Page 18 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Fourteen

Winter

O f course it would be the cellar. Why wouldn’t Lyric lead us over to a creepy as hell cellar door? I mean, obviously if there was dark fucking magic somewhere, it’d be inside a dark, dank, scary place, right?

All three of us stood there, staring at the cellar door with frowns on our faces.

It was old, metal, and covered in rust, looking like it didn’t belong anywhere near the neat and beautiful mansion it was attached to. The door was so out of place, I couldn’t help but wonder if someone stole the real door and replaced it with this monstrosity as some kind of weird joke.

Of course, that was absolutely ridiculous, and luckily, I was able to keep my mouth from blurting that out—yay, mouth!—because I was sure Miles would think I was even weirder than he already did.

The one good thing about this wild situation? When I tugged Miles along, keeping one of our hands together, he didn’t pull away. So here I stood with the guy I was crushing on holding my hand and debating whether we should go inside the dark cellar where we’d probably be ax-murdered together.

Great . Now Lyric had me thinking about being ax-murdered too. Lovely.

Miles sighed. “Um… maybe we should see if I even have a key? We can’t just break in.”

“I’m sure there’s a way in from inside the house—mansion, whatever.” Lyric gestured to it. “We just have to find the basement door.”

I shook my head at them. “No way. We’re not going back in there. Not unless we figure out why they’re attacking us. We have no idea where the door to the basement even is, and I’m not letting either of you traipse around a giant house with tiny, half-naked demons attacking us.”

Miles snorted. “Half-naked demons? I like that. I’m totally calling gnomes half-naked demons from now on.” I shoulder-bumped him, and he sent me a smile before turning back to Lyric. “I agree with Winter.”

“That’s because I’m always right.”

“Okay, slow your roll, there, Mr. White Knight, before you get a big head.”

I almost said Oh, I’ll show you a big head alright , but managed to keep my mouth shut. Again. Two for two, mouth. Woohoo!

Somehow, even though Miles didn’t know me very well yet, he saw right through me.

He pointed at my face. “Don’t even say it.”

Lyric burst out laughing. “He has your number already, boo.”

I flipped them off, shot Miles a wink, then reached into his pocket. His eyes went wide, but all I did was fish out the keys the client gave him. With a grin, I reluctantly released his hand, turned to the cellar door, and started messing with the padlock.

It wasn’t difficult to find the right key, and I was relieved when I managed to get the lock open. I half expected a zombie or something to jump out at me when I pulled the door open, but nothing happened.

I looked at my best friend, then at my… Miles and gave them both a nod.

“We stick together and watch each other’s backs. If we see a group of gnomes, we retreat, okay?”

Lyric sighed dramatically. “Why does it sound like we’re going into battle?”

“Because we kind of are?”

They rolled their eyes. “I’m usually the more dramatic one out of the two of us. Stop taking my lines.”

Miles and I both snorted at them, then I waved them off and looked at Miles, holding my hand out again. “Together?”

He blew out a tense breath, then slipped his hand in mine. “Yeah, together.”

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind,” Lyric said.

Miles looked at them very seriously and said, “I would never.”

They stared at each other for another beat before both of them laughed, and my heart warmed at the sight of my favorite person in the world and someone I was hoping would become another favorite person getting along.

Giving Miles's hand one last squeeze, I walked down the first step, then let go of him—reluctantly again—since we wouldn’t fit side-by-side and I didn’t want either of us to fall down the steep steps just because I wanted to keep touching him.

“I’m right behind you, Winter,” Miles said.

“And I’m bringing up the rear, which I’m not sure is my favorite spot among this trio, if I’m being honest, but at least I’m not first.”

I flipped them off over my shoulder. “Don’t even think about bringing up axe murderers right now.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of creepy basement monsters, like ghouls or something.”

I paused, then gave my best friend a murderous look over my shoulder. They just grinned at me like they were proud of being an asshole.

Miles chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Win, I doubt there’re any ghouls down there. I mean, surely, we would’ve heard them by now, right? Aren’t they attracted to sound? They’d be coming at us already.”

“Maybe,” Lyric said. “But if not, at least you and I will make it out alive.”

“Wow, trying to replace me already, Lyr?” I asked, rolling my eyes at them.

Lyric chuckled, then reached around Miles to pat me on the top of the head like I was being a good dog or something. I batted their hand away, then took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness.

The second I crossed the barrier, a strange heaviness fell over my entire body, as if the air down here was thick and weighted. It was like I’d stepped into an entire other world, and the air was making me sluggish, like I was walking through mud and breathing through a thick cloth.

The feel of… something in the air—magic, maybe?—made goosebumps creep up along my arms and the back of my neck.

“For fuck’s sake, why’d you stop? Can we get this over with already?” Lyric asked as soon as they were in the room. Their voice came out harsh and angry, which gave me pause.

The change in attitude had me glancing at them with a raised brow.

All day today, they’d been going from the usual, happy-go-lucky person I knew and adored to a grouchy person I’d only ever seen a few times in our whole lives.

It was like their attitude was on a pendulum today, and that was so unlike Lyric.

Before I could say anything, Miles snapped, “Don’t be rude to him. We’ve only been down here for ten seconds.”

My eyebrows rose, because even Miles had been acting a little off throughout the day, and he sounded so pissed when a moment ago, he was fine.

What the hell?

To no one’s surprise, Lyric argued back. “He’s my best friend, I can talk to him however I want.”

“It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just treat people like shit simply because you know them. That’s called abuse.”

The dramatic gasp that came out of Lyric’s mouth was so loud, people on the moon could hear it. “How dare you!”

“Oh, I dare!”

The two of them looked seconds away from attacking one another with their fists, and neither of them were violent people.

As quickly as I could, I jumped between them, put my hands on their chests, and gently pressed them apart. “Okay, guys, please chill out. No one’s abusing anyone. Although I agree with that whole sentiment, it doesn’t really apply here, so thank you anyway, sugar butt.”

When I glanced between them, they both wore expressions of confusion.

Miles quietly said, “I’m so sorry, Lyric. I… I don’t know what came over me.” He shook his head and rubbed at his brow.

Lyric shook their head too, almost as if trying to clear the fog from their brain. “Uh, yeah, I’m sorry too. I, uh, I don’t know what happened.”

“Me either.” Miles looked down at my hand on his chest and gently touched my wrist before staring at me. “But I think I know what stopped it.”

Lyric said, “Yeah, there’s definitely some fucked-up magic in the air.”

I glanced between them again, then at my hands. Was that what’d happened? The magic had been affecting them negatively, but it stopped when I touched them?

Miles tilted his head at me. “Did you call Lyric sugar butt?”

“No, I called you sugar butt.”

He blinked, then barked out a laugh. “What the hell kind of name is that?”

I shrugged. “No idea. It just came out.” I winked at him. “I kinda like it though.”

He bit his lip and looked away, but I had no doubt he was blushing. It was too dark in here to see it, which was a shame since he looked adorable when he blushed.

After a brief pause, Lyric patted my hand. “Win’s gonna have to hold both our hands while we’re down here.” Then they added in a fake dreamy voice, “We can pretend to be a throuple.”

Miles and I both whipped our eyes over to them, and I knew I looked horrified. Lyric was my sibling in every way that mattered. No way did I want to think of them as anything other than that, not even if we were just joking around. Blech.

Lyric cackled. “Oh my god! You should see your faces.” They leaned forward and patted my cheek with one hand and Miles's cheek with the other. “Don’t worry, boos, I promise it was a joke. First of all, thinking of Win like that is just”—they scrunched up their face in horror and mock-shuddered—“absolutely disgusting—”

“Gee, thanks,” I said even though I’d been thinking the same thing.

They smirked at me before continuing as if I hadn’t spoken. “And second of all, I would never get in the middle of”—they waved a hand between Miles and me—“all that’s happening here. You two are too disgustingly cute together.”

Lifting my hand from their chest, I gave their shoulder a little push. “Don’t be an asshat.”

My small push made them laugh and take a couple of steps back. I watched in horrified fascination as Lyric’s laughing face turned into one of anger.

“Don’t push me, you dickweed!” They moved closer to me, acting like their tiny ass was going to get in my face.

All I did was put my hand on their shoulder, hoping my touch would stop their anger as easily as it did last time.

Immediately, the anger drained away, and Lyric looked a little sickened. “Shit. That was even more intense than before. Miles, you try.”

Before I could protest that we didn’t need to test it anymore, Miles stepped back, making my hand drop away from his chest.

Anger overtook his expression, and he instantly turned that anger on Lyric. “You really need to stop yelling at him, you douche canoe. He’s been nothing but nice, and you’re being a real jerk.”

Lyric leaned toward me and spoke quietly. “How cute is it that his anger is all about me being mean to you? He obviously likes you back.”

“Hey! Don’t whisper to him! What are you saying? Winter, what’re they saying to you? Lyric, stop being mean to him. You need to—”

Miles cut himself off the second I placed my hand on his shoulder.

Unlike with Lyric, I let my thumb rub Miles’s skin on the side of his neck, making him close his eyes and shudder.

His skin was so soft there, and I really wanted to feel it with my lips.

It almost felt like everywhere we touched was sending little sparks of happiness through my skin.

I hoped he let me keep up with the light touches.

“I’m sorry.” Miles’s voice was a hoarse whisper.

Lyric nudged me with their shoulder as we both stared at the still-closed-eyed Miles. Lyric said, “Nothing to apologize for. I liked your use of douche canoe.”

That made Miles snort, and I was grateful, once again, for my best friend.

Miles took a breath, then opened his eyes. “Soooo… clearly the magic is making us angry, and I’m guessing it’s worse down here because we’re closer to the source.”

“That’s my thinking,” I agreed with a hum. “Before we do anything else, let me see if I can suppress it.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to push my nullness outside of my body.

To be honest, using my magic in this way wasn’t something I’d needed to do often in recent years—being an exterminator wasn’t usually as exciting as all this—so I wasn’t very good at it.

My null magic wasn’t as strong as it probably could be if I trained regularly.

And this magic, whatever it was in the air, was strong .

So I wasn’t even surprised when I could barely cover the three of us with my magic, nor was I surprised that trying to maintain that coverage made my head dizzy.

When I tilted to the side, Lyric caught me, saying, “Yeah, no. We’re not doing that, Win. Let it go.”

I blew out a breath and listened to them, letting my magic go.

Lyric squeezed my hand. “Your innate magic is enough to help us as long as we’re touching you.”

“Are you okay?” Miles asked me.

I sent him a shaky smile. “I’m good. Sorry I can’t do more.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m sure we can find whatever’s causing this and destroy it. We’ll figure it out.” He hesitated, then added, “Just… don’t hurt yourself, okay?”

With a nod, I gently shoulder-bumped him in appreciation—he was so damn cute—and said, “So I guess we need to search the basement to find where the hell it’s coming from.”

“Let’s find a light switch first. There’s gotta be one down here somewhere.” Miles started to step away, then seemed to think better of it. “Um, I suppose we need to, uh, hold hands or something?”

“Oh my god,” Lyric whispered, but it was one hundred percent loud enough for Miles to hear, and I was sure Lyric knew it. “Why is he so damn cute? If you hadn’t already called dibs on dating that cutie, I would’ve done it.”

Even though it was dark in here, Miles moved closer to the doorway, and there was enough light coming in that I could see Miles’s cheeks darken in embarrassment, further proving that he’d heard every word.

I elbowed Lyric. “Stop making him uncomfortable.”

“I wasn’t trying to.” That was probably true, but sometimes they really needed to know when to keep their thoughts to themself. “Anyway, let’s all hold hands and find a light switch.”

Miles surprised me by not even hesitating for a second before reaching down for my hand.

I sent him a warm smile and gave his hand a squeeze.

Then Lyric grabbed my other hand and pulled our little train along.

When we reached the wall, it got even more awkward because I didn’t have a hand to help search, so I was just standing there, holding hands and watching the two of them use the flashlights on their phones to find the light switch. It was weird.

It felt like I was contributing nothing, but logically, I knew my null magic was the only reason these two were being productive and not brawling across the floor.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Miles said, “Got it!” I heard the light switch flip, and bright artificial light filled the space, making me blink a few times.