Ignore the Rainbow, page 1
Ignore the Rainbow
By
Gretchen S.B.
Copyright © 2024 by Gretchen S.B.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
Ignore the Rainbow
About the Author
Kenny’s Diner Series
Night World Series
Berman’s Wolves Trilogy
Anthony Hollownton Series
Jas Bond Series
Lantern Lake Series
Scent of Home Series
Forest’s Edge Series
Acknowledgments
THANK YOU TO MY EDITOR Lacie at Pelican Services. You made this book readable for everyone.
Thank you to T.M. Franklin for giving this book such a wonderful cover.
As always, thank you to my friends and family who cheer me on as I work toward my dream of being a full-time author.
Last of all, but not least, is the Hubster. Although he hates to be mentioned, he deserves credit for all his support.
Ignore the Rainbow
——-
"THAT'LL BE TWO-HUNDRED-and-fifty dollars." I held the small plastic gem out in front of me.
The tall, scrawny sorcerer sneered at me. The sneer emphasized his long, thin, pointed nose.
"Two-hundred-and-fifty dollars seems awfully high."
Frowning, I put my fingers back around the plastic gem and pulled it back over the counter. I had been told three weeks ago, I wasn't entirely human, and collected supernatural energy around me, which made me a bit of a liability to myself. That was unless I used a necklace given to me by a very powerful witch to siphon that energy off. I thought she was crazy when she said I could sell it. But it seemed she let word slip that I was selling the excess energy as witches came both last week and the week before, offering two-hundred-and-fifty dollars for the gem.
This week a sorcerer beat them to it, but he seemed a lot stingier than they did. I had been assured several times that two-hundred-and-fifty dollars for the energy I siphoned into the little piece of plastic nonsense was more than worth it for anyone who truly understood what the costume jewelry held.
When this man initially approached me yesterday, I told him the price, and he hadn’t batted an eye. Now that it was time to pay, he thought he could haggle.
I don't have time for this. I’m at work and have things to do.
I dropped the piece of plastic into my apron pocket that I’d sewn a snap into so nobody could grab it without my knowledge, then snapped it shut.
"Two-hundred-and-fifty dollars is the price. If you don't have that or don't want to pay it, that’s fine by me." I turned back around to hit the power button on the coffee machine to start a new pot.
"I will be more than willing to pay two-hundred-and-fifty dollars for it," came a smooth female voice from over my shoulder.
The sorcerer sputtered, and I turned to see Marjorie. Until three weeks ago, she was my least favorite witch, having wiped my memory at Mac’s, the night cook, request. But four witches tried to drain me of all my supernatural energy, and therefore, my entire life force. That shot them to the top of my grudge charts.
I slid my hands on my hips. "I wouldn't give it to you for two-hundred-and-fifty dollars. You would have to pay three." I was careful to keep my voice as blank as possible.
The powerful witch who gave me the energy-siphoning amulet informed me Marjorie had been punished for wiping my memory, but since childhood, I’d been known for holding grudges.
Marjorie's eyes flashed and a small, wicked smile crept up her face. "Understandable. I would still take it for three."
The sorcerer continued to sputter, his mouth opened and closed like a fish. It would've been amusing if he hadn't been trying to annoyingly haggle with me for the last five minutes.
"Deal, you have the cash on you?" I asked as I moved over the few inches, so I stood across the counter from her.
"I do," she responded smoothly as she pulled out a cinched pouch from somewhere off her belt and pulled out six fifty-dollar bills, careful to fan them out so I could see each.
I knew it was a little naïve to trust that the bills weren’t counterfeit, and by counterfeit, I mean magically made, not the same kind of counterfeit you would see in the human world, that I knew how to check for. I took the bills and held them up to the light and didn't see anything wrong with them.
All I’d have to do was report her for giving me counterfeit bills and she would face consequences for unfair dealings, which some of the supernatural species, including witches, took issue with. The powerful witch a few weeks ago had left her contact info with Mac for me, in case I needed it.
"Looks in order." I slid the cash into my back pocket where I kept my tips, then pulled the gem back out and placed it in her upturned palm.
"Pleasure doing business with you," I said blandly as the bell above the door rang and a group of four feline shifters walked in.
"Welcome to Kenny's. Feel free to seat yourselves. I’ll be right with you," I greeted with my customer service smile.
"That is unethical. You were bartering with me and then you sold it out from under me," the sorcerer shouted, causing several heads to turn his way.
Narrowing my eyes, I stepped over to him and spoke loud enough for those same people to hear but didn’t shout like he did. "You agreed to two-hundred-and-fifty dollars, then when it came time to pay, you told me it wasn't worth that much. You went back on your word, and I will not do dealings with someone who does not keep their word."
There were whispers from behind him as the eavesdropping customers openly stared. Magic users took their words and vows seriously, so an accusation of not keeping one's word made it harder to do any kind of bartering or dealings in the supernatural world.
Realizing the audience was not on his side, he turned around, and scanned all the people watching him before he huffed and stormed from the diner.
Marjorie chuckled and walked back to a table with two other witches across the diner.
It was an interesting crowd tonight. There were several tables I knew weren’t human, but I couldn't identify what they were. Overall, the diner was quite full. More so than when the witches had their festival in the woods across from the diner three weeks ago. Sure, it had been raining for two days straight and finally started to let up, but I couldn’t imagine that would drag more people to Kenny’s. It had let up to a light drizzle about an hour ago and people started filing in.
Going back to my usual routine, I welcomed the new table of shifters and got their orders squared away. I checked on every table, which took a bit of time considering how many of them there were, then brought the food Mac had out on the counter. During that time, another two groups came in. The way things were going, I would have to start some kind of waitlist. Which I didn't think we'd ever done before.
And if I'm honest, I’m not sure how to do that.
It wasn’t as if customers at Kenny's only spent a certain amount of time. Supernaturals either ate and left as fast as possible or dawdled forever. Take the table of pixies, for example. They’d been here for two hours. They had paid their bill but continued to sit at the table, something very unlike them.
Two Sasquatch sat back-to-back and, as the place filled, they became nervous. Once they finished their food, they ushered me over to pay, in cash, of course, and shuffled out as quickly as they could. I was cleaning the last of the two tables when a group of seven tall, rail-thin beings walked in the door. When I glanced at them, their glamour shifted ever so slightly at the corner of my eye, and I saw pointed ears peeking out from long, iron-straight hair.
In the five months or so I'd been here, I'd never interacted with elves. They supposedly kept to themselves.
Smiling, I waved to get their attention. "Unless you want to sit at the counter, there are two tables over here so you can sit back-to-back. If this is not acceptable, you might have to split up."
Those seven sets of eyes turned to me, and if I wasn’t mistaken, they all found me lacking, lacking in what, I had no idea. As the two in front glided towards me, I backed away from the tables and scurried to get menus, not wanting to be any closer to them than was strictly necessary.
Once I got back with the menus, I smiled, passed them out, and stood between the two booths so they could all see me. "Can I get you guys anything to drink while you look at the menus?" I gave my best customer service smile, even though they made me nervous. Almost as nervous as the biblically accurate angel who sat three booths over.
He is just a creepy sucker.
"Seven elixirs, if you please," replied one in the three-person booth in a wispy voice.
"Coming right up," I replied.
But as I turned away, I frowned. I had absolutely no idea what that was. Mac and I had c
Which I am glad I was not conscious for because that would have haunted my dreams for decades.
I still tried not to bother him with questions about the supernatural world unless I needed to. Even though he was supposed to be giving me answers, he was not the most forthcoming of fellows.
Slowly, I went around the counter and opened the swinging door that led into the kitchen. I did it slowly since Mac was probably running around the kitchen and I didn't want to smack him in the face.
When he heard the door open, he turned and looked at me from over the grill. "Oh good, you're coming back here when it's busy," he grumbled.
My first reaction was to be offended that he would infer I wasn't doing my job. But the second was he knew me coming back here meant something weird was going on and he didn't want to deal with weird with a million customers outside.
"Hopefully this is no big deal, but I just had two tables order elixirs. I assume you know what that is."
Mac rolled his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose before putting down the spatula he used and waved me towards the walk-in cooler next to the break room.
"Damm elves," he muttered.
Unsure whether that was to himself or me, I kept quiet. I followed him into the walk-in and we headed to the back right corner where a giant pitcher with a pour spout sat at the top. He pointed to it, then looked at me.
"That is elixir. Only give it to the pointy-eared bastards. No one else." Mac’s expression was serious, as if this was an important rule.
Since I had no idea what was in it, I just nodded and grabbed the pitcher. As I walked out of the walk-in, Mac closed the door and called out one more set of instructions.
"They're not allowed more than two servings. We do not want intoxicated elves in the diner. They are bad enough when they're sober."
That got my attention, and I spun on my heels to stare at him wide-eyed. "We don't serve alcohol," I answered, questioningly.
"We don't. This works as a sort-of health potion, for them for lack of a better phrasing. Having too much of it makes them drunk."
I stared at the container, not sure I wanted to give it to anyone.
"Do I just pour it, even though it's freezing cold?"
Mac returned to the grill. "Yeah, the pointy-eared, coldhearted bastards like it that way." He stopped giving me his attention, it was a dismissal. Then he seemed to think better of it and turned back to me as he flipped some pancakes.
"Use the fancy glasses." He pointed to the cabinet of odd-shaped utensils, plates, and cups. "Top left."
I set the pitcher down on the counter, grabbed the little stepstool that was leaning against the office door, unfolded it, and opened the cabinet. Sure enough, there was a set of ten fancy crystal glasses in the far corner.
"This feels pretentious," I muttered to myself.
"They're pretentious," Mac muttered back.
Slowly, I got down after grabbing seven of the glasses. It seemed easier to take the empty glasses first to the table, then pour the liquid at the table. I held the seven glasses in my hands as I pushed the door open with my shoulder. Several heads turned my way, and I smiled and nodded at each of them, knowing I was going to make rounds again after this. There were now three separate people sitting at the counter, two together and one by themselves.
"I'll be right with you," I called to them as I sped by towards the elves.
I set the glasses down and smiled before I sped back to the kitchen and grabbed the pitcher of elixir. As I came back around, I saw several elves with snide smiles, why I didn’t know.
Mac’s assessment of the elves might be correct.
Gently, but with a little flourish, I poured all seven glasses full of the cloudy off-white liquid. Once done, I stepped back. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"
"No, this will be all we require this evening," replied a straw-blonde from the back of the four-person booth.
Deciding not to ask the other six if they agreed, I dashed back into the kitchen, wrenched open the walk-in’s door and put the elixir container back where Mac had it. Then I popped back out and grabbed menus for the three folks at the counter. Luckily, they all knew what they wanted, so I grabbed their drinks and put in their food orders before I circled the room again, getting anyone anything they needed.
I finished my round by asking if the biblically accurate angel wanted a top-off of his coffee. When he declined, I turned around and there was a squishy crunch under my foot. I lifted my shoe and frowned at what appeared to be a chocolate coin. I didn't know how I missed it earlier, as I’d walked the floor several times this shift. I couldn't imagine I missed the piece of candy on the floor.
Bending down, I picked it up with my thumb and pointer finger, grateful there wasn't a smear of chocolate on the floor.
"It must've been kids earlier," I muttered to myself as I walked over to the nearest trash can and threw it in.
No one mentioned kids wandering around with chocolate pirate cions during the day or evening shifts. I didn’t imagine some supernaturals came in with them, but odder things had happened. I also didn't have time to scour the floor for more chocolate.
AN HOUR AND FOUR MORE chocolate coins later, the diner was still packed. Only one table had closed out in the last hour, yet several more people had come in and either sat at the counter or waited patiently in the doorway. I’d never worked on a waitlist before, but I took down their names and informed them that whenever a table opened up, they would be seated in the order they came in. I had four groups waiting.
The food’s fine and all, but it's not worth an indefinite wait.
I'd closed out about half of the tables and was unsure why they were hanging around. I’d finished a coffee run and general checkup on all the tables when I heard murmuring to the far left. Frowning, I put the coffee back on its hotplate and walked over, putting my customer service smile in place. It was the feline shifters, talking amongst themselves excitedly. The raven-haired one on the inside of the booth was holding something they were all looking at.
"Is everything okay over here?" I asked, though I was not sure if it was my own curiosity or just my job.
Probably a little of both.
They all looked at me as if I caught them doing something wrong. Which set off red flags in my brain.
The raven haired one uncurled the fingers that must have unconsciously snapped around the items she held.
"Oh, it's nothing. I dropped my napkin. When I went to pick it up, I found this half-dollar from 1907 on the ground under the booth. You don't see those every day."
I had only ever seen half dollar coins with Kennedy's profile, so I took their word for it. It seemed odd that a coin like that, probably worth more money, had been dropped, unless kids had run more of amok during the day shift than usual.
"Oh, interesting find," I replied with a smile, trying to hide my confusion.
"It is indeed," responded the blonde with sharp teeth who sat closest to me.
I nodded gently and took a step back. "Well, I'm glad it was nothing bad. Let me know if you need anything."
“Will do,” answered the blonde.
It was weird. Something about the interaction set off warning bells in my head, but it was just a coin, and I had found several chocolate pirate coins today. Maybe there was some sort of pirate kids' party or something. As I turned, I saw several other tables eyed the cat shifters with angry envy. A strong enough envy that if it continued, it might cause a problem. With all the customers we had in the diner, I wasn't sure even Mac would be able to handle them all.
Mac was a force to be reckoned with. I'd seen him take on several supernatural beings, and he saved me from witches trying to drain me all by himself. But there were a good number of people here. If they all decided to go after the cat shifters, I didn't think he could do much about it.
Ignoring it for now but telling myself I’d keep an eye out for rising tensions, I checked on the tables again. Many of the ones who paid up still remained. I didn't want to push them out, but I did have people waiting, so I tried to be as gentle about it as possible.
