Page 29 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Miles actually growled at them, so I released Lyric, knocked a gnome off my gate, then reached over and grabbed the back of Miles’s neck. He heaved out a breath, then sucked in some air before saying, “Thanks. Sorry again, Lyric.”

“Fuck you, My-my.”

I closed my eyes. This was like trying to work with angry toddlers with large fists and stick-weapons. I couldn’t hold the gate and hold onto both of them at the same time.

Before I could respond, Miles waved them off, clearly letting it go under the circumstances.

Aeson said, “You’re both such assholes.”

“Not you too.”

Chaos called over, “Just ignore them all, Ace. The curse is getting you.”

“Logically, I know that, but I’m still pissed at everyone.”

“Even me?”

“Especially you.”

“Great.” Chaos murmured under his breath for a moment, his hands tracing the etchings on the seal.

Clucky was staring at the seal too, as if she was also trying to decipher its etchings. Hell, maybe she was. I had no idea how intelligent or magically inclined cockatrices were.

I watched them for a few seconds. “The curse isn’t affecting you, is it?”

Chaos shrugged, making Clucky move up and down with him. “I can feel it, but I’m keeping it back with my magic. If I stop concentrating for even a few seconds, it’ll get past my defenses and you’ll have another person to wrangle.”

“Please don’t let that happen.”

To my surprise, he looked over his shoulder and smirked at me. “Got your hands full already, huh?”

I snorted and nodded my head toward Lyric and Aeson, who were swinging their sticks like bats and pretending to accidentally smack each other. Luckily, neither was using their full strength, but probably only because they were too distracted by the attacking gnomes.

“For fuck’s sake.” Chaos shook his head and went back to… whatever he and Clucky were doing with a few jars and vials.

I released Miles and grabbed Aeson’s hand this time, figuring it would be good to keep switching to give each of them a break from the dark magic.

“Oh, holy shit, that was intense.” Aeson rolled his shoulders and looked at me. “Thank you.” He turned back and whacked a gnome, sending it flying across the room. “Your whole null thing is cool.”

I snorted. “Thanks.”

Before I could say anything else, Miles let out a strangled scream, and I whipped my head around to face him. There was a gnome climbing up his arm, and he was freaking the fuck out, wiggling around and trying to shake it off.

He dropped his gate in his freak-out, and the gnomes surged forward immediately.

“Shit!” I released Aeson and rushed to that side, trying to block the little herd with my gate while Miles screamed and thrashed about.

“Get it off me!”

“I’m trying,” Lyric growled. “Hold still so I can get it!”

Lyric kept whacking the gnome with their stick but was mostly hitting Miles’s arm instead. The gnome herd kept pushing me back, so I couldn’t reach Miles from where I was.

Lyric yelled, “Fuck all y’all!” Then threw their stick to the ground and reached for the gnome on Miles with their gloved hand. They peeled it off—and Miles kept freaking out, doing some kind of I’m-grossed-out dance—and Lyric used the gnome like a bowling ball.

They threw it at the herd in front of me, knocking down a good number of them and giving me a chance to push them back.

Lyric shoved Miles into the center of our gates, so I managed to get my gate up to theirs, closing the blockade. Of course, a few of the little fiends had gotten past us, so Miles tried flicking them out and over the gates with his stick—it didn’t work out very well.

“Quit being such a baby,” Lyric said as they grabbed a gnome from inside our circle and tossed it out.

I’d let the mean comment go since, even though the magic was getting to them and they were clearly angry at Miles, they’d still somehow pushed past it and was able to help him when he really needed it. Thank goodness because I hadn’t reached him in time.

“I can’t help it! I hate gnomes!”

“Pretty sure everyone in the entire county knows that after all your screaming,” Aeson said, sounding like he was making fun of Miles—obviously the magic was already getting to him too.

I sighed. We really needed to get out of here so they’d all stop their bickering.

“Win, I can’t… I need… I…” Miles trailed off, and when I looked over my shoulder, he looked like he was ready to burst into tears at any moment, even as he held his stick and the gate he’d picked back up at the ready.

I never should’ve let him come in here. He was terrified.

I opened my mouth—to say what, I had no clue—but Chaos interrupted me, saying, “I’m ready. Let’s get outta here.”

“Oh, thank god.” I reached my hand out to Miles and was pleasantly surprised when he took it without hesitation. I yanked him closer to me so he was pressed against my back. “Stay right there, okay? We’re going to get you out of here.”

Miles tucked his forehead against the back of my neck and grabbed the back of my coveralls with the hand holding his stick, so I felt him nod. Good. He’d be okay if he stayed right there.

This time, we kept Miles in the very middle, and the rest of us formed a circle with our gates. There were a lot more gnomes down here now, but Lyric and I pushed our way through, leading the others to the door.

When we finally made it outside, I sighed in relief and dropped my gate and stick the second Chaos closed the cellar door.

Clucky let out a long whistle that sounded like a phew-wee if I ever heard one.

Instead of letting go of me like I expected, Miles dropped his gate and stick and wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me closer. He was trembling behind me.

Lyric took him in for a brief second before saying, “Come on, guys. Let’s go back to the cars where we’re farther from the curse. We can decide what kind of food we want to order. Miles is buying.”

Miles released one arm to shoot them a thumbs-up, agreeing, before he held onto me again.

As soon as the others moved away, I managed to uncling him long enough to turn in his arms so I could hold him. It took a few minutes to calm down—both of us—and he groaned.

“I can’t believe I freaked out again. I thought I’d be okay this time.”

I had no idea why he thought that, but I kissed the top of his head. “It’s okay.”

“It’s embarrassing. I’m a liability in that basement, and we’re going to have to go inside again.”

“You don’t have to. You can stay out here while Chaos breaks the curse.”

He sighed. “Maybe.”

Yeah, I didn’t see him staying out of it, but I’d try. There was no real reason to put himself through that when there were four other people. But Miles was clearly a stubborn man, at least when it came to his work.

I held him for a few more minutes, then kissed his forehead before I could even think about it.

I worried he wouldn’t react well since we hadn’t even kissed—or been on a date—yet.

But he let out a little sigh that made me smile against his skin and kiss him again. It also made me hopeful about our date.

That had to be a good sign, right?

After another minute, I quietly said, “We should head to the cars. I know you can’t tell because you’re touching me, but the curse is kind of strong right here.”

“So you can sense magic?”

“Yeah. I can tell its strength, but not always what kind of magic it is, if that makes sense?”

He nodded. “Gotcha.” He let out a long sigh. “Thanks for the, uh, hug.”

I gave him a squeeze. “Anytime, Sidekick.”

“I’m not your sidekick.”

“Whatever you say, sugar butt.”

He snorted. “For fuck’s sake.”

I chuckled.

When he let go, he was smiling, and he let me hold his hand on the short walk back to the cars—a definite win.