Page 10 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Seven

Winter

I t didn’t take me long to finish my last room on this floor, so I headed out and aimed for the room I was meeting Miles in. Halfway there, a strange sound made me pause my footsteps and listen.

“What the hell?” I whispered to myself, heading toward the noise.

Was that… lots of meeps ?

The sound was associated with gnomes, but I’d never heard so much at once before. Gnomes tended to be quiet during the day —at least they always were when I was in other homes infested with them.

My brow furrowed as the meeps continued. Where was it coming from?

I turned in a circle and finally stopped, facing the door Miles had gone through.

The sound was loud enough that I paused. That wasn’t… music or something Miles was listening to, was it?

There was no way it was really that many gnomes, right?

Maybe it was some kind of new trap method he hadn’t shown me yet?

The cacophony grew, and I stared at the door, a little horrified and a lot unsure. Should I go in or wait for Miles to finish… whatever the hell he was doing?

And then I heard a sob, and I was moving before I told my feet to go.

When I rushed through the door, I didn’t see him at first. I could only see what looked like hundreds of gnomes all over the floor, the desk, and in a large pile on the side of the desk.

Where the hell was Miles?

I gasped in horror when a voice mumbled from the pile. “No. Please, leave me alone.”

Holy shit. Miles was under there?

Miles's booted foot kicked out, making a wave of gnomes open up as they dodged out of the way.

Another sob came from the gnome pile. It was a sound filled with horror, fear, and defeat.

The meeping sound changed in tone, confusing me, but then I saw several of the gnomes crying. There were also many that looked… terrified.

It was as if the gnomes were feeling Miles's emotions, or he was feeling theirs.

Feeling his emotions.

Them feeling his.

His gloves.

He always wore gloves.

Oh… oh no.

“Stop touching me! Stop!” Miles yelled out, and I finally forced my feet to move again.

Not knowing what else to do, I used my feet and hands to nudge the gnomes out of the way, pushing them aside gently but quickly to get to Miles.

I knelt beside him and brushed several of the pests off, but he had his eyes squeezed shut, mumbling about fear, confusion, anger, annoyance, and curiosity.

“Miles.” He didn’t respond. “Miles, it’s Winter. What’s wrong?”

He still didn’t respond, so I glanced around at a loss for what to do.

The gnomes were making their way back over to us, but they didn’t seem to care one bit about me. They just wanted Miles.

As I watched, a gnome jumped up and pressed its palm against Miles's throat, and the man let out a low groan. I flicked the gnome off as my new suspicion was confirmed.

Miles was an empath.

That was why he never wanted to be touched. It was why he always wore gloves. It was why he was always so careful with his emotions around everyone.

Why hadn’t I put that together sooner?

Empaths were rare, yes, but everyone knew they couldn’t be touched. Everyone knew to never touch their skin without permission. Everyone knew you could overwhelm them, especially if you touched them without warning.

And everyone knew they could reflect their own emotions back onto you.

Many people feared empaths for that reason.

Many people avoided them.

But I had a secret of my own, and I knew I could help.

After flicking three more of the pests off of him, I ripped my own gloves off and quickly cupped Miles's cheeks, whispering, “Shh. You’re okay. You’re okay, Miles. I’ve got you.”

The effect was immediate. The tension in his body released, and he sighed and sank into my hold, rubbing his cheek against my palm.

“I’ve got you.” When I saw a gnome getting ready to jump on his chest, I sent it a glare, kept one hand on Miles's cheek, and used the other to flick it away. I was done caring whether I hurt them because these little bastards were hurting Miles on purpose. They’d obviously figured out he was an empath and had attacked him.

How they knew what he was and why they’d attack him when he was the only one in this city trying to save faeries, I didn’t know. But we could figure that out later.

Right now, I needed to get Miles out of here, and I needed to get him some medication before his migraine got worse—I knew how bad an empath’s migraines could get after an episode like that.

So without thinking too hard about it, I dug into his pocket for the keys, then scooped Miles into my arms and stood.

It wasn’t easy. He wasn’t a super small man, but thank fuck he wasn’t big either.

He was a lot smaller than me weight-wise—he was thin but still had some sharp muscles—but it wasn’t exactly an easy feat to carry him down the stairs and all the way out to the truck.

But I did it anyway.

I set him in the passenger seat, and when I walked around to the driver’s seat, the butler was standing in the back doorway.

“Hey,” I called over to him. “Miles is injured, so I have to take him home. We got most of the back rooms done, but he’ll have to call the homeowner to figure out next steps.”

The butler gave a nod. “Alright. Take care.”

With a nod back, I hopped in, started the car, and drove around the giant mansion to the road. Miles was curled up in a ball, his head tucked in his arms on top of his knees. Even from here, I could see his trembling.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” I whispered. “Do you have your migraine meds in the car?”

I could only assume he had some. Empaths were given migraine meds without question.

Miles gave a short nod that ended in a groan of pain, but he managed to nudge the glove compartment with his foot.

I pulled the truck over to the side of the road, parked it, and opened the glove compartment, searching for his medication.

Luckily, it was easy to find. When I glanced around for a water bottle, I was relieved to see one in the cup holder.

Miles had brought two with him, so hopefully this one was still full because I’d forgotten to grab ours from the house before we left.

I wasn’t even sure which room I’d left mine in—a worry for later.

“Here.” I passed him the medication after I read the label and took one pill out.

He ripped a glove off and held out his hand without opening his eyes.

His gloves were filthy, and there was no way he’d be able to put the tiny pill in his mouth with them on.

He looked tense and scared, but I understood not to touch his skin, so I dropped the pill into his palm.

He took the water bottle with his still-gloved hand, then swallowed the pill without opening his eyes before tucking himself back into a little ball.

I wasn’t sure what compelled me to do it, but I put my hand on the back of his neck, squeezing lightly. He tensed up, and I could tell he was about to yell at me, but then he slowly relaxed into my hold.

His confusion showed on his face when he glanced at me, but he tucked himself back in and didn’t move for a while, simply soaking up the peace I was bringing him.

I rubbed my thumb along his skin, letting him relax further. I wanted to get him home, but this would help him more than anything, and it’d give the meds a chance to work.

“How are you doing that?” His whispered voice was rough and raspy, sounding like he’d been screaming for a long time. It made me wince. How long had those gnomes been attacking him? When I didn’t respond, he said, “Winter?”

Well, it looked like it was a day for secrets, and Miles was about to find out my biggest one of all. I didn’t want to lie to him, and as soon as his migraine went away, he might be able to figure it out anyway. “I’m a null.”

He didn’t respond for a long time, but finally he huffed. “I don’t know what that is.”

That didn’t really surprise me. Nulls were rarer than empaths, rarer even than necromancers. “I naturally counteract any magic. That’s why when I touch you, you can’t feel or hear others’ emotions anymore.”

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

I nodded. “I’m not surprised. I don’t think anyone in the magical community wants to admit we exist. Having someone who can’t be affected by magic isn’t something they want getting around. Otherwise, we’d be sought after to break wards, protect against magical attacks, and things like that.”

Without letting my hand drop, he turned his head so his temple rested on his knee, and he squinted at me. “That makes sense, but… that means this is like a huge secret, right?”

I nodded. “Yes. But I trust you. I know you won’t tell anyone.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “Why in the world would you trust me? We barely know each other.”

I supposed that was true, but I felt like I knew him.

At the very least, I knew what type of person he was, and he wasn’t the type to go around telling people my secrets.

“That may be true, but… I feel like I know you.” I shrugged.

It was true, and I had no idea how to explain that.

I was following my gut yet again, and praying I wouldn’t regret it in the future.

He stared again, but finally, he whispered, “I feel like I know you too.”

That made me grin.

To my surprise, he smiled and poked me in the side. “Wipe that smug smirk off your face.”

My smug smirk only grew. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He snorted, then squeezed his eyes shut with a tiny groan of pain.

“Let me get you home and in a dark room. Since I was able to stop everything, you should recover faster than usual, but you still need to take a nap.”

His eyes were closed as he spoke. “How do you know so much about empaths?”

“My mother was an empath.”

His eyes flew open. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s how we figured out what I am.” I shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. “I’m going to remove my hand now so I can drive. Are you gonna be okay?”

He nodded. “Yep. I’m fine.” That wasn’t true at all, but I took a breath and released his neck.

He didn’t tense up, so I figured he was through the worst of it, so I put the car back in drive and headed for his house.