The Inheritance Book 1

Ch 22 Ingredients for Disaster: Hannah Frost [Saturday, Week Two]

Though the castle was filled with the sweet, delicious aroma of freshly baked cakes, Hannah was filled with dread. She went into the kitchen to get this team challenge thing over with. Mirabelle and Kellyn were already there, waiting for her.

"It's about time," Mirabelle scolded. She got up off the stool and went around to the other side of the island. "Okay, this is how we're gonna do this: Hannah, you read off the measurements and stuff. Kellyn, you measure everything out, give it to me, and I will mix the batter."

Mirabelle pushed the cake recipe across the counter to Hannah. "Here."

Off to a great start, as predicted, Hannah told herself sarcastically. She skimmed over the recipe and flipped it over. On the back, Mrs. Carter had written in some extra instructions so they could turn it into mint chocolate chip.

Kellyn said, "Oh my gosh! She has it too."

"What are you talking about?" Mirabelle plugged in the mixer and checked the settings.

"The birthmark, mole, whatever it is. See?" Kellyn held out her index finger toward Hannah.

"Oh! What?" Hannah compared her mark to Kellyn's. They were identical. "That's insane!"

"What do you think it means?" Kellyn said.

"It means," said Mirabelle flatly, "that we can start a support group now. Yay." She lifted the mixer and set the bowl underneath. "Let's get to work. We're already running behind."

Their theme was "ace." In volleyball, an ace was a good thing, but for a cake, it was a boring, stupid theme. The coaches must have been playing a card game when they were thinking up ideas.

"Okay, first we're gonna combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set it aside," Hannah said. She proceeded to read off the measurements. The other girls did their jobs without any additional conversation. Now, if only they could continue on this way, Hannah might be able to endure it.

Janey Cat chose that moment to wander in and jump up onto the island.

"Ugh! Get out of here, cat!" Mirabelle pushed her off roughly. "Just what we need, cat hair in our cake!"

The cat found a spot on top of the breadbox, far from the action, settled in and watched them.

Following Hannah's instructions, Mirabelle dumped the butter and sugar into the blender.

"It says to blend on high for three minutes, and scrape the sides and bottom with the spatula occasionally as needed."

Mirabelle nodded and fired up the blender. No smirk, no commentary. Thank goodness.

"How many eggs?" Kellyn reached into the basket of brown Trecorin farm eggs.

Hannah scanned the ingredients list. "Three whole, one white. So four."

Kellyn set the eggs on the counter and reached for the bag of chocolate chips. "I know it's not time for these yet, but I want to eat some. I'll measure them out in this bowl and get them ready. How many cups?"

"Two. But I say be generous. You can't have too many chocolate chips!"

In the middle of the island, Kellyn sprinkled out a little pile of chocolate chips for them to snack on. As they all popped chocolate chips into their mouths, two of the eggs rolled off the counter and splatted on the ground.

"Shit!" Mirabelle yelled over the whirring of the mixer. "What the hell!? Who put the eggs there?"

Kellyn jumped up. "Oh, sorry! My fault! I'll clean it up."