis offered. “If there’s no risk, then where’s the gain? Cleansing your soul can’t be easy.”

  Sophia gulped. “Although this all makes sense, what if we’re wrong about this being the way?”

  “I think finding ‘the way’ is always about faith rather than logic. Do you feel like this could work? What does your soul tell you?”

  Sophia closed her eyes and focused on the inner voices that she’d become acquainted with since coming to Buddha’s Temple. Again, they sounded like a rush of water. They sounded like the waterfall in front of her. But she knew that their voices were inside her and the noise of the falls was outside her. Just like her fears weren’t a part of her, but they did affect her soul. And that was all the information she needed to make the next decisions.

  Her eyes sprang open and she looked at Lunis. “I’m walking through the waterfall. That must be the way.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The raging waters poured over the tall cliff and smashed down on the lagoon water, sending droplets all over the pool and banks. As Sophia edged closer, she felt the spray and it was sharp like little dull needles. But even a dull object can do damage.

  The flat rock where the waterfall hit was slick with moss. Sophia took each step carefully, her head to the side as she prepared to step through the waterfall. She wasn’t sure if she should dart through, in an effort to minimize damage, or if she needed to step, like the Warriors and Councilors did when passing through the Door of Reflection into the Chamber of the Tree.

  Her heart pounded in her throat as she tilted her head to the side away from the spray. It intensified as she neared, and took over her vision. The water was cool but it burned her face when it hit.

  You can do this, Lunis encouraged in her head.

  She smiled, grateful for the dragon’s words at that eleventh hour moment.

  I’m doing this, she thought.

  I’m here for you, he stated, again trying to be supportive.

  Her smile faded. There was support, and there was lip service. She loved Lunis, but he was wrong. She was in this alone. There were times that he could be there for her. That he could save her. They’d experienced so many of those times already. But in this, Sophia was alone. She had to step through the waterfall alone. What she’d experience would be hers alone. And whatever came after that, she’d have to deal with by herself. All Lunis could do now was watch, and they both knew that.

  Sophia held her breath and moved as close as she could to the waterfall before stepping through it. It fell in a thin sheet that created a mirrored surface. Now that she was this close, she admired the way the water sparkled with tiny little lights. Prisms radiated off its surface in various places. It was beautiful.

  What wasn’t as attractive was the explosion the sheet of water made when it hit the stone, violently sprayed up, and created a rush of noise.

  Sophia allowed herself a moment to appreciate the sentiment of the water being both beautiful and chaotic. An elegant force and also one to be respected. It had the power to quench her thirst and also break her neck.

  She hoped that it simply cleansed her soul, but there was no more time for stalling. Sophia had to take the plunge and step through the waterfall.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The spray was so strong that it forced Sophia to close her eyes as she stepped forward. The slick rock under her soaked boots nearly sent her off her feet. She clenched her hands by her side and strode forward, entering the waterfall.

  Sophia expected the crashing water to hit her like an avalanche and knock her down as it assaulted her head. Burying her in the water of the lagoon. Drowning her instantly.

  What she experienced was exactly the opposite.

  When Sophia stepped through the waterfall, it was much like how Liv had explained going through the Door of Reflection. It felt like she was walking through soft water. It covered her instantly, and gently wrapped around her face and hands as if giving her a hug.

  She smiled, relieved by the experience and grateful she wasn’t dead.

  But then she realized that she didn’t know where she was anymore. Instead of stepping through the waterfall to the other side of the lagoon, she had entered total blackness. She didn’t know where Lunis was. She didn’t know where anything was. Suddenly, she felt blind and deaf. Even the sensation of the water on her skin disappeared.

  Sophia felt nothing at all, and it was absolutely terrifying.

  Chapter Thirty

  Sophia opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. She tried to pull in a breath, but her lungs didn’t work.

  Am I dead? she wondered.

  Was this what nothingness felt like?

  It wasn’t uncomfortable, but to not see, hear, or feel anything…

  But I have my consciousness, she told herself. That was meaningful to her. Because it meant she was still her.

  A flash assaulted her vision and nearly blinded her.

  Sophia was simultaneously grateful for the blinding light and repulsed by it.

  She was grateful to see something. To have eyes that could be blinded. But the white was so bright it burned.

  Then colors wove into place, like brush strokes on a canvas.

  A rustling sound replaced the silence. The absence of feeling halted, and a warm breeze filled the air around her. The scent was chemical and burned Sophia’s nose. Images took shape and showed Sophia what had to be her very worst nightmare.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Lunis stood beside Sophia on top of a building in the middle of a city she once knew very differently. The pair looked out at Los Angeles and gazed at the burning buildings, the devastation, and the absence of life.

  Smoke filled the air, but Sophia didn’t cou
gh. She also didn’t cry. Even when she saw the dead bodies littering the ground, she didn’t shed a tear. She recognized the bodies of dragons and various other magical races. They were all dead.

  Instinctively, Sophia knew everyone in the city was gone. There were no sirens in the distance. No planes in the sky. No one coming to rescue them. There was no one left.

  A war had wiped everyone out. The only ones who remained were Sophia and Lunis.

  She realized then that her greatest fear wasn’t what she thought it was.

  Like the Door of Reflection, the waterfall served up Sophia’s worst fear. She’d expected it to be death. At first, that’s what she thought she was experiencing. Although she hadn’t wanted to think about it, she thought she’d see Lunis dead in this vision.

  However, his death would mean hers since they were linked together through the chi of the dragon. But there were worse things than death, she knew now.

  Surviving when everyone you loved was gone—that was worse.

  Being the one left to tell the story, that was a curse.

  But Sophia wasn’t going to be cursed. Not now. Not ever.

  She looked directly at her dragon and shook her head. “How did this happen?”

  He continued to glare out at the war scene. “We stopped seeing the world the way we envisioned it and started seeing it the way it was.”

  Tears ached in her throat. “We lost faith in the planet becoming a better place.”

  He nodded.

  “I have to fix this,” she stated with total conviction.

  He gave her an expression that spoke of ancient wisdom. “Then see the world the way you want it to be. Remember, you must see it to believe it.”

  Sophia pulled in a breath and closed her eyes. In her mind, she replaced the images of burning buildings and overturned cars and scorched roads with the city she loved. She saw Los Angeles with bright blue skies and diverse architecture. Sophia envisioned the beach and the people, laughing as they strode down the boardwalk in Santa Monica. She saw the House of Fourteen, protected by Warriors and Councilors. And beside them, she could clearly see the Dragon Elite, standing strong and brave.

  The images of the world buzzing with life and love was so strong in Sophia’s mind that sudden tears overcame her. They ran down her cheeks, warm and graceful, and fell on her collarbones.

  Sophia saw the world not the way it was, but rather the way she wanted it to be—at peace.

  And she knew that was the way to remove the mark on her soul. Sophia had lifted the curse.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “You look like you again.” Wilder gazed deeply into Sophia’s eyes, a quiet appreciation in them.

  “I feel like myself,” she admitted with relief, feeling like she was able to finally breathe after a long spell of holding her breath.

  After stepping through the waterfall and having the vision of her worst nightmare, Sophia awoke to find herself lying on the sand next to Lunis. He said that she’d disappeared after entering the waterfall, then magically appeared there on the beach.

  Apparently she didn’t breathe for a solid minute, which no doubt terrified him. But then, like before when they almost drowned, she’d sucked in a sudden breath and bolted upright, coming back to life in a burst.

  The whole experience had been cloaked in so much symbolism and strangeness that Sophia had a new respect for her soul. She’d never thought much about it, merely thinking she was her—Sophia Beaufont. But now she knew that like the dragons, she was so much more. A timeless being.

  The experience had also been emotionally, mentally and physically exhausting. So when Wilder messaged Sophia and asked where she was and if she wanted company, she replied instantly with a very loud, “YES!”

  Unable to have Wilder meet them at the Reflective Sea because first, she didn’t want to hate him and second, because he wouldn’t be able to find the hidden place without the map, Sophia met up with him and Simi in Bora Bora. It was close, and offered all the beauty she’d seen at the Reflective Sea without all the dangers.

  The only danger Sophia was currently worried about was getting too tipsy on lemon drops. Her lips puckered as she laid down the mixed drink and looked out at the crystal clear aqua-colored waters of the French Polynesian Sea.

  “This doesn’t suck.” Wilder let out a giant breath and also stared up at the mountain in front of them, directly across from their bungalow over the water.

  “No, I could get used to this,” Sophia replied. “Do you think in our next life we can vacation regularly and not have deadly professions?”

  “Yes, but why would we want the latter?” he joked.

  She nodded. “Good point.”

  A splash of water hit Sophia in the face. Not hard like the waterfall, but enough to make her bolt upright. “Hey, this is a no splash zone,” she fired at Lunis, who was rolling around in the water next to their hut and splashing them.

  He flicked his tail like a rebellious child and sent a wave of water at Sophia that instantly soaked her. She narrowed her eyes at her dragon but smiled.

  “You’re going to get yourself voted off the island,” she threatened.

  “I’d like to see you try,” he fired back.

  “I’ll vote for him to leave,” Simi said lazily, lying in the water on the other side of Wilder.

  “That makes two of us,” Wilder joked while drying off the water on his bare chest. He’d been in the splash zone.

  Lunis rolled over in the clear waters and sent more of the sea up over the bungalow’s side. “I’m off to fulfill a lifelong dream.”

  “Scare the tourists?” Sophia asked.

  “Climb Mount Otemanu?” Wilder nodded at the mountain in the distance.

  “No, swim with the dolphins,” Lunis answered before he shot through the water, dived low and disappeared as he created ripples.

  Wilder laughed. “Your dragon is so weird.”

  “I know. Isn’t it grand?”

  “What’s grand is being here and having this view.” Wilder wasn’t looking at the mountain any longer, but rather Sophia in her bikini.

  She blushed, then reached out and took his hand. “My view is quite nice too.”

  His dimples surfaced when he smiled.

  The two stayed locked on each other until they were rudely interrupted by the loud buzzing of Sophia’s phone. She would have ignored it, but it only rang like that when it was of great importance.

  With a sigh, she pulled her gaze off Wilder and grabbed her phone.

  “The message is from Evan,” Sophia explained, seeing the worried expression in Wilder’s eyes. He knew that if the phone buzzed, then it was someone like Papa Creola or Mama Jamba or Liv.

  “Evan…” Wilder groaned. “How did he figure out how to take your phone off silent to get your attention?”

  “I’ve found that he shouldn’t be underestimated.” Sophia read his text. There was only one, but he was currently typing out a second. “He says, ‘Hi.’”

  “Tell him I say that he should go jump in the Pond,” Wilder replied.

  Sophia giggled as another message from Evan came through. “He says, ‘Hope y’all are getting sunburned on your much undeserved vacation.’”

  “What a nice lad.” Wilder grinned. “Send him a pic of our view and tell him ‘Glad you’re not here.’”

  Before Sophia could do that, another message came through. She read it aloud, “How’s everything here? Thanks for asking. I’m good. Tired, but probably because of all the work I’ve been doing while you slackers lounge around in your swim suits. Coral is grumpy, but that’s because the sheep are exploding at an alarming rate and making things dangerous here.”

  “Wow, the sheep problem is still going on?” Wilder questioned.

  Sophia sat up in her lounge chair. “Yeah, I need to address that now that I’m not cursed.”

  Another message came through, and Sophia’s eyes widened. She tensed all over as she read it aloud for Wilder. “Oh, and random strang
ers keep turning up inside the Castle and no one knows why. But don’t you worry. We’ll manage while you losers waste time.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “What does he say his name is?” Wilder leaned against a wall and eyed one of the many strangers who had been found strolling confused through the Castle of the Gullington.

  The man was an older mortal of around sixty-five, and wore a smart navy blue suit and a confused expression as he sat at the dining room table in the Castle. He didn’t touch any of the food that Trin had tried to serve to him, but rather kept tapping on his phone and scowling—no doubt frustrated that it didn’t work there on the grounds of the Gullington.

  “He says his name is Christopher Dickenson.” Evan slouched in the doorway of the dining hall. “Says he went into his walk-in closet to fetch a tie and when he came out he found himself here.”

  “Where exactly?” Sophia studied the man, who didn’t seem to have any nefarious agendas, but rather appeared peeved that he was going to be late for work since he kept yanking up his wrist to glance at his gold watch.

  “He was in the hallway on the second floor,” Evan answered.

  Sophia sighed. “You do know what the term exactly means, right?”

  Wilder laughed. “We’re talking about Evan. You have such confidence in this lad, but one day you’ll learn.”

  Evan rolled his eyes at his friend but smiled. “Exactly. It means, accurately, precisely, just, closely, and specific.” He stuck out his tongue like a child before turning his attention to Sophia. “And to answer your question, Pink Princess, all the others and Chris here, were found around the second door from the stairs on the eastern wing.”

  Wilder’s eyes flashed wide. “And here I thought you were a lost cause, mate.”

  “Don’t count me out yet.” Evan winked. “Oh, and it looks like you got too much sun on vacation. That’s going to make for a nasty burn.”