Page 27 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Twenty

Miles

A s we trekked back to the cellar door, I said, “Winter?”

He looked over and smiled at me as soon as he made eye contact, then he said something to Lyric before jogging over to me. “What’s up?”

I glanced around to make sure Chaos and Aeson weren’t within earshot, then whispered, “I know you wanted to do lunch, but I think dinner will work better. Is that okay with you?”

His grin grew as he pulled the playpen or whatever it was out of my hands to take a turn carrying it. “Of course. I assume you want to order lunch for everyone? Especially the kids?”

How this man who’d barely been around me a few days could already read me so well, I’d never know. “Yeah, I do.”

He nodded. “Honestly, if you hadn’t suggested it, I would’ve.

They’re way too skinny, and I think…” He trailed off for a moment with a shake of his head.

“I feel like I’ve seen that Chaos kid somewhere before.

I can’t put my finger on it, but…” He shrugged.

“Anyway, I agree that we should help them as much as we can.”

And that, right there, was exactly why I’d always had a crush on Winter, even in high school. He was just so thoughtful and kind to everyone around him, and he’d always been that way.

He’d even been kind to me in school.

Sure, I hadn’t really known him, I hadn’t really talked to him in high school, at least not often or anything.

But even with me being the outcast, the emo kid who’d dressed similarly to Chaos, the kid who everyone thought was weird or had some contagious disease or something, even with all of that, Winter had been kind.

He’d been the only kind kid in that whole school.

Of course I’d developed a crush.

And that crush just kept growing with every minute we spent together.

I sent him a small grin. “Yeah, I want to help them. I’ll probably order extra food and send it home with them. You think they’ll notice I did it on purpose?”

He shrugged. “Chaos seems pretty observant, but his brother did sneak into his trunk without him knowing, so…” He trailed off with a shrug and a small laugh.

I snorted. “True. Okay, I’ll just try not to make it obvious. I don’t want them to be too proud to take it or anything.”

“Agreed.”

We both stopped talking about it because we caught up to the others.

Chaos gestured to the gates Winter was carrying.

“So this is a sort of playpen type of thing, I guess. Or more like baby gates that hook together to make a playpen?” He waved that off.

“Anyway, they come apart, so I was thinking we could each take one and use it as a sort of shield to kinda push the gnomes back? At least until we get to the… what did you call it? The seal?”

Winter nodded. “Yeah, but I have no idea if that’s what it’s really called. It looks like a giant metal coin concreted into the wall.”

“Hm. Okay. Seal works for me. Uh, do you think the gates will work?”

Winter nodded, and even though I was terrified of going back in that basement, I nodded too. If I had the gate shield thing, maybe I’d be able to handle it better.

Chaos took the gates from Winter and started disconnecting them.

Winter grabbed my elbow and bent down a little to meet my eye. “You’ve got this.”

I grimaced. “What if I don’t?”

He shrugged and winked. “That’s what I’m here for. If you need to leave, I’ll help you get out, then head back in to help the kids.”

I nodded. “You think it’s safe to let the kids go down there? They’re like sixteen. Should we even let them do this? What if they get hurt?”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking, but it sounds like Chaos does this kind of thing all the time.” He glanced at the kids, cleared his throat, and asked, “Chaos and Aeson?”

They both turned to him, Chaos looking grim, and Aeson smiling. Seriously, how were they twins? They were so very different.

Winter asked them, “Do either of you have any empath abilities?”

For some reason, that made Chaos tense up, but all he said was, “No.”

Winter stared at them, and I decided to use my abilities to see if the teen was lying.

My magic washed over the whole group, and I got lots of anxious excitement, a little fear, and a little giddiness—that last one was from Aeson.

I had no idea what he had to be so giddy about, but I didn’t feel anything that felt like lying coming from him or Chaos.

To Winter, I whispered, “He’s telling the truth,” then louder, I said, “Win’s only asking because I’m an empath.”

Empaths were just as rare as necromancers, and I had a feeling that coming clean and sharing this would go a long way toward gaining the kids’ trust. I knew how scary it must be for Chaos to put himself out there like this and basically announce to the world that he had this rare magic, as proven by whatever Aeson had been about to say about previous clients.

Stuffing Chaos into a bag…? Did I even want to know what he meant by that?

There were a lot of people in this world who wanted to take advantage of a practitioner’s abilities, and I was sure necromancy was in high demand for those people.

I didn’t blame his brother for being worried.

I barely knew the kid, and I was worried.

I didn’t want him going out alone to meet people who wanted to—supposedly—hire him.

He could end up hurt or kidnapped or something.

Chaos’s eyebrows rose, and Aeson made a similar expression, although he still looked happy. Neither of them said anything, though.

I cleared my throat. “The gnomes have been targeting me because they figured out if they touch my skin, they can overwhelm me and, uh, basically take me out of commission.”

Chaos stood straight, staring at me hard. “Are you telling me they’re planning attacks now? Gnomes aren’t that intelligent.”

I lifted my hands in a what’re-we-gonna-do gesture. “Trust me, it surprised us too. I was attacked yesterday, but that seemed almost like an accident. But today’s been… rough. It’s like they remembered me, told all their little friends, and have been coming after me since.”

“He’s not lying.” Lyric stepped closer to the group. “I watched them completely bypass me to get to him, although they were jumping on me too.”

Chaos’s eyes were wide, and he turned his attention to the door again, clearly thinking.

Aeson asked, “Were you hurt?”

“Just a few scratches and bruises. Nothing major.” I sent the kid a small smile.

Aeson took a step toward me. “I could—”

Chaos grabbed his wrist to hold him back. “No.” His voice came out quiet but hard and angry and not like anything I’d heard yet. It was honestly almost a little creepy. Or it would’ve been if that one word had come out of anyone other than a tiny and cute teenager.

The brothers stared at each other for a long moment before Aeson sighed, sagged, and stepped back toward his brother, grabbing one of the gates.

Winter and I exchanged a look—because what the hell was that?—and then we each took a gate from Chaos as well.

After taking a deep breath, I faced the door.

Okay, Miles, you can do this.

Fuck, I really wasn’t sure I could.

“Alright,” Winter said after everyone had a gate piece. “Miles and I will go in first, then Chaos and Aeson next with Lyric bringing up the rear.”

Lyric said, “Sir, yes, sir.”

That made even Chaos crack a very tiny smile, but the kid asked, “You sure it’s smart to put Miles up front? Don’t you think that’ll make them attack us more?”

Winter grimaced. “Yeah, but I don’t want him in the back alone.”

Aeson raised his hand. “Okay, then I’ll switch with him. Me and Winter up front, Morty and Miles next, then Lyric in the back.”

Both Winter and Chaos looked unhappy about the switch, but neither voiced an objection, so I went to stand beside the necromancer, and his brother stood beside my… uh, beside Winter.

Winter arranged us so he was directly in front of me, and Aeson was in front of Chaos, which seemed to mollify them both. Honestly, it made me feel better too, even if that made me a little bit of a baby.

From behind me, Lyric said, “Don’t worry, My-my, I’ll help keep you safe too.”

They sounded like they were joking, but I also knew they meant it. In the short time I’d known them—or at least known them as an adult—I’d grown to trust them, at least enough to know they’d help me if they could.

“Oh!” My eyes widened. “Um, we forgot to tell you that the curse or whatever it is makes everyone really pissed off.” I cringed. “Last time, Lyric and I almost beat each other up.”

“Lovely.” Chaos sighed, absently petting Clucky, who was quietly sitting on his shoulder, occasionally rubbing her cheek against his. “So it doesn’t just affect the gnomes. That’s going to make it more complicated.”

“I’m a null, by the way.” Winter threw it out there like it wasn’t a big deal, but both Chaos and Aeson froze and stared at him with wide eyes—their expressions were the same and made their matching facial features more obvious. “Yeah, so I can help if anyone gets too feisty down there.”

Aeson’s eyes were wide. “What’re the chances of an empath, a null, a necromancer, and a he—”

“It’s definitely strange,” Chaos said, quickly cutting off whatever his brother was about to say. Clucky let out a chirp in the direction of Aeson, as if yelling at him. “I’ve never even met a null before, and I’ve only come across one empath in my whole life before today. Very strange.”

“You don’t think this place is like, calling us to it, do you?” Aeson’s eyes were wide, and he directed his question at his brother.

Calling us to it? Could a curse really do that?

But no. I’d been called here by the homeowner, and then I was the one who’d roped Winter into coming with me, and he’d done the same to Lyric. It had to be a coincidence.

Chaos thought about it for a few beats, and I had the feeling he was actually reaching out with his magical senses. “Nah. This is purely a coincidence.”

Did he pick that up from the magic? I wasn’t sure exactly what Chaos—or any necromancer—was capable of magically speaking. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone truly knew. Most of the things I’d heard were only rumors and wild accusations.

“Hmm.”

I caught Winter’s gaze, and he shrugged. I didn’t think either of us knew what to do with the twins.

Involving them in this was a little… scary. I didn’t want them getting hurt. Going down there with a big group was either the smartest thing to do, or the stupidest. I only hoped that letting them come with us wouldn’t be a grave mistake.

Thinking that put some resolve in my bones. I wasn’t about to let either of these kids get hurt.

Plus, I still needed to feed them.