Bad Luck Genie: An Urban Fantasy Folly Page 18

  “Like I just ran across an ocean.”

  I chuckled in the back of my throat, and against better judgment, pulled her in for a tight hug. Lucy’s arms hooked beneath mine and her hot hands splayed on my back. She snuggled close, pressing her face against my neck. The hard planes of my body meshed with her soft curves, and I felt good in her arms. I basked in the comfort of my sunbaked sand and fresh air flooding her senses.

  My own scent had never comforted me before. I blinked rapidly, trying to shake her feelings from my head.

  “You know… we were rudely interrupted last night.” Lucy leaned back slightly, stretching against my chest. “We could pick up where we left off, if you wanted.”

  I gazed into her pale blue eyes, but my brain focused on my lips. I swallowed. She wanted me to kiss her. “Luce…”

  Her brows crinkled together. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be more than friends right now.”

  She stiffened, the smile fading from her eyes first, then her lips. “I don’t understand.” Why is he acting like this? I thought we had a connection last night.

  “You feel so much right now. You’re a bundle of emotions and thoughts and you’re a force to be reckoned with. I can’t separate my own feelings from yours.”

  I can’t believe he’s telling me to control my emotions. I can’t help it I’m attracted to him. She jerked from me. “Oh, please excuse me.”

  I grabbed her arm—not the bandaged one—and pulled her back. She shoved her hands between us and glared. Her mouth popped open, so I cupped her face. I was playing with fire, but I needed her to know I wasn’t rejecting her. Or rather, why I wasn’t pursuing her. “It’s flattering that you’re attracted to me. I’m not demanding you to stop.”

  She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t know where you end and I begin. I should be thinking your eyes are the color of a spring sky and you smell like a wildflower meadow, but I think what my ass looks like. Instead of wondering how you’d taste, I think about how my lips would feel on yours. My hand in yours instead of yours in mine. It’s like I’m attracted to myself.”

  Lucy blushed.

  “And when I’m not thinking about my body, I’m worrying about your mother and her motives. Or how terrible you feel about getting me involved in all this that I haven’t had time to really check you out.”

  She tilted her head. “So you’re saying you’re hyper-focused on what I want.”

  I bowed my head. “Yes.”

  Her eyes bulged, and she stepped back. “Oh, god. I just realized if the bond had formed differently, if I heard all your pervy thoughts about me, it’d be really gross for me.”

  I met her eyes.

  “This has to be really awful for you, Mal.” She covered her face. “I don’t know how I’ll make any of this up to you.”

  “Don’t forget you promised me a lifetime of homemade pies. Look, it isn’t all that bad. You have a highly inappropriate sense of humor at the worst times. I… enjoy laughing with you.” I gave her the half-smile that usually made her heart race, but she was hurt and mortified. “You’re a caring person. Lucy… You almost made a deal with Orpheus for no other reason than to break our bond.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  I grasped her hands and squeezed. “I’m not.”

  She blinked at me.

  “Your mom’s pushing you to break the curse with Rasputin’s bone, but you also know you can use that to break our bond.” I bit my lip. “Honestly, if you broke your curse and have half the good luck your father did, I think it’d increase our chances of breaking our bond.” I scratched the back of my neck, then shoved my hands in my pockets. “You’ve got more important things to worry about than whether or not we’d be a good couple. I don’t want to hurt you. I like you, Luce. It didn’t take long to become proud you’re my friend.”

  “So you’re saying there might be a chance after we tear this silk?” She smiled, teasing me.

  I laughed and shook my head. “You’re incorrigible.”

  Lucy picked up her water and drank from it. “Thanks, Mal. For explaining what’s going on with you. I see your point.”

  Tentative uneasiness slipped through from the silk. The hurt feelings had waned, and now she was simply embarrassed by her behavior. If I tried to fix that, it’d only make it worse, but she appreciated my truthfulness.

  “I’m glad to hear that.” I picked up the room service menu again. “Want a burger?”

  “I’m so freaking hungry right now.”

  I called room service and placed an order for three burgers. Penny could afford that, too.

  Luce fiddled with the wrapper on the bottle. “So you think it might be best to wish for my curse to be broken instead? If we get to the bone first?”

  “I can see how it’d solve more than one problem you think you have.”

  “Think?”

  “You handled Rexsaphal. You saved my ass when the Pit Boss and the Curator had shackles aimed at me, and you outsmarted a fae.” I hitched a shoulder and sat on the chair.

  “I cursed him so he’d break his leg.”

  “And we were able to get away.” I lifted a brow. “You’re awesome, you know? I’d need to have someone whispering information in my ear about the stuff you just know off the top of your head. Once you figure out your magic, there’ll be no stopping you, Lucy Avalon.”

  “Yeah.” She grinned, sitting on the sofa adjacent from me. “I am pretty badass, aren’t I?”

  Chapter 21

  The hot, sticky air wrapped itself around my shoulders as I followed Lucy out of the hotel. Nothing had changed in the twenty years since I’d last visited. It’d be a scorcher by ten a.m. The sun was only a line of orange on the horizon, and Quezon City was already alive with traffic, birdsong, and early risers. Metro Manila rarely slept.

  Penny stopped in front of a white four-door sedan and unlocked the doors. “It’s about a thirty-minute drive to the church. With any luck, we’ll beat the crowds and find Rasputin’s bone before Sigvald even arrives.”

  Lucy yawned. “So more like a ten-minute trip with your driving.”

  I angled for the driver’s door. Penny drove like a maniac, and it’d be better if I—

  “No, it’ll be thirty minutes, depending on traffic.” Penny glared at me as she settled in the driver’s seat, and rolled down the window. “Let’s not waste time when you’ll eventually ask me to drive, anyway.”

  At least I’ll die with family. Lucy shrugged at me and sat shotgun.

  I wanted to argue with Penny but climbed into the backseat and buckled up instead. We really didn’t have time to waste. She pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. Cars flew by, passing us like we were standing still.

  “Palm trees!” Lucy grinned at Penny. “I’ve never seen one before.”

  “What, really?” I found it a little hard to believe, but I didn’t sense any deceit coming across our silk bond.

  “Mags didn’t think it was a good idea for me to travel,” Lucy said.

  In the rearview mirror, I caught Penny’s brows furrowing. She checked over her shoulder before she switched lanes. “Car travel would’ve been fine though.”

  “So you didn’t want me on planes, either?”

  “Of course not. Same reason you don’t want to fly.”

  “But I could’ve gone anywhere by car?” Lucy leaned on the center console. “I didn’t have to stay trapped in Omaha?”

  “I asked Maggie to use her best judgment.” Penny slowed to allow a car more room to cut her off. “If we’d known she kept you on such a short leash—”

  “You were never home, so how could you’ve known any of it?” Bitterness colored Lucy’s tone like wax coating on fruit.

  “Things’ll change soon.” Penny reached across the console and patted Lucy’s knee. “We get Rasputin’s bone, you break your curse, then we can go wherever you like. My job’s freelance, and the
world will open its doors to you. Italy, the UK, France—name it and I’ll pack my bags.”

  “Sounds great.” Lucy’s tone of voice said otherwise. Wonder what she’ll want to steal once my curse is broken.

  Another car swerved in front of us, and Penny slammed on the brakes. Not wishing to block her view out the back window, I hunched lower in the seat. She was the driver best suited for this. We’d nearly been in three accidents with exhaust belching jeepneys and sedans, but Penny drove defensively.

  “I can’t believe it’s so busy.” Lucy yawned again. “It’s barely morning.”

  “Lots of people commute into the city for work from outer regions,” I said as a jeepney filled with people cut us off, only to stop in front of a building. “Some travel for two hours to get here.”

  “Long day,” Penny murmured.

  Lucy gripped the handle above the window. “Geeze. You’d think it’d just be easier to move here.”

  “Too expensive, but some businesses offer a place to sleep for the week, and employees go home on the weekends.” A trike zipped into our lane. It was so close I could read the passenger’s phone. I tried not to brace for an accident; it’d be best if my arms and legs weren’t locked up.

  Penny steadily drove toward the R-7. Hopefully, the highway would be less chaotic than the city streets. I’d forgotten the traffic and driving patterns in the Philippines were crazier than Penny’s driving in Nebraska. Here, she was sedate and calm.

  “That sign said no dilapidated vehicles on the motorway.” Lucy chuckled. “Good thing we have a rental.”

  A flowery fragrance wafted through the vehicle as smoke curled from the hood of the car. It shuddered, and the engine knocked.

  Penny cursed and pulled over on the shoulder before the exit. “You had to say something. You’re just like your father. All the quips, the jokes.”

  “Ah, so the curse hasn’t fully worked if I’m just like Dad.” Lucy tried to smile, but it pinched her expression.

  Penny snorted and popped the hood. “You have his sense of humor, that’s for certain.”

  A bubble of pride slipped along the djinni silk, and I slid across the seat to get out of the car. Traffic zoomed by onto the motorway. I worried Penny might get struck by a car when she exited, but she didn’t dawdle. Luce and I joined her in front of the car and lifted the hood.

  Smoke billowed from the engine, and one hose was melted clean off. I whistled. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

  Lucy peeked at the engine. “I have.”

  “Dad’s Camaro.” Penny nodded.

  “I broke Jeannine then?”

  “He fixed her.”

  “Then sold her.”

  “Well, we weren’t around much.”

  I tuned them out. They’d probably get into another quibble about bad luck and abandonment. I hoped they’d figured it out soon. The fighting was getting on my last nerve. At least, I believed it was, but Lucy was also stressed out.

  An army jeep newer than any vehicle I’d seen around the area drove by, and I caught a glimpse of a jagged scar on the side of a bald man’s face.

  Lucy gasped. “That was Sigvald!”

  I spun and stared at the vehicle, but it was already speeding off on the R-7. How the hell had we gotten the lead on them?

  I examined the area. About a half-mile back there was a taxi stand, but Penny and Lucy were obviously foreigners, and I didn’t speak Tagalog well enough to pass as a native. I couldn’t trust the driver to take the fastest route to a tourist destination. Behind us was a telecommunications building and car park. It’d have to do.

  “Shit! He’s going to beat us to the church.” Penny slammed the hood down and raked her hands through her hair, her eyes darting up and down the street. “I don’t know how reliable a taxi—”

  “Follow me.” I headed toward the parking lot behind us and walked along the rows of cars, randomly checking doors. I needed to find an older model to hot-wire, so I skipped the newer cars.

  Lucy hitched her backpack on her shoulders. “What’re you doing?”

  “Nothing you need to think about,” I said.

  She glared at me. “That’s not fair.”

  “It certainly is.” Penny pulled Lucy to a stop. “Let’s hang out here for a spell.”

  Penny understood I was searching for a car to steal. I didn’t like the idea, but Sigvald was speeding toward San Agustin Church and the bone. I stopped in front of a beat-up Toyota pickup truck and checked the door. It opened.

  The bench seat had cigarette burns, and the cab smelled like an ashtray. I flipped down the visors. No keys. Checked the tires; no keys were sitting on top. I slid in, sweat breaking out on my brow, probably more from the heat than because I was about to steal a truck. Examining the ignition, it appeared I could drill the lock pins instead of tearing out the steering column like I had with my Honda.

  I summoned my bottle and fished around for a drill. I checked the mirrors. Penny and Lucy were keeping a lookout for me, but Lucy was nervous and annoyed, going over the lucky charms she suspected were stolen. I inserted the drill about two thirds in and bored, destroying the first set of pins. I repeated the process the second time.

  I glanced at the mirrors again. Penny and Lucy had wandered closer, chatting about one trip Penny and Frankie took to Guam. I only received a one-sided conversation and Lucy’s curiosity from our bond as I called for a screwdriver. I jammed it into the starter and cranked it. The engine turned over like a dream, radio blaring pop music, and I revved the engine.

  I hopped out and bowed to the Avalons. “Your chariot awaits, my ladies.”

  Lucy’s smile lit up her pale blue eyes. I was too cute. No, she was too cute. Was she? I shook off the confusion as Penny climbed in behind the wheel, and Lucy sat in the middle. I pulled on the seatbelt.

  “My, my, Mr. Tanaka. What do they teach you in the Fae Bureau of Investigation?” Penny pulled onto the street and raced for the motorway.

  “To prepare for anything.” I leaned over to the radio. “Tell me when you hear a song you like, Luce.”

  “Er… do you think it’s necessary?” Lucy gripped the dash. “Mom needs to concentrate—”

  A horn blared as Penny swerved in and out of lanes.

  “And so do you.” I scanned the channels. “When you’re focused, we have less chance of anything untoward happening.”

  Oh, right. Probably a good idea. Embarrassment leaked through our bond, so I smiled at her. She met my eyes, and my stomach jumped.

  Luce swiped a wisp of hair from her brow. “Oh hey—Journey!”

  The dulcet tones of Steve Perry’s voice filtered through the speakers as Penny dodged around jeepneys and cars.

  It was the beginning of the song and Lucy didn’t hesitate to sing along. She wasn’t half-bad. Penny joined in a moment later. She was tone-deaf, but Lucy was thrilled to have a singalong partner. I chuckled as I listened to them and feared for my life at the same time while we raced along the motorway, daring death to flatten us like a pancake against the barrier wall.

  When the chorus came on, I joined them. What could I say? They were a bad influence on me.

  Lucy laughed and swayed on the bench seat with me and Penny, delighting in our performance. She wasn’t thinking about anything else but singing as loud as the radio. At least she drowned out her mother. But one thing stood out: she was finally enjoying herself. I grinned and kept singing along with her.

  Our trip on the R-7 was typical for the Philippines and mostly uneventful. Lucy knew most of the lyrics to the next two songs, and when she didn’t, she made them up.

  “Way to go, honeybee!” Penny said. “We should’ve taken you to Nashville.”

  “Whatever, Mom.” Yet her large smile showed how pleased she was. A piano popped on, playing a familiar Air Supply tune, and Lucy chuckled. “When is this station from? The Eighties?”

  “Probably.”

  Lucy knew the words to that song as well. I shouldn’t have
been surprised she knew the lyrics, given her mother sang along, too. I had a sense they used to do sing-a-longs and karaoke when Luce’s parents were home. I couldn’t quite see the memory, but I felt it.

  “Makin’ love! Out of nothing at—watch out for that car!” Lucy half-sang, half-shouted.

  Penny jerked the wheel. Tires screeched, my seatbelt locked, and horns blared. She gave them the bird. “Learn how to drive, asshole!”

  I exhaled and glimpsed the sign for the church. “There’s our exit.”

  Penny followed the tourism signs to the church. The parking lot was full, and we spotted Sigvald’s fancy jeep. I wasn’t surprised he’d beaten us here. We had to steal a truck, after all. Penny parked and killed the engine, slapping the screwdriver against her thigh.

  “What do we do when we get in there?” Lucy bit her lip. “Will they just let us explore?”

  “We’ll have to be sneaky like we were in the Rushmore Cave,” Penny murmured.

  “And try to stay low-key in case Sigvald notices us,” I added. “Who knows what he’ll do if he sees us.”

  “It’s now or never.” Penny opened the door and hopped out.

  Lucy’s brow crinkled as she met my gaze. A jumble of thoughts hit me in no cohesive order. What if Sigvald got the bone first? What if she got the bone first? Would wishing on the bone make her as bad as Sigvald? Should she wish for her curse to be broken, or to free me?

  I slipped my arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Don’t overthink it. Just follow your instincts, Luce.”

  We climbed out. Lucy hitched her backpack on her shoulders, and we headed toward the church entrance. There was a checkpoint set up with a sign that said “No Weapons Allowed”, and a gentle pat-down. After a peek inside Lucy’s backpack, we were free to pay the entry fee.

  The church held a hallowed feeling—tall ceilings, beautiful windows, and statues. Even this early, it was busy with people roaming the main room, sitting on pews, or kneeling before candles. The beauty of it, the sense of wonder and awe radiating off her made me take a moment to appreciate what was in front of us. I could stare at the baroque ceiling for hours without feeling an ounce of boredom.