Fondour

Chapter 62 - The Return to Normalcy

Archie dreamt that he was sitting in a forest glade. The deer and rabbits and foxes and squirrels all came to eat from his palm. Soon, the grass was depleted of its acorns and flowers and wild carrots.

Something rustled in the bushes. 

But Archie was never scared.

Nori walked out of the bushes holding Chandler’s hand, th...

Chapter 63 - Self

[A/N: I think this chapter might have someone slipped under chapter 62? Just double check that you're reading in order.]

The Great Hall filled with applause as Julienne, Nori, Akando, and Oliver took the stage. 

“The top of this year’s class,” Aubergine announced as he walked up to Julienne, holding a little brown b...

[Daily chapters in February]

You read that right.

I think I put the cart before the horse on the whole "I'll release chapters for every blah blah blah."

I'm just going to give you more chapters.

Book 2 chapter 1 goes up Saturday, February 1st. By the time March rolls around, we'll be 28 chapters into book 2 (almost exactly halfway—pending edits). Then ...

Chapter 61 - The Reunion

Chrysanth splashed water and used a rag to roughly scratch the blood from Archie’s face.

“Too suspicious, too suspicious,” he muttered as Archie winced through the pain.

“I don’t know if it’s done,” Archie said. “I need to keep cooking.”

“It’s been two hours since he left. We have to go now.”

“Al...

Chapter 60 - The Final Test

Archie measured time by how long he knew each meal to make. One meal, two meals, three meals, six. Or was it five? Everything had gotten muddled after he had burned some garlic and Prince Waldorf had thrown him around the room again as punishment. His head hummed and ached and he had trouble keeping things straight. The walls warped and molded a...

Chapter 59 - The Plan

“Sit, Archie,” his mother said. “I made you spaghetti.”

Archie looked around in confusion. He wasn’t in Prince Waldorf’s kitchen. He was in some nebulous place without walls or even a floor. There was just him, Adelaide, and a plate of spaghetti sitting on a table. As he focused, the room built itself around him. A counter here...

Chapter 58 - The Consequence

The shackle rubbed the scar on Archie’s leg.

As the guards left, one looked back with a moment of sympathy.

“Come on,” the other guard said as he tossed the keyring back in the drawer of Prince Waldorf’s table.

The sympathetic guard sighed. He spoke softly to Archie. The way you might speak to someone on their deathbed....

Chapter 57 - The Complication

Archie looked at the bowl of kulkida risotto at the end of the table.

He looked back up at Prince Waldorf. Children swarmed around the prince, Gluttonous parents in tow. They kissed his hand and fawned over him.

Archie could run. He needed to run. It was his only option. Once Prince Waldorf saw the kulkida risotto, it was all over. A...

Chapter 56 - The Day

“So how does it work?”

Rowan offered Nori a bouquet of purple flowers. “Breathe in,” he said. “And back out onto the flowers.”

Nori did as commanded. Rowan took the bouquet and put it in front of Archie’s face.

“We’ll get the girl to do the same. And then we grind it up and put it in everything. But especially...

Announcement: More advanced chapters + schedule

Hello! Thank you everyone so much for your support! I was obviously hoping to create a story that earns this level of support, but now that it's here, I'm still having trouble believing it. I have a dream of this being my full-time job, and you bunch make me feel like maybe that could happen sooner rather than later.

It's also fille...

Chapter 55 - Finals - Day Two

[Author's Note: Just a reminder, we're doing 3ch/wk from here on out.]

“Okay, day two!” Aubergine yelled as he jogged in place with excitement. Next to him, Tarragon tilted his head back and waited for the Headmaster to finish. “Now while I’ve been told that the kitchens and greenhouses are too crowded for me to join the fun...

Chapter 54 - Finals - Day One

“Hooooooooooo-wee, y’all.” Quince looked around the greenhouse at the students. He grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Buncha good looking folk ‘round here. I know y’all’re excited, so let’s get to it. For your cultivation score, y’all’ll be scored on two things.”

The gravity of the first exam still couldn’t hol...

Chapter 53 - Prep

“I know what to do.”

Archie nearly broke into tears as he embraced Rowan. “Oh, thank you. Thank you.”

Rowan hugged back, knowing that Archie needed reassurance. But as Rowan peeled away, his face betrayed any sense of confidence.

“At least…I have an idea,” Rowan said. “Something I had planned for your grandfathe...

Chapter 52 - Repentance

Archie and Nori returned to the Academy in silence and went into the attic. More than anything, they needed to get away from the cruel, cruel world. The dusty attic was their only sanctuary. Nori sat against the wall as Archie paced back and forth. The attic may have been silent, but in their minds, they were screaming.

Finally, Nori broke...

Chapter 51 - Making a Monster

“I want to stop,” Archie declared. “I mean, what even was that?”

“That was good business is what that was,” Nori said proudly.

“No, not that…It’s like he was possessed,” Archie said.

“It doesn’t matter. We cook for him three more times and we’re done.”

“It does matter!” Archie paced around ...

Chapter 50 - The Handshake

“They’re dead.” Archie rubbed his forehead as he grieved. “Maybe…maybe we can bring them back?”

“It’s too late, Archie,” Nori said. She put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“No. This one. What about this one? Maybe…” Archie ran his hand from his forehead through his hair. He fell onto the dirt in a heap.

Chapter 49 - Kulkida Risotto

“Archie, we have a problem.”

“Did he not bring the rice? I told you I should have gone with you.”

“Oh, he did.”

“Where is it?”

“Second floor pantry.”

“You left it in the pantry?” Archie pushed past Nori, half-jogging to the pantry in the hopes that their contraband hadn’t been discovered. H...

Chapter 48 - Rivals

Julienne punched Archie with full force.

As the knuckles sunk into Archie’s arm, he heard a crack. Intense pain radiated from the point of impact, sending Archie stumbling away while clutching his bicep.

Julienne tried to shake away the pain in his hand.

Archie sucked air between his teeth as he tried to regroup. He walked ba...

Chapter 47 - In the Belly of the Beast

[Author's note: Putting y'all through chapter 52 now. After that, the schedule is going to be 3 chapters per week. I'll post all 3 on Mondays so that you can get a good chunk to read at your leisure throughout the week. Thanks so much for your support—it's been so motivating and I hope that'll show in my future work. I'm almost done with book ...

Chapter 46 - The Third Wife

If Archie and Nori were to learn about kulkida risotto without raising too much profile—something that seemed very important to Mr. Ackers—they only had one person they could turn to.

But when they asked, they didn’t get the answer they were expecting.

“That…that is something…that I don’t know,” Sutton said, more sugg...

Chapter 45 - And Another Child Forgotten

“Forgot about me, did ya?”

Stop Him put his hand on Archie’s chest, stopping him.

“You better have something in there for me.”

Nori slapped Stop Him’s hand away. Being a foot smaller did nothing to deter her. “Why don’t you—”

Archie groaned and set down the handles of the cart.

“It’s fine, No...

Chapter 44 - Four Children Honored

[Author's Note: Thanks Arun for the review! Here's a bonus chapter (and two more coming right after)]

“I have no clue.”

“Same.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Me neither.”

“Wow, there’s not a creative bone in you bunch. I know what I’m going to do. But it’s a secret until I master it.”

“...

Chapter 43 - Target Practice

For the entirety of the first semester, the students had fantasized about conjuration class.

After the first couple of weeks, the students would rather be in Colby’s kitchen.

In the mornings, they ran. “Know your body to know your essence,” Tarragon told them. Archie had a runner’s build, and by the second week, everyone stru...

Chapter 42 - Clown Show

“Do some magic!” Chip Sampson demanded.

Equipped only with a pocketful of blueberries and a handful of pasta, Archie stared down the horde of children as they ran up to him. They swarmed him, forcing him to step back onto the raised paved walkway that bordered the lawn. He looked over the thin wooden guardrails, figuring the ground to ...

Chapter 41 - Harper Kent Catering

“Archie…Archie…”

Archie rolled over and pulled the blankets up to his ears.

“Hey…wake…hey…Archie.”

Something shook Archie’s foot.

“Archie, wake up,” Nori whispered.

“Go away,” he groaned. It was still dark. “We agreed to meet at nine.”

“Things changed. Get up.”

The bed...

Chapter 40 - Loosening Up

“Let’s go Julienne!” Nori yelled while looking at Archie.

Archie wriggled back and forth as he tried to dispel the noodle that restrained him. He knew getting out would be more than a physical feat, but he couldn’t help but to squirm in his restraints.

Okay. Dispel. Essence. Out…my…elbow. Elbow. Elbow. Where’s my el...