Puck: 1-9 by S. G. Ricketts (all ebook reader txt) 📖

guests, I will return to my cat form. At all other times, I shall remain in my human form.” I nodded weakly. The bed creaked, and I felt a hand on my wrist. I jerked backward, wincing as the sunlight lanced across my eyes. Ariel frowned down at me, yellow eyes going from my face to the empty bottle of vanilla vodka on my nightstand. “Perhaps I should mark ‘vodka’ off your tolerable liquors as well. Here I thought it was only tequila… Come on now. Let’s get you something for your head.”

As unnerving as it was to have a strange supernatural being suddenly living with me, I needed medicine. Grudgingly, I let him pull me up. “You make coffee. I’ll call Joe.” I squinted up at him; then, on better thought, I yanked the curtains shut. The room was plunged into blissful dark, the sunny yellow walls fading to a bearable gray. I stumbled to the nightstand and picked up my phone. “You said three hours past my shift, right?” He grimaced. I glanced at the clock and swore. 9:17 am glowed back at me. I shooed Ariel out of my room and hastily dialed Roasters’ number.

Joe picked up in three rings. “Thank you for calling Rebekkah’s Roasters. This is Joe, how may I help you?”

“Joe!” I gasped, surprised that he sounded so calm. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I… I caught a bug of some kind, and I can’t come in today.”

I heard a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “Rebekkah, of all the people who would buy that, do you think I’m one of them? Tequila or rum this time, love?”

I cradled my head in my hands and shuffled out of the room. “I drunk dialed you again, didn’t I.” Oh, the notorious phone calls I made while drunk. Ariel shot me a knowing smirk. I decided to punch him later, when the earth decided to stop roiling below me. “And neither. Vanilla vodka with what looks to be coke,” I said, eyeing the remains of three or four cans scattered across the coffee table. I sank into the comfort of the easy chair. “It was a rough day yesterday. I deserved it.”

The phone crackled for a second, then Joe laughed. “Yeah, you told me about it. Hold on, Sue Ann just came in. Give me a sec, Beks.” The other end gave a thunk that rattled my skull. I groaned and put the phone on speaker. My head couldn’t take anymore close-contact listening.

Ariel busied himself in the kitchen, singing in a strange half-hum, half-purr. I watched him work, trying to get used to the feel of another person in my house. He moved with a simple grace that I couldn’t help but envy. I had my moments, but most were clumsy attempts to miss the edge of the counter or the leg of the chair. Ariel, though, was something else. A mix of a ballet dancer and a hunter, maybe? The two didn’t seem to go together. My frazzled mind pulled up a camo-clad Swan Princess with an AK-47 strapped to her back. I snorted, then moaned, letting my head loll back. Still, I couldn’t help but watch him. While James the Love Killer exuded that classic Old World charm and danger, Ariel was something else. He flowed through the kitchen. The hot water jug burbled away in front of him. Without hesitation, he pulled out a mug, set it down, and grabbed my mini bag of coffee beans. I sat a little straighter, trying to see what he was doing. The aroma of coffee filled the air as he ground it. I sat, amazed. How did a cat know how to do all that?

“Beks, you still there?”

Joe’s voice jolted me out of my study. “Oh, what? Yeah, yeah, I’m still here.” I picked the phone up, taking another deep lungful of coffee-air. “So, what did I tell you last night?” I asked. Joe sighed. I bit my lip. “That bad, huh?”

“Beks, if it were any other person, I’d wonder where you got such a fantastic high. As it is, I think I’d like to come over tonight and meet your new housemate.” My eyes darted to the man-cat, placidly pouring me coffee. “I always wondered what he looks like out of his glamour.”

I pressed my fingers to my forehead. “I don’t even want to know what that means, and yes. Please come over tonight. I need someone normal for a minute.” Ariel dipped a low bow beside the chair and set the cup in front of me. I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you could close up early? And bring something to drink?”

Joe’s laughter filled the room. “Ah, no. After last night, I think I’ll just bring my father’s papers and the new Eggnog creamer we just got in.”

I sat up all the way, switching the phone back to normal speakers. In my excitement, my headache seemed to shrink. “It came in? Oh my gosh, did you try it? Should we start pro-moing it, or is it awful like that Thin Mint one from January? Glenda said the Tea House down the street isn’t doing anything ‘festive’ this year out of respect for ‘religious views,’ so we should have the corner market on this! I swear, Joe, if you forget to bring it, I just might murder you.”

Joe laughed again. “I will, Beks. I promise. See you tonight, girl.”

                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My doorbell rang at promptly nine o’clock. I stared balefully at Joe as I let him in. “Eight is your idea of ‘closing early?’”

He shrugged and stepped past me. “We were busy.” He flicked my forehead and grinned. “I knew even you wouldn’t want me to pass up a few extra dollars.” Before I could deny it, he plopped a brown paper bag onto my coffee table. “Your eggnog creamer awaits.”

I glanced up at the mirth in his eyes, then shut the door. “For that alone will I forgive you,” I grumbled. Joe’s smile only grew wider. Shooting him a glare, I pointed to the kitchen. “There. Now. And no looking for man-cats.”

“Man-cats?” His eyebrows rose. “Is that what we’re calling it now? And where is-”

“Coffee first, Joe. Then we can discuss your love affair with all things weird.” I pointed once more into the kitchen, then stormed into it, leaving him to follow me or not. I knew Joe well enough that I wasn’t entirely sure which option he would pick. Something as abnormal as Ariel could very easily outweigh a simple eggnog creamer.

He chuckled and followed me, but I watched his eyes dart down the hallway. “What shall we try it with first? Latte or frappe?” I shrugged, pulling the espresso machine out from the recesses under my cabinets. “Ok…” He frowned and stared at the creamer. “Let’s try…”

“Do a frappucino, my lady.” Joe jumped three feet in the air. I jerked, spilling espresso beans across the counter. Ariel’s excitement faded beneath my furious gaze. “I… My lad- ah, Rebekkah… Ah… I’m sorry?” Something popped, and Mittens lay flat against the floor where the fairie had just been.

Joe turned slowly around. “Ho-ly shit.”

I couldn’t suppress a giggle. “You have no idea, Joe. No idea.” Still, Mittens looked absolutely pathetic, ears flattened to his skull and pupils as big as his eyes. I sighed and flopped my hand at him. “It’s fine, Ariel. Joe mostly came over to see you, so there’s no point hiding,” I said. He popped again, his human face reflecting the same look as the cat. “But!” I said, stepped closer. He shrank back against the doorframe. “Anyone else in this house, and you’d damn well better keep that cat form. As you said earlier, you’ve done it for years. Can’t be too hard to do it for a few more.”

He nodded meekly, but his eyes kept darting to Joe. “Yes my la- ah…” He backtracked, glancing back at me. “Yes, Rebekkah.”

Joe winked at him. “She’ll be back to her usual obnoxious self after a cup of coffee.”

Ariel shook his head. A black-and-white lock of hair fell across his forehead. “I’m not so sure. She’s already had four, and your tardiness helped nothing at all.”

Joe grimaced. “Ah…Yeah... I forgot about that.” He turned to me and patted my arm. “Bad day, babe?” I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance and began cleaning up beans.

“If you two are done joking around, we have a creamer to test out,” I said, giving Joe a particularly knowing look. I wasn’t sure which sex my man-cat preferred, but Joe was liable to try just for kicks. Joe grinned, reading my mind, and pulled out the blender. Ariel gave a sharp bow and pulled the half-and-half out of the creamer. “Of course now y’all decide to co-operate,” I muttered.

“Always, Rebekkah,” the Dinnshenchas purred. I swear, for a moment, I saw Ariel’s cat tail twitching.

History Lessons

We all sat in the living room a short while later, foaming lattes in our hands. Joe sank into the armchair and took a drink. "Ahh... Finally a good flavor."

I tried my own, letting the spiced espresso linger on my tongue. I sighed in delight and sat on the piano bench. "Much better than a frappe, don't you think?"

Joe grinned. Ariel bristled as he appeared from the kitchen with his own mug. "I forget how pathetic you humans are with cold weather." I grinned up at him and he heaved a sigh. "The latte is good, too, though." He curled up on the couch, his knees nearly to his nose.

I eyed his cup uneasily. "Ariel, human form. You can sit up."

He flushed, his alabaster face turning a lovely shade of pink. "Ah...yes." He sat up carefully. "I keep forgetting."

"Yeah, I noticed," I said.

Joe snorted, took one more sip of his latte, and set it down on the end table. "If you're done motherin' your cat, Beks?" He set the folders on the table with a thunk. "I think we all agree the creamer is a go. Onto the real issue."

"The creamer was the real issue," I muttered, eyeing the towering pile uneasily.

Joe ignored me. "I can't believe I actually get to meet one of the Fae! And Puck's mortal enemy to boot! Lord, girl, you don't even believe and they just fall into your lap!"

Ariel chuckled. "It does make it easier to keep our cover when they're so... Guileless."

"I saw James's wings right away!" I retorted. The jovial atmosphere froze over. Ariel stared moodily into his drink and Joe shuffled the papers. Neither would meet my eye. "And why is Ariel his enemy? Aside from obviously having history with him."

Joe looked up. I groaned. The fanatical light was returning to his eyes. I sincerely hoped this wouldn't turn into another all-nighter spent looking for the boogy man. "You actually know Puck?"

"Wait, wasn't that what you just said?"

Joe shushed me, intent on Ariel. "I said that the Dinnshenchas were mortal enemies. I didn't know he knew the creep."

Ariel offered a wan smile and set his mug down on the table. He caught my look of surprise, and amusement danced across his face. "I was a cat for only seven years, my lady. I'm much older than seven, and I assure you, I know to put