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Chapter 5 - Sophie

"Just so you know, I still prefer jumping off a cliff," Sandor grumbled and he, Sophie, and Flori tumbled onto the lawn in front of the Councillor's house.

Sophie stood up and brushed herself off, looking up at the huge castle glittering pink in the sunlight. She'd tried her new way of teleporting again; running through Havenfield's pastures and channeling energy into their legs, when suddenly the void cracked open in front of them and here they were, standing in Eternalia. She hadn't hailed Oralie beforehand, so hopefully the pretty blonde Councillor was accepting visitors. Even if she wasn't Sophie would force her to let her in.

Everyone definitely had their reservations about her coming here, especially her overprotective bodyguards. But then again, they were thrown off from the fact that Sophie wasn't lying around in bed anymore, and agreed to let her go on a few simple conditions: she wouldn't be more than two hours, Sandor and Flori both had to come, and they would return right back home afterward. Immediately Fitz and Biana and even Ro volunteered to join them, but in the end it was just their little group of three.

There were even more shocks when everyone realized that she was keeping the caches in her bedroom drawer. In hindsight, that probably wasn't the smartest idea, considering how close they were to Iggy and how easily he could have snatched them up as he did with Keefe's letter.

Sophie let Biana give her a small makeover, even though she resisted at first. It did help though. The bags under her eyes had miraculously disappeared, and with her hair straightened, even pulled back into an intricate braid, she looked a thousand times better than she would have if Sophie had done it herself. Still out of sorts, but presentable. Sophie had unconsciously thrown on a light blue tunic and made her way out the door, trying her best to answer Grady and Edaline's questions.

And then... here they were.

Sophie tried to ignore the jittery feeling in her stomach like a herd of mastodons were stampeding around her organs. It wasn't that she was nervous to see Oralie. She was nervous about opening Kenric's cache. Nervous about what they might discover.

She took a deep breath and turned to Sandor and Flori. "Ready?"

"Remember the rules," Sandor reminded her, "No matter what you learn, you are not going to go anywhere. We return to straight Havenfield once your two hours are up."

"I know, I know," Sophie reassured him.

The three of them walked up to the huge pink tourmaline door and Sophie knocked loudly.

A few moments later it opened to Oralie, standing in a gown and looking beautiful as always. The skirt of the dress had layers of different shades of grey, and diamonds were scattered across the fabric like stars across the sky. The bodice was also grey at the bottom, but it slowly faded into a light pink that spread across her shoulders like cotton candy. Her golden ringlets were done in an elaborate updo, but two strands in the front were left untouched, dangling by her cheeks and framing her face.

Shock registered on Oralie's face when she realized who she was looking at. "Sophie?" she gasped, her eyes widening then darting around outside to see if anyone was nearby. "What are you doing here?"

In response to that Sophie held up the little pouch that held Kenric's cache.

"Is that..." the Councillor's voice trailed off.

"Yep," Sophie told her, "we got it from the Neverseen's storehouse. And I need your help to open it. Can I come in?"

"Oh, um, yes, of course." Oralie ushered Sophie inside and closed the door. Her bodyguards waited outside, guarding the entrance.