The Magic Feather

Hello, readers. I was a little stuck on how to turn this fairy tale into a modern story. I decided that the original story went on for too many days, so I squished the time frame down. Let me know what you think!

Crow or human? Who can say?

It wasn't anyone's fault, really. Gerlinde and Klara had peered into the room they'd been told not to look in to make sure their sister, Ada, was okay. She was, but the crow she'd gone into the room with was now a man named Benno. However, since the sisters had peeked, he was back to being a crow. And Ada had to go into the city and help someone. At least Benno's driver had taken the sisters away from the house in the forest and into the city, where Ada got out alone.

Ada wasn't sure how she was supposed to do this, besides without help, so she just started walking. Hopefully someone would ask her to hold a door open for them or something and she could see Benno again as a human.

"I quit!" someone was walking out of the back of a restaurant and they looked very angry.

"We've got to get ready for the dinner rush!" someone was following them. Ada slowed down. She didn't want to get caught in this.

"Too bad! You said anyone off the street would be better than me, so go get someone else to help! Anyone!" The yeller stormed away and the follower stared after them.

Then the follower turned and saw Ada. Something weird happened to his eyes, Ada wasn't quite sure what. Then he was looking at her. "You. Please, I need your help. Come in and help us make the best dinner we ever have."

Well. She'd been waiting for someone to ask for her help. Never mind that restaurants had a hiring process and there were laws about how someone could work in the kitchen. Ada had volunteered at a soup kitchen a few times, so she knew the safety standards. Although, she'd quickly been moved to a job that had nothing to do with food. This wouldn't be easy.

"All right," Ada said, somewhat against her better judgement. She put her hair in a ponytail as she followed the man, Victor, into the back of the restaurant.

He quickly put her to work chopping vegetables. Ada did better than she expected with this. It was when he asked her to actually start cooking that the problems started. She was getting stares from other people in the kitchen, especially when Victor looked at the potatoes she'd been boiling and exploded.

 "How are some of these still raw and others overcooked? That shouldn't even be possible! Fran! Fix this!"

Fran came over and gently moved Ada out of the way. Ada headed outside crying. It wasn't just the cooking. She had to help them do this or Benno's spell would never be broken. Benno came flying down from the sky and landed on the picnic table in front of her. She would recognize him anywhere, even though he looked like a bird.

"What can I do?" she asked him. "I know something happened for Victor to give me a chance like this, but I can't cook.

"Oh." Benno considered. "Pull out one of my feathers."

"What?"

"Go on." He extended a wing.

Slowly, Ada reached out and grabbed one of his feathers. Benno pulled his wing away quickly, and the feather stayed in Ada's fingers.

"I know you like to write. Try writing out what you want with my feather."

Ada stared at him for a moment. "Well, I suppose I can't argue with a human-turned-crow that his feather might not be magical."

"That's the spirit," Benno replied.

Ada had brought some water out with her, she dipped the feather in the water and began writing on the table. She wrote out a list of all the dishes she'd seen them preparing in the kitchen and specified that each was to be perfectly done.

When she was done writing, Ada sat back and sighed. Maybe just visualizing what they were supposed to look like would help. Then the table in front of her was full of food. Ada jumped back.

"It worked!" she said.

"I guess it did," Benno replied with a smile. "Now, go let them know about all of this."

"Thank you," Ada used the back of one finger to gently stroke Benno's chest.

"You're welcome," Benno said in a choked voice. Then, he flew away.

Ada didn't have anywhere to put the feather, so she stuck it in her hair. She knew it was clean and hopefully everyone else would assume it was fake.

She went into the kitchen and convinced Fran to come out with her. When Fran saw the table, her eyes went wide. "Mein Gott," she said. She and Ada took the first load of food in, and others came out to help with the rest. It wasn't enough to handle the whole dinner rush, but it would get them back on track after having to wait for Ada.

"Where did you get this from?" Victor asked her.

"Um."

"Never mind. I don't want to know which competitor we're stealing from. We were in a jam and you really helped us out, Ada."

"Thank you," she said. "Just trying to do my part."

That night, as they started to run out of food, Ada snuck away to the pantry and used Benno's feather to write a list of what they needed. The food always appeared, although Ada noticed that the ingredients were coming from the pantry. Oh well. At least their inventory would match.

Arno, another cook, watched her come out from the pantry with several desserts balanced on a tray. "How are you doing that?" he asked her.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I just found some extra in there."

"Sure you did. Witchy woman," he winked at her. "I'd sure like to see what other spells you have."

Ada lowered her eyes and walked away. She hoped he would leave her alone.

A few hours later, they were running low on sides. Again, Ada slipped into the pantry and she wrote down what they needed with Benno's feather and some water. The food appeared in front of her.

Arno swore in German behind her. Ada froze and looked at him.

"How did you do that?" he demanded.

Ada backed up and put more water on the feather. Her mind racing, she wrote out that she wanted Arno to wash dishes until he forgot about her.

"What?" he asked as he suddenly left the pantry. Ada listened and she could hear dishes clattering and the industrial dishwasher sliding down and starting up. She exhaled. Just one night. She'd agreed to help them make the best dinner ever. She just had to get through one night.

Ada looked down at where she'd written what she wanted Arno to do. It wouldn't be fair to leave him here past his shift and they couldn't close if he didn't leave. She sighed and added on underneath "or until closing time."

Then she stuck the feather back in her hair and brought the sides out of the pantry to go with the main courses that needed them.

It was a long night. Ada had never worked in a kitchen before, so she'd never appreciated how stressful it could be. Especially when everyone was starting to think she was either an amazing cook or really good at finding lost things. Ada just took the compliments and moved on. It wasn't like anyone had time to waste anyway.

Finally, the night ended and the restaurant closed. All that was left was the cleaning up, but there wasn't much of that left to do because Arno had been cleaning things for hours.

"Come back in the morning and I'll make sure you get paid," Victor told Ada.

"Thanks," she said. She wasn't really sure if she could accept payment for this. Maybe the spell wouldn't break. Anyway, she didn't want anyone here to know who she was. She wasn't planning on coming back here again.

Ada left the restaurant and opened a ride service app on her phone. This was a decent part of town, so she felt okay waiting for a ride to come pick her up. Ada felt someone behind her and turned.

"What the hell did you do to me?" Arno demanded.

Ada flinched, her hand going to the feather.

"That's it, isn't it? The feather! Give it to me."

Slowly, Ada pulled the feather out of her hair. She couldn't give it to Arno. Who knew what he would do with it? Ada wasn't even sure she should have it anymore.

"Hand it over!" Arno snapped.

Ada quickly stuck the end of the feather in her mouth and wrote on the wall. "Arno runs away."

"What?" Arno asked. His feet were moving and it looked like a surprise to the rest of him. He took off running, yelling, but his yells got quieter.

Ada stuck the feather back in her mouth and added, "and he never saw Ada again." Hopefully that would be the last of him.

Ada stuck the feather back in her hair and that's when her ride got there.

Ada rode home in silence, but she didn't go into her home right away. Her sisters, she was sure would want to know what happened, but she wasn't quite ready to face them yet.

Benno flew down and landed in front of her. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't think anyone would threaten you over my gift."

"It's okay," Ada said. "I didn't think so either, but I took care of him. He won't see me ever again." Ada let go of a breath. "Thank you for loaning this to me, but I only took it to break your spell, and it looks like I didn't even do that. So, I'd better give it back to you. Maybe someone else can use this better than I did."

"Are you sure?" Benno asked. "I want you to have it. That way my enchantment can be useful to someone."

"I don't need a gift like this," Ada said. "I just want more time to talk with you. Maybe we'll find another way to break your spell."

"If that's how you feel," Benno said, opening his wing.

Not really knowing what she was doing, Ada put the feather back where she'd pulled it from before. When she took her hand away, it stayed in place. She had a moment to smile at Benno before a mist surrounded him. It grew taller and wider.

Ada stepped back. What was going on now?

But, as soon as it appeared, the mist swept away. There was a man standing there. The man she'd seen earlier today in his house.

"Benno!" Ada cried.

Benno looked down at himself and smiled at her. "I guess the witch told me the wrong thing to break the curse!" he said. "But you broke it anyway! Thank you!"

Ada hugged him tight. After a long moment, she let go. "Come inside. We have to tell my sisters!"

"Lead the way," Benno replied with a smile.