Indigo chirped, breaking the suddenly heavy mood.

Both dragons looked at her and smiled. “Don’t worry little one, we don’t mean Sable any harm.”

Indigo nodded but glared at them both, like she’d take them down.

I resisted the urge to chuckle at the look. To my surprise, she set down the MP3 player and dashed over to me. She jumped onto my shoulder then crawled up near my neck, being careful to not stab me with her claws since I only had a long sleeve shirt on. She stayed there under my hair, nuzzling me. “It’s all okay, Indigo. Don’t worry…”

She chirped alright to me, but still didn’t move from her spot.

Lord Bennit chuckled again. “Well, I need to get a move on since I’m going to be calling the conclave.” He turned to look at Lady Borsal. “Thank you again for bringing this to my attention.” He then turned and strode out of the bookshop. This time he didn’t use his cane at all and for a moment I could see the outline of a bright blue dragon tail as the door snapped shut behind him.

“He can be a little intense,” said Lady Borsal, picking up her teacup. “He is protective of the little ones.”

“What happened to his daughter?” I asked. “If that’s okay to ask.”

Lady Borsal sipped her coffee, then let out a sigh. “It was a dark time in our history. We still don’t know what happened, really. They had a litter of 3 dragonets. It was a time for rejoicing.” A soft smile came over her face, the teacup still in her hands. “Lord Bennit was calling for all the clans to gather. To bring us together under one council.” Her face darkened. “His home was attacked, and one of his daughters went missing. He went on a rampage, along with all the other Clan members. All the Clans, not just the Clan of Lore. It pulled us together like nothing else would.”

“But she was never found?” I asked.

Lady Borsal shook her head. “No. All of us have searched far and wide. His other children are grown, with dragonets of their own.”

I had nothing to say to that, and instead petted Indigo, who still stayed under my hair.

“I should head out,” said Lady Borsal. “Make sure you place the order for more of these.” She pointed at the MP3 players. “The Cat can get word to me to stop by to pick them up.” She finished her coffee in one swallow, then headed out.

It wasn’t until the door closed behind her that Indigo climbed off my shoulder. She went back to the MP3 player and picked it up. Indigo leaped into the air and returned to her spot on the top of the bookshelf.

“That was a meeting,” I mumbled.

“You are making powerful friends,” replied The Cat. He turned to look at me, his green eyes glowing. “Lord Bennit isn’t someone people will cross. He controls over a thousand dragons. Even the Fates would hesitate to cross him directly.”

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“He didn’t seem to like you,” I added.

The cat’s tail flickered. “He made it clear that you are a friend. Nothing will change that. What he doesn’t understand is that you are under my protection.”

For a second I got the image of the Cat and the dragon growling at one another over a toy. Me being that toy, it was a little uncomfortable, but I pushed it away. My place was at the bookstore. I had a contract to fulfill, and a little book dragon to protect. I could leave the rest of it to the Cat.

“For lunch I wish we had some steak tacos,” I said. “Quick, easy, and the steak cooked to a medium rare.” I sat down on the stool behind the counter, sipping on my coffee. “That sounds good. Maybe I can order them from somewhere.” I didn’t have the energy to cook something that big for lunch, not after meeting with the dragons. Once my coffee was done, I was going to soak in the hot tub and try to relax.

I shivered, thinking of Lord Bennit’s gaze on me. It had felt like he had done something, but I didn’t know what.

The cat glanced toward the kitchen, then back at me. His head tilted to one side.

“What?”

The cat quickly shook his head, but I turned to look into the kitchen. Something sat on the counter, and I got up from my stool, heading in that direction.

Tacos. Steak freaking tacos with a little cheese and some cabbage with a small pile of guac on the platter. There were at least fifteen of them. “Cat, you didn’t need to do this…” I turned back to the front of the store. The cat stood on the counter.

“It wasn’t me.”

I jerked back from the scene and moved closer to the Cat. It was early for lunch, but I bet they would keep. Though, I could totally eat one right now. The were tacos; they were an anytime food. “What do you mean? You’re always doing the little things around here, like cleaning up and such.”

The Cat sheepishly shook his head. “It’s the shop, listening to you. You're the one who causes those things to happen.”

It suddenly felt like the ground was a little unstable under my feet, and I reached out to the wall behind me. “What?”

“Are you okay?” The cat jumped down from the counter and moved closer to me. “You don’t look okay, and the shop is freaking out a little.” He moved closer. “You should sit down.”

I slid down the wall, noticing the front of the shop had gotten darker. The sun streaming in from the skylights had dimmed. I swallowed. “The shop is worried?”

“Just a little, it doesn’t want you to be afraid of it.”

“I just didn’t know…” I mumbled. Then patted the wooden floor. “I’m okay… I swear. I just need a moment to adjust.” The sunlight streamed in the front room again, just like before. Holy smokes, the store was responding to my words. This was what happened with Betty, when I asked the store to speed up processing the horrible book. “I’m okay Betty, it was just a shock is all.”

The store brightened up, coming completely back to normal, and it almost felt warm under me for a moment.

I carefully stood up and glanced back in the kitchen with the steak tacos. Betty had made steak tacos for me because I’d wished for them. “These look amazing; by any chance can you store them for a few hours? It’s a little early for us to eat lunch…” Now I was talking to the store. It’d started with talking to the cat, then a little book dragon, and now the store. Was I losing it? No clue. But the only thing I could do, really, was roll with it.

“Yep, I’m going to go soak in the hot tub on the roof.” I waved at Indigo, who chirped but didn’t move from the far wall. From there I headed up the stairs to change, my legs still a little shaky. I ignored the cat; I couldn’t handle anything else that he might put on my plate. My brain just needed to soak all of this in first.