Page 51 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
He was right. The squeaks were actually meeps, now that I listened more carefully. “They’re coming from upstairs, though, right?”
“I can’t tell.”
“Guys,” Lyric whisper-yelled. “I hear something… like something down here with us.”
I met their gaze. “I swear to god, if you’re just trying to scare us, I’m going to steal your favorite pink shirt and wash it with bleach.”
They gasped dramatically. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
They narrowed their eyes and opened their mouth, but their gaze moved over my shoulder before they could speak. Lyric’s eyes went wide as they stared at something behind me, and then they yelled, “Oh shit! Run!”
Chapter Sixteen
Winter
Lyric’s warning made me duck, but I didn’t run despite every bone in my body telling me to. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t leave Miles and Lyric behind.
Not when an army of gnomes was headed right for us.
A gnome flew over the top of our heads and landed with an oomph on the floor by our feet.
Miles looked shocked as he ducked down, clearly terrified another one would fly over us or on top of us. “Where the hell did it come from?”
Lyric pointed to the far side of the room. “Over there… hole in the ceiling and wall, and they’re… they’re coming right for us.”
This was the first time I’d heard Lyric sounding scared since we’d been here, and it only amped up my own anxiety. They weren’t a nervous person at all, so this obviously meant shit was about to hit the fan.
There were so many fucking gnomes in the basement, and they were still piling in. They spread across the floor, climbed up the bookshelves and work benches. Hundreds of them were in here already.Hundreds. Could it be up to a thousand already?
I’d never seen so many at one time, and even though I wasn’t normally afraid of gnomes, this was freaking me out. A lot.
I couldn’t imagine what Miles felt like, the poor guy.
All the gnomes were all looking straight at us.
Why was that one of the creepiest things I’d seen them do yet?
I grabbed Lyric and Miles's wrists and tugged them toward me and away from the bookshelves. Gnomes leapt off the shelves right at us, while othersmeepedaway, yelling little meeping war cries as they ran at our feet.
Miles let out a horrified sound when one jumped on his leg and tried to climb him, so I plucked the little creeper off and threw him at the incoming herd. Then I pushed Miles behind me so I could guard him more easily.
Maybe being Miles's hero will help my chances at a date.
I shouldn’t be thinking about that right now when we were literally under attack, but it couldn’t be helped. Miles was clinging to my back, and all I wanted to do was wrap him up in my arms. No, no, even better—I could pick him up, tuck his head into my neck so he didn’t have to look at the faeries, and carry him out of here.
Yeah, that could work.
Apparently, when it came to Miles, I had a carrying kink.
But… he might not like that, and I didn’t want to upset him.
I still needed to get him—and Lyric too—out of here.
“There’s so many of them,” Lyric murmured. “We need to get out of here, Win.”
“I know…”
