In high school, most kids were like feral cats. She’d hoped at a magical cooking school like Brindille, it would be different.
Apparently not!
Sylvie waved the stench away.A good meal. Maybe a pick-me-up spell.That’s what she needed to set the day right.
Sylvie eyed the buffet table as she tried to decide what to eat.
Crystal fountains were spewing milk and juice. Silver platters rotated, one moment offering up fluffy donuts dusted with sugar, and the next, muffins dotted with glistening gooseberries.
Sylvie read the place cards positioned in front of them.
MOTIVATIONMUFFINS
CONCENTRATIONCREAMDONUTS
A well-built girl with broad shoulders and hands the size of catcher’s mitts stuffed a sugar-dusted donut into her mouth. Something about her seemed oddly familiar. Yet Sylvie was certain she would’ve remembered meeting her before.
The girl wiped her powdered sugar–coated fingers onto her chef’s coat, drawing Sylvie’s eye to the ranking pin stuck to the front of her uniform.
Gold, like the CCS agents who came into the diner.
Sylvie wondered why the girl was wearing it. On one hand, gold was the highest Sage ranking, reserved for CCS leaders and people of importance. So, she could see why someone might want to show it off. On the other hand, sporting ranking pins that your headmistress disliked didn’t seem smart.
“What are you looking at?”
Nothing,Sylvie wanted to say, but before she could, a boy with black hair and large ears appeared. “Belinda!”
The girl staring at Sylvie turned. “What?”
“Some first-years just took your table.” He pointed toward a small group huddled in a corner. “Arrogant pricks!”
Belinda spun around on her red cowboy boots and marched off. “Let’s teach those piglets a lesson.”
Sylvie stared, slowly putting two and two together.Belinda as in Belinda Bass … Jack Bass’s daughter. That’s why she looks familiar!Sylvie had known that Jack Bass had a daughter at Brindille. What she hadn’t realized was how much they looked alike.
Sylvie spotted bowls of pick-me-up porridge bubbling on a serving tray. She grabbed one and watched as Belinda hoisted up two of the students sitting at her table and extracted them. Sylvie thought about saying something. But Belinda seemed like the kind of girl that would punch you before she’d consider listening.Stay out of it. Keep your nose clean, Sylvie reminded herself. She turned around, searching for a table that wasn’t part of anyone’s turf.
After breakfast, she’d track down the girl who was supposed to show her around. Sylvie tried to recall her name.Flora.Maybe Flora could tell her more about the library before orientation?Yes.That was a good plan. Sylvie scooped up a bite. The porridge was warm and creamy, with melted butter and a hint of spice.Delicious.
“It was a hex that gave her the scar on her hand,” whispered someone.
Sylvie turned. A group of gossiping Pips were sitting at a nearby table. She spotted several familiar faces:Adara, Georgia, Big Shawn.
“I’m not surprised,” said Adara. “I mean, look at her mom …cheatingat the Golden Whisk. She probably practices hexes on her own kids.”
“Maybe her mom’s innocent,” suggested Big Shawn.
“Well, that’s not what Rumor Wheeler says.” Georgia had her head down, focused on something she’d tucked below the table.
Sylvie hated Rumor Wheeler. With a name like that, it was no surprise she’d stepped out of the kitchen.Trading in her recipe books to cook up stories.Wheeler was the gossipy know-it-all behind the popular blog,The Daily Leek.
Ignore it,Sylvie told herself.
Sylvie shoveled another spoonful of porridge into her mouth and scanned the room, trying to find a spot far away from Georgia and the others.
“Listen to this.” Georgia’s eyes were still fixed down. “It’s from Wheeler’s exclusive interview last week with Josephine Flammé.”
The hairs on Sylvie’s neck prickled. Flammé was the sad-eyed blonde who’d accused Sylvie’s mom of cheating all those years ago.
