AN: Sorry for this being so late, school's been hectic but I made it longer to make up for it (plus I couldn't find a good stopping point).
"Sof, wake up! We have lots to do today!" James comes barreling into the room and up to her bed. "Sof, are you okay?"
"Wait!" Sofia stops James climb up her bed with her panic stricken voice. "Just leave me alone, okay? You've done enough already."
"We already talked about this, Sofia, they're just nightmares. I would never do or say or think anything mean about or to you. I love you, Sof." James tries to progress up the bed but is stopped again when Sofia screams bloody murder. "Shit!" James falls off the bed while trying to cover his ears.
"Princess Sofia!" Baileywick rushes in the room with one of the guards that are assigned to Sofia. Baileywick finds the poor girl huddled in a ball in the far corner of her massive bed and James laying on the floor looking at his sister wearily.
"Get him out, please, everyone just, please, leave." The guard helps James up and ushers him out, before Baileywick can say anything the King and Queen rush in.
"Sofia, my baby, are you okay?" Sofia practically jumps into Miranda's arms. "What's wrong, what happened?"
"Sofia?" Roland rounds the bed but the closer he comes the more agitated Sofia becomes.
"Don't hurt me, Daddy, please. I didn't mean to scream, I'm sorry, so sorry, please." Sobs rack Sofia's thin body and Miranda looks to Roland for guidance. Roland wraps his arms around the both them and quietly whispers.
"Do these arms feel like they could hurt you? While I hold you and your mother so gently."
"But you're strong, you could easily…" Sofia trails off.
"I'm so strong because I need to be able to protect as many people as I do. Especially you, your brother and sister, and your mother. I'm so strong because I need to be able to pick you all up and just hold you tight. Keep you all safe from harm." A small giggle sob escapes.
"You're not that strong, Daddy."
"I am if I need to be. But sometimes I'm not as strong as I want to be, do you know who lends me strength when I get down?"
"Mommy?" Roland shares a look with Miranda.
"A little but I get a lot from you. You are the strongest person I know but that doesn't mean you need to be strong all the time. Sometimes you can act your age. Just remember, Sofia, we are always here for you. And we will always love you." Roland somehow maneuvers them onto to the bed, Amber and James who were at the door climb up too and slip into the embrace. They sit together for a while but then James speaks up.
"As much as I'm loving this, me, Sof, and Amber need to finish our family tree project. The Headmistresses paired all the siblings together and its due Monday."
"Alright if you need help we'll be in my study." Roland lets them all go and the kids scurry off, however, Sofia comes back for the bear Birk gave her and another hug from both her mom and dad. The kids eat a small breakfast as they work and soon they come up to an half way mark.
"Why don't we take a tea break?" Amber suggests.
"And snacks?" James lays down his pen and looks at his twin expectantly.
"Of course, snacks, what kind of tea break doesn't have snacks?" Amber smiles and looks over to Sofia. "Are you coming?"
"No, I'm going to go see Mr. Cedric, he should be back by now."
"But wasn't he at his parents the day before yesterday. Why was he gone again?"
"After his parents, he visited his sister and stayed the night there and part of the day, the rest of it he went and visited Greylock and stayed last night with his sister again. He said he was going to be back early morning today." Amber and James wave her off and she walks to Cedric's with her bear for company.
"Mr. Cedric, you here?" Sofia knocks and pushes the door open.
"Princess, there you are. I was wondering how long it would be till I saw you." They sat and talked and Cedric showed Sofia a few fun spells his sister taught him. However, everything wasn't completely normal, there seemed to be something wrong with Wormwood. When Sofia walked in, he flew up to the window and sat there still giving Sofia the evil eye.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Oh, I'm sure he's sulking about something or another. Just ignore him, Princess." Cedric looks to the bear in Sofia's arms. "You think I could see your bear, I'm curious what magic was used to make it sing when you're by yourself."
"No, you can't have him." Suddenly a look Cedric had never seen in Sofia's eyes, came into them and if he had to guess what it was, he would've said fear and panic.
"I'll give it back I promise, I just want to see it for a few seconds." Cedric stretches his hand towards it, palm up.
"No, I know what you really want, Mr. Cedric. I should've seen it sooner but I do now. You want my amulet, I remember all the times you've attempted to get it and I recognize it now. I hoped I was wrong but I'm not, am I?" Cedric sits there shocked, his hand still out. "You're horrible, just leave me alone."
Sofia storms into the big library thankful that James and Amber wasn't there. How could she explain what she had learned, and why would they believe her? One, they thought her amulet was just a necklace. Two, it's Cedric they think he's bumbling and incompetent most of the time. And three, why would they believe anything she learned in a nightmare? No, she'll stay here and calm down.
They get the project done and place it in Amber's room on her giant desk. James goes outside to ride Echo around and Amber stays in her room to finish the rest of her homework. Sofia decides to go read and walks towards the study that was dubbed as hers. A number of months ago, Baileywick had shown Sofia a small study that was filled with books. Originally it was Tilly's hideaway when she lived in the castle and over the years when she was gone, she'd bring back books from other places to fill it. There were books on the table and chairs and a few on the desk. Sofia grabs one she had laid on the coffee table and curls up into her favorite overstuffed chair. Too soon there's a knock on the door and Baileywick peeks in.
"Thought I might find you here, Princess. It's time for supper." Sofia sighs and leaves her book open on the chair along with her teddy bear. Supper is quiet tonight with only a few conversation, one about the next flying derby tournament, another about the kids' school project, and another about Aunt Tilly coming to visit at the end of the month. What was left unspoken was the fact that the reason she was coming was to say good-bye to Sofia for a year.
"We'll come and tuck you all in after a few hours, get some homework done in that time please." Miranda say to her children as they leave the room, Roland leaves for the study and Miranda stays behind to talk to Michelle, one of the part-maid-part-wait-staff woman. They had a lot in common and Miranda enjoyed that when asked she had dropped the I'm-talking-to-the-Queen-I-better-watch-myself demeanor. As Sofia leaves her place by the dining room door she thinks about her mother's worries.
"Does she really think my birth dad being back is a bad thing?" Sofia mutters to herself as goes back to the library. "And me going with him even worse? I mean what could happen, I'll have royal guards with me the whole year and dad and his crew wouldn't let anything hurt me."
Another week passes by and Sofia gets more worried by the day, hoping she'll make the right choice. She had begun a routine sometime the week before of going to her study after school and after supper not spending much extra time with the rest of her family. James hadn't decided to intervene with the fort yet but she knew it was coming soon. This weekend had her parents way at a resort, James at Khalid's, and Amber at Hildegard's, she was supposed to go with Amber but decided not to faking a cold after their parents left.
Tonight's nightmare was different, like she was in a haze wondering around in an empty castle. One that had been empty for years it seemed, dust collected everywhere and there was a feeling in the air that seemed to say to Sofia that the castle equally enjoyed by her being there and feared it. A darkness loomed in the air and she wrapped her arms around herself. What Sofia didn't know was that she was actually sleepwalking with a glowing amulet, one that had a tint of blue. She walks to her limit, which is right into Baileywick.
"Sofia? What are you doing out of bed?" Baileywick crouches down and looks the little girl in the face. She wears a glazed expression and Baileywick realizes that she's sleepwalking, he had seen it before when his own brother did it when they were younger. Instead of trying to shake her out of it, he picks her up and she instantly wraps around him. "Well, this is probably the best sleep you've gotten in a while. I should put you back to bed but I'm afraid you'll slip into a nightmare or start sleepwalking again. I'll just carry you around than."
So through the evening and part of the night Baileywick carries around Sofia, he completes all his work and has checked on everyone he needed to, except Cedric. Earlier he had heard one of the maids talking about how Cedric hasn't slept a wink for about a week and he refuses to come out of his room. They've felt bad for him and had been leaving food outside his door when he hadn't come down to get some. Taking the trip up the stairs is a hard task when you have a sleeping child but he had to make sure the poor sorcerer wasn't dead in there.
"Cedric, are you alive in there?" Baileywick barely knocks once before the door sweeps open.
"I was wondering when you would get here. I need help." Cedric flicks his eyes to Sofia and back to Baileywick.
"That's new. What do you need?" Cedric gestures over to a stool, they both take a seat and Cedric runs a hand through his dirty hair.
"I think there's a spell over Sofia, I need you to help me by laying her down and getting that damn bear away from her." Baileywick eyes Cedric and Wormwood, both looked half dead, however, he sort of believed him about the spell.
"Why haven't you been sleeping?"
"Because I've been looking through all my books and have been contacting every magic person I know to figure out what the hell is playing the part of Sofia's long lost father. I have a few leads, Greylock said it could be a Nightmare Beast but they can't hold their shape to specific person or thing for longer than a couple of weeks and the crew has unfabricated memories, as far as I can tell, so the creature had to hold the shape for all that time that he was with them. My parents said an Alp but they leave a distinct smell behind that is sensed by major magic users and they have a hat they wear all the time and when they change shape it's still visible. My sister suggested some type of hybrid creature. Of course, I think it might be Ms. Nettle."
"You do realize what you're saying is ridiculous. All those creatures are myths, there isn't any possible way for them to be real. And I thought Ms. Nettle was dealt with." By this time the steward had started pacing the barely lit chamber.
"Baileywick, there's a small country in this world that thinks the same as you do but they also think that magic isn't real and that there's no such thing as a phoenix or a flying horse or fairies. Just because you think that they're not real, doesn't mean they actually aren't."
"Fine, I get it. But why do you think that he really isn't who he says he is?"
"Go lay her down on my bed, and get me that bear. I'll explain while I examine it." Baileywick does as he says and the bear slips easily from her grasp. He hands it to Cedric. "Thanks, sit down. So it isn't all that unknown in the magical world that dark beings really don't care about rules or boundaries. Staying away from humans is too hard for them, they feed off us and they use any means possible to get what they want." He shakes the bear, reminding Baileywick that it sang.
"I'm actually hoping for it to be Ms. Nettle. Even though she lives by the same rules as dark creatures, she can be dealt with. However, if it is some kind of creature we need to make sure it doesn't get what it wants. As soon as it does they leave this kind of darkness that just stays with the place forever."
"We also can't let it win because its goal would be Sofia." Cedric hums and waves his wand and pours some liquid over the bear. He exhales slowly as a black cloud oozed out of the bear.
"That's not good. Whatever or whoever it is, it used a transfer spell. Before now I'm sure there was a lot more darkness, but now…"
"Now it's in Sofia?" Cedric nods as he puts white crystals around the bear. He whispers under his breath and the darkness instantly fills up the crystals. Cedric quickly takes them and puts them in a bag magically sealing it.
"I'll go get rid of that tomorrow, I'll have my parents help. I really, really hope it is Ms. Nettle."
"What are we going to do?" Baileywick looks worriedly up to where Sofia lay sleeping, already he could hear her tossing and turning. If the bear caused this before, it's certainly not causing it now.
"We can't do anything. The only person that can take off the spell on Sofia is the one who created it. Our hands are literally tied and we can't tell anyone, as soon as the fake Birk finds out we know, he'll kill Sofia. We just have to watch over her. There's also something I can try, I don't guarantee it'll work." As Cedric pulled out a clear crystal, Baileywick had to ask a question that was bothering him.
"Why did she always have it nearby? Was it because of the scent?"
"Exactly, that smell was also a spell, it was allure, and because she was captured by it she kept it nearby to always be able to smell it. Which helped the transfer spell because that only works during the day. During the day, it gathers all the information it can from everyone it's around; even Sofia, it takes her doubts and suspicions about others, and during the night there's another spell that transforms the darkness and information into nightmares." Cedric turned the crystal into an almost liquid state and pours it into a small hole in the bear that he had made. "I hope that absorbs some of the darkness in her."
"Why did this creature come after her?"
"I don't know." Cedric mumbles a spell. "There that'll sooth her a little, I just hope the creature didn't notice. Take her to bed and I think we both need some sleep now." When they left, Wormwood went immediately to sleep but Cedric went back to one particular book. One he had found hidden in Tilly's old study. It was a journal of sorts and was addressed to all wearers of the Amulet of Avalor, on the last page the wearers had put down their names, the last being King Roland's late mother. One night when he was reading what little there was he had turned to the last page and wrote out Sofia's name-Sofia the First. He had known there was a spell on it but had no intension of breaking it. He decided he would keep it until Sofia was a little older when she could really understand it all.
He sat rereading the history of the amulet, apparently because of its great power it attracted some unsavory creatures and people, and many times the wearer was rescued by some unknown man. He only hoped that it would happen again and the mystery man would protect Sofia. Cedric falls asleep at his desk, his arms wrapped protectively around the book.