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By the fifth brightening there were no less than a dozen broken plates and then there was an incident involving a pair of teacups exploding. Word was there was a ghost haunting the kitchen and the chefs and waiters were scared to the point where it was already affecting their performance.
Two gentle knocks on the door and Coral popped inside the kitchen, her golden brown hair catching the gentle light from the windows. Vanderlou smiled in her direction as he continued washing the dishes.
Coral approached him whislt looking around, occasionally stopping to taste-test some of the pastries that were being prepared by the chefs. “So, what’cha doing?” she asked, her back leaning against the wall.
The half-elf didn’t look up and continued washing, rinsing and wiping without missing a beat. “Washing the dishes, what does it look like I’m doing?”
“Aren’t you scared of the ghosts?”
The question was innocent enough but for some reason, the coincidences that plates only broke when he was around bothered him. He was starting to notice a pattern and was mildly aware that Coral noticed too.
“Ma’s starting to thing that someone’s trying to sabotage the store, though considering how loyal our staff are I kind of doubt it.”
“Hmm… Abby’s thinking too much.” ‘and she should be’. he added mentally.
“Maybe, but Ma’s pretty perceptive you know.” she picked up a buttered cookie on the side and began nibbling on it. “She does have another theory.” she said in between mouthfuls.
Vanderlou’s eyebrows arched. “Tell me about it.”
“Ma’ thinks that maybe one of our rivals hired a mage.” she said this casually, though the sidelong glance she was giving Vanderlou made him feel uncomfortable. Feigning innocence the waiter continued washing the dishes, he tried ignoring her but part of him wanted to her was she had to say.
“Is that so…” he trailed off.
Coral nodded, amber eyes darting between him and the cookie in her hand. “Makes no sense to me though, if they went through all the trouble to hire one then why not cause some real problems. I mean… broken dishes and exploding teacups? It shouldn’t be too hard for a mage to cause some real damage, and why only do it in the kitchen where the customers can’t see?”
“True, a mage should be able to do more than that.” he was starting to break into a cold sweat. Coral was a bright girl, perhaps too bright. Had she linked the strange situations with him? He knew that he didn’t do anything, but he still felt guilty because every time a plate, a teacup or some china broke it was always he who was in the immediate vicinity.
“It’s also weird that only one or two of our wares break each brightening, wouldn’t it be easier to break everything in one go.”
“Y-Yeah…” he was starting to fumble with the plates, one almost slipping from his grip.
The last chef finally went outside the backdoor, it was that time of brightening when they had very few customers and now Vanderlou was all alone with Coral.
As Vanderlou began rinsing the last of the dishes he looked at Coral and sighed. “Shouldn’t you be going now?”
The girl’s face suddenly took on a serious expression. “Just tell me the truth, I might be able to help you?” the words left her tongue with a hint of displeasure.
The plate in Vanderlou’s hands slipped and he caught the plate before it hit the sink, though the mixed fear and anxiety made him grip the plate a little too hard, perhaps so hard that the plate simply exploded. Some shards of porcelain cut into his cheeks, the larger chunks fell into the sink with an audible thud He looked at Coral expecting her to be angry at him, but instead she was smiling with her arms spread open. “It’s okay.” she mouthed the words in a voice that was barely a whisper.
The half-elf couldn’t take it anymore, brightenings of pent up tension came bursting through and he could no longer pretend to be the tough boy he pretended to be. He ran up to the girl, arms wrapping themselves around her as he sobbed into her breasts. “I-I-I don’t know what’s happening to me.” he said in a tear-choked voice.
Coral quickly stroked his hair, her other hand patting his back. “There, there, we’ll figure this out.”
“Something’s wrong, I’m a freak… This is… I don’t know, I just don’t know.” he shook his head as he said this sobbing even harder.
“I have a friend who studies at brightshadows… I asked her about your condition, while she couldn’t really give me anything particular she suggested you go there, she even gave me this.” Coral pulled out a small brown envelope from within her pockets, it was folded and crumpled but it didn’t look like it had been opened yet.
“There’s a name there of a master who might be able to help you.” she whispered into his ears. All he could do was nod in response, he was afraid that if he said more, he might not be able to stop.
“Please, take care of yourself, okay?”
He looked up at Coral’s face and saw the woman lean her head closer, she planted a soft kiss on his forehead and gave his cheeks a gentle squeeze. “Stop crying now, you’re acting like a girl.”
The half-elf wiped away his tears and finally regained composure. Looking at the small crumpled envelope the seamstress forced into his hands he realized one thing. At that moment, Vanderlou knew that his life was never going to go back the way it was.
And he was deathly afraid of what was in store for him.
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