Page 63 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“Do I have to?” He sounded exasperated again, but he moved out of the way so a person, and not a ghost, could climb out.
Chaos and the newcomer moved over to the side of the car, closer to us, so I was able to get a good look at the new guy.
A flash of Laney’s face tried to invade my mind’s eye because if I’d thought Chaos reminded me of her, this kid reminded meeven more. But I pushed all of that away, pushed the grief down as far as it would go, and focused on the here and now.
A tall guy around Chaos’s age stood there, looking hella awkward. He was skinny—just as skinny as Chaos—and looked absolutely nothing at all like his supposed brother. Where Chaos had black hair and was wearing all black, this new kid had blond hair a little darker than Winter’s and was wearing bright clothes, white jeans that were dirty, probably from being in the trunk, and a bright pink shirt with bright orange geometric shapes on it. And he was tall, even taller than Winter, I was pretty sure. I had no idea how he’d gotten all his super-long limbs inside that tiny trunk without hurting himself.
Where Chaos had bright green eyes, the new kid had soft brown ones. Even their demeanors were different. Chaos seemed like a troublemaker, and this kid seemed sweet and kind.
They couldn’t be more opposite if they’d tried.
And yet, when I looked at the shapes of their faces, the lines of their cheeks and noses, the shapes of their eyes and lips, I could see similarities. So… maybe they really were brothers.
“Everyone, this is my little brother, Aeson—”
Aeson scowled at him and murmured, “By seven minutes, asshat.”
That made my eyebrows rise, but I didn’t interrupt.
Chaos continued as if his brother—his twin brother, apparently—hadn’t spoken. “Ace, this is Miles, Winter, and Lyric, and as far as I can tell, they’re not psychopaths.”
I bit my cheek to keep from laughing, but Lyric snorted, and Winter elbowed them in the ribs.
Aeson smiled widely at us. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry for, like, showing up like this. It’s just, the last people who hired Morty tried to stuff him in a bag and—”
“Aeson!” To my surprise, Chaos’s cheeks flamed. “Shut up. And stop calling me that—it’s Chaos.”
Aeson frowned at his brother. “I’m not calling you that. That’s your necromancer nickname. I’m your brother, not a client.” He turned back to us. “Anyway, sorry, but I can be Morty’s assistant, if you don’t mind. Or I can just wait in the car.”
Chaos sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again, looking completely mortified.
These two were absolutely adorable—and entertaining—so I said, “It’s nice to meet you, Aeson. We can use all the help we can get, and we can pay you too, if you’re willing to help out.”
Aeson’s eyes lit up, and Chaos dropped his hand, looking at me in surprise. “Really?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
Both kids looked overly happy at the prospect of more money, which was all the confirmation I needed. They were in a bad spot, and maybe I could help them out a little. Whatever quote Chaos gave me, I’d give him a very hefty tip in addition to it.
And I will definitely be buying them both lunch.
It was very obvious that neither of them were eating regular meals. It made me wonder where their parents were. I almost voiced the question out loud, but stopped myself since I figured they wouldn’t appreciate that, and I didn’t want to put them on the defensive. They might not let me help them if I did that.
Chaos nodded at me. “Thank you.” Then he quietly said, “Please grab my bag, Ace.”
Aeson gave his brother a salute, then walked to the passenger door to grab a gigantic duffle.
“You better not have broken my gate,” Chaos grumbled as he walked back to the trunk and reached inside.
Lyric raised their hand like they expected a teacher to call on them. “Um, I have a question.”
Chaos rolled their wrist. “Go on.”
“Who or what is a Clucky?”
For some reason, that made Chaos wrinkle his nose, but he sighed, stepped around to the side of the car again, and opened his back door. There was a loudcluck-gobble-hissbefore a ruffle of feathers leapt out of the car and landed right at our feet.
I could only stare at the thing that was staring right back at us.
