Page 39 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Miles

“ M orty?” Aeson asked, gripping his brother’s shoulder again. “Mortimer, snap out of it.”

Chaos blinked a few times, then let out a small groan as he rubbed at his eyes before bending over at the waist with his hands on his knees. “Fuuuucckk. That was a lot of energy.”

Clucky let out a strangled sound, landing on the ground. She waddled over to her necromancer, going right under his body where he was bent over. Chaos whispered something I couldn’t hear to her, and the cockatrice backed up to sit on his feet, leaning against his legs.

Hearing Chaos speak made some of the tension drain out of me, but I was still nervous. Whatever just happened didn’t seem or feel typical.

My brow furrowed, and I looked at Aeson. “What’s wrong with him?”

The kid rubbed Chaos’s back but looked at me. “Believe it or not, he actually absorbed a lot of the magic that was released.”

My eyes widened. “He… he can absorb magic?”

“Necromantic magic, yeah. Not sure about other kinds.”

Chaos waved his hand toward me without standing up. “You’re strong enough; you can do that too with empathic magic. I also don’t know about absorbing other kinds. Never tried it.” He groaned again. “This is bad enough.”

“Why the hell did you do that?”

“The curse was too strong. Wasn’t sure you guys or the, uh, house itself could handle it all blasting out at once.”

I grimaced because he was probably right. We’d barely survived the amount of magic that was released, even with him apparently taking the brunt of it. That made me hug Sola to my chest as I grimaced because the poor kid was obviously in pain.

“What can we do to help?” Winter asked while rubbing my arm like he was comforting me—I appreciated it.

“Nothing. I just have to wait for my body to adjust to the extra magic. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

“You sure?”

He nodded, but Aeson added, “He usually needs to eat a big meal after doing a big working like this.”

“We’ll order a couple of pizzas when we get out of here,” I said.

“That’s not—” Aeson started, but Chaos cut him off.

“You don’t have to do that. We still have plenty of food from yesterday.”

I shrugged. “We’re gonna be here for a while longer, setting traps and everything, so you guys can stick around and relax while we wait for the food.

We’ll need to eat lunch, anyway, so I’ll order.

What kind do you want?” I pulled out my phone to place an order online, comfortably hugging Sola with my arms while using my hands to navigate.

Chaos lifted his head without straightening, staring at me for a few seconds before sighing. “Are you sure?”

“Yep. Tell me what kind you want, or I’ll order something weird and force you to try it.”

He let out a quiet chuckle. “Fine. Pepperoni, please.”

“I’m fine with whatever. Cheese or pepperoni or whatever works,” Aeson said.

I gave him a nod. “Lyric?”

“Just cheese is fine, unless someone else wants green peppers and onions or something like that.”

“Okay, I’ll order one with those toppings too. Win?”

He kissed my temple and answered quietly enough no one else could hear. “I’m fine with whatever. Pepperoni or cheese or Lyric’s, I don’t care.” He gave me a squeeze. “As long as I get to sit next to you and maybe hold you while we’re eating, I don’t care one bit.”

I felt my cheeks blush.

He chuckled and kissed my hair. Earlier, I’d been worried about kissing on the job, but all of that flew out the window the second the gnomes’ eyes turned red as they attacked us.

I was pretty sure none of the others cared, and even if they did, they at least seemed to understand why we wanted to be close at the moment.

But I was pretty sure they didn’t even notice.

The kids probably assumed this was normal behavior for us, and Lyric was too focused on gaining their own strength back.

I leaned back into Win and let Sola fold herself up on my chest before sighing and ordering a bunch of pizzas—the boys could take those leftovers home too.

I sighed again when I finished, not wanting to move from this very comfy spot with Win wrapped around me. “We should probably get up and start cleaning. We have to set some traps before we leave too.”

Ugh . I was so not looking forward to spending more time in this damn house.

But not only did I need to set traps, I also needed to come back in a few days to collect the traps and likely repeat the process quite a few times before I was able to catch all the gnomes since there were so many and this house was humongous.

“Why don’t we do that while we wait for the pizza to get here?

” Win asked, still just… holding me. It made a warmth grow in my chest that was all comfort and affection and things I wasn’t used to.

I sank further into him, soaking it up like I was a sponge that’d been left in the desert for decades.

Who knew what I’d been missing all these years?

“Sounds like a plan.”

“We’ll help,” Aeson said, already beginning to pick up some of the things the ghosts had thrown at us.

“You don’t have to.”

“We don’t mind. I’d rather do something than sit here and watch you guys. I like helping.” That didn’t surprise me in the least, but when Chaos spoke, my eyebrows shot up.

“Same here.”

“Um, okay, great. Thanks, guys.” I—unfortunately—moved away from Winter, stood, and placed Sola on my shoulder, then helped Win to his feet.

“Thanks.” He pecked my lips with a grin, then joined Aeson and Chaos.

With all of us working together, it didn’t take long to set the basement to rights, and just as we were about to leave, Chaos said to me, “I want to show you something.”

“Okay.” I followed him over to the seal.

He traced his fingers along the concrete around the seal as he spoke. “They did a good job of blending it in. I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been staring at it for so long.”

“Noticed what?”

He faced me. “The seal wasn’t built into the wall.

At least not when the house was built. I can’t tell how new it is, but it looks like someone came in here and concreted the seal over the existing wall and blended the concrete in to make it look like it’s always been there.

I think they rubbed dirt all over it or something to hide the seam.

Look.” He pointed at the concrete, so I stepped closer with a frown.

He was right. If you looked closely, you could see a seam all the way around the seal, about twelve inches out. Huh. So maybe the new homeowner hadn’t inherited a curse. Maybe someone had done it to her specifically.

Hadn’t she mentioned having family problems with the inheritance after her father died?

“Good catch, Chaos. Thank you. I’ll let the homeowner know so she can figure out who did it and hopefully prevent it from happening again.”

He nodded, shot me a half-smile, and turned to join the others near the door.

Winter walked over, so I pointed out the seam to him, and he hummed, kissed my temple, gave Sola a pet, and gently tugged me away. I easily followed him out of the basement and was surprised to find Lyric walking back toward the cellar door, carrying a few gnome traps.

“Whatcha doing?” I asked.

They grinned at me. “Setting a few traps down there and filling that big hole in the ceiling with steel wool.”

I blinked. “Oh. Thank you. I can do it if—”

They cut me off with a laugh. “It’s fine, Miles. This is what I actually signed up for, right? Win taught me some stuff over the years. I’ve helped him on side jobs before. I can handle it.” I had no doubt they could.

“Thank you.”

They winked at me and carried on down to the basement. It felt weird letting someone go down there alone, but I knew it’d be okay without the curse running rampant… I just had to keep reminding my nerves of that.

Win tugged my hand. “Come on. Let’s get a few rooms done on the first floor while we wait on the pizza.”

With a nod, I followed him to my truck, only a little surprised to see Chaos and Aeson waiting for us, eager to help. The fact that everyone was so willing to lend me a hand made me feel a little choked up, but I did my best to hide it.

While we worked, I called Martha Cohen to tell her that our necromancer broke the curse and about the seal being added to the wall.

“Are you serious?” She let out something that sounded almost like a growl. “I know exactly who did this. I just… wow. I knew he was pissed he didn’t get the house, but I never imagined he’d do something so spiteful. He could’ve really hurt people.”

Before I could think better of it, I asked, “Who?”

“My uncle. He contested my father’s—his brother’s—will, trying to claim he should inherit the house even though he never even lived there, I’m the next of kin, and it was listed to go to me in my dad’s will.

Uncle Jim was always a selfish prick, I just…

” She trailed off with a sigh. “Anyway, thank you so much for taking care of it. Please thank the necromancer and the rest of your team for their help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. And don’t worry, I’ll pay extra since you didn’t sign up for curses, crazed gnomes, and seals. ”

People really sucked, and I was sorry she had to deal with someone capable of cursing her house, but couldn’t say any of that. So instead, I said, “I was happy to do it, Ms. Cohen.”

We chatted a little more about payment and how much I was paying Chaos—which she actually wanted to pay—before we hung up, and only a few minutes later, the pizza arrived.

By the time we finished eating, I was sure everyone was ready to go home, but no one did. They all helped Win and me finish placing traps through the whole house, which meant we finished way sooner than anticipated.

It’d been a long time since I’d really worked with another person, let alone a group of them, and I’d forgotten how much easier it made things. And how much I’d missed human interaction in general.

It made me even more determined to hire someone to work with me full time.

I made sure to send Chaos and Aeson their payments for all their help, including some hefty tips. Neither kid pulled out their phones to check to make sure I paid them enough, which I thought was pretty trusting of them, but we all heard their phones buzz when it went through.

“Thanks,” Chaos said.

“Of course.” We all walked to our vehicles, and I smiled at the teens. “Thank you both so much for all of your help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Aeson waved us off. “No worries. I’m glad we were here.”

Chaos said, “Let me know if you guys need my help again.”

I nodded. “Will do, but if you guys ever need help with a job or with anything at all, you both have our numbers.”

Chaos nodded, and Aeson smiled, although the smile looked a little sad. “We will. Hey, you guys should come to the Museum of Supernatural History some time. Text me, and I’ll let you know when I’m working so I can give you a tour.”

Winter smiled at the kid. “That would be really great. We’ll plan a trip in a couple of weeks.” He looked at me in question, and I nodded.

“Yeah, for sure. Lyric?”

“Oh yeah, count me in.” They grinned at the kids and held out a fist to bump. Both kids reciprocated.

The kids said goodbye to Sola, giving me a chance to pet Clucky and say bye to her as well, then they gave Win and me waves.

I had the intense urge to hug each of them, which wasn’t something I ever felt toward anyone ever. But since I didn’t want to come off as a weirdo, I simply waved back and watched them climb into their car and drive away.

Winter sighed. “I really hope they’ll be okay.”

Lyric nodded. “I think they will be, and when we plan our museum trip, we can take them out to lunch or dinner after, and Miles can mother hen them again.”

“I can what?”

They grinned at me. “You kept checking on them and you gave those kids so much fucking food this weekend.”

“They needed it.”

Lyric nodded. “I know. Honestly, if you hadn’t done it, I would have.”

“Same.” Winter nodded. “I’m glad you did. I’m sure those kids appreciated it.”

“Chaos knows I ordered extra food on purpose.” I bit my lip. “I thought he was going to tell me to take it back.” I was glad he didn’t let his pride get the better of him.

Win sent me a soft smile. “I’m glad he didn’t.” He nodded toward my truck. “You guys ready to get out of here?”

I glanced at the mansion, happy I’d already locked up and wouldn’t have to come back for a few days. “Yeah… yeah, I am.”

I drove them back to Winter’s house, and Lyric hopped out of the car, and made me roll down my window as they said, “I know you two probably want to hang out alone or whatever, but I just wanted to make sure you know that you’re both welcome to come to the cookout with me.

It’s at my cousin’s house, and she always tells me to bring friends or whatever. ”

I sent them a smile. “Thank you for the invitation, but I’m not sure I’m up for that tonight. I’m wiped out.”

“No worries.” They sighed. “I wanted to kiss your cheek, but your truck is ginormous and I can’t reach you all the way up there. So, here.” They kissed their fingers, then placed them on my cheek, making me laugh.

“Thanks. I was hoping you’d put your spit on me before you left.”

They snorted and winked. “You wish. Seriously, though, let’s hang out next weekend. All three of us, yeah? I’ll make you guys some dinner, and you can meet my cat. Win told me you love animals.”

The invitation surprised me, but it made my heart feel warm. “That sounds nice.”

“Good. You in, Win?”

“You know it.” Winter placed his hand on my thigh as he leaned closer to talk to Lyric. “I don’t think I’m going to make it to the cookout either, but thank you anyway.”

Lyric smirked at him and waved him off. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I figured. Have fun with lover boy.” They shot us another wink, turned on their heel, and waved over their shoulder as they sauntered to their car.

After they pulled away, Winter asked, “I understand if you’re not up for company tonight, but if you are, I’d love to have dinner with you. Um… Goliath’s been alone a lot this weekend, so maybe you could come to mine?”

I definitely wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him, even if I was exhausted. “What if you bring him over? Odin loves other animals, and you said Goliath likes cats, so…”

He smiled widely. “Perfect.” He pressed a slow kiss to my lips. “I want to shower, but I’ll bring him over soon.”

“How about an hour? I want to shower too.”

“Sounds good, sweetheart.” He gave me one last kiss before hopping out. “See you soon.”

I watched the handsome man walk up to his front door, wave at me, and slip inside before I drove Sola and me the short distance to my house.