The Modern Fairy Tale Town Book 2: The Price of Magic

Chapter 9: Return to the Sea

In Storybrooke, today was a very special and important day for a certain someone. The students were getting ready for school while the adults were getting ready for work as it was a weekday, but this was a weekday unlike any other.

Melody was fast asleep until she heard her alarm going off and she soon yawned and stretched before she shut off her alarm and smiled as she sat up in her bed. "Well, Birthday Girl, better get ready for the day today," she then said. "Even if Evie promised to be here... Hopefully it's all right day just the same though..." she then sniffed the air and licked her lips. "Mm... Something smells very good." she then said as she got out of bed to get dressed and ready for the day in her uniform and began to brush her hair down and to tie it into a ponytail.

In the dining hall of the Summerfield residence, there appeared to be the making of homemade waffles of all things, despite it being a weekday and usually a harder worked on breakfast was reserved for the weekends.

"Grandpa...?" Melody called wearily as she rubbed one of her sapphire eyes. "Are you making breakfast on a school day?"

"Why, yes... Yes, I am, my dear," Mr. Summerfield replied with a small smile. "Good morning and Happy Birthday, Melody."

"Oh. Thank you, Grandpa," Melody smiled back. "You didn't have to do this though. We could've gone to Granny's Diner or call Louis or something though."

"Yes, I know, but I wanted to because you're my special girl," Mr. Summerfield reassured and nodded to his granddaughter. "Besides, this is a very special day for you and I have an even better surprise planned for later."

"Is it a party?" Melody guessed as she smirked and raised an eyebrow suddenly.

"Oh... I guess you're too smart for me," Mr. Summerfield chuckled in response while helping his granddaughter have a very special breakfast on her special day. "You're turning 16 after all like all of your friends in school. A girl's 16th birthday is very nice and special."

"I'm glad that you think so," Melody said softly. "I just wish that Mom and Daddy could be here to celebrate with us."

"I know, dear... I know..." Kenneth said with a bit of a sharp sigh. "This time of year does remind me a lot of them, especially your mother."

Melody frowned a bit as due to The Dark Curse not just affecting the adults in Storybrooke, it also affected some of the younger residents, such as Nicholas and Ava who used to be Hansel and Gretel, but especially her. She was born and grew up not knowing her parents or what had ever happened to them and wanted to learn more about them someday, but she was worried it would hurt her grandfather or have him burst into tears to even talk about her parents, especially her mother, so she never found the right time or place to even ask him more about them. She just wished that Evie were here to probably make it easier because even though Evie was the daughter of The Evil Queen, Evie was a very kind, sweet, and intelligent soul who anyone would be lucky to be friends with.

"Enjoying your homemade breakfast at least?" Kenneth soon asked his granddaughter kindly.

"Oh, yes... It's very nice, Grandpa," Melody nodded. "I can definitely taste the ingredient of love sprinkled in there."

"Well, you know about our Summerfield family secret ingredient." Kenneth reminded as he chuckled and winked at his granddaughter in response.

Melody smiled warmly and laughed a little too with her grandfather. Kenneth smiled back as he continued to eat his breakfast with his granddaughter until they would both be finished so that she could head off to school for the day.

"So, any other special surprises this morning, Grandpa?" Melody soon asked as she wiped her mouth after finishing up breakfast with him.

"Well... I decided that there's something we should talk about..." Kenneth soon said, sounding a bit soft suddenly in tone. "Something we should've talked about probably a long time ago."