Chapter 51: Interlude 9 – Suspiciously Rational

=::= Melanie's PoV =::=

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, because I'm totally not? But if you keep crashing at my place so much people are going to think you've moved in."

Marissa just flashed me a wry smile as she pulled on her huge witch hat, then the two of us headed out together.

As we started walking her expression grew darker and she commented, "Honestly some days I think I'd be better off staying with you. I could set up a sleeping bag and an air mattress in your basement and that'd be just perfect."

I gave her a worried look and asked, "Things not good at home again?"

My girlfriend grimaced then shrugged, "It's fine. Sorry Melanie, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"You don't gotta apologize ok?" I said as I moved closer and put an arm around her. "If there's stuff you wanna talk about I'm here for you. That's what girlfriends are for ok? And friends too. You've got all of Club Luna behind you girl."

Even after all this time she still didn't talk much about her family. And I still hadn't met her folks, or set foot in her house. In a way it was kind of frustrating, because I'd seen the outside and it looked like a nice place. A lot nicer than the run-down bungalow me and dad were renting anyways.

Marissa shook her head, "Maybe another time. It's no big deal."

I watched her for another minute or so as the two of us kept walking, but she obviously didn't want to discuss it so I finally let it go.

It was about quarter after ten Sunday morning, and she was walking me to work again. Though I wasn't sure whether or not I'd still have a job, considering with all the craziness yesterday I completely blew them off and didn't even think to call in sick or anything.

Personally I thought 'fighting fae and demons then having lunch with angels' was a good excuse, but I had a feeling I'd get in even more trouble if I actually tried to use it.

Me and Marissa were both quiet for the rest of our walk, then as usual we hit up the cafe first. I had just over a half hour before my shift, so we had time to hang out and stuff while we had our drinks.

Unfortunately the cafe was crowded again so we couldn't get a table. Instead the two of us went over to the grocery store then sat on the ground in some shade at the side of the building. It was kind of private too, like we had a view of the parking lot and the service lane. And usually the only people who ever went back there were staff looking for somewhere to smoke weed on their break.

I sipped my latte then glanced at my girlfriend again and asked, "So that was some crazy stuff yesterday, right? I'm still trying to get my head around half of it."

We hadn't actually talked too much about about that stuff since we left Cass's place yesterday afternoon. It felt like we needed a break to unwind, so mostly the two of us played video games and streamed stuff on TV while we hung out in my basement den.

"Same here," Marissa nodded. After a sip of her flat white she continued, "That was some messed up stuff about Cass though. I might text her or something later, to see how she's handling it? As wild as it was for us, she had it a whole lot worse. Like between getting burned by May's magic, then attacked by that fae nurse, kidnapped by a demon, then finding out her whole life has basically been a set-up so she could be sacrificed for some chaos goddess? And ontop of all that, now she can't even do magic anymore or it might kill her. That absolutely sucks."

I asked, "Folks won't want to kick her out of the club will they? Like because she can't do magic, or because she's... I guess it doesn't matter that she's not really human. I mean, you all let me in right?"

Marissa shook her head, "Nobody's going to kick her out. She's the same Cass she was last week and last year right? And the thing with magic's only temporary. Her moms'll figure it out soon enough. They probably already started on it yesterday right? I'm sure whatever it is, it's nothing a couple angels can't fix."

"Yeah," I sighed. "I can't believe they're both angels though, that's pretty wild."

My girlfriend nodded as she sipped her drink.

I had another gulp of my latte and commented, "I know the demon said Cass wasn't really related to her or that goddess, that she started out as a normal human? She's not human anymore though. Not going by her scent, anyways. Like that stuff Ninaya was talking about, that didn't just add something to Cass. It changed her."

My girlfriend seemed to think about that for a few seconds, then she had a deep sip of her drink. She finally responded, "Gotta say, it kind of freaks me out a little thinking there's some rites or something that'll turn a normal human into something supernatural? Like she started out human but now she's half demon and half goddess?"

"You know that's basically what happened to me Marissa," I said with a frown. "I started out human, till my uncle tried to 'help' me."

She leaned closer and gave me a side-hug, "Sorry Melanie, I didn't mean it like that. And I haven't forgotten. I know it was rough for you, but things are better now right?"

"Yeah I guess," I admitted, then gulped down the last of my drink. "Things are a lot better since you and the rest of the club found me."

Marissa had another gulp of her flat white then asked, "So what do you think about Miss Hawthorne? She's gotta be a goddess, right? You said her scent's like Cassandra's, but not like the demon part?"

"Yeah," I grimaced. "I have no idea what to think about that though. What about you?"

She shrugged slightly, "I'm wondering why a goddess would be wasting her time teaching high-school English? And I guess I'm also wondering why she's kept what she is secret from us? What's she really up to?"

My girlfriend gulped down the last of her drink then added, "I intend to find out though. Our club sponsor is now a supernatural Incident right? Something for Club Luna to investigate."

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"Please don't do anything to antagonize the local goddess Marissa," I said as I gave her a worried look. "I really don't wanna think about what she could do if she got angry with you."

She slowly shook her head, "Don't worry, I'm not going to go rushing into anything. And I'm sure not going to just walk up to her and start demanding answers. I'll take it slow and quiet."

"That sounded suspiciously rational," I said as I stared at her through narrowed eyes. "I'd be asking who you are and what you did with the real Marissa, but I gotta get going. Time for work."

We both got up off the ground and exchanged a hug. She wished me good luck with work and I wished her good luck with her parents. Then we both sighed, and she turned and set off for home while I headed into the store.

I managed to get all the way to the staff room without seeing my manager, and nobody else said anything to me either. I opened my locker and hung up my leather jacket, then put on the green vest with the store logo and my name tag.

Then as I closed up my locker I heard the door open behind me. For just a second I hoped maybe it was one of my coworkers. Maybe Sylvia, or that new girl who started working at the meat counter last week. My hopes were dashed a moment later when my manager spoke up.

"Miss Caetano," he stated as he tried to puff himself up to look taller than he was. "It's so wonderful of you to join us today."

He was a short, round sort of guy. He had a round belly, round face, his short dark hair had a round bald spot on top, and he had a bushy black moustache clinging to his upper lip that just looked itchy.

"Sorry Mr. Jacobs," I apologized as I tried to act suitably remorseful. Meanwhile I was groaning inwardly, while trying not to smile at his attempt to make himself look bigger and more important. "There was a last-minute emergency yesterday and I couldn't get in, and I couldn't call either."

He folded his arms over his chest and gave me one of those condescending skeptical looks. The ones that made it clear he saw me as nothing but some stupid kid while he was the big important grown-up. After all he was a store manager, I was just a delinquent high-school student and part-time cashier.

"Do tell," he stated, with some exaggerated sarcasm in his voice. "What sort of emergency was more important than meeting your obligation and commitment as an employee of this store? What crisis was so pressing that you couldn't spare a minute to notify us that you were unable to attend your duties?"

It took all my self-control not to just give the guy a smack. The worst part was I didn't have any good excuse or lie prepared. I had a sinking feeling that whatever I told him I was going to end up fired. Or if not fired then I'd have to put up with more of his attitude and snark.

The job was bad enough without Mr. Jacobs going out of his way to make it worse, and honestly the only reason I hadn't quit already was we needed the money. Until dad found better work for himself we needed my income to help keep the two of us going. And the fact that I got an employee discount on some of the food and stuff here helped a lot too.

On the other hand I'd had just about all I could take from this guy, and after all the stress and stuff from yesterday I really didn't need some self-inflated doofus of a manager going out of his way to make my life any worse.

So I looked him in the eyes and stated, "I was visiting a friend in hospital before my shift yesterday, after she'd been injured by a careless witch's overpowered magic. Then an evil fae attacked and I had to help subdue the guy. That's when me and all my friends got magically kidnapped by a giant snake-demon. She transported us to a cavern under a mountain somewhere in the middle east, so she could sacrifice my friend and unleash an evil goddess on the world. And after we dealt with that situation an angel came and transported us to safety. Then the angel offered us lunch while we all calmed down."

I added before he could respond, "Between the fighting and being trapped under a mountain halfway around the world and dealing with fae and demons and angels I was a little busy, and didn't have any phone service half the time anyways. So I'm really sorry I couldn't take a minute out of that to call and let you know I couldn't make my shift. Sir."

Jacobs gave me a stern glare and stated, "Miss Caetano if you can't learn to tell the difference between make-believe and reality, then I'm not sure you're the right fit to be working here at this establishment."

"You think there's a difference between reality and make-believe?" I almost laughed. "You've got a catgirl stocking the shelves and a werewolf working on cash. Is that real or just your imagination?"

He blustered, "There's no such thing as..."

Mr. Jacobs' voice trailed off as I shifted to my wolfgirl form. His eyes widened as he stared at the two furry black ears sticking up ontop of my head, while my tail twitched behind me. And I opened my mouth into a bit of a sneer, so he could see my sharp teeth and elongated fangs.

As much as I hated to admit it, especially after all the fuss I made about not being interested back in January and February, this had quickly become my favourite form. I understood now why my wolf tutor spent most of her time in this shape.

My senses were sharper, my vision and hearing and sense of smell were excellent. And I was even stronger in this form than I was in my human shape. It took me a bit to get used to my ears being in a new place, not to mention having a tail while looking mostly human. But at this point the only reason I didn't stay this way all the time was because people would freak out if they saw me.

Except Sylvia had been working here as a catgirl for a few days, and nobody was freaking out about that. And the bunnygirl at school made it through a full week without anyone freaking out about her. So maybe I could get away with bringing my inner wolf out into the open now and then?

Jacobs was still staring wide-eyed at me, and I just stared right back at him. I was still showing my fangs as I put a little growl into my voice and pointed out, "It's time for my shift. So you want me to go get on cash now or what?"

He stared for another couple of seconds, then finally snapped out of it.

"Yes go on," he nodded as he stepped out of my way. "You're on register six today."

I nodded once then turned and left the staff room. And with my ears and tail on full display, I strode down one of the aisles. I walked past a handful of shoppers, ignored the stares, and took my place behind the register.

I punched my code into the machine and turned on the 'register open' light. And for the first time since I started working there I didn't need a fake forced smile. The big grin on my face was completely genuine as I waited for my first customer of the day.