After Stellarlune

Chapter Two

TO SAY THEY ARRIVED AT HAVENFIELD TO CHAOS WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT.

A major understatement.

Apparently Grady had decided to call the entire elven world to come freak out with him, which made Sophie a little annoyed, because she thought he was trusting her more.

Well, maybe not the entire elven world.

But a vast majority of it, including all her friends who hadn't come with her including Rayni, her bodyguards, the collective, the council, Alden and Della, Elwin, Livvy, Juline and Kesler and the triplets, Marella's parents, Maruca's parents, and even Prentice was there with Wylie. But what made Sophie the most surprised was to see Lord Cassius picking bits of dinosaur feather out of a shrub.

He was the one who saw them first, giving them his oily grin. "Well, well, well. Look who's finally decided to return."

Then the chaos got a whole lot crazier when everyone saw them standing there.

"Wherewereyouwhathappenedareyoucrazyareyouokay?" They all screamed at the same time. But Edaline and Grady were the first to get to them. Edaline wrapped Sophie into a big hug, grabbing Keefe too, but it was Grady she was worried about.

The vein in his forehead was bulging so hard Sophie was worried it would pop. And the look on his face... he had never looked so much like he was about to ground her for the rest of her life. But when he got to her, he just joined the hug fest.

"Sophie, you've got to start telling us things before you sneak away," Grady told her, squeezing her harder. Sophie squeezed him back, and glanced over at Keefe. He looked a little awkward, but he gave her a smile.

"Well, as nice as it is getting love from the Mysterious Miss F's parents, we have some problems," he said, pointing at Sandor who was half hidden behind a rock. Edaline gasped, and Elwin and Livvy rushed over immediately.

"These are really, really bad," Elwin said. "His vitals are low. If he doesn't get some serious treatment soon..." The unspoken words hung in the air like a huge mastodon, filling it up with tension, and making it almost impossible to breathe. Sophie rushed over to see if she could help, trying to free herself from the worry.

"Sophie, I don't think there's anything you can do," Elwin told her gently.

"What about me?" Grizel asked. "I don't know much about medication, but will any of this help at all?" She pulled out a bunch of gross looking vials out of one of her pockets, and handed them to Elwin.

"I have no idea what these are," Elwin told her. "I probably should start learning basic medication for other species."

"Yes, that would be wise," Mr. Forkle said. "But for now try and just keep him stable until we can get some goblin medics." He walked away, probably to go hail Queen Hylda, and Grizel came with him.

"Will he be okay?" Sophie whispered.

"I don't know," Elwin admitted. "His injuries are really serious. He definitely needs treatment from his own kind. I can't say for sure but... it's not looking good."

Sophie's knees trembled as her traitorous mind imagined going to another aurification. Except this time, it wouldn't be Brielle's curls and her tall stature being aurified. It would be Sandor's muscles and bravery and... Sophie's legs gave way, and Keefe barely got there in time to catch her.

"Whoa, it's okay Foster. Just calm down. Gigantor's a fighter, he'll be okay."

"But– but,"

"Nope, no buts Foster. Just take deep breaths. In out, in out, in out."