One Story Ends, Another Begins

 Hey Everyone!

I hope you're all having a happy Thanksgiving weekend. I thought I'd take the time to talk to you about what I've been up to and what my next plan is.

As you all know, I recently completed the main storyline of The Vampire's Coffee Shop. As as said before, with it over, I intend to get back to working on The Mysteries of the Community Service Club (or CSC for short). I had put the second volume of the CSC series on hold out of respect for people recovering from a recent tragic event. This is due to the core of the story arc.

In addition to resuming writing CSC, I am also currently writing the final book of the Lucy's Emeron Journey series. I've already completed a couple of chapters, but hit a roadblock there. Until I get over that, I plan to write a brand new series.

I know in my last blog post, I said I wanted to take a break from Emeron stories and write something set in our world. And the next story I've decided to write DOES take place on Earth. But the story will have connections to Emeron. What that connection is, I'll keep to myself for now. I will, however, give you a hint: it has to do with the origin of the Emeron series.

I've always wanted to make my own expanding universe with stories connecting to each other in some way much like how DC and Marvel did with their superheroes, and the World of Emeron has become that universe.

Anyway, that's all I got to say for now. Thanks so much for following my on my journey as a writer and I hope you continue to enjoy my stories going forward.

Happy reading, everyone!

The Vampire's Coffee Shop Ch. 34

Chapter 34
Closing Time

As everything turned deep orange from the rays of the setting sun, the coffee shop Owner locked the door and flipped the sign at the window from "Come on in! We're Open!" to "Sorry! We're Closed".

"Phew!" he went and then turned around to survey the empty shop. It was hard to believe that just a few minutes ago, the place had been packed with people.

Today had been one of the busiest days for the shop since he first took over. Even with Peggy, Alan and Uncle Theo all helping out, it was just endless work for the vampire. One of the reasons, he suspected, was because today was Peggy's last day working here.

The day started at opening when the town's Head Magus came for a quick breakfast before starting work. As usual, she came transformed into a creepy, antique doll that could move on its own. Sometimes, the coffee shop Owner wondered if might actually BE a living doll instead of just a human who could transform into one. 

"Ugh! Things are going to be so much more busy at the office now that I don't have an intern anymore!" the doll grumbled as the vampire put down a plate of toast, bacon and eggs in front of her. 

Apparently, like Peggy, the young skeleton folk that worked for the Head Magus was moving on to another job at another town. His term had already ended just the day before.

That same skeleton folk showed up soon after for a BLT sandwich and an ice cappuccino which Peggy took care of. Despite her grumbling, the Head Magus flashed the skeleton a smile when he came by to say hello and congratulated him again for his new job.

A little while later, Mrs. Arkans showed up to take a break while in the middle of a shopping trip. The elderly lamia lady with a single snake tail instead of legs slithered over to a seat by the window before requesting an energizing tea. She kept a pair of large shopping bags underneath the table.

"She's really come a long way," she said while watching Peggy taking care of the skeleton folk's order.

"That she has," said the coffee shop Owner as he placed the teacup down on the table.

"I'm going to miss her when she's gone. She's been like a granddaughter to me."

"This place certainly won't be the same without her," said the coffee shop Owner.

As the old lamia enjoyed her tea and the view outside, Roy walked in, followed by his boss, the Royal Inspector, who happened to be in town on business. They were joined by a group of knights, the very same ones who worked with the inspectors while visiting Uncle Theo's mansion.

"Why hello, Inspector," Uncle Theo said to the lady. "It's been a long time."

"Yes, it has," the Royal Inspector said, flashing a smile at the man with a house for a head. Her voice shook and her smile was clearly strained. "Not long enough."

"Uh . . . You're not still mad about all the work that got dumped on your shoulders because I turned myself into my own house, are you?" asked the former baron.

"Oh, not at all!" the Royal Inspector said, speaking rather loudly. "It only made me lose three nights worth of sleep and cancel date plans with my boyfriend! Oh wait! He's my EX-boyfriend now!"

Oh, she's definitely still mad, thought Uncle Theo. I should get someone else to take over.

That person ended up being Alan. 

When he showed up with their orders of coffee and baked snacks, the Royal Inspector and the knights nearly fell out of their chairs in shock. They all worked at the Royal Castle, so of course they knew what the Crown Prince and future ruler of their kingdom looked like.

What was the future king doing here, serving drinks like a lowly servant? They asked themselves while struggling to bring cups to their lips with trembling hands. There was no way they could relax with actual royalty serving them.

Roy was the only one okay. After coming to the shop so often, he got used to it.

Alan, on the other hand, was clueless of his true identity's exposure and the plight that came with the truth.  He would just glance at the Royal Inspector's table from time to time and flash smiles at whoever he happened to lock eyes with. That only served to bring their stress levels up though.

I swear, I will get you for this, Theo! The Royal Inspector silently seethed.

Their stress levels spiked up even more when suddenly, a middle-aged goblin man burst inside, shrieking, "Rock-n-Roll!"

Despite his panda colors face paint and orange-dyed hair moussed up into a mohawk, the Royal Inspector and the knights knew right away the goblin was actually their king. The imposing, tall Royal Guard Captain accompanying him was a dead give away.

"Hello, Sir Wilder," Alan said to the wild-looking goblin. "Table for two?"

He, himself, had yet to realize that "Sir Wilder" was actually his father and just thought the wild-looking goblin was a friend of the royal family's bodyguard. They had actually come to check in on Alan and see how much he'd grown while working in the coffee shop. So far, what they'd seen pleased the king in disguise greatly.

The Royal Inspector and her crew were unable to stand the presence of royalty for much longer and as soon as they were done eating they scrambled out of the shop as fast, and as casually, as they could. As they rushed through the exit, they accidentally brushed by a tall lizard man with a scraggly red beard wearing a stained white t-shirt and denim overalls.

Startled, the lizard man cried out, "Whoa!"

"Sorry!" one of the Royal Inspector's knights said while passing through.

Before the lizard man could get a word in, the Royal Inspector and crew had already disappeared down the road.

"You okay?" asked a short, stout dwarf man. His name was Copperland and he and the lizard man were old friends who happened to run into each other and decided to have lunch together.

"Yeah," replied the lizard man, scratching the side of his jungle-green scaly head. "I wonder what's got those guys in such a hurry."

Copperland shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who knows?"

Together, the dwarf and lizard man went into the coffee shop, where they were greeted enthusiastically by Uncle Theo. Uncle They and Uncle Theo had bonded over their shared passion for alchemy. But while Uncle Theo was just an amateur who practiced alchemy as a hobby, the dwarf and the lizard man were pros who used alchemy in their jobs. Copperland was an expert fireworks maker, while the lizard man mostly did appliance repairs.

While waiting for their order, the lizard man pulled out a newspaper with headlines that read: "World Famous Superhero from Zhao, the Crimson Storm, does it again!"

"Hmm," went the lizard man. "Looks like the Crimson Storm just stopped a flying ship from crashing into a village on a southern island."

"You know, I MET the Crimson Storm in the flesh and worked with him before," said Copperland. "It was the New Year's before last . . ."

The lizard man rolled his eyes and groaned.

"You already told me that story a hundred times already!"

While the dwarf regaled his friend, AGAIN, the story of his encounter with a legendary hero, the door swung open and in walked a lady in a long-sleeve white blouse and flowing long black skirt. She had a black, leather-bound notebook tucked beneath her arm.

"Hey, welcome!" said Peggy. "Table for one?"

The lady smiled at Peggy and said, "Hi! Yes, thank you, Peggy."

Flashing her own smile at the lady, Peggy told her, "Right this way!" And then she led the lady to another small table by the window. After sitting down, the lady asked for a warm coffee drink before flipping her notebook open to scribble in it.

Peggy left to fulfill the lady's order, but stopped midway through when she realized she never told the lady her name. And she was certain she had never met the lady before, so how in the world did she know Peggy's name?

"Peggy, let me handle that customer," Boss said when Peggy reached the counter.

"Are you sure, Boss?" Peggy asked.

The coffee shop Owner nodded and said, "In exchange, can you see to Basal?"

Peggy turned around and spotted a giant snake wearing a bow tie loitering at the back corner. She was surprised she never noticed the serpent librarian of the Grand Library come in given that he's, well, a giant snake. He was apparently in town for a book convention.

After filling a dainty white cup with some coffee, the coffee shop Owner strolled over to the lady scribbling in her notebook and said to her, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Lady Playwright."

The spy-for-hire glanced up from her notebook and flashed the vampire a small smile. She was not surprised to get found out.

"No, no," she said. "The pleasure's all mine. I'm quite a fan of yours, Sir Trickster."

"What's that you're writing in there, if you don't mind me asking?" asked the vampire.

Lady Playwright's smile spread impishly and asked, "Curious? It's a script for my latest, ah, play."

"Is anyone I know a part of the cast of this so-called play?" the vampire asked with a sharp glint in his eyes.

Unaffected, Lady Playwright replied, "You needn't worry about that. An old friend of yours actually asked for this, a certain lady werewolf with a talent for detective work."

The coffee shop Owner was unconvinced until Lady Playwright flicked her wrist and out popped a small business card that she brandished between her fingers.

The coffee shop Owner gave the card a quick, but careful lookover before handing it back to Lady Playwright.

"When you see her, tell her I said hello," he said.

Lady Playwright promised, "Will do."

George came home from school at the afternoon, followed by Alan. Not the goblin Alan working at the coffee shop, but a young human boy named Alan who's a student at Paladia School of Advanced Magic. Floating over his shoulder was the fairy girl Aria and a fellow student of Paladia School. They've been hanging out a lot since that vase mess over a year ago. Right behind them were more students from Paladia School who were also mixed up in that mess.

They had only come to the shop to hang out and have a snack. But Aria happened to look outside the window and cried out, "It's the Chief Director and Daisy!"

"Quick!" shouted the black-haired elf girl. "Get out your books so it looks like we're doing our homework!"

The Paladia kids quickly reached into their bags and spread out textbooks, notebooks and sheets of paper all over the table just as a man in a huge suit of black armor walked into the store accompanied by a young lady wearing big, round glasses.

In unison, Alan, Aria and their friends loudly greeted the armored man, "Hi, Director Stonecrest!"

"Why, hello students!" Stonecrest said. "I see you've got your homework out. Excellent! Excellent! It does my heart good to see students working hard together on their education."

"Indeed," said Daisy. Her eyes rolled to the big, sugar-packed ice drinks and snack plates that looked like they had been roughly pushed to the center of the table in a hurry.

"Hey, mind if I join you guys?" George asked when he approached the Paladia School students with his own books snug in his arms.

Alan and the others exchanged looks before replying, "Sure thing!"

They figured that now that they had their books out, they may as well get their homework done for real. There was no way they could slack off anyway with the Chief Director and a staff member of their school so close by having freshly baked cookies.

As soon as Peggy put the cookies down on the table, she heard the bell ring and looked up to see a girl in a blue outfit burst in. 

"Oh, hey! Long time no see!" Peggy cried out. She remembered meeting the girl in blue who claimed to be a water shaman a long time ago back when the town was in a panic over the polluted canal water. It was thanks to that girl and her special power that the canal water was clean again.

"Long time no see!" the girl said back, beaming. She was accompanied by an older lady who wore the same kind of clothes. The little girl had always wanted to see Peggy again after Peggy had helped her find her glasses and finally got the other shamans to let her visit the shop.

It was at that moment that George's school teacher, Mr. Starling walked into the shop and nearly into the water shaman girl.

"Whoa!" he cried out. "Excuse me! Sorry about that."

"Oh no, it's okay! I'm sorry for getting in your way," said the water shaman girl.

"Oh, no, no no! No need to apologize!" Mr. Starling froze when he noticed there was something oddly familiar about the girl. "Wait! Aren't you the most powerful water shaman, the Undine!?"

He thought to himself, Again!? Why does this store always attract crazy powerful people!?

He glanced at George, thinking the young lion cub had something to do with it, AGAIN. But this time, it was actually Peggy's fault.

The front door flew open again and in walked a lady with a paper bag covering her head, shouting, "'Tis I! The Queen of the North Mountain Dragons! No, wait! Scratch that! 'Tis I! Definitely NOT the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons!"

She whispered to herself, "Yes! Nailed it!" But behind her, a man in a butler outfit just shook his head exasperatedly and sighed.

"And with me," the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons continued, "are NOT the High Songstress of the fairies and her two bodyguards!"

She gestured towards three people wearing silk white capes. The blond lady who stood in front of the group shook her head and sighed the same way the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons' butler did.

Friendly reminder, the High Songstress is the third-most powerful fairy on the continent.

"Hi!" shouted Alan the goblin, and secretly the future king of the country. "Take any seat you want! I'll be over to take your order!"

Mr. Starling fainted then and there.

The coffee shop Owner was behind the counter watching the whole thing when he heard a lady's voice speak up next to him.

"Quite a lot of commotion this afternoon, huh?"

He glanced over to the vampire lady leaning over the counter with her fingers wrapped around the rim of a teacup.

"Still doesn't compare to the commotion you usually cause, Mother," the coffee shop Owner said.

The vampire lady snickered. "True."

They paused to watch Stonecrest pick Mr. Starling up and laid him out on a couch seat that happened to be free. Both the Queen of the North Mountain Dragons and the Undine offered to help Mr. Starling with their healing powers, but almost everyone in the room knew that would only make things worse and tried to stop the two.

The coffee shop Owner broke silence and said, "You're going to leave soon, aren't you?"

"Yes," his mother replied. "Now that the problem of Peggy's Untethering has been resolved and she's safely anchored to this world, I don't need to look after her anymore."

"Which leaves you free to start wandering from world to world again," said the coffee shop Owner.

"That's right," said his mother. "You know, you can come with me. It'll be like when you were a child. I'm sure you're itching to go on an adventure again."

"Thanks, but no thanks," said the coffee shop Owner. "I do plan to go on adventures again one day. But just this world is enough for me."

"I see." There was a look of sadness across the vampire lady's face, but only for an instant. The sad look quickly disappeared and was replaced with a big smile. "Good bye, son."

"Good bye, Mother."

And then she was gone, just like that.

And then the coffee shop Owner said, "You're not going ask?"

"Ask what?" asked Max the fortune teller.

"You know I'm going to leave this place one day," said the coffee shop Owner. "Don't you want to know what I plan to do with the shop then?"

"I already have a good idea what you plan to do," said Max. "If George doesn't take over, you'll try to hand it back to the original owners and their family. But I don't think things will go the way you envisioned."

"Oh?" went the coffee shop Owner. "Then what will happen with the shop? Will someone else take over? And if so, who?"

Max looked over at Peggy who was handing a revived Mr. Starling some water. And the fortune teller muttered under his breath, "Who indeed?"

For some reason, he felt like he was seeing a vision of the future without actually seeing one.

As the shop approached closing time, the number of customers eventually dwindled, until only the workers and George were left.

After checking the time on his watch, the coffee shop Owner announced, "Okay! Time to lock up!"

"Oh! Then I suppose it's time for us to go home, then!" spoke a man.

"Come along, Cyrus!"

"Yes, Mother!"

The coffee shop Owner turned around, but there was no one behind him. Uncle Theo was in the kitchen. George had gone upstairs. Peggy was wiping a table at the back corner looking like she didn't hear a thing.

Stunned, the coffee shop Owner softly went, "What the . . . ?"

And then he yelped, startled by a sudden knocking on the door. He spun around to see through the window a lion man in a fancy suit waiting outside. It was George's uncle, Norman who was here for a family visit.

"I hope I'm not too late," Norman said when he was let inside.

"You're early, actually," said the coffee shop Owner. "We're still packing everything up for the day. You can go upstairs and make yourself comfortable. And keep an eye on George while you're at it."

"I'll do just that," said the lion man before heading to the back room.

After taking care of the Open/Closed sign at the front door, the vampire turned and walked away before stopping in the middle and cried out, "Shoot! I forgot to bring in the sign board!"

Peggy overheard and volunteered, "I can go get it!"

"Are you sure, Peggy? You're supposed to clock out already, aren't you?"

Peggy shrugged and said, "Meh. A little extra work won't hurt. Consider it a favor for all the things you did for me."

She unlocked the door, stepped outside and bent down to pick up the A-shaped sign board when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

She straightened up and looked ahead. Then, with a big smile spread across her face, she held her hand up and waved good-bye.

<== Chapter 33

THE END

The Vampire's Coffee Shop Ch. 33

Chapter 33
Doors and Choices

When the door to the coffee shop opened, the bell rang and the Owner called out, "Welcome! Be right with you!"

Roy walked inside and looked around. Other than the Owner manning the counter, there was "Alan" (A.K.A. the Crown Prince of Ariela), going back and forth taking people's orders.

After approaching the cash register, Roy asked the Owner, "It's just you and uh, Alan, today?"

"That's right," said the coffee shop Owner. "George has school, obviously. Uncle Theo's out of town for an amateur alchemist's convention. As for Peggy, well . . . She's not feeling okay and took the day off."

Concerned, Roy asked, "Really? Is she sick?"

"I really can't say either way," the vampire said with a shrug.

"I hope she gets better soon," said Roy.

Looking out the window, the coffee shop Owner said, "Me too, Roy. Me too."

**********

Peggy was out taking a walk around town. She passed by shops, crossed through marketplaces, and traversed alongside the canal. All the while, her eyes were cast to the ground.

The day before, she had received a letter. It was a simple, one-page letter that started with, "Dear, Miss Lau. We are sorry to inform you . . ." That letter was just the latest of a long line of letters that started the exact same way. Most of them came from places she tried applying for jobs at. Some were from realtors she had turned to for help finding a new home to call her own.

You can imagine how her quest went from the way all those letters started.

Thanks to that fortune telling she had with Max, Peggy had expected the latest letter to turn out the way it did. However, that made it no less upsetting. So, thinking that she would not be able to keep her feelings in check while working, she called in sick. But being cooped up in the house all day would probably worry Mrs. Arkans, which would explain Peggy's aimless wandering.

Her legs took her to the town square where the statue of a broomstick-wielding girl with a big, pointed hat stood tall and proud.

Peggy stopped in front of the statue and looked up while thinking to herself how she's hit a dead end with her life.

She sighed.

"Just what am I doing?" she asked the statue.

The statue, of course, just stared blankly ahead and did not answer. In the background, Peggy could hear hustling and bustling mixed into a constant chorus of daily life.

And then, someone suddenly whispered into Peggy's ear, "So sorry to do this to you, dear."

The whisper belonged to a lady who sounded very familiar, but Peggy couldn't quite put her finger on who. Before she could ask the lady what she was apologizing for, she was suddenly shoved her in the back.

Peggy stumbled several steps forward, nearly fell down. Understandably angry, she spun around and screamed, "WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA, YOU -!?"

She froze when she suddenly realized she was no longer at the town square.

"What the-!?" 

Peggy spun right and left. She found herself standing in the middle of a completely white space. And there were doors all around as far as her eyes could see. 

"How'd I get here? And where even am I?"

**********

Back at that same town square, a vampire lady in an elaborate black gown from Zhao stared ahead at an empty space where Peggy had been standing just a moment ago and then spoke under her breath.

"I really am sorry to do this to you, Peggy," she said, apologizing again. "But there's no other way."

She had been the one who pushed Peggy from behind and, using her special powers, made Peggy fall out of this world, literally. 

But the vampire lady had a good reason for doing this.

"No one in this world, not even I, can do anything about your Untethering which puts you in danger of falling out of this world to who-knows-where in Infinity. But maybe THEY who dwell outside of worlds can help you. Maybe THEY can restore your Tethering and anchor you to this one.

"At least, as long as that's what you want."

**********

"Hello?" Peggy called out. "Anyone here?"

She had spent maybe an hour wandering this strange, white world full of floating doors, searching for possible residents. Her watch had stopped working so it was hard to keep track of the time. But the deeper she went, the more apparent it became that she was alone here.

"Seriously, how many times does that make now?" Peggy wondered aloud, referring to the number of times she's suddenly found herself in a weird place, which was actually a LOT more than she actually knew. 

Loud gurgling sounds came from her stomach. 

"Of all the days to skip breakfast," she grumbled to herself.

She approached a nearby door and hammered her fist against it.

There were doors of all sorts in this weird white space:  steel doors, wood doors, plastic doors, glass doors, double doors, single doors, revolving doors, Japanese paper sliding doors, dial vault doors, iron gates, steel shutters, and draped entryways. Some doors were red. Other doors were blue. Many were white, while a few were unpainted. A couple metal ones were rusted. And there was one door covered at the base in mold. The list went on and on, and on.

The one Peggy approached was a tall one made of mahogany wood.

"Hey! Anyone there?" she shouted.

No surprise, there was no answer.

Peggy's stomach gurgled again.

"You know what?" she muttered aloud to herself. "Forget waiting for an invite. I'll just see if there's anything on the other side."

She grasped the curly brass handle of the mahogany door, but before she could twist it down, a voice called out from behind.

"Hi!"

"Gah!" Peggy cried out. 

She spun around to see a tall, heavyset Asian boy in a white t-shirt and gym shorts standing behind her. He looked to be around twelve or thirteen years old with small, squinty eyes crinkled by his big smile.

"Sorry for the wait," he said. "I just got done helping someone else."

"No problem," Peggy replied, almost breathlessly. She was still recovering from the fright the boy unintentionally gave her. 

"You look like you got a lot of questions," the boy pointed out. 

"I do, actually, yeah," said Peggy.

"I can try tell you whatever I can, if that's okay with you," the boy said.

"Sure, that's fine," said Peggy. "First things first, who are you?"

"Me? I'm Kent," said the boy.

"I'm Peggy," said Peggy. "Second, where are we?"

"We're nowhere and everywhere, the world between worlds, one of an infinite number of spaces where all possibilities converge."

Peggy blinked. "Huh?"

"It's a place where you can go to different worlds from," Kent said more bluntly. "Sorry, my boss has a thing for looking and sounding all mystical and stuff. They're that kind of person."

"I see," Peggy said. Not really.

She took a look around.

"So all these doors go to a different world?" she asked.

"Yep," said Kent. "From different versions of the same world to completely alien worlds, at any place and at any time. And I mean ANY place and ANY time. You can go to a world where no one has to work, or a world that won't ever have a war. There are even worlds where everyone's a robot. And you can go to any one of those worlds from here."

"Any of them?" Peggy said.

Kent nodded.

"Yep," he said. "So this could be your chance."

"My chance?" asked Peggy.

Kent replied, "You have the chance to travel to whatever world you want, to choose whatever world you want to live in. Any world at all! Even worlds that could give you anything and everything you could ever want."

"Anything and everything?" Peggy had a hard time wrapping her mind around it. "Like I go to a world, and the people there make me their queen the moment step foot in it?"

Kent nodded.

"That's . . . really something."

"But there is a catch," Kent said.

"Why am I not surprised," Peggy grumbled. She should have known better than to get all excited. "What is it?"

"It's not really a big deal," said Kent. "It's just that you can only choose one world to go to. That's it."

"That's it?" Peggy raised an eyebrow. And then it dawned on her. "Wait, that means that if I choose to go to a different world, I can't ever go back to Emeron. Boss, George, Mrs. Arkans, Roy, Alan, all those guys, I won't ever see them ever again!"

"That's right," Kent said. "You'd be leaving them all behind forever and ever."

"Then-!"

"Hold it!" a voice suddenly cut in.

Peggy turned around and cried out, "What the-!?"

A few feet away stood another well, her. There was a lady who looked exactly like Peggy, right down to the stain on her wristwatch. It was like looking at a mirror, only this Peggy was definitely flesh and blood.

"Are you . . . me!?"

The Peggy look-a-like nodded.

Peggy Original stared at her look-a-like for a couple of seconds and then slowly raised her left hand up to the side of her head. She dropped her hand down to her side and then slowly raised the other one.

The Peggy look-a-like frowned. 

"What are you doing?" she asked. No wait! Never mind, you're me. So I already know what you're doing. But please stop. You're embarrassing us in front of the kid."

Peggy Original dropped her hands down and said, "Sorry."

"ANYWAY," the look-a-like said forcefully, "before you decide on anything, please think about it. You've been living in Emeron for more than a year. You're now fully qualified to take magical jobs. You've been qualified for several months now! And yet you're still barely scraping by as a part-time waitress. Sure you got real magic powers now, but nothing's really changed from your life on Earth! But over here, you could finally really, truly turn that around, to be something greater! Do you really want to throw that chance away?"

"But Boss and all my friends . . ." Peggy tried to counter, but was quickly cut off by her look-a-like.

"You were always going to leave them eventually," the look-a-like pointed out. "That would have happened anyway if you had actually landed any of the jobs you applied for."

"But it'd be wrong to just up and disappear without a word," Peggy said. 

"You've done it before with Earth," her look-a-like said.

"It's different this time!" Peggy Original fired back. "I didn't have anyone back on Earth. But over here, there are people I'm sure will be hurt if I do that. I don't want that to happen, ever! And just because I was planning to leave them, doesn't mean I planned to never see any of them again."

"So you're just going to throw away the chance of a lifetime and go back to spend the rest of your life on Emeron?"

Peggy nodded at her other self.

"Yes," she said. "Because that's what I chose the first time around. I knew life would be no easier on Emeron than on Earth. I was warned so. And when I made my choice to stay on Emeron, I was trusted by someone I owe a lot, to live with that choice and accept the consequences that came with it. I can't betray that trust. Not just for him, but for me too. I know if I just abandon everything I've built up to this point, I'll regret it."

"You'll still have to struggle from now on, you know," the Peggy look-a-like said. "You're missing out on the deal of the century to an easy life."

"Then that's the cost I'll pay for the choice I make here," Peggy said. And then she turned to Kent. "Please take me home."

Kent nodded and gestured to the left. "Right this way."

The Peggy look-a-like watched as the original followed Kent down to a door that had been a part of Peggy's life since she first stepped foot in the world of Emeron. It was the door to the vampire's coffee shop

Without any doubt, Peggy grasped the door handle, turned it and then walked inside. The door closed behind her and that was the last that Kent and the Peggy look-a-like ever saw of this version of her again.

For a while, the Peggy look-a-like and Kent just stood in front of the coffee shop door and stared at it in silence. But that silence was soon broken by Kent who asked:

"Well? Satisfied?"

The Peggy look-a-like gave him a glance and replied, "Yeah."

"What was that all about, anyway?"

The Peggy look-a-like replied, "Someone once told me that everyone is free to choose whatever they want to do with their lives. But for whatever we gain from our choices, there'll be a cost. My guess is it means if you decide on something, you better be ready to make sacrifices and deal with the problems that come with that decision. It's a lesson that stuck with me and got me thinking about what I did with my life up to that point and what I was going to do going forward. I just wanted to see what that other me would choose and if she had what it took to see that choice through."

"And? What do you think?" asked Kent. "Do you think she made a bad choice?"

"I think there were no bad choices in this case, just choices," said the Peggy look-a-like. "But I'm convinced she'll see her choice through to the end and whatever happens, she knows it's the right choice for her."

"And what about you? Were your choices right for you?"

"Who knows?" the Peggy look-a-like answered with shrugging shoulders. "Only time will tell."

She stretched her arms high over her head and then turned around.

"Well, time for me to go," she said.

"What will you do?" Kent asked.

The Peggy look-a-like answered back, "What else? I'm going to live my life with the choices I make. Good bye, Kent. See you next time."

"See you next time, Peggy."

And then Peggy Lau walked away with Kent watching her go. She didn't bother going through any door. Thanks to a choice she made a long time ago, she didn't need to.

When Kent blinked for just a split second, Peggy was gone without a trace.

<== Chapter 32                                                                       Chapter 34 ==>

The Vampire's Coffee Shop Ch. 32

Chapter 32
The Fortune Teller

It was another typical day at the coffee shop, during one of its quiet periods. Apart from the Owner and his two workers, Peggy and Alan, there was no one in the shop.

Having long finished all other duties, Peggy was lounging behind the cash register, staring intently into a newspaper. She was on a page of job listings when the bell at the front door rang, signaling a customer or visitor had arrived.

As soon as she heard the bell, she quickly folded up the newspaper, tucked it into a small shelf beneath the cash register and straightened up, loudly calling out, "Welcome! What can I get you today?"

A human gentleman with a round, wrinkly face casually strolled over to Peggy and responded, "Hi, I'd like a small, hot cappuccino, hold the whip cream."

Peggy put the man's age between his early to mid-seventies. He was dressed in a literally sparkly purple suit underneath an equally sparkly purple robe. His hair had also been dyed sparkly purple. 

At least Peggy thought his hair was dyed. Being in a magical world full of different species of people, it wouldn't be a surprise if the man had actually been born with that sparkly purple hair.

"One small, hot cappuccino, no whip cream, right? Coming right up!"

The man went over to the nearest small round table and sat down as Peggy got to work making his drink. It was at that moment that Boss emerged from the kitchen with Alan. The former had been giving the latter a simple cooking lesson.

"Oh, hey Max!" said the vampire. "When did you get back in town?"

The purple man looked up and replied to the coffee shop Owner, "Just yesterday. I have to say, it's good to be home."

When Peggy was done stirring the drink, she brought the white coffee cup over to Max, the purple man, and set it down on the table in front of him.

Curious, she asked, "You guys know each other, Boss?"

"You could say that," said the vampire. "Max has been coming here since the last owner's grandma ran the place. And he's been running a fortune telling shop for just as long."

"So you're a fortune teller, Mr. Max?" asked Alan.

"Just Max is fine, thank you," said Max. "And yes, I'm a fortune teller, the best in the business."

"What kind of fortunes do you do, Max?" Peggy asked.

"Oh, all sorts," Max said. He counted the list out with his fingers. "I've done tarot card fortunes, crystal ball fortunes, tea leaf fortunes, palm reading fortunes, star reading fortunes, and even rock reading fortunes."

"Rock reading fortunes?"

"Yeah," said Max. "You know, you grab a bunch of rocks in your hands, shake 'em up a little, throw 'em to the floor and then predict the future based on where and how they land. Personally, that sort of fortune telling's a bit too advance for me, so I don't do it all that much unless I really have to. Crystal balls are more my thing. I get a lot more hits than misses with it."

"So you do get misses," Peggy said.

"Of course," Max said. "Fortunes are never definite or absolute things. There are only so many factors you can take in and use to predict the future. It takes a lot of knowledge and critical thinking to figure out what the signs mean. So yeah, most fortune tellers are going to have a miss every now and then. Although in my case, I haven't had a miss in over twenty years! Ho ho ho!"

"That's some confidence you got there," said Alan.

"And rightfully so," said the coffee shop Owner. "Even the last owner of the coffee shop used Max's fortune telling to help with her detective work. And anyone with her seal of approval is without a doubt reliable. Why don't you have a go at it, Peggy?"

Caught off guard, Peggy cried out, "Huh? Me?"

"Yeah," said the coffee shop Owner. "There aren't any customers at the moment, so it wouldn't hurt to try it out. I'll even pay for you."

"No, no, no! You don't have to do that!" 

"Oh, but I insist," said the coffee shop Owner. "I've been meaning to get Max's help with something, anyway. I don't mind paying extra."

"I'm already set up and ready to go," said Max, waving his hands over a huge crystal ball sitting in the middle of the table.

"Where'd that thing come from?" Peggy asked. She had looked away for only a second and it showed up out of nowhere.

"Come! Sit, sit!" Max beckoned, holding his hand out to the empty chair in front of him.

Reluctantly, Peggy took a seat in front of the fortune teller.

As soon as she sat down, Max tossed up a small bronze ring that quickly expanded into a big hoop and stuck onto the ceiling. Dark fabric that mimicked the night sky dropped down from the hoop, dimming Peggy's surroundings. The only light came from the crystal ball.

Max clapped his hands together, and while rubbing them said, "Now then, before we get started, can you please sign this contract which says you give me permission to do your fortune telling?"

After giving the sheet of paper handed to her a look, Peggy looked up and asked, "You need written permission to do fortune telling?"

"Of course," said Max. "Fortune telling can be used to learn all sorts of things about a person, which includes their deepest, darkest secrets. Because of that, there are all sorts of rules and laws out there to protect people's privacy and make sure it doesn't get used for evil. One of those rules is you need a special license to use fortune telling magic. And you know what another rule is."

Peggy turned her gaze back on the sheet of paper in her hand.

"So what will it be?" Max asked. "Are you up to getting your fortune told? It's totally up to you whether to go through with it or not."

Peggy thought for a bit.

Honestly, she was a bit apprehensive about getting her fortune told. But then again, like Boss said, it wouldn't hurt to try it out. After a little bit of a debate with herself, she decided to give the fortune telling a try.

So she signed the contract (once she was done reading it, of course) and gave it back to the fortune teller.

"Okay, good," Max said after putting the signed contract away. "Now, please put your hands on the crystal ball."

Peggy did as she was told. The glass felt pleasantly warm against her skin. She glanced up at Max as he muttered several strings of words beneath his breath. 

His own eyes were glued to the crystal ball while his hands remained planted firmly on the table. He stared at it for a good five minutes and leaned closer just a little bit before pulling back.

Peggy patiently watched without making a sound, slightly lulled by the warmth of the crystal ball spreading up her fingers and its glow.

"Hmm, interesting," he muttered to himself. "Very interesting. You went through quite a difficult period back on Earth. I can see why you decided to stay on Emeron instead of going back. But life on Emeron's not exactly without its frustrating moments either. Life's not exactly bad for you here, but you feel sort of stuck in a place you feel you've lingered too long in. You're getting impatient to move up in life, to really be independent."

It really hurt to get all that pointed out, Peggy thought, especially when he was right on the money with everything.

At this point, there was no arguing that Max was the real deal.

"You're not going to like hearing this but Reality's a cruel mistress," he continued. He locked eyes with Peggy as he spoke. "Like I said earlier, there's nothing absolute about fortune telling. However, I don't see you getting any big breaks anytime soon. And the path you seek may not be the path you end up taking. I'm sorry I have to tell you that, but it's what the crystal ball's giving me. You with me so far?"

Peggy nodded without saying a word. She wasn't in the mood to speak at all.

"You doing okay?"

Peggy answered, "Yeah. Of course!"

Her voice was unusually high.

"Hey, we've all had rough patches in our lives, me included," said Max. "Heck, even your boss really hit rock bottom when he was a kid barely hitting puberty. But you've seen how things have turned out for us. My advice: baby steps. Take things slow. As long as you work hard and keep trekking on, you'll get to where you want eventually."

What he said made sense. But for Peggy, it was still a hard pill to swallow and she remained slightly unconvinced.

"Moving on," Max said, "is there anything more in particular you want me to look at? I could take a look at your love life, if you'd like."

"I'm good, thanks," Peggy said quickly. "It's been fun, really. But I better get back to work."

"Okay," said Max. "But just remember, baby steps! Okay? Baby steps!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Peggy promised.

And she headed out of the curtained space. No sooner than a few seconds later, the coffee shop Owner came in and took her place.

It was only for a moment, but when they passed each other by, the coffee shop Owner noticed a hint of displeasure on Peggy's face.

After sitting down, he gave the night sky curtains a quick look and asked, "Are we good here?"

"Don't worry," Max assured the vampire. "No one's going to hear a peep. I give you the Max guarantee."

The coffee shop Owner looked more closely at the enchantments on the curtains, but found nothing to complain about.

"Let's get down to business."

"Yes, let's," said Max. "I'll just get straight to the point. This Untethering thing is beyond anything I've ever encountered before. There's nothing we can do. When I took a look at Peggy's fortune, every single path I could find was cut off. She was like an actor on stage with the spotlight on her and everything outside that spotlight was completely dark. I got some vague possibilities, but that was it. Nothing more concrete. She basically has no future."

The coffee shop Owner sighed.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," he said. "No wonder Peggy was in such a dark mood."

"Oh, that was for something different," Max said. "Like I said, I was able to get some vague possibilities. I just told her what I could learn from those. I couldn't exactly tell her she's fated for something almost no different from death."

"I suppose not," the coffee shop Owner said. "But then, what did you say to upset her like that?"

"I can't say, customer confidentiality and all that," Max said. "But I'm sure you already have an idea what problems she's facing right now. It's like you always say, the only difference between detectives and thieves is what they use their skills for."

"True," the coffee shop Owner said. "I wish there was something I could do about that too, but that'd be me overreaching. This is a problem she'll have to figure out on her own." And then he sank in his chair while blowing out a long puff of breath. "But now what am I going to do?"

"Have you tried talking to your mother about this?" Max asked. "I'd think if anyone knew about the Untethering, it'd be her."

"I don't think I need to tell you this, but she's the one who caused this mess in the first place. If she could fix it herself, she would have done it already. And then I wouldn't have had to scramble around so much at the risk of getting mixed up in another Shadow Civil War!"

"Yeah, I heard about that," said Max. "Word on the grapevine is you've been acting really suspiciously recently, like cozying up to powerful folks like the Zhao Empire's hero, the Crimson Storm, during the Featherkeep Grand Prix, getting in touch with old friends from the Shadow Civil War like Norman, and even visiting the Royal Capital for the first time in more than ten years. That got a lot of people's feathers ruffled, both figuratively and literally. I wondered what you were up to, but now I know."

"And a fat lot of good that did," the vampire grumbled bitterly. "Not even the Crimson Storm could come up with an answer to Peggy's Untethering problem. And he's supposed to be famous as an alchemist with an answer for everything!"

"To be fair, for him, most of the time the answer was violence," said Max. "He's more famous as a warrior than an alchemist, after all. Even though it was his alchemy that made him so powerful in the first place."

The Crimson Storm fellow they were talking about is a legendary and powerful hero, and part of a group of equally powerful people called the Seven Colors.

"I'm still waiting to hear back from him to find out what the other Seven Colors have to say," the coffee shop Owner continued. "But I'm not holding my breath. I guess my only option left now's to go after the Eternal Queen's legacy. I hear the Republic of Vai's been spearheading research into it, so I'll start there."

The Eternal Queen was one of the greatest villains in Emeron's history and a sorceress powerful enough to take over literally half of the world. Legends say she could do anything and everything, and that the magic items she created would give anyone that same ability.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Max said forebodingly. "There's a big storm brewing with that same legacy smack dab in the middle."

"Really? How big are we talking about here?"

"Big enough to rattle the whole world," Max said. "You won't have any chance of getting your hands on anything that's the Eternal Queen's."

"Then I'm really out of options!" The coffee shop Owner threw his hands up in frustration and slammed them on the table. He took a moment to cool down and then asked the fortune teller, "Is there really no way you can use your fortune telling to find a way to deal with Peggy's Untethering?"

"No, nothing," Max replied bluntly. "There's nothing anyone can do about that. Not me, not you, not anyone else. At least, no one in this world."

<== Chapter 31                                                                         Chapter 33 ==>