Picking through the contents of the chest, Adriel chose a pair of nearly matching floral sheets. Getting them spread onto the bed turned out to be a chore when the cat, hearing the first snap of sheets being flipped, decided a game of ‘romp the bed’ was in order. Paws splayed out for balance and eyes bulging, he leaped and pounced to hinder Adriel’s every effort until she couldn’t help laughing at his antics.
“Go on you crazy beastie.”
***
Chapter 2
An unfamiliar feeling crept along Adriel’s shoulders until it settled into her neck and winched the muscles into a taut mass of pulsing fiber. Sometime after midnight, Adriel nudged the cat aside, and collapsed onto the narrow bed to let the soft purring lull her toward sleep. Fatigue lay over her like a blanket. How did these frail humans ever manage to build cities, when just moving a dozen or so boxes from one place to another could cause such an ache?
At least the path between bedroom and bathroom was clear.
When a little furry head nudged against her hand, she absently stroked the softness and slipped into deep slumber. It felt as though only minutes had passed when she was startled awake by a noise so insidiously annoying Adriel could not believe her ears.
Boop, boop, boop.
“Oh, what is that?” She asked the cat, who declined to answer.
The noise increased. A series of crashing and banging sounds punctuated the cacophony of whistling beeps cutting through her brain like a knife. Slapping hands over her ears, Adriel stumbled to the window and peered out to see a group of large vehicles lining the road.
Painted a deceivingly cheerful yellow, the fleet of machines worked busily. Oddly shaped trucks inched along behind a machine that moved forward using a type of oval track where the wheels should have been. A mechanical arm tipped by a clawed bucket reached down to scoop a great load of dirt and rocks from the shallow ditch running alongside the road. Without rhyme or reason, the load of dirt and rocks was then dumped out a short distance away. What was the point of moving scoops of earth only to dump them a few feet away?
Humans certainly found some odd ways to occupy their time.
With the chance of falling asleep amid the racket nothing more than a distant wish, Adriel poured a generous amount of kibble into a bowl for the cat, and made her way to the bathroom to take stock of her appearance.
Wrinkled clothes looking like they’d been slept in—because they had—hair a mussed up tangle, and pillow creases lined her face: not pretty. She quirked an eyebrow at her reflection, and did the best she could to right the damage to her hair. The clothes were another thing entirely. In her angelic past, taking on human form came complete with the appropriate outfit as part of the energy signature. There wasn’t time right now to mourn the loss of that ability. She had to attend a training session with Pam today.
Not feeling her absolute best, Adriel began the short walk to the bakery, where she hoped for some blessed quiet.
Even the dinging of the little bell on the door jangled against sleep-deprived nerves, and for whatever reason, the sight of Pam’s cheerful face flared annoyance like a match to a flame.
“You’re early.” Pam raised an eyebrow at Adriel’s scowling face and hunched over posture. “Not a morning person?”
“Apparently not. Noise. So much noise.” Adriel lifted a hand to rub at eyes gritty from lack of sleep.
“You can thank your neighbor for that. Lydia Keough decided the ditches in front of her house needed work. Never mind that all the runoff travels on the other side of the road. Waste of taxpayer’s money, digging ditches for no reason.”
During her diatribe, Pam had been busy breaking eggs into a pan on top of a six-burner commercial-grade stove. She snagged a couple slices of bacon from the pile waiting to be candied, crumbled them into a topping for maple glazed donuts, and added those to the plates before gesturing for Adriel to join her.
The food smelled wonderful until Pam upended a bottle of ketchup onto her eggs and the sharp, tangy odor of the condiment assailed Adriel’s nose. She shook her head with a grimace when Pam offered the container, then scooped a small portion of the fluffy eggs onto her fork to take a tentative bite.
Pam watched with eyes full of questions. From what she could tell, this was Adriel’s first time eating scrambled eggs. How could that be? The woman was in her thirties, at least. Had she been locked in a basement somewhere for all that time? There was a story, and Pam wanted to hear it.
Instead, she made small talk while she plied her newest employee with food and then offered “Coffee?”
Ah, stimulants.
“Please.” The taste was off-putting, but if it burned away the fog in Adriel’s brain, she could deal with it. The first sip scalded her tongue, which was probably not the worst thing since it deadened the taste buds to the bitterness. She took another.
Grinning at the distaste on Adriel’s face, Pam poured a dollop of cream to lighten the brew. Better, but still too strong. Without being asked, she stirred in a spoonful of sugar.
Now that was more like it. The sweetness teased a more pleasing flavor from the steaming liquid, and Adriel began to enjoy the flavor of the drink almost as much as the way it cleared her head.
“Come on back,” Pam called over her shoulder, her step jaunty. How did the woman manage to be that energetic this early in the morning? Moving quickly, Pam selected items from around the office: an apron, a hat with Just Desserts emblazoned across the front, and a name tag joined the pile on the small desk while she provided a running commentary on the inner workings of the bakery.
Centuries of watching humans, Adriel was
