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Chapter 62 - The Return to Normalcy
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 15:00:08 +0000 UTCArchie dreamt that he was sitting in a forest glade. The deer and rabbits and foxes and squirrels all came to eat from his palm. Soon, the grass was depleted of its acorns and flowers and wild carrots.
Something rustled in the bushes.
But Archie was never scared.
Nori walked out of the bushes holding Chandler’s hand, the little girl holding a basket of blueberries. Together, they fed the animals and laughed in the sunlight.
“Should we wake him? It’s nearly lunchtime.”
“No, no, he’s only been asleep for a couple of hours. He must be exhausted. Let him rest.”
Archie rolled over and rubbed his eyes as he groaned.
“Oh, he’s awake. Hi baby.” Adelaide lowered herself down to Archie’s face. “Are you hungry? Your dad is cooking something.”
“Dad never cooks,” Archie groaned.
Adelaide laughed. “He’s always cooking now, Archie. Come on, baby.”
“I’m not a baby.”
Adelaide took one of Archie’s arms and helped him up. “You’re right, you’re not a baby. You’re my baby.”
Archie wandered down the stairs with half-closed eyes. Everything felt so familiar, but none of it made any sense. Where was the stack of books in the living room? Why did the stairs go straight down instead of turning? And what was that bed he had woken up in? His bed had a red blanket.
His confusion reached its climax as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
Wait. This isn’t Petrichor.
But it was home.
Rowan and Arty worked in the kitchen. Adelaide went to tidy up the chairs and set the table. Nori and Chandler ran around with lemon wedges in their mouths, grinning big, toothless yellow grins.
“He’s up!” Arty cheered. “How’re you feeling? Had a nice nap?”
“Hmm? Yeah, yeah.” Archie rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “What’re you making?”
“You mean what’re we making? Get over here and cook with your old man.”
Archie had waited to hear those words his entire life. He rushed into the kitchen as fast as his broken body would let him.
“I’ve got some bread going in the oven,” Arty said. “I was thinking we could cook some butternut squash ravioli. Word around town is you know your way around pasta.”
Archie considered the dish for a moment. “With a white wine sauce? Lemony and creamy?”
Arty looked proudly at his son. “Sounds like a plan.”
Rowan clapped flour off of his hands and moved out of the kitchen. “Lemony sauce, that’s you Nori.”
He went to trade spots with Nori, tickling Chandler’s neck as Nori found her station in the kitchen.
“Now, you two better not mess things up,” Rowan said. “Show off for me. Show them what my apprentices can do.”
Adelaide sat at the counter, peering over the half-wall divider into the kitchen. “You know, Archie, your dad and I apprenticed together. That’s where we fell in love.”
Nori dropped a handful of lemons on the ground. Archie opened the bag of flour with a big puff. Arty chuckled.
“Okay, mom,” Archie said as he wiped the flour from his face. “That’s enough.”
“So how’s Petrichor doing?” Nori blurted out, eager to steer the conversation away from such uncomfortable topics.
“Oh, it’s great,” Arty answered. “I mean, it’s as busy as can be. We have this new supplier on the Kuutsan border—he can’t get the stuff over to us fast enough. We sell out nearly every day.”
“They’re still coming for my water?” Archie asked, his heart full and warm at the thought of his home’s resurgence.
“Uh…Well, yeah.” Arty scratched his head. “Yeah.”
“They ask for it, sweetie,” Adelaide said. “But really it’s your father’s cooking that’s been driving the crowds recently.”
“Ahhh,” Arty shooed her away as he shrugged. “The supplier is great. Really good stuff. Lots of essence. Pass me that roller.”
Archie watched his dad work. For years, Arty had really only cooked when Adelaide had been unable to. Now, he moved around the kitchen like a seasoned pro in total command of his craft. And he smiled the whole time. Archie started to realize how rare that had been growing up.
“I’ve been working on this new recipe,” Arty said. “Mushroom wellington. People love it, but I know it can be better. It’s just missing something. When you come back for the summer, you can help me figure it out. Oh, oh, oh! I’m so excited to cook with you. There, I mean. Of course we’re cooking together here now.”
Archie just laughed and tried to keep up.
“You could come stay with us for the summer too, Nori,” Adelaide said.
Nori laughed. “We’ll see.”
Archie and Nori stayed at The Gift for supper, then headed back to the Academy. While Nori went on ahead, Archie hung back in the great hall to read the test scores that had been pinned to the wall.
“You’re better than your score, you know,” someone said from behind Archie.
He turned around to face Colby.
“You’re good. It’s not talent holding you back,” Colby said. “You’ll be able to retake the exams during the Ambrosial Summit next year. Get your head straight and you’ll ace it.”
Archie didn’t know how to react. Getting complimented by Colby was like looking directly into the sun.
“Thanks,” he managed.
Colby just raised his eyebrows and walked away, having met his quota of kindness for the month.
Archie read over the scores for a while longer. He laughed at Blanche’s abysmal kitchen scores and Sutton’s class-low conjuration score. He stared at Oliver’s name in the Yellow Jacket section for a long while, having to convince himself that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. He smiled at seeing Nori’s name so high on the list. He could imagine her arguing that she was better than Julienne—”But I was higher across all five scores,” she would say.
And then the thought of Julienne reminded Archie that he still had something to do.
He entered Julienne’s room and hugged him without a word of warning.
“Thank you,” Archie said as he squeezed the other boy tight.
“My uncle almost had my head when I told him we had to host Waldorf,” Julienne said. “I hope the trouble was worth it.”
Archie grinned. “Well…you saved my life.”
“So I guess we’ll see, huh?”
For once, Julienne pulled his punch as he socked Archie in the arm. Archie laughed and looked around the room. Yarrow lay in his bed, scowling like always, and Sutton sat on the floor loading up a suitcase.
“Going somewhere?” Archie asked.
Sutton turned and pushed his glasses up. “Khala. Barley’s going back for the summer, so I got him to take me.”
“Why anyone would want to go there…” Yarrow mumbled.
Sutton’s exasperation reached a boiling point. “I’m going to keep working on my research. It’s very important and stands to benefit a lot of people.” He shook his head and smiled at Archie. “It’s like I said, there are no Gluttons in Khala. And from what I've gathered from Barley, they have a deeper understanding of what Gluttony really is.”
“I’m glad you got the chance to go,” Archie said.
Sutton sat on a stack of clothes to compress them. “You could come too, you know.”
Julienne laughed. “Come on, Sutton. This is Archie. We’re going to have to send someone at the end of the summer to pry him away from Petrichor.”
Archie let out a soft chuckle.
Sutton shrugged, continuing to address Archie. “I think having you there could really help my research. Plus, you might learn something for yourself.”
Julienne clapped Archie on the shoulder. “Sutton just doesn’t want the carriage ride to be so quiet,” he said with a laugh.
“Alright, alright, take a seat, take a seat,” Aubergine called from the front of the great hall. “Our guests are arriving.”
The students and their guests either didn’t hear or just didn’t listen, standing around in groups crowding the great hall. The Head Chefs scurried between them, loading up the tables with a lavish feast.
Archie walked over near the entrance, joining a conversation between Oliver, Cress, Blanche, Sutton, and Nori.
“I’m telling you, she was flirting with me!” Oliver said.
Cress scoffed.
“What’s going on?” Archie asked.
Nori smirked. “Oliver over here thinks that Pepper Ivy is into him.”
“Archie. She came to Lifted Spirits one weekend, right? We talked some. And then she came back the next weekend. And guess who she ordered from?”
Archie held a laugh as he looked back and forth between the others. “I’m guessing…the only bartender available?”
The girls laughed.
“No, man, I’m telling you! And she wasn’t just ordering. She talked to me about other stuff for like, several minutes!”
Cress blinked several times at Oliver. “And…what…was she talking to you about?”
Oliver groaned and tilted his head side to side. “Well, I’m not sure. It gets really loud in there.”
“Mhm.”
“So Oliver,” Nori said. “Did she…pay for the drinks?”
“No.”
The girls exchanged a knowing look.
“She used you for free drinks,” Sutton said.
“No. No! She’s Pepper Ivy. What does she need free drinks for? She’s rich!”
Archie laughed with the others.
But then Nori stopped laughing all at once.
A large shadow loomed over them.
“Out of the way,” a guard said as he pushed through and divided the group. Archie turned to see who was being escorted.
Prince Waldorf looked back down at him.
Archie felt the shackle around his ankle. The weight of the chain. The stiff air. He wanted to scream. To run. To collapse.
Prince Waldorf stared directly into his eyes.
And then looked away without an ounce of recognition, continuing to his seat at the head table.
Archie felt like he could breathe for the very first time.
“Seats, people, seats!” Aubergine yelled.
“Come on,” Cress said as she tugged on Archie’s sleeve. “Let’s all go sit together.”
As they took their seats, Aubergine got a headstart on his rambling.
“Alright, as we celebrate your first year at the Academy, I wanted to share a story from when I was your age about…”
Archie’s eyes caught Nori’s. They smiled at each other.
Everything was back to normal.
