Silhouettes

Summary: When Sofia suffers a strange attack at school, the royal family turns to Cedric for answers. He determines that she's under attack by someone who possesses dark magic, and it's up to them to figure out who the culprit is before it's too late.

Disclaimer: I don't own the show. I own only a few particular characters mentioned in here.

A/N: I've been subtly (or in some cases, not-so-subtly) building up to this type of occurrence for a while now. Dark magic has always been alluded to or spoken negatively of in my stories, and now you're about to see why. The topics in this chapter story will be a bit darker than usual, but you know me. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel. ;) Enjoy!

Chapter Titles:

1: Peripheral

2: Precaution

3: Investigation

4: The Mark of Mayhem

5: A Peculiar Prince

6: Confrontation

7: Unrivaled

*Story*

Chapter 1: Peripheral

It was a normal day at Royal Prep, although it had been raining a bit more than usual. It had begun yesterday afternoon and had yet to stop, which made travel a bit more difficult than normal. All of the coaches had been adjusted for the weather though, so the royal children didn't necessarily have to worry about getting drenched.

Sofia could hear the patter of the heavy rain against the roof, and though she didn't care for bad weather while outside of her comfort of her own bedroom, she didn't mind the constant pattern at all. In fact, it had relaxed her a bit for whatever reason. She was currently in Professor Pecullian's class, and he was discussing and demonstrating more outside-the-box strategies he hoped his students would implement as they went further in their studies. While his lessons were always fascinating, she still felt a bit sleepy and was struggling to stay awake.

"All right, class," Professor Pecullian announced energetically with a grin, "get into your groups from yesterday, and see if you can create your own strategies for upcoming classes. Remember, your wisdom is passed to those younger than you, so make sure you give them every ounce of knowledge you can."

Sofia glanced up as Amber, James, and Desmond moved their desks to fit beside hers. Her vision was a little blurry now, so she rubbed gently at her eyes to clear her sight, which Amber noticed.

"Sofia, are you all right?" the blonde princess asked in concern as she frowned at her strange actions. She'd noticed her sister had been a bit out of it since stepping foot in the classroom, despite the fact that she had been just fine the first part of the morning.

"Huh?" The younger girl blinked and shook her head before smiling tiredly at her sister. "I'm okay, Amber. I guess I'm just a little tired." She realized Amber didn't seem totally convinced, but thankfully she let it go and acted as the unofficial leader of their group so they could get their discussion started.

While Sofia did offer some input, she mostly observed the discussion going on in front of her. After a few minutes, she began feeling really uncomfortable. Chills spread down her neck and spine, and she shivered silently, rubbing her arms to gain some warmth. She thought she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, nothing was there. In fact, all she saw were the students steadily working and discussing.

In fact, her peripheral vision continued deceiving her a couple more times; each turn proved in vain, for nothing unusual appeared to be there.

"Sof?" James asked, shaking her. "Sofia, what's going on with you?"

"What?" Sofia gasped out, blinking and turning to her brother.

"We've been talking to you for like a minute now, and you just seemed so spaced out. What's up?"

Sofia gazed around at her three group members, wide-eyed in the realization that she'd not heard a single person speaking to her. What on earth was going on with her? "I… I'm sorry, you guys. I just—ahh!" She felt an immense pain wash over her entire body, causing her to double over in agony. She felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she sobbed and tried to force away the pain, but nothing seemed to be working. She couldn't even honestly tell what was hurting. It just felt like her entire body seemed to be under attack at this point.

"Sofia?" Professor Pecullian asked quickly as he rushed to his student. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, but she even flinched at that contact. He quickly withdrew his hands and looked toward the other students for answers. "What happened?"

"We don't know," Amber responded in dismay as her eyes stayed focused on her sister. "She's been acting a little out of it, and all of a sudden she just started screaming."

"Khalid, Vivian, if you two wouldn't mind, please go fetch Miss Flora." He pulled a chair up beside the girl and sat down as the two students took off to find the aforementioned fairy. "Sofia, please, try and focus on my voice only, all right?"

Sofia could hardly muster the energy to do as she was asked, but she tried her hardest. Still in physical pain, she opened her eyes and stared wearily at her professor.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"S-Something…" She closed her eyes again as another wave of pain flooded through her. "I think something is…attacking me."

Professor Pecullian frowned in obvious concern just as Vivian and Khalid arrived with Flora. He stood and pulled her to the side. "This is unlike anything I've seen before," he murmured to her. "This child is under some sort of physical yet invisible attack. I can only think of one possibility. But that is impossible, isn't it?"

Flora frowned at the proposed situation before sighing. "I'll take her to my office and see if I can get her a calming potion for now. I'll send word to her parents when they leave this afternoon." She gently gathered Sofia up, pulling her into a standing position. "Come with me, Sofia. Boys and girls, everything is going to be okay. Get back to your studies."

"But Miss Flora," Amber began with obvious unease, "Sofia…"

"I'll take care of her, Amber. I promise." She offered the older princess a gentle smile before leading Sofia away.

While her pain eventually subsided thanks to the calming potion, Sofia still felt drained. She was not allowed to go to any of her classes, and instead she was urged to rest on a cot Flora had conjured for her. The moment school ended, Amber and James found their sister and accepted a letter from Flora, explaining the day's events so they could be well-informed.

As soon as they got home, Amber and James had to work together to get Sofia into her room since she seemed to be even weaker. Granted, she didn't complain of any pain anymore; however, her energy seemed to be sapped. Once at their destination, James left to find Roland and Miranda while Amber helped Sofia get dressed for the evening. She carefully led the younger girl to her bed and pulled the covers over her once she was settled.

"Sofia, please tell me what's wrong," Amber pleaded, her eyes tearing up as a feeling of unease washed over her.

"I wish I could say, Amber," Sofia murmured quietly.

Roland and Miranda arrived a few minutes later with James in tow. The king accepted the letter from Amber and read over it, his brow furrowing as he finished. "Sofia, Miss Flora indicates here that you suffered some sort of phantom pain at school?"

"I don't know about phantom pain, Dad," James corrected. "She sort of zoned out on us, and before we knew what was going on, she suddenly just started screaming and seemed to be in really bad pain. She acted like someone was hurting her, but there was literally no one there… It was really weird."

Sofia summoned up enough strength to prop herself against her pillows as Miranda sat next to her and took her hand. "It wasn't just pain, Dad. Since I got to the school, I felt like I was being watched or followed. Every time I looked over my shoulder, I didn't see anyone, but when I turned back I got that feeling again… It was scary. And then I felt chills and even felt like my energy was being drained out of me." She sniffled as she attempted to stop herself from crying for a second time that day, though this time appeared to be out of frustration. "I just don't know what to do… I hate feeling helpless, and I need to know what's going on. What's wrong with me?"

Roland listened to his daughter's explanation before turning to James. "James, go get Cedric."

"Cedric?" Miranda asked with a blink as she turned to him. "Why Cedric?"

"Because I have a feeling there's more to this than what we're seeing." The king nodded as James stood and took off. "We need to get to the bottom of this, Miranda. I have…a bad feeling, to be honest." He then glanced back at Sofia. "But we're going to figure this out, Sofia. I promise."

The auburn-haired girl sighed and looked away, uncertain if his words were comforting or not considering the circumstances.

As soon as Cedric arrived a few minutes later, the entire family could see the apprehension written all over his face. The moment James had described Sofia's condition to him, the color had all but drained from his face. He ambled over to the girl and, taking Miranda's place as she stood up to allow him some room, he sat next to Sofia, his worried eyes searching hers for clues.

"Mr. Cedric," the girl whispered as she grasped his hand, "I'm scared."

"Don't worry, Sofia," he told her, though inwardly he recognized the irony in his statement. He was worried, because he was very much aware of what seemed to be transpiring. "We're going to handle this. I promise you."

"Handle what?" Roland asked as Cedric turned toward him. "Cedric, what do you think is going on with her?"

The sorcerer sighed heavily. "From what I gather based on what Prince James explained to me, I have made a rather distressing realization."

The room became eerily quiet as soon as Cedric revealed the connection he'd discovered.

"Someone is attacking Sofia using dark magic."

To be continued…