The Ninth Star

Summary: An evil enigmatic being known as The Ninth Star was once in a group known as the Nefarious Nine, all of whom were destroyed. The sole survivor of the attack, The Ninth Star takes up residence in a new host, and has now been tracked down to Valestrai, where there are nine powerful magic wielders under investigation. Sofia and company are called in to help question the suspects, but nothing could have prepared them for the outcome when the mystery begins to unravel. *Takes place two years after The Tainted Ten*

Disclaimer: I do not own Sofia the First. The following characters belong to me: Jastin Butterford, Muscles, Malango the Magnanimous (mentioned), Corban, Charlie, Serena, Angel, Shikoba, Alo, the Ninth Star (and other Stars), and several others not mentioned in the other lists. MarionetteJ2X owns Nana, Tanya, and Terra. Mr. Shortman92 owns Christopher Crowley and Amaya. NerdsinaTree owns Captain Nereus. Royal Detective owns Gabriel Sebastian. Allyrwhitney owns Feya. Jettmanas owns Davidius. Creepy-Pasta owns Neoma. Pinkscarlet08 owns Amerie. Theblackraven2.0 owns Malcom "Mac" Woodruff. Also, the "Nefarious Nine" title belongs to NerdsinaTree, as the title was originally supposed to be used in "The Tainted Ten" until we added a tenth character.


Chapter 9: Neoma


To say the new suspect was full of energy would be an understatement. Neoma was a slender, fair-skinned 18-year-old girl with pixie length white hair and stunning turquoise eyes. On the inside of her right wrist was a ladybug tattoo with scattered black dots. She wore an off-the-shoulder high split wine-red dress with long sleeves. The split travelled up to her thighs, offering a peek of skin each time she walked. She also wore glass high heels, and surprisingly, she did not seem the least bit uncomfortable walking in them.

"You are…Neoma," Vega clarified, receiving a grin from the young girl. "All right, good. Um, have a seat, Neoma…"

"Thanks, love," she responded, her slight English accent sneaking through when she spoke. She slid onto the seat, her leg that was mostly covered with the fabric of her dress draped over her more exposed leg, offering a bit more modesty. "How can I help you lot then? I keep hearing that everyone's getting questioned about their lives and such, and then some bloke nearly passed out from some magic testing or whatever."

"No need to worry, Neoma," Shikoba assured her. "Everything in here is completely safe and merely matter of fact. We only ask the basic questions."

"Right, and whatever other people volunteer is on them," Greylock mumbled to Cedric, who sighed.

"Well, shoot then," the white-haired girl laughed, shrugging. "Ask me anything you'd like. I'm an open book. I am honestly surprised none of you asked me about my grandfather yet."

"Your grandfather?" Sofia wondered.

"Yeah, Merlin."

Cedric nearly doubled over in a coughing fit, Sofia patting his back and Greylock fanning him with a stack of papers. He looked up, his brown eyes wide but a bit bleary. "G-Grandfather? Merlin—the Merlin—is your grandfather?"

She grinned. "I take it he doesn't talk much about me." She shrugged. "He always was an odd man, and particularly private."

"And you?" Orion asked. "What is your story, Neoma?"

"I'm from Welsh. I was born to Nimue, Merlin's daughter, and Ruben. My mother and I got on quite well. I was always something of a free spirit and had a lot of power that a lot of people didn't understand." She ran her hands through her short hair, sighing a bit. "However, being Merlin's granddaughter comes with a lot of expectations and pressure, as you can imagine, so I decided to find my own path and explore everything I could. Grandfather was actually very encouraging of this, but my parents weren't… We have a bit of a strained relationship now, and I don't really see them too often since I'm usually traveling. If Grandfather is too busy to attend certain events, he will often call upon me to attend in his place, which is rather exciting sometimes. He has told me that he wants me to experience everything the world has to offer and I'm always happy to do so."

"I still can't believe we've never heard about you," Cedric informed the girl, shrugging as she smiled playfully. "Keeping a secret that big must be difficult…"

"Well, I'm an enigma, I imagine," she acknowledged. "I do like a bit of mystery and mischief myself… I'm admittedly a gossip, and I'm all about enjoying life. While Grandfather would prefer me to follow in his direct footsteps, being a well-known magic wielder just isn't how I want my life to go. We respect each other, but we're so much alike that we do argue quite often… A lot of the arguments are my fault, actually. I'm the spoon that stirs the drink, as they say."

Vega wrote something down before noticing Neoma scratching her wrist, where the little ladybug tattoo was. "So, Neoma, do you have any specific magic gifts?"

"Oh, loads. I specialize in all sorts of magic, but I combined a lot of forms I've come across over the years and created my own style, so to speak. I really like sampling things from all around me, including voodoo, alchemy, divination, and everything in between. I've even studied many ancient languages, most of which I'm fluent in." She held up her wrist. "I also had this created. It's magical." She pointed toward the dots on the ladybug. "All loved ones in my life are represented by these dots. The dots are enchanted so that when one begins burning, it either means someone is in danger or has died. If the person dies, the dot disappears. If I grow close to new people in my life, a new dot forms within the tattoo. Pretty neat, huh?"

"Actually, yeah," Sofia responded. "I don't know if I would want to know about someone's death that way, though, but it is kind of neat."

"Anything else you'd like to add?" Shikoba asked calmly.

"Oh! Let me show you guys this." She pulled out a jade wand with a twisted design, which possessed a thinner base and a more pronounced point. "I turned 18 not too long ago, and Grandfather gave me this wand. He knew I was a fan of the story of the White Snake, which is an ancient tale about a snake demon who fell in love with a human." She shrugged as she realized she had their attention, smirking. "Cliché, I know, but still… Anyway, this wand can double as a hairpin…if I grow my hair out. The end of the wand has two jade snakes intwined with three jade chains expanding at the end, if you can see." She twisted the wand a few directions and even stood a bit, leaning over the table so people could get a better look at the wand.

"It's hand-crafted," Cedric noticed, admiring the handiwork.

"Yes. With a little magic infusion, of course. Jade is my favorite color and stone, and Grandfather enchanted it to where I can summon my wand no matter where I am. It only responds to me. No one else will ever be able to pick it up or use it, because to the outsider, it is far too heavy. It's also magic resistant, so even if people try to put a spell on it, they'll fail miserably, and their magic will become mine."

"Wow," Greylock breathed. "Incredible."

"Yep!" She twirled the wand playfully before pocketing it in an unseen part of her dress. "It keeps me safe and practically invincible. But then again, with a grandfather like Merlin, I'm sure he wanted to keep me as protected as he could." She spun once before sitting down, placing her hands on her knees. "About all I've got to say, loves. If that's quite all right with you…"

Orion stood, gesturing for her to do the same. "Very well. I'll just conduct the magic test, and you'll be free to go."

"Aw, mate, I just sat down," she joked, laughing.

He guided her to the same spot as the others, pressed his hand to her forehead, and began the test.

While he was doing so, Alo sniffed the shoe of the teenager and began whimpering a bit, backing up. His eyes widened when he saw the very quick flash of a smirk on the girl's face before disappearing into her usual unbothered grin. He shook his head, moving over to stand by Shikoba, on guard.

When the Windwalker finished, he nodded once. "Thank you, Neoma. Please send in Amerie next."

"Toodles, all! Nice chatting!" As soon as she exited the room, the others let go of a breath they didn't realize they'd been holding, and then they found themselves laughing.

"She's a lot," Sofia told them.

"I'll say," Greylock scoffed. "I forgot how much energy these blasted teenagers have… Reminds me of when you were younger, Princess."

"Mother of four, Greylock," she giggled. "Things changed…"

"What did you find out about her?" Shikoba wondered, eyeing Alo, who still seemed perplexed. "Alo seems weary."

"There was some minor discrepancy, but her magic is stable. I can't say I sensed anything overly malicious. Mysterious, yes, but…" He shrugged.

There was a knock that fell upon the door, and a younger girl peered into the room. "Excuse me… I'm Amerie. May I come in?"

To be continued…

Next Chapter: Amerie