Bad Luck Genie: An Urban Fantasy Folly Read online

  “How do you know all of this?” Mom asked.

  “You know how Mags gets about flowers and gardening.” I sawed at the stalk of one stem, then approached the casket. “When I wasn’t reading your travel articles or studying the places you’ve gone, I helped her research flowers and the legends behind them—if there were any.”

  “So it says to crush the love child of air…” Mom frowned. “There’s a shallow dip here.”

  “That’s probably where it needs to go.” Mal stepped around the sarcophagus. “Maybe you need to mash the flowers to create a paste?”

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” Mom shrugged. “Besides, there’s enough orchids here we can try something else if that doesn’t work.”

  I placed the tail of flowers in the shallow well and began mashing it with my fingers.

  “Here.” Mom handed me her Maglite. “Use this as a pestle.”

  I took the flashlight and jammed it on the flowers, crushing them. Their fragrance perfumed the air. “Why did you let me run my battery down using the app on my phone?”

  “You looked so pleased with yourself.”

  “Hmph.” I mashed the orchids, throwing my weight behind it. The lid shifted. “It worked! Holy shit, it really worked.”

  “Way to go, honeybee!” Mom high-fived me. “Now let’s get this open so you can wish away your bad luck curse.”

  The mention of my curse spoiled the high-five. I averted my eyes and nodded. It was why we were here in the first place, but… I don’t know. This was my life now. It might never be as dangerous as this again, but I couldn’t toss pizza dough in ignorant bliss anymore. Bad luck had always been my normal. I lived with it, and now that I knew sarcasm fueled my magic, it felt like I could mitigate the damage. I’d even managed to get that guard’s Taser to backfire on him earlier. Is this “curse” really that bad?

  Mal’s arm brushed mine as he approached the sarcophagus and pushed aside the lid and there, in moldering silk and dust, lay a femur. Gross. Power radiated off it like heat from a wood-fired oven, and I didn’t want to touch it. Footsteps pounded in the hallway. Time had run out. I reached in and snatched the bone. For being an essential part of the thigh, it wasn’t that heavy.

  The air took on a familiar oily texture, and that specter appeared in gray rags. Its ethereal face turned to me, blackened eyes focused on mine. My stomach turned to ice.

  “You hold the power of Rasputin in your hands, djinni,” the shade rasped. “One wish is yours to command.”

  Sigvald rounded the corner. “Stop her!”

  I swallowed, focusing on Sigvald. What if every wish made on Rasputin’s bones also came with the ultimatum of being bottled? Maybe I should let Sigvald have it. He wasn’t as scary as potentially locking myself into a bottle. I doubted we would survive a third hunt for another of Rasputin’s bones.

  Mal whirled as goons one and two advanced on us. I didn’t understand how two was back, but suspected it had to do with his bottle. Mal fired. Goon two howled, dropped to the floor, and clutched his leg, his blood hissing.

  Mom raised her gun. “Gold bullets, motherfucker. You wanna go toe to toe with this?” She took a step closer to me. “Break your curse, Lucy.”

  Rotten vegetation odor overpowered the sweet smell of the albino orchids. Sigvald was casting. I needed to make my wish while I had time, but what if Rasputin’s ghost bottled me? Or worse, put me on the same dark path as him. I didn’t want to be an evil djinni.

  “Give me the bone, child,” Sigvald said. “When I have the power, I can break any curse. I can break your favors with the fae. I’ll give you whatever you want if you hand over the bone.”

  Goon one pulled a gun, crept forward, and Mal fired. Blood erupted from the goon’s boot. He screamed, and Mal shot higher in his leg. Sigvald took another step.

  Mal leveled his weapon on him. “Stay where you are.”

  “You hold the power of Rasputin in your hands, djinni,” the shade repeated as if on a loop. “One wish is yours to command.”

  Sigvald snarled. The putrid smell of rotting veggies choked me as he lunged. Mal fired, but Sigvald’s skin turned to stone. The bullet ricocheted. Sunlight sparkled on Sigvald’s skin and cast prisms like he was coated in diamonds. Mom flinched and tried to shield me. The cavern erupted in gunfire, and a shard of stone pelted my thigh. I squawked. Damn, that stung. Mal pushed me behind the casket.

  “Break your curse now, honeybee,” Mom said, her lips close to my ear. “We can’t let him have the power.”

  Make a wish to break my curse—and possibly be enslaved to Rasputin’s ghost—or give Sigvald the bone and he might follow through on his promise. More likely, he’d gain his freewill and limitless power, kill us in a blink, destroy the rest of humankind, and embark on a bloody war with the fae and djinni. The safest course would be to use the wish so Sigvald couldn’t. By the end of the day, he’d be bottled. Trapped. And who’d wish a dark djinni their freewill? No one in this room.

  I white-knuckled the femur. The shade wavered but didn’t disappear. Its eyes sparked red, but I might’ve imagined the evil intent.

  “You hold the power of Rasputin in your hands, djinni. One wish is yours to command.”

  I stared at the djinni silk connecting me to Mal. He returned fire, keeping me safe, protecting my chance to have good luck. Sure, it was possible that if I broke my curse, I could tear our bond, but it wasn’t worth chancing. Mal deserved his freedom now, not when or if I could help him later. I could always keep searching with Mom for another way to break my curse. Maybe she’d see it wasn’t so bad to have me around as-is.

  I swallowed heavily. “I wish for the djinni silk bond between Malware and me to be broken.”

  The shade pulsed. “Your bond is broken.”

  The connection tore, the bone turned to dust, and a piece of me disappeared, like there wasn’t someone carefully listening to my heart any longer.

  Chapter 23

  The strands of our djinni silk bond untangled in threads of blue, green, and beige, and tore from my core. The magic connecting Lucy and I died within the deafening silence of my head. I froze, my mouth falling open.

  Rock grated and broke apart from Sigvald’s frame, crumbling onto the cavern floor. “No!” Lips peeling back in a rictus snarl and his fingers hooking into claws, he lunged for Lucy.

  I fired before I realized I needed to react. My aim was off, too rattled by the broken bond. I shot again. The bullet slammed into his shoulder. He staggered. I knew it had to hurt; I had gold ammo now.

  “You bitch! I’ll make you regret this.” He lurched forward, and I fired into his knee. I didn’t have authorization to take his life. He hit the ground.

  “You damned genie,” Sigvald snarled as he crawled toward Luce and Penny. “I’ll drain you both.”

  I fired a warning shot, hitting the stone in front of him. Shards sprayed, striking his face. I summoned zip ties from my bottle and subdued Sigvald with his arms behind his back. He spat at me, so I gagged him, too. Goons one and two retreated inside their bottles. They’d both been incapacitated by gold wounds and probably thought they’d get away once they healed. I couldn’t trap them inside their bottles without djinni shackles. That was something only fae could do.

  “Oh, honeybee,” Penny said in a resigned tone. “Your bad luck strikes again.”

  I spun around, gaping at Penny. Why would she say that? Hadn’t she known Lucy made a conscious decision to break our bond? She’d taken long enough it was obvious she’d thought it over. Well, she went through quite a few things within a minute. I strained, listening for her, but found nothing. I was alone in my brain, no longer under the barrage of Lucy’s endless chatter. The djinni silk bond really was gone.

  The door I’d thought was closed opened once more. I could go on with my life without worrying about explaining Lucy to Pops or the rest of my family. I could still work with the FBI. There wasn’t a need to stay close by or listen to her every thought any longer.
/>   Yet, I couldn’t help but feel as if my best friend slipped away from me with each ticking second.

  Luce met my eyes over Penny’s shoulder and shook her head. I guessed she didn’t want me correcting Penny. I’d leave that to her. I rubbed my chest, but my pounding heart wouldn’t slow down. What a ride that had been… and I felt…

  I studied Lucy. I wasn’t sure what I felt. She had a diverse legion of emotions, and I had understood every one, and now… I was adrift in a sea of uncertainty. What should I say?

  Lucy pulled from Penny and shrugged, staring at her hiking boots. “Is what I wished for really that awful?”

  Penny looked between us, her brows lifting, then rolled her shoulders. “Probably some of your best luck yet. Who’d want an unreciprocated djinni silk bond, anyway?”

  What a bitch! I ground my teeth. Penny knew what led up to the bond, knew Lucy hadn’t meant to create it. What the hell was her aim, to make me look like an asshole? Probably chafing from not getting her way. I sighed through my nose, refusing to let her get to me.

  When neither of us responded, Penny backed toward the hallway, cheeks turning pink. “I’m sure those shots were heard. I’ll just hang out here… give you two a moment.” She walked around the corner.

  Lucy bit her lip while she regarded me. She waited for something from me, but I had no clue where to start. I grinned at her. Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes were as blue as a spring sky. I closed the distance between us and gathered her in my arms. She was soft and smelled like orchids, reminding me of magic inside the Spring Court. She rubbed my back, and I squeezed her, pushing my face into her neck.

  “Thank you, Luce.” A thrill raced circles around my spine instead of along djinni silk. “I know your wish wasn’t the result of bad luck.”

  “Everyone kept asking who in their right mind would free a djinni.” She pulled back enough to meet my eyes. “You were trapped just as much as I was. It was the only option I had.”

  “I’m grateful.” I was torn between stepping back and pulling her closer. Was this a lingering effect of her attraction for me, or maybe I had more than friendly affection for her? I opened and closed my mouth, struggling to find the right discernment, the right words to describe my emotions, but failed. So I cupped her shoulders and stepped back. “How are you feeling? Is there any… Are you okay?”

  “It feels strange now that our bond is broken.” Lucy wrung her hands. “Do you—do you feel any different?”

  “I feel like there’s only me in my body instead of sharing it.” I smiled at her.

  “What about… me?” She bit her lip with her slightly crooked front teeth.

  I swallowed, glancing at her lips and wondering… I wasn’t sure. “I think you’re awesome, Luce.”

  She nodded, shoved her hands in her pockets, and dipped her head. “Will I ever hear from you again?”

  “Definitely. I lost my phone in the speakeasy, but I’ll have a replacement soon. Give me your number.” I summoned a pen from my bottle and copied her number on my palm. Retrieving my business card, I flipped it over and wrote a number for a landline. “This is to my Pops’s house. In case you need something before I replace my phone.” The back of my neck heated as I pressed the card in her hands and met her eyes. “And… when I see you again, I’ll probably kiss your lips off.”

  She turned beet red, unlocked her phone, and added me to her contacts. “I might hold you to that promise, I might not.”

  Penny hurried back in, her face a mask of worry and concern. “Someone’s coming.”

  Probably FBI agents. Power like Sigvald’s—and the rumors about the bones—most likely alerted the office. This was where we’d part ways. I shook Penny’s hand, grabbed Luce in a tight hug, then set her back from me. “You two get out of here. I’ll handle whoever arrives.”

  “Thanks, Tanaka.” Penny nodded at me. “We couldn’t have stopped him without your help.”

  I lifted my chin, gave Luce my best smile, and stood over Sigvald writhing on the floor.

  “Don’t look back, honeybee. It’ll have more effect when he thinks on this, trust me.” Penny wrapped her arm around Lucy’s waist and hurried out.

  Lucy didn’t, and I wished Penny hadn’t said that. I guess I wanted to see Lucy’s face one more time. I leaned against the casket, peeking inside for another clue. The silk the bone had rested on looked like it had something, so I grabbed it and tucked it in my bottle, just in case. The men who Lucy thought of as goons three and four burst into the room. I stiffened. They gaped at Sigvald, the two djinni bottles, then at me.

  Goon four reached inside his jacket and flashed an FBI badge. “Where are the women?”

  I blinked. It hadn’t crossed my mind the goons could’ve been undercover agents. I wondered if Lucy’s magic had something to do with that. I retrieved my badge and flashed it back. “Malware Tanaka. They bounced after the Rushmore Cave.”

  Goon three read the Fae Protection Rights to Sigvald.

  “You’re in the CADD too, right? We’re wearing illusions to disguise us. I’m Cullen, that’s Rory. We’re both knights,” Cullen said. “We led Strause on a merry chase all over the Philippines to wait out the three moonrises, but he grew suspicious around Mount Pinatubo and ditched us. Thanks for waylaying him. Was there a bone?”

  I glanced at the tomb. The dust from the femur and Lucy’s wish had settled all around it. I shook my head. “No.”

  Rory laughed. “That’s a relief. Hey, Tanaka. Did you know Ganger reported you as a rogue agent?”

  “No, but I’m not surprised.” I sighed softly. “Once I learned what Sigvald Strause was up to, I didn’t have time to follow protocol.”

  “You accessing Strause’s file as well as Rasputin’s in the database threw up a red flag.” Cullen frowned at me. “You compromised our assignment.”

  “I didn’t have a choice,” I said.

  Rory and Cullen shared a look.

  “The CADD doesn’t think I wanted Rasputin’s bone for myself, do they?” I asked.

  “They thought you started working with Strause,” Cullen said.

  I jerked back as if the door to my career slammed shut in my face again. “Once I heard what Sigvald wished for, I couldn’t let it go. I had to beat him here.”

  “Eh, we’ll vouch for ya. Need a lift?”

  I pursed my lips and nodded. “That’d be great.”

  Rory lifted a compass charmed as a skeleton key and opened a door to the FBI. Cullen manhandled Sigvald to his feet and shoved him through. I grabbed the goons’ bottles and followed the knights through the door into a small copse of trees surrounded by office cubicles. This was the first time in nearly a year that I’d been in the CADD office and nothing had changed.

  Ganger stormed out of his office and jabbed a finger at me. “Why isn’t he in cuffs?”

  I guessed coming through a skeleton key door with Sigvald didn’t make me invisible anymore. Straightening my shoulders, I met his eyes. “I apprehended Sigvald before he could complete his wish for unlimited power.”

  Rory nodded. “When we made it through the maze, we found Tanaka standing over Sigvald and those bottles.”

  Suspicion tinted Ganger’s expression, but some of the stiffness eased from his stance. “Hmph. Toss Sigvald in the cage, and take Tanaka to an interview room. We’ll get to the bottom of this shortly."

  Smoke and mirrors, this isn’t over. Tension crimped the nerves in my neck as Rory led the way to the interview room. I half-hoped Ganger would ask questions instead of bringing in a fae to compel me to tell the truth. Sure, the latter would be easier for me, but if that happened, I didn’t believe I could keep Lucy a secret as I’d promised.

  Ganger stepped into the room what felt like hours later and sat across from me with a stack of files. He clasped his hands together. “Sigvald was spontaneously bottled while he was alone in his cell. Know anything about that?”

  I nodded, relieved he was no longer a threat. “Strause wished for unlimited power
on one of Rasputin’s bones, but he also had to wish for freewill on another, otherwise he’d become bottled.”

  “Three days ago, you accessed Sigvald and Rasputin’s files. Why? You weren’t assigned to that case.”

  I took a deep breath and launched into the details of how I found myself in an illegal djinni auction, which later tossed me into a race for Rasputin’s bones. I kept Lucy and Penny’s identities secret, even if it might bite me in the ass later, but Ganger knew about my three minutes as a master.

  “Who are these women?” His brows furrowed together as he flipped through Sigvald’s file.

  “Goldie was his accountant. Sigvald threatened to steal her daughter’s powers to get her to cooperate, so she in turn stole from him.” I kept myself relaxed, but my heart began to thump against my ribs. Using Penny’s time with Sigvald and their subsequent fallout was toeing a line between honesty and lies. It was the truth, just not the complete truth. “They ran off during the chaos in the Rushmore Caves after the fight with Sigvald.”

  “Hmm. We’ll need to find them.” Ganger rubbed his chin. “You’re on suspension while we investigate this mess.”

  My lungs deflated with my shoulders. At least I wasn’t under arrest. Yet. “I understand.”

  He closed the file and tapped his finger on it. “If you’re cleared, we will have to reevaluate your position in the CADD. What you did was reckless.”

  I wanted to argue that Rory and Cullen weren’t able to keep Sigvald from reaching the bones, and if it weren’t for me, he’d have unlimited power right now. But I kept quiet. It wouldn’t do me any favors to be difficult.

  “Off the record, Tanaka, you did good work. Now go home. There’s nothing else you can do now.”

  I let out the breath I was holding and went home to see Pops. I wasn’t sure I could keep Luce a secret, and I wasn’t so sure why I insisted on keeping the promise, especially if it ended my career, but… Her smile and slightly crooked front teeth flashed in my mind. I hoped she made it home safely.