Toni
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Episode One Hundred and Twenty-Seven: Routine is Key
🕑 Added 2025-03-28 15:57:11 +0000 UTCSnores from the Cat woke me up at my normal time. He lay next to my pillow. A black blob highlighted by my bright white sheets in the morning light. The Cat normally didn’t sleep in my room, but with Indigo gone, I appreciated it.
It made me smile as I stretched, careful not to wake him. I needed to shower, so I quietly slipped out from under my blanket and headed to my bathroom. By the time I’d used up an ungodly amount of hot water, the Cat was gone from my blankets.
Still, the picture of him sleeping there stayed in my mind as I got dressed, and then laced up the world's most comfortable boots.
Letting my thoughts drift, I sat on my bed and reached for the core of my magic. It took only seconds, so I let it go. Then I focused on my bracelet. Carefully, my attention went to the center stone, trying to pull from my core and make the stone glow. After a few moments, the stone brightened.
I let out a breath, and it went out.
“Okay, try again…”
I practiced for another ten minutes before the sunlight coming in from the skylight made it clear I needed to get moving.
On the balcony, I paused, studying the shop below. It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t figure out what. The tall dark bookshelves still graced each of the walls and books sat on the back wall, but the wall to the right had large glass jars on each shelf.
I hurried down the steps to get a better view. Betty still sat in her place, and I headed her way to make a coffee as I took in the view. Shelving on the wall behind the counter with the various teas was back, along with cookies on the counter under glass domes.
Actually, almost everything was under glass, which was very strange.
I kept that in the back of my mind as I decided to go with a classic mocha. Melting the chocolate took a moment, but the decadent smell hung in the air, reminding me of a candy shop.
“That’s it!”
“What?” asked the cat jumping on the counter.
“The shop reminds me of an old fashioned candy shop, but without candy…”
Under the jars sat things like powers, herbs, and all sorts of potential ingredients. At least, I thought so.
“A candy shop?”
“Haven’t you ever been to a candy shop? With, like, chocolates, and hard candies, maybe some toffees?”
I started rambling about candies, then paused when I noticed the Cat’s head tilted.
“Let’s just say old candy shops are amazing.” I made a note to grab some old fashioned hard candies to add to his stocking. Maybe the dragon’s stockings as well. They probably hadn’t been to one either.
Maybe it was an earth thing?
I finished melting the chocolate into the milk and pulled a shot of espresso.
“What are your thoughts on breakfast?” I asked the Cat.
“Bacon.” Direct and to the point.
“We’ve been eating a lot of bacon,” I muttered, but my stomach growled just thinking about it. Hopefully, we still had some in stock. I needed to do another grocery order soon, especially if we kept going through this much bacon.
Breakfast didn’t take long with the help of Betty.
The amount of bacon we consumed couldn’t be healthy. Tomorrow, I wouldn’t make bacon. I repeated it inside my head multiple times to try to believe myself.
Taking a breath, I spoke out loud. “Hey Betty, how about tomorrow we do oatmeal with berries and honey instead of bacon?”
I felt the confirmation from the shop and the glare coming from the Cat.
His green eyes stared at me as I pulled his flowery teacup out and set it on the counter. I decided to make him a mocha with lots of whipped cream on top, since Indigo wasn’t here. She couldn’t get jealous.
“Watch, you’ll make bacon tomorrow,” grumbled the Cat, almost soft enough for me not to hear it.
I chuckled to myself as I added a bit more whipped cream to the top.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked as I stored the whipped cream back in the tiny fridge under the counter.
He glared at me yet again as he lapped at the cream.
This time, I rose an eyebrow in response.
“You’ll find out why everything is under glass.”
Oh, snarky Cat.
Two could play this game. See if I made him any more coffee today.
I nodded and sat on the stool, sipping my own mug, which might have been topped with more whipped cream than I should have, given the bacon. Indigo needed to come back soon or all the calories would catch up to me.
“Well, I’m ready to open the shop,” I said in a nice and confident voice.
The Cat wasn’t done with his coffee, and his head jerked up. “Wait!”
The lock moved, but didn’t unlock all the way.
“Imps, today is imps,” muttered the Cat, before going back to this drink.
“What are imps?” I asked, thinking of what I knew from movies, though it could be wrong.
“Mischievous little buggers. I don’t have a clue why they need to come here today. They’ve never needed the shop before.”
That was the longest rant from the Cat I’d ever heard, and to make it worse, he had some whipped cream on a whisker. It bobbed as his tail flickered.
It took everything in me to not giggle. I swallowed, getting control of myself before speaking.
“We can handle this.”
