EPISODE FORTY-ONE

"Do you want to join us?" I asked, watching the Cat as he stood on the side of the hot tub. The warmth soaked into my bones, and for once I felt completely relaxed. Indigo swam around like a fast little fish, even diving and then shooting into the air. It was the most adorable thing ever. She stuck pretty close to my phone, listening to the story that was being played, but was clearly also enjoying the water.

"No, thank you," said the Cat. His green eyes sparkled as he watched the little dragon. "Wet fur is strange..." He paused, and I waited for whatever bomb he was going to drop on me.

"Just say it, the anticipation is a little much here."

"Thank you for the cat tree," he started. "I appreciate the gift." He bowed his head toward me.

I blinked several times before smiling. "Of course, I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure if you would, but that spot had the best sunlight, even better than the chair by the front window." The smile stayed on my face, even though I could barely believe he liked the gift. I had been so worried he'd find it dumb. My day couldn't get better.

The cat added nothing, but Indigo splashed close to him and started chirping at him, faster than I could follow. It was interesting since the cat had said that by being in the shop, everything spoken to me was translated to English. For some reason, the dragons had so far been the exception. Something was special about them, but they were dragons, so I guessed it made sense. The book about creatures of the tree had mentioned that dragons lived by their own rules.

Bright sunlight poured down from above and I grabbed my drink, taking a few sips. "Oh, I forgot to mention. There are some cookies in the kitchen for you. I made chocolate chip, and peanut butter."

The cat looked over from his conversation with Indigo and nodded at me.

"Indigo did not like the peanut butter, so there should be more of those left." I loved the peanut butter, but I could share them with the cat.

Indigo agreed with me and I got the impression she told him to eat all the peanut butter and leave the others for her. It reminded me of how kids sometimes acted. Lady Borsel had said she would go through a growth spurt, but Indigo hadn't gotten noticeably bigger. Instead, it seemed she’d got smarter. That was both a relief, and a worry, since it meant she was a lot more curious and talkative.

"When you have a few moments, I need to speak with you about that book we locked up, but it doesn't need to be now." The cat laid his head down on his front paws as the sunlight hit his black fur. It looked almost a deep blue, with a slight green undertone, in the direct sunlight.

Remembering the icy touch of the book caused me to sink a little deeper into the water. "How about after lunch? I'll want to shower after we get out of the hot tub."

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"Sounds good."

I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with the book. Moving it into its prison had been the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life, and I didn't want to touch it again. If I needed to move it to a different location, I didn't know how I'd raise my courage. Last time, I hadn't known what I was doing. This time, I would.

Indigo climbed onto my knee, which was poking above the water. She chirped at me and I focused ot that. I wanted to understand what she was saying so badly, but I just didn’t. It had something to do with food, I knew that, at least.

"Lunch? I'm not sure what we’ll have. Maybe tacos..." I was pretty sure she’d been asking about lunch, and she nodded. I'd gotten it correct, it had been something about lunch. That was progress. Someday I'd understand the language she spoke.

"Your tacos are tasty," said the cat.

My head snapped to look at him, but his eyes were closed. Something was up. First, he thanked me for the gift, and now he warned me we needed to talk about the book. Add in a compliment on my cooking and my suspicions raised. I wasn't going to like the conversation this afternoon.

Still, Indigo was enjoying the audiobook and kept swimming around the tub. I, at least, had a few hours to keep relaxing.

#

The tacos had turned out really tasty. It helped that I had stocked up on seasoning packets, and I just needed to brown the ground pork with the seasonings in the pan. Everything else just needed to be diced. I cooked the rice in the microwave. Even Indigo had cleaned her bowl, so I knew I’d done ok.

"Alright," I said, letting out a sigh. "Let me make some hot cocoa and we can talk about the book." I moved toward the front of the store and paused as the main shop came into view. The counter was still there, along with Betty, but the rest of the store was drastically different. A couch and two chairs were centered in the room in front of an enormous fireplace. Inside burned a small fire that blasted heat into the space.

I quickly heated some milk and melted the chocolate in the mug. Indigo watched from my shoulder, but she wasn't interested in having any. Instead, she took a marshmallow and took tiny nibbles out of it. Each time she took a bite, her eyes grew wide, and she shook her tail in pleasure.

The cat jumped onto the rightmost chair, which was a deep velvet green. I sat on the couch, which was directly in front of the fire and an intense purple color. I sat down carefully, to make sure I wouldn't knock Indigo off my shoulder.

"So, what's going on with that book? Did you figure out what the not-John was after?"

The cat turned to look at me. "He will no longer be a problem, but he is a part of this."

"How do you know he's gone for good?" I asked, clutching my mug.

"I made sure of it." The cat's voice was certain, and it took a few moments to realize why.

"Oh."

"The first, and last, rule is to not upset me, and he upset me by hurting you."

That made me feel warm and fuzzy, even though it shouldn’t have. In most cases, in any relationship, that would be a large red flag waving in the breeze. Yet, whatever it had been, the not-John had tried to hurt me. Now it couldn't anymore. "What did he have to do with the book?"

"He was a demon, and his goal was to take the book," said the cat.

"What even is the book?" I asked, cutting the cat off. For once he seemed to be actually giving me answers, and I would ask all the questions I could before he stopped.

"Let me tell you a story about how the book came into being." The cat shifted in his seat and jumped out of the chair, onto the armrest on the couch. It put him right next to me, and he sat down facing Indigo and I. "It started with a Fey Lord, many years ago..."