Where… where am I?
That was the first thought that came to my head as I woke up in an unfamiliar place. Then I looked down, and saw that I had various bloody wounds all over my body. What the heck happened to me? And why do I look like thirty cats mobbed me while I was trying to eat some fish?
"Good! You're up! I'll go tell Dren. He's been bugging Sardon and me about you forever." What? Maybe Dren could make some sense out of all of this.
"Zoey? Are you okay?"
"I… I think so. What happened?"
"After you blacked out, Deep Blue and I fought, and I killed him."
"Great! Wait… you killed him?"
"Uh… yes. But he was going to kill you. I had to, for your sake."
"Oh, that's so sweet. You were trying to protect me. Wait, why are you still here? If you killed Deep Blue, wouldn't that make the war over? And wouldn't that mean you have to go back to your planet?"
"Well, here's the thing. When a war is declared over by a leader (which now is me, since I defeated Deep Blue), three sacrifices must remain on the planet they were fighting against. I volunteered me, Tarb, and Sardon. This tradition was mainly instituted back when we were a more war-like people and the three sacrifices were in case someone on that planet ever wanted to start up the war again, but some people like sticking to old traditions."
"So… that means you guys are staying."
"Yep. Hey, what were you about to say before you blacked out?"
"Uh…." I guess now's as good a time as ever to tell him how I really feel. "I… I… I… I love you."
"Excuse me for a moment," he said. He got up, went outside, and closed the door. But even with the door closed, I could hear him dancing and singing, "Happy happy day, happy day, happy day. Happy happy day, happy day, hooray!"
"Oh…kay." That was weird. I guess after all those times of
him telling me he loved me and me not saying it back, he finally had
a reason to celebrate.
Sardon passed by and started laughing
hysterically, which snapped Dren out of his happy dance phase. Well,
since Sardon doesn't laugh at anything, that would be reason
enough for Dren to stop.
When Dren had finally calmed down and returned to my room, I asked him, "Where am I? And why do I look like Frankenmew?"
"You're at a room in the Café. We couldn't find anywhere else to treat you, and we knew if we took you home your parents would flip out, so Elliot let us stay here."
"How did you convince him?"
"Honestly? You don't want to know."
"Okay, I'll take your word for it."
"As to your Frankenmew comment, it's because that Million Dagger attack Deep Blue did on you caused a lot of damage. If you have trouble breathing, it's because one of your lungs burst open. Sardon fixed it most of the way, but you needed to be awake for him to fully fix it."
"Okay."
"Well, do you think you could handle some food? Maybe some strawberry tea? And a piece of toast?"
"I think so," I said slowly.
"Okay. I'll be back with a tray. Take it easy, kitty cat. Get some rest."
After delivering a tray to Zoey, I slipped out of the room silently, noticing she had taken my advice to heart and fallen asleep. So that the food didn't get cold, I used a spell that made it stay warm until she woke up.
Once back in the common area (aka the front of the café – there were no customers since the CLOSED sign was up), I saw Tarb and Kiki watching a movie while feeding each other popcorn and candy drops, occasionally pausing to give each other demure kisses on the lips. Bridget and Corina were enjoying an afternoon tea – complete with sandwiches, scones, and cakes, along with a pot of Corina's favorite herbal tea – in a sunny table by a window. And Renee and Sardon were sharing mugs of hot cocoa and kisses that were even steamier than the cocoa.
"Is Zoey asleep?" Bridget asked, with a chocolate-chip scone halfway to her mouth.
"Yeah. She's doing well."
"Well she'd better get well soon, because business is seriously tanking." Is it so hard for Elliot to say something supportive for once?
"Yeah, and now I actually have to work! Me! Work!"
"Oh, come on, Corina, it isn't so bad."
"Yes it is!"
"Oh God, don't be such a baby, Corina."
Corina was speechless at first, but then mumbled a string of expletives under her breath. Of course, since those words had come from Renee, Corina's idol, Corina would never say anything mean back to her. At least Renee had that as protection from Corina's wrath.
"You know, Zoey's eighteenth birthday is in a month, and I think we should throw her a gigantic surprise party!"
"But you guys will destroy the café!" Elliot whined, as if he could read our minds and tell we wanted to throw it at the café.
My old friends Sai One and Sai Two popped up, and I pointed them both at Elliot's throat. "You'll let us have the party here," I said in a low voice.
"Okay!" he squeaked out, obviously scared for his life.
"Good." I dematerialized the sais, then started a list. "Okay. Kiki, Tarb? You two are in charge of decorations. And try to actually put them up, not just have a lovey-dovey couple fight with the streamers and balloons." The list went on and on as I started delegating things like decorations, food, entertainment, etc, etc, etc. After everything Zoey had been through recently, I wanted to throw her the biggest, best super-sweet-eighteen party ever. She deserved it.