Through Time and Impossible

Chapter 9

"I look amazing." Sophia said as she looked at herself in the mirror in Elizabeth sister's room. She looked like a beautiful porcelain doll with her purple dress and her lightly powered face with a rosy blush to her cheeks. Her brown hair curled so perfectly and placed in a loose updo. She thought like she was in a movie. She couldn't believe that this was happing, it felt surreal. Her hands rubbed against the dress to make sure she wasn't dreaming. The silk felt real to the touch. She was sure that this was happening but it still felt so unreal.

"Are you ready?" Elizabeth asked coming into the room with a smile on her face.

Sophia turned to face Elizabeth. "Yes." Sophia said as she smiled. She picked up the side of her dress as she walked out of the room with Elizabeth.

The two girls walked together to the end of the stairs and stopped just before they took the grand staircase down to the party.

Sophia looked at Elizabeth with a confusion. She didn't understand why they were waiting here. She wanted to go to where all the action was. "Why did we stop? Can't we just go down?" Sophia asked as she looked down the stairs at all the people dressed as nicely as her. Those people talked, laughed, and drank, they all looked like they were having fun. Sophia wanted that too.

"We have to be announced." Elizabeth said as she smiled at the people down below. Elizabeth knew all the customs of this time and she was happy with waiting here until someone announced her. She was from Nobel blood after all and she should act as such.

Sophia frowned at her. She didn't want to wait here. "How long will that take?" Sophia asked with disappointment in her voice as she heard the light sound of an orchestra play and a faint smell of food wafting up the stairs. She felt like she was missing out on everything.

"Once it took an hour." Elizabeth said still smiling as if it was no big deal to wait that long. She smiled at the memory of it, that was one story she would have to share with Sophia, but now was not the time for that.

Sophia let out a sigh of disappointment and started to tap her fingers on the side of her dress. She was not going to wait an hour. To be polite, she waited a couple minutes but the more she waited the more the food, people and music started to call her. She was just wasting time up here. "That's it." she said after a few minutes had passed. She picked up the side of her dress and took a step on the stairs.

"Where are you going!?" Elizabeth said in almost a whisper, there was panic in her eyes. She was worried that if Sophia didn't wait, her mother would catch on that Sophia wasn't from here. She would get into so much trouble, she was sure of it.

"I'm going to the dance and I cannot and will not wait for an announcement." Sophia replied and started to walk down the stairs. A few eyes were on her as she walked down, her dress trailing behind her.

At this moment, she truly did feel like a princess and she wouldn't trade it in for the world. She smiled at herself as she saw more people stop and stare at her as she walked down the steps. They whispered to one another as if asking the other who was this girl and where did she come from. Sophia felt like she was alive for once in her life since she got to England. With every step, she heard the music grow louder and the smell of food was overwhelming, it was making her mouth water. "Amazing." She said under her breath as she reached the bottom step as she looked at everyone dressed as well as her.

Elizabeth just stood at the top of the steps staring at Sophia. She frowned at her as she debating on whether or not to follow suit. Finally, she decided that it was safer to follow then just to let her go alone. "Wait for me! Sophia." Elizabeth said racing down the stairs to catch up with her. She could only just imagine her mother complaining to her after tonight about how unlady like she acted just now. She didn't have much of a choice about this if her mother really knew.

Sophia turned and smiled up at her watching her come down the stairs. "So you couldn't wait either?" Sophia asked as Elizabeth reached the bottom of the stairs right beside her.

"Well, I couldn't let you go alone now could I?" Elizabeth shrugged as she smiled at her even though she was worried that she stepped out of line.

"Well come join me, let's dance." Sophia said and started to make her way to the ballroom.

Elizabeth held back a frown. Sophia was doing everything wrong, she couldn't act so freely. But what could she say to Sophia? She didn't have hours to spend to learn just about the etiquette. She knew that what was done was done, no going back now. She will just try her hardest to rein her in if Sophia stepped out of line again. "Yes, lets. Who needs to be announced anyway?"

When they reached the edge of the ballroom, Sophia gasped out loud. It was even more beautiful then she imagined. The crystal chandelier that was hanging from the ceiling glittered on the floor as the setting sun caught it's crystal droplets. The women and men around them were dancing the waltz with their dresses and suits twirling around, also catching the suns beams which reflected on the walls, making the whole room have a magical glow to it.

"It's magical is it not?" Elizabeth said looking at Sophia's look in her face. Seeing Sophia's face brightened up Elizabeth's mood. Sophia looked like the happiest Elizabeth had ever seen her.

"It's magical." Sophia said and smiled at her.

Elizabeth scanned the room as she looked for a few certain people. It only took her a minute to find them standing across the room in a group. "Come you have to meet my friends." Elizabeth said as she led Sophia to a corner where two girls sat on red velvet chairs and one boy standing right beside them. "This is Clara, Jenner and this is Elijah." She said and stop at the young man.

"Pleased to meet you all." Sophia said kindly but her eyes stopped at Elijah. She held back a gasp as she looked at him. This was it, she was sure that this was the man from her dreams. He did exist and he was real. He was even more beautiful then in her dreams. With those with that brown hair and green eyes, yes he was gorgeous. She wondered if he dreamt about her just as much as she did about him.

"So where are you from?" the girl named Jenner asked.

"Um... Italy." Sophia responded too quickly with a smile pulling her out of her thoughts.

"My goodness, that's far." Clara said with amazement in her voice.

"Well, I live down the road now." Sophia lied quickly but then frowned, worried that they might see through her lies.

"Me too. Where at?" Clara said happily.

"Um, kind of far." Sophia lied again with a small frown. She was digging herself deeper into this hole, she knew she better stop when she was ahead. Sophia was so caught up in the moment that when the song changed to a slow one it took her a minute to realize that Elizabeth was now playing the song that they made together. It sounded even more beautiful then she remembered then some violins started to play with her and the melody got even more beautiful. Sophia couldn't help but close her eyes and get lost in the music as it flowed like a river through her mind.

"Would you like to dance?" A man said to Sophia breaking her out of the trance the music had placed on her.

She looked at this brown haired man and smiled. She wanted so badly than to dance with him, to talk to him, to know him. "I would like that." She said to Elijah.

As soon as he saw her walk down the staircase he knew that she was different but he didn't know why. "Very well." He said and took her by the hand and led her out into the dance floor so gracefully. "You look familiar I just can't place it. How long have you lived here?" Elijah asked her as they spun around on the dance floor.

Sophia frowned at him. "You haven't dreamt about me?" Sophia said with disappointment in her voice. It made her feel like she was the crazy one. She wanted to know why was she only having the dreams. She felt so drawn to him. She felt like she needed him in her life. She wanted to know if he felt the same way towards her.

He looked confused, not sure what this girl in front of him was talking about. This was the first time he had ever seen her. "No, I cannot say I have. But you do look familiar there is no doubt about that. "

"Oh...yeah. Well, I don't know. I just moved here." Sophia said, her hope dropping. She was positive that this was the boy from her dreams but she did not understand why didn't he know her.

"So I saw you walk down without being announced." He said and smirked. Even though he didn't know her, he liked her personality already. She was different from all the other girls here. She was brave and didn't care what people thought of her. She was like Victoria, willing to be different. "That was pretty daring for a young woman to do like yourself."

"Thanks but I just wanted to join the party." She said honestly to him.

"You know, you're a really good dancer." He said and gave her a twirl.

Sophia had her mother to thank for that. She taught Sophia at a young age how to dance the proper way. "Thank you, so are you. So where are you from? How do you know Elizabeth?" Sophia asked him, trying to figure out why she dreamt about him so many times.

He looked down at the ground shyly without saying anything. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be honest with her. He didn't want to mess up this moment. If she knew how he really knew Elizabeth, she wouldn't want to talk to him. That happened over and over again to him.

"You can tell me. " Sophia said softly, trying to talk him into telling her.

He sighed finally, deciding that it was worth telling her. If she was so different, she wouldn't care about status, as all the other girls did. "My mom and dad are dead. My uncle raised me on the coast for a bit and then I moved up here. I'm the stable boy." The last part was barely a whisper, ashamed to tell her.

"Oh, I'm sorry about your parents. In addition, I'm not sorry about the stable boy part. I always wanted to care for horses but my dad, he doesn't like them so we don't own any." Sophia said too honestly.

"You don't own any horses?" he reiterated in amazement. He didn't understand how she got around without a horse to ride. He was starting to believe that she wasn't from this time. But he was sure that Victoria sealed the book for traveling. If that was the case, how did she get here?

Sophia held all that she could from holding back an urge to hit herself. She was not in the 2010s, she needed to remember that. She knew that horses are the main transportation here. How could she be so stupid, if she kept this up she was going to blow her cover in seconds.

He laughed. Maybe Victoria, didn't seal the book and maybe they knew each other. She did after all look a little like Victoria. "You're really not from around here are you?"

"No, I'm not. I'm from a much different place." Sophia said holding back a smile. She was breaking her cover but he didn't seem to mind, she was getting the vibe that he liked and was ok that she was different.

"If you want to learn how to ride I can show you if you want to learn." He said shyly.

"I would love that." She said and smiled at him.

The song ended and Elijah dropped her hands. Sophia imminently longed for him to grab her hands again. She didn't want the song to be over so soon. "Thanks for the dance." He said quickly and disappeared into the crowd.

"Wait..." Sophia said and tried to go after him but lost him in the sea of dresses and suits, too quickly he was out of sight completely.

"Did you hear that?!" Elizabeth said and ran up to Sophia excitedly.

Sophia turned to face Elizabeth with a smile. "Yeah, I did. That was pretty good. No scratch that, it was amazing."

"I saw you dancing with Elijah. He's a nice man isn't he?"

"Oh, yeah. He's really a great person. So how long have you known him?"

"We practically grew up together." She said and let out a chuckle as she thought about all the good memories she has had with him. She loved Elijah like a brother. "My parents took him in when he was 9. But enough of that, let's dance." She said and took Sophia into the center of the room for a line dance.

The music changed into a fast moving with all of the stringed interments playing into the song and the people that were standing around start to clap to the beat. Elizabeth pulled Sophia towards the group of people.

Panic filled Sophia as she watched them line up. "I don't know how to do line dances." She was sure that she would screw this up.

"Oh it's easy. Just follow the men." Elizabeth said and started dancing down the line.