Disclaimer: I do not own Sofia the First

Chapter 1: Transporto

Sofia locked herself in her room, crying silently. She hoped that she would be safe in here…at least for a little while. She wished that she could stay in this room for the rest of her life, but sadly, she had princess duties to attend to. She was too scared to go back out; she couldn't face him. This wasn't the first time he had done something like this. She bit her lip as she slowly sank to the ground. No…she thought…I am never going back out there…he'll hurt me again. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Sofia quickly wiped her eyes, as she stood up and said, "Um, come in!"

It was Cedric. He seemed displeased which made her stomach feel uneasy. He glanced down at the princess who smiled weakly at him, and then he turned away. Sofia was wondering why he looked so upset, so she spoke, "Mr. Cedric…what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" he asked as his voice rose which scared Sofia even more, "You ask me to help you with your magic lesson, and then you don't even show up! I looked everywhere, trying to find out where you might have gone, but of course, I should have just went here in the first place. You're in your bedroom, doing absolutely nothing!"

Sofia glanced at the ground, then replied wearily, "I'm sorry, Mr. Cedric, I…I…I was busy. I had something important to do." She hated lying to him, but out of fear, she would do anything it took to keep the secret.

"Oh, goodness, Sofia!" Cedric exclaimed, "Why couldn't you just tell me, dear?" His voice started to grow softer and gentler and hearing his voice like that gave comfort to Sofia. However, Sofia did not know how to respond, so she wrapped her arms around him, trying to feel happy again.

"Princess Sofia…what ever is the matter?" Cedric asked, knowing something was wrong.

"Oh, nothing, I just need a hug," she told him, trying hard to hold back her tears. She held on still, hoping that that moment would never end. She always felt protected with her sorcerer, but she couldn't tell him what had happened.

Cedric patted her back, then let go of her and said, "…Okay, well, if there's anything you want to talk about, you can tell me…but, um, now it's time for dinner. So we'll just have a double lesson tomorrow and don't forget, okay?" He knew she was not going to tell what was wrong, but he knew that she would eventually tell him.

Sofia giggled and said, "I won't forget, I promise…" She wanted to ask him to go to dinner with her, but she believed that it would have been odd. She didn't want him to worry about her anymore. So, he waved goodbye and she watched him leave. Dinner…Sofia thought. She would have to see him, but because of Cedric, she got some strength to go to dinner.

Before she left, she looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn't believe that she had stayed in this castle for six years. It seemed like yesterday when her ten year old self entered the castle, amazed at everything and everyone. Now, she was used to it and nothing was as special anymore. Of course, Sofia never changed; she was still that kind and loyal girl from six years ago. However, she was not as happy as she was. Things started getting tough when she was fourteen; her mother had passed away from an illness and that's when her step-father started to act…different. Baileywick, the castle steward, and Cedric, the royal sorcerer, had become very close friends which made Sofia extremely happy. Other than them becoming friends, Sofia was constantly in a state of fear.

Sofia turned away from the mirror and opened her bedroom door. She hastily walked to the dining area where her step-father, King Roland II, and her two step-siblings, Princess Amber and Prince James were eating dinner. Amber smiled at Sofia who returned the smile. Sofia glanced over at James who also smiled. Then she glanced at her father who did not seem to do the same as the others. Sofia noticed that James and Amber were not as happy as they were when her mother was around. It made her even sadder knowing that her siblings were not happy either.

"Hello," Sofia said, as she sat down at the table with her family.

"Hello, Sofia," King Roland said, taking a bite of his food, "Why are you late to dinner?"

"Oh, um," Sofia started, "I was talking to Mr. Cedric about my sorcery test on Thursday. It's very important and…"

He cut her off and said bluntly, "Well, that kind of thing could wait after dinner. Since you were late to dinner, I want you to stay in your room for the rest of the night. No visiting Cedric and no visiting those little animal friends you have. You're sixteen. You should not be pretending to speak to animals. It's extremely childish."

"Yes, dad, I'm sorry," Sofia said and then took a sip of her water. She glanced over at Baileywick who seemed upset that she got in trouble for such a silly thing. He mouthed "I'm sorry" to her and she nodded her head as in saying "it's okay".

Once dinner was over, Sofia went straight to her room and decided to change into her nightgown since she wasn't going anywhere the rest of the night. Once she finished changing, she got her training wand and her spell books that Cedric had lent her. She flipped through the pages, trying to absorb every single word in the book. She hoped that one day she could be a good sorcerer like her teacher. She wasn't interested in being a queen or even a princess anymore; she found much more happiness in doing magic, then approving letters. Suddenly, she saw a grey figure move toward her window and laughed when she saw who it was.

"Clover!" she exclaimed, as she rushed toward the window and opened it.

"Princess!" he shouted back. He stuffed a carrot in his mouth and swallowed rather loudly which made Sofia giggle. "Man, your father's in such a bad mood all the time."

Sofia sighed and said, "I know…I wish he wasn't so angry. I liked him a lot more when mom was alive. Now, he's scary." Speaking about him gave Sofia chills. Clover saw that she was uncomfortable, so he changed the subject.

"You practicing sorcery?" Clover asked, hoping that she would feel better by talking about her favorite activity.

"I'm just looking right now…"Sofia answered, but then something caught her eye. There was a piece of folded paper sticking out of the spell book. She pulled it out and opened the paper that said "Transporto". "Hey, Clover…Look at this."

He stared at it and then said, "Uh…yeah, it's pretty cool." He was quite confused on why Sofia was so interested in a simple spell. It wasn't any different from any other spell.

"It says 'Think of the place you want to go, then say the magic word, "Transporto"'," Sofia said, "Maybe I could try it out!" She reached for her wand, but then Clover hopped in her lap.

"Sof, I don't think that's a good idea, if your dad found out that you were gone, he would get so upset. He could…you…know…well, you know what he would do to you. Please don't do this," Clover pleaded but Sofia shook her head and laughed.

"Oh, Clover, I'll be…" Sofia began to say but there was a knock at her door. Her eyes widened and her heart began pounding so hard, she couldn't even hear the words Clover was trying to say to her. She put Clover under her bed and placed the wand around her bed covers. There was another knock and this time it was harsher. Sofia opened the door to find her father there, looking at her with disapproving eyes.

"Talking to that dumb rabbit again, huh?" He started off and grabbed her arm, "Huh? Answer me, Sofia!"

Sofia was frozen; she could not speak or move. She was terrified that he would try to hurt Clover. She began sweating so hard that she felt like she was drowning. Her eyes began to fill up with water, but she had to hold back her tears for her father could not see her cry. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Fine, you want to play that game," he said angrily and he picked her up and threw her on the bed. Sofia began to scream out of fear, but he clasped his hand over her mouth. "You will not scream or I will find that stupid rabbit of yours and kill him."

That's when Sofia could not take it anymore and the tears began dropping out of her eyes. He laughed at her suffering which made her even more scared. Then, Sofia got an idea. She felt around her bed and the tips of her fingers felt the wand. She kicked her father off of her, ran to the wand, and with shaky hands, grabbed the wand underneath of the covers.

Cedric's workshop…she thought and then said, "Transporto." The last thing she saw was her father, screaming at her. Then suddenly, she landed in Cedric's workshop. She looked around just to make sure it was the right place. All of a sudden, she heard footsteps and then she saw a shadow.

"Sofia? What…what are you doing here? I didn't even hear you come up the stairs…the door didn't even…" Cedric said baffled.

"Mr. Cedric!" Sofia exclaimed with tears in her eyes. She ran towards him and hugged him tightly.