The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get

by Amber Lynn

“You’re kidding me, right? I get knocked out for two months and during that time my best human friend is allowed to be kidnapped?” I screeched. I should’ve found out who’d been kidnapped sooner in the conversation.

  “If it makes you feel better, the warlock probably picked her up right after he saw there wasn’t going to be an explosion,” Rick said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “And that’s who you were all willing to just let die. Kyle, thank you for trying to be the voice of reason in this mess. I know you were outvoted, but you’re definitely getting a very large chocolate cake all to yourself for trying to talk sense into this mess of idiots.” I yelled the first part, but managed to lower my voice by the time cake got involved.

  “You’re welcome, dollface, but you might want to tone it down just a little. You’re starting to turn red,” Kyle replied.

  “Like we’ve been telling you, we’ve been trying to rescue her, but the warlock’s location has been unknown. Liam goes out most of the day, trying to track all the different power signatures, but in a city this size, it’s kind of difficult. This is the first time he’s offered to meet in person. Before, all interaction was via the telephone,” Nate said.

  “You guys are still not forgiven for being willing to let an innocent die. We need to leave now. Joseph, get the troops together and let’s blow this pop stand,” I said.

  I ran upstairs to switch out my knives. I wanted my demon-killing knife on me just in case, and I needed the biggest knife I had, because I wasn’t sure the warlock would be allowed to live after taking Ettie. He’d better pray she was unharmed. I did my hair up really quick, so I could insert the chopsticks, and called it good.

  I made it back downstairs, and without waiting for anyone, I headed straight to the car. I felt Nate following behind me at a safe distance. I went to jump in the front seat of the first Suburban I ran into, but Nate stopped me.

  “The plan, your plan, was that you’d pretend to still be unconscious. That means you ride on my lap in the back, like I am carrying you,” he said, taking my hand and dragging me to the back.

  “Fine. That will give us a chance to discuss some things.”

  We usually had someone drive us around, but I’d wanted to be front and center for the rescue. My plan obviously didn’t allow that, so it was good I had Nate around to keep me in line.

  “Can one of those things be where you went in your little dream world?” he asked.

  “I suppose, but I won’t be able to tell you a whole lot about that. I don’t want to disturb the time continuum or anything like that,” I said, climbing in after him.

  He positioned me in his lap, not all that different from the arrangement I had with the future Nate when we’d gone on our little car ride. I leaned back and closed my eyes, doing the best impersonation of a comatose person I could manage. I doubted I was good at it, so I needed to practice early.

  Nate leaned down and gave me a delicious kiss on the lips. One of the things I would never get tired of was Nate’s lips touching mine.

  “I didn’t get a chance to say welcome back,” he said, straightening up.

  “I’m still deciding if it’s good to be back. A part of me didn’t want to leave the place I was,” I replied.

  “That can’t be good. What was the guy’s name?” he asked with a joking tone to his voice.

  “Nate. What else could his name be?” I responded.

  “So, what did you and this Nate do that was so fun?”

  “Are the other guys almost here? I really would like to get going and I don’t have any communicator to tell them to hurry up,” I said, avoiding his question for a second.

  “They’re already loading up in the other vehicles. We’ll leave in just a few minutes. So are you skating around my question? You didn’t get to see this Nate naked, did you?”

  “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t really avoiding the question, I’m just anxious. Like last time, it was only a day. The big difference was that it wasn’t a past event. No one there would give me a straight answer on whether it was my future or just a place the warlock stuck me. My time basically consisted of me meeting our triplets and being the guest of honor at a party,” I told him.

  I really didn’t want to go into the detail that in that reality I was dead. I didn’t think that would go over well when he was getting ready to hand me over to a warlock.

  “You do know you aren’t shielding, right?”

  “No, I still thought I was in ninja mode. Pretend you didn’t hear anything,” I replied. The time continuum was basically screwed.

  “Can I ask how you met our children, if you were supposedly dead? Did you just show up alive and scare everyone?” he asked.

  “You don’t seem to be concerned about the fact I was in a future I’d been dead for five years in.”

  “You said it yourself, you don’t know if it was an accurate future. Even if it was, we can change things to make sure it doesn’t happen. Now, on to the important stuff, what are our children’s names?”

  He was taking it way too well. Maybe it was because of how real it felt to me, that I just assumed that was what was really going to happen. He was right, though, I could still change the future, and supposedly those future people gave me important advice, even if it sounded like normal advice to me.

  “Their names will be Aisling, Aine, and Aidan.”

  “Did they come out of a box of Lucky Charms? What’s up with the Irish names?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I guess I just liked them. They’re the cutest kids. Little Aisling is going to look just like her mama. It’s actually a little creepy how deep the resemblance goes. Of course, that’s only if that part of this future world is real. If it is, we’re going to have our hands full.”

  “With three kids the same age, I always expected a handful. Anything else you can think to tell me?”

  “Oh, I almost forgot. You can tell Scott it’s alright for him and Megan to come visit now.”

  “Really, another kid remembered? Something about the future has to be real since he decided to take that name within the last two months. I don’t think you could’ve picked it up anywhere. I wonder what will happen when you do remember all the kids. Past you seemed to indicate remembering all of them was the key to unlocking your memories. You picked me and Rick up along the way, but there are so many other people in your life you don’t remember,” he said.

  “Don’t look at me for answers. I’m just trying to follow a path that was evidently foreseen many years ago.” As I finished speaking, people finally joined us in our vehicle.

  “You guys ready?” Liam asked, taking the driver’s seat. I also saw a mist enter the car and had to assume that was Mak, already in shape to follow me if need be.

  “I think I aged three years just waiting for you guys. Let’s move,” I responded. Liam started the tank and we pulled out of the drive.

  “You didn’t want us going out without being well-armed, did you? It takes a few minutes to prepare for every situation,” Joseph said.

  “I know, but I have to pretend to be sleeping, and that makes me irritated. I should’ve thought a little bit more about this plan,” I said.

  “Just about everything makes you irritated. Now, close your eyes again and do a better acting job,” Rick said from beside us.

  “You better watch it, Freddie. While I was sleeping, I got to witness you fainting. Talk about a Hallmark moment. I so wish I had a way to record it for you,” I taunted him.

  “You are so making that up,” he replied. “I’ve never fainted in my life.”

  “Not yet you haven’t, but you may in the future. I’m still claiming it was just because you saw my pretty face. You heard me and Nate approach, and then wham, one look at me and you were down for the count.”

  “In context, she did mention to me that the future she visited was one where she’d been dead for a while. I’m sure it was just a reaction to seeing a ghost,” Nate said, trying to make him feel better.

  “S
orry, Nate, but a future where she’s dead, does not paint me fainting in a better light. I’m hoping you’re making plans to change that future.”

  “I’m just viewing it as she paid a visit to bizarre world for a little while and everything will turn out swell in the real world,” Nate said.

  “I imagine we have a few minutes before we get to our destination, why don’t you guys fill me in on what’s been happening in the human world while I was gone. What do they know about my disappearance?” I asked. I’d been planning to disappear for the wedding, so I hoped things hadn’t gone crazy.

  “We had to tell them the truth about you being attacked. We would’ve only been able to play the honeymoon card for so long, and we didn’t know if it’d be another three-day trip or if this one was going to last a decade,” Nate said.

  “You being out of the spotlight calmed Humans Unite down a bit. Evidently, with the pretty mouthpiece gone, the guys aren’t all focused on covering their attraction to you with claims that we’re aliens,” Rick added.

  “I’m sure that isn’t the reason they came together. That’s just silly,” I responded.

  “Hey, I just call it like I see it. You went away for a little while and so have they. Anyway, Charlie has done a couple more conferences, but we’ve postponed most of them until our leader is back on her feet. Overall, the human support for you has been overwhelming. You have tons of cards and letters to read when you get a chance. For a while, your room looked like someone vomited botanical gardens all over it,” Rick stated.

  “That isn’t exactly a pretty picture you’re painting there. So, human relations have been good, has there been any word from Malphas, or have the other teams had any run-ins that I should be aware of?” I queried.

  “Nothing on the Malphas front. Those planes we were following from Florida actually ended up landing in Iowa. We have teams monitoring movements, but they claim they’re all just warlocks, no demons running around in the cornfields. We aren’t sure if he knew you were personally defenseless or not, but he didn’t come knocking on the door asking for you,” Nate reported.

  “So, other than the months changing and a kidnapping we need to correct, the world remained the same without me. That’s good to know. Do you know where Frannie and Mom are?”

  “They’ve come down a couple of times, but they’re back in New York now. We convinced them there was nothing they could do, and we thought being away from here was probably safer for them,” Nate said.

  “Good, at some point, since I don’t feel like yelling across the country, someone needs to call them and tell them there’s going to be a wedding tomorrow. We’ve already lost two months and we should have this warlock taken care of today. That’ll leave us plenty of time to fly home and get the wedding out of the way.”

  “Wow, did meeting our potential children make you that anxious for our wedding night?” Nate asked.

  “You wish. I just don’t want to disappoint future Nate if I end up back there sometime and won’t do more than cuddle with him,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him. My eyes were still closed, so they could be taking me to some secure location to keep me from making the exchange, but I had to believe they aren’t that stupid. 

  CHAPTER 21

  The friends you thought you knew