Sofin couldn't think. He could only stare at the princess in front of him, wide-eyed, slack-jawed. Emotions were ripping through him faster than he could process them—shock, panic, fear, confusion, joy, disbelief, everything happening all at once. It was almost too much.
His female doppelgänger dropped her hand and tilted her head to one side, confused. "Um, you there?" she asked hesitantly.
Sofin shook his head and backed away slowly, pointing a weak finger at the princess. "You…buh…me…Sofia," he blubbered, unable to form a full sentence.
Sofia looked down at herself and fingered the amulet around her neck. "That's me!" she said brightly. "Sofia." She looked back at Sofin. "Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"
Sofin knew what was happening. He must have botched the spell somehow, and accidentally duplicated himself wrong. She was wearing a pink ball gown, just like the pink color of the duplicated apple. He knew that. It made sense. So why couldn't he say anything?
Clover was the one to break Sofin out of his trance. He jumped up to the table, blocking Sofin's view of the princess, and looked the prince in the eyes. "Hey, kid?" said the bunny. "You okay?"
Sofin blinked a few times to clear his vision and shook his head rapidly. He looked at the princess, Sofia, once more. She was still there, with her curly brown hair, her bright blue eyes, wearing a silver tiara and a pink gown and the same Amulet of Avalor. Sofin took a deep breath, and found that he could speak once more.
"Sorry," said Sofin. "I'm okay. I guess I just freaked out a little." His manners kicked in. "I'm Sofin," he continued. "It's nice to meet you, Sofia." He reached out a hand to shake, his eyes still transfixed on the princess.
Sofia let out a little laugh—that was his laugh—and reached out her hand to shake Sofin's—why was her hand so soft—using her other hand to curtsy. She released his hand and gave a little smile, holding her hands behind his back. "So, what do you need me for?" she asked.
There was an emotion somewhere deep in Sofin's chest that he couldn't identify. It was like a cold, hard pit, resting inside his heart, and each time Sofia opened her mouth to speak, the pit twisted, sending an uncomfortable chill through Sofin's veins. But he knew he couldn't look away, couldn't shake that desperate feeling which told him to keep watching her, to keep examining her every movement or the little tilts of her head as she spoke or the ways in which she moved her arms to gesture.
"Well," explained Sofin, "I was trying to duplicate myself so that you could spend the day with Lady Joy and I could go off to the Sorcerer's Soirée with Mr. Cedric, but…" He trailed off.
"You must've messed up the spell somehow," finished Clover. He bit into a piece of the duplicated pink apple, then spit it out, grimacing. "Yep," he confirmed, "this thing tastes rotten." The rabbit took a bite out of the normal apple instead.
"So?" said Sofia. "What are we gonna do now?"
"We?" questioned Sofin. "I'm gonna go find the counterspell, so that I can send you back." He started searching around for Mr. Cedric's spellbook. "And then I'll have to go greet Lady Joy. I might already be late."
Sofin found the spellbook wide open on the table. It was luckily already open to the duplication spell. Sofin looked down at the open book. "'Doppler Duplicato,'" he read. "'Makes a perfect copy of the target. Doesn't do anything to an object which is already duplicated.' Ugh, but what about the counterspell?"
Sofia didn't make any movement to help searching. Instead, she said, "You're probably already going to be late for Lady Joy's arrival. There's no time to find the counterspell book. How about you just leave me here and entertain Lady Joy, and then you can come back and find the counterspell?"
Sofin thought about it for a moment. It was a good idea…
"Hey princess," said Clover to Sofia, and Sofin felt the pit in his chest twist a little. The bunny continued, "what if someone else sees you?"
"I'll make sure to stay out of sight," said Sofia. "And I promise I'll wait right here for you. Unless I have to hide from Cedric."
That settled it. "Okay!" agreed Sofin. "Just stay right here while I talk to Lady Joy. And then I'll be back soon." Then without wasting any more time, he ran out of the room and down the stairs towards the main entrance, Clover hopping along beside him.
As the two of them raced to the main entrance, Clover piped up. "You know, kid, are you sure we can count on that Sofia princess?"
"What do you mean?" asked Sofin.
"I dunno," said Clover. "Something just feels off about her."
"Oh, come on, Clover," said Sofin. "She's just me, except she's a girl and I'm not." The emotion in the pit of his chest twisted again, and Sofin did his best to ignore it. "She even made a promise, and I never break promises. You're just feeling off because you bit that rotten apple."
Clover looked down at the ground, but by the time he was going to say something else, they'd already arrived at the front of the castle. Sofin rushed out of the gates to his father, then stopped on a dime, breathing heavily. "Am I late?" he asked.
"No, you're right on time," said King Roland. He pointed up to the sky, and Sofin watched as a pair of winged horses pulling a coach slowly descended through the air and landed at the entrance. A set of trumpets blared, and Sofin watched as Baileywick opened the door, and a portly short man and his daughter stepped out of the coach.
"May I present Lord Gilbert, Duke of Bramblingham, and his daughter, Lady Joy!" announced Baileywick.
"Greetings everyone!" boomed Lord Gilbert in a loud voice. "Your favorite lord has arrived." He walked up the steps to the castle entrance, and Lady Joy walked a little behind him.
Sofin waved at Lady Joy, who walked up to the prince. "Hi Sofin!" she greeted. "It's so nice to finally meet you!"
"And I'm thrilled to meet you, too," agreed Sofin. "I have this for you, as a gift!" He handed over the doll to Lady Joy, who took it in both hands, looking delighted.
"Oh, I love it Sofin!" exclaimed Lady Joy. She looked at the doll closely, shifting the locks of hair from side to side. "It's beautiful! Thank you."
"Of course!" responded Sofin brightly. "Come on, do you want to see my room first?"
"I would love to!" said Lady Joy, and Sofin took her hand, leading her up to the castle. Sofin wanted to give her a tour of the castle, and then maybe if they had time they could play hide-and-seek. Today was going to be amazing!
Once her other self and that bunny had left the room, Sofia waited for a few moments until she couldn't hear the sounds of their footsteps clattering through the staircase. She picked up the pink apple Clover had bitten into and admired her reflection in it for a moment. "Rotten," she said aloud. "Just like me." Sofia threw the apple at a bookshelf, toppling a handful of the books. She watched them crash to the floor with a satisfying thump and laughed. Being naughty was so much fun! She couldn't get why her other self had to be such a goody two-shoes all the time.
Sofia reached down to grab the training wand, which had clattered to the floor. "Mine now!" she half-said, half-sung. And then, with no hesitation, she walked out of Cedric's workshop, breaking the promise she'd made to Sofin just minutes before.
Sofia wandered through the hallways aimlessly, looking for mischief waiting to be caused. She came across a set of two potted houseplants, identical to one another, atop a table.
"Oh," realized Sofia to herself while looking at the pair, "Cedric must have forgotten to get rid of this after he duplicated it." She gave a devilish smirk. "I'll just have to fix that for him!" And the princess shoved one houseplant right off the table, where it fell and shattered against the ground with a loud clang. Then, before Baileywick or someone else arrived to investigate the sound of the noise, Sofia turned tail and ran, giggling merrily to herself. Oh, making mischief was so much fun! Like she was ever gonna let her other self find that counterspell. And either way, she still had the training wand. No way was she getting sent back anytime soon.
One she was far enough away from the broken pot, Sofia made her way towards her room, grinning. Breaking that houseplant had given her a wonderful idea. She opened her bedroom's door, looking out over the made bed and the closed diary resting on one table. Sofia rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe her other self wrote in a diary. Lame. Wasn't it obvious that the best way to spend time was pranking other people?
Sofia opened the closet door and stepped inside, looking around at all the clothing. Suits. Ugh. With a dismissive huff, she headed deeper into the closet. And there it was, at the back: two sets of children's sorcerer's robes. The same for boys and girls, thank goodness. She grabbed one set, and held it in her hands, smiling.
"Making mischief in one castle is nice," she said to herself, "but you know what's even better? Making mischief at a meeting for sorcerers from all across the kingdoms. And I know just who to embarrass." She thought of a certain black-haired, pale-skinned sorcerer who was so wildly incompetent that even if she were to embarrass him, it would look like he messed up himself. "Cedric."
Once Sofia finished changing into the sorcerer's robes, she stepped out of her closet and then left the room, making her way towards Amber's bedroom. After all, there was still one thing she needed to take care of if she wanted to pretend to be her other self and go to the Soirée. Within a few minutes, Sofia reached her sister's door and opened it without knocking.
Amber was sitting at her table examining dresses once more, but upon hearing the sound of the door opening she looked up to see Sofia. Her eyes widened.
"Sofin," said Amber, "whatever did you do to your hair?" She walked up to Sofia and ran her hand across Sofia's locks.
Sofia winced. She didn't want to have to cut her hair, but making fun of Cedric in front of every sorcerer was worth it. "Well," lied Sofia quickly, "Cedric accidentally hit me with a hair growth spell. I was wondering if you could maybe, um, trim it back to where it was?"
"Of course I can, Sofin," responded Amber. She pulled a cord nearby her bed, sending the loud sound of a bell ringing echoing through the hallways. "Suzette? Marcy?" she called. After just a few moments, the two maids, wearing bright blue maid's dresses with white bonnets, appeared in the doorway.
"Cut Sofin's hair so that it looks like it normally does again," said Amber, gesturing towards Sofia.
"Yes mum," replied Suzette, and before Sofia really knew what was going on, she was pulled into a chair by the maids. They tied a black cloth around her neck so that none of the hair would spoil her robes, and then got away to snipping.
"I'm glad you came to me first, Sofin," said Amber as the two maids worked. "Your hair looked nothing like it usually does! That spell must have done a number on you. Really, I don't know why you spend so much time with Cedric. He's just accident-prone."
Sofia shrugged her shoulders as the maids clipped away. "Maybe you're right, Amber," she agreed. "I really should stop spending time with Cedric. He's really just a royal fool. I've got plenty of other better things to do."
Amber raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't expecting you to actually agree with me," she admitted. "Normally you're so stubborn about Cedric. And don't you usually call him Mr. Cedric?"
Sofia shrugged. "I guess I'm just starting to see things your way," she said. "You could say I'm becoming a new me." She laughed to herself a little at the inside joke. Then the maids stepped away, finished, and Sofia pulled herself up from the chair, admiring herself in a mirror. She looked just like her other self had. Perfect. "Thanks, Amber!" she said, and then left her sister's room, leaving two maids and one very confused princess behind.
Sofia made her way back towards Cedric's tower and climbed the towering stone staircase. She was about to knock, but heard voices coming from inside. She paused, putting her ear to the keyhole to eavesdrop.
"And now, Wormwood," said Cedric, "now is finally my time! The time when I shall steal the Amulet of Avalor and take over all of Enchancia! And this plan is truly ingenious! Nothing could go wrong."
Sofia stifled a giggle. She couldn't believe her other self still didn't know about all his harebrained schemes to try and take the Amulet. Really, it was obvious.
"Just like every other time you said nothing could go wrong with a plan," complained Wormwood sarcastically. Of course, Cedric didn't hear.
"You see, Wormwood, when you duplicate a magical artifact, it might mimic the properties of the original artifact for a little while, but it will never have the same amount of raw magic," continued Cedric. "After a few days, its power will fizzle out, and only the original artifact will have any power."
Sofia fingered her amulet. Good to know. She'd have to steal her other self's copy at some point. But a few days was plenty of time.
"I already don't like where this is going," said Wormwood.
"I know, I know, you're wondering why that matters if I can't simply duplicate the amulet," said Cedric to Wormwood. "But you see, tonight at the Sorcerer's Soirée I can duplicate Sofin instead of duplicating you, Wormwood. And then, while he is still confused, I'll steal the real Amulet of Avalor right from Sofin's neck and replace it with the Amulet of Avalor from the copy of Sofin. Then I'll just banish the copy of Sofin, leaving me with the real amulet and Sofin with the fake one. He won't notice anything wrong for days, and that's all the time I need to study the real amulet and get my hands on its magical power!"
Wormwood was silent for a moment, then asked, "why not just steal the amulet directly? Why go through all the duplicating nonsense?"
But of course, Cedric couldn't understand him. "It's the perfect plan!" he said triumphantly. "Finally, I can get my hands on that amulet and take over all of Enchancia!"
From outside the door, Sofia smiled. "Oh Cedric," she whispered to herself, quietly enough that he wouldn't hear, "you didn't have to make it so easy! Casting a duplication spell on duplicated things doesn't do anything. All I have to do is stand there, and Cedric's duplication spell won't work! He'll look like a fool in front of everyone. I don't even have to do anything!" She giggled quietly. "Right. It's almost time. I should knock on the door so Cedric doesn't know I was eavesdropping." Then Sofia, wearing a set of sorcerer's robes and with a much shorter haircut, still holding her training wand, knocked on the door.
Cedric opened it, seeing Sofia. "Good, you're here," he said, a wicked glint in his eyes. "Come on, let's go to the Soirée together. We'll take a flying coach." He stepped out of the tower, Wormwood leaping from his perch and flying down beside him. Then without sparing Sofia a further glance, he began the walk down the tower.
Sofia smiled. Finally, she got to go to the Soirée. And then, she could embarrass Cedric and cause mischief in all the kingdoms. Now that they were finally leaving Enchanica, nothing could possibly get in her way.
"And this," said Sofin, "is the grand ballroom." He gestured out at the room with a large spiral staircase. Decorations, including the Enchancian emblem, hung all around the ballroom, and the floor was filled with chairs and tables with white tablecloths. A section of the floor was empty, and Sofin knew that was usually where most of the guests danced.
"Wow," said Lady Joy, looking over the scene. She'd been practically stunned by all the rooms of the castle so far. Showing her around had been really exciting. Sofin was glad he'd volunteered, even if it meant he had to miss the Soirée.
Wait, the Soirée! Sofin suddenly realized he'd totally lost track of time. He looked around for a clock and spotted one, checking the time. The Soirée had begun almost an hour ago. His eyes widened. Where was Sofia? He had totally forgotten to go back and find her in all the excitement of showing Lady Joy around. Was she still in Mr. Cedric's tower? Had Mr. Cedric seen her when he went to the Soirée?
"So," continued Lady Joy, "that was the last room, right? What do you want to do now?"
"Um," said Sofin rapidly, "let's play hide and seek! I'll hide somewhere in the castle, and then you can seek out where I am."
"Oh, I love hide-and-seek!" exclaimed Lady Joy.
"Great!" said Sofin nervously. He spun Lady Joy around so she was facing the other way, then rapidly said, "okay count to thirty and then open your eyes and find me I'll be somewhere in the castle bye!" As soon as he was done speaking, Sofin raced off towards Mr. Cedric's tower to find Sofia. How could he have forgotten? He could hear the sounds of Lady Joy counting behind him.
Sofin's footsteps thundered as he raced through the hallways and then up the stairs of Mr. Cedric's tower. He threw open the door, only to find the workshop empty. "Sofia?" he called out. But there was no response.
Sofin heard the sound of heavy breathing behind him, and he turned around to see Clover hopping up the stairs. "Woah there…kid…" he panted between breaths. "What's going on?"
"I'm trying to find Sofia, because I forgot to go find the counterspell earlier. Oh, it's been so long!" exclaimed Sofin. "She could be anywhere."
Clover looked into the room himself, seeing nothing. "Didn't she promise she'd stay right here for us?" he asked.
"Unless she had to hide from someone," said Sofin. "And Mr. Cedric probably came back to his tower when the Soirée started. Sofia probably had to hide somewhere else."
Clover crossed his front paws. "And she's not back here now that there's no one around?" he retorted. "I've still got a bad feeling about Sofia," he said. "I don't think you should trust her, kid."
Sofin looked out at the empty workshop. Clover did have a point. Sofia should still be here. But Sofin was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt this time. Maybe she'd found an even better spot to hide from everyone in the castle. Sofin just needed to find her.
"I don't suppose you've seen her around?" said Sofin optimistically.
"Nope," said Clover. "I was busy napping while you were showing Lady Joy around. A bunny's gotta have his rest, you know?" He stretched lazily.
Sofin sighed. "I guess we'll have to search the castle for her, then. Come on, let's try to find the counterspell book now, though." He searched through the shelves, eventually finding it hidden at the back of one of the shelves.
Sofin opened the counterspell book, paging through the contents until he found the spell.
"What's it say?" asked Clover.
"It says the counterspell is 'Doppler terminus'," responded Sofin, making sure to memorize the spell.
The prince was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs below. "Oh, Lady Joy must be coming," he realized. He hastily put the counterspell book back where he had found it, then ducked under a table to hide.
After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Lady Joy. She looked around the room for a moment, then eventually peeked under the table, seeing Sofin. "Found you!" she exclaimed. "Wow, that was fun. Where are we now, anyways? You didn't come here during the tour."
Sofin crawled out from under the tables and rose to his feet. "This is our Royal Sorcerer's workshop," he explained. "He's called Mr. Cedric and he's the best Royal Sorcerer Enchancia's ever had."
"Really?" said Lady Joy.
"Yep!" said Sofin. "I'm actually Mr. Cedric's apprentice. I even have my own training wand, right over…" Sofin trailed off. The shelf that usually kept his training wand was empty. He remembered suddenly that he had dropped it in the shock of seeing Sofia, but it wasn't anywhere on the ground. "Well, it should be right here," finished Sofin, confused.
Lady Joy was silent for a moment too, but then said, "So, can we play the next round of hide-and-seek? I wanna try hiding this time."
"Okay!" agreed Sofin. He closed his eyes and started counting. "One, two, three, four…" He heard the sound of footsteps as Lady Joy left Mr. Cedric's workshop and climbed down the stairs
Sofin counted to thirty, then opened his eyes. "Ready or not, here I come!" he announced.
"What about Sofia?" asked Clover.
"Well," said Sofin, "Lady Joy isn't the only one I'm searching for." He sighed. "Sofia," he asked to no one in particular, "where are you?"
Finally, after what felt like hours of travel, Sofia finally watched as the flying horses slowly started to descend, bringing the coach down along with them. Sofia yawned in boredom. Being stuck flying in the royal coach for so long had been awful. There wasn't any mischief to be had at all from within the coach. And Cedric, who was sitting opposite Sofia, hadn't been much for conversation. He'd just looked down at his wand the whole time, muttering to himself.
Before too long, they broke through the clouds, heading down towards Hexley Hall. The flying horses slowed, then stopped as the coach landed softly on the ground, at the front entrance of the hall. "We're here," announced Cedric, and he stood up.
Sofia rolled her eyes. "Obviously," she said, but Cedric wasn't listening. The Enchancian Royal Sorcerer opened the door of the flying coach, then stepped out of the coach, nearly tripping over his purple robes. Wow, he was clumsy. Sofia stifled a giggle, then, twirling her training wand, followed him out of the coach, carefully holding her robes up so not a single speck of dirt would get on. Wormwood followed her out of the coach, perching on Cedric's shoulder as they walked to the entrance.
A stout wizard stood at the ornate front double doors, which were decorated with golden plating. Two statues of old wizards with long beards flanked the door. "You are here for the Soirée, right?" said the stout wizard. He held his wand in his right hand, and a clipboard and pen floated in the air in front of him.
"Of course," said Cedric. "I'm Cedric, the Royal Sorcerer of Enchancia, and this is my apprentice, Sofin." Sofia waved.
The wizard looked down at his clipboard, and with a flick of his wand, the pen moved to mark off something. "Cedric and Sofin," he said, "welcome. Please make yourselves comfortable." He stepped aside and swished his wand once, sending the doors swinging open.
Sofia followed Cedric into Hexley Hall, Wormwood flapping along beside them, and the sorcerer spoke up. "Now, this is my old school, where I learned all the ways of spellcraft and sorcery."
Sofia rolled her eyes. As if he had learned anything.
"So," continued Cedric, "follow me carefully. I don't want you getting lost." Sofia just nodded and followed him through the halls to a set of double doors. He swung them open, revealing a large auditorium seemingly reserved for events such as these. Half the floor was filled with chairs and tables decorated with white tablecloths. At the center of each table was a peculiar device, like a glass lamp, but instead of light inside there was a strange substance which seemed to shift between being made of fire, water, and just wind. The other half of the floor was empty, and a floating disco ball, spinning through the air, suggested that this was the dance floor. To one side, a white sheet covered what seemed to be a table for food.
And around the tables, sorcerers crowded together, talking with each other and casting spells of every color, and where those spells hit, all sorts of things happened. Some objects changed color or disappeared from view, while others shrunk or grew or turned transparent, and yet others did totally different things, far too many to name. Sorcerers gestured with their wands, conjuring water out of thin air or shifting the wind or making chairs float or sometimes even transforming themselves. Sofia watched as a wayward spell bounced off course and hit a tiny apprentice not looking where he was going, turning him into a houseplant. She giggled. Of course, the other sorcerers turned him back almost instantly. They were no fun.
Birds soared through the air, ravens and eagles and crows and plenty of other sorcerers' familiars. At the same time, some familiars strode through the crowd. Sofia spotted cats, dogs, a handful of woodland creatures, and even a pig. She wondered if that was just another transformed sorcerer, or if some unlucky fellow had gone and gotten himself a pig as a familiar. She laughed. It didn't matter. She was at the Sorcerer's Soirée, and her other half didn't even know she had left. And then she'd get to embarrass Cedric in front of everyone.
Nothing could go wrong.
After half an hour of searching the castle, Sofin headed towards his room, defeated. He thought he'd looked everywhere, but hadn't found any trace of Sofia or Lady Joy. Unless they were in his room, he didn't know where they could be. Sofin opened the door and stepped in, hearing a familiar hushed giggling coming from somewhere inside the closet. Well, at least that was one person found. Sofin opened his closet door, revealing Lady Joy hiding among the various suits.
"Found you," announced Sofin happily, Clover hopping along beside him. Sofin was feeling a little disheartened at not finding Sofia anywhere, but that wasn't going to stop him from enjoying himself with his new friend.
Lady Joy pulled herself out of the suits, still giggling a little. "I thought hiding in your room would be the last place you would look," she boasted.
Sofin smiled. "You were right," he said. "I checked everywhere else in the castle before thinking about looking in my room."
Lady Joy looked very proud of herself. "Mhm!" she agreed. "Anyways, I had a lot of time to look around here. What's that?" She pointed to Sofin's sorcerer's robes, the one that he was supposed to wear at the Soirée.
"Those are my sorcerer's robes," explained Sofin. "I get them because I'm Mr. Cedric's apprentice." He looked at the set more closely. Hadn't there been two sets of robes? One to wear, and one as a spare just in case. But now there was only one set of robes in front of Sofin. Weird.
Lady Joy nodded. "Okay, and what's that?" She pointed at a white ball gown outfitted with swan wings, hanging at the back of the room.
"That's the costume I made for Halloween last year," said Sofin. "Everyone had to make a costume on their own, so I made a swan costume. It even won the contest."
"But it's a gown," pointed out Lady Joy. She looked at Sofin. "And you're a boy. Boys don't wear gowns."
Sofin looked away. "Amber ended up wearing it," he said quietly. It was the truth, after all. She had worn the costume—just not until trick-or-treating afterwards. But it was easier than explaining that he liked wearing gowns and dresses. He definitely didn't want to make the friend he had just made think he was weird.
"That makes sense," said Lady Jody, seemingly satisfied, and she followed Sofin out of the closet. "Wanna play another round?" she asked.
"Okay!" agreed Sofin, but before they could start, a knock came at Sofin's door. He moved to open it, revealing King Roland and Lord Gilbert.
"Oh, hi dad, hi Lord Gilbert," greeted Sofin. "What brings you here so early?"
"It seems that thanks to the generosity of the king, our problems have been solved even sooner than we expected!" exclaimed Lord Gilbert joyously. "Thank you again, Roland." He shook King Roland's hand enthusiastically.
"Of course, Lord Gilbert," said King Roland, with the patience of someone who'd had to deal with personalities much more exuberant than that of Lord Gilbert.
"So, Joy, I'm afraid it's time to say goodbye to your new friend," said Lord Gilbert.
"Already?" complained Lady Joy. "But we were just starting to have fun!"
Sofin stepped in. "It's okay, Lady Joy," he said. "You'll always get to see me later. It's not a goodbye, it's just an until-next-time." He gave the princess a farewell hug.
Soon, Lady Joy pulled away. "Until next time then, Sofin!" Clutching her new doll, she followed her father out of Sofin's room and probably towards the exit.
Once they were gone, the king turned to Sofin. "Thank you for spending the day with her, Sofin. I know it might not have been as much fun as going to the Soirée, but I hope you still found some 'Joy' today." He laughed a little to himself. "As for the Soirée, there's always next year." Then he followed Lord Gilbert out of the room.
Sofin winced. He had tried to go to the Soirée, and by duplicating himself, he'd just caused even more trouble. His dad was right: going to the Soirée or not, the day had still been really fun. But there was still one problem to take care of.
"Now what are you gonna do?" said Clover once the king had left.
"I still have to find Sofia," responded Sofin. "Come on, let's search for her now. Maybe I just forgot to look somewhere." He stepped out of his room, but didn't make it too far before running into Amber, who was also wandering the hallway.
"Sofin!" greeted Amber. "Oh, I've been looking for you. You were acting so strange before. Are you feeling okay?" She tilted her head to one side, looking concerned.
"Huh?" said Sofin. "What do you mean, acting strange?"
"She must have seen Sofia," Clover helpfully added. Oh, right.
"Oh, I mean, yes I was acting strange," corrected Sofin quickly. Clover groaned, and Sofin realized what he'd just said. "I mean, I wasn't acting strange, well maybe I was, but it definitely didn't seem strange to me, because it would be really strange to call myself strange." He fumbled for a moment, then gave a bright smile.
Amber raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.
"Yep!" said Sofin. "Never better! So, by the way, do you have any idea what So—what I was doing when I met you earlier? Maybe what I was planning on doing next?"
"You… came to my room and asked me to cut your hair because Cedric had accidentally hit it with a hair growth spell. And you were wearing your sorcerer's robes. I thought you were going to the Soirée, but you're here now, so I guess not." Amber looked very confused. "You haven't forgotten, have you? Do you have any problems with your memory? Do you feel feverish?" She put a hand to Sofin's forehead.
Sofin pulled away. "Nope," he responded cheerily, "I'm feeling good. Thanks for the help, Amber!" Then, not giving her a chance to respond, he dashed away, back towards his bedroom.
"Wait, Sofin!" she called. "What is going on?" But Sofin didn't have time to explain. He hadn't wanted to consider it, but Sofia had left Cedric's tower, taken his training wand, worn his sorcerer's robes, and lied to Amber to get her hair cut. It all painted a very ugly picture. And Sofin now had more than enough clues to piece the puzzle together. For some reason, Sofia had gone off with Mr. Cedric to the Soirée, pretending to be him. Clover had been right. She really couldn't be trusted. And it was Sofin who had made her in the first place, so it was Sofin's responsibility to find her and stop her.
Sofin reached his room and threw the door open, racing to his closet. He grabbed the other set of sorcerer's robes and changed into them, suddenly very thankful that he had a spare set.
Clover hopped into the room, breathing heavily. "What are you doing, kid?" he asked.
"You were right," responded Sofin. He grabbed a purple helmet from a nearby shelf and put it on. "Sofia must have pretended to me to go to the Sorcerer's Soirée."
"But why would she do that?" asked Clover.
"No good reason, I bet," said Sofin. He grabbed Clover and set him on his shoulder. "Now come on, we've got to go and stop her!" He raced out of his room, heading for the stables.
"How are we gonna do that?" asked Clover, holding on tightly. "She's at the Sorcerer's Soirée, and we're not."
"Then we'll just have to get there," said Sofin. He rushed down a set of stairs then through an open door, arriving at the training field. He ran to the stables and fiddled with the lock for a moment, opening it.
"How are we gonna get all the way over there so soon?" asked Clover.
Sofin grinned. "We'll just have to left our way there. He finally reached the stall he was looking for, and opened it. The purple winged horse was currently turned the other way. "Minimus!" he called.
Minimus turned around, and his face lit up. "Sofin, am I happy to see you," he said. "Got any sugar cubes?" he said hopefully.
"Sorry, Minimus," responded Sofin. "I'm on a mission today. Can you fly me and Clover all the way to Hexley Hall?"
"All the way to Hexley Hall?" asked Minimus. "Sofin, it's hard enough to make the flight to Royal Prep! Do you know how far away Hexley Hall is?"
"I know," responded Sofin, "but you're my only hope right now. I duplicated myself, and now I think my copy is going to ruin the Sorcerer's Soirée if I don't find and banish her soon. I need you to get me there, as fast as you can. Please?"
Minimus sighed and lowered his head. "Okay, I'll do my best," he said.
Sofin grinned, and led the purple winged horse out of the stables and into the training field. Clover hopped from his spot on Sofin's shoulder down to the ground.
"Do we have to travel by flying horse?" asked Clover. "I'm a bunny. My paws belong on the ground." He tapped the earth with his paws. "Not way up in the air."
"Are you coming or not?" said Sofin.
"Alright, alright!" agreed Clover. He hopped into Sofin's arms, and the prince caught him. "Just don't let go during the flight, okay?"
"Don't worry, I won't," said Sofin. He climbed onto Minimus's back, holding Clover right. "Ready?" he asked Minimus.
"Ready!" said the pegasus, and with a mighty flap of his wings, they were off the ground and headed towards Hexley Hall.