The Invisible Pie

The quad stared at the empty plate in the middle of the table.

"It was right here," Victoria said, her voice tight.

Tom leant back in his chair, his hands raised in mock innocence. "Don't look at me. I didn't touch it."

"You were sitting closest!" Victoria snapped.

"Doesn't mean I took it!" Tom replied.

Emily frowned, squinting at the plate. "It's weird, though. The crust crumbs are still there, but the rest of the pie is... gone?"

Alex leant forward, inspecting the plate with the air of a detective solving a mystery. "It's not eaten. There’d be more crumbs. And no one left the room, so it didn't walk away."

"Pies don’t walk, Alex," Victoria muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Tom grinned. "You sure about that? In this town, I wouldn’t rule it out."

"Maybe it's enchanted," Emily suggested, her eyes widening. "What if it's an invisible pie?"

Tom snorted. "An invisible pie? That’s the best you’ve got?"

"Do you have a better explanation? Everything else we have encountered has been!" Emily shot back.

"Yeah," Tom said, pointing at Victoria. "She’s mad because I stole it, but maybe she’s the one who ate it!"

Victoria's jaw dropped. "I did not eat it!"

"You're acting awfully defensive for someone who didn’t eat the pie," Tom said, smirking.

"Because you're blaming me for your crime!" Victoria snapped, throwing up her hands.

Alex sighed, folding his arms. "This is getting us nowhere."

"Wait," Emily said, her face lighting up. "If it's invisible, maybe it's still on the plate!" She reached towards the empty plate, her fingers brushing its surface.

There was a soft squelch.

"Ew!" Emily cried, pulling her hand back. Her fingers were covered in sticky, berry-coloured goo.

Victoria's eyes widened. "It's real."

Alex blinked. "So... you're telling me there's an actual invisible pie sitting right there?"

Emily nodded, wiping her hand on a napkin. "Looks like it."

Tom stared at the plate. "Okay, I take back my earlier doubts. This is officially amazing."

"It's not amazing," Victoria said, glaring at him. "It's annoying! How are we supposed to eat something we can't see?"

"Carefully," Tom replied, picking up a fork. He stabbed it into the air above the plate and came up with... nothing.

"Missed," Emily said helpfully.

Tom tried again, this time jabbing closer to the centre of the plate. His fork struck something soft, and he pulled it back triumphantly. A chunk of invisible pie hung from the prongs, its faint outline shimmering in the sunlight.

"Got it!" Tom said, grinning.

"Gross," Alex muttered.

"Not gross," Tom said, taking a bite. He froze, his eyes widening.

"What?" Victoria asked.

"It's delicious," Tom whispered reverently. "Like... really good."

Emily grabbed her own fork. "I want to try!"

Soon, the group was clustered around the table, stabbing at the invisible pie with mixed results. Crumbs and streaks of filling began to accumulate on the plate as they devoured their invisible feast.

"This is so weird," Alex said, chewing thoughtfully. "But he's right. It's good."

Victoria shook her head. "Only in this town could an invisible pie become the highlight of our week."

"Highlight?" Tom asked, jabbing at the last remaining piece. "This is going on my list of greatest discoveries. Right below that time I found that glowing Kumara."

"Glowing Kumara?" Victoria repeated, incredulous. "That wasn’t a discovery, Tom. That was a hazard."

"Whatever," Tom said, popping the final piece into his mouth.

The plate was finally, truly empty. The group leant back in their chairs, satisfied and slightly sticky.

"So," Alex said, breaking the silence. "Do we want to know why it was invisible, or are we just letting that part go?"

"Let it go," Tom said firmly.

Victoria sighed. "Agreed."

The group sat in silence for a moment.

Then Victoria muttered, "You know, at some point, we have to stop running into enchanted things."

Tom jabbed his fork at the empty plate. "This has got to be the last one for a while."

The others nodded in agreement.

Somewhere in the distance, a chair creaked ominously on its own.

They all froze.

"Yeah, okay," Alex said. "We’re doomed."