Kitchen Witch Wars and the Chef Who Nailed It by Heather Pherris

Author:Heather Pherris [Pherris, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paula Jessop
Published: 2020-12-20T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Christelle readied herself. The contestants were standing behind their counters, dishes before them covered in cloches. The silver of the metal lid reflected the lights of the studio even though they were turned down. The dimmed lights were meant to give a more serious air for a few moments while Christelle did her introduction, but the glinting lids had an unintended disco ball effect.

The judges too were at their table. They were attempting to look jolly and pleasant, but it was fooling nobody. Whatever feud Joachim and Martine were having, it was clearly affecting everything and everyone around them. Just like Mrs. Mogridge had said, Christelle was happier than ever that ‘empath’ wasn’t part of her job description. Well, only a little, and that was normal apparently. Being a true empath was something else completely, and it wasn’t much fun in a situation like this.

“Christelle, just to let you know we’ll need to film a segment with you after the show has wrapped. You weren’t around to give the countdown, to tell the cooks to stop, you know? It’s okay, it’s fine, we can film it and add it in afterwards. Okay? Right, good. We’re go. Aaaaaaand... action!”

Christelle’s hair and makeup had been checked and re-checked before she stepped into the one lone spotlight that took up the space between the kitchen area and the judges’ bench. The autocue was prepped. She was ready. She spoke.

“Welcome back to The Kitchen Witch Wars. Our intrepid chefs have been attempting to recreate that marvelous red velvet cake that they saw the talented Joachim Salvatore create earlier on. Have they done it? Or have they failed to live up to the master?”

Christelle shrugged at the camera, her head tilted to one side in a quirky way, a cheeky grin on her face.

“Who knows? I’m not a psychic! Let’s eat!”

The lights came up and one by one the contestants brought up their food. It was all going well until the reveal of Dermott’s dish.

He placed his plate carefully on the table, took half a step back, and smiled at the judges.

“This,” he said, “Is just like the real thing. Just like it. You’ll be impressed, I know you will.”

Dermott seemed to be speaking to Zach more than anyone else, and Zach Raines, as ever, was not really listening. He had never liked Dermott and he wasn’t afraid to show it. Christelle desperately hoped that the ghost had realized his mistake and thrown the crackers he had been crushing away, but if he did that, would he have had enough time to make a second dish?

Christelle’s heart thumped in her chest as Dermott swiped the cloche away from the dish beneath and... there was the plate of crackers, just as Christelle had feared.

There was a long pause during which no one spoke, although the judges’ faces painted the picture of their thoughts. They kept looking from the dish to Dermott to one another, as though they wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words.

“What do you think?” asked Dermott.

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