Beginner's Luck_An Urban Fantasy Adventure

by J. A. Cipriano

  This was definitely the same pattern. Joad was bluffing, trying to force a tide change that would cripple me. But still, I was only ninety-nine percent sure the other plays had been bluffs, which left a one percent chance that he had a dominating hand.

  I waited longer than I should have. All the cards were out, and I’d only built three of a kind with a pocket pair of jacks and a third in community. But in addition to the jack of spades, the community cards had the nine and king of spades, the king of hearts, and the ten of diamonds. Joad could’ve made a straight, flush, full house, quads … or even a royal flush. In fact, the odds were extremely low that he hadn’t made any of those hands, all of which beat my trips.

  Which made this the perfect opportunity for him to bluff. He’d expect me to realize that there was almost no chance he had a crap hand, and he wanted me to fold so he could shift into aggressive play and get me on the defensive.

  That wasn’t going to happen.

  He’d already started to look smug, sure I was going to fold when I flashed him a massive grin. “Okay, Baylor,” I said as I slowly counted the pot overage from my stacks, pushed the rest in, and turned over my not-so-strong pair of jacks. “I call. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  The switch from smug to furious happened in a flash. “You son of a bitch!” he roared, half-standing from his chair and bumping the table hard enough to rattle the chips. “No way. No fucking way!” Veins bulged in his neck, and he started to reach for his pocket.

  “Sit down, Mr. Baylor,” a deep voice said as Titus approached the table from the edge of the platform. “Keep your hands visible, or I will take you into custody now and ask questions later.”

  I almost laughed out loud. That must’ve really chapped Titus’s ass, having to defend me in public.

  Joad’s face flushed darkly as he lowered himself to his seat in jerks and spurts. He glared at me, reached for his hole cards, and threw them face-up on the table. Two of hearts, five of clubs.

  Nothing. He had absolutely nothing.

  The crowd erupted in cheers, applause, and shouts, drowning out whatever Tiffany was trying to say over the loudspeakers. For a minute, I was too stunned to react. I knew he was bluffing, but I didn’t actually believe it until I saw the cards. And truthfully, his bluff should’ve worked. The odds had absolutely been in his favor.

  But I’d read the bastard right, and I’d won. I’d actually won the Four Skulls.

  This was fucking awesome.

  35

  They had a little award ceremony on the platform, with Tiffany and Jeremy coming down from the announcer’s box to present me with the prize. Tiffany droned on for a few minutes about the history of the item, which had been crafted by the great warlock Magnus Fortuna during the Black Death epidemic of the 1300s and some other stuff. Jeremy had the honor of handing me the luck pendant, encased in a slender, hinged glass box, and he never had to say a word to the crowds.

  He grinned as he gave it to me. “Great game, man,” he said. “I hope this thing actually works.”

  “Me, too,” I told him as I shook his hand, and then Tiffany’s. The pendant was a silver interlocked double star, one hanging from the lower point of the other, on a heavy silver chain. And for something that was supposedly made in the 1300s, it gleamed like it was brand new. I decided to put it on right away and opened the box as I descended the platform, leaving Tiffany behind to exhort the delights of spending all your money at the Chute.

  The chain was long enough to put the necklace on without opening the clasp, so I slipped it over my head and tucked the box into my jacket pocket. Wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen, but I didn’t feel particularly lucky when I put it on. I’d probably take it to Golar so he could figure out how it was supposed to work.

  Elias, Arden, Mist, and Zorah had stuck around until the end of the tournament, and they mobbed me when I walked off the platform. I got congratulatory kisses from everybody but Elias, who gave me an awkward hug instead.

  “I knew it,” he said. “I didn’t stand a chance against you. Excellent game, my boy.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a modest shrug as I casually scanned the Grand Ballroom. Joad had left in a rush the instant they’d officially called the game, so I didn’t really expect to spot him in here. But I couldn’t dismiss the idea that he might try to jump me again, to take the pendant since he hadn’t managed to win it.

  I’d mentally replayed his outburst at the end of the last hand, and it only made me more suspicious. He’d been trying too hard to act outraged like he wanted everybody to see how pissed off he was about losing. But something in his eyes had been cold, almost mocking. As if things had gone exactly the way he wanted them to.

  Zorah must’ve noticed that my mood was a little off because she took my hand gently and waited until I looked at her. “Are you okay?” she said. “You look … worried.”

  “Maybe I am,” I said softly, leading her a little away from the rest of them as they discussed which bar we should hit to celebrate. “I’m not sure, but there was something about Joad that didn’t feel right. I don’t think he was nearly as mad as he was acting, and that makes me think he didn’t actually need to win.”

  She frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. Of course, he’d need to win, if he wants to live. Unless …” She broke off with a soft gasp and stared at the pendant. “He couldn’t have,” she said.

  “Couldn’t have what?” I glanced down at the necklace. The too-shiny, too-new pendant that was supposed to be eight hundred years old. “Shit. You think he switched it out, don’t you?”

  She gave a shallow nod and reached toward it. “May I?”

  “Yeah, go ahead,” I said.

  Biting her lip briefly, Zorah cupped the double star charm in a hand and murmured a few words under her breath. She waited, and her brow furrowed as she opened her fingers slowly. “Nothing,” she said hoarsely. “This pendant is no more magical than the floor we’re standing on.”

  “That son of a bitch,” I spat. My mind raced for a minute as I tried to figure out how the hell he’d pulled this off, but I quickly realized it didn’t matter how. The only thing that mattered was finding him and getting the real pendant back before he could deliver Oberon the means to do something horrible to Princess.

  “Come on,” I said, leading Zorah toward the platform where Titus still stood like an evil statue. “Hey, guys, you’ll have to start the celebration without me,” I called to the others as I passed them. “We have to take care of something. Just text me where you’re going, and I’ll meet you there.”

  They had questions, but I didn’t have time to answer. I kept moving.

  Titus realized I was headed for him with Zorah in tow and turned to fix an angry amber stare on me. “What do you want, Mr. Wyatt?” he grated. “You’ve won, and you are still alive.”

  “I want to report a few crimes,” I said as I stopped in front of him. “Theft, for one, and probably cheating. It’s cheating if you steal a prize from a sanctioned tournament, right?”

  The Enforcer folded his arms. “This is not amusing,” he said. “The prize is right there, around your neck.”

  “No, this is a fake.” I yanked the pendant off, and the chain snapped easily. That definitely shouldn’t have happened with a powerful, one-of-a-kind magical item. And if that wasn’t enough proof, I immediately spotted more. “Look at this,” I said as I held up one of the broken links. “It’s just brass coated with silver, and the silver is flaking. This was not crafted by Magnus the Great or whoever in 1300s Europe.”

  Titus’s expression grew thunderous. “It seems you are correct yet again, Mr. Wyatt,” he said sourly. “And I suppose you know who is responsible for this.”

  “Yeah, and so do you. It’s Joad Baylor,” I said. “You should’ve detained him when you had the chance. So can you find him, like, right now? Because if we don’t catch him fast, he’s going to hand over half of the conquering-the-world keys to Oberon.”

  Even as I said
it, I wondered if Titus knew anything about Oberon. But from the way he grabbed me and immediately vanished us, I was guessing he did.

  He also brought a very surprised Zorah along with us, since she was still holding my hand when he teleported.

  We reappeared in a half-empty AutoCab lot at the north end of the city, and I understood right away what Joad was doing way up here. This place was a few blocks from the abandoned silver mine, the only way in and out of the UV that wasn’t magically monitored.

  But he hadn’t made it there yet. He was fifteen feet away and headed for the street that ran behind the lot when we materialized, and he whirled toward us with a snarl that was barely human. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Wyatt?” he said. “Following me? You have no right to—”

  “Give me the pendant, dickwad.” I started toward him, ignoring Zorah’s gasp of warning. “I know you swapped it. And I’d love to see you explain yourself to Titus here.”

  If Joad was surprised or concerned, he didn’t show it. He just sneered. “There’s no proof of anything,” he said. “Your little pet Enforcer there can’t detain me unless he gets a confession.”

  “I think what you just said was close enough,” I told him, expecting Titus to cast a suspension field any second now. “So why don’t you—”

  While I was talking, Joad had been reaching into a pocket. Suddenly he pulled out a small leather pouch and slammed it hard on the ground between us. The pouch burst open, and the heavy smell of sulfur filled the air as thick red smoke billowed out, impossibly fast.

  Great. Demon magic. This was not a good sign.

  Blinded by the smoke, I felt the same jerk-and-fall sensation that came with portal transports. The smoke was slow to clear, and before I could get myself oriented again, there was a flash of white light from somewhere nearby. Whatever it was seared my shirt and sizzled into my flesh like someone had pressed a hot iron against my chest.

  “That should take care of your goddamned tiger,” Joad called from somewhere in the gloom beyond the thinning red smoke. “And now, it’s your turn.”

  My heart raced as I stumbled away from the sound of his voice, desperately blinking to try and restore my vision. “Princess,” I gasped, “you okay?”

  I am, she said in my head. But … I cannot summon myself.

  “Shit, okay, let me try. Convoca,” I said.

  Nothing happened.

  “Goddamn it!” I shouted, just as another white flash went off in the darkness. I dove out of the way, this time catching a brief glimpse of the surroundings in the afterglow of the magic attack. It looked like we were in some kind of abandoned building, a big space with a dirt floor, rusty corrugated steel walls, and a bunch of clutter pushed into piles. Which meant this was the Dregs since it was the only place in the city where building code violations meant nothing.

  And where the hell was Joad pulling this magic from? These attacks weren’t from his Agony Orb. In fact, they seemed like natural magic, which he definitely didn’t have.

  “Don’t worry, Wyatt. I’m not going to kill you,” Joad’s voice taunted from the gloom. “I’m just going to hurt you so badly that you’ll never wake up. He’s given me the power.”

  My gut churned. So that’s how he was doing this. Oberon must’ve have given him some kind of boost to make sure he didn’t fail.

  “Are you planning to use that watch, Wyatt?” As Joad spoke, he hurled another white bolt, forcing me to scramble out of the way. The attack missed me by an inch. “Go ahead. I can still see you, no matter what you do.”

  This time I’d managed to see him briefly when he threw the magic. He was wearing a pair of brass goggles, like the ones Zorah had on when she helped me defeat the alterhound. Oberon must have given those to him too. They’d let Zorah see the dog, so I had to assume that Joad wasn’t lying. He’d be able to target me even if I shifted into alterspace.

  “I’m disappointed, Joad,” I called as I summoned my dice, hoping the chatter would distract him for a minute instead of drawing more fire. “I mean, working for Oberon is bad enough. But it looks like you’re doing business with demons, too. What was up with that pouch?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he shouted back as another blaze of white raced toward me. I hit the ground hard and rolled the dice. In the darkness, I had no idea what they’d landed on.

  “Actually, I don’t want to know,” I said as my hands glowed green. So I had energy bolts, but no idea how many. “I’m not planning to make friends with demons anytime soon.”

  Instead of replying, he shot more white fire at me. I ducked and blasted back, watching the green bolt light up the room as it traveled in Joad’s general direction. Unfortunately, it missed him by a few feet, but now I had a better idea where he was.

  I sent more bolts, barrage style, and hit him with the fifth one. I heard a strangled cry and a thud as he fell, but the glow vanished from my hands. I must’ve rolled a five.

  “Nice try, Wyatt, but you’re not going to win this one,” Joad called out as I called the dice back to my hand and quickly rolled them again. At least they didn’t have a delay like the watch. “You’re about to wish you’d never been born.”

  More white light flared, and at the same time, a green glow surrounded me completely. I let out a laugh and started toward Joad, the light of the magic barrier giving me all I needed to see. Whether I’d rolled a three or an eleven, it’d be enough.

  “What …? How …?” Joad sputtered as he stepped back, raising a hand that glowed white. He blasted an attack at me, and it fizzled against the barrier in a shower of sparks. “No!”

  “Too bad, Baylor. You might have the actual luck pendant, but I think your luck just ran out.” I recalled the dice, rolled quickly, and this time my eyes burned hot as my fists lit up. I slowed and drew my hands back. “Snake eyes,” I said, grinning as the blood dripped down my face. “You lose.”

  I blasted him without hesitation. The green fire engulfed him, and he let out a liquid scream as he staggered a few steps and fell to his knees, still burning. He finally fell over, blackened and smoldering and silent, just before the green glow faded away from me.

  Guess I must’ve rolled a three before the snake eyes.

  I stood there for a moment in the dark, trying to catch my breath as the strain of that last attack hit me. I felt drained and achy, my mouth dry and my legs weak. But at least my eyes had stopped bleeding.

  Before I could decide what to do next, there was a rushing sound like a match being struck somewhere behind me. It almost sounded like an Enforcer’s teleport spell. That was confirmed when Zorah’s voice sounded in the darkness. “Seth, are you in here? What is that smell?” she said, and then soft yellow light filled the space.

  I turned to find Zorah and Titus standing a few feet away. One of them, I wasn’t sure which, had produced a small, hovering ball of apparently harmless glowing energy. Zorah looked past me and made a horrified choking sound. “Is that Joad?” she rasped.

  “Yeah. Uh, sorry about that,” I said and stared at Titus. “Let me guess. You’re finally going to Smite me.”

  Titus looked slowly from the smoldering corpse to my bloodied face. “Clearly, this was self-defense,” he said. “There will be no Smiting necessary.”

  I couldn’t help grinning. “I have no idea why you’re being so nice to me, but I’ll take it,” I said. “Thanks. I just hope I didn’t destroy the pendant along with him.”

  Luckily, I hadn’t. The luck pendant was around Joad’s neck, and I lifted it carefully from his crackling remains and dropped it in my pocket. There were still flaky bits of ash clinging to the metal, and I didn’t want to put it on until I’d cleaned it off. “Okay, so am I right in assuming we’re in the Dregs?” I said.

  Titus nodded. “The spell he used in the parking lot temporarily blocked my powers, and of course, they are also weaker in this area. But I did manage to find you.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that. Seriously,” I said. “Well, I guess
while I’m down here, I might as well stop in and see Golar about the pendant. Want to come with me, Zorah?”

  She shook herself to clear the shock and smiled. “Sure. I don’t have anything better to do.”

  I took her hand, located a door out of this place, and then faced Titus. “Listen, I don’t know how to … I mean, thank you. Maybe someday you’ll tell me why you decided to help me out.”

  “Perhaps I will,” Titus said, and I thought I detected the ghost of a smile. “Do not kill anyone else tonight, though.”

  “Hey, I can handle that,” I said, giving him a half-wave as I headed out.

  Now I only had one more enemy to take down, and I knew exactly what to do about him.

  36

  “I’ve never been here,” Zorah said when we reached Golar’s pawn shop. “It seems … nice.”

  I laughed as I pulled the door open. “Trust me, it’s not,” I said as I walked in and led her behind me. “Golar’s cool, though. Just watch out for the raven.”

  “Raven?” she echoed as the door closed behind us.

  As if mentioning the bird had summoned it, Edgar swooped out of the gloom and flew over my head, low enough to ruffle my hair. “Somebody’s here! Gimme a fuckin’ cookie!” he screeched. “Somebody gimme a fuckin’ cookie!”

  Well, that was a new one. Same words, but he’d combined them in a slightly different way. Maybe Edgar had a few brain cells to rub together after all.

  Zorah laughed as I patted my pockets, looking for the package of crackers I still had somewhere. “He talks?” she said with delight. “What a sweet bird!” She held an arm out and damned if the raven didn’t perch right on her.

  “Somebody’s here, cookie!” he cawed at her. He was really getting creative tonight.

  I found the crumpled cracker pack, fished out a whole one and held it out to the bird as Zorah gave him a fond head scratch. He waited a few seconds before he snatched the treat and bobbed up and down once, almost like he was saying thank you, then took off toward the back counter.