Episode One Hundred and Fifty-Eight: Unexpected Travels

I spit out my coffee for the first time in my life, my inside full of panic.

“That cost more than my salary?! It was three eggs, potatoes and toast!”

“Yes, almost double.” The Cat studied me with his bright green eyes. “I’m still uncertain what world we are currently on, but the currency conversion is terrible. At least we aren’t doing business here today.”

What the heck?

Indigo chirped twice, asking about the area.

“All I know is they have a blue pyramid that has dark writing that appears when the sun hits it.” My brain couldn’t move past the fact that breakfast had cost more than I got paid. “Why does everything cost so much?”

My fingers tapped on the island faster than ever before.

“Sable, calm down,” growled the Cat. “That was magical food. It might have consequences.” 

Indigo launched herself off her plate, and it shattered into a multitude of pieces. Her wings flapped in panic as she flew higher and slammed into the ceiling.

I dove and caught her, but accidentally stumbled on the stool, sending it flying into the glass door of the oven, which rippled like water.

Indigo landed in my arms, twitching. Electricity sparkled along her scales, sending shocks into my skin.

“CAT!”

“She’s fine, just a little overloaded.” His voice came out as calm as ever, yet Indigo had shattered a plate and Betty had stopped me from breaking the oven.

What the heck had that food done?

Again, a rush of energy went down my arms and I resisted curling them around Indigo.

She cracked open an eyelid and then rapidly blinked.

“Sparkles!”

Bright light flickered above me like fireflies, and I felt myself leaning closer to them. 

The shocks from Indigo stopped as she let out a massive burp.

“Are you okay?” All I needed was to have damaged her from food, and then have the clans come after me.

“Tasty food, want more!”

“Nope, nope, nope. We are not eating there again.” I climbed to my feet, keeping Indigo close. “Betty, can we leave this place now?”

The warmth from the floorboards wasn’t reassuring.

The Cat jumped from the island, his eyes wide, then he scrambled across the floor toward the front of the shop.

“Not possible,” he grumbled.

I turned to follow, but he literally ran through the wall and vanished.

“Betty?”

Again a rush of warmth, but not a confirmation, more a feeling that she couldn’t leave this place yet.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

For the first time, I paused and stared upward at the balcony overhead. The Cat’s voice had come from the direction of his hidden room. He never rose his voice like that.

Something had gone wrong.

“Sable…” This time the Cat’s voice came a little softer, but his green eyes flickered from between two pieces of a railing. “What did you do? Our customer for today… changed.”

“Changed? Is that even possible…?” I set Indigo on the counter with a frown, yet she jumped upward. This time she didn’t hit the ceiling because of the added height in this room. Then she zoomed toward her hideaway, a gust of air blowing in her wake.

The book didn’t change, did it?

I tapped on the counter and my coffee mug rose from the wood, still nice and warm but with barely anything left. 

“Thank you, Betty.”

“Stop thanking things,” grumbled the Cat as he appeared in the doorway, before leaping to the counter. 

He missed.

Somehow, the Cat missed the counter.

He landed on his paws on the other side, just barely missing the table in the center of the room. He blinked in shock at the display.

“What was in that food?” I asked.

“What did the order say?” he replied.

I hurried to the register and quickly flicked through the apps to the one I’d used.

“Eggs Benedict for the Adventuring Party… Hearty enough to satisfy any appetite, except perhaps a dragon. This magical meal enhances your basic stats, with a tilt toward Strength.”

“That is a strange description…” The Cat landed on the counter this time, and carefully joined me at the register to peer at the tablet. “What kind of world are we even on?”

“I don’t know, you’re the expert here.”

This time, his tail flickered in the air, back and forth. Then he tapped his paws on the counter like he was making muffins.

“Cat, are you okay?” I reached out to touch him and he nuzzled my hand.

“I feel weird.” He twitched a few times as he resisted moving closer to my hand. Finally he laid down. “I’m not moving until this wears off.”

“What about the customer on this planet?”

“I don’t need to move.”

The Cat glared at me, but then glanced away.

“Okay, so what did the book say?” I finished my mug of coffee carefully, to make sure I didn’t break it. If the food increased my strength, based on the description of the meal, then I needed to be very careful. 

I gazed longingly at the espresso machine, but I didn’t dare use it. If it broke, I’d cry.

“They are just buying something we have in stock. It isn’t a big deal. Somehow it's more important than what we had scheduled.”

That sounded like a pretty simple day, something we could quickly get done then maybe even get back on track by doing the task that was meant for today in the afternoon. Given how early it was, there shouldn’t be a rush yet.

“Then, what’s the rush? We can wait until the food-stuff wears off, and then deal with the customer.” It felt like a suitable compromise, though I really wanted a better coffee. An Americano was tasty, but a latte always won out in my book.

Maybe I’d carefully use the coffee machine.

I brushed the button to grind the beans, and with barely a touch it got to work. So far, so good. Next was to steam the milk.

“It might not work that way,” grumbled the Cat. He twisted about and I couldn’t help but watch. His goal of not moving had shattered pretty quickly. Yet, I tried not to judge as he stared at the people walking down the street on the other side of the window.

Wait, people were walking down the street, and we could see them?

“That’s not normal…” 

I twisted about to look, completely forgetting the steaming wand and metal pitcher in my hands.

Steam shot out everywhere as the wand on Betty bent and the metal pitcher dented inward at my pressure.