You can find Neko's first story here: https://zette.blogspot.com/2023/04/flash-fiction-556-neko1.html
"Vacation?" Neko said.
"I thought you might like one," Colin replied as he began locking up. "Except for our walks, you've not been anywhere outside this building."
"We went to the movies!" Neko reminded him. "But I still don't understand if the Force is science or magic!"
"It's all pretend," Colin explained yet again. "At least in this reality. There is probably another place where they can work together, though. Anything and everything is possible out there."
The movie adventure prompted Colin to create a wonderful spell that allowed Neko to talk with people and for them to not only take it calmly but also to forget the experience as soon as they were fifty feet away from the cat. It even worked in the shop.
So Neko faced a whole new world. He knew about cars, phones, computers (his favorite, especially in the cold winter), and all the rest of the wonders that had arrived since the age of horse and carriage when he'd last been free.
"What would we do for vacation?" he finally asked. "Where would we go?"
Colin l pulled the blinds, and came to sit at the counter while Neko stretched out in front of him.
"We would drive to New York, and if the car doesn't bother you, then we'll start at the Atlantic Ocean and drive all the way to the Pacific while stopping at various places along the way."
Neko looked at him, wondering what had brought this on --
"What has gone wrong?" Neko asked.
At least Colin didn't try to brush off his question. "So many things have gone wrong that I wouldn't know how to list them. Part of the trip will be stopping at places and doing a bit of fact finding. Are you ready to play detective?
"My favorite genre," Neko admitted. "Well, that and fantasy."
Colin laughed. "When shall we leave?"
"I have no idea. What do we need to do? What about the shop?"
"Darion will take over while we're gone."
Neko wasn't surprised. Darion loved the store and spent a lot of time there already.
"What else do we need?"
"I have to go get the car out of storage or else magic up another one. I want the one I already have ready. I'll go get it in the morning. You need to think about anything you want to take along, like that blanket you like so well."
Neko was surprised he had noticed, but it did make a warm, soft nest. "Yes, that one. I assume food and such will be available as usual."
"No problems there." Colin smiled brightly.
So they went upstairs to dinner. Darion arrived just as the pizza got done, and they discussed the situation.
"There are outbreaks of magic in spots all across the US. Nothing yet in Europe or Asia, or the southern lands, though. I have a theory."
"Yes?" Neko asked.
Colin took over. "The Old World, as it had been known, had been densely populated with people who strongly believed in magic. Fae were even common in some areas. North America had less population and fewer practitioners, mostly shamans and wise women. Some of them have been, and are, extremely powerful. Many of them made stockpiles of magic hidden away in various places. That was, of course, what drew me here -- your collection of magical books."
"And now someone else seems to be finding those stockpiles and draining them," Darion added. "And not doing it carefully."
"Dangerous," Neko said and nibbled on some pepperoni. "There have been some unexpectedly bad storms in the south lately and a few earthquakes in the west."
"You put that together well. We are going to check out a few of the raided spots and some that were overlooked and see if we can make sense out of it."
Neko thought it sounded like an excellent plan. The only thing he hadn't counted on was the size of the world and the open spaces ... and the huge buildings. Cars everywhere. Semis. No matter how fast Colin drove, someone else had to go faster.
They had gone barely twenty miles when Colin took an off ramp and pulled over.
"Okay, I'll take you back to the shop," he said.
"No, no. Give me a chance to adjust." Neko made himself relax. A bird flew past the windshield, startling him again, but this time it annoyed Neko. "I like the car. I want to see things. There is just so much -- what is that!"
Something huge and loud was heading toward them --
"Train. You know about trains and train tracks. You can see them there to the right."
"Those thin metal strips? They can't be wide enough to hold something that large --"
However it did. Sitting there and watching it go past helped. The semis were not nearly as large or loud. When they drove back onto the interstate highway, he found himself far more calm. A deer crossing the road startled him -- but it startled Colin as well as half a dozen other drivers. Somehow the creature made it across. Neko thought there might have been a little magic involved.
"It is a dangerous world, Neko. Even without going out there hunting for magical trouble. Stay close to me."
"I will," he said and fully intended to do so, although mostly so he could protect Colin. For some reason, the fae seemed to think he was nothing more than a pampered house cat.
"Maude stole me from a Persian Mage a long time ago," Neko said. "We lived in the Middle East and then in different parts of Europe. When we came to the Americas, there had never been a cat like me here. Siamese were still hundreds of years away from these shores. I changed into a gray tabby for a long while, mostly to keep from being killed. I am not helpless, Colin. There were dangers even in the store under some of the 'owners.'
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