A Magical Evening (Chapter 5)
A few days had passed. Sofia's calendar was clear, so she decided to take a walk in the Peppertree Forest. The forest was always such a peaceful place, filled with wonderful memories for Sofia. As she walked along, she heard two 'poofs' behind her. Sofia quickly brought out her wand, and spun around. Standing behind her were Cedric and Miss Nettle.
"Put down your wand" Cedric quietly said to Sofia. "We just want to talk".
"What do you want?!" Sofia snapped. "To turn yourself in?!".
"Well, I did have to beat a hasty retreat from the castle once my plans were found out" Cedric remarked.
"Smart move!" Sofia pointed out. "Trying to steal my amulet so you could use it's power to take over the kingdom - that's treason! You managed to high tail it from the castle before you could be arrested! As a princess of Enchancia, I'm placing you under arrest for treason against the kingdom!".
"You might want to rethink that, Princess Sofia" Cedric warned. "I know something about you and that witch who replaced me. I know what the two of you do at night".
"And what would that be?" Sofia inquired.
"Oh, come now!" Cedric exclaimed. "Don't play dumb with me! You know and I know that you and Lucinda are having a lesbian relationship!".
"Okay!" Sofia snapped. "You know! So, what now? You try to blackmail me?!".
"I could keep quiet - for a price" Cedric suggested.
"Let me guess? My amulet, right?!" Sofia snapped.
"Give me your amulet, and your secret remains that - a secret" Cedric said.
"Not gonna happen, scum!" Sofia angrily said.
"Don't force my hand!" Cedric snapped. "I will spill the beans about you and Lucinda to the entire kingdom!".
"Lucinda and I discussed the possibility of what to do if somebody tried to blackmail us over our relationship" Sofia revealed. "We decided early on that we would never give in to blackmail. We'll out ourselves before giving into blackmail".
"She's not going to give up the amulet!" Nettle snapped at Cedric.
At that point, Nettle lunged at Sofia, trying to grab Sofia's amulet. As soon as Nettle put her hands on Sofia's amulet, the amulet sent a powerful beam of magical energy at Nettle. The beam hit Nettle dead on, knocking her to the ground, unconscious.
"What did you do?!" Cedric asked in shock.
"The amulet has it's own built in protection" Sofia answered. "If anybody tries to take it from me, it will automatically defend itself and me".
"It never did that before!" Cedric exclaimed.
"Well, since you've been gone, things have changed" Sofia started. "One day, my father asked Lucinda to do an inventory of the royal jewel room to see if there were any other magical jewels there. In the process, Lucinda discovered an old notebook in a hidden compartment. The notebook detailed what powers my amulet has. Slowly, but surely, Lucinda has been helping me to unlock those powers".
"You sneaky she devil!" Cedric snapped at Sofia. "You want the power for yourself!".
"I want to use the power for good!" Sofia snapped back. "You want to use the power for evil! I'll never allow my precious amulet to be used for evil!".
"Then you will pay for that!" Cedric shouted as he raised his wand.
As Cedric was about to fire his wand, Sofia's amulet put a protective magical barrier around Sofia. Cedric then fired his wand, but it had no effect against the magical barrier. As Cedric tried to fire his wand again, a magical blast hit near him as Lucinda's mother, Marla, flew in on her broom. Marla fired off another blast, and in the process gave Cedric a pair of donkey ears.
"Merlin's Mushrooms! You'll pay for this! I'll see that everybody knows about your secret!" Cedric exclaimed as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
At the same time, Miss Nettle was coming to, and saw what had just happened.
"Well, it's been fun, but gotta go" Nettle said as she quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Are you alright, Sofia?" Marla asked, concerned.
"I'm fine" Sofia answered. "Thank you. I thought you didn't do hexes anymore".
"Well, it's true I'm a good witch now" Marla smiled. "However, that doesn't mean I can't occasionally hex somebody is is truly deserving".
"Point well taken" Sofia agreed. "I have to get back to the castle and tell Lucinda what just happened".
"This has to be both of your nightmares come true" Marla gently said as she put her hand on Sofia's shoulder.
"Yes" Sofia sighed. "Cedric is back".
"That's bad enough" Marla agreed. "But I was talking about the romantic relationship that you and Lucinda have".
"How did you know?" Sofia asked, shocked.
"A mother knows everything" Marla smiled.
Sofia couldn't argue with that. Sofia's mother, Queen Miranda, had said the same thing on a number of occasions over the years.
"What you must think of us?" Sofia quietly thought out loud.
"Sofia" Marla said as she gently hugged Sofia. "You act like you have something to be ashamed of. You and Lucinda have done nothing wrong. You love each other. There's beauty in that".
"Thank you for your understanding" Sofia said. "Not everybody would be as understanding".
"You'll be alright, my precious Sofia" Marla said in a reassuring tone. "Both of you will. Remember that the darkest hour comes before the dawn".
"Thank you" Sofia said, gratefully. "Now I have to go back to the castle, tell Lucinda what has happened, and then ... we'll have to break the news to my family about everything".
"I'll come with you, Sofia" Marla smiled. "I won't have the two of you facing this alone".
As Sofia and Marla walked toward Enchancia Castle, Marla put her arm around Sofia. Marla knew that what was to come would be hard for both Sofia and Lucinda. Marla wished with all of her soul that she could spare Sofia and Lucinda the pain of having to admit to something that not everybody would understand. But, Marla could stand with them so they would not face it alone.
This was a turning point for Sofia and Lucinda. Things would change. Just how much was yet to be determined.