The Fortune Master

Chapter 1

Connie came home for Drizzlery &  Co. 100% ready to fight ghosts like ninjas with Jacob, but instead she found Mary and David, her mom and dad, standing up.

Connie had almost never seen that before.

"Mary? David?" Connie asked. "What are we doing?"

"Stewart Circle! Now!" Mary said, swatting her question away physically. "I have great news to share."

They huddled around her. "Mom, what is it?" asked Lucy. "Is it good?"

"Marvelous! Magnificent, even!" Mary told her excitedly. Connie had never known her mother to use such long words—or to have such a broad vocabulary. The longest had only been six letters, an those normally consisted of Connie's name and the family name "Stewart." What was going on?

"Mom, just spit it out," said Jacob anxiously.

"Today I did something different," Mary said. "I paid fifty cents for a lottery ticket. And guess which beautiful, young, lively woman won?"

"Victoria West?" Jacob guessed. The West family was the wealthy and very fortunate family who lived next door to the Stewarts. Victoria West was their 23-year-old daughter, who Jacob had developed a celebrity crush-type relationship with.

"No, silly boy!" Mary said. "It was me! We won the lottery!"

"What?" chorused the three youngest Stewarts.

"They're sending the check later today! We're going to be rich! We'll finally have some paper in the bank!" Connie cleared her throat. "Of course. Some more paper in the bank!"

Jacob and Lucy squealed and jumped with each other. "I can get a new bike!"

Lucy stopped. "Wait, what's wrong with our old one?"

"Lucy. It's a tricycle."

"Yeah, well, 99% of bicycle accidents happen on bicycles!" Lucy said.

"What does that even mean?"

David's brown eyes widened. "Mary, we can head over to the Lodge Casino with a bit of this cash and win, all this luck we've been having this week!"

"Oh, David, don't be ridiculous," Mary told him, and her husband's face fell. "We'll take a ton of it!"

Her parents laughed but Connie frowned. Lucy lens the odds of Mary winning was very slim, especially on her first ticket. So why was she jumping and squealing about microscopes?

Something wasn't right, and Connie knew it. There was no way she was going to accept the expensive gifts of this mystery lottery money. She'd work and work and get money to pay for herself, but the others could use it. That would definitely ease Connie out.

Connie frowned. But how did this happen? No one in Astryl, England had heard of a lottery being held in a long time. What was going on? Why was this so randomly appearing in front of their eyes?

Lucy noticed she wasn't cheering and abandoned Jacob for her. "Connie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Lucy. Why do you ask?"

Lucy frowned. "I know you're wondering how this was possible. Lotteries are held in longer than a day, duh. Plus, there's no way someone held a lottery in Astryl. I've never heard of one happening in twelve years. And how would Mom even win?"

Connie's eyebrows raised. "Maybe there is something after all."

Lucy smiled. "But relax. The money is handed to us! I know you work really hard. And I know that no one your age should pay their whole family's expenses. This could be your break! A vacation that was supposed to come a long time ago."

Connie sighed. "It's a beautiful dream, but ever since I was sixteen I've been working for this family. That's something hard to pull out of habit from. I'll take a few weeks off, but I don't have much to do when I'm not working, Lucy. Not like you," she said, ruffling her sister's brown hair. "You have friends, and school, and some homework... You're busy. That's better than being bored."

"I know. I think I like school, but Jacob says that's really weird. Is it?"

"A little," said Connie.

Lucy grinned. "That's good. Now, come on. To the few-weeks-off lottery!"

Connie smiled and high-fived her little sister. "To the few-weeks off lottery!"