Page 21 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Sixteen

Winter

L yric’s warning made me duck, but I didn’t run despite every bone in my body telling me to. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave Miles and Lyric behind.

Not when an army of gnomes was headed right for us.

A gnome flew over the top of our heads and landed with an oomph on the floor by our feet.

Miles looked shocked as he ducked down, clearly terrified another one would fly over us or on top of us. “Where the hell did it come from?”

Lyric pointed to the far side of the room. “Over there… hole in the ceiling and wall, and they’re… they’re coming right for us.”

This was the first time I’d heard Lyric sounding scared since we’d been here, and it only amped up my own anxiety. They weren’t a nervous person at all, so this obviously meant shit was about to hit the fan.

There were so many fucking gnomes in the basement, and they were still piling in. They spread across the floor, climbed up the bookshelves and work benches. Hundreds of them were in here already. Hundreds . Could it be up to a thousand already?

I’d never seen so many at one time, and even though I wasn’t normally afraid of gnomes, this was freaking me out. A lot.

I couldn’t imagine what Miles felt like, the poor guy.

All the gnomes were all looking straight at us.

Why was that one of the creepiest things I’d seen them do yet?

I grabbed Lyric and Miles's wrists and tugged them toward me and away from the bookshelves. Gnomes leapt off the shelves right at us, while others meeped away, yelling little meeping war cries as they ran at our feet.

Miles let out a horrified sound when one jumped on his leg and tried to climb him, so I plucked the little creeper off and threw him at the incoming herd. Then I pushed Miles behind me so I could guard him more easily.

Maybe being Miles's hero will help my chances at a date.

I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now when we were literally under attack, but it couldn’t be helped.

Miles was clinging to my back, and all I wanted to do was wrap him up in my arms. No, no, even better—I could pick him up, tuck his head into my neck so he didn’t have to look at the faeries, and carry him out of here.

Yeah, that could work.

Apparently, when it came to Miles, I had a carrying kink.

But… he might not like that, and I didn’t want to upset him.

I still needed to get him—and Lyric too—out of here.

“There’s so many of them,” Lyric murmured. “We need to get out of here, Win.”

“I know…”

As if the thought of running through the incoming gnome herd scared him, Miles tightened his hold on my coveralls and moved close enough I could feel his breath on the back of my neck.

Reaching behind myself, I gave his arm a squeeze of reassurance and scanned the basement, looking for the easiest route to the door. Once I had it, I kicked a few gnomes out of the way, grabbed hold of Miles and Lyric again, and pulled them along.

Miles stayed glued to my back, constantly stepping on my heels—not that I minded—and by some unspoken agreement, Lyric released my hand and walked behind Miles, protecting him from the back.

Lyric had obviously figured out Miles’s secret—that he was scared of gnomes—and because they were a good person, they wanted to help. Even if, now that my null magic wasn’t helping them, that meant they were pissed and screaming their head off as we trudged through the herd.

Every few steps, I reached back and forced Lyric to grab my hand for a few seconds to calm them down.

I weaved through the tiny monsters of terror, pushing some out of the way with my boots and shaking them off when they climbed me.

When one leapt from a shelf and landed on Miles’s arm, he squirmed and shrieked like a little kid until I pulled it off and threw it into the crowd, knocking more of them over.

His trembling hands gripped the back of my coveralls again, and he buried his face between my shoulder blades. “Please, Win… please get me out of here.”

“We’re almost there, pookie. Hang in there.”

He nodded against my back and didn’t comment on the weird endearment that came out of my mouth. I mean, pookie? Really? Where did that even come from? I’d never said that or heard anyone say that in my life.

I felt Lyric grab my shoulder, so instead of being made fun of for the weird nickname, Lyric only snickered and said, “Lead the way, babes.”

I pulled them along the rest of the way, up the steps, and through the door, slamming it shut behind us. Finally, we were free of that horrible cellar, and I wanted to fall to my knees and kiss the ground—the gnome-free ground.

“We should probably get out of here,” Lyric said, sounding out of breath. “The magic’s not as strong out here, but I can definitely still feel it. We should go home.”

Miles sighed, still attached to my back. “We can’t leave the owner like that. We need to figure out how the hell to get rid of that evil magic and get rid of the damn gnomes. She’s counting on us to help her.”

I wasn’t fond of that option—I’d much rather get us all to safety very far away from this property—but I also understood where Miles was coming from.

He was dedicated to his job, and not only that, it was his own business’s name on the line if we didn’t take care of the problem.

And with how big this mansion was and how much money the owner must have, getting in with this rich crowd on this side of town was probably a big deal for Carry A Faerie.

So reluctantly, I said, “Okay. We won’t leave yet… but I’m telling you this now. I think it’s a bad idea to stay on this property.”

“I second that,” Lyric said, raising their hand.

Miles sighed and slowly released my coveralls, stepping back from me so he could see us. I missed his touch as soon as it was gone, but I was glad he seemed less scared now.

He met my gaze. “Um… you mentioned hiring someone?”

I grimaced. “Yeah, we need a necromancer.”

Lyric asked, “What the hell does a necromancer have to do with that?” They pointed toward the basement.

I shrugged. “Necromancers use death magic for a multitude of reasons, including breaking curses and spells. I really have no idea how any of it works, but I know that thing down there is a curse. Right, Lyric?”

They nodded. “Feels like a curse to me.” They shuddered and rubbed their arms like they were getting rid of a chill.

“Exactly. So we have a curse, and I know necromancers can break them. All curses are rooted in dark magic—death magic—so necromancers can weave them or break them. That… that’s all I know.”

They both stared at me for a long moment before Miles nodded. “Okay, then. Guess we’re getting a necromancer.” He frowned. “How the heck do we find one?”

I held up my phone. “Internet.”

He looked skeptical but still gave me the okay, so I pulled up the search engine on my phone and began my hunt.

“I’m going to contact Ms. Cohen to make sure she’s okay with me bringing a necromancer into the house. I should at least check in and let her know about the cursed seal and everything.”

I gave him a nod, and he moved a little bit away from us to speak to her.

“Hopefully she’s nicer to him now that she’s away from the seal,” Lyric said, frowning at Miles.

It made me smile. They obviously liked him if they were getting offended on his behalf. “I’m sure she will be. He said she was really nice when they met before, so…” I trailed off with a shrug.

“Good.”

When Miles came back, he gave me a nod. “She told me to do whatever it takes, so I guess we’re a go.”

“Good.” I shot him a wink and continued my search.

As I looked over reviews and proximity to our location, I walked over to the vehicle with the others trailing behind me.

It was so much more comfortable to lean against the truck than to stand in the middle of the grass.

Plus, it meant staying as far away from the fucking evil seal as I could at the moment, which I was all for.

That thing was… creepy as all hell.

I picked out a couple of places and texted their info to Miles and Lyric so they could look them over.

Lyric said, “I don’t think we should use the first one you sent.

Some of the reviews are kinda out there.

Listen to this one. BadKarma says, ‘I hired Cures and Curses to bring my sister back so I could ask her the passwords to all her stuff, the lock combinations, and things like that. I’m not sure what the necromancer did, but as soon as her soul was back in her body, she started shaking uncontrollably.

The necromancer told me to ask my questions, so I did, and when my sister opened her mouth to speak, her head exploded .

It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen.

We had to have a closed casket viewing because there was no fixing what that horrible death witch did to her.

’ There’s another one with a head explosion story too. ”

Lyric’s eyes met mine, and I grimaced in horror. “That’s…”

“Horrifying,” Miles finished for me, looking stricken. “Uh, yeah, we’re not using that one.”

“I didn’t see that review, or I wouldn’t have sent it.” I shrugged.

Miles waved me off, already looking at the next one on his phone, and Lyric said, “I had to dig a little for that review, so it’s not your fault.”

Miles scrunched up his nose. “Ugh. Now I want to meet a necromancer even less than before, and I didn’t think that was possible.”

“Same,” Lyric said, staring at their phone again.

After trying to erase the horrible image that review conjured up, I went back to looking for the best non-head-exploding necromancer.

“Hey, Miles?” I asked, looking at him and trying to distract myself from the insanity of this entire situation.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go out to lunch—or dinner, depending on when we finish—after this?”

His eyes went comically wide. “Uh… sure. Where?”

I shrugged.

He turned to Lyric. “Wanna go out to lu—”

“No!” I yelled the word far too loudly, but luckily, Lyric laughed and didn’t get offended. They waved me off, knowing what I was trying to do.