Page 26 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Miles

W hen we approached the kid’s car, I didn’t even have to peek inside to see the chicken in question because it was staring at us through the window. And there was no doubt it was real because it was bobbing its head around.

Lyric pointed at it and mouthed, “See?”

I nodded with wide eyes. A chicken.

A teenager and a chicken in a car… that sounded like the beginning of a bad joke or something. Or just the beginning of a very strange story.

Chaos ignored us entirely and walked around to the back of his car.

He opened his trunk, stared at it for a few seconds, then quickly slammed it closed again.

I watched in fascination as he pinched the bridge of his nose, looking much older than his probably sixteen years before he sighed and opened the trunk again.

“Have you seriously been in there this whole time?”

My brow furrowed because now the kid was talking to his trunk. Unless… unless there was a ghost in there? From what I’d heard, most necromancers could see and speak to ghosts, even when they weren’t manifesting.

Could ghosts hitch rides in cars?

The thought made me shiver.

But then the trunk said, “I didn’t want you coming all the way out here by yourself.”

“What the fuck?” I breathed out.

Chaos gestured wildly. “I’m not alone. I have Clucky with me.”

“Clucky can’t save you from psychopaths!”

“You’re the only psychopath I see here!”

Lyric whispered, “What the hell’s going on, and who the hell’s Clucky?”

Chaos clenched his jaw, then turned to us with a fake smile plastered to his face. “I’m really sorry about this. My, uh, brother stowed away in the trunk. I had no idea he was in there. I’m sorry.”

I wasn’t sure why he was apologizing so much, so I waved him away. “Don’t worry about it. Uh, you can let him out, right?”

“Do I have to?” He sounded exasperated again, but he moved out of the way so a person, and not a ghost, could climb out.

Chaos and the newcomer moved over to the side of the car, closer to us, so I was able to get a good look at the new guy.

A flash of Laney’s face tried to invade my mind’s eye because if I’d thought Chaos reminded me of her, this kid reminded me even more. But I pushed all of that away, pushed the grief down as far as it would go, and focused on the here and now.

A tall guy around Chaos’s age stood there, looking hella awkward.

He was skinny—just as skinny as Chaos—and looked absolutely nothing at all like his supposed brother.

Where Chaos had black hair and was wearing all black, this new kid had blond hair a little darker than Winter’s and was wearing bright clothes, white jeans that were dirty, probably from being in the trunk, and a bright pink shirt with bright orange geometric shapes on it.

And he was tall, even taller than Winter, I was pretty sure.

I had no idea how he’d gotten all his super-long limbs inside that tiny trunk without hurting himself.

Where Chaos had bright green eyes, the new kid had soft brown ones. Even their demeanors were different. Chaos seemed like a troublemaker, and this kid seemed sweet and kind.

They couldn’t be more opposite if they’d tried.

And yet, when I looked at the shapes of their faces, the lines of their cheeks and noses, the shapes of their eyes and lips, I could see similarities. So… maybe they really were brothers.

“Everyone, this is my little brother, Aeson—”

Aeson scowled at him and murmured, “By seven minutes, asshat.”

That made my eyebrows rise, but I didn’t interrupt.

Chaos continued as if his brother—his twin brother, apparently—hadn’t spoken. “Ace, this is Miles, Winter, and Lyric, and as far as I can tell, they’re not psychopaths.”

I bit my cheek to keep from laughing, but Lyric snorted, and Winter elbowed them in the ribs.

Aeson smiled widely at us. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry for, like, showing up like this. It’s just, the last people who hired Morty tried to stuff him in a bag and—”

“Aeson!” To my surprise, Chaos’s cheeks flamed. “Shut up. And stop calling me that—it’s Chaos.”

Aeson frowned at his brother. “I’m not calling you that. That’s your necromancer nickname. I’m your brother, not a client.” He turned back to us. “Anyway, sorry, but I can be Morty’s assistant, if you don’t mind. Or I can just wait in the car.”

Chaos sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again, looking completely mortified.

These two were absolutely adorable—and entertaining—so I said, “It’s nice to meet you, Aeson. We can use all the help we can get, and we can pay you too, if you’re willing to help out.”

Aeson’s eyes lit up, and Chaos dropped his hand, looking at me in surprise. “Really?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

Both kids looked overly happy at the prospect of more money, which was all the confirmation I needed. They were in a bad spot, and maybe I could help them out a little. Whatever quote Chaos gave me, I’d give him a very hefty tip in addition to it.

And I will definitely be buying them both lunch.

It was very obvious that neither of them were eating regular meals.

It made me wonder where their parents were.

I almost voiced the question out loud, but stopped myself since I figured they wouldn’t appreciate that, and I didn’t want to put them on the defensive.

They might not let me help them if I did that.

Chaos nodded at me. “Thank you.” Then he quietly said, “Please grab my bag, Ace.”

Aeson gave his brother a salute, then walked to the passenger door to grab a gigantic duffle.

“You better not have broken my gate,” Chaos grumbled as he walked back to the trunk and reached inside.

Lyric raised their hand like they expected a teacher to call on them. “Um, I have a question.”

Chaos rolled their wrist. “Go on.”

“Who or what is a Clucky?”

For some reason, that made Chaos wrinkle his nose, but he sighed, stepped around to the side of the car again, and opened his back door. There was a loud cluck-gobble-hiss before a ruffle of feathers leapt out of the car and landed right at our feet.

I could only stare at the thing that was staring right back at us.

“That… that’s not a chicken.” Lyric’s voice was awed and horrified. “What the hell is that thing?”

“She’s a girl, not a thing.” Chaos crossed his arms over his chest. “And she’s my familiar.”

That got my attention. His familiar? This kid had a familiar? Which meant he knew how to complete the familiar bond.

Maybe… maybe I could ask him about it so I could complete my bond with Sola.

“Ooookaaaayyyy.” Lyric crossed their arms over their chest, looking like they were facing off with this young teenager. It was ridiculous, but this entire day had been filled with ridiculousness, so why not add in some more? “But what is it?”

I could tell Chaos was getting annoyed with us, so I answered for him. “It’s a cockatrice—a mix between a chicken and a dragon.”

Lyric opened their mouth, shut it, then grunted. “That’s the weirdest combination I’ve ever heard of.”

“Watch it or she’ll burn you to a crisp.” Chaos smiled, but it didn’t look nice at all. Shit . Now he was getting defensive about his familiar.

Trying to get a handle on the situation, I said, “Uh, yeah, they can breathe fire, so maybe don’t be mean to the nice chick—er, cockatrice.”

Lyric dropped their arms. “I wasn’t, I didn’t. Shit. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude. It—she’s actually really cute.”

I mean, if you liked chickens, then yeah, it was cute.

Its—sorry, her—coloring was in the brown and red shades, although I knew cockatrices could come in literally any color since they got colorings from both their chicken half and their dragon half.

Her head was that of a typical chicken, including the comb and the wattles, and the top part of her neck was still all chicken.

But about halfway down, it seemed to turn into a dragon, or perhaps a wyvern was more accurate since she only had two legs and two wings—unlike dragons, which had four legs and two wings.

Her belly was covered in scales, her top half was covered in brown and red feathers, but her wings were dragon wings and bat-like.

Her legs were chicken legs, but I couldn’t tell if her large talons were chicken or dragon.

And her tail was very long, ended in the shape of a spade, and was mostly covered in scales, although around her bum had feathers.

I’d never seen a cockatrice up close, and I had to say they were one of the most interesting-looking creatures I’d ever seen. I kinda wanted to pet her and get a closer look.

And okay, she actually was really cute.

Without thinking, I squatted down and held my gloved hand out, saying, “Hi, cutie pie. Who’s a pretty girl?” I made a few clicking sounds to see if I could coax her over.

She glanced at everyone standing around her, then slowly but surely moved over to me. Her little beak pecked at my glove for a few seconds before she rubbed her cheek along my hand like a cat. Or well, actually, just like Sola.

I smiled. “Hey, Clucky. You’re so pretty. Can I pet you?”

Chaos said, “You can pet her. Just pet in the direction of her feathers. She doesn’t like being petted the other way.”

“Thanks.” I sent him a grateful smile before I started petting her.

Clucky made a little churring noise, and I had a feeling it was the same thing as a cat purring. I laughed and kept petting her for a few seconds before I glanced up at Winter, offering a smile.

He was already looking down at me, amused. Without me asking him, he knelt down, brushing his shoulder against mine, and held a hand out to Clucky. She sniffed at him, rubbed him, and he began petting her too.

“Well, I don’t wanna be left out,” Lyric said as they squatted on the other side of Winter. Clucky did the same to them before they gave her a few pets.

“You need help with the gates, Morty?”

Chaos sighed. “Yeah.”

While Chaos and Aeson grabbed something heavy out of the trunk—I still didn’t know how that kid could’ve fit in there, especially with something so big in the back; he must’ve been a pretzel—the three of us gave Clucky lots of love.

The cockatrice was adorable, and I kind of wished I had Sola here to meet her. I bet they would get along well.

When Chaos said, “Alright, I’m ready,” I gave Clucky one last pet and stood.

Lyric immediately said, “You really named your familiar Clucky? Clucky and Chaos?”

Chaos rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I tried giving her a badass name like Firebreather or Stormchaser or something, but she hated everything until Aeson suggested Clucky.”

Aeson shrugged. “She looks like a Clucky.”

Chaos rolled his eyes. “She does not, but whatever. That’s what she likes, so unfortunately, that’s what I’m stuck with.” He waved that away as he put a messenger bag over his shoulder, across his chest, and Clucky leapt into the air.

I expected her to fly awkwardly like a chicken, but she was smooth, graceful, and beautiful as she glided through the air and came to land on Chaos’s shoulder.

She wrapped her weapon of a tail around him, and for a moment, I saw the kid soften as he rested his forehead against hers.

They stayed there for a few seconds before Chaos straightened, gave his familiar another pet, and went back to what he was doing.

He picked up a large pile of… plastic fence pieces?

“What’s that?” I asked as I stepped forward to help carry it.

Chaos let me take it from him as he answered. “It’s a playpen for my chicken, obviously.” He delivered it so deadpan I almost believed him.

“Liar.”

He cracked another smirk. “Nah, it’s mostly for protection.

Curses don’t want to break, so they, uh, send forces to stop me all the time.

This just gives me a little breathing room.

I’ll set it up around my workspace, and then you guys can guard me on the other side.

If something slips past you, this should at least slow it down so it doesn’t destroy all my work, or, ya know, hurt me or whatever. ”

Curses sent forces to stop him from breaking them?

That… that didn’t sound good at all.