Page 55 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
Lyric pushed off the truck and literally skipped over to Miles, who looked mildly alarmed at their approach. But all Lyric did was offer him a grin before continuing their little skip fest over to the garden entrance.
“Come on, lazy bones. Let’s go!” They skipped away.
I snorted as I followed, and Miles said, “Where do they get all that energy? I wish I had some of it.”
I laughed. “Yeah, me too.”
It didn’t take long to find the center of the large-ass garden—it was like a maze or a labyrinth or whatever—and I was relieved to see four benches there. This part of the garden was more like a patio with flowering bushes all around us in a circle and a small water fountain in the center featuring a mermaid, which seemed like an odd choice to me, but to each their own. There was an archway over another path, and the flowers and vines there were so overgrown, I wasn’t sure anyone could actually walk through without getting tangled.
Hopefully no one would want to go that way when we were done here.
“Did you see any faeries?” I asked Miles as we settled on a bench beside each other.
He nodded. “There’re some garden pixies over there.” He pointed to our left. “But they’re actually good for a garden, so I doubt Ms. Cohen will want me to remove them. That’s all I saw. What about you?”
He was right about the garden pixies. I wished I could coax some over to my house because they really were good for your garden as long as they didn't out-populate the flowers. They helped spread magic—and pollen—which made plants grow bigger, stronger, and faster. They also attracted bees and other bugs that helped keep things healthy.
I bet Miles had them in his yard.
I answered him, “I didn’t even notice the pixies, so you did better than I did.”
He snorted and waved me off. “Anyway, let’s find a necromancer.” He shivered. “I… don’t even know… I’ve never had to work with one before.”
“Me either.” I shrugged. “But I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”
“There really isn’t anyone else who can break that spell?”
I shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
He sighed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Boo.”
I snorted and gestured to his phone. “Well, let’s look and get it over with.”
“Actually, guys, I think I might’ve found one,” Lyric said, jumping off their bench and joining the two of us on ours. “What about Chaos the Necromancer?”
Chapter Seventeen
Miles
Chaos the Necromancer? Were they serious?
I exchanged a look with Winter, and I knew he was thinking the same thing as me. Why the hell would we want to hire someone who called themself Chaos? That was just… a bad idea.
Lyric huffed out a small laugh. “Look, I know that doesn’t sound good, but out of everyone, this dude has the best reviews. The only thing I’ve seen complaints about was the guy having a bit of an attitude problem. But even those complaints say theattitude was worth dealing with because he’s the real deal. No exploding heads or any other insane stories.”
“Yeah, but… Chaos?” Winter asked. “That doesn’t sound like a person we want here, of all places.”
“Agreed.” I gave a nod. “Do we really want to trust someone who named their business Chaos?”
Lyric shrugged. “I have a good feeling about him. I dunno why, but I feel like this is our guy.”
Winter stared at his friend for a long moment before turning to me. “Maybe we should at least call him and see if he’s even free. I think… I think Lyric’s right.”
I stared at my… friend? my maybe—hopefully—more-than-a-friend-person, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d mind if I just scooted back into his arms and ignored this entire thing. I didn’t want to make any more decisions about this place and its curse. I didn’t want to deal with gnomes and evil magic. I certainly didn’t want to deal with necromancers.
Maybe Winter would let me bury my head in his chest and pretend everything was fine.
I inwardly sighed because that was just dumb.
