No Such Luck Read online

  JACLYN WEIST

  This is a work of fiction, and the views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author. Likewise, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are represented fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or locales, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  No Such Luck

  Book design and layout copyright © 2018 by Dragons & Fairy Tales Press

  Cover design copyright © 2018 by Jaclyn Weist

  Copyright © 2018 by Jaclyn Weist

  For my brother, Ben.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  When I started this story, it was just a short one page story about a girl who’d never had anything bad happen to her. And then the leprechaun showed up at her door. Louie, Megan, Jared, and their friends have been a part of my life for the last several years, and it’s sad to see them ago. So, while they’re fictional characters, I’m thankful for them sending me on this journey into the writing world.

  I want to thank my fans for sharing this journey with me. I appreciate all of you so much!

  I’m so thankful for my family’s support. My nieces and nephews devour the books as fast as I can write them, and my mom has been faithful at reading and editing each and every one of them. My sister, Rachelle, has done a fantastic job with my covers and with the prints of the characters in the story. My brother, Ben, has helped me with the layout of the best snowmobiling and hiking areas in Idaho, and Charlotte and Kristen have helped in other aspects of the books. And thank you to my dad for encouraging me even when I wrote the short little stories in high school. Your words have stuck with me!

  Thank you to Tristi Pinkston, my mom, and Laura Bastian, and Rachelle Hearn for helping with edits, betas, and proofreads. You’re the best!

  And thanks again to Steve, my awesome husband. And for the trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland. It was the best, most inspiring trip ever, and I can’t wait to go back!

  MEGAN

  The air was still as the fairies waited for my answer. I’d just destroyed the Fairy Queen, and Ethan, the former Far Darocha, expected me to take her place. I tried not to laugh, which is what I really wanted to do, but I knew I couldn’t. These creatures needed a new leader, and I couldn’t take it lightly. I glanced over at Jared and Beth, whose expressions showed the same shock I felt. Adam’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw clenched. It was me. Always me who had the limelight. This time, I didn’t want it. This time, I would gladly give it to him.

  A look down at Louie and his son, Eoin, told me I had to say something. I swallowed and faced the fairies in front of me.

  “Thank you for your confidence. Please … please just give me a few days.” I looked over at Ethan. “Is that okay?”

  Ethan sighed. “Yes. That’s fine. It will give us time to work on your etiquette as ruler.” He turned back to the fairies and other creatures. “We will hold the official ceremony in thirty days’ time.”

  Wait. Whoa, what? “Thirty days? I need to go home. My mom is going to be worried sick.”

  Louie stepped in front of me. “What she means is that she’s okay with the arrangements.”

  The creatures watched us, looking uncertain. I needed to do something, and making them feel better seemed like the best way to get out of there the fastest. “Right. Thirty days sounds awesome. Er, wonderful.”

  With that, the creatures murmured between each other before cheering loudly. Ethan and Louie turned to me, and I backed up into Jared.

  “Seriously, guys, I can’t do this.” I pushed down the panic as Louie and Ethan glared at me.

  Louie stepped forward and spoke quietly. “You have to—at least until we can find another ruler. Potential kings and queens will come. These creatures saw you fight, and will believe you are the rightful ruler. But others will not want a human as their leader.”

  Jared took my hand. “So how do we get home?”

  Ethan sighed. “We can help you find another way. But until then, you have to watch your backs. Louie’s right. Humans don’t really belong here. We just have to ensure that you live long enough to make it home.”

  “Right. So Jared and Megan can stay here. Beth and I will go find a way out.” Adam took Beth’s arm and moved away from the group.

  Beth jerked him back. “No way. We’re not leaving her here. Megan, come on.”

  I looked between her, Louie, and Jared. “I … I don’t think I can.”

  Beth rolled her eyes. “Of course you can. We need to get home. We saved your mom, like we came here to do. Life is waiting for us back home.”

  “You guys can go find us a way home, but I need to help them. I just killed their queen, and their king is gone because of me too. The queen was evil from what I could tell, but the king—” I paused, not wanting to think about what had happened. “The king died saving me. I’ll follow as soon as I can, but I have to stay.” I couldn’t believe I was saying that. I wanted to go home. I’d just sent my mom back, and now it was just the four of us and a bunch of fairy-tale creatures from bedtime stories.

  Jared put his arm around me. “Let’s at least get back to the castle. We need to find out what everyone knows before we can do anything anyway.”

  Adam stared at Jared for a moment before nodding. “He has a point. Plus, we need supplies. Who knows how long we’ll be traveling through this fairy world.”

  “Right. Now that we have that settled, we need to get you out of here. I worry about you being out in the open.” Ethan turned to the leprechauns. “Will you escort them to the castle? I’d offer to carry them, but Megan has already made it clear that she doesn’t like that form of transportation.”

  Louie nodded. “Aye. I’d be surprised if we made it back before anyone else arrives to demand their right to the throne.”

  “Wait—how will anyone else know? The portal is right here, so these creatures are the only ones who can see that it’s closed. Well, besides those who are stuck on the other side now.” My mind was still reeling with what had just happened.

  April fluttered down to sit on my shoulder. “Megan, you just defeated the queen of the fairies. Every creature on this planet knew the moment she died.”

  Right. Magic. Fairy world. I’d just messed up big time, but what was I supposed to let Oona do? Enslave me? Take my luck? That wasn’t about to happen.

  The leprechauns took us back with a snap of their fingers. I’d hoped never to see this castle again. Now this place would be mine if I didn’t find someone else to rule. I watched as Adam stormed toward the rooms we’d been given, and Beth followed after, appearing worried.

  I glared down at Louie. “You just had to steal my luck, didn’t you?”

  He chuckled. “Sorry about that.”

  “So, what do we do now? I don’t have a clue how to lead a nation. I barely survived being student body president, and I didn’t even do much then.” I sat down in the chair they set behind me. It was unnerving to
have the fairies standing around me.

  “You do nothing but learn how to govern. We do our best to keep you alive.” Louie snapped his fingers, and his clothes turned from the familiar brilliant green suit into an old-fashioned suit with way too many ruffles. “Now that I’m your royal advisor, I advise you to change into something more appropriate. Anything humanlike will be burned. We can’t remind anyone of your origins. Once your wings start to grow, we’ll need to readjust your dress.”

  I jumped out of my chair, feeling the space between my shoulder blades. “My … wings? What do you mean, my wings?”

  “Every fairy queen must have wings and the crown. They will come. Now focus. Go to your room and change. We’ll have everything ready for you when you come back out.”

  I leaned down into Louie’s face. “I. Am. Human. I’m not a fairy. I’m not a leprechaun. I’m not an elf. Get it? I can’t have wings.” I thought I’d panicked before, but wings? How was I supposed to explain something like that to my family? Oh, I was just off trying to save the fairy world, and now I have wings.

  Louie swallowed and backed up. “Look, I don’t make the rules. And to be quite frank, you’re the first royalty who wasn’t a fairy already.”

  I growled and stormed toward my room. Everything was such a mess. Beth sat in front of the mirror, staring off into space. She jumped when I dropped into the chair next to her.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.

  “They want me to grow wings. As if the rest wasn’t insane enough.” I pulled out what was left of the twist in my hair and brushed it.

  Beth stared at me in horror. “How do they expect you to do that?”

  I shrugged and leaned forward to rest my head on the table in front of me. “What’s wrong with me, Beth? Why can’t I just have a normal life? I want to go to college, and get married, and move on with life. And then things like this happen.”

  “Normal wasn’t meant for you. This is your normal.” Beth stood and took the brush from me. “And while I’m not exactly thrilled to be here right now, I’m actually enjoying myself. We were bored out of our minds while you were gone. And instead of easing us back into adventure, you just kind of shot us into the fairy world.”

  “And now everyone hates me for it.” Or at least Adam did. I needed to talk to him, but figured I’d give him time to cool off.

  “We don’t hate you. This isn’t your fault. You had to do what you did. We just didn’t realize what it would mean for you afterward.” She brushed through my hair until the tangles were out, and then I pulled it back into a ponytail.

  “Thank you.” An overwhelming feeling of drowsiness suddenly hit me. I dropped my head into my hands.

  “Are you okay?” Beth asked.

  I shook my head. “No. I think I need to sleep for a few years.”

  Beth helped me over to the bed, and I climbed in. I was vaguely aware of voices as they moved in and out of the room. I heard something about a transformation just as I slipped into welcoming blackness.

  I slowly opened one eye and closed it, hoping the pounding headache I felt coming on would just go away. Nope, it was still there. I rubbed my face and rolled over before attempting to open my eyes again. I wanted to escape from the nightmares that had plagued my dreams, but sleep didn’t seem willing to let me go.

  “Megan? Oh, you’re awake.” Jared’s voice was muffled, but I was thankful to hear it nearby.

  I nodded and rolled over to find him. He was dressed in a well-tailored suit, but his expression was full of concern as he leaned onto the thick green comforter. Wait, green? My bed had white covers. I struggled to sit up, but Jared gently pushed me back down.

  “Where am I?” I was still exhausted, but my brain was trying to understand what had just happened.

  “Your new room. They didn’t want you in the servants’ quarters any more. Apparently, that wouldn’t look good to the ten different factions who are waiting outside.” He brushed a hair from my face and bent forward to kiss me. “You had me really worried.”

  “I was out enough to be carried into another room?” I didn’t want to move, even though I knew we had things we needed to be doing.

  Jared glanced at something behind me before answering quietly. “You’ve been out for a few days, actually. The transformation isn’t working. Why didn’t anyone tell me you were supposed to get wings?”

  “What do you mean, transformation?” I pulled myself up, and instantly regretted it when the room spun.

  “To become queen. Louie didn’t realize it would happen so soon.” Jared took my hand and rubbed it between his thumb and finger. “Does that help your head?”

  “A little. So … I don’t have wings?” I reached back and didn’t feel anything.

  He shook his head. “You can’t. It’s like something is fighting the magic. Louie thinks it’s your luck.”

  “Makes sense. I have to admit that I’m relieved. I don’t think I could handle it on top of everything else.” I stretched and let out a yelp when I saw something drawn or tattooed along my arms. “What the—?”

  “Oh, I forgot to mention that. Louie also said that your own form of magic might try to show itself in a unique way.” Jared stood.

  My arms had green Celtic knots running up them, with four leaf clovers intertwined. “Um, can I choose the wings instead?”

  Beth sat next to Jared. Her dress was finer than the one she’d worn to the banquet, and her hair was swept up into a twist. “I think it’s pretty cool. Not that I want them on my arms, but this just shows that your power is luck. All you need now is a green hat and buckles so you can look like Louie.”

  I grabbed my pillow and hit Beth with it—which exhausted me more than I’d thought it would. “Where’s Louie?”

  “He’s off being the official something-or-other. Adam had a long ‘talk’ with him, which means he grabbed him by the frilly collar and told him to get us home as soon as possible. Your brother is grumpy.” Beth picked a piece of lint off her dress.

  “You’re just now figuring that out?” I asked, eyebrows raised. “So, what do we do now?”

  Jared and Beth glanced at each other before Jared cleared his throat. It seemed that neither of them wanted to answer me.

  “Guys? We can’t just stay here. Adam has a point. Louie brought up a million times that we’re not safe here because we’re humans. And if my dreams are any indication, things are going to get very bad, very fast.” I shuddered.

  “Well—” Jared stopped and whipped around when the door burst open. “What’s going on?”

  Eoin leaned against the door, trying to catch his breath. “Elves … approaching … full armor.”

  Jared looked down at me. “I don’t know what you dreamed, but from what’s happening outside, they’re probably not wrong. We’ve been stuck inside to ‘guard’ you instead of fighting. That’s part of why Adam went all crazy earlier.”

  I pulled off my blankets and grimaced at the tattoos running down my feet. “Seriously? This is ridiculous.” I stood, and Beth and Jared had to grab my arms so I wouldn’t fall over. “Ugh, what’s wrong with me?”

  “It’s the transformation still trying to take place.” Eoin moved closer, and I was amazed at how much he’d grown in just the last couple of days. His beard was longer, and he had laugh wrinkles around his eyes. “You need to fight it. Pull in every ounce of luck you can and finish fighting it off, or you could die.”

  My eyes widened. “Why didn’t anybody tell me that?”

  Beth glared at Eoin. “Why didn’t you tell us that?”

  “Because we just learned that from the fairy council. They’d been wondering what was taking you so long.” Eoin wrung his hands nervously. “Beth and Jared, come with me. This isn’t going to be easy on Megan, and it’s best that she does it on her own.”

  “No. I need to stay with her.” Jared took my hand.

  “I promise, she’ll be okay. But when we say ‘transformation,’ it’s not pretty. And she could do th
ings that she’d regret later. It’s best for all of you to leave.”

  Beth looped her arm through Jared’s “Come on. Let’s go see this big army of elves. Unless they hide that from us as well.”

  Jared looked back at me with pain in his eyes. “Be careful. I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I waited for Jared and Beth to leave the room before turning to Eoin. “What do you mean, it isn’t going to be easy? And what happens if I’m covered in more of … this?” I gestured to the tattoos on my arms.

  Eoin bit his lip and looked back at the door. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. You need to hold on to something that reminds you of the things you love most and makes you who are, and don’t forget it.”

  “That doesn’t scare me at all. Okay, I’d better get this over with. I’m tired of being exhausted.” I sat back down on the bed.

  “Very well. We’ll guard your room, and make sure it’s soundproof. You have new clothes in the wardrobe over there.” His face turned bright red as he turned to leave.

  “Uh, yeah. That doesn’t make me feel any better. Why does it need to be soundproof?” I felt a pain in my gut that was nothing like I’d ever felt before. Nausea swept through me as I felt like knives were ripping me to shreds.

  “You’ll see.” He quickly shut the door behind him.

  That was helpful, but it didn’t matter because I was about to find out. The transformation had begun.

  MEGAN

  I’d thought the pain from the dragon poison had been bad, but this took pain to a whole different level. The agony in my stomach shot to every last inch of my body. I felt like I was being pulled apart as a power stronger than I’d ever felt took over. My hands extended, my legs grew longer, and the skin turned black and inky, like the demon that had once been Bryce. The pain suddenly stopped, and left me … powerful. I picked up a lamp and crushed it in my hands. I could do anything. I let out a booming laugh that shook the room.