Luckiest Girl In The World

One

Cronn must be laughing at me now.

Havia Reik sits down, narrowly avoiding being target practice for a couple of pigeons. She watches a couple going for a romantic stroll have their date ruined. In frustration, she holds her hands up to the sky, upon which several hundred dollar bills land in her hands.

Yep. That's me. Luckiest girl on the planet. Woohoo. Nope, not being sarcastic. Not at all.

Note the sarcasm.

***

With my luck, every time I turn a corner there are nice things pouring down on me, people giving me free stuff, and of course, avoiding disasters.

Believe me, I would do anything to be pooped on, to have my dreams crushed. To be a normal girl. But the truth is, I'm probably going to die instead.

***

Never have I stubbed my toe, gotten a splinter, or tripped. Never has anyone said no to me, and I've never dared to buy a lottery ticket, though I'm sure I would win.

I'm sure you're thinking, well, if she can control her actions, why doesn't she just stub her toe on purpose? Um, don't you think I've tried that? Because I have! Most recently:

I wasn't quite sure how you stub your toe, only that it hurts a lot, so I took a deep breath and swung my leg at the table leg. I missed. In frustration, I tried to kick the wall, but just in the nick of time, my boyfriend pulled me back for a kiss.

Yes, I have a boyfriend. Worse yet, he's the sweetest, most caring, considerate, handsome guy you'll ever meet. Girls have literally been known to pass out in his presence, and, in one case, be found at his window, drool frozen on her face and fingers blue.

Avinid is the most gorgeous guy you'll ever see. His skin is golden and I can never decide if his hair is sandy or golden honey; it's always rippling and mesmerizingly changing color. He's perfect.

Like me, his luck meter is in red: dangerous. We went to go see them one day. You're not supposed to see them, but Avinid's dad, Mr. Meir, works for the Seers and we were able to fake a visit and sneak in. Avinid gets me like no one else. Which is terrible, because he makes my life enjoyable. And where I live, happy is pretty much bad. You don't just get stuff. You try and try and try and are about to give up when it finally happens. Better yet, you don't even get it. Where I live, you don't just wake up happy. You wake up and pursue your goals and don't get them, then go to bed. Where I live, you're not me.

I have everything, but nothing bad. Which, itself, is bad.

I ponder this for the thousandth time as I lie on my bed, staring at the plastic-starred ceiling. The doorbell rings and I yell for them to come in because there's no way it would be anyone bad. I hear the door open, close softly, and Avinid's familiar footsteps make their way through the hallways of my house until his gorgeous frame is in my doorway, smiling. I smile, sit up and beckon for him to sit next to me.

"I have a plan," he tells me as he sits down and begins to talk.

***

We execute our plan on Friday the 13th, for bad luck. It begins exactly as we carefully laid out: Avinid in his suit, corsage ready at the front door, looking as stunning as always, my parents proudly handing me over, taking picture after picture with tears in their eyes; the limo, breaking down coincidentally in front of Cronn, the Prime Seer mansion due to a certainly most accidental slash causing a gas leak; Avinid paying the driver and walking up the steps, asking Cronn's wife if we could place a call; me spilling my drink on my silk apricot gown, receiving a change of clothes out of pity.

Cronn's wife, whose name we learn is Neiccah, offers me one of her simple skirts and a blouse. I change in Cronn and Neiccah's room and take a look around quickly. I see my target, grab it, and slip it in the pocket of Neiccah's skirt. When the second car of the night arrives, we thank Neiccah and tell the driver to take us to Seers'.

We've got a key, a mission, and a whole lot of luck.

***

At first, everything is perfect. We sneak in, and Avinid unlocks the Luck Meter room with Cronn's stolen key. All the Seers are gone; it's way too late for anyone to be working. All that could go wrong is a mistake, or a Seer having a Vision and catching us red-handed. Both of these could only happen after we execute our plan; during the getaway. So we carefully lay out the escape route as we make our way in; our luck is keeping us safe.

Somehow, I feel a slight tug in my heart. I suppose I'm a bit fond of my luck; it's not a person, but it's been with me my entire life. Too lower it is to kill it. It'll be gone forever.

Why am I doing this?

Oh, right, I won't be dead. So count me in.

We find my meter: Reik, Havia Lane. At first it's interesting as we sort through my files: what pet I'll have when I'm older (dog), when I'll get married (June 22 at the age of 26), but then it begins to get to the deeper things, and that's where the trouble begins.