The sun sparkled down on me, and I closed my eyes trying to let my thoughts wander. Steam rose from the hot water all around me as it soaked into my muscles. I could smell flowers on the breeze that flowed across the rooftop area even with the high walls on every side. Deep breath in, then out. Sink into the moment.

The bookstore was the magic, and I had been having it do things for me. It wasn’t the cat at all. The cat was just a talking cat. Maybe. I still wasn’t sure about that one.

I cracked open my eyes as I acknowledged my failure in just being able to relax. The cat was somewhere, doing his thing, while Indigo was listening to a new book that hadn’t come from my world. It’d appeared randomly, but given how excited she was and that it featured dragons I assumed it was from them, and magic had helped move it to the device. If not, I’d need to figure out what was going on, but the audiobook was in the dragon language, so I decided not to worry about it for now.

My gaze landed on my empty cup that had been filled with iced tea, it still had a few ice cubes in the bottom. I had some more in the fridge, but that would mean getting out of the tub and heading down the stairs, making sure to not leave a dripping mess anywhere. If the shop was magic, and I could control the shop, maybe I could ask it to do me a favor?

“By any chance can you please grab the pitcher of ice tea from the fridge? I don’t want to get water everywhere…” I kept my voice low, not wanting the cat to hear me if he was nearby. Sometimes he liked to lay in the sun out here, and I wouldn’t notice him if he didn’t want me too.

Next to my glass on the wooden table the surface rippled but my glass didn’t move. Instead, the pitcher rose up out of the wood, like it was water. Shock rippled across me seeing it actually happen. Most of the magic of the place meant I never saw it, just the result. The pitcher stopped moving and sat there. Moisture pebbled on the cool surface, since it was warm and toasty on the roof.

It really was the shop doing things to help me out. Not the freaking cat. What else could the magical shop do? It had eaten an evil book, protected me from not-John, not to mention handling all of the chores.

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” I said in a rush. I reached out and poured myself a full glass of tea before setting it back on the table. It rippled, then sunk into the wood, vanishing, and I assumed appearing back downstairs in the fridge. “You’ve been doing everything.” I leaned back in the hot water with my glass in my hand, my thoughts racing. “The laundry, the dishes, you even make my bed…” I took a sip of the cold beverage, trying to calm down a little. “You are amazing.” I chuckled. “And here I thought it was the cat, when you should have been getting credit all along.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I took another big swallow of the iced tea, to give myself a moment to think. “Thank you for making me feel welcome and at home in the shop. I don’t know if this would have worked as well without you.” I shook my head with a small smile, feeling like I’d made a friend.

“Wait,” I sat up. “Is Betty a part of you?”

The feeling I got in response was a yes and a no. I had named the espresso machine, and I loved the name. The machine was a name brand and I’d wondered if it was real. I assumed so, given the yes-and-no answer, but since it was inside the shop it was technically a part of it. I bet the shop couldn’t use it, or the cat would have had much better coffee then when I got here.

Yet, Betty was what I had pictured helping me take down that evil book. “Well, is it okay if I call you Betty? I don’t want to only call you the shop - that feels weird to me.”

There was no response for a moment, then a great rush of warmth rippled across the roof. The sun shone down even brighter, before it dimmed back to its normal sunny-day mode. That brought way more questions to mind, like was I really outside right now, or was this just another part of the shop? The sunlight was controlled by the shop, well, Betty. That made my brain hurt, so I shoved it to the side. I had to pretend that this was outside. No matter what. The illusion of some freedom was just too important to me.

I leaned back in the tub and finished off the iced tea. My hand hung over the side with the glass and I smiled. “This is amazing, Betty.” I nodded. “You, me, Indigo, and the Cat. That’s pretty awesome.” We were almost like a family.

A thought crossed my mind and I set the glass down. “You know, you do so much for me, what can I do for you? This shouldn’t all be one sided. I know you have lots of magic, and I have no idea what you could need, but if you need something. I’m here.”

A cloud crossed over the sun and I almost felt a whisper at the back of my mind. It felt uncertain.

“I mean it Betty. If I can help, you just need to show me how. I’ll do whatever I can. That’s what friends do.”

My towel appeared on the edge of the tub and I took the hint. I stood up and wrapped it around myself before stepping out. I quickly dried off before grabbing the coverup. I’d gotten it to make sure I didn’t burn while laying out in the sun. Though, if it wasn’t real sun, would I burn? That thought got pushed away too as the glass door slid open on its own.

Betty had something to show me, and I wasn’t going to let my new friend down.