Page 10 of Luck Be a Genie

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.