Page 12 of Pixie Problems
The fridge opened behind me and the roast beef sandwich that someone had markedDaisyin permanent marker on the wrapper plopped down gently in front of me. I eyed it. As much as it pained me, I didn’t want to eat someone else’swholelunch. That was just mean. A snack seemed fair game, but not a lunch. Nick snapped his fingers, and the fridge door slammed shut. “I made her another. She won’t be hungry, if that’s what the problem is.”
I hummed in thanks and dug in. It had layers of tangy cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, flavorful roast beef, and a chipotle mayo. Mmm. Yum.
I was enjoying talking with Nicky, who kept laughing at my comments, when the power for the whole building went out and we were abruptly sitting in darkness. Light from the blinds behind us created lines of brightness in an otherwise dark room. I could hear Lucky growling at something from the front of the building, and I sighed. “You should probably know, Lucky is accident prone. She’s the granddaughter of a leprechaun, but the luck didn’t stick to her right. It’s like she’s chaos and lightning all rolled up in a teeny-tiny person.”
Nick frowned in thought, nodded, and then snapped his fingers again. When the lights failed to come back on, and he looked more perplexed than any being had a right to look, I chuckled and went out to help Lucky.
It turned out, we had to call Moonhaven Cove power and electric to come out and help. And when that didn’t work, they called in a trio of witches whose specialty dealt with electricity andtheyhelped straighten everything out. Lucky was embarrassed, and avoided looking at Nicky who kept sneaking looks at her from the corners of his eyes.
“He thinks you’re pretty,” I whispered to her. I knew Nick could hear me, but I was trying to be discreet.
She blushed. “He’s handsome, but what would I do with a man right now?”
I nodded. “I hear ya. And I understand. I feel the same.”
She snuck a peek at him through her hair. “What kind of paranormal is he?”
“Genie.”
“Did he flirt with you?”
“Does a leopard have spots?”
She sighed.
“But he was just being playful,” I reassured her. “He asked about you right away. I got some info out of him if you’re interested,” I hinted.
She slumped. “He wouldn’t want me. I’m such a screw up. I can’t believe Finn hasn’t fired me yet.” She gestured to the lights that were flickering on, and the computer booting up, asking for her password.
I felt bad for her, but I also wanted to shake her. “Lucky, thinking badly about yourself won’t help you. We need to build your confidence. I can teach you some boxing, as well as some martial arts that will help you get stronger, and I guarantee it will help build some confidence in you. You interested?”
Lucky looked up at me, and her turquoise eyes were brimming with tears. “Yeah,” she said softly. “That sounds good.”
I nodded, completely uncomfortable with her show of emotion, but unwilling to just let it go without at leasttryingto comfort her. I patted her head awkwardly, and hummed, uncertain what to say. How did people deal with this stuff without it being completely awkward? I had no clue how to do that. As we’d been talking, Nick had made his way oh-so-casually over to us. “Can I come? I haven’t tried the boxing gym yet.”
Lucky looked at him, and his size, and then looked at me with panic in her eyes. I patted her again in a there-there kind of way and gave Nick a raised eyebrow. “Know any self defense?”
He nodded. “Several martial arts forms. I’m also yoga instructor certified. I can lead a cool down session afterward, if you guys are interested.” His face looked boyishly hopeful at the possibility, and Lucky melted at his sincerity. Okay, she was game. Was I?
Yoga. I grimaced in distaste. But hadn’t I wanted to work on flexibility and stress reduction? Yoga seemed like the perfect way to do that, and despite his size, I’d bet that Nick was a good instructor.
“Deal.” I shook Nick’s huge hand. “You help teach me and Lucky a few things from the forms of martial arts you know that I don’t, and then lead the cool down afterward.”
Luckyeepedin terror at having the handsome mountain-sized cop teach us anything, but bucked up when I gave her a concerned look. I wanted to encourage her, not terrify her. I made sure she was okay with this, and then we said goodbye to Nick, grabbed Finn, and went to the hotel to grab my things and move me into Lucky’s townhome.
It only took one trip, as I only had the things I’d packed in my truck. Fortunately, the bedroom I was renting came fully furnished. Otherwise, I’d be sleeping on the floor.
Finn left, and Lucky and I both changed into work out clothes and drove to the boxing gym to meet Nick. We walked in, and it felt like every paranormal there stopped and stared. A few waved at Lucky, but none came over to say hi. Everyone gave Nick and Lucky a wide berth. Nick because he was huge; Lucky because she was disaster prone. And I was just new, but I was hanging with these two, so I was offered a wide berth as well.
The layout of the boxing gym was simple, but logical. Locker rooms in the back, with the bathrooms and changing area. Lucky and I dumped our stuff in side-by-side lockers and went out to a large area covered in mats. There were several boxing rings around the outer edges of the room, tons of punching bags along the back and to the side, and the mats were in the center.
So, it was pretty easy to tell that every eye was on us as I took Lucky and Nick through some Tai Chi exercises to develop leg and core strength, and Nick took us through Taekwondo exercises and then yoga to cool down. I heard snickers at first as Nick led us through several cool-down poses, but I ignored them, closed my eyes, and focused on reducing my stress levels.
I imagined that I was on a forested mountain. And that there was a cool, clear lake on the mountainside, with water flowing and trickling down the face of the mountain. Wind whispered through the trees, creating ashushingsound that I could feel all the way to my toes. I imagined the sky above lit with the first rays of the morning, soft blue, orange and pink light. As I followed Nick’s instructions, and attempted to contort my body into the impossible positions he instructed me to do, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.
It wasn’t a magic pill, but by the time I’d opened my eyes, I felt a lot more centered and relaxed. I also noticed that we had added several new people to our little yoga session. It was mostly guys, but there were a few women as well. They were trying to contort their body the way Nick was showing us, and I snickered when they cursed softly when they couldn’t do the poses.
One lady in the back was doing the twists and bends like a champ, but the rest of them were not happy about their lack of flexibility. By the time we got to child’s pose I was grinning like a fool. About seventy-five percent of the gym was now behind me, breathing deeply into child’s pose, and groaning when we moved into cobra pose. I wanted to laugh so much, but I somehow restrained myself.
