No Such Luck

by Jaclyn Weist

  I covered my face with my hands. “Why is this such a mess? There wasn’t anything to tell. Until now, I guess. But I figured you knew more about it than I did. The fairy queen is supposed to have a king. And Jared wanted to be the only one who could claim to be king. Or at least, that’s what I’m assuming, from all the hints he was giving me before we were interrupted.”

  She flopped onto my bed next to me. “It’s a good thing, because otherwise I would have left one of those herb bombs in Jared’s bed. Nothing happens without my knowledge. Got it?”

  “You’ll be the first person to know. I promise. Besides, Mom would kill me if she missed my wedding. I have to make sure I delay anything serious until we’re back home.”

  “You’re right. She would. Okay, you sleep. I’m going to go have a talk with Jared. And make sure Adam has everything he needs for his trip.”

  “You can go with him if you want, you know. I’m not going to make you stay here with me.” I had enough on my plate at that moment, and I could see how depressed Beth was that Adam was leaving. Even if she’d never admit it.

  Beth stared at me before shaking her head. “I can’t just leave you here. Who’s going to keep you from doing something stupid?”

  “Jared. Besides, Adam will be stuck with Eoin for the entire trip.”

  “Ugh, another good reason to stay here.” Beth walked to the door. “I’ll be back.”

  “See ya.” I rolled over and closed my eyes, hoping for the headache to go away with some rest. Except that I couldn’t sleep. I’d had way too much sleep over the last few days, and while my body wanted to lay there for a few more years or so, my mind kept shifting from one thing to the next.

  The book Louie had given me lay next to the bed, so I finally picked it up to look through it. Puck wasn’t going to leave me alone any time soon, and I had yet to deal with the others. Once I had studied their likes and dislikes enough to have them memorized, I set the book down and thought about my options. Having allies was a good thing, and I needed a lot more. Especially after the attack on the palace that day.

  It was the unknown that was killing me. I hoped that Adam would find out what army was coming before he had to travel too far. If those people really could hide themselves, they could be halfway here by now.

  There was a knock at the door before a guard came bursting in. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but we have urgent news. O’Malley has been spotted near the north marshes. His army is … larger than we’d expected.”

  I jumped out of bed, cursing the exhaustion that threatened to knock me over. “Oh, boy. I got up too fast.” I stopped and closed my eyes until the room stopped spinning. “Do we have an army anywhere near there?”

  “No, Majesty.” He wrung his hands. “But we can have one there immediately if you request us to do so.”

  “Perfect. We’ll leave in thirty minutes.” I stretched and looked around for my sword. What had they done with it?

  The guard grunted. “You will be going nowhere near the battle. It’s too dangerous.”

  I stood straight and glared at him. “I have been in battles for the last year and a half, and I’m not sitting out now. O’Malley needs to be stopped, and I’ve already defeated him once.”

  “Yes, and then you killed the fairy queen and let him loose.” His anger made me step back.

  Jared stepped in the room and placed his hand on the guard’s shoulder. “I believe you owe Meg—er, the queen—an apology.”

  “It’s okay. He’s right. I can’t expect everyone to love me.” Even though it would have been nice. “Jared, have you seen my sword?”

  He shook his head. “Louie put it somewhere for safekeeping. I’ll go ask him where it is.”

  “Thank you.” I turned back to the guard. “Tell everyone we leave in twenty-five minutes. And I will be going.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” He bowed and left quickly, leaving Jared with me.

  I walked over and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Beth tells me you had to sign papers for me.”

  He kissed my nose and pulled me close. “Not that I had much choice. They were going to storm the castle and come after you otherwise. This allowed us more time.”

  “Thank you. Your Majesty.” I grinned and kissed him. This had been the first downtime for a while, and despite my horrible headache and overwhelming exhaustion, things finally felt right. Well, as much as they could while I was queen in a different world …

  “I’m not a Majesty. Yet. And I haven’t had the chance to talk to you about it.” He kissed me, leaving me breathless.

  I pulled back, lightheaded. “I’ve been thinking about it. There’s no one else I’d ever want but—”

  “Hello?” Beth said from the doorway, interrupting me. “We’re about to go to battle, and you two are just standing there snuggling? Come on.”

  “We’re talking, not snuggling.” I grinned at her before kissing Jared on the cheek. “We’ll talk tonight, okay?”

  Jared nodded. “Fine. I’ll go find your sword.”

  I watched him walk away before turning to Beth. “You have really bad timing, you know that?”

  “Hey, I just came to find you. It’s not my fault I walked in on you two kissing. Now, come here. I was given some herbs to help you.” She led me over to the dressing table. “Your guards are ticked that you’re going, but I don’t blame you. I’m so sick of being stuck in here.”

  “No kidding. I feel like I’m a prisoner.” I closed my eyes while she rubbed the back of my neck. The herbs she used helped my headache go away, and the exhaustion slowly faded. “What is that stuff?”

  Beth shrugged. “I only know of a few of the ingredients. Most are only found here in the fairy world, but there’s some chamomile, dogwood, and ginger root. Then there were a few others mixed in for your exhaustion. We just have to make sure you don’t drop over from false energy. Apparently, that can happen.”

  “That’s just lovely.” I rubbed my eyes and stood. “That helped a ton. Thanks. Let’s get out of here.”

  Beth grabbed her bow from by the door. “I thought you’d never say that.”

  “Have you heard anything from Adam?” I grabbed a jacket and followed her out the door, ignoring the flanks of soldiers that fell in line behind us as we walked.

  “He left with Ethan, since Eoin was in no shape to go. He promised to be back as soon as he could.” Her grip tightened on her bow. “I should have gone.”

  I stopped and turned to her. “Go, then. Louie can take you to meet them.”

  Beth bit her lip and looked away. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. He was upset that I wouldn’t leave, and we had an argument.”

  “Adam’s just having a rough time being here. Louie?” I waited for Louie to appear next to me. “Can you take Beth to meet Adam? Please?”

  Louie rolled his eyes. “Fine. I needed to share some more information with him anyway.”

  “Sweet. Thanks.” I hugged Beth. “Please stay out of trouble.”

  “You know me.” She winked and grabbed Louie’s hand. “Now if you’ll just do the same thing. No getting killed while I’m gone.”

  I laughed. “Got it.”

  They disappeared, leaving me alone with my guards. “Um, hi. Do any of you know where Jared is? Or the rest of the army, for that matter?”

  “This way, Your Majesty,” one of the guards said and then in unison, they turned around and walked the other way.

  “Uh, why were we going this direction, then?” I glanced behind me.

  The guard laughed. “We wondered the same thing.”

  Jared was in the throne room, looking at a large map. He glanced up and grinned when he saw me. His dimples made my stomach do a little flip-flop. He’d always been hot to me, but the battle gear he wore showed off his perfect body.

  “I found your sword.” He picked it up off the dais and handed it to me. “Where’s Beth?”

  “I sent her off to go find Adam. What are you guys doing?” I leaned over to see a s
maller version of the map that we’d studied earlier. “So, where is this army?”

  Jared pointed out a few different places. “It’s not just one. And we don’t know if they’re all O’Malley or not.”

  “Great. And it looks like we just sent Adam and Beth into an ambush.” I pointed to the spot they’d been headed. Three armies stood out.

  “Oh, those are just small. Brownies and pixies. I think Ethan can probably talk them into following you pretty quickly.” Jared pointed over at another spot. “This army, however, is what we’re worried about. Reports have come in saying there are giants, ogres, and trolls.”

  I rubbed my forehead. The headache that Beth had gotten rid of was coming back quickly. “Awesome. Well, let’s stop them before they get too close.”

  “That’s easier said than done.” Jared pointed to a few X’s on the map. “See those? The army keeps disappearing and showing up in different spots. We have no clue how they’re managing to do it, but it has O’Malley written all over it.”

  “Um, well, that makes it much more exciting, doesn’t it?” I stared at the map. “Is there any kind of notice beforehand where they’ll appear next?”

  Jared looked up at the other guards. “Have any of you heard of anything?”

  They shook their heads. There was a rustle from the back of the group as someone shoved their way forward. I groaned when Puck stepped through the guards. His uniform matched Jared’s, which surprised me. That must have been part of the agreement Jared had to sign. It made sense, though. Keep your enemies closer, right?

  Puck winked at me before turning to the map. “What this mediocre map doesn’t show you is that each of these spots are flat. Where there was vegetation and scattered homes, it’s now barren. Someone is going ahead of the army and clearing the area.”

  “How do you know this?” Jared asked, surprised.

  Puck smirked as he turned and pointed at his strong, feathered wings. “I can fly higher and faster than most of the fairies in this world. I’ve been watching them for a while now. Admit it—you need me.”

  “Yes, we need you. Do you have any idea where they’re going next?” I asked, ignoring the flirtatious grin he kept shooting toward me.

  He shook his head. “They haven’t prepared any land. That’s why I came here. Now might be a good time to take off.”

  “Good thing we were just getting ready to leave.” I turned and headed for the front doors. The guards and Jared ran to catch up. The doors opened as I approached, and I stopped in surprise.

  This was the first time I’d left the palace—besides the walk through the garden—and I was amazed at the armies standing in front of me. Goblins, fairies, elves, and leprechauns all stood in ranks. They bowed as one when they saw me leave the palace. I nodded back at them and wished for a large stand so I could talk to everyone at once. When I raised my hands, a large piece of earth rose and formed a dais that had stairs up to the top. Not bad.

  I took Jared’s hand and walked up the steps, then faced the crowd. “We must do all we can to stop the enemy that is coming for us. Because of this, we must split up.”

  Noise erupted as those below argued back and forth, and Jared leaned toward me. “What are you doing? We need to stop this.”

  “We have no idea where they’re going next, so we have to be ready.” I turned back and held my hand out for silence. Once everyone was quiet, I continued. “We will split you into four groups—”

  “Five,” a voice yelled from behind me.

  I turned to find Puck glaring up at me. “Five?”

  “I will take my fleet up into the air and guide from there.” His smug expression made me want to smack it off.

  I’d be having words with him when I got done. “Fine. Five. Each of you take a direction and head that way. We must not allow them to reach the palace for the good of our kingdom.”

  The head guards waited for me to come down the steps before they scrambled up to split the armies into groups. I headed straight for Puck and stood closely so only he could hear what I had to say.

  “If you ever undermine my authority again, you will regret it. Do you understand?” I stared until he swallowed.

  “Yes, Your Majesty.” He sneered and bowed. “I’ll take my group and go. If I see anything, I’ll be sure to report back.”

  I watched him take off and turned to Jared. “Are you ready?”

  “Always. Let’s get rid of these guys before they destroy everything.” Jared and I walked over to Louie.

  “You have everything under control while I’m gone?” I asked.

  “Aye. Just hurry back. Ethan sent a message saying the army is emerging. It’s what we feared.”

  I gulped. “Mermaids?”

  Jared chuckled. “We’re about to go fight giants, and you’re afraid of mermaids?”

  Visions of the mermaid in my hotel room came back to me, making me shudder. “You have no idea. Okay, let’s get this taken care of so we can get back.”

  Louie took us by the hands. “You know, once you have control of your magic, you can do this on your own.”

  “Oh. Right. Let’s not try that yet, ’kay?” I felt the pull as he disappeared and we reappeared in a forest somewhere. The shrubs were dense, and vines hung down from the thick trees. The air was humid, and I could already feel my hair sticking to the back of my neck.

  Jared looked around. “Why are we here? I thought we were heading for the army of ogres.”

  “This is one of the spots where we once had a gateway into your world. If others knew you were trying to find a way to leave, there would be riots, and you’d lose your crown—and probably your life.” Louie pushed his way through the bushes, swatting at bugs.

  I turned to Jared. “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

  Jared laughed. “I don’t think he cares. Come on.”

  We fought through the bushes as they tangled around our legs and stuck to our clothes. The bugs were worse than the mosquitoes back home. Branches caught in my hair, and Jared had to help me pull them out.

  “I can’t get over your gold hair. It’s so cool.” He smiled down at me, making my heart flutter.

  “So, you don’t mind it?” I’d kept it pulled back so I wouldn’t have to see it, but now that he brought it up, I was self-conscious again.

  He caressed my cheek before leaning down to kiss me. “It just makes you that much more beautiful—something I didn’t think was possible.”

  “Hey, you two lovebirds. Get moving.” Louie glared, though his mouth twitched into a smile before he went stomping through the trees.

  I laughed and gave Jared a quick kiss. “You’re too sweet. Come on.”

  We pushed through the last of the trees and came into a large clearing. Louie stood in the center, chatting with a fairy in a long, flowing purple dress. Her hair was curly, and had leaves and branches throughout it. When she saw me, she knelt and bowed her head.

  “Please stand.” I walked over to Louie, my face burning. I’d never get used to the whole bowing thing.

  She stood. “Welcome, Queen Megan. I am Donella, and I watch over the forests. Louie tells me that you’re searching for a gate.”

  “Yes, we need a way back to my world, but Oona closed the one near my home.” I cringed, knowing I probably shouldn’t have said I wanted to go home, but what else could I do?

  “Sadly, the one here was destroyed with her.” She gestured toward a circle of mushrooms—a fairy ring. It was the way I had gotten here in the first place.

  Jared turned to me. “You’re the queen now. Maybe you could make it work.”

  “Possibly.” I’d thought of the same thing, but how was I supposed to open the portal? Beth and Adam had wished for it to open when Jared threw O’Malley and the grey man inside. It was worth a try.

  I walked to the center of the mushrooms and closed my eyes. Okay, so what next? The fairy ring hadn’t looked like anything but a circle. I’d been sucked through, but as far as I could remember, it hadn’t c
hanged at all. The portal at Phantom Falls had been all big and swirly. Maybe it could look like that instead.

  I wished for the fairy ring to work again, and pulled up with my arms like I had so many times before. There was a rush of wind, but instead of feeling the pull in my stomach, my head felt like it was being pulled off.

  When the feeling stopped, I opened my eyes. Everything lay in desolation. Remains of what used to be a large city stood in front of me. It was a place I’d never been, but it was somewhere in the present. Burned-out cars were strewn across the streets. What had happened here?

  “Megan?” Jared’s voice was muffled and distant.

  “Jared? Where are you?” I turned to find him. and by doing that, the sucking feeling came back until I fell to the ground, sick to my stomach.

  Jared’s strong arms pulled me tightly to him. “Are you okay?”

  Visions of the destroyed city played through my mind, and I shook my head. “I don’t know what happened. I could feel myself traveling, and then I saw this place … it was destroyed.”

  “You were standing here in the middle of a bar of light. We couldn’t get your attention until I pulled you out of it.” Jared rubbed my shoulder to comfort me. “Do you know where the place was?”

  I shook my head. “No, but it was a big city.”

  “Donella, do you know where this portal led?” Jared asked.

  “I have not used this portal to travel. I only guarded it. It is one of the oldest portals.”

  Louie cleared his throat. “It’s in Athens. Megan, are you sure of what you saw?”

  “Yes.” I scrambled to my feet and nearly fell over. Using this magic wore me out way faster than using my own luck. I just wanted to be rid of it already. “Do you think it actually happened? Is Athens destroyed?”

  “Most likely not. Unless you know of any wars going on in your world, it may have just been a vision.” Louie bent down and inspected the mushrooms. “These are tainted.”

  Donella rushed over and knelt next to Louie. “What do you mean, tainted? No one has been here in months.”