Sophie literally just shocked her parents.
They both started laughing and said, "this is some kind of joke, right sweetie?"
"She's not joking, Sophie, if you would, take my hand, I want to show your parents something," Zander interrupted.
Because Sophie was so angry with her parents' laughter, she gladly went over to Zander, thinking they would teleport away. Instead, he lifted both their hands to reveal the Golden Phoenixes on each of their hands.
Next, Zander circled lightning and fire around his left arm, ice and mud circling around his right arm, while hovering water below he and Sophie, and the next moment, they were gone, only to reappear instantly.
In shock, Mr. Grace demanded Zander step away from his daughter but instead, Sophie got in front of Zander, not afraid of the magic.
"He's not going to hurt me, he's showing you something you should all know, use your heads, think of who his parents are," Sophie pleaded.
With that Mrs. Grace walked right up to Zander, who smiled and turned off his magic and she touched his face.
"Silver tears, a golden Phoenix, unwavering love for my daughter, with the knowledge that Theo betrayed Solace, something not listed in any scripture. Sweetie, this boy is special and I think we should trust our daughter. She's an adult and I don't want to lose her and I'm sure her brothers won't either," Mrs Grace said.
Zander politely thanked Sophie's Mother, with a warm, gentle smile.
"You weren't threatening us, you were showing us you can protect and take care of her. Amazing. Yes I agree, you have our blessing. My only ask if you both visit, meet her brothers and stay apart of our family," Mr. Grace said, as he had finally calmed down.
Zander looked at Sophie, smiled and said, "Whatever your daughter wants, I will gladly follow, and I would love to be a part of such a loving family. Mr. Grace. I understand your original anger, but deep down I know and see you're a great person, same with Mrs. Grace. There's just one more thing I need to ask you."
"Anything Zander," they both said.
"I'm going to cast a spell that forbids you to speak about the magic you saw today. Nothing bad will happen to you, and if you ever accidentally go to speak of it, you will just simply not be able to speak, is that ok?" Zander asked.
"Please, Mom and Dad, trust him, I do," as she revealed the golden Phoenix on her hand again.
"Alright, sure," they both agreed.
"Bind," Zander said and with that, golden magic emitted from his hand to both Mr. and Mrs. Grace's hands, and on each of their hands, a golden circle with a white X appeared and then disappeared on their hands.
They both felt a sudden rush through their body, like a jolt of energy, "amazing," they both said.
After several tears from both her parents, she gave them her new address, said she'd call all the time, text every day and be home anytime they wished.
With one last surprise, Zander pulled out a copy of his home's bill of address, and both Mr. and Mrs. Grace's eyes thought they were playing tricks on them.
"In the event anything happens to Zander Elrod, his home and everything in it will belong to Sophie Grace, a shared owner of the home."
"So you two planned this all along," Mr. Grace said with a smile while he shook his head.
"I meant what I said when I want to be with your daughter forever and took the necessary steps to ensure you would be able to trust me. I'm just glad you trust your daughter enough to give you her blessing." Zander admitted.
"My dear Sophie, you've grown up so quick. Make sure we get a wedding invite, she said,"
"Mother, I'm 17 relax."
Her Mother smiled and said, "I just asked for an invite, I didn't tell you to get married tomorrow."
After hugs and kisses to their daughter, and to both Sophie and Zander's surprise, Zander also received hugs from both of her parents.
Zander asked Sophie if she wanted to drive her new car, and she excitedly agreed.
As they pulled away, Sophie told herself "no turning back."
She looked at Zander, who had drifted off to sleep in the passenger seat.
"All that magic had to have taken its toll, he's so cute when he sleeps," she thought.
It was around 11:30 PM when the GPS, which Zander had pre-programmed for Sophie as "home," notified her she had reached her destination. She clicked the garage door opener, which caused Zander to wake.
As she pulled into the garage and shut the garage door, Zander apologized several times to which Sophie responded, "it's ok, I promise. Welcome home babe. Let's head to your room."
Zander picked her up, and to both of their surprise, there was a note left on the counter.
"Dinner went well, hope yours did too, crashing in our little room, hope we see you in the morning - Cyrus & Claire."
Those two are cheesy, they both laughed, as Claire had drawn a heart around Cyrus and Claire.
With Sophie in his arms, he asked her to close her eyes, for one last birthday surprise.
In order to not give away the amount of floors they were walking up, Zander teleported to their new bedroom and Zander told her to open her eyes.
To her amazement, they were in his parents old room, but it was completely redecorated with a new bed set, which Zander decorated with throw pillows and the bedset even had a bench.
She noticed the new entertainment center, which had a remote controlled fireplace, and he showed her the walk-in closet, full of even more clothes than she could remember.
"I actually had Ella, my financial advisor, do some shopping for you this time. Claire sent your measurements to her, but if something doesn't fit, we can just donate it," Zander said while blushing.
After the walk in closet, Sophie noticed the master bathroom was right there, and Zander redecorated it and set aside an open area, with a brand new mirror cabinet and make up container sitting on the open area.
"Thank Ella for the make up selection, I have no clue about that stuff." Zander laughed.
"Zander, how much money did you spend on me for my birthday, be honest," Sophie said with a scrunched up face, which he always found cute because it showed she was somewhat frustrated.
"The question isn't how much I spent on your birthday, it's how much we spent on your birthday, go look in your nightstand," Zander said with a calm smile.
When she opened her nightstand, there sat two debit cards with the name, Sophie Grace on them. One was the black card with a phoenix on it that Zander originally wanted, the other was a matching aquamarine card.
With some help from Ella, Zander took out an additional $300,000 from the 2 million she put in various high interest accounts and investments for him and added Sophie to his bank account. Underneath the debit cards was a "welcome to Harmonia central bank envelope and pamphlet," which she opened, read and started crying.
Zander smiled, walked over to her and said, "we spent $100,000 on your birthday, if you include the car and the renovations to the house and clothes. I spent that from our joint bank account, as he took out his aquamarine card. This card is for our joint account, which is this invoice, with the last 4 being 0225, or also known as the date we met. The black card with the Phoenix is your personal account, which is this invoice, with the 4 being 3428, or both our birthdays."
"So you're telling me we have a joint account with $150,000 and you gave me my own personal account with $50,000," Sophie just shook her head with a smile, finally realizing no matter how much she said no, it didn't matter, so she said, "thank you. I love you."
"You're welcome and I love you too. Also that money is for yourself. Trust me when I tell you your parents are doing more than fine, especially with your dad's new promotion and one more thing.
Zander whispered to her, now that it was past midnight, "bind, our net worth is 75 million when I turn 17, with 500 million going to charities, the hospital, the orphanage, etc.
To Sophie's surprise, Zander didn't cast a bind that had anything to do with money or not saying anything.
Now, on her left hand, had a gold and red Phoenix intertwined with the word, "forever."
"I thought you were binding me not talk about the money, but you're always full of surprises. You trust me to not mention the financial stuff, so you tricked me and binded me with something even more beautiful!" Sophie said with a kiss.
"If you ever wish me to remove the bind, simply ask and I will but this bind is special. It allows us to find one another and communicate with one another telepathically. Also, if one of us is in trouble, even after I turn 18, if the situation is dire enough, one of us will be teleported to the other," Zander explained.
"Why would I ever want that removed? That's amazing. When are you going to start to train me in magic Zander?" Sophie asked.
"How about next weekend, after your first week of school," Zander suggested.
"That sounds perfect," Sophie said with a smile.
As they laid in their new bed, Zander handed Sophie a remote which allowed her to adjust the softness or firmness, the temperature, which she turned very warm, just as Zander had done.
Once she finally was comfy she drifted off to sleep. Zander laid there praying, then watched Sophie sleep for a while and thought to himself how lucky he actually was. Eventually he fell asleep, and they both had a day they'd remember forever.