CHAPTER FOUR: Kitchen … nightmares?

CHAPTER FOUR: Kitchen … nightmares?

Garth’s kitchen was the stuff of dreams.

Rae watched as pots and pans flew overhead into chefs hands when they reached up for them. Knives did the dicing of vegetables themselves, even the dishes in the sink washed themselves – though there was a big, burly nymph of some kind overseeing the latter.

“When the humans adopted AI, we figured out a way for it to translate down here,” Garth told her. “AI and god-given powers are a heady combination.”

Rae was so busy staring at all the moving pieces as they whizzed around, pieces she would love to have in her kitchen, that when Garth stopped she almost bumped into him.

“Careful there, Sunshine. Can’t have you being clumsy in my kitchen.”

Rae flinched at her first mistake.

Garth pretended not to notice and put one hand on her shoulder, gesturing to the chef in front of them. “This is Lexie. She’s on the grill tonight.”

“I’m on the grill every night,” the voluptuous creature sent Garth a sharp look, her long canines glistening as she did so.

“You’re a Lamia – a vampiric demon,” Rae blurted out. The minute the words left her mouth, Rae had to physically stop herself from flinching again at her faux pas. Of course, Lexie knew what she was. If it wasn’t for Garth’s hand still resting heavily on her shoulder, Rae might have tried to recoil into herself.

“Don’t worry, Sunshine,” Lexie threw a smirk at Garth, “You aren’t my type. I prefer them … young. And male. Preferably warm-blooded.”

“And bleeding,” Garth muttered under his breath.

“I heard that,” Lexie quipped.

“I meant you to. Come on, Rae, let’s introduce you to the rest of our crew.”

The chef on fish duty was a tall and lanky male water nymph, named Yani. The other water nymphs – Nereids – in the team were also males. Rae could tell because their hair was always permanently wet. There was the big burly one she had seen supervising the dishes – Ross – and apparently the other one was out front as a bartender, called Savvas.

The pastry chef was a dainty ash-tree nymph named Melamene. Like Rae, her name was indicative of her kind. Rae watched as Melamene loaded some sort of cream that shimmered into a piping bag. It wriggled in her hand until it was full, and only then did Melamene move on to placing berries into a dark sauce.

“I’ve never seen a compote that dark before,” Rae noted.

Melamene looked up from her hunched over position and smiled at Rae. “You wouldn’t have. This one is a special blend. Right, Garth?”

“Right.”

Before Rae could ask more, Garth ushered her through the kitchen and out into the front of the pub.

“And this is where they all come to feast.”

The front of the pub, Rae suddenly realised, made this place look deceptively small. Because, before her eyes were four separate dining areas. The one immediately to her right was a lavish indoor garden, like a greenhouse room, thriving with the same plants that coated her shower floor, except here it was a feature wall. With the plants hanging overhead, Rae imagined it felt like dining in a lush forest garden.

“Most of our nymph customers prefer to dine in there,” Garth told her.

Opposite the garden room was another section with two feature walls. One wall was a floor to ceiling wine rack, with every kind and type of wine the gods and deities enjoyed imaginable. It was a statement of an establishment doing very well to have that many bottles on display. Then the perpendicular wall confirmed who drank from those bottles, the area littered with carvings of who had come and dined here over the years. Rae couldn’t see them all in detail from where she stood, but she’d put a prized token on the fact that all of the current twelve Olympians were on it.

Adjacent to what Rae called the ‘wealth corner’ in her mind, was a section that reminded Rae the most of the bistro. Directly behind her was a machine for the serving staff to put through orders. In front of her were benches for the customers to sit along, a total of twelve tables, and a coffee machine at the other end. Which was where a tall female deity was scolding an even taller, gangly young dryad as he attempted to make coffee.

Before Rae could look around and explore the fourth and final section of the restaurant, Garth called out.

“Nika, get over here. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

The Arae that walked towards her was the definition of perfection for her species. Lithe and elegant, where Rae was stout, the only thing she shared with the female Garth called Nika was the same hair and eye colour. Both were a pearl white, which was often why the mortals thought Araes haunted them. Though they did have other, cuter, features – like their little pointed pixie ears that stuck out beyond their hair. Rae’s hair was usually tied in a low plait, so it didn’t get in her way in the kitchen.

Nika’s, by contrast, was a short sharp bob that accentuated her sharp cheekbones and perfect heart-shaped face.

“Nice to meet you,” Rae said as confidently as she could.

Nika’s thin lips thinned further and her eyes – pearl white with the lightest blue pupils, so light they were barely noticeable – narrowed.

“For the record, I don’t think you belong here.” Nika looked her up and down. “But Garth thinks you’re worth a trial run for some reason, and he always get what he wants.” Nika shrugged.

“Nika,” Garth warned.

Nika smiled at him saccharinely before turning to Rae. “Let’s see if you really can play with the big dogs.”

With that, she sauntered off.

“Don’t mind her,” Garth muttered before she was out of earshot. “Nika can be a little … prickly.”

“You don’t say.”

He grinned at Rae. “Come on, let me show you the rest of the place.”

The final section of the restaurant was a cosy little nook of four tables and then a long galley bar.

“We use The Nook for guests looking for a little more privacy,” Garth explained. “Then the tables that you find in the galley are bar service only, but customers can still order food at the bar.”

“The bar tables are numbered I take it?”

“Yeah, it will come through on the ticket. Don’t worry, I run a tight ship here. Easy enough to follow once you find the rhythm of the place.”

At that moment, a fireball exploded from a cauldron on the bar that was being manned by the bartender.

“Savvas!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just trying out something new for the festival, boss!”

“You want to try something new now?!” Garth groaned.

“Well I thought of it this morning, you see. Instead of dipping the apple …”

“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t reveal trade secrets just yet, Savvas. I want our little Rae here to experience the dish first. Get her to give me her feedback.”

“You do?” Rae looked up at him, puzzled. This place was turning out more unusual than she expected. She’d expected them all to be hoity-toity, up themselves, winners. Not a team that seemed at ease with one another. It made her hesitate slightly. Particularly when Nika had mentioned this was a job trial.

Surely, she’d been joking?

“Of course.” Garth grinned, as if sensing her hesitation – a crack in her hardened exterior. “But, for now, we have a dinner service to prepare for.”

Heading back to the kitchen, Garth clapped his hands together and everyone snapped to attention.

“Listen up, team. I know you’re putting your finishing touches on your preparations for tonight, but seeing as we have a new team member joining us for the evening, I want to remind everyone of how tonight is going to go.”

Rae gulped. She hoped it was inaudible.

“It’s going to be a slower night than usual. The festival kicks off tomorrow, so everyone is saving themselves for that. Slower does not mean sloppy, you hear me? You send a sloppy dish up to my pass and I will gut you myself, am I clear?” Garth smiled as he said it.

“Yes, Chef.” They all chorused.

“Now, because she doesn’t know how this is going to go, Rae here is going to be on the pass, plating for me. Help her out. Don’t waste her time letting her plate something that you know isn’t up to the standard I’d expect. Don’t let me down, and don’t think you can let it slide just because she’s a newbie. Got it?”

“Yes, Chef.”

“Well, then. Let’s have some fun.”