SofiaxHugo

Episode 8: Sofia's Confession

I have no idea how long we stayed locked together like that, Sofia's lips relentlessly assaulting mine, as if she couldn't get enough. Of course I was more than happy to oblige her, and eagerly returned each kiss with one of my own. It was heaven, hidden behind a curtain of her auburn hair; her lips were as soft as rose petals, and I would be lying if I said I didn't get a thrill out of knowing I was the first one to kiss them.

Finally, Sofia tired leaning over me and relaxed into my chest instead. As I wrapped my arms around her I glanced down to notice the huge, dopey smile plastered across her face, and I knew that my expression mirrored hers exactly. What was there not to smile about? The princess of my dreams wanted me back, and on top of that she was a fantastic kisser.

It took several minutes for my head to clear, but when it did I remembered what we had been talking about before, about her amulet and her broken ribs. Cautiously, I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "So can we talk now?"

After a long pause, Sofia sighed. "Do you promise not to freak out?"

I chuckled confidently. "When do I ever freak out?"

Sofia sat up and gave me a look. My face turned red and I grinned. We both knew that I freaked out pretty often when there was a crisis in my life. I had walked off the derby course when I was ten, lied to my dad about ice dancing when I was eleven, and before almost every competition I had a small freakout thinking I wasn't prepared enough. But I shook my head. "This time I really won't, I promise."

She looked at me seriously for a minute. "The last time I told someone about the amulet, they stole it from me."

"Well, I don't think that shade of purple would go with my eyes, so you're safe there."

"That's not why they took it."

"I'm not going to take it from you."

Finally, she sighed. "Okay, here goes. It's called the Amulet of Avalor, and it's magical and very powerful. It gives me powers when I do good deeds, but it also called me to become the next Storykeeper, which is a really hard job."

That was a lot to take in. "Woah, slow down." I needed more time to process each part of what she had just told me. "It gives you powers?"

"Uh huh. But only when I do good deeds. Those are the rules. And if I do bad deeds the amulet curses me until I make up for what I did."

"The amulet has rules?"

"With each deed performed, for better or worse, a power is granted, a blessing or curse."

That seemed like the perfect kind of enchantment for my princess; she did more good deeds than anyone I knew. "So what sort of powers does it give you?"

"Well, the first one is I can talk to animals."

"Really? That's so cool!" That explained the way she seemed to hold conversations with her horse during derby practice. "What things do they say?"

She actually smiled at my reaction. "You're not jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous? If you only get powers by doing good deeds, then you must have earned it. Besides, I hang out with you all the time. If I need to talk to an animal, you'll be right there to translate." I leaned up and kissed the tip of her nose, which made her giggle.

"So do animals understand humans when we talk to them?"

"Yep."

"So I should apologize to Electra for the one time I called her slow?" I had been thirteen when I said it, but somehow I always felt that she had actually heard me and been hurt by it.

Sofia giggled and shook her head. "She doesn't hold that against you. You were upset."

"Oh, good." It took me a minute to realize that Sofia hadn't been there when it happened. "Did she tell you about it?"

She nodded. "She loves you a lot, and it hurt her feelings, but everybody says things they don't mean when they're upset. Electra knows that, and she knows how important that race was to you."

I smiled involuntarily. Electra had always been a good horse, and hearing that she loved me as much as I had loved her over the years was a good feeling. Eventually I returned to my original train of thought and asked about the second portion of her tale. "What's a Storykeeper?"

Sofia took a breath. "This one is going to take a little bit longer to explain.  When I was nine, the amulet led me to a place called the Secret Library, which is filled with books. Every book is the story of an actual person, and most of them don't have endings yet. My job as Storykeeper is to find whoever the book is about and help them finish their story."

I squinted, as if it would help me understand what she was talking about. It didn't. It just made my brain hurt. "So the books...are people's lives?"

She shrugged. "I guess you could say that. It's the story of their life."

"And you do what exactly?"

"I help them finish their story. I get them to their 'happily ever after' at the end of the book."

"By doing what?"

Sofia made a vague gesture. "Every story is different, but usually I help them with some obstacle that they can't surmount by themselves, or help them learn a hard lesson."

"Is that what you were doing when you fell off Minimus? Helping someone finish their story?"

For a second she looked confused. "Oh, when I broke my ribs. Yes."

I frowned at her, and she looked away guiltily. "That's not really how you broke them, is it?" I asked. She gently shook her head against my chest. "What really happened?"

Normally I would think that sheepish grin was adorable, but this time it scared me. "I-I was distracting somebody so my friend could escape..."

"And?"

"She got away."

"Your ribs, Sofia."

"The guard, he... kicked me."

"Hard enough to break your ribs?"

"Uh-huh..."

I could feel every vein in my body suddenly turn to ice. Someone had struck my princess. Had hurt her, broken her. How could anyone dare to touch such a precious and beautiful girl? Could they not see how special she was? "D-do you get hurt a lot when you're finishing people's stories?"

Sofia shrugged. "Not usually. I'm pretty careful. But it's kind of inherent with the job."

"Being a Storykeeper is that dangerous?"

"It's nothing I can't handle." The confidence in her voice was almost comforting, but no amount of reassurance could make me worry less. My princess held me tighter. "I'm fine, I promise. I'm more than up to this."

I was still scared stiff, but I knew there was nothing I could do or say to change her mind if she was set on being Storykeeper. All I could do was wrap my arms around her as tightly as I could and keep her here with me, where I knew I could keep her safe.