Page 39 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“Holy shit!” I screamed as I pushed Miles out of the way, grabbed the back of Lyric’s collar and pulled them, cleared all three of us out of the door, and slammed the damn thing shut.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound of tiny bodies banging against the door filled the hallway, and all I could do was stare in horror as I held the doorknob tight so the bastards couldn’t get out.
“Holy shit,” Lyric said. “Why’d they attack us?”
I grimaced. “I don’t think they were attackingus.” Miles met my eyes, and he grimaced as well. “They were after Miles.”
“What? Why?” Lyric looked between us both before blowing out a breath. “You think they remember you from yesterday?”
Miles shrugged, and I sighed, saying, “Yeah, I think they might.”
Miles cleared his throat, glancing up and down the hallway. “This isn’t the room they attacked me in, so… they’re probably going to come at us no matter where we go.”
“Okay, yeah.” Lyric sounded out of breath even though we hadn’t done anything more than walk a few feet. “My question is why are they attacking in the first place? Maybe if we can figure that out, we can stop them. That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen gnomes do. They’renevervicious.”
“They really aren’t. I have no idea what’s going on here.” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, staring at my best friend and my… Miles.
Lyric huffed, glancing around the hallway. “Maybe it’s the magic. It feels… off.”
I was about to respond, but Miles stepped closer to us with a furrowed brow, saying, “Wait. What do you mean? Whatmagic?” He shook his head. “I mean… you can feel magic? How? Why?”
Lyric shot him a grin. “I’m a sentire.”
Which, at the most basic level, meant they could sense all magic and typically identify it.
Miles stared at them with a blank expression for a long time before he closed his eyes and groaned. “Does that mean you knew about me in high school?”
They nodded. “I did.”
He huffed and turned toward me. “So you already knew then?”
Before I could answer, Lyric shook their head and said, “No. He didn’t know. I never told anyone.”
Miles turned a skeptical look their way. “You didn’t tell anyone? Yeah, right.” He huffed.
Lyric crossed their arms over their chest and glared at Miles. “I didn’t. I don’t give away other people’s secrets.”
“You really expect me to believe you didn’t even tell your best friend?”
“Yes, I expect you to believe it because it’s true.” They sighed. “Listen, I know it’s hard to believe this, but I learned at a very young age to never give away other people’s secrets—especially the magical kind. I… I told someone something I shouldn’t have, and it cost my friend their… freedom. I was nine at the time. So yes, Miles, I kept your secret. I would never tell anyone something like that without permission.” Before either of us could respond, Lyric looked at me. “I’m going outside to get some air. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.” I watched them go before stepping closer to Miles. “They’re right. I didn’t know before yesterday.”
“Really?”
“I swear it.”
Miles stared at me for a long time. “Yeah… okay.” He blew out a breath, then sighed and glanced down the hall where Lyric had disappeared. “I… I should probably go apologize.”
When he turned to go, I grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Wait. Give them a minute, okay?”
He winced. “I really upset them, didn’t I?”
I shrugged and shook my head at the same time. “They’ll be fine.”
He swallowed audibly. “I don’t want your friend to hate me.”
