Sophia's Story
A Disney crossover by talking2myself
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognizable Disney characters. All original characters are my own creations.
CHAPTER 22. Transformation
Mirror led Sophia to her bedroom. It contained an ancient looking four-poster bed with a faded bedspread and canopy. Sophia nearly fainted when she caught sight of the room. Every square inch of it was covered in dust and cobwebs. Sophia was vaguely aware of Mirror saying goodnight to her, but she didn't catch his words. She nodded distractedly before immediately launching herself into a cleaning frenzy. She spent hours attempting to tidy up the room. Every now and again a ghastly shriek or maniacal giggle would erupt through the house causing Sophia to freeze in terror, her heart pounding. Finally, she determined that the bed was clean enough for her to sleep in. She pulled the covers up and over her head and struggled to ignore all the strange noises that surrounded her.
Morning came far too quickly and Sophia was still tired when the gray light of morning began to stream through the cracked windows. For the first time in months, Sophia didn't immediately bound out of bed. Instead, she rolled over and struggled to sleep for a bit longer. A few minutes later, a strange "thunk" woke her up again. Sophia bolted upright in bed in time to see a strange figure. A man stood before her with a shock of white hair and a heavy ball and chain shackled around his ankle.
Sophia screamed. The figure screamed and jumped forwards. Sophia felt a wave of cold sweep over her as he jumped through her and into the next wall before vanishing. Sophia sat there her whole body trembling in shock. Sophia jumped to her feet and raced through the hallway. The cold rushing through her did not fade away. Sophia skidded to a halt at the large table in the dining room. Leota and Mirror were casually seated at the end of the table. Leota was enjoying a cup of tea while Mirror was cracking open a hard-boiled egg.
"Ah good morning Sophia," Leota said. "Did you sleep well?"
"I saw a ghost!" Sophia cried.
Leota looked over the rim of her teacup and raised an eyebrow. "In a haunted mansion? Imagine that." Mirror snickered.
"But… but… he went through me!" Sophia wailed.
Leota did seem somewhat sympathetic to that news. "Oh I'm sorry. That is inconvenient. You will feel cold for the rest of the day." She frowned. "The ghosts are supposed to shriek or make some sort of noise in order to avoid that. You'll have to forgive them. They're not used to spending time around the living." Leota stomped her foot on the hardwood floor. "You hear that, haunts?" she hollered. "We've got a warm body here now. Please try to be considerate."
"Soooorrrrrrrryyy," a chorus of ghostly voices echoed through the halls. Sophia shivered even more and this time it didn't have anything to do with the ghost that had just passed through her.
"Well, that's settled," Leota said. She set her teacup down and rose to her feet. "Since you're up, we might as well start the day with a lesson. Let's head out to the garden. The sunlight will help with your chills."
Mirror wiped his mouth with a napkin before rising to his feet and following Leota. Still shivering wildly, Sophia let out a heavy sigh and followed her new tutor out into the gardens, anxiously looking around every corner suspiciously. The sunlight did seem to help her body stop shaking for a while even if the gardens did appear as dead and lifeless as the ghosts in the manor. The only sounds that Sophia could hear was the faint sound of singing. A strange quartet of busts were singing the Saints Go Marching In. There was a point where this would have frightened Sophia, but not after her encounter this morning.
Madame Leota stood before her while Mirror settled on a stone bench. "Now," she said. "We shall start with transformation. That's an entertaining spell. Has some useful applications."
"Transformation?" Sophia asked. "Rosamund showed me that already." She scooped up a stone and focused on it. Seconds later, a cupcake appeared in the palm of her hand.
"Impressive," Leota admitted. "But this is different. This time you are going to transform yourself."
"Myself?" Sophia asked.
Leota nodded. "You're going to shift yourself into a new form. Now, think of someone you know. Someone you know pretty well. Picture them in your mind. Every last detail."
Sophia closed her eyes and thought. The first person that came to her mind was Kelsey. She focused hard on the image. Her blonde hair cropped short in a bob around her head, her square glasses, her usual expression with a raised eyebrow and her skeptical expression, the green hat perched on her head.
"Once you've pictured them," Madame Leota continued. "You're going to put that image on yourself. Think of it as putting on a set of clothes. Step into the image."
Sophia frowned, but did as she was told. She pictured sliding her arms into Kelsey's jacket, the glasses appearing on her face. It felt very unnatural, like she was wrapped in some sort of odd shadow. Although, that could easily be the ghost chills lingering in her systems.
"Now open your eyes," Madame Leota said. Sophia did. She looked around everything looked the same. Madame Leota was looking her up and down appraisingly. She nodded. "Not bad for a first try." Sophia looked down at her hands, but didn't see anything immediately different. "Mirror?" Madame Leota asked.
Mirror nodded and reached into the folds of his robe. He removed a small silver hand mirror and held it up for Sophia to see herself. Kelsey's amazed face stared back at her. "Whoa!" she cried. "I look just like her."
"Not just like her," Madame Leota pointed out. "What color are Kelsey's eyes?"
Sophia peered in closer at her reflection. There did seem something wrong with Kelsey's eyes behind the spectacles. They were an odd gray muddled color. "I don't know."
"I can see that," Madame Leota said. "When you don't know something about a person, the magic will gloss over those details. This will do if you were at a distance or if you were trying to interact with someone who didn't know what Kelsey looks like." Madame Leota had been circling her, inspecting her work. "Her eyes are blue by the way," she added.
Sophia huffed. "I didn't spend all that much time gazing into her eyes."
Madame Leota shrugged. "Keep in mind, this is all just a trick of the magic. An illusion. Your physical body hasn't changed at all. You're just wrapped in an illusion. If someone were to touch you," Madam Leota reached out and clasped her arm which should be covered by Kelsey's green jacket. "They will be able to feel what's true." She released her arm. "Also, your voice can never change."
"What? Why?" Sophia asked.
Madame Leota shrugged. "There's a few theories. There are certain limitations to Godmother magic. You have "good" magic. It's only meant to nurture and care for your future godchild. Even an illusion could be interpreted as a lie, maybe keeping your voice is a way of giving the people you attempt to fool a fair chance? We don't really know for sure." Leota sat on the bench besides Mirror. Sophia examined herself a bit more in the mirror. The bow tie Kelsey wore was gray and the number on the hat was just a large 10 because Sophia couldn't remember the actual price. "Try it again," Madame Leota said. "This time try someone closer to you."
Sophia frowned but closer her eyes again. There could be only one person. She pictured Giselle's willowy frame, her auburn hair, her big blue eyes, her delicate fingers, the pink flowers she always wore in her hair.
"Much better!" Madame Leota cried, shocking Sophia out of her thoughts. Madame Leota clapped her hands as she rose to her feet and began to inspect her once again. "Is this person related to you?" she asked.
"Yes," Sophia said swallowing a lump in her throat. "She is… was… my sister."
"Ah," Madam Leota nodded. "So it is a family resemblance and not rookie transforming."
"Family resemblance?" Sophia scoffed. "Hardly. Giselle was always the pretty one."
"We don't have time for useless self-pity," Madame Leota said dismissively. "We have much to cover."
"I wasn't self-pitying," she snapped. "And what do you mean we don't have time? We have nothing but time."
"Well, that depends," Madame Leota said.
"Depends on what?" Sophia asked.
"On when The Knowing sets in," Madame Leota said. "I don't think it will be soon, but you never know."
"What is The Knowing?" Sophia asked.
Madame Leota sighed and rubbed her temple, "If I ever come across Rosamund again, I have some notes for her about her training program."
"That makes two of us," Sophia muttered. "Starting with try to avoid transforming your apprentice into an inanimate object."
"What did I say about self-pity?" Madame Leota scolded.
"Haven't I earned that?" Sophia snapped. "She turned me into a broom. For years!"
"At least, you had a body," Madame Leota muttered. Mirror nodded enthusiastically. "You're not the first person to be on the wrong end of a transformation spell. Heck, You're not even the first person in this garden." Sophia clamped her mouth shut. She had forgotten that both Madame Leota and Mirror had spent significant amounts of time as heads only. Madam Leota's face softened and she took a step closer, gently gripping Sophia's shoulder and shattering the illusion of Giselle. "We grow because we learn from our hardships not dwell on them."
Sophia frowned and for a moment the garden was silent apart from the singing busts switching to Swing Low Sweet Chariot. "What is The Knowing?" Sophia asked at last.
"Ah," Madame Leota said. "The Knowing is when your magic is strong enough to consider your training complete and you will suddenly be drawn to your godchild's side."
"How will I know when it happens?" Sophia asked.
"Trust me, you'll know," Madame Leota said. "From what I hear it's pretty overwhelming. You will instinctually know who and where your godchild is and you will be drawn to them like a moth to a flame." She waved a hand dismissively, "But that's still a way off. We still have lots of training left. Let's try it again."
Sophia spent the rest of the day transforming into Kelsey, Rob, Fflewddur, Emma, Madame Leota, her grandmother, anyone that Sophia could remotely remember. Finally, Madame Leota decided that it was enough for the day. Towards the end of the day, Sophia was finally beginning to feel normal again. As she lay in her bed, struggling to ignore the sounds of the 999 haunts in the manor, she found herself wondering about her future godchild and who he or she might be.