Stolen Luck

Sixteen-year-old Megan Crenshaw is used to things going her way. Yet when a leprechaun rings her doorbell, she’s sure it’s just a prank. But after she spurns his generous offer, Megan’s shocked to discover she’s become an accident-prone nightmare.

With her sandwiches exploding and computer melting down, she can’t seem to prevent her escalating catastrophes from hurtling her towards certain self-destruction. So she teams up with her best friend and her boy-crush to track down the vengeful fairy and reclaim her blessing before the dice roll another disaster.

Can Megan break the hex before she comes to a cursed end?

The Worst Day Ever. The title
of my paper glared at me from the computer screen. It was due in two days, and I could think of nothing to write. In the sixteen years I’d been alive, I couldn’t remember a single day when embarrassing moments had happened to me.

Leaning back in my chair, I slowly turned in circles, looking for inspiration. Everyone had bad days, right? I looked at the trophies and ribbons. No ideas there—I always won awards and first-place trophies. There had been the time I’d received third place, but I also hadn’t tried very hard in that contest. The honor roll certificates showed that I did well in school too. I got up, walked to my
closet, and ran my hand along the hangers. No stains on my clothes, because I never spilled anything. The neatly arranged pillows and stuffed animals on my bed were suddenly too much. In my frustration, I jumped on the bed, sending the pillows flying. One of the pillows hit a glass vase and it nearly fell over, but it somehow came to rest on the table as I reached for it. Even when I tried, I couldn’t make things go wrong.

I sighed, deciding it was time to rest from homework for a while. I stood and stretched before going downstairs to find a snack. I had just opened the cupboard to get bread out for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when the doorbell rang.

“Adam! Can you get that?” No response. “Adam!”

He must have been wearing his headphones again. I slammed the cupboard and went to answer the door myself.

I turned on the porch light and opened the door, but no one was there. I looked down to see if anything had been left on the step. To my surprise, standing there was a
strange, round little man. He reminded me of a leprechaun I had seen in an old movie about Ireland. His clothing was a brilliant shade of green, from his emerald green top hat with the gaudy gold buckle down to his green leather shoes. His red hair stuck out in all directions, and his beard was long and scraggly. I
panicked and slammed the door shut. Who—or what—was he? Was this some kind of joke?

After waiting a couple of seconds, I opened the door again to find him still standing there, looking rather annoyed. I wanted to slam the door again, but figured maybe I was wrong and he just happened to like green. And buckles.

“How can I help you?” I asked, hoping my smile looked sincere.

“Hello, my dear. Can you tell me where I could find Miss Megan Crenshaw?” His voice was higher than I’d expected from his appearance.

“Um, I’m Megan. What can I do for you? Do I know you?” I became more nervous as he stared at me with a glint in his eyes. The fact that he knew my name and where I lived
scared me. I glanced behind me to see if Adam had come out of his room. When I didn’t see him, I started to close the door.

“I’m here to offer my services to you. I can spin gold, help you ace tests, get the guy of your dreams, that sort of thing.” He grinned roguishly. He tapped his fingers together and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

That was just plain weird. Here was this creepy little guy on my doorstep offering fabulous things, but I already had everything I wanted. Okay, so I was still lacking in the guy department, but I was working on it. And who spins gold? It’s like he’d
jumped straight out of a children’s fairytale book.

“No, thanks. I’m just fine.” I tried to ease the door closed.

He stuck his foot in the way. His boot must have been steel-toed, because I couldn’t push the door shut. I began to panic.

“Now, wait just a minute. You don’t know what you’re missing out on here. I’m offering you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He tried to force his way into the house.

“Go away!” I. yelled and pushed with all my strength against the door, heart pounding. This was getting out of control. I hoped my parents would be home any second.

The next thing I knew, the leprechaun had doubled in size and his eyes were glowing like red-hot coals. I let go of the door and backed up, looking around for something to throw at him. Unfortunately, Adam hadn’t left his baseball bat and cleats in his usual dumping spot in the hallway. I had nothing to protect me.

“You will regret this!” the leprechaun thundered as the door swung wide open again. He snapped his fingers and waved his arms, mumbling strange words under his breath. He disappeared in a flash of green and gold smoke. I stared at the empty
doorway for a moment before I rushed over and slammed the door, adrenaline coursing through me.

An overwhelming dizziness hit me, and I fell to the ground. I awoke to find myself lying on the tile. My head hurt where it had hit the floor. I waited for the room to stop spinning and my heart to stop racing. What had just happened? I remembered the crazy little man snapping his fingers, but it was fuzzy after that. Trying to convince myself I’d imagined it, I decided to make my sandwich and go back upstairs until my parents got home.

I got the bread out of the cupboard and opened the drawer to get a knife just as Adam came out of his room, singing to himself. I looked over at him, and in the process, I somehow managed to slam my finger in the drawer. Yelling in pain, I shook my
hand, trying to get rid of the shock. When I turned around to get the peanut butter, my head hit the cupboard door I had left open. I rubbed my head in frustration and went back to making my sandwich.

“Wow. Clumsy, are we?” Adam said, snickering.

“Why don’t you—” I whipped around and ran right into him. He had a large glass of grape juice in his hand. I watched in horror as my sandwich and his drink crashed to the floor.

“Good one, loser,” he sneered. If anyone thought my life was too perfect, it was Adam. I was only fifteen months younger than he was, and we didn’t get along. At all.

“I’m sorry. Let me clean that up and get more juice for Your Highness, so you can get back to your precious music,” I growled. Grabbing a wet washcloth from the sink, I cleaned up the mess while he leaned against the counter, watching. I refilled his glass with more juice and handed it to him with a bow.

Adam grumbled “Thanks” before disappearing into his room and slamming the door. Seconds
later, I heard music blasting through the wall. Typical. Apparently it was too much work to put his headphones back on. I made another sandwich and threw the soggy one in the garbage on my way out of the kitchen.

I tripped up the stairs, barely holding on to my plate. Muttering to myself, I set the sandwich on my desk and plopped into my chair to finish the assignment. When I touched the keyboard, I zapped it with static, causing it to beep angrily. My stomach lurched—I was scared that I had destroyed my computer. I tapped a few keys to make sure it was still working and sighed in relief when my document showed up on the screen. Too bad it was still blank.

I stared at the computer, nibbling on my sandwich. I typed the clumsy stuff that had just happened, absentmindedly wiping the crumbs off my shirt. I noticed too late that there was jam all over my fingers. Perfect. I changed into pajamas before grabbing wipes from the bathroom cupboard and cleaning the keys so they wouldn’t stick. After clicking “save” for the few measly words I’d typed, I started on my math homework.

The garage door rumbled open a while later, and I knew quiet time was over. My parents had taken my four-year-old brother and sister to my grandma’s to visit, and I could hear Maddie and William running through the house, yelling and giggling. They
must have loaded up on sugar. I felt bad for my mom having to put them to bed.

I finished my homework and put it in my backpack before heading into the bathroom to get ready for bed. My eyes were red from wearing my contacts all day, and was that
peanut butter in my hair? Gross. I grabbed the shampoo and washed my hair in the sink. Once my hair was scrubbed clean and wrapped in a towel, I started taking out my contacts. Maddie burst through the door at that moment, knocking into my elbow. My contact lens flew into the sink, and I barely managed to grab it before it went down the drain.