ATPnovel Episode One Hundred and Fifty-Four: Family Secrets
Episode One Hundred and Fifty-Four: Family Secrets
I’d slept great, and my blankets were nice and warm, making it hard to want to move. Soft snores came from Indigo who slept next to my head on a pillow. The light from above made her purple scales sparkle.I smiled so hard my face hurt at the sight of her being back. I’d missed her more than I could explain. The soft green sweater lay folded on my end table next to the magical plant. Both reminded me of all that I wanted to get done today.
That forced me to slowly pull myself out of bed and into the bathroom for a long hot shower.
Indigo still slept as I dressed and headed out to the balcony to start my day.
Today was another day off, per the Cat, and the shop remained in the same configuration as yesterday. Except for the doorway to the living room, which had moved back to the second floor.
None of that mattered. Betty needed to be the first stop, with something caffeinated, warm and tasty. Grinding coffee beans made the shop smell so freaking good, I started humming to myself in joy. A nice slow morning felt like the perfect capstone for the holiday. Normally, back home, everyone got up late, but then there was a family dinner again. It always felt like a bit much to me.
This was more my style.
I steamed the milk with some dark chocolate and added it to my mug. Then I pulled the espresso, but before I could add it to my mug, the Cat jumped up on the counter.
“Good Morning,” I said with a smile, pulling his teacup out from under the counter. I added some of my chocolate milk to his teacup and then split the espresso between the both of them. “You have good timing.”
“Are you feeling okay?” asked the Cat, staring at me intently.
“I’m good. Slept in, and now I’m gonna go make breakfast. I’m thinking breakfast burritos. I have some ground breakfast sausage from the last grocery order I can fry up.”
He continued to stare.
“Okay, what’s up? You’re worrying me…”
His bright green eyes didn’t blink enough, and his focus on me felt like he was waiting for something bad to happen. Then he turned away.
“Just making sure that you’re okay,” he mumbled quietly, before padding closer to his teacup and sniffing at it.
I narrowed my eyes and resisted asking for more. Instead, I took a sip of my rich mocha. The chocolate goodness hit the spot as I headed into the kitchen, leaving the Cat on the counter. If he wanted to join me, he could, and maybe explain his weird behavior. Since this was weird, even for him.
Once in the kitchen, I got to work pulling out the ground breakfast sausage into a pan to fry it up. We had tortillas, cheese, frozen hash browns and eggs as well. It wouldn’t take too long to make an epic burrito. Or at least, I hoped it wouldn’t.
The instructions I’d read online made it seem easy to do. I’d even decided to not multitask. Though, the hash browns went into the oven, which should also simplify things. The sausage didn’t take long, and scrambling the eggs went quickly. By the time the hash browns were ready, everything was prepared to start going into the tortillas.
I felt eyes on the back of my head, and found the Cat had joined me in the kitchen.
“Are you going to actually explain your staring today?” I asked, dividing up the eggs.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Will my breakfast depend on it? He asked.
“Maybe…” Though honestly, it wouldn’t. I couldn’t eat in front of someone and not offer them food. It made me feel weird.
“Some of your gifts had magic in them yesterday, and I wanted to know how it affected you.”
I paused with the spatula in mid air. “Magic?”
The coffee beans came to mind, from Lord Bennit.
“Oh, I’m feeling fine.” I shrugged and went back to piling food in the middle of the tortilla.
“Are you sure?” he asked, padding closer to me. “You are practically glowing with it.”
“Really?” I kept working on making my breakfast, thinking about how I hadn’t practiced magic at all today. Normally I did it in the morning, but today I’d slept in.
The Cat nodded.
“After breakfast, I can work on my homework and see what happens.” My stomach rumbled, and I quickly rolled my burrito up.
“Can I get mine in a bowl?”
“Of course. Both you and Indigo might find it easier.”
On cue, a chirp came from the hallway and I smirked. Two breakfast burritos in bowls, and one giant burrito for me.
Indigo landed on the table and stared at me before heading toward her bowl.
The Cat caught my eye before chomping down on his food.
I quickly went to town on my own breakfast, eating it faster than usual.
“That was tasty,” said the Cat.
“Yes, spicy tasty!” Indigo chirped before launching herself into the air. “Hot tub?”
Okay, Indigo totally knew how I loved spending my days off of work.
“I need to get some magic practice in, but I can do that in the hot tub.”
“Sable, this is serious,” said the Cat.
“I can move the shields and move the water about, along with meditating. I promise.”
He sighed and then jumped off the counter.
“Cat?” asked Indigo.
“He’s worried about my magic glowing,” I said, wondering what glowing magic did.
“You are shiny!” she said with a nod, before launching into the air and heading down the hallway.
My concern stepped up a notch at Indigo’s statement, and I decided to hold off on drinking anymore caffeine before I meditated and tried to figure out what had worried the Cat.
Betty cleaned up the kitchen before I even stood up, everything sinking into the counter but my coffee mug.
“Thanks, Betty.” A tiny pulse of energy rippled through the floorboards at my statement, which wasn’t normal. It made my fingertips tingle.
Once up on the rooftop deck, I sank into my favorite chair and set the rest of my mug off to one side. The snow had vanished, and the deck had gone back to a nice sunny warm place.
Indigo flew around the deck before diving into the water, then back out of it into the sky. She splashed again into the water then back into the sky without slowing down too much. She flew so much better than before she’d visited her clan.
Taking a deep break, I closed my eyes to the sunlight and tried to sink inside myself to find my center.
Quicker than normal I found a golden orb shining brightly in the usual place. It felt like a big bright star radiating heat. While the star itself was bigger and brighter, the magic felt the same. Thankfully, that hadn’t changed. Yet, I didn’t understand how my magic had grown so much in such a short amount of time.
My eyes snapped open as something moved near me.
The Cat stared up at me from the end of the lounge chair.
“Yep, I’m practically glowing, which isn’t normal.”
“Told you so.”
#
Sable didn’t realize just how strange such a jump in magical ability truly was. Yet, here she stood, suddenly more powerful than she’d been before she’d opened the gift from her brother. The golden sparks of magic had gone straight for her, and only her. A few had tried to get closer to Indigo, probably because parts of her felt like Sable, since they were so close to one another. And Sable had named the dragon when she shouldn’t have.
The bond between the two of them shouldn’t be possible.
It was another one of those strange things about Sable. Like how her magic grew in capacity from something I still knew nothing about. Last night, I’d scoured my bookshelves for any mention of the possibility of what I’d seen. I couldn’t find anything.
I didn’t know, and that bothered me.
Still, I had time to get my questions answered. I just needed a way to talk to that brother of hers, without Sable as the intermediary.
I could be patient.