“I want to stop,” Archie declared. “I mean, what even was that?”

“That was good business is what that was,” Nori said proudly.

“No, not that…It’s like he was possessed,” Archie said.

“It doesn’t matter. We cook for him three more times and we’re done.”

“It does matter!” Archie paced around the attic trying to understand how Nori wasn’t panicking. “That was…primal. Feral! He could have attacked you.”

“He wouldn’t attack me.” Nori crossed her arms. The argument was coming to a close whether Archie liked it or not. “I’m his source of risotto.”

Two weeks passed. Nori existed only on the extreme ends of energy, jittery and wound up at times and thin and weary at others. Her body lost its ability to regulate itself, relying on the extreme essence of Anise’s supercharged noodles. Nori’s studies felt the consequences. She could no longer summon more than a drop of lemon juice. She could hardly help Archie with their innovation project. She wandered the halls of the Academy like a ghost.

But she never heard Archie’s pleas to stop.

Mr. Ackers had insisted that the final hour or two of cooking be done in his kitchen to get the freshest possible risotto. Nori had tried to explain that this rice didn’t work that way, but she gave up his argument when he put an extra two gold coins on the table.

And so Nori worked, Mr. Ackers watching over her shoulder as she chewed on the noodles and stirred. He leaned forward, mesmerized by the rice, his hand creeping closer and closer to the pot.

“Now, Mr. Ackers,” Nori warned in a warm, subservient voice. “You told me to make you wait until everyone was served.”

Mr. Ackers grumbled and growled. “Right, right.”

Meanwhile, Archie kept Teff busy on the other side of the kitchen.

“What if you made a blueberry so bouncy that you could bounce it into the clouds?” Teff asked as she bounced a blueberry off the ground.

“That would take a lot of magic.”

“Yeah,” she grinned.

Archie didn’t have much experience with kids, but he was more than happy to be on babysitting duty. He wouldn’t abandon Nori, but he didn’t want any part of her dealings. The only way they could continue to coexist was if Nori was left to her domain and Archie left to his.

“I learned a new trick,” he said. “Wanna see?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Teff hopped up and down.

Archie held out an empty, open palm. “How many blueberries are in my hand?”

“Zero?”

Archie closed his hand, turned it upside down, and dropped a blueberry into Teff’s hands.

“Whoa!” She held the blueberry up high and hopped around. “How’d you do that?”

“I conjured it.”

“Cool.” She put the blueberry right up to her eye, inspecting it to make sure it matched the real thing. “Did you bring me lemon candy?”

“Not yet. We’re still trying to make our own. But when we figure it out, you’ll be the first one to get it.”

Teff hopped around to the other side of the kitchen. “Miss Nori, can you make it extra lemony?”

Mr. Ackers slammed his palm against the counter, making everyone else jump. “Child! Do not distract her! I swear, if you mess—”

“Archie?” Nori interrupted. “Why don’t you take Teff outside?”

“Yeah.” Archie took Teff’s hand. “Come on, Teff. Let’s see how high we can make a blueberry bounce.”

The kitchen doors swung open just before Archie could reach them, the doorway blocked by two Gluttons. They staggered in, Archie and Teff retreating into the corner to make room.

“Oh, Sorghum, is this it?”

Mr. Ackers turned and grinned. “So good to see you! Come, come, meet my Chef. This is Nori Harper. Nori, this is Lord and Lady Rathbond.”

Archie hurried Teff out of the kitchen, taking one last look back at Nori. If her expression had asked for it, he would have gotten her out too. But she offered him a reassuring—yet still nervous—smile.

“Oh, Sorghum,” Lady Rathbond squealed. “This isn’t much at all!”

“Yes, yes, you’re right, my dear. Nori, next time, make ten servings for us, will you? And let’s call it fifty gold for the batch.”

Two weeks later, they found themselves in the same place.

“Do you have my lemon candy yet?” Teff asked.

“Not yet, Teff. We’re working on it.” Archie looked over at Mr. Ackers and his Gluttonous companions. “You know, Teff, I don’t think you should be in the kitchen at the same time as us. Why don’t you go out and play?”

“Come with me.”

“I will, I will. I just have to make sure Nori’s alright first.”

“We have to stop, Nori.”

“Archie, we just made fifty gold.” For what felt like the millionth time that semester, Archie’s worries fell on deaf ears.

“Exactly.” The firmness in Archie’s voice soon gave way to pleading. “We’re what…ten gold away? Let’s do it right. Let’s go back to the Roots. Three, four catering jobs and we’re done. We’ll be done by summer. Then maybe we can go somewhere. Follow the Kuutsu or something.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“And what about next year?” Nori shook her head as she stirred. “And the year after that? And after that? Are we going to slum our way through charity jobs? Rowan doesn’t have money for me, Archie. He made that clear. He doesn’t owe me like he owes you.”

“Nori, that’s not—”

“I have a fish on the line. I’m not releasing it.” She shoved another piece of supercharged noodle into her mouth, her neck spasming. “There’s enough rice here to pay through all four years.”

“Nori, that’s—”

“They’re giving us another fifty gold for this batch. Then I’m gonna squeeze them. Minimum order of twenty servings. You know they’ll do it.”

“Nori—”

“I’m going to try to push them to six gold each. But if they won’t go for that, I’ll go back to five. Just so they feel like they’ve—”

“Nori!”

Archie’s yell echoed and bounced around the abandoned, dusty furniture of the attic. Nori stopped stirring.

In one deep breath, he went from anger to contrition. “It’s my fault,” he stated. “And I apologize. If I had filled you in on day one about what it would take to keep you here, we could have planned things out. Done it right. We wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“You don’t—”

“Just.” Archie put his hand on Nori’s shoulder. “I got you into this mess. Now I’m getting you out. Look at you. It’s time to stop.”

For the first time in what felt like months, the headstrong Harper stepped aside and allowed the little, vulnerable Nori to show. Her body shook—and not because of the supercharged noodle—and she put her hand around Archie’s forearm. She had always been small, but the last month had made her thin. Less than.

“Okay. Okay, Archie. This will be the last one.”

“Nori—”

“I’m almost done with this batch. We might as well. It’ll get us a head start for next year. We’ll figure out a new way to make money.”

Archie sighed.

“It’ll be the last time, Archie. I promise.”

Nori finished the final thirty minutes of cooking with Mr. Ackers hovering over her. But this Mr. Ackers wasn’t like the Mr. Ackers of before. He had lost his nervousness. His inhibition. Base impulses seemed to rule him, the manners of Caviar Court having left him. He didn’t have his bouncy step or his playful rapport.

He had gained weight, his gut draping over his waist, and he was always eating something, even while waiting for Nori to finish even more food.

He was a fire that always hungered for more wood.

“Is it not ready yet?” he whined. He went at an entire baguette with his teeth, one foot tapping as he waited.

“Almost done.” Nori scooped broth into the risotto and stirred. “When will Lord and Lady Rathbond be joining us?”

“Hm? No. They couldn’t make it.”

“Should I save them a portion?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll have theirs. You’ll get your money, don’t you worry.”

Something tugged on Archie’s jacket. “Psst, blueberry man.”

Archie turned and recoiled. One side of Teff’s chin was purple with five finger-shaped splotches on her arm to match.

“Did you bring the lemon—”

“You!” Mr. Ackers shouted across the kitchen. His voice shook the pots and pans that hung from the ceiling rack. “Do I need to remind you? Do not distract them!”

Teff shrunk away, grabbing Archie’s leg. “He doesn’t do the cooking, though…” she whimpered.

“What?!” Mr. Ackers took a stomping step toward the girl. Then he looked up at Archie, never losing his grimace. “Now that she mentions it, what am I even paying you for?”

Archie’s mouth hung open as he tried to gather the words. “Well—I—we still—I’m the entertainment, and—”

“Enough! Make me something while you’re standing around. Come, let’s look in the pantry for something for you to make.”

“Go outside, Teff,” Archie whispered as he rubbed her shoulder.

The pantry had been full just a month ago. Now it was stripped nearly clean.

“Speaking of entertainment, I have a job for you,” Mr. Ackers grumbled. “Caraway, the Rathbond boy, is having a birthday. Lord Rathbond wants you both. And of course, he wants the kulkida risotto. The main course, this time.”

Archie looked back at Nori, demanding her denial.

“Actually, we’re, uh…” Nori winced. “Well, finals are coming up, and we need to be preparing…”

“Nonsense. He wants twenty servings. Combined with catering the rest of the party, he said he’ll pay for ingredients plus another two hundred gold.”

Two hundred gold. The number should have filled Archie with excitement, but instead, he swelled with dread. He knew his answer. But Nori’s?

“Well,” she started. “I don’t think we can do it. But we’ll see.”

“Well, you—” Mr. Ackers asked as he turned back to Nori. But something stopped him. A little, tiny arm moving up toward the pot of risotto, the girl standing on her tiptoes to reach, wanting a taste. His voice erupted. “What are you—”

Mr. Ackers stormed across the kitchen, his shoulder brushing Nori aside as he swung his fist from below like a club, catching the bottom of Teff’s chin and sending her flying into the cabinets.

“You brat!” Mr. Ackers spat. “You won’t take any from me!”

He shoved Nori to the ground and grabbed the pot, paying no mind as it burned his hand. He raised it over his head, shoveling the risotto into his mouth.

Archie couldn’t move. Nori scooted between Mr. Ackers and Teff. The child was conscious, but just barely, blood running down her temple.

Mr. Ackers ate with a new level of viciousness, a sickening squelching filling the room as he ate.

But then Archie realized that the sound wasn’t just coming from the risotto.

Mr. Ackers’s body started to transform.

The sides of his torso ballooned out, pushing his arms up. The back of his shoulders crackled and popped as they grew two feet taller in seconds. His head disappeared behind the shoulders like a sunset.

He finished and slammed the pot down on the counter. He turned.

His head hung beneath his shoulders like a medallion.

A Glutton.

“You’ll do the event,” he said, his voice sounding like an echo of an echo. “Or there will be consequences.”

He threw the empty pot across the kitchen and waddled out. Teff recoiled as he walked past. Nori held the girl tight. Archie remained unmoving.

The door clicked behind Mr. Ackers. Teff started crying.

Archie was stunned.

“Archie, what do we do?” Nori asked as she rubbed Teff’s back.

“I—uh…I think—um—”

“I want to go,” Teff whispered between sobs.

“Wh—”

“I’m gonna run away…”

“Teff,” Nori said, masking her understanding with a tone of disapproval. “He didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“He’s a monster.” Teff buried her face in Nori’s chest. “We all saw it. I have to run away. He’s mean. He hits me. Take me with you.”

Archie’s mouth hung open. Blinking was all he could do. It felt like one of his nightmares. He waited for the voice to start. For the creatures to come out of the cabinets. They’d tear him to bits and feed him to Mr. Ackers.

“Archie!” Nori yelled, snapping him out of his trance. “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know…”