Page 88 of The Soulmate Bakery

Saying his name felt like I was swallowing thorns, each of them leaving little cuts in the flesh of my mouth. Mum stared at me, and there was the shock I’d been craving. It didn’t feel as satisfying as I’d hoped. I watched as my mother straightened her shoulders, ignored Ivy and approached me with all the ire of an angry parent.

And then my mother said the words no one’s child – adult, teen or kid – wanted to hear: ‘Wait till we get home.’

My mother monologues like an evil villain in a movie when she’s angry. She paces too. When I walked into the house, I made a beeline straight for the couch, plopped myself down, shoes still on, and watched as she launched straight into a rant that deserved screen time. Her blazer couldn’t keep up with the fluctuating emotions – its colours spinning from red to green to purple to blue so quickly that it made my head hurt.

I was also only half listening. A numbness had crept over me from the minute the confession left my blistered mouth. I felt so utterly defeated, and I resigned myself to when Mum would get to the end of her speech with the age-old declaration: You know what, Maya, just – just leave it. OK? Just leave it. I’m calling your sister, and we’ll handle it.

And I’d hand over the reins. Maybe Rani would break the spell in a way I couldn’t. Maybe the Coven would finally step in when Mum told them the truth about who caused all this chaos. Either way, this day would end the same: with a third point on my licence.

I’d be magic bound for a year and, at this point, I had accepted it. I was ready to become one with the couch and let my mother and sister handle it. Until Mum said, mid-tirade: ‘Honestly, Maya. I should’ve prepared for this. I should’ve known it was you. Why, might you ask? Because you’re a –’

‘Disaster waiting to happen,’ I finished, my tone frosty.

Mum looked like a cut thread now that I’d interjected. Normally, I wouldn’t have interrupted, except something about this particular insult made my insides burn.

Mum inhaled deeply, like she was trying to find her inner calm. ‘I wasn’t going to say that.’

‘Yes, you were. You said it the last time I got a point on my licence. And you feel it now,’ I said, angrily. ‘Of course, you think I’m a disaster, that’s all you ever see me as. A mess to clean up. The daughter to curb. The witch to put shackles on, right?’

‘Do you give me much choice, Maya?’ Mum asked, genuinely. ‘You got rid of Everly’s fangs, you almost enchanted yourself with a forbidden spell and then you cursed the town!’

‘You’re right,’ I allowed, even though it hurt. ‘But could you for once, just ask me why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why I did those things,’ I said, frustration so evident in my voice now. ‘Have you ever considered that maybe there was a reason behind my actions? That I wasn’t just doing this to rebel or cause chaos?’

Mum went quiet, because we both knew that she hadn’t. I waited for her to ask me now, but we both shared the same stubbornness.

I scoffed loudly. ‘Of course you wouldn’t ask me. Fine, I’ll tell you. I wasn’t trying to curse the town – I just wanted to find my soulmate. It wasn’t an intentional love spell. But Ivy took my cookies and gave them to the town. Six people got cursed. It wasn’t my intention; I didn’t just do it for fun. It was meant to be a spell for me.’

‘And why would you need a soulmate spell?’ Mum asked, focusing on one detail alone.

‘Because Raven is leaving!’ I burst out, anger spilling with me. ‘Because Rani is at MAC. Because Sofia hadn’t arrived yet. Because I was going to be alone in the town next year and I couldn’t bear it.’

‘You wouldn’t have been alone,’ Mum said, quietly.

I laughed, genuinely laughed. Because this was ridiculous. Truly ridiculous.

‘Of course I was going to be alone,’ I said, my tone sad but sharp. ‘Who was I going to be left with? You, Mum?’

She nodded, and another laugh erupted out of me. The vicious note to it took even me by surprise.

‘Mum, when have I ever had you?’ I asked, and my mother’s brow furrowed into a look that Rani often mirrored. ‘How could I ever feel anything but alone when we’re together? When we can’t even watch a show together without it becoming a lecture. When you can’t spend five minutes with me before you need to mention my grades or exams or reports. When you’re so sure that I’m destined to be nothing, so rather than help me, you told me to resign myself to uncomplicated magic. To baby spells. To being nothing.’

Mum’s eyes were wide as saucers now; she couldn’t find the words to interrupt me.

‘And have you ever stopped to think that not everything I do is a disaster?’ I asked, on a roll now. ‘About how I saved the Treasure Trove? Or how I’ve worked so hard this whole month to become a better spellcaster, all in the hopes that I could solve this. That I could fix this mess myself. Can’t you see how hard I’m trying?’

I was breathing hard now. My throat felt warm, and moisture was building rapidly in my eyes. I wanted her to understand that I didn’t enjoy causing these incidents and messes; that I was trying to fix this one. That I had gotten better.

I wanted her to see me and not be disappointed.

But Mum said nothing. She just stared at me, like I was a new species of witch.

‘Fine,’ I said, slumping back on to the couch, disappointment making my bones heavy. ‘Call the Coven. Tell them what I did. Give me another point on my licence, and then I – I’ll do whatever it is you want me to do. I’ll pass my exams, help Ivy in the bakery with whatever she likes, come home and do whatever you want me to do. I’ll be mortal for a year.’

Time slipped between us in heartbeats. When I was sure that Mum had something more to say, I was proven wrong. She simply looked away from me and then moved around the couch and went straight out of the door. I stared, dumbfounded, at the empty space where my mother had stood.