Chapter 7 Magic
Astraeus's wings shot open in the bakery. “YOU LOST IT?”
“I didn't lose it! I never even had the opportunity to keep it!”
“You were supposed to bring it here for Lyric for heavens sake!”
“I was also supposed to come back alive, and I managed that quite successfully!”
“Pip!” Seraphina barked.
He fell silent. She turned towards Astraeus and his family.
“I know what you're going through, and I promise I'm doing everything I can to help Lyric. But shouting won't make the fruit appear in my kitchen.”
Astraeus lowered his head, looking ashamed. “You're right. Forgive us. We are just frightened.”
Seraphina's expression softened, she looked at Lyric again. His scales were losing their glow faster than she had expected. They didn't have much time.
“Pip,” she said quietly. “Tell me exactly what happened in Everdawn.”
Pip took a breath.
Then he told them everything, the forbidden orchard, the screaming peach, the guards, and the price demanded by the royal orchard keeper.
When he finished, Lyric's mother pressed a hand to her mouth.
“They want a memory?”
Pip nodded. “A cherished one.”
Lyric looked down at his feet. “Then forget it. I don't want anyone losing something important because of me.”
His mother's eyes filled with tears again. “Don't you dare say that!”
“Mother…”
“No! You are my son. I would give them every memory I have if it meant saving you!”
“And I'd rather die than let you forget me.”
The room fell silent, even Pip had nothing to say.
Seraphina felt something tighten in her chest. She had seen Lyric's family argue, panic, and nearly knock over half her furniture in their desperation. But beneath all that noise was a family terrified of losing someone they loved.
She wasn't going to let them leave without trying. “I'm going to find another way,” she said firmly.
Astraeus looked at her. “Are you certain?”
“No. But I'm going to try.”
She turned towards the old book on the counter, her grandmother's book. “Pip, help me find the passage about Hollowroot Syndrome.”
Pip flew towards the book at once.
“Finally! A mission that doesn't involve being interrogated by royal guards!”
Azula stretched lazily, slowly changing himself into a cute boy. “Try not to get arrested this time.”
Pip threw a tiny piece of flour at him.
Seraphina opened the book, searching through its faded pages until she found a passage about the Moonveil Peach.
Her eyes moved over the words, then she stopped.
A small note had been written in the margin, almost hidden beneath an illustration of a peach tree.
The first Moonveil tree was gifted to Everdawn by a witch who believed that healing should never come at a cost.
Seraphina read it twice, then a frown appeared on her forehead. “That doesn't make sense.”
Astraeus stepped closer.
“What is it?”
She pointed at the note. “If the fruit was originally meant to heal without payment, why is the royal orchard keeper demanding a memory?”
No one answered.
Pip leaned over the page. “Maybe they enjoy making people's lives difficult.”
Azula's ears twitched. “That's a stupid theory.”
“Do you have a better one?”
“No.”
“Then keep drinking your milk.”
Seraphina ignored them both and continued reading. Beneath the note was a name.
Elarienne.
And beneath the name, in handwriting so faded she could barely make it out, were seven words.
When the fruit refuses a seeker, seek…
The rest of the sentence had been torn away. Seraphina stared at the damaged page.
“Seek what?”
A sudden gust of wind swept through the bakery.
The book's pages began flipping wildly, though every window was closed.
Lyric's scales flickered, his mother grabbed his hand. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the wind stopped.
A new line appeared beneath Elarienne's name, written in fresh silver ink.
The garden beneath the garden.
Seraphina went completely still. Pip slowly turned towards her. “Please tell me that doesn't mean we're going back to Everdawn.”
Seraphina closed the book.
“I'm afraid it does.”
Pips wings dropped, he groaned. “can I not follow you?”
“nope, you must” Azula replied, Pip raised a folded fist at him before facing Seraphina.
“Seraphinaaaa, can I rest from the one I returned from?”
“NO”
His round face squeezed into a red tomato. Seraphina turned to Lyric.
“I promise Lyric, I will come back for you…. With a cure.”
A slow smile plastered on Lyric's face. “I'd wait for you then Sera.”
Seraphina ruffled his hair and straightened her spine, “You guys can go now, I need to get ready to leave.”
The Astraeus nodded, exchanged pleasantries and left. Seraphina watched her bakery Settle back into a quiet space for the first time since that day.
She exhaled sharply.
“Sera, you still haven't baked the dragon's cake,” Azula murmured.
“Aishhhhhh!” Seraphina fisted her hands in her hair, giving it a considerable yank, though not too strongly. “I totally forgot about it. Get everything ready, Pip!”
“Yes, ma'am!”
The little round ball shot towards the cupboards, his tiny wings fluttering as he pulled open one door after another.
“Flour! Sugar! Eggs! Butter!” he announced, tossing each ingredient onto the counter. “And the chocolate!”
A packet of cocoa flew out of the cupboard and landed directly on his head.
“Found it!”
Seraphina shook her head and reached for the mixing bowl.
“Wait.”
The bakery fell silent at Azula's voice.
Seraphina slowly turned towards him.
“What now?”
He sat up, his cat ears twitching with excitement.
“How aboutttt…”
He sprang onto the counter, raised both hands, and grinned.
“WE SINGGGGG!”
Pip gasped.
“Yes, baby!”
The little flourling shook his round body to an imaginary rhythm, his wings flapping so enthusiastically that a cloud of flour puffed from his body.
It floated over the counter, over the ingredients, over Seraphina's face.
Silence.
She slowly wiped the flour from her cheeks.
“Pip.”
“Yes, Sera?”
“Run.”
He squealed and zoomed behind Azula.
Seraphina sighed, but the corners of her mouth lifted.
“Let's try, then.”
She tied her apron around her waist while Pip hurriedly placed the ingredients in order. Chocolate, flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and a bowl of fresh strawberries sat waiting on the counter.
She stared at them for a moment.
“A chocolate cake with strawberries and white frosting,” she muttered. “For an arrogant dragon who doesn't even know how to say thank you properly.”
Azula swung his legs over the edge of the counter.
“Perhaps you should put a little extra sugar in it. Might sweeten his personality.”
“That might work.”
Pip giggled.
Seraphina grabbed a mixing bowl and began measuring the flour, still thinking of the best song to start with.
She added the butter and sugar, watching them blend together beneath her wooden spoon. As she cracked the eggs into the bowl, a little tune came to her.
She smiled.
Then she hummed, just a little at first. Three soft notes floated through the bakery.
The tiny bells hanging above the windows chimed in response.
Seraphina stopped.
She hummed the notes again.
Ding, ding, da-ding!
The bells chimed again, this time in perfect rhythm.
Her eyes widened.
“Did you hear that?”
