The Short Demon King

Chapter 14

A sweet scent wafted over to me, slowly waking me up. I raised my head, leisurely blinking the sleep from my eyes. Kevin and Maya both stood at the kitchen counter, whispering faintly for fear they might wake me.

Maya noticed me stirring out the corner of her eye. "Look who just woke up! Did you sleep alright last night?"

"Yeah," I mumbled, still struggling to keep my head upright.

She offered me a sympathetic smile while grabbing two plates and bringing them to the table. Kevin grabbed the last one, but stopped to turn to me.

"Are you awake enough to join us for brunch?" he asked.

I slid off the couch. Brunch? What was brunch? Shouldn't we have been eating breakfast in the morning?

Turning to the clock near me, I checked the time. The longer stick indicated it was past 11 AM, but that couldn't have been right. Did I really sleep that long?

Completely confused, I met them at the table. I stumbled groggily onto my chair. Maya barely held back a laugh while passing a plate to me. The sweet smell aroma clearly came from the squishy stack in front of me. Each layer had a golden crisp to it, and looked quite elegant with a pad of butter on top.

"What is this?" I accidentally wondered aloud.

"Dang, you don't even remember pancakes?" Maya asked in return. "You're really missing out."

"Want some syrup with it?" Kevin offered, handing me a bottle of some caramel colored liquid.

"Sure, why not?"

I took the bottle from him and poured a generous helping over my stack of pancakes. With how little I knew of the food in their world, they could be feeding me poison and I'd be none the wiser. I doubt they'd ever actually do that to me, but there would be no way for me to know.

I took a few bites of the pancakes, and my eyes lit up. They were so tasty!

I gulped down a few more bites, thoroughly enjoying each one. I'd really miss human food; it was one of the best aspects of this realm. These pancakes were so soft and delicate, they seemed to almost melt in my mouth. A gigantic smile spread across my entire face as I ate, filled with bliss.

"These are super good. Thanks for making brunch!" I said in-between bites.

"I'm glad you like them. The pancakes were my idea. And if I hadn't started making them when I did, we'd be eating even later," Maya explained.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't start making breakfast this morning," Kevin said. "I was just so tired. So thank you for doing most of the work on these, Maya."

"You're very welcome! Oh, and by the way, did you both get a chance to talk everything out last night?"

He nodded, "It seems like we're both just feeling really guilty about everything. Hopefully we can figure this all out today."

"Figure it out how? You need to 'figure this out' before Jaye and I leave for the party."

"Wait... you didn't tell me you invited him last night. When did that happen?"

"I invited him yesterday," she explained. "I just didn't think it was important enough to mention. Besides, it's not like you could join us."

"What does that mean?" He sounded a little offended.

"Well Jaye at least looks around my age. Plus they don't know who he is."

Maya sighed as she collected everyone's empty plates. "You wouldn't even wanna come, would you?"