The Seelie Curse

Chapter 56

Rowan's thoughts are quiet when she wakes, but not for long. They quickly fill up again with worries for the times to come. She has no idea how they're going to actually break the curse. Her entire life has been so stressful for the past . . . how many months? . . . that she doesn't know how she's going to handle her life returning to normal. Or at least as best it can with a life stuck in the supernatural world.

Rowan rolls over, away from the wall, and takes a deep breath. She pauses and sniffs the air. She can smell something sweet. Rowan sits up and slides out of bed, wrapping the bottle-green throw blanket at the end of the bed around her shoulders. On her way down the hallway, Rowan pokes her head into her mother's room.

Arwen is still sleeping and Rowan glances out the window above her mother's bed. The sun is still rising, it's quite early in the morning. What exactly is her grandmother up to? Rowan slips into the kitchen to see a mess covering the counter. Flour is tossed everywhere, there are mixing bowls and something coloured.

"What exploded in here?"

From across the kitchen, Rowan watches her grandmother pop up from the other side of the counter. Her eyes are wide in shock and she laughs after a moment, holding her hand to her heart.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack, Rowanberry?"

Rowan giggles. "No, but it looks like you're trying to destroy Mum's kitchen,"

"Your mother's kitchen? Whose house is this?"

Rowan laughs again. "Just because you own the house doesn't mean Mum doesn't rule the kitchen. Because she really does."

"All right, all right. It's your mother's kitchen. Happy now?"

"Yes. But gran, what exactly are you doing?"

"Come see."

Rowan ducks into the sitting room to dump her throw on the couch before she returns to the kitchen. She doesn't need to ruin it with flour and whatever else is covering the kitchen. She steps over to the counter, frowning at the various bowls scattered across it. One looks full of some sort of batter and several of the smaller bowls are full with what appears to be multicoloured icing. Rowan takes a clean spoon from one of the drawers and snags a small scoop of the substance. She takes a hesitant bite and instantly wrinkles her nose. It tastes like it should be icing, but it's far too sweet, and there's something else off about it. She frowns at her grandmother.

"What exactly are you trying to make, Gran?"

Rowan's grandmother stares blankly at her. "What do you think?"

"Cookies? It's some kind of pudding. I have no idea why you'd be making it this early in the morning, but . . ."

Aisling nudges Rowan, grinning. "Where's your head gone, Rowanberry?"

Rowan frowns in confusion. "My head is right on my shoulders, where it should be. Why?"

"What day do you think it is?"

Rowan's brow wrinkles in thought and her frown deepens. "I don't know, actually."

"It's almost Mabon, silly. I have no idea how you could forget that, considering what else it means."

Rowan's eyes widen. "It's almost Mabon?! How did I miss that?"

"I have no idea how you'd miss your approaching birthday. You're about to be eighteen, Rowanberry. It's a big one."

Rowan attempts a smile. "You say that every year, Gran."

"And every year, it's true. Come, help me with the cookies. I saw that face of yours. What did I miss?"

Rowan grimaces. "I think you put too much sugar in the icing. At least this orange icing."

Aisling sighs. "It's all the same batch, I just separated them to add the colour. How do I fix it?"

Rowan chews on her lip. "Hmmm. We could add more of the other ingredients. How much sugar did you add?"

"Five cups in the batch?"

Rowan chokes. "What? Were you trying to make a bigger batch of icing? Or did you just botch the recipe?"

Her grandmother's cheeks flush. She mutters, "I was trying to make a larger batch. I thought it was the right conversion."

"Were you trying to double it?" Her grandmother nods. "Did you forget to double the other ingredients too?"

"No-" Aisling sighs. "Yes, I did."

"Well, that's a simple enough fix, although it might be a bit tough to add it to all the bowls."

Her grandmother nods. "Well, while I fix that, do you want to look over my design for this year's cookies?"

Rowan grins and slides into one of the stools. Her grandmother slides a paper across the counter to her. Rowan looks down to see a complex design, far more than the cookies normally are. Half of the design is the moon and the other half is the sun. The design is lovely, although it might be a bit hard to actually do on the cookies.

Of course, Rowan's grandmother is a far better artist than Rowan is, so who knows? But she feels like she's missing something. Rowan nibbles on her lip, frowning down at the drawing. Then she sucks in a breath. Why didn't she realize it before? It's literally staring her in the face! She jumps up from her seat and rushes toward the door, calling over her shoulder.

"Sorry, Gran. I need to go. The design is lovely!"
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What do you think Rowan realized? What do you think of the baking scene? What about Mabon being Rowan's birthday? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.