Chapter 3

Unfortunately for Sofia, things didn't improve the next day. Once again her homework was riddled with errors. Flying Derby practice was horrible. One particular horsefly was pestering her, as soon as she got to the stables.

"Alright, team! Let's take a lap around the track!" ordered Coach Gilliam.

But as Sofia and Minimus started their run...

"Whoahhhhhh, Minimus!" cried Sofia. "I can't hold on to the saddle!"

"I'll take us down," replied Minimus as he made a beeline for the ground. Good thing too. About 10 feet above a haystack, Sofia completely slipped off of Minimus.

"NO! SOFIA!" cried Minimus. Luckily, Sofia landed in the hay. James and the rest of the team rushed over.

"Sofia! Are you alright?" Sir Gilliam asked.

"Yes...I'm fine."

"What happened? It didn't appear that Minimus did anything out of the ordinary!" asked James.

"He...didn't. I just slipped off the saddle!" Sofia replied sadly.

"Maybe you should stay away from training for a bit, Sofia! I don't want you getting hurt!" stated the coach.

"Okay," replied Sofia, as a tear ran down her cheek. She sent a soulful glance to a very sad Minimus, as he slowly walked back to the stable.

Art class was another disaster.

Mistress Flora provided a beautiful arrangement of flowers for the class to paint. Sofia sketched the flowers in pencil first, then proceeded to color them in. A midge fluttered close by. But nothing was going right! When she tried to apply a small dab of paint on her painter's pallet, a large blob came out and leaked onto the floor!

"I'm so sorry!" said Sofia in horror, as she went about cleaning the mess. Mistress Flora was concerned, and decided to keep an eye on Sofia.

After cleaning up the mess, Sofia started to paint, but she couldn't stay within her sketch lines! Colors were mixed up and the picture ended up like a scrawl by a young baby. Sofia was horrified.

"Sofia, stay after class please," instructed Mistress Flora.

Sofia dejectedly sat down as the class filed out. Just outside of the door, James and Amber decided to eavesdrop.

"Sofia, what has gotten into you lately? Your homework is a shambles; you are painting like you've never held a paint brush before; your sorcery is a mess and I understand your dancing has been a disaster and you actually fell off your horse in Flying Wing practice!"

"I...I don't know Mistress Flora! It seems that the harder I try, the worse I do.

"I haven't done anything right for about three weeks," Sofia added almost in a whisper.

"Are you ill, Sofia?" a concerned Mistress Flora asked.

"No, I feel fine. It's like my hands and feet won't do what my brain wants them to do."

Sofia added with tears in her eyes, "Maybe I'm really not meant to be a royal, Mistress Flora! Maybe I'm just too ordinary, and not special enough!" James and Amber were taken aback in the hallway.

"Oh, Sofia," soothed Mistress Flora, "I don't think that's the problem at all!"

Then as Sofia burst into tears she begged, "Then please, please tell me what is! I'm embarrassing myself, my bother and sister, and my parents now!"

But Mistress Flora didn't have an answer, and Sofia left quietly for the coach ride home.