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Chapter 56 - The Day
🕑 Added 2025-01-14 03:18:12 +0000 UTC“So how does it work?”
Rowan offered Nori a bouquet of purple flowers. “Breathe in,” he said. “And back out onto the flowers.”
Nori did as commanded. Rowan took the bouquet and put it in front of Archie’s face.
“We’ll get the girl to do the same. And then we grind it up and put it in everything. But especially the risotto. It’ll carry our signatures with it, and when eaten, will make them forget us.”
Rowan sniffed the flowers. “Oh, so be sure not to eat anything we put this in,” he says. “Wouldn’t want to forget the last year, would we?”
Archie looked at Nori and imagined forgetting her face. She was the most important person to him since he had come to Ambrosia City. His best friend. His partner in crime. His family. The thought of forgetting her was worse than death.
“For the three of us, it’ll be easy for them to forget. For the girl, not as much. They’ll certainly forget her face. They’ll likely forget whatever love they have for her—”
“That’s not much,” Archie said.
“—and it’s possible that they’ll forget they had a daughter altogether.”
Nori studied the flowers. “How is this possible? How did you do it?”
Rowan chuckled, his lips curling into a soft smile. “When you’re an Orange Jacket, all of your magic has an explanation. But as you learn more and more, somewhere along the way…things just are.”
The unconvincing explanation gave Nori pause. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes, it’ll work.”
“And you’re okay with keeping Teff for a while?”
Rowan started at the floor. “I have many regrets. One of my biggest is prioritizing my career over starting a family. From your determination I can see that the girl is worth saving. Besides, I do get lonely here…” He looked around at his usual company—plants that only spoke when commenting on the wind.
They all listened to that wind for a little bit. The chirping birds. The pitter patter of foot traffic. Rumblings of wagons and ramblings of merchants. It comforted Archie to know that even if they were frozen in this moment—even if this was the end—the city would still go on.
They took a small push cart onto the tram and up the Trunk, riding in silence. Rowan had shed his black jacket—as he put it, one less thing to be remembered by—and held the wrapped up bouquet close to his chest the entire way, making sure that not even a single petal dropped.
They passed the Ackers estate, arriving at the end of the cul-de-sac to see a manor that dwarfed every residence in Caviar Court. A large wrought iron fence contained the well-maintained yard, private guards stationed in a small stone booth with a sign above it that read, The Rathbonds.
Beyond the gate, a Gluttonous woman fidgeted with a patch of flowers, making sure they all stood upright and occasionally picking off and eating a petal. Her blue dress stretched wide like a lake—Archie had never considered the custom tailoring a Glutton must require. She saw the trio approach and took a step toward them.
“I was told there’d be two,” she yelled. “Who’re you?”
“Coriander Daccomb, my lady,” Rowan said. “Retired kitchenhand.”
She turned her nose up at him. “If you are retired, why are you here?”
“I spend too much on my grandkids,” he explained. “And forgive my ignorance. You are?”
“Lady Rathbond,” she brushed her hair with one hand and her dress with the other. “Lord Rathbond is in the parlor. Not to be disturbed.” She waved to the guard. “Let them in.”
Inside the booth, the guard pulled an unseen lever. Metal grated as gears turned and the gate slid open across the stone. Archie got the cart moving with a hefty shove, sweating from physical exertion as well as nerves. Lady Rathbond got a head start toward the kitchen, waving them onward.
She supervised their unloading in the kitchen, pulling out their requested ingredients from the pantry and refrigerator.
“Oh, I’m so glad to have you catering a full party again,” she said. “Of course, I love your…specialty item. But I do love your seafood as well. Look here, I got you caviar.”
She dipped two massive fingers into the bowl of caviar, taking a pinch and licking it from her fingers.
“I think we are all set,” Nori said. Archie was impressed with how well she hid her disgust.
“Hm.” Lady Rathbond took another pinch of caviar and left.
After an hour of prep work, the first guests arrived. From the kitchen, the Chefs heard a string quartet playing in the backyard. Then the kitchen door opened and a rushing pitter-patter of footsteps came through.
Archie turned just in time to catch the jumping Teff.
“Blueberry man!”
He lifted her up, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She looked like a bruised piece of fruit, squeezing Archie so tightly that he couldn’t count all the new bits of purple and green.
Rowan stopped stirring the kulkida risotto. Unlike Nori, he hadn’t required the supercharged noodles. He walked over to the two. “I assume this is…”
“Yeah,” Archie said. He set Teff down and squatted down to her height. “Hey Teff.” He looked around to make sure they were alone. He whispered, “are you okay?”
Teff’s smile disappeared. Her lips shrunk to a dot. Her eyes grew and watered. She nodded forcefully.
“You said…you said you wanted to run away. Do you still want to?”
Her mouth hung open. The hanging tears in her eyes glistened with dreams. “Did you come to take me away?”
“If you want…this is Mr. Rowan. He’ll take care of you.”
The dream in her eye faded. She stepped toward Archie, loosely wrapping an arm around him as she assessed Rowan with a child’s skepticism.
“Teff, right?” Rowan asked as he crouched down. “I heard you like blueberry tricks.”
She shrunk further into Archie and nodded.
“Alright. Let me show you one. Take your hands and clasp them together like this.” Teff squeezed her hands together. “Yeah, just like that. Now leave just a little bit of room in there, okay?”
Rowan showed an open palm and materialized a blueberry. “You ready?”
Teff nodded twice.
“Alright…Aaaaand…” Rowan tossed the blueberry high into the air. He and Teff looked up, waiting for it to fall, but it never did. Instead, it disappeared.
“Where’d it go?” Teff asked.
“Hm…” Rowan exaggerated his expressions, rubbing his chin and twisting his mouth around. “I don’t know. Did you catch it?”
Teff snorted. “Nooooo…”
“Are you sure?” Rowan leaned in toward Teff. “Then what’s that in your hands?”
Teff opened her hands, revealing a blueberry. She almost threw it as she jumped up and down. “Whoa!”
“Okay, okay, now look up.” Rowan pointed into the air, Teff following his finger. “Now close your hands.”
The moment that Teff closed her hands, a blueberry appeared near the ceiling, dropping into Rowan’s hands. Teff grinned and opened her hands to find that her blueberry had disappeared.
“Do it again!”
“I can show you all kinds of tricks. And you can help me garden. I have a reeeeeally big garden up on my roof. Have you ever gardened?”
Teff shook her head.
“Oh, I think you’d be good at it.” Rowan smiled. Teff smiled back. And then Rowan got serious. “Now, Teff, this is up to you. You need to understand what we’re talking about here. You’d never be able to come back here. You’d never see any of your friends or family.”
The tears returned. Teff nodded. “Please take me with you.”
Rowan’s smile warmed the room better than any flame could. He pulled out the bouquet of purple flowers. “I grow lots of flowers. Do you like flowers, Teff?”
“Mhm.”
“Here, smell these.”
Teff leaned forward, sniffed, and stepped back.
“No, no. Smell each individual flower. They smell good, don’t they?”
“Mhm.” Teff dug her nose so deep into the bouquet that she had to brush pollen off of her nose. “If my daddy finds out, he’s going to hurt me. He’s going to hurt all of us.”
“Don’t worry about that. We have a plan. But you can’t mention this to anyone. Ever. Do you understand?
“Mhm.”
“Alright, now go play with the other kids. And don’t say a word about this.”
Teff looked at Archie like she wanted to say something. He grabbed a blueberry off the counter, charged it, and bounced it to her. She caught it with both hands and bounced it again on the ground before running outside.
Once she left the room, all three of them sighed with nervous relief.
As Nori returned to her seafood, Rowan took a flower and held it over the risotto. It turned translucent as it disintegrated into dust, covering the rice. He added some broth and stirred.
“We’re going to put it in everything,” he explained. He took a canvas sack and let another flower dissolve into it. He handed it to Archie. “I have a job for you. An important one.”
Archie swallowed. He has surpassed his emotional limit long ago. “What is it?”
“I need you to go to the Ackers estate. There are some candies in here. Give them out to the servants. And then take the rest of the dust and put it into…whatever. Salt shakers. Spice racks. Just to make sure that the Ackers don’t even realize that someone is missing.”
“How am I supposed to get in? Break in?”
“Does Mr. Ackers possess any rare ingredients? Herbs? Spices?”
“Uhm…”
“Caraway seeds,” Nori answered.
“Great. Archie, speak to Mr. Ackers. Tell him you forgot to bring caraway seeds and that Lord Rathbond doesn’t have any. Ask to go to his kitchen.”
As if on cue, Lord Rathbond walked in with Mr. Ackers in tow. Mr. Ackers had only grown more since the last time they saw him—he could hardly be called a fledging Glutton at this point.
“Ah, here they are,” Lord Rathbond said. He gave Rowan a puzzled look, but moved past it. He didn’t care about some old man. He cared about one thing and one thing only. “How much risotto have you prepared?”
Nori jumped into action. Even though Rowan had done the cooking, she was still the face of the operation. “It needs a little longer,” she said, fearing that the Gluttonous duo might eat everything right then and there. “But…as a special surprise to you both…to thank you for your generosity. We’ve prepared extra.”
Lord Rathbond twiddled his sausage fingers. “Extra?”
“We made twenty servings just as you asked.” Nori pursed her lips, letting the Gluttons sweat for a moment. “And an extra thirty on top of that. Free of charge.”
Mr. Ackers almost fainted. Lord Rathbond clutched the other Glutton’s shoulder to stabilize them both.
“Oh, Ambrosia,” Lord Rathbond moaned.
Nori smiled. One credit to her upbringing—she could always force a smile in service of someone else. “We figured with it being such a big day—Caraway’s birthday and all—that we’d make enough for everyone to enjoy. Without depriving you of your fair share, of course.”
Mr. Ackers laughed and licked his lips. His hunger took a sinister turn. “Oh, Nori. Keep this up and I’ll make you my next wife.”
Nori’s smile barely hung on.
Lord Rathbond patted Mr. Ackers’s back. “Come, my friend. Come, if I stay here in this smell, I’m like to eat the whole kitchen.”
Mr. Ackers laughed. “Me and you both.”
They turned to leave.
“Uhm—Mr. Ackers? A moment, please?” Archie said.
Lord Rathburn looked thoughtfully between the two, nodded, and then left.
“What is it?” Mr. Ackers asked.
Archie acted like he had a big secret, leaning in and whispering. “I didn’t want to say it in front of Lord Rathburn.”
“Yes?”
“Well, we forgot to bring caraway seeds. And he has none. I know that you do, so I was wondering if…I could head over there real quick to grab some? I’m so sorry.”
Mr. Ackers laughed, loudly at first, then put a hand over his mouth to muffle it. “Sorry. No caraway seeds? Ha, he doesn’t even have his child’s namesake in that paltry pantry. Between us, his manor might be large, but I find this kitchen quite lacking. And that’s what really counts, right my boy?”
“Right,” Archie said with a nervous laugh.
Mr. Ackers managed to stop laughing and let out a big sigh. “Caraway seeds, you say? Not to be a penny pincher, but it is quite expensive…”
“Nori?” Archie asked. “Can I take a bowl of risotto over to Mr. Ackers’s kitchen?”
“Of course.”
“Something for when you get back,” Archie said.
Mr. Ackers chuckled. “You know exactly what I want. Go ahead. Tell the butler I sent you. He’ll give you free reign of the kitchen.”
Archie ran fast enough to get there quickly but slow enough to not draw too much suspicion. The butler let him inside and waited outside the door to the kitchen, but not before Archie managed to push a candy covered in floral dust onto him.
Once the swinging door of the kitchen came to a rest, Archie snapped into motion. He entered the pantry and spotted a bag of flour. He looked over his shoulder, watching that swinging door, expecting to see it move and the butler to catch him in the act.
The door stayed still.
Archie sprinkled some of the translucent flower petals into the bag. He looked around again. A cylinder of salt. Archie fumbled at its lid, finally managing to open it with a loud pop!
He looked over his shoulder again. Still good. He poured the dust in. Over the next minute—which felt like an hour—he put the dust into several containers.
He stuffed his bag with caraway seeds and walked out with the butler into the great hall of the Ackers estate.
And then he froze.
The painting.
Hanging above the mantle of the fireplace.
The great big painting that had captured Teff’s likeness so well. The likeness that the Ackers were meant to forget. Archie clutched at his heart, hoping to slow it. The sound of blood filled his ears.
I have to do it. I have to destroy the painting. I can sneak around the back. Punch a hole in it. Rip out her face. No. Too loud. I…I…
“Something wrong?” the butler asked.
“I, uh—I—Sorry, I forgot something in the kitchen. Do you mind if we go back?”
The butler led Archie back to the kitchen. Archie rushed into the pantry, stepping up on the lowest shelves to search.
I saw it around here somewhere. It’s gotta be…here!
He found a little jar of turmeric, took a rag, and put them in his pocket. He took one last look to make sure that the butler wasn’t watching before sneaking out through the outside door, pushing the door ever so slowly so that it wouldn’t make a sound. Once in the backyard, he made sure the area was clear of servants and made his way to the great hall’s back door. He peered through the windows. All clear.
The door creaked as it opened. Archie couldn’t decide if opening it slowly made it creak or if swinging it open would make things worse, so he stuck to slow. Once he could slip through, he ran over and grabbed the mantle of the fireplace, pulling himself up to stand on its great stony shelf.
He looked over his shoulder toward the kitchen, then cursed his own stupidity.
As if you could explain what you’re doing. Just do it.
He whispered to the jar of turmeric, almost a prayer. “I don’t know if you need my help to do this…but please. Work.”
He sent a surge of essence into the jar and dipped the rag into it. The rag turned deep yellow.
Perfect.
Archie put the turmeric thick onto the rag and reached up, swiping across Teff’s face. In one pass, her face became an unrecognizable splotch of yellow. Archie dipped the rag into the turmeric and swiped again, pressing the rag hard into the canvas. He swiped again and again, covering her entire body all the way out to one side of the frame. He jumped down, louder than he’d like, and looked up at the painting.
Mr. and Mrs. Ackers had posed next to a featureless yellow blob.
Archie snuck back out into the yard and then the kitchen. He took a second to try to calm down, but thinking about his breathlessness just made it worse.
“I’m going to head out the back if that’s alright,” he called out, opening the door as loudly as possible before the butler could respond. Archie broke into a sprint before the door even finished swinging closed.
This time, he didn’t care if he looked suspicious sprinting through the streets of Caviar Court. He just needed to get away in case the butler saw the painting and tracked him down. Just another thing to stack on their house of cards.
Archie entered the Rathbond’s kitchen just as Rowan and Nori finished setting up the platters.
“Good timing,” Rowan said. “We’re just about to start. They’ve set up tables in the yard.”
He took a big breath. “Nori, you stay here. I get the impression that some of the men might have found you the more memorable of the two of you. The less people that see you, the less people that will notice that you’re missing. Archie and I will finish out the service while you leave with Teff.”
“Okay,” Nori said. She looked at Archie. “You ready?”
Archie squeezed her arm to reassure her. “We can do this.”
He had put on the tough face for Nori, but inside, he couldn’t be more scared. Archie shook as he carried out the appetizers. He envied Nori’s position.
Nori stood restlessly as the other two came in and out of the kitchen, having been forced to wait on the sidelines. She envied their position.
Finally, the time came. Archie and Rowan each grabbed a giant bowl of kulkida risotto.
“Be ready,” Rowan told Nori. “Don’t wait for us.”
Archie walked out into the yard. Twenty adults and twenty children were scattered around the tables, finishing their clam dips and shrimp cocktails. He looked down at the risotto and thought he might vomit into it.
Rowan walked ahead of him. That made it easier for Archie.
Just follow him. Don’t think. Just walk his path.
The Gluttons—nearly all of the adults and half the children, little Caraway included—waited at the end of the catering table for the risotto. They tore into it before Rowan even finished setting the bowl down, going at it with one hand while shoving others aside with the other.
Archie struggled to find a way through the mass of monstrous bodies, but then one of the Gluttons snatched the bowl from his hands, the group splitting in two as they fought over the new bowl.
Archie turned to see Teff slip away in all of the chaos, sneaking into the kitchen. Archie swung his head back around to the rest of the party. No one seemed to have noticed.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
We did it. We did it. Nori will hide her. They’ll get away. They’ll get away. We’ll all get away.
“Okay, there’s just one more bowl of risotto,” Rowan said as they rushed back to the kitchen.
“I’ll bring it out,” Archie said. “You make sure Nori and Teff make it out.”
Rowan frowned at the suggestion.
“I got it,” Archie reassured him. “You have to get her out.”
“Okay. Try to make sure everyone eats some. And then you leave as soon as you can.”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
They entered the kitchen, Archie rushing to grab the last serving bowl of risotto.
“Okay, Teff,” Rowan said. “It’s like a game of hide and seek. We’re gonna get you in this bag over here…”
Archie rushed back outside. In their scuffle, the Gluttons had pushed their way to opposite sides of the yard, leaving a space at the table for the last bowl. Archie nodded at any straggling guests to come get their fill while they still could. He helped the children to get their share, ignoring manners and just encouraging them to scoop it up with their hands. He corralled everyone into getting a good bite and looked around, satisfied with himself.
He heard the screeching of the gate come from the front yard, signaling Teff’s escape.
We did it.
We actually did it.
Archie fought the urge to cry. He had never experienced so much stress before, and it was only now that it had been lifted that he realized how terrible it had been. But it was all over now. Teff was free. Rowan and Nori were out. And Archie would be just behind them.
“Uncle Wally!” the birthday boy screamed in excitement as he ran toward the house.
Archie turned slowly, slowly, slowly. The world spun with him.
A massive man, the size of Mr. Ackers and Lord Rathbond combined, approached. A host of servants and Acorn Guards accompanied him.
Archie forgot how to breathe. He even forgot how to be afraid. The only part of his brain that still worked was some teeny tiny rational bit that knew his fate was sealed. That death approached.
He had seen the man before. He knew him well. Everyone did. It was the most famous and powerful Glutton in the world, after all.
“Oh, what do we have here?” Prince Waldorf asked as he approached Archie.
