4. Lucky
Lucky
“Everybody get down on the ground with your hands behind your head!”
Nearly sighing aloud, the five other people waiting in line and I hurried to comply. This bank was so small that it didn’t even have a security guard. I was sad about that fact right about now.
I was in a shorter flowy skirt and a tank top, so the marble flooring was cold on my skin, and also probably icky with a million germs, but I lay down anyway and rested my cheek against it.
From my position, I could keep an eye on the man in the three piece suit and black mask as he made sure everyone had done as he’d ordered, and then marched up to the single teller—the reason I was still here and not with Nick getting a shaved ice right now.
The man had positioned himself so that he could keep an eye on everyone in the lobby as well as the clerk behind the desk who was hurriedly dumping cash into a bag.
This wasn’t even the first bank robbery I’d seen, sadly. This was my fourth. The first was terrifying, truly. The second was also terrifying. But by the third, they were becoming a bit of a drag, and this one I was practically rolling my eyes at the inconvenience.
Shaved ice! I was missing shaved ice with Nick for this!
I nearly jumped when Nick appeared directly in my line of sight. He was the size of a thimble, and I swear my irises turned into hearts because of how adorable he was when he was tiny. His tiny hands went to his hips as he frowned at me.
“I leave you alone for five minutes, and come back to find you in the middle of a bank robbery,” he said in a tiny voice, clearly disgruntled.
“It’s not like I wanted to be kissing this dirty ground today,” I complained. “Can you do something about this please? This floor is cold.” I shivered.
He sighed, and the sound was so tiny and adorable I almost snickered. “Yeah, but I have to get out of the range of your chaos magic first.”
Because my magic inhibited his sometimes. Especially if he was trying to fix or clean up something that my chaos magic had caused to happen in the first place.
“Hurry please.”
“No talking!” the robber yelled, and I rolled my eyes at his drama.
Whatever dude. You’re about to get a smack down. I couldn’t wait to see how Nick did it. He got ridiculously creative sometimes.
Between one blink and the next, the robber’s three piece suit had turned into a clown suit, complete with ginormous clown shoes, and his pistol had changed to an orange, plastic water gun filled with water.
He pulled the trigger, staring at it in horrified fascination, only to squirt the clerk across the desk with a face full of water.
“What the—“
I snorted and quietly got up off the grimy ground, brushing the grime off my hands. The man started yelling and ranting and was totally not paying attention as I moved behind him and tapped his shoulder.
He spun to face me.
“The ‘80s called, and they want their villains back,” I said, and then I decked him.
He dropped like a rock, groaning and holding a hand to his bleeding nose.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I hissed, shaking my fist out and dancing in place. “That hurt! Why, why, why did I do that? Ugh!”
Nick was suddenly beside me in his normal, heart-stopping, life-sized self. He reached for my hand. “Did you remember to keep your thumb outside your clenched fist?”
“Of course I remembered to keep my thumb outside of my clenched fist. I’m not a complete newb.”
He smirked as he rubbed my hand, massaging the ache out. “You’re so violent sometimes.”
I laughed, shrugging. What are you gonna do? “I loved the clown suit, by the way. The shoes were a nice touch.”
“Thank you. I loved your ‘80s line. It was a classic.”
About this time, the other bank customers had gotten warily up off the ground and were whispering amongst themselves, and the bank teller was on the phone with the police. I could hear sirens in the distance, but I could also hear the whisperings of the people milling around.
“Wasn’t he in a suit at first?”
“Why would anyone wear those shoes to rob a bank?”
I grimaced. Time to fix things. “Nick...”
He saluted me playfully. “I’m on it.” He stepped away from me so he could use his magic to adjust the memories of the people in the bank lobby.
After the local police had come, and I’d given them my witness statement, I was allowed to leave.
Immediately upon exiting the bank, I saw that Nick had parked in a tow away zone. I scowled at him, but he just shrugged and smirked. “I was on police business.”
“Uh uh. You’re not a cop here, Nick. And even if you were, officers of the law are held to the same standards of behavior as the rest of the populace. Abusing your power is not cool.”
“Sometimes it’s cool.”
“Nick!”
He held the door for me, and his low laughter followed me as I growled under my breath and slid into the jeep.
“Thanks for stopping by the shaved ice place again,” I said, scooping some blueberry and cherry-flavored ice into my mouth, and then humming in delight. It was hot out, so the ice was doing a very good job cooling me down.
“Of course.”
We’d stopped at a place that looked run down on the outside, but had a line out the door. Usually, if you just followed the locals, they would lead you to the best places to eat. This was obviously no exception.
“What flavors did you get?”
Nick looked down at his gigantic cup of shaved ice. I’d gotten a medium. His cup looked like someone had hit it with an out of control engorgement spell.
“Pina colada and coconut with vanilla ice cream and that drizzle stuff they put on top.”
I sighed as we sat and people watched. This place was just across the street from a popular beach. We were planning on going there next just to walk in the sand along the shore and stretch our legs for a bit.
After finishing our shaved ice, we walked across the street and made our way down the path leading to the beach.
It wasn’t too crowded yet, as it was still pretty early in the day.
I’d hoped to get the bank out of the way as soon as it opened, but I would have to go back now.
I was seriously thinking about giving Nick my card and just having him pull out cash for me.
Less risk for chaos that way, and if there happened to be some, I was sure Nick could handle it.
As soon as our feet hit the sand, I took my sandals off.
The sand was fine and silty rather than rocky and gritty, and I sighed in bliss at the feel of it on my aching feet as we started heading toward the water’s edge.
Once we hit it, I just stood there and looked out across the water for a long time.
Nick, sensing I needed a moment of peace, seemed content to just do the same.
After a minute or two, I felt his hand take mine.
I looked at him. “Are you trying to hold my hand right now?”
He grinned shamelessly, his eyes brightening with humor. “Yes.”
I laughed and tugged him with me as I started walking on the wet sand right along the shoreline. “Just checking.”
It was so peaceful here. The sound of the waves, the seagulls in the distance, the feel of the sun on my shoulders and face, all of it felt wonderful.
And Nick, with his hand engulfing my own, seemed just as content.
We walked and talked for a while, keeping the conversation light, before he surprised me with a question. “I’ve heard through the grapevine that you might be planning on going vampire.”
I stopped, and squinted up at him. The sun was directly behind him, and I hadn’t brought my sunglasses because I thought we’d only be gone for an hour or so.
Nick’s expression looked serious, his grey eyes intent, but also warm and caring.
“Yeah. Me, my grandfather, and Finn have all been trying to figure out how to rid me of my chaos magic. Becoming a vampire might be one of the only foolproof ways.”
His voice became gentle. “But isn’t your chaos magic part of you? If you take it away, wouldn’t you be less you?”
I shook my head. “No more than depression or anxiety is part of someone. People don’t try to hold onto those, they get help and/or medication to treat them. There’s no way to effectively treat chaos magic and calm it down or make it less destructive to my life, so it has to go,” I tried to explain.
Nick nodded thoughtfully as he started forward again, putting an arm around my shoulder and tucking me against his side. After a few minutes of silence, he said, “You know, I’ve heard that genies make excellent blood donors.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.