Tchadd crossed his eyes, one pupil following each of us. “If you want to get this W, you’ll need to get lucky.”

“Well, no shit.” I’m pretty sure that was, like, the entire point of the conversation.

“You misunderstand, Emma. You’ll need to get lucky.”

Olivia adjusted her top hat. “Stop wasting our time. How exactly are we supposed to ‘get’ lucky?”

“Under normal circumstances, the optimal training regimen would involve betting entire multiverses on casino games at an infinite rate through supertasking, but it’d take more resources than this company has available if you wanted to accomplish something like that. However, there’s a bit of an alternate route to success - if you’re generous in your interpretation of ‘success’ - in the form of borrowing luck from a higher being.”

“‘Borrowing luck’?” I didn’t understand what he meant.

“There’s a luck bank that you can take a loan from. I’d offer my own stash, but with the situation the company’s found itself in lately, I’ve been running this show on a shoestring as it is. I couldn’t afford the expense out of pocket, but I’m sure that at least you, Emma, have good enough credit for the job.”

I snapped. “And what if I can’t pay the interest? How does the foreclosure work? If you can’t afford to pay, there’s no way that I’d somehow be capable.”

“Don’t worry about paying it back, I’ll be able to handle it after the work’s done. If I somehow still didn’t have the funding, then the worst that could happen would be the foreclosure of your past lucky actions, maybe some from your time in the target’s world, and we’d be back where we started. I’m sure I could figure out another approach if it really came down to a situation like that.”

“Just get on with it. Where’s the bank, and how do we take out a loan?” Olivia rose from her seat and started walking backwards toward the exit, still maintaining full eye contact.

“Just go to the interdimensional highway, you’ll be able to figure the rest out on your own. But we still need to discuss the terms of the contract, or you’re working for free.”

“There won’t be any contract, Tchadd. You’ll pay me right now, and I’ll do as you say to maintain my reputation. Otherwise, the deal is off. There’s no way I’d sign a contract with someone who routinely uses them to enslave people for eternity.”

“Then you can see what happens when the bank denies your loan after what happened with your college fund when you come without any contract or affiliation.”

“Then there’s no deal to be had. Emma, I hope you can escape this freak’s ‘business’ sometime soon. Thanks for the beef wellington, bitch.” Olivia reached to open the gift shop’s door, though her arm was frozen in place before she could twist the handle.

“You won’t be leaving my domain until you agree to a contract, bitch.”