Where is he?
Sofia cupped her amulet, turning it over several times to inspect it like something was physically wrong with it, even giving it a tap. Maybe the amulet's summoning abilities only worked for mounts like Minimus? Or maybe only Minimus?
A small crash from behind the nearest wall, inside the gardening shed caused her to sigh as she tried not to get impatient with the bird.
"Come on, Wormwood…"
"Come on, yourself! Have you any idea how far away you were?"
Sofia practically yelped, turning a sharp glare to the raven who had finally decided to show up, and spook her for the second time in just a couple of hours. Unfortunately, her baby face and pout made her stare a little underwhelming, making the Wormwood laugh.
"Wormwood, would you stop doing that!" The raven only smirked in return.
A bit irritated, Sofia decided to let it go in favor of keeping them on track. Wormwood was here, and that meant they could finally leave.
Wormwood watched her disappear around the corner of the rec center, and reappear pulling along a large tarped lump that struggled, whined, and whinnied as it was led out. Whatever was under there was horribly uncoordinated without it's sight. The complaining sounded so familiar to the raven, almost like… oh no.
"Settle down Minimus, I'm taking it off, don't worry."
"Sofia, you know I love helping you with anything, but maybe next time don't shove me in a space way smaller than my stable."
"I'm sorry, Minimus," Sofia soothed as she pulled the tarp off of her flying steed, "I didn't want you to be found or we might not be able to leave so easily."
"Well… alright, I guess it's fine then. Ready?"
They were both interrupted by a shrieking caw and finally acknowledged their smaller, winged companion who looked less than thrilled. "Were taking the diminutive show pony!? How far is this place were going to? And how did he get here!?"
Sofia shushed him, then was quick to reprimand. "Wormwood, that isn't very nice!" she brushed through the horse's mane with her fingers in comfort, making the raven's eyes roll. "It's okay Minimus, I'm sure he didn't mean it, you know how Wormwood can be."
That struck a nerve.
Minimus neighed, then chuckled in that awkward way he never grew out of. "Ah, don't worry about it, princess. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get rid of him."
That struck a bigger nerve. Wormwood didn't get to bite back as he watched Sofia lightly slapped the horse's saddle, probably in a way to say "enough", and mount him.
Ever observant, and ever considerate.
Sofia patted the saddle, and Wormwood flew right over to take a seat, avoiding looking at her. It was humiliating enough to be riding this shrimp of a racing horse.
"Oh, Wormwood, don't forget your baskets!" she reminded, hopping off then back on and tying the items to a loop in Minimus's saddle.
Wormwood had already forgotten about them, but was still curious."I forgot to ask: what do you need the baskets for?"
"For you!" she said as they took off, "We're gonna fill it so you have something to bring back."
"Winifred already has her eyes on me, princess, providing evidence for my alibi is unnecessary."
Sofia laughed. "I know that, I just thought we- or you could bring him back something, he'll like that."
Wormwood scowled. She of course knew that he and Cedric weren't doing great at the moment. And of course she would try worming her way into helping the two of them get along. She wasn't as slick as she thought she was. Or maybe she wanted him to know to give him the chance to refuse, or to wave in his face the fact that she would help and he couldn't stop her, or for him to know that she cared about… both… of them. About Him.
"He would… appreciate it." the raven finally mumbled out to her.
Ever observant, ever considerate.
"Aw look Sofia, he does have a heart!" Curse that flying pack mule.
"Minimus!" She turned to the raven beside her and gave a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, he didn't mean it, Wormwood."
Wormwood was almost insulted. "I'm not a child, princess, I can take a bit of ribbing from a dwarf among donkeys!" that last part was directed right at the steed.
Minimus gasped, and Sofia was ready to play peacemaker, but both princess and raven were surprised by the odd surge of confidence the pegasus's next words had.
"could have fooled me with that child thing, you are pretty small for a raven."
The back and forth went on for a while, and the concern on Sofia's face gave way for amusement. The bickering between the two was so far harmless, and she was slowly getting used to Wormwood's ability to bring out people's argumentative side. It was like a pharamoan.
Or maybe that was just how the Goodwyns were if breakfast was any indication.
After a bit, the raven seemed to have just realized something was missing, and a panic thrummed in his chest.
"Princess Sofia, where is Calista?"
"Oh, don't worry, I asked her to cover for me while I took care of something important. And to not tell anyone about it. She's back at the rec hall."
She was so casual about it while Wormwood felt like he would combust. "What on earth did you tell her?"
She smirked almost mischievously and leaned down to the raven. "I said it was a 'secret protector mission'," she whispered with a giggle.
Though it was true that everyone had finally been adjusted to Sofia's long kept secret of being a protector, it took quite a while, Sofia on the other hand, was quick to shape her life around the now public knowledge, like it had always been known. She adapted quick.
"And you trust that rambunctious little hellion not to say a word?"
Sofia smiled, but there was something about it that pricked the raven's spine. "Calista likes talking, especially about things that interest her, but she's also a really private person too. After we had gone trick or treating together and my witch friends were being mean to her, she didn't show how it got to her. And after, when we went home, she told Mr. Cedric and Ms. Cordelia about all the good things that happened that night, not the bad.
"So since I told Calista that what I needed to do was a secret, she'll understand it's personal, and won't tell anyone. Especially since I'm supposed to be on a vacation right now."
She was right, Calista didn't like to bring up things that were too personal for herself or anyone else. So secrecy might not be an issue. Still something in what Sofia just said struck a nerve with him and made his blood boil.
His mouth moved on it's own. "And these witch friends of yours, what did they do to her, exactly?"
He really regretted asking because Sofia gave him another sympathetic smile, and if they weren't fifty feet in the air, he was sure she would have gone for a hug.
"Don't worry Wormwood, they just thought she was too little, and tried to send her home, but then they all became friends! Calista's fine."
There's that cheeriness. That bright, good natured smile Sofia wore made him want a subject change, immediately.
"Don't take this the wrong way, but you really do plan for everything, don't you?"
Sofia scrunched her little nose in confusion. "Wrong way?"
"A compliment."
Wormwood didn't mean for it to be taken as a joke, but Sofia accepted his supposed snark with a light laugh, apparently growing used to his brand of chummery, even Minimus seemed amused.
It reminded him of the day after the Hexley Hall ordeal, back in the tower. Cedric had rushed in excitedly sharing the success of his experimental fertilizer on the garden plants. Wormwood forgot he could understand him and called him an obsessive twit.
He thought Cedric's would get offended, yell, and pout, but to his surprise, Cedric only laughed at the insult and continued raving about the crops to him. How often was it that Wormwood would repeatedly underestimate their friendship to think Cedric would ever take his bullying as more than harmless jabs?
The rest of the ride went by quick, and as they continued on, more of the surrounding forest below was starting to look familiar. Over past the green hills Wormwood could see the silhouette of a much larger structure. The castle.
"Were going back… here," Wormwood finally said, Sofia didn't exactly inform him of where they were going, and he had forgotten to ask along the way, but whatever she had in store, he felt like wouldn't be so easy to get to. "What exactly is here that can help us?"
When Sofia didn't immediately answer, he looked back to her in confusion to see a devious little smile paint her face and thought she took after Cedric's habits a little too much. She finally looked down at him, and that sly look cleared away like it had never been there to begin with.
"Did you ever wonder how I became a protector in the first place?"
stupid bird uncle actually cares about his niece
were getting to the fun part, or at least i think its fun