Inwardly, Henry’s hellhound seethed.As if a dragon is half the beast a hellhound is. I could have all the good luck I wanted, if I felt like it.
Henry tried not to roll his eyes, even as he felt just alittlejealous of Caleb’s range of powers.I’m sure she’s just being polite.
Still, Henry sounded a little sharper than he meant to when he said, “Luck? I was never sure how much of that was real, and how much of it was just tall tales.”
“It’s definitely real, though it’s not like it’s just running 24/7,” Caleb said. “I have to decide to use it before it’ll take effect– things don’t just fall into my lap willy-nilly. But here, let me show you.”
He pulled out a deck of cards from a drawer and handed them to Luna. “Shuffle these, and then tell me what card you want me to draw.”
Blinking, Luna gave the cards a quick shuffle and then fanned them out, face-down. “Uh… clubs?”
Caleb plucked a card from the deck and turned it over – and sure enough, it was the two of clubs.
“That was a bit easy,” he said. “Drawing a card of clubs was still a one in four chance, which is pretty high. Be more specific.”
“Okay.” Luna shuffled the deck again. “King of hearts.”
Henry watched, fascinated, as Caleb pulled out a card with seeming indifference, before flipping it over to reveal exactly what Luna had specified.
“Huh!” Luna said, shuffling again. “Okay… ten of diamonds.”
Once again, Caleb drew the correct card, seemingly without hesitation.
“Ace of hearts!” Luna said this time. And, once again, to the surprise of nobody, that was exactly the card Caleb drew.
“You know,” Luna murmured as she absent-mindedly shuffled through the cards, “it says something about the day I’ve had that I can actually find it easier to believe that you have powers of good luck, than that you’re counting cards or something.”
Caleb laughed. “Yeah, counting cards is definitely beyond me.”
For the first time since all of this started, Henry felt a glimmer of hope. “So you’re saying that you might be able to use your luck to help us?”
Caleb nodded. “I’m hoping so. I’ve just got to work out what it is we need to actually get lucky about.”
“Okay.” Luna nodded. “So, what now?”
“Well, hopefully the others will turn up soon, and we can pool our resources,” Kira said, as she filled up a kettle. “But in the meantime, I’m going to make some coffee – does anyone want some?”
“Sounds great,” Luna said, offering Kira a smile. “I feel like I could do with something to drink right about now. I was thinking hard liquor, but coffee would probably be best.”
“Save the drinking until we have this curse thing sorted out,” Caleb said, laughing. “But since we’re waiting for the others anyway, would you object to me trying a little experiment?”
“What kind of experiment?” Henry asked, cocking his head. Hedidtrust that Caleb wanted to help, but his hellhound was making it clear that itdefinitelywanted to be consulted about anything involving their mate.
“Oh, nothing bad,” Caleb laughed. “I just thought I’d test how far I could push my luck. I can try it out with your curse, if you like? I can’t promise it’ll do much, though.”
“Okay, sure,” Henry said. He felt a little more comfortable trying out whatever Caleb was suggesting on himself, though he doubted it would involve anything that would put them in harm’s way. “What were you thinking?”
“It’ll probably sound stupid,” Caleb said, as he crossed the room to where a nice, modern-looking computer sat on the desk by the bookshelves. “But I was thinking… I could Google it.”
Henry frowned, not sure he understood. “You mean… Googling who put a curse on me?”
“Um. Do you think that would actually work?” Luna asked, exchanging a glance with Henry. “I mean, wouldn’t that just turn up… I don’t know, the website for some TV show or a book or something?”
“Maybe,” Caleb said as he sat down in front of the computer. “But it’s worth a shot, right? The worst that happens is we get some new TV or book recommendations, I guess.”
“Well, sure, I can’t see how it’d do any harm, anyway,” Henry said, coming around to stand behind Caleb at the computer.
He had to admit, however, that he didn’t really have much hope that this would do any good. How could it? Internet search engines didn’t work like that, so far as he was aware.
