Claire walked upstairs and knocked on Zander's door, "it's your Clairebear Sophie," she could hear Sophie crying.
"Come in," she said.
Claire was amazed at Zander's room. She couldn't believe that even in one week, it felt like their room and not just Zander's.
"What's wrong sweetie, you've been quiet all day, you show up with pink eyes and silver hair. I know you're hiding something but you can tell me anything!"
Meanwhile, Cyrus and Zander sat out back, reminiscing about the old days and how easy life was. Cyrus had words of encouragement for Zander, and said maybe Sophie just felt guilty. He mentioned how difficult it was for him to let him buy his suit.
"Zander. He's done all of this for me and I'm lying to him. I haven't even told him the truth about what happened last night. He doesn't even know, what if he hates me after I tell him?" Sophie sobbed while hugging Claire.
"I don't think Zander could hate anyone, Sophie and what are you lying about? You can't be lying if you haven't told anyone what's going on but we all have these remember?" as Claire showed her hand and a light phoenix illuminated. "So we can't lie or betray each other so tell me, what's with the sudden change, you look amazing!"
Sophie explained everything that happened with Soraya last night and kept getting encouragement from Claire.
She told Claire about how it was a real goodbye as the Father and Solace couldn't mingle with human affairs which is why they offered.
"Here look," Sophie said.
Sophie's eyes turned scarlet red and Scarlett said, "you must be auntie Claire! My big sis thinks about you all the time and she really loves you! I met you last night with my parents but I'm with my sister now!" Scarlett exclaimed.
Claire smiled and said, "you must be the little secret Sophie is so worried about sharing. You are such a beautiful little Phoenix and I bet you'll be the best sister ever!"
"Love you bestie," Scarlett said and Sophie took back control, crying again.
"That's amazing. Do you really think Zander will be mad? If anything I half expect him to teleport, buy a ring and come back and propose." Claire said with a gentle smile.
"I just feel bad for not telling him sooner, before all of this today. You are all amazing and this is such a great party. What are my parents going to think? They asked me what my boyfriend's name was and I told them he'd like to make his own introduction. How am I supposed to explain I'm dating Zander Elrod, after I've never dated anyone before?" Sophie asked as she finally stopped sobbing.
Claire grabbed her hand, and said "listen, for whatever reason, that knucklehead Cyrus waved and we took a chance. There's no way either of us could have known how amazing those two could have been. How many guys have we blown off? How many times have we looked out for each other when guys were creeps? Now we each have someone and with what you told me, it's almost as fate made it so. Tell him. Be honest, you'll be fine I'm going to tell him you're taking a bath, you were just overwhelmed and then go come see you," Claire said as she gave her a hug.
Sophie went into the master bathroom and turned on the water as Claire went out back and sat on Cyrus's lap.
"She's fine Zander, she's just overwhelmed and the letter from your mom after seeing the pictures from my gift made her emotional. She's taking a nice bath to relax and she's excited about dinner with her folks tomorrow. It's getting late, it's already 11:45, Cyrus, let's go get some sleep, you're not off the hook tomorrow either Mr. You better put on that charm for my parents," Claire joked, as she stood up and started walking inside.
Cyrus stood up, gave Zander a hug and said, "Whatever happens bro, remember we all have these," and he revealed his hand with the Phoenix bond.
"Claire won't ever say it, but she's truly jealous of Sophie's feelings for you. I know she loves me and I love her, but with you two, it's like fate brought you together. Don't lose her." Cyrus whispered and followed Claire to their bedroom.
Claire wouldn't tell Cyrus what her and Claire talked about, but she said after she told Zander, Zander would probably let him know.
Zander put out the campfire and went inside and took a shower in his bedroom. To his surprise, when he got out with a towel, Sophie was sitting on his bed, in pajamas that Claire picked out. He could tell she had been crying, but he didn't care. Every time he saw her, she looked more beautiful than ever. He told himself he'd never use phoenix eyes on her again, so he didn't. He did see a hint of sadness in her pink, kind eyes.
"Oh, sorry my love I didn't know you were done with your bath, let me toss some clothes on and I'm all yours." Zander said with a big smile.
As Zander got dressed, Sophie told him she needed to talk to him about something. Zander smiled and said sure, but I have something I need to tell you first.
"I evolved last night and I truly feel like I would have died if you weren't there. It was even worse than the first time and I was conscious for every second. After I evolved, and Tej and Soraya came, I used one of my skills I promised myself I'd never use around you. It's called eye of the Phoenix. It allows me to see other's life force, also known as chi. Swirling black means they are some type of beast or a truly terrible human, like Doctor Erikkson was. When I met him we actually got into a magical fight, well, I'd call it a fight but I easily defeated him. Luckily for me, your Father had already left, agreeing to become the head of the hospital and the Chief sent all his men away and knows me. He allowed me to teleport him to SilverCrests Maximum security prison for magical abusers. After I saw everyone there was green, which means they are good people, I teleported back. Yellow is the most confusing, as someone can go from violet, which is your thieves, murders, typical criminal bad person type, to yellow if they've turned their ways around or it can be someone who used to be green but is falling down the wrong path. do you follow so far, I know it's a lot?" Zander asked.
Little did Zander know, but this was making Sophie feel much more confident and better about the whole situation.
"Yes babe, please continue."
"Now according to Zintan, phoenixes can just see the colors, but I can see different shades. For example, when I met a boy at the orphanage, Jackson, who stays there and helps the other orphans, as he has his entire life, he was dark green with hints of gold. Gold is the color of Solace, phoenixes and the truly righteous people. When I cast my eye of the Phoenix skill yesterday, when we were all in the guest room after Soraya arrived, there were two dark green auras and the rest were gold. Your gold wasn't as dark as mine, but according to Tej, no normal human under the age of 18 has ever been gold, aside from me of course, but I'm not a normal human. That's why I love you, that's why I remade my room, that's why I got you all these gifts and that's why we have this."
Zander showed her hand and her hand also glowed with a Golden Phoenix, not a white one like the others.
Sophie broke into tears and before she could speak, Zander was sitting next to her, put his hand through her hair and gave her a passionate kiss, to which she returned and when he pulled away he said, "that will never get old but please let me finish and don't cry, you can't cry on your birthday," as Zander pointed at the clock, which was now past midnight.
"When you excused yourself last night, I could still sense Soraya's presence, that's when I went and knocked to make sure you're ok. I don't know what you two talked about, but I know Tej showed up and then you three were gone for a few minutes. So please, I think I have an idea why you ran upstairs tonight but whatever it is you have to tell me, know I won't be mad and I will still love you no matter what," Zander said with the biggest smile Sophie had ever seen.
Sophie told Zander everything, and to make things easier, she simply had Scarlet switch with her, and eyes changed from pink to red, to which Zander smiled and said, "long time no see, I hope you treat my girlfriend well!"
Scarlett said, "momma told me to always look after big sister and to tell you she's sorry but she can't come down to Earth anymore. Oh and she said don't worry you and Sophie aren't related even though Zintan and I are. Idk that's adult stuff I just close my eyes when you guys kiss." Scarlett said with a cute smile.
"Well then I'd make sure you get some rest tonight because I can't make any promises about not kissing the love of my life," Zander said and switched to Zintan, who said hi to Scarlett and the two of them shared a hug between Sophie and Zander.
It was a weird sensation for Sophie, as she could see, hear and feel everything in the white space. While in the white space, she put her hand over her face, wondering why she was worried and how right Claire was.
With that, Sophie and Zander were back and Zander spoke first, "I personally love your new look, not that you weren't the most beautiful woman in existence I've ever seen, but because no one else in this world has naturally silver hair with those beautiful pink eyes," Zander said with a silver tear falling from his eyes.
"The most beautiful woman in existence, but I'm just a teenager," Sophie said in a confused voice.
Zander pointed at the clock, "not just any teenager, an officially of age, adult teenager now."
Sophie blushed and hugged Zander so tightly that he was impressed with her strength, "easy sweetheart you need to learn to control that strength of yours,"
She eased her tight grip and he said, "much better."
"So you're not mad I kept this from you?" Sophie finally asked.
"Why would I ever be mad at you?" Zander said while stroking her hair and admiring her beauty.
"Because I didn't tell you last night."
"When I found you, you were fast asleep so how could you possibly have told me? I left you a note and you went to meet your parents today," Zander said.
"You're too good to be true," she said.
At that point Sophie was too happy to care. They spent the night talking, laughing, Zander promised to teach her some Phoenix things, even if most of it was new to him too.
After they were done talking, Sophie jumped on top of him, they made out a little bit more vigorously than normal, as Sophie had taken off Zander's shirt and she had taken off hers, leaving on only her bra.
Around 4 am they finally fell asleep, after they both prayed.
Somewhere in Eden, Tej and Soraya were watching with smiles on their faces.
"What did you tell her about my love?" Tej asked Soraya.
"The truth and the fact I was looking forward to seeing a beautiful baby from the two of them someday," Soraya said.
"Aren't they a little young for a baby?" Tej asked.
"They'll be together forever if they're phoenixes, what's the difference," Soraya said with a chuckle.
"Zephyr and Nixie had their first young and look how happy all of them are now."
"Aren't you forgetting their both humans sweetie," Tej said.
"All the more reason to have a baby. That baby will be special," Soraya said.
Eventually Sophie fell asleep, and Zander smiled as he laid next to her.
"I hope my parents are up in Eden right now, enjoying their peace with all the happy souls of Eden," Zander thought, as he drifted into a deep sleep.