Jyri spent much of his time pondering that estin he saw, and the article about hodag sightings. Why were creatures from his universe somehow entering this one? And how were they able to? It didn’t make any sense. The portal closed after them. Didn't it? He and Faye were being tracked down by King Lyon and his guards right before they chose to go through. They barely made it without getting caught. So, wouldn’t the guards have made it into this universe? What if they already had, and just haven’t found him yet?
Maybe they did go through that portal, and it took them to a different universe. It was how Jyri originally thought the portal worked. Except it was a pretty big coincidence that hodags and estins made it here, but the people chasing after him didn’t. Maybe the portal did stay open, but none of them were brave enough to see what was at the other end of it. Jyri frowned. Surely King Lyon would force one of his guards through it.
Unless there were a couple of guards who went through it, but since they didn’t come back, decided it wasn’t worth the risk. Maybe they even forced a hodag and an estin through for further testing. That made some sense. Yes. Maybe that’s what was going on.
Jessica was out the next day, so Jyri took his lunch alone outside; away from everyone. He walked towards a bench, near a fountain. A black blur shot his way. He held his hands out defensively, but the animal tackled him to the ground. Then, licked his face. The estin from the day before. And it seemed oddly familiar.
“Holger?” He remembered the disobedient estin from his journey in the old universe. Who got spooked and ran off with half his things in the saddlebags. This estin didn’t have saddlebags, though they probably fell off him at some point. Yet he still had his bridle with reigns.
Holger let out a happy gurgling sound, and took a few steps back while Jyri got to his feet. Jyri touched the side of his face. “Is it really you? How’d you get here?”
Holger just stared at him. Jyri sighed, remembering how he and Faye desperately searched through the woods for him. Getting lost in the process. Nearly freezing to death because their blankets were in the saddlebags. Needing to make quick getaways, but couldn’t because, no horse or estin. How many times did he need this creature back then? And now, the thing finally shows his face. At a time he was the last thing Jyri needed.
“You’ve always been a real pain, you know that?”
Holger bumped his snout against Jyri’s shoulder. Jyri looked around, but thankfully didn’t see anyone. “Come on. Let’s hide you somewhere before someone sees you.” He grabbed the reigns, and looked around at the lack of nearby hiding spots. Where had he been hiding out at anyways?
Holger pulled away and walked off. Jyri followed him past the fountain, towards an empty building with a “For Lease” sign in the window. There, he noticed the glass front doors had been completely shattered. Despite his size, Holger somehow managed to squeeze through. Jyri opened one of the doors, and followed him inside.
The place was definitely abandoned, and mostly empty. Though there was a large desk in the lobby, similar to the one Faye sat at. Holger walked around it, and flopped down on what appeared to be a blanket. Where it came from, Jyri couldn’t even begin to imagine. What would happen if someone discovered Holger, Jyri didn’t even want to imagine. Hopefully the thing was smart enough to stay hidden.
“I’ll be back for you,” Jyri told the estin. “Do not leave this place, you hear?”
Holger let out a whine, but stayed behind as Jyri walked out the doors to find Faye.
Jyri walked back inside Wattavolt Electronics and bumped into Jasper.
“Oh good." Jasper stopped to brush something off his chest. "I was looking for you.”
“I’m still on lunch,” Jyri said.
“Not anymore you’re not.”
“But I still have ten more minutes. Brittney said by law-”
“Since when do laws mean anything? Come on now. To my office.”
“Can’t it wait ten minutes?” Jyri really wanted to show Faye Holger, and ask her advice on what they should do about him. Before Holger had a chance to even think about leaving that abandoned building and making his presence known to the world.
“No, it cannot wait ten minutes!”
“Fine,” Jyri muttered, as he followed Jasper to his office.
Once inside the office, Jasper sat behind his desk. Jyri stood across from him, unsure of whether he should sit down for whatever Jasper had planned.
“Now.” Jasper clasped his hands together with his elbows on the desk. “It has occurred to me that you might not know anything about Emily’s old position, correct?”
Was he actually considering that possibility? It seemed so out of character for him. Jyri found it unnerving. He swallowed. “Correct?”
“Okay, so Emily’s job was to pay the bills.”
“Alright.” That didn’t sound too difficult or frightening. Even Jyri had experience paying bills.
“Here’s how it works. You’re a buyer, so I would hope you’re familiar with ordering things from our vendors. Now, after we receive our orders from them, we get this thing called an invoice. Do you know what an invoice is?”
Jyri had seen Oliver take papers that said “Invoice” on them to Emily many times before. He knew it was essentially a list of what they ordered with a price total. That Emily needed to have it in order to pay for it later. “Yes.”
“Good. Very little has changed with you. You and Oliver are going to keep buying things. And Oliver is going to give invoices to you instead of Emily.”
“Okay.”
“And then, you’ll log it into a shared spreadsheet I’m about to send you. Similar to that purchasing one you use. And after you log it, you’ll give the invoices to me.”
Jyri waited for him to list his other new duties. Surely being an accounts payable involved more than that? But Jasper didn't say anything else.
“Is that it?” Jyri asked after a few more seconds of silence.
Jasper nodded. “That’s it.”
“Didn’t Emily do more than that?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to burden you with any more work than you already have. What with your purchasing. And your driving.”
“Driving!” Jyri’s heart raced. He could’ve sworn Jasper said he didn’t want him driving after all. “You said you didn’t want me to because I don’t have a license.”
Jasper sighed. “You’re one of the most inflexible employees I’ve ever had. Fine, you don’t have to be the driver. But this is coming out of your next paycheck.”
Jyri’s heart sunk. He was hoping that wasn’t a thing in this universe too. Or at least not in this country. It really should be illegal. He sighed. “How much am I getting docked?”
Jasper raised an eyebrow, then stroked his chin for a minute. “$100. Now, go back to your lunch. And don’t you breathe a word of any part of this conversation, or you’ll be docked $1,000 next time.”
Jyri left Jasper’s office, feeling quite awful. He glanced at a clock on the wall, and saw that his lunch was technically over. But he still wanted to at least tell Faye about Holger. So he made his way to the lobby, where he found Faye at her desk.
“Are you feeling okay?” Faye asked as he approached. “You look terrible.”
“I feel terrible. I just found out that you can get your pay docked in this universe too.”
“Really?” Faye shook her head. “That’s a shame.”
“Yeah, so be careful. Also,” Jyri lowered his voice. “Remember the estin we saw? It’s actually Holger.”
Faye’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. He tackled me during my lunch. And it turns out he’s hiding in the abandoned building next door.”
“Wow. What are we gonna do about him?”
“I don’t know. But knowing Holger, he’s gonna get caught eventually. And I don’t want him to get caught. Who knows what people will do to him here.”
“I want to go see him,” Faye said.
“Go ahead. I need to get back to work.”
Jyri found Oliver near his cubicle with a piece of paper in his hand, looking deep in thought. “What’s wrong?”
“Emily’s gone,” Oliver said. He held up the piece of paper, which said “Invoice” at the top in big, bold letters. “I was going to give her this invoice, but she wasn’t in her cubicle and all her stuff is cleared out. Tyler said she quit.”
Jyri could only stare.
“This is huge,” Oliver continued. “Emily has been here for 24 years. 24 years!”
“That’s how old I am."
“Exactly! And she just, quit!” Oliver grip on the paper tightened. “That’s how bad Jasper is. But now who am I supposed to give invoices to?”
“Me,” Jyri said.
Oliver frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Jasper told me I’m replacing Emily. He wants me to do these invoice things.”
“On top of purchasing and driving?”
“No.He said he doesn’t want me being driver anymore because I don’t have a license.”
Oliver stared, then wordlessly handed the invoice to Jyri. Jyri took it to his cubicle, sat at his desk, and noticed the email Jasper had sent him. He saved the spreadsheet to his desktop, then opened it. Jasper was right, it did look similar to the purchasing one. Jyri inputted the info from the invoice, onto the spreadsheet. Then, saved it. He smiled, feeling quite proud that he didn’t have to ask for any help with any part of the process.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqAT5q4eab
and then Add to home screen.