4.
Sofia's sister Amber arrived early the next morning. Sofia knew this because Amber burst into her room, waking her up.
"Sofiaaa," Amber said. "Wake up! Tell me everything!" She gushed and hopped onto Sofia's bed.
Sofia leaned up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Amber?"
"Yes, I'm here. And mother told me, I am so excited," she squealed.
"You got here really fast," Sofia said, smiling. She was still floating in the bliss from last night.
"Of course! I came as quickly as I could." Amber wrapped her arms around Sofia and squeezed her. "I can't believe you're engaged."
"Me either,"
"So, tell me everything. How did he ask? Oh! The ring! Show me the ring." Amber bounced on the bed, full of an incredible amount of energy for so early in the morning. Sofia held up her hand to show her the ring, and wasn't surprised to see her sister's face fall.
"What is that?" she asked.
"It's enchanted," Sofia clarified. She knew such a simple piece of jewelry wouldn't impress Amber, unless it was special.
Amber's eyes widened. "How romantic, what does it do?" Sofia showed her how it projected the night sky, and Amber looked sincerely awed. "We should use stars as a theme for your wedding." Amber declared.
"We just got engaged yesterday," Sofia said, smiling. She wasn't surprised that her sister would be ready to start planning. But, she hadn't even thought that far ahead yet. She didn't know what kind of wedding she wanted, or what Cedric would want for that matter.
"It's never too early to plan," she said seriously. "Have you picked a date?"
"No, I should probably go talk to him." She slid out of bed and headed towards the door.
Amber gasped, "You're not going in that are you?"
Sofia looked down at the wrinkled dress she had traveled, and then slept in. "Right, I should change." She agreed.
Sofia changed into a simple pink gown, allowing her sister to wrap her hair up in a romantic up-do. They left her room together, Amber musing out loud about wedding decorations and styles. Sofia was headed straight to Cedric's workshop, but stopped at the gardens.
"Everything is still dead," Sofia said. Touching her amulet, she did see that the storm cloud was gone. "I thought coming back and talking to dad had broken the curse."
"It takes time for things to grow, Sofia." Amber said matter-of-factly. "Now go, and come find me immediately after you two have picked a date. Oh, and ask him about having stars be the theme," Amber continued to rattle off the extravagant plans she had already come up with, but Sofia wasn't listening. She was looking out at all the dead plants and dry earth, though there was a few soggy patched scattered around, she glanced up to see a magical rain cloud floating around. Cedric must be trying to help things, but it didn't appear to be working.
"Sofia? Are you listening?" Amber asked, breaking her sister out of her thoughts.
"Sorry, yes." She said. "I'll go ask him." She smiled at her sister and headed towards the tower. Once Amber was out of sight Sofia slowed, and frowned. As she passed by windows she too quick peaks outside to see if she could determine how far the damage had spread. Everything looked dried out and dead for as far as she could see. Her earlier intentions of speaking about the wedding had disappeared, and she knocked on Cedric's door.
She almost expected the familiar crash, explosion, and curse. But there was none. Instead a voice called from within, telling her that the door was open. Sofia walked in and found Cedric standing on the balcony. It appeared as if she wasn't the only one worried about the curse.
"Everything is still dead," she said.
He nodded, "We need to figure out how to break the curse. I've tried some spells, but nothing has worked. The amulet is too powerful." Cedric added, sadly.
"I figured the amulet cursed dad because of the way he wouldn't listen to us before. He's listening to us now, the cloud is gone. It's just not enough."
"I've read everything I've accumulated on the amulet, no leads."
"What should we do?" she asked, worry beginning to pull at her heart. What if they never listed the curse?
"I don't know, Sofia." He sighed and leaned on the balcony railing. Sofia joined him, and he put his arm around her.