Chapter 24

Sophie’s New Enterprise

It was hard for Sophie to help Jean-Pierre that day. All she could think about was her vision. When the time came to pick up the crystal chalice, she nearly knocked it over. As she tipped it into people’s mouths, she’d spill some down their shirts.

“O-o-oops,” she said, trembling. “S-s-sorry.”

It was even harder at Jonathan and Beth’s wedding. Forgetting that she’d volunteered to be the singer, the procession ended up being severely delayed. Any longer, and it might have been cancelled. Fortunately, Narissa found Sophie just in time and hurried her on stage. But as she sang, her voice kept cracking. She stuttered, caught the hiccups and even forgot some of the words. Embarrassed, our heroine pointed to her cup and pretended to giggle, suggesting that it must have been something in Mr. Stanley’s famous fruit punch. Everyone listening giggled along with her. But not Narissa. She knew her friend too well. Sophie would never forget the words like that. Not at a wedding. Something had to have been very wrong.

As soon as Sophie was free, Narissa pulled her aside. They went behind the temple and sat in the grass. Sophie told her everything, and Narissa believed every word without question. They agreed she should tell her father and Jean-Pierre right away.

They spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get them together to talk. But with the wedding party, baby shower and anniversary going on, at least one of them was always too busy. Eventually, they realized they’d just have to wait.

The villagers partied late into the night. There were games, prizes and even fireworks. When the music started, all the little boys lined up to ask our heroine for a dance. But she wasn’t in the mood. Narissa grabbed a broom and chased them away.

Of course, the party only really got started when Motumbo arrived, for he was the best dancer of all. Everyone cheered and chanted his name. Wives took turns getting lifted up and spun around by him. The children begged for lessons.

There were many funny songs sung and speeches given. Everyone was falling sideways and backwards in gales of laughter. In her heart, our heroine felt like laughing along with them. But she couldn’t. Instead, she kept looking at the clock, praying desperate little prayers under her breath, waiting as patiently as she could for the two men to be free.

Finally, it happened. She saw them sit down to relax. They were even at the same table. Quickly, she dashed over to meet them. “Father!” she cried. “Jean-Pierre! I need to talk to you, right away!” Unfortunately, a dark cloud formed the moment she arrived. Lightning flashed. Thunder covered the sound of her voice. Then it started pouring rain, and the villagers all scattered. She lost Jean-Pierre in the crowd. Standing there soaking wet, she realized she had no choice. She would have to tell them one at a time for now, beginning with her father.

The clock struck midnight when they were finally alone. As usual, they were up way past their bed times in his workshop together. Sophie sat in deep thought, wondering how to begin.

“Everything okay over there?” her father asked, peeking his head up over his science books. “You’ve been staring out that window for quite some time now. Even on the way home, you were quiet.” He closed the books. Then he put them down on his desk. “Something troubling you?”

“I didn’t want to tire out Mother more, that’s all . . .” she sighed.

“Ah, I see . . .”

Sophie looked back out the window. It was still raining. She could see the candle in her mother’s bedroom flickering. Slowly, it was getting dimmer and dimmer. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like talking about her vision anymore.

“We didn’t have to take the long way home tonight, you know,” she continued. “It was pouring. We shouldn’t have gone.”

“Well,” her father answered. “You know how stubborn your mother can be.”

“I just don’t understand,” said Sophie. “We’ve tried everything. But her illness . . . it keeps getting worse. Every day, she seems to be getting tireder. If you hadn’t been there to carry her tonight, she might not have made it back home.”

Sophie’s father lit his pipe and poured a cup of red wine. He took a puff and sip. Then he leaned back in his chair, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah . . .” he sighed sadly. “But there is still hope. I just need a little more time, that’s all. Until then, we’ll just have to be there to carry her sometimes, won’t we?”

Sophie nodded.

Now Sophie was sure she didn’t want to talk about her vision, for if she did, she knew she would just start crying. Besides, it was getting late. Her father probably wanted to go to bed soon. She looked down at her feet and frowned. Maybe she should just wait until morning . . .

“I know,” said her father, trying to cheer her up. Quickly, he finished his wine and put away his pipe. “Why don’t you come over here? I can show you what I’ve been working on.” He sprung out of his chair and threw on his lab coat. But Sophie didn’t seem interested.

“I may not have found the cure yet,” he continued. “But I’ve made some very interesting discoveries along the way.” Reaching under the table, he pulled out a rack of test tubes. “The answer, I believe, is in somehow combining these four. The only problem is how . . .” He peeked over again, but she still hadn’t moved. “Who knows . . .” he added, “if we put our heads together . . . we might just be able to solve it . . .”

Very, very slowly, reader, our heroine started sagging off her stool. Dragging her feet, she wallowed over, put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her fists, pouting like a sad, wet puppy.

“That’s the spirit,” he answered. “Now, take a look at this one . . .”

Her father handed her the first test tube. Inside was a dark blue liquid. The glass was so cold, she could hardly hold it.

“What is it?” she asked, peering inside. But he didn’t answer. “Some kind of . . . blueberry slushy?”

“Well, there is only one way to find out.”

Sophie looked at him suspiciously and sniffed it. Then she took a small sip. Whatever it was, it tasted just like one. But shortly after, Sophie started to feel odd. A strange sensation fell over her. A shiver went down her spine. She felt cool all over, like she had just jumped into a lake. Yet she was completely dry. The only other time she felt that was when touching a blue crystal. But this was different. It seemed to be spreading throughout her whole body.

“Can you guess the secret ingredient?” her father asked, smiling.

Sophie was so amazed her spectacles nearly flew off her face.

“I say! How did you do that?” she exclaimed. “Somehow . . . you made the crystals digestible!”

“Oh, it wasn’t so difficult,” her father answered. “A little of this. A sprinkle of that. Counter-reverse the polarities—and voila—you’ve got yourself a blue crystal potion. Doesn’t taste so bad either,” he continued, taking a sip himself. “This will cure sunstroke, heat exhaustion and reduce scarring if you put it on a burn. Not only that, but just one sip will hydrate you for hours.”

Sophie felt refreshed and replenished, like she’d just drunk a big glass of cool water. Her father carefully put it back. She couldn’t help wondering what the others would do.

“How about this one?” she asked next, picking up the red. It was warm to the touch.

“That cures hypothermia and frostbite.”

Sophie sniffed no less cautiously before trying some.

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“Why . . . that tastes like . . . apple-cinnamon tea!”

“It was either going to be that or cherry pie,” her father replied. “But the cherries didn’t fuse well with the red crystals.”

He pointed to the corner of the room where there were several vials that looked like they’d exploded. Sophie gulped, feeling grateful she hadn’t been there when it happened.

The red potion had the opposite effect from the blue. After drinking some, Sophie felt warm and fuzzy inside—like curling up next to a fireplace on a cold winter’s day. It was so delicious that it was hard to stop drinking. But soon she started to sweat. Fanning herself, she quickly handed it back to him.

“And this one?” she asked next, reaching for the yellow. But before she got to it, her father grabbed her wrist.

“Careful—” he said. “That one hasn’t been perfected yet.”

“What do you mean?” Sophie asked nervously.

Her father picked it up instead. Immediately, static electricity surged through his body. All of the hairs on his head stood up. Our heroine couldn’t help giggling.

“You’re not going to drink any?” she teased.

“Not at this time of night,” he answered.

“Why not?” she asked, peeking inside. “What does it do?”

“Well . . . do you remember the time we ate all those chocolate coffee beans?”

“Yes . . .”

“That’s what this potion does!”

Sophie giggled some more.

“But it also cures paralysis of a jellyfish sting. A concentrated dose may even be able to restart someone’s heart. Zap—just like that.” As he said this, some lightning happened to flash outside. The thunder made her jump.

“Eek!”

She huddled close to him.

“But too much,” her father chuckled, “will make you dizzy. It’s tart and fizzy—a little like lemon soda. But it doesn’t have any sugar, so it won’t rot your teeth.”

He put it down and his hair returned to normal. Lastly, he picked up the green.

“And this one is just for health and healing. One sip is like eating a whole bag of green vegetables. It’ll make headaches go away and is a perfect antidote to poisonous snake bites. I haven’t chosen a flavor yet,” he added, sipping it. “But it’s this one that’s most promising for your mother.”

“They’re incredible,” Sophie marveled. “Truly . . .”

“I just wish I had more books,” he sighed putting it back down. “But with the Dragon King’s new laws, it’s been impossible to order any. We’ll just have to do the best we can with what we have, right?”

Sophie rested her head back on her fists and nodded.

“Besides, we still have time,” he continued. “There’s all summer. I’ve added a small laboratory on the ship I’ve been building. See?” He pulled the blueprint out of his back pocket and pointed to it. “And even if we don’t figure it out by then, there is always this winter at our new home.”

Her father looked down at Sophie and smiled. But Sophie didn’t smile back. Instead, she seemed to completely lose interest again. She sighed and slowly dragged her feet back to the window.

Our heroine realized she couldn’t delay any longer. She had to tell him. He had to know the truth. She only wished it wasn’t so hard to say.

“What’s wrong, Sophie?” he asked.

Finally, she let it out.

“Father . . .” she said trembling. “There is something . . . I need to tell you.”

Feeling very concerned, he reached for his chair and rolled it over to the window where she was standing. He didn’t say anything, but just sat down and listened carefully.

“Something . . . happened to me today.”

She turned around. Never had he seen her so heartbroken before.

“What happened?” he asked gently.

“Well . . .” she began, lowering her eyes. “On the way to church, I was feeling worried about things. So, I went a little early and talked to Jean-Pierre. I wanted to know what God wanted me to do, and he told me I should just ask Him. So, he took me to the alter and I did.”

When Sophie looked up again, she was surprised by the expression on her father’s face. Suddenly, he was wild-eyed and completely still. He wasn’t blinking or even breathing. The only other time she would see him with that expression was at the end of a science experiment.

“A-a-and?” he stuttered curiously.

“And . . .”

Sophie tried to think of the best way of saying it. But the more she remembered, the more she felt all those tears coming on. So, she decided to just blurt it out before it was too late.

“And . . . I don’t think we’re going anywhere this fall.”

“What do you mean?” His expression changed from curious to confused. “Sophie . . . what did you see?”

“God gave me a vision. He showed me what happens. We don’t escape. There is no voyage. The Dragon King burns it all down. He sinks the island into the ocean and captures everyone as slaves! Then . . . he takes over the whole world. The WHOLE world! Unless . . .” Sophie gasped.

“Unless what?”

“Unless . . . I . . . stand up to him.”

Slowly, Sophie’s father leaned back in his chair. He didn’t say anything but just sat there looking confused. Our heroine waited patiently until he was ready to answer.

“Well,” he said slowly. “What about me?” He pushed his spectacles back into place. “Was I with you?”

“No. You weren’t,” Sophie answered. “I didn’t see you anywhere. And that’s a part of what scares me . . .”

“Oh . . .”

Now he just looked disappointed.

“But I wasn’t alone.”

“You weren’t?”

“There was someone else with me.”

“Someone else?”

Sophie nodded. Her father noticed that she didn’t look scared anymore either. If anything, she looked relieved.

“Who?” he asked.

“A boy.”

“A boy?” he chuckled. Quickly, he thought of all the boys he knew in the village—anyone who could possibly make her feel safe in a situation so dire. But none came to mind. “What boy?” he answered, perplexed.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “But he had a big sword . . . and looked very brave . . .”

“Oh . . .”

Hearing this relieved Sophie’s father. He took a deep breath, stood up and slowly started pacing around the room, thinking.

“Father . . . what are we going to do?” Sophie asked. She got on her tippy toes and peered out the window again. “Should we warn everyone? Should we go looking for this boy? After church, I tried going back and asking God to tell me more. But nothing happened. I don’t understand. Why won’t He answer? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no,” he replied. “That isn’t how it works. You’ve done everything you need to for now. God told you what He wanted you to know. If He doesn’t tell you more, you can be sure there is a reason.” As Sophie listened, she couldn’t help wondering what that reason might be. “Remember, it’s His story you’re in, not one of your own.” He pointed to all her props, which lay scattered around the workshop. “He is in control. We are merely the actors in it. Sometimes we just need to be patient and give Him time to tell it.”

“So, we do nothing then?” Sophie asked.

“No, not nothing.”

“Then what?”

“Well,” her father answered. “We get ready. The same way we would for any other part we play. Only this is for real. Remember, if this vision is true, then it’s a part of what He created you for. He’s been preparing you for it ever since you were little. Trust Him . . . keep listening . . . remember your lines. Be watchful for the cues—and when it’s your turn to enter the stage, step up. Speak them well. God will be with you.”

Sophie nodded, but didn’t seem nearly as enthusiastic.

“And what about you . . .” she squeaked, sniffling. “Won’t you . . . and Mother be with me?”

They’d always been there for her plays in the past. If not alongside her, they were in the audience watching and clapping. Her father knelt down in front of her then. He reached out and took her hand.

“We’ll always be with you, Sophie.”

She leaped into his arms and hugged him tightly.

Our heroine went to bed that night feeling like whatever chapter she was in was over. Tomorrow, she would wake up and see what God had planned for her next. She snuggled up to Samson, who was already fast asleep, and blew out the last candle. But just as she was closing her eyes, she heard a terrible sound in the distance. The Dragon King’s war drums started beating. There were battle cries and trumpets. This chapter may have been ending, but another was clearly beginning somewhere else. Quickly, she put her hands together. With all her heart, she prayed that everyone would be safe that night . . . that she would continue getting signs and hints about what to do, and most of all, that wherever that mysterious boy was, God would be helping him get ready too.