Page 112 of Baking and Angels

Enough

“There’s been a change,” a helper informed him when he returned to his station. They held out a typed piece of paper. “The cupcake challenge has been altered to be a small savory challenge. And we are now pairing you up with one other competitor.”

“They put us together,” Eleanor said, stepping up beside him as she went over her own sheet of paper, her blue kerchief retied over her hair. “They want us to make twenty-four identicalSavorys.”

“Why the change?” he asked, looking over the text that basically stated that and went into a redundant explanation of what a “savory” was.

Savory Slice–A small, single-serving pastry or baked good that typically contains meat, cheese, and vegetables. It can be spicy or salty insteadof sweet.

The helper sighed. “Apparently, not everyone got the same instructions and now some people have to start over. The partnering idea was always an option, but I don’t know why that was added now.”

Rafferty did.

“It was an order that came down from on high, so I didn’t get a vote,” the helper laughed.

Neither Rafferty nor Eleanor joined them in it.

Vassago’s lack of action on the first round now made sense. He let them score what they may, knowing that both would pass the first round. He then made sure they would get paired together, securing Eleanor’s place to pass to the final round.

Any sabotage would come after that. Though what that would be that wouldn’t violate the original agreement, Rafferty couldn’t guess. Yet, a desperate demon was a clever demon. Rafferty could see the shape of what Vassago needed to do, but it didn’t tell him much of thesubstance.

The helper then cleared their throat awkwardly. “We apologize for the mistake, a clerical error. Soooooo… in order to make the competition fair for everyone, we’ve made these changes,” theyfinished.

Rafferty looked around the room and saw there were several people talking and muttering, while others were already busy creating their second entry creations. He almost missed the helper walking away.

“Wait, I need to speak to Helena… Ms. Rhodes,” Rafferty insisted, shifting a glance over at Eleanor. Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, declaring she had no intention of going anywhere now that he hadsaid that.

The poor helper had no idea what was going on. This was a different helper from the one he had been requesting assistance from earlier, and they just blinked at him. “I’ll see if I canfind her.”

“She said she would come talk to me after the first round,” he insisted, not letting this one dodge him and heedless of what Eleanor might thinkabout it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll go hunt this issue down for you. Don’t worry. Please proceed with your savory slices. Best of luck.” And then theywere gone.

“Are you thinking about forfeiting? Is that part of your plan to make sure I fail?” Eleanor jabbed at him.

Staring her down, he expected to be angry at her smirking face. Such competitive spatting happened all the time beforewhen he…

Blinking, Rafferty’s eyebrowsfurrowed.

I can’t remember,he realized. He had the thought a second ago, but when he reached for it, it was gone. It was something to do with his past. He tried to think of other facts about his past, but everything from his first lifewas gone.

No, not everything.

He remembered his mother and sister, their love for him, but everything else… Even as he tried to think of it, it slipped away, leaving an openness inhis mind.

And it was a strange relief left in the wake of his realization.

Thisis his life now. Not then. Thenwas over.

What he could remember of his childhood remained, but even those were mostly impressions. Love, laughter, good moments, moments that could have happened in any age.

I trained in the king’s kitchen,but he couldn’t really remember what that meant anymore. The king’s kitchen didn’t exist anymore, but he had learned so much when he had been there.

And that’s enough.

I was a demon for centuries,he thought.

But that was just a fact. He couldn’t remember what it had been like tobeone. The experience of it was a blank attached to a comfortable sadness. It was sad that it had happened, but he had made peace with it.

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