Page 11 of Luck Be a Genie

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.

Chapter 5