ATPnovel Episode One Hundred and Ninety-Five: Unpacking
Episode One Hundred and Ninety-Five: Unpacking
I lifted the Cat off my lap slowly and he stretched out, glaring at me.
It made my father laugh as I left the living room and headed down the short hallway to the front door.
Onyx approached with a cooler, as the door closed behind him.
I snagged the cooler from him and he jerked back surprised. “I can unload this if you want to grab anything else?”
“There isn’t much left in the car,” he muttered before turning back.
“You’re already snow-covered!” Hopefully, he bought it. Then again, I didn’t have a winter coat on or anything but my long sleeve shirt. Plus, outside there was actual snow covering the walkway, except where they’d stepped earlier.
I shivered as the door shut behind him, and a rush of warmth came from the floor, making me smile.
The cooler wasn’t too heavy as I walked into the kitchen. I set it on the floor by the fridge and cracked it open.
“You are the best, Betty,” I whispered as I patted the floor.
The meat went into the fridge first, steaks, along with some breakfast sausage and eggs. Then a bunch of lunchmeat and cheese. Plus two large containers of soup, bright red, and still slightly frozen. Right next to three bottles of sparkling water.
Onyx loved the stuff like I loved coffee.
More bags appeared on the counter. “This is the rest of it.”
I closed the fridge and started unpacking the bags with bread, condiments still unopened, and some veggies. The veggies went into the fridge as well.
“I brought some soup from Umber. I was thinking of grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch,” said Onyx, taking a seat.
“Yes, please.” He made his soup each fall with tomatoes and veggies from the garden. I didn’t know all that went into it, but it was completely homegrown, and always delicious.
I’d need to save some for Indigo and the Cat.
I set the frozen containers of soup on the counter along with the bread. Everything else I put away, and snagged out a pot big enough to plop the frozen soup in. Then I turned it to the lowest setting with a lid to heat up.
“You look like you know what you're doing.”
“I can cook now, you know,” I said with a raised eyebrow to glare at him. “Who do you think made those cookies from the holiday?”
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Onyx’s face fell at the mention of the holiday, then he quickly replaced it with a grin. “You should have seen Jackie at the solstice. It was a good gathering, though we missed you.”
“Don’t give her a hard time about it,” said my dad as he joined the conversation. He sat at the counter next to Onyx. “Just because everyone else comes home, doesn’t make it somehow required.”
I chuckled at that.
“My job's important.” More than they knew, anyway. “But is Jackie working out?”
This time my father smiled. “I bet we’ll have a handfasting by the harvest next year.”
Both Onyx and I turned to him.
Onyx spoke first, “I don’t know about that.” He narrowed his eyes. “Well, maybe. I can kinda see it.”
“She has had a crush on him for a long time,” I added. “This will give them plenty of time to spend together, plus she totally already knows all of his faults. Like getting up before dawn, tracking mud all over, and never noticing his clothes.”
“How about forgetting to brush his hair, or what day of the week it is?” asked my brother.
“That’s nothing, come on...” I shook my head at him before grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the soup.
It was mostly still frozen, but I broke up the bigger pieces before replacing the lid.
“Even if Sable wasn’t there, she totally won at gift giving this year,” said my dad.
Onyx ran a hand over his face. He usually won the unofficial competition between all of us siblings. I didn’t even try this year.
“Not possible.” I thought about the gifts I’d sent to everyone.
“It was the flower seeds,” said Onyx, shaking his head. “Umber wouldn’t accept any other winner.”
“I sent those forever ago...”
“He is still talking about them, though, and all the different trials he is going to run.”
Even dad shook his head. “I am so sick of hearing about the flowers. At least with the veggies, you know we will have something tasty to eat.”
I tried not to let my concern show on my face. Magical flowers, but still.
Indigo climbed onto the back of the couch and stared at my father. Her dark fur definitely had a purple tint in the sunlight. She leaped off the couch and I almost jerked forward even with the island between us.
Yet, she landed on the floor, like a cat would, instead of gliding over to the counter.
“She is a cutie,” said my father. She headed right near his feet, vanishing out of my view.
“Indigo is that.”
“Please, don’t tell me you dyed her fur,” he said, almost accusingly. He glanced up at me with a sharp look.
“She came that way!” I replied, raising my hands.
He bent over and lifted her up, cuddling her in his arms, giving her access to the island. “She is such a sweetie.”
She nodded her head and then nuzzled his chest before purring.
“Well, you have a new best friend,” said Onyx. “Normally, cats don’t like you... Wait, I thought there was only one cat?”
He glanced at me, frowning.
“The black cat is the Cat. He is the one in the contract. Indigo here showed up one day, and we decided she needed to stay.” It was the closest I could get to the truth.
“I don’t blame you. When the cat distribution system works, it works.” My dad scratched behind her ears. “You are welcome to join Sable when she comes home,” he said to the dragon-turned-cat.
Indigo's eyes snapped open and I swear she smiled before she glanced at me.
“Not that the other cat isn’t welcome, but it sounds like he doesn’t travel well... Kind of like Onyx.”
Onyx elbowed him in the side, while dad chuckled.
I grabbed the spoon and took the lid off the pot. A blast of summer filled the air with tomatoes, peppers, and all sorts of other veggies as I stirred the soup. It had thawed.
“This smells so good,” I said. My stomach growled just at the smell, even though we’d eaten breakfast not that long ago.
“Oh! You are wearing the gift from Cerulean,” said Onyx.
The bracelet had peeked out on my wrist from under my long-sleeved shirt.
“It’s one of my favorite gifts,” I said, letting my sleeve fall. I didn’t want him to see that it had drastically changed from when I’d gotten the gift, and who knew if he had seen it beforehand.
“He really hit the nail on the head with it,” I added.
Though, Onyx’s comment reminded me that Cerulean knew about magic, and I still had no way to ask him.
“I couldn’t believe it when we woke up and he’d taken a job overnight without talking to anyone.” Onyx shook his head and tapped his fingers on the countertop. “Just left a note on the kitchen table. I wish he’d spoken to me first.”
“I mean, that's kind of his thing...” I thought he did that all of the time. Yet, it didn’t sound that way.
Dad cleared his throat, and Onyx blinked suddenly before swallowing hard.
“You’re right, it is, I just wanted to talk to him is all...”