Writing Prompt Wednesday: A snippet from the novel!

Comments: Another snippet from the novel rough draft WIP, a young adult fantasy entitled “Cheetah on the Roof”.  Hope you enjoy!

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“Why don’t you eat something?” Baba Yaga asked, and the bottom of the wooden bowl scraped against the scuffed tabletop as she pushed it toward Deanne, sloshing the contents within.

Deanne shook her head, instinctively breathing through her mouth to avoid the smell of it, the steam rising off it’s still-bubbling surface to push against her face like a suffocating cloud. She barely restrained a cough, holding up her hand in a dismissive wave. “No, no,” she said, closing her eyes briefly against the sight of what she swore looked like a dismembered finger floating among the broth. She swallowed hard. “You are most kind, but no thank you. I’m really not hungry. I would prefer to get going. I really need to find my daughter.”

Baba snorted dismissively. “Well, you can’t just go wandering about out there, my dear. You don’t know the way! There are plenty of things out there that will not wish you well, should they chance upon you traveling alone.”

Deanne straightened in her chair, locking Baba’s gaze with her own. “Then you can take me.”

The old woman blinked the folds around her bright cornflower eyes. “And where do you wish to go, my child?”

“Wherever Clara would be… to the Council, at the castle in Dragonshold.”

Baba chuckled, shaking her head as she turned from the table to shuffle over to the cauldron and stir the horrid stew. “Well, in the first place, I do not go to the Council. I have no purpose there. They do not serve me and I do not serve them. Going there would be useless.”

Deanne curled her hands into fist, sucking a breath through her teeth in an attempt to reign in the frustration burning in her chest. “I don’t want to go for you, I want to go for me, and Clara! You said you came to get me because you knew I’d want to find her, so why don’t -”

Baba tsked her tongue loudly, turning from the giant black pot to point the dripping wooden spoon at her for emphasis. “I did not say that… I said I knew you’d be worried about her. I only came to tell you where she was. You were the one who demanded to come here. I had no intention of bringing you here.”

“But you did!”

Baba nodded firmly. “Yes. Because you begged me. So here you are.”

Deanne threw up her arms, if only to keep herself from strangling the old woman. “I don’t want to be here, I want to find Clara! She doesn’t need to be here… she’s not even eighteen yet, she’s far too young to be a Councilor! I thought that was against the rules, anyway!? How could they let her do something like that when she’s not even old enough to drive a car!?”

Baba went back to stirring, giving a shrug. “Well, how would I know? I don’t keep track of Council rules, and don’t forget my dear, in Draíocht there is no law about how old you have to be to drive a car.” She ladled up a spoonful of broth and tiny bones and took a sip, then smacked her lips in satisfaction. “Perfect! My best batch yet, I think!”