Whenever Monarch was defeated, we thought that everything would go back to how it was before. We thought we could express ourselves freely. We could feel what we wanted to feel. And we were able to. Just not for long. Lila Rossi as we know her, but...
Tikki who was almost asleep abruptly shot up and flew up to my face until we were practically touching, "I knew you would ask that! You are just like Piao Chong! She was my very first holder! She was smart and creative! Just like you!" Tikki flew away from my face and sat on the open bed space in front of me, "There is a way for you to speak with her, but it might hurt."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you have to punch a mirror until it breaks."
"Is that it?"
"Not in the least. That's only the very last part. You have to get stardust flour, moonstone honey, whispering salt, enigma berries, ethereal pepper, and sapphire saffron threads." I quickly write down everything she says.
"Are these the actual ingredients or riddles?"
"We don't get to know the real ingredients, so these are just the riddles."
"Okay. Thank you Tikki! Why don't you get some rest while I try to figure out what these are?"
"Okay, Marinette. Don't stay up too late." She flies up the bed towards my pillow and drops down, fast asleep.
0000
I stayed up all night. I only figured out four out of the six. Stardust flour is a mixture of sugar and butter, it had nothing to do with flour! Moonstone honey is honey made from an elderly bee. Whispering salt was crushed up diamonds. Enigma Berries are blackberries, only the lightest ones. The only ones that I was stuck on were ethereal pepper and sapphire saffron threads.
"Marinette wake up! It's time for school!" Mama shouted from my closed door.
"I'm up, Mom!" Which technically I was never down. I was already fully dressed, choosing a lazy outfit of mint green sweats, a black fitted crop top, and my hair in a bun. I made my way downstairs still thinking about the last two ingredients. I'll ask Damian when I get to school.
"Good morning, Mama, morning Papa!" I give them hugs and a kiss on the cheek.
"Love you, Sweetie!" My parents shout as I grab two croissants and head for the door.
"Love you!" I push open the door and walk to school, saying 'hi' to the people I know.
"Hey girl!" Alya gives me a side hug whenever I reach the school.
"Hey Alya, did you get any good clips last night?"
"Heck yeah! Not only did I catch that girl getting pulled from the party, but I also got her screaming at a Hoax! That girl is crazy brave!" She pulls up said videos and shows me.
We stand and watch the videos for ten minutes until Nino walks up, giving Alya a kiss on the cheek. He reaches for her hand and holds it in his.
"How is my girlfriend and favorite dudette doing?" He asks Alya and I.
"Good, we're just going over the footage I got from last night." Alya says, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Nice."
Next Adrian walks up with a huge grin on his face. I guess things are going good then, he seems much happier.
"So," Nino draws out the word, "did you two hit it off?"
Adrian blushes and rubs the back of his neck, "What do you mean? I us-she's just a friend. we met last night, so, yeah." Aww he's stuttering!
"Hey Adrian, what happened to the last girl that was 'just a friend'? Didn't you date her?" Alya teases.
Adrian stays quiet, but he immediately turns his back to us to conceal his face.
"You can't hide your lush Adrian!" I squeal then grab his shoulders and turn him around to reveal his tomato red face.
"And I thought Marinette was a bad blusher, you just beat her darkest shade of red!" Alya laughs. We all join in until a neutral voice enters the conversation.
"What was Angel's darkest blush?" Dami comes up behind me and rests a hand on my shoulder.
"Think ruby red mixed with bloody Mary." Alya says.
"Ah, interesting. I did not know a person could force so much blood flow into their cheeks."
We walked up to our classroom and made it to our seats five minutes before the bell. Perfect, now I can ask him about the ingredients.
"Dami, I need your help really quickly."
"What is it, Angel?"
"I need to figure out what ethereal pepper and sapphire saffron threads are."
"I do not know what ethereal pepper is, but I do know what sapphire saffron threads are. They are a blue jellyfishes tentacle."
I wrap my arms around him in a hug, "You are a life saver! Thank you!" I write down what he said and place it in my bag. Five ingredients down, one left.
