“How do I turn this thing on?” I asked.
“You do know how to cook, right?” Isa asked.
“Sure, but I’m not very good at it.”
“Hmmm … I’ll show you what you need to know.”
She showed me how to fire up the stove, which ran on gas or something else. Isa opened the oven door and when she turned it on, flames shot out two feet beyond the oven. I managed to pivot out of the way, but the heat still singed my robe. The smell of burnt fibers overtook the spicy scent of the incense.
“I’m so sorry. The rest of us know about this fiery beast and stand clear. I didn’t think to warn you. Please forgive me.”
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t but, there was no need to alienate her by showing my anger. “Why did you open it up if it’s so dangerous?”
“The one time we kept it closed to light it, it blew the oven door off.”
“How soon until it’s ready, Isa?” asked someone.
“Give us a couple of minutes, but you can start lining the cookies up.”
Before I knew it there was a two-foot tall tray of cookies awaiting their turn in the “fiery beast”.
The stove beeped.
“That’s our cue,” said Isa. “Hand me two trays. When the timer goes off, take the trays and set them over here. Then, put in two more.”
“Okay, but you’ll be here to help me, right?”
“I just need to run to the bathroom really quick, but I won’t be gone long.”
I looked around the kitchen at the flurry of activity. Most of the people in here worked in silence, but a few quietly chatted. Muffin was laying as close to the stove as he could get. He happily wagged his tail.
What is that beeping? Someone really needed to turn it off because it was getting annoying.
“Seeker, the cookies are done.”
I jumped to open the stove. I reached for the cookies then immediately dropped them. My hands were scalded. I cradled my injured hands and swearing in my displeasure.
“Here, let me,” said a familiar looking woman. “We’ve actually met before, I’m Zora.”
“Oh, where did we meet at?”
“The art lesson that Emma Lynn recently gave. You probably don’t remember me. There were a lot of us there that day.”
She grasped my hands and starting humming as her magic seeped into my injured hands.
Leaning in close to me she said, “I thought only criminals wear disrupters?”
I didn’t think she touched my wrists when she healed my hands. How else could she tell that I had them on when they were hidden under my sleeves?
“I’m not a criminal.”
“I have no way of knowing that. If you give me even the smallest indication that you are up to no good, I’m telling His Highness,” said Zora.
Smoke was coming out of the oven and the smell of the cookies’ demise saturated the air.
Andrew rushed over and snatched up the oven mitts and retrieved the destroyed cookies.
“What happened?” barked Andrew. “The timer should have gone off?”
“I kinda have a knack for destruction in a kitchen and no one said anything about a timer.”
“For the love of The True One, switch stations with Leon.” He pointed at a slender man stirring something in a large bowl. “She can’t burn anything if she’s only mixing the ingredients.”
Red-faced, I went to the indicated station.
Isa came back in and rushed over to me, “Marty, what happened? Was it your dog?”
“I kinda started a tiny fire and destroyed some cookies.”
“Oh, that’s not good. Well, this station is probably better for you. This is one of the mixing stations. We mix in the seasoning and passing off the bowl to the next station. That should be chaos-proof.”
Isa pulled the bowl of dough towards her and opened the ceramic containers on the counter. She scooped out heaping spoons-full of what looked like oregano or something I wouldn’t expect went into cookies.
“What is that?”
“Incense.”
“You cook incense into cookies? I’ve smelled the incense before and it doesn’t smell anything like cookies.”
“When you cook it, it becomes sweet. The cookies turn out amazing. When a batch of cookies is done, you have to taste one.”
“Here, take one scoop from each of container and I’ll mix it into the dough.”
I did as she asked and it was as easy as it sounded. The incense, herbs or whatever I should call them smelled pretty good. I was looking forward to trying a cookie.
“You’re doing well.”
“Thanks.”
I made it through the cookie making without any further catastrophes and the cookies were just as delicious as Isa claimed. They tasted nothing like the incense smelled.
Isa took me to the gardens to chat and address any questions I had. The gardens were a popular place. Quite a few disciples walked along the pebbled trails. Stone benches were scattered throughout under the shade of Japanese maples, willows, and other flowering trees. There was a wildness to the garden’s designs. It was like no matter how much you tried to control nature, it fought you and found a way to counter that control.
“Actually, I’m wondering if the only way to get the incense is through the Institute.”
“Nearly all of us asked that question at some point. It’s pretty amazing stuff, isn’t it?”
“Speaking of amazing, do you grow the herbs for the incense and cookies here?”
“Oh gosh no. Those are too special and precious to attempt to cultivate ourselves. We leave that to the experts. The Rare Herbs and Medicinals Company makes them for us. They get delivered weekly.”
That company sure has its hands in a lot of pies. This was the second case that involved them in some way. I should have gone there when I worked my last case. Now, I’m trapped here in the cult and can’t. For the first time, I regretted leaving without telling anyone. I was hurt and would be for a while, but running away was childish.
“What happened to your
