*Chapter Four: Trouble in the Foam**
1091 Words
Mira woke up late. Her alarm had been silenced—probably by the enchanted teacup that hated mornings. By the time she rushed into Moonbrew Café, the pastries were still singing their warm-up notes and the espresso machine was humming a jazz tune it had learned from Jax’s Wednesday portal.
She stumbled into the café, barely managing to open the doors before a customer rushed in, her eyes wide with excitement.
“Is it true?” the woman cried. “You put emotion in the muffins?”
Mira blinked, wiping sleep from her eyes. “Uh… technically, yes?”
“I ate a banana scone and now I miss my ex from college,” the woman lamented dramatically, clutching her chest like she’d been struck by a love arrow.
Mira stared at her for a moment. “Oh no,” she whispered. “You had the Melancholy Banana. It’s only for poetry majors and sad journaling. I’m so sorry.”
The woman didn’t listen. She grabbed her purse, muttered something about soul-searching, and fled, dragging a cloud of violin music behind her. Mira sighed, rubbing her temples. That was the third time this week.
Before she could offer a Neutralizing Croissant—specially baked for emotional emergencies—a tiny, green frog with a monocle hopped onto the counter.
“You need quality control,” Bertrand the frog said, his voice as gruff as a librarian’s.
Mira eyed him. “You’re a frog.”
He burped in response. Mira sighed again.
Just then, the bell above the door jingled. Mira glanced up to see Jax entering, holding a key that was glowing hot pink, like a neon sign in the middle of a foggy night.
“Emergency?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
Jax’s expression was grim. “Someone opened a portal to a flirtation lounge.”
“Is it full of people complimenting each other’s hair again?” Mira asked, already reaching for a thermos to fill.
“Worse,” Jax said, his tone serious. “Now they can’t stop complimenting *everything*. It’s like a pep rally, but for feelings.”
Mira raised an eyebrow. “That sounds… exhausting.”
“They need coffee. Stat,” Jax said.
She handed him the thermos filled with a Confidence Brew—her latest creation, designed to help people feel a little more sure of themselves without overdoing it. A balanced dose of self-assurance, in liquid form.
“Be careful,” she warned. “Too much charm in one place can be dangerous. They’ll end up declaring their undying love for their reflection.”
Jax flashed a grin. “That’s why I need backup.”
Before Mira could protest, she was grabbing her apron and following him through the glowing portal that had appeared in the center of the café. It was like stepping into a living dream: a swirl of sparkles, shimmering lights, and a sense of laughter that tickled the edges of your mind.
The moment they stepped through, Mira was hit by a wave of *too much* enthusiasm.
A man with overly gelled hair turned to her and said, “Your smile? It’s like a hundred suns rising all at once.”
Mira blinked. “Uh, thank you?”
Another woman, dressed in a sparkly dress, clutched her hands to her chest. “Your aura is like a field of daisies, but also like a powerful mountain. I want to take you to a cafe where we’ll talk about our feelings for hours. Would you join me?”
Mira opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was a single word.
“*ACHOO!*”
Jax winced. “See? Stronger than hexes.”
“I wasn’t sneezing, I was trying to *speak*,” Mira said, rubbing her nose. “I don’t know how you do it, but I need to break the flow of all this… positivity.”
“Just keep the coffee coming. You’re about to see the best part.”
He handed out cups of coffee, each one bubbling with gentle magic. As the coffee reached the hands of the compliment-happy crowd, their eyes began to clear. They blinked, like they were coming out of a trance.
“Your shoes? Oh my god, they’re perfect,” one of them said, looking at the shoes of another customer with wide eyes.
The other customer stared down at her shoes. “I… didn’t even think about my shoes today.”
“I thought I was the only one who could get that excited about shoes,” Mira muttered, handing out another thermos to a woman who was now waxing poetic about the perfect balance of her hair follicles.
By the time the coffee had been distributed to everyone, the room began to calm down. The compliments slowed to a trickle, and the music of overly exuberant self-love faded into awkward silence. Mira noticed that a few of the people were now staring at their own reflections in the cafe’s windows, trying to figure out if their eyebrows really were as perfect as they’d been told.
“Okay, that should do it,” Jax said, wiping his hands on his apron. “They’ll be fine now.”
Mira shook her head. “That was… a mess.”
Jax winked. “You saved the day, as usual.”
She crossed her arms. “You brought me here.”
He grinned, handing her a cup of coffee. “You didn’t think you were getting out of that one without me, did you?”
Mira sipped her coffee, feeling the warmth spread through her chest. The shop was finally returning to its usual calm, and the magic of the moment was fading. “So, how do we get back to normal?”
“Easy,” Jax said, holding out a glowing key. “I’ll take care of the portal. You just get back to serving coffee.”
“Sounds good,” Mira said, but before she could step back into the portal, another sneeze caught her by surprise.
“*ACHOO!*”
Jax chuckled. “Maybe some magic is stronger than hexes, but I don’t think that sneeze is going anywhere anytime soon.”
They both laughed as the portal hummed closed behind them, the café returning to its peaceful rhythm. Mira shook her head, smiling at the thought of all the magic she had yet to discover in Thistlewick. Maybe being cursed wasn’t so bad after all, not with someone like Jax holding the key to it all.
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**To be continued...
- Writer
