Page 58 of Luck Be a Genie

Please, God, don’t take her from me.

Lucky

I wasn’t really aware for a long time, just floating on an endless sea. It had been stormy before, but now I floated there, closing my eyes with my face tipped toward the sun as the waves gently rocked me. I had no concept of time. No sense that I needed to hurry or do anything or be anywhere. I was just there.

Floating.

Peaceful.

The first awareness I really felt was the sense of the waves gently pushing me toward the shore in the distance. It was like the waves were hands passing under my body, carrying me forward until I felt sand underneath me, and then the feeling of the waves surrounding me was gone, and I blinked my eyes open.

The reason I couldn’t move was because Nick was wrapped around me like an anaconda.

He was crying.

I tried to speak, failed, tried again, and failed again. I could feel him, and I could feel my hand threaded through his, so I tried to squeeze his hand to let him know I was awake.

He jolted and his eyes flew open. When he saw my face, and that my eyes were open and focused on him, he started sobbing, getting me wet.

I really wanted to sass him and tell him I’d already had a shower, but A, now was clearly not the time, and B, I still couldn’t speak.

Instead I kept squeezing his hand, letting him know I was okay, and that I’d made it.

Miraculously, I’d made it.

I didn’t know how, but I had.

I searched within, trying to figure out what was different, but was interrupted by Nick attack kissing me everywhere on my face he could reach.

“I’m afraid to move you,” he said gruffly. “Are you in pain?”

I shook my head. No. No pain at all. I felt like I was floating on the ocean, but I thought maybe that had only been a dream.

Or had it?

I was no longer sure. It had felt real. And more than the way that dreams sometimes felt very realistic when you woke up.

That was all the permission my husband apparently needed to pull me on top of him, bury his face in my neck, and squeeze the life out of me.

We stayed like that for a long time. Again, I wasn’t aware of time passing, just the feeling of peace and endless waves within me. There was a little bit of wind? Of bottled-up power? I didn’t really understand it, but the endlessly peaceful feeling kept me sane until I could speak again.

When I could? The first thing I said was the most important. “I love you,” I whispered.

Nick’s laugh was watery. “You are in so much trouble right now.”

Valid.

“We did it.” My voice was raw and sore. Like I had been screaming all night long without pause. “My chaos magic is gone.”

Because I couldn’t move very much yet, Nick adjusted my body again, moving my head to his chest but positioning me so I could still see him.

“Yeah, I can see it. I’m not sure what elemental magic you have, though. Your cells look like they’re still in a state of flux.”

I remembered the feeling of the ocean. Of the dream that hadn’t felt like a dream.

“Water,” I whispered. “I think water... but also something else? I’m not sure. It feels... powerful, but it’s not as strong as the water.”

His eyes widened. “Are you saying you think you have two elements?” He was whispering now too, which told me this was probably a big deal.