Twist of Luck

The first day of Megan’s senior is going to be perfect. But then April, a frazzled fairy shows up claiming to be Megan's bodyguard, things go downhill from there. It wouldn’t be so bad if her luck would just behave like it should so she could fit in at school.

Megan’s final hopes for a normal senior year are dashed when she finds out that Louie is not only back, he’s sending creatures after her. His biggest mistake, though, is taking what Megan cares about the most, and now he's going to pay.

The knocking on the window pane was sharp and irritating. I blew the hair out of my
face in aggravation and glanced at the clock—three forty-six a.m.? Who in their right mind would be up at this time, knocking on someone’s window? I picked up my pillow, smashed it down on my face, and tried to muffle the sound.

Ping!

I squeezed my eyes shut, and willed myself to go back to sleep. School started the next
morning, and I didn’t want bags under my eyes for the first day. I’d been so excited for my senior year.

The pinging sound wouldn’t stop. How many rocks could a person find to throw, anyway? I
finally gave up and stomped over to the window to find who could possibly be
stupid enough to risk waking my parents. When I didn’t see anyone, I unlatched
my window and pulled it open.

“Wow, it took you long enough. I thought I’d have to stay out there all night.”

I looked down and found a small creature with wings on the ledge of my window. I yelped, flicked it with my fingers, and slammed my window shut. This was not happening again! I jumped back in my bed and threw the blankets over my head, curled up in a ball, and plugged my ears. Maybe if I concentrated hard enough, I could fall asleep and discover that this was all a dream. After a few minutes, I relaxed and pulled one finger from my ear to see if the creature had left.

Suddenly, my blankets flew off, and I was left staring at a rather upset fairy with its hands on its hips. The delicate features and bright pink hair made me assume it was a girl. She had fragile wings like a dragonfly and wore a T-shirt and sweats—kind of odd, but maybe she was in her pajamas. After all, it was almost four o’clock in the morning.

“Well, that wasn’t very nice of you. After everything I’ve done, this is how you repay me?” She paced back and forth on my stomach. Her small steps tickled.

“Whoa, wait. I’ve never seen you before. What do you mean, you’ve helped me?” I was now wide awake.

 “You didn’t think your room cleaned itself,
did you? I had to fix everything when that leprechaun messed it up and took your brother.” She said “leprechaun” like it left a bad taste in her mouth. Well, that was one point for her—anyone who wasn’t a friend of Louie’s was a friend of mine.

“Thanks for doing that.” Never mind that I’d done most of it before I took off after Adam.
“Why haven’t I seen you before? What’s your name?”

She stopped her pacing and looked at me. Her face went red and she flitted toward the window.

“Wait! Did I upset you?” Great. I meet my first fairy and tick her off within seconds.

She stopped and turned. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have knocked. You’re not supposed to see us.” She paused, biting her lip before going on. “We’re everywhere. Our job is to make sure magic is under control. My job is to watch over you, and I didn’t
make it into the house before midnight. Now I’m in big trouble.” She turned to fly away, and I reached out to stop her.

“Don’t go! I won’t tell. I’ll go back to sleep and pretend I never saw you.” I climbed in
bed, closed my eyes, and pretended to sleep. I slowly opened one eye to see if she was still there. She sat perched on a shelf with her legs crossed, and her chin rested on her hand. What a boring life for fairies, I thought as I drifted off to sleep, praying it was all a dream.