Page 23 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Seventeen

Miles

C haos the Necromancer? Were they serious?

I exchanged a look with Winter, and I knew he was thinking the same thing as me. Why the hell would we want to hire someone who called themself Chaos? That was just… a bad idea.

Lyric huffed out a small laugh. “Look, I know that doesn’t sound good, but out of everyone, this dude has the best reviews.

The only thing I’ve seen complaints about was the guy having a bit of an attitude problem.

But even those complaints say the attitude was worth dealing with because he’s the real deal.

No exploding heads or any other insane stories. ”

“Yeah, but… Chaos?” Winter asked. “That doesn’t sound like a person we want here, of all places.”

“Agreed.” I gave a nod. “Do we really want to trust someone who named their business Chaos?”

Lyric shrugged. “I have a good feeling about him. I dunno why, but I feel like this is our guy.”

Winter stared at his friend for a long moment before turning to me. “Maybe we should at least call him and see if he’s even free. I think… I think Lyric’s right.”

I stared at my… friend? my maybe—hopefully—more-than-a-friend-person, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d mind if I just scooted back into his arms and ignored this entire thing.

I didn’t want to make any more decisions about this place and its curse.

I didn’t want to deal with gnomes and evil magic.

I certainly didn’t want to deal with necromancers.

Maybe Winter would let me bury my head in his chest and pretend everything was fine.

I inwardly sighed because that was just dumb.

Unrealistic.

Ridiculous.

I was a grown man. I could handle this and more.

I needed to stop whining—even in my own head—and face it.

We were already going to have to deal with a necromancer, so why not go ahead and add a little more chaos in?

With a heavy sigh, I said, “Fine. Call him.”

Winter grabbed the information from Lyric and put in the call, placing it on speaker so we could all hear.

“Chaos the Necromancer speaking. How may I assist you today?” The voice sounded so damn young it took me, and from the looks of it, Winter, by surprise. It also sounded kind of… cheery? Which wasn’t at all what I’d expected.

Winter cleared his throat. “Um, yes, hi. I, uh…”

I didn’t know what his problem was—maybe he didn’t like talking on the phone—but he was freezing up, so I snatched his phone to bring it closer to my mouth. “Hello, my name’s Miles Curbelo from Carry A Faerie Pest Solutions.”

“Hey, Miles. I’m Chaos.” Holy shit, he sounded so fucking young. Was he even old enough to have a job? Let alone drive out here to help us? And what the hell kind of name was Chaos ?

There was a slight pause, as if he didn’t know how to continue. I didn’t jump in to help because I wasn’t sure either.

“Are you looking for a necromancer?”

“Uh, possibly.”

He hummed. “Alright. Tell me the problem, and I’ll tell you if I can help.”

“I’m out on a job in Bellscar, and I’ve run into a problem. I think I might need to hire your, uh, expertise.” I explained the situation to the guy—the kid—as best I could with Winter and Lyric watching me. Neither of them interrupted, so I figured I did a good enough job with the explanation.

“Hmm.” The kid paused for a few beats, but I had the feeling he was thinking things over, so I didn’t interrupt.

“Bellscar is a little out of the way, so I’ll have to charge you for coming out there and looking at the problem, even if I can’t fix it.

From the sounds of it, this will be something I can do, so I’m not too worried about it, but I want to make my terms clear first.”

That was fair, but I still grimaced because I didn’t like the whole pay-even-if-I-don’t-help thing at all. I couldn’t exactly blame the kid if he was driving out of his way, though. “Alright. How much?”

“Twenty.”

I blinked. “Twenty dollars?”

“Yes.”

Twenty bucks? The kid only wanted twenty bucks? “Alright, that’s fine.”

I heard a small sigh that sounded like relief before he said, “I can be there in under an hour. Is that okay?”

I glanced between Winter and Lyric, both of them nodding at me. “That works for me.”

“Great! I’ll see you shortly.” The kid hung up, so I ensured the call was over and handed Winter his phone back.

“I think we should stay in the garden until he gets here,” Lyric said. “The magic isn’t reaching us right now.”

“I like that plan.” I nodded, then placed my hands behind my back on the bench so I could lean back, close my eyes, and soak in the sun a little.

It felt like I hardly ever got to just sit in the sun like this since I worked so much.

Despite the situation, this was kinda nice.

Sitting outside with a handsome man beside me and a nice person—friend? —nearby. I liked it.

But then I grimaced when I thought about Lyric’s words and the fact we were so close to a curse that literally made me want to punch their lights out.

I glanced at them. “You don’t think the magic’s growing, do you?”

Lyric shrugged and shook their head at the same time. “I’m not sure. I don’t feel it growing at the moment, but I sort of feel like there’s the potential to grow.”

That made me grimace, and Winter scooted closer to me, leaning back the same way I was and pressing his shoulder against mine. Even though I hadn’t even noticed how much background noise was happening in my head, the second he pressed against me, I felt my mind go completely silent.

The small sounds of Lyric’s emotions, plus any nearby faeries and animals, had been louder in the back of my mind than I’d thought.

I couldn’t help but savor the moment, closing my eyes and just… relaxing into it for a few seconds.

Then I glanced over at Winter and said, “Thank you. I don’t know how you keep doing that without touching my skin, but I appreciate it.”

He stared at me for a moment, then grunted.

“I… wasn’t a hundred percent sure it would work earlier, but if I put a little extra thought into it, it seems to go through our clothes.

It always gets easier for me the longer I’m around someone.

So it’s good to know it’s already working.

” He shot me a wink, then faced Lyric, who’d settled on another bench.

“You feeling okay, Lyr? You’re not hurt or anything, are you? ”

They smiled. “I’m good, don’t worry.” They wiggled their fingers at us. “You two can keep up the adorable flirting… it’s entertaining.”

I felt my face flush, but Winter just laughed and flipped his friend off before nudging my shoulder. “Don’t listen to them. They like to stir up trouble.”

Lyric grinned, then lay flat on their bench with one knee bent and the other leg hanging off the side. “I’m gonna nap while we wait. Wake me up when the kid gets here.”

So they thought the necromancer sounded like a kid too. Great. I was hiring a toddler to save us from evil magic. That would go over well.

“Will do.” Winter refocused on me, but I didn’t turn to face him. After a long time—where I blushed profusely—he finally asked, “Why are you scared of gnomes?”

I winced. “I…” With a groan, I rubbed a hand over my face.

“You don’t have to tell me, but I guess your response proves that I’m right. Why in the world did you become an exterminator when you’re terrified of the most common faerie pest alive?”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Honestly, I didn’t realize just how many people have gnome invasions when I started. And even though I don’t like them, I still want to take them to sanctuaries. I don’t want them to die just because I think they’re gross.”

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant by that, but he was smiling at me, so I figured it was a good thing.

Then, because I apparently couldn’t help it where Winter was concerned, I told him why I was scared of the little creepy creatures.

I kept my voice low, hoping Lyric was asleep and couldn’t hear me.

“My parents kicked me out of the house the day I turned eighteen. They’d always hated my empath nature—I think they were afraid of me—and the fact that I’m gay was just the icing on top of the shitstorm cake.

My birthday’s in June, a few days after graduation, and my birthday present was a packed duffle bag, a tiny bit of cash, and a boot out the door.

I had two months before I had to report to, uh, classes, so I ended up staying in a homeless shelter most nights.

I was lucky because I knew I had somewhere to go in August. I just had to make it till then. ”

I shook off the memories of all those other people who weren’t as lucky as me. Those people who didn’t have the promise of a home and food to feed their bellies. Those people I’d left behind.

“You don’t have to keep going if you don’t want to, Miles.” Winter’s voice was quiet, calm, and soothing.

I sent him a sad smile. “No, it’s fine. I don’t mind.

” I cleared my throat. “So anyway, one of the shelters I stayed at had a really bad gnome infestation. The little things were always getting into my bag, which literally held all my worldly possessions. They destroyed some of my clothes, tore paper out of the handful of books I had, would run over my feet when I was sitting on the bed, and a few times, I caught them on my mattress in the middle of the night.” I shuddered at the memories.

“They were absolute terrors to everyone who stayed there. They freaked me out then, and I guess I never got over it.”

Winter wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, kissing my temple. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“Thanks.” I leaned into him further, closing my eyes. “It was a long time ago.”

“That kind of stuff sticks with you.” He kissed my temple again, and it made warmth grow where ice had taken root from the memories. We stayed that way for a few minutes, and I was grateful for his quiet support and understanding.