Page 13 of Pixie Problems
Afterward, everyone converged on Nick, urging him to open a yoga studio and lead classes part time. Or at least to set a day and time at the boxing gym so they could all be there and join him. They all swore they would attend if he did, and Nick looked like he was seriously contemplating it.
Seriously. I was beginning to love Moonhaven Cove. Most of the paranormals seemed really fun and cool.
“Great job, Nick,” Lucky said shyly, and the dark-skinned man blushed. I laughed. I couldn’t remember a time that I’d felt this easy and burden-free. Maybe things were looking up for me.
Chapter4
Dice
The next morning, after awakening and wondering where the heck I was for five seconds, I hopped out of bed, and did my stretch routine, then hurried to the bathroom to change.
Downstairs was quiet. Lucky was still probably trying to sleep, but she would likely be up soon to get ready. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge, laced up my tennies, turned my music on and inserted my wireless earbuds, then stuck my phone in the zippered pocket on my joggers. I sighed and smiled. I’d missed a few days of running with all the busyness of the last few days, and I missed it like crazy. I felt my waistband to make sure I’d remembered my gun, and feeling the slight bulge, grabbed my keys and water and walked out the front door.
I ran for two hours. My route was circuitous and I ended up in front of the Sheriff's Office. I wasn’t planning on going in, because I was all sweaty, but lights were flickering on and off, and I could smell something burning from the front sidewalk. I forgot how gross and smelly I was and booked it inside. Lucky and Finn were shouting, Moonhaven Cove citizens waiting in the lobby were huddled in the far corner of the room, afraid to move. Sparks and zings of electricity were zapping through the air, and Lucky’s computer, fax machine, and telephone were all a smoking, melted plastic charr. Finn was trying to put out a fire around the copy machine with a fire extinguisher. It looked like he was holding his breath at the intense stink and smog that permeated the office air, and I felt bad for his lion senses. He had to be close to retching with the odor of burned plastic permeating the small office space.
“Finn! Where’s the power breaker?” I asked, taking in the scene at a glance and knowing we needed to get the electricity shut off pronto.
“Basement level,” he growled, his nose twitching, an intense look of disgust on his face. “Take the stairs.”
“On it.” I heard Nick Steele enter the room as I opened the stairwell door and pounded down the cement steps to the basement level. Good, maybe he could salvage some of the office with his genie magic. I reached the power breaker in the dimly lit basement level and yanked the main switch down and off. It slid home with athunkand the whole building went eerily dark.
As a pixie, I could always see a little light, so I was good to go up the steps, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a little spooky down in the basement level. There were, it looked like, a million records in metal grey cabinets down here. Rows and rows of metal cabinets that looked like they held records for townspeople as far back as the town’s creation. So, several hundred years.
I shook my head.Someonesure loved analog style record keeping. I made my way back to the main level. When I got there, Lucky was gone, Finn was tunneling his hands through his hair in frustration, and Nick was snapping his fingers, like he expected magic to happen, but nothing did. To say he looked thunderstruck would be an understatement.
“Why can’t you fix it?” I asked, coming up beside him.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. There’s a kind of grey anti-magic that’s running through everything in here. And on top of the anti-magic, there’s a layer of green magic that’s preventing my genie magic from working.”
I was confused. “So, there’s a layer of anti-magicandgreen magic? How can there be both?”
Finn sighed. “If I had to guess, I’d say Lucky herself carries anti-magic, and that when her leprechaun magic and the anti-magic collide . . .”
“Disaster,” Nick and I both said at the same time.
Finn nodded.
Oh, man. That was awful. To be one of the luckiest species on the planet, but have bad luck follow you around constantly because of some weird anomaly in your genes.
“Where’s Lucky?” I asked Finn.
He sighed, pulled on some heavy-duty gloves, and started gathering the melted and burned electronics together. Ostensibly to get them into the big dumpster along the side of the building.
“I gave her the day off.” He looked at me. “She was in tears, and I could tell . . . I think she’s hit her limit for a bit. I told her to come in and start fresh Monday morning.” He looked a little sheepish, and in that moment, I found a deep admiration for Finn.
I didn’t know how long Lucky had been employed here, but Finn really was a good alpha. He was patient with Lucky, even through all the chaos that followed her. And even though she’d wrecked the office, he felt bad that he’d given her some time off. I knew it was because he also wanted a few Lucky-free days and felt guilty about that, but it still made me appreciate his kindness. When I compared him with Hux there was absolutely no contest. Finn was a good alpha, a good cop, and a good person. Hux was a scumbag. It made me the teensiest glad that I’d come, if only to restore my faith in paranormals and shifters again. I really wasn’t one for hugs or gushing, so I just patted Finn’s shoulder, and headed out, looking for Lucky.
Nick followed me out, and we walked quietly for a few minutes before he said, “Finn is a good alpha.”
I nodded. Genies were telepaths, so I wasn’t surprised hecouldread my mind, but I was surprised he’dbotheredto read it.
He smiled, and his bright-white teeth glinted against his ebony skin. His dimple peeked out, and it almost made me laugh. He was just too handsome. It really was unfair to women and paranormals everywhere. And his expression declared zero shame for reading my thoughts.
I flicked his arm lightly in retaliation. “Can you get a feel for where Lucky took off to? She didn’t take her jeep.”
Nick’s eyes grew a halo ring around his iris that was iridescent silver—a genie using their magic did this—and he blinked back into focus and pointed toward the docks with a chin lift.
I sighed. Not a fabulous place for a person with terrible luck to be, the docks. I hoped for Lucky’s sake that things were going well.
