Sophia shook her head. “Not quite yet. It’s because you’re married that I need your help.”
Evan narrowed his eyes at her. “So you aren’t asking for my help because you’re having trouble opening a lid on a jar with your tiny hands or can’t lift that big sword of yours because it’s so heavy?”
Sophia rolled her eyes at him. “No, I’m good. I need you to pick a flower and be on your way. Then you can annul this bogus marriage.”
“But what will happen to Tiffannee after I break her heart? She’ll be ruined for any other man for life.”
“Yet, I think she’ll find a way to carry on.”
“Okay, where is this flower you need us to pick?”
“Bep gave me a sort of location,” Sophia explained.
“Sort of location?”
She nodded. “That’s how the people in my life do things. They give me enough information to send me on a wild goose hunt although they probably could tell me what I need to know directly.”
“They’re trying to make you stronger,” Evan stated matter-of-factly. “We all are. It takes a village to raise a little Pink Princess. If we did everything for you, then you wouldn’t learn how to do it yourself.”
“Right,” Sophia said as they strode toward Subner’s shop, where Sophia hoped that Tiffannee was still located and helping the elf. Otherwise, they’d have to travel to Baton Rouge again. “After we pick up your wife, I need to swing by the Castle to get my Hidden Places book of maps. It should tell me where we need to go based on the cryptic clues that Bep gave me.”
“You think that Tiffannee can get into the Gullington?” Evan asked.
Sophia nodded. “Yes, because she’s your wife. Technically, she’s working for the Dragon Elite by helping us out. That’s how that Barrier works anyway.”
Evan’s eyes shone brightly. “Man, it’s going to be doubly hard for Tiffannee to let me go when she sees me in my Castle, looking all regal and being tough with my dragon.”
“Ummm…it’s not your castle,” Sophia corrected. “It belongs to the Dragon Elite.”
“She doesn’t need to know that,” Evan argued at once.
“But I’m indebted to telling the truth,” Sophia teased. “It’s part of my duty to honor.”
“Therefore I have to inform Wilder that you have tapeworms that you got from petting alley cats and not washing your hands.”
“But I don’t,” Sophia argued while striding up the stairs to the Fantastical Armory.
“Yeah, but I don’t have that same affliction as you about telling the truth.” Evan winked at her as they entered the store.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“I’ll take the cookie you brought me now,” Papa Creola said to Sophia when she and Evan entered the Fantastical Armory.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t bring you a cookie.” She looked around the shop for Tiffannee and Subner. They weren’t there, but she hoped that meant they were in the back.
“I’m sorry that you didn’t notice when Lee slipped it into your cloak pocket when you were in the Crying Cat Bakery,” Father Time stated and snapped his fingers at her. “A dragonrider for the Elite really should notice such things.”
Sophia rolled her eyes. “If the baker assassin stuck something in my pocket, then I’d know about it.”
Evan slid his hand into Sophia’s cloak pocket without asking permission and withdrew a large cookie wrapped in a soft paper towel. “Oh, I don’t know about that, Pink Princess. You might not be as keen as you think.”
Sophia’s eyes widened with disbelief. “How… When…”
“About the time you were avoiding getting your head chopped off,” Papa Creola informed her as he stepped forward and took the cookie from Evan.
“Oh, well, yeah, then I probably wasn’t paying much attention to what was going into my pocket,” Sophia related and added, “How did Lee know to give me a cookie for you?”
Papa Creola took a bite and shrugged. “I had a craving for a cookie. That’s really all it takes for me to get what I want.”
“You’re a very strange man.” Sophia watched as crumbs flaked from Papa Creola’s lips as he chewed. “Is Subner around?”
“He’s in the back, getting his final assessment from Dr. Freud,” Papa Creola answered. “They’ll be wrapping up in the next twenty-six seconds.”
Sophia laughed. “Can you be a little more specific?”
He lowered his chin and gave her an unamused expression.
“I know,” Evan agreed. “This little young’un never knows when to joke and when to be serious.”
“That’s exactly what most say about you, Mr. McIntosh.” Papa Creola popped the rest of the cookie in his mouth.
“So you know why I’m here?” Sophia asked the elf. “Can you offer any input on finding this magical thistle?”
“It’s in Scotland,” Papa Creola stated simply.
Sophia sighed, feeling that she should have expected this. “Anything a little more specific?”
“On a hill,” he added.
Sophia gave Evan a sideways look. “Is he trying to make me stronger?”
He nodded. “Yes, as a whole, the entire village is.”
Sophia glanced up as Subner and Tiffannee entered from the back room. The doctor carried a clipboard and appeared surprised to see Sophia and Evan there.
Subner’s new appearance would take some getting used to. Sophia had to remind herself that when the elf aligned himself after the personality schism, his looks had changed. He was still an elf, but thankfully not a hippie anymore. Instead, he appeared like a regular person with his long black hair and normal street clothes.
“Hey there, darling,” Evan gushed and rushed over to Tiffannee. “Have you missed me? I’m certain that not a second has gone by where you weren’t thinking of me.”
She grimaced at him and yanked back her hand that he’d grabbed.
“Over six hundred thousand,” Papa Creola stated dryly.
Sophia narrowed her eyes at Father Time. “Six hundred thousand what?”
“It’s been over six hundred thousand seconds since Dr. Freud has thought about Mr. Mcintosh,” Papa Creola answered.
She nodded. “So not at all this week, then.”
Evan pursed his lips. “I get it. You’ve buried yourself in your work. That’s probably for the best.”
“Anyway, please excuse the clown that I forced you to marry,” Sophia began.
“Well, it worked to get me here,” Tiffannee replied in a formal tone. “Subner has passed the final assessment, so my job here is done, and I can return to my clients and home. I’m sure that many wonder what’s happened to me.”
Papa Creola shook his head. “No, they don’t know you’re gone. I fixed that.”
Sophia grinned. “You would have, wouldn’t you?”
“Anyway, regardless, I’m anxious to get home and return to normalcy.” Tiffannee looked around at the shop full of magical weapons with her persistent speculation mixed with hesitation.