Page 85 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
Miles nodded. “I’m sorry too. Is Clucky okay?”
“She’s fine.” Chaos gave her a good pet. “Is Sola?”
“Yep. She’s good.”
Lyric marched over and put one hand on each bird, petting them, as they said, “You two are gonna be nice to each other, okay? You don’t have to be best friends, but you do need to be kind. Got it?”
To my surprise—and delight—both familiars gave Lyric a loud affirming chirp.Good. But then Clucky stuck her nose up in the air and made a tiny chirp, and Sola sort of grumbled before turning away.
Well. They both had attitudes, and it was actually kind of cute.
It made Chaos and Miles laugh, and the tension left the group.
When I walked over to Miles, he asked, “Do you mind holding Sola for a minute?”
“I’d love to hold her.”
He grinned, passed her to me, then walked over to Chaos and gave Clucky some attention. That seemed to appease the cockatrice, although it didn’t make Sola happy at all.
“Aww, pretty girl, you’re still his favorite. I promise.”
She trilled at me and rubbed against my cheek, and I hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
Miles came back over and gave Sola a kiss on the top of her head without taking her from me. I puckered my lips and mumbled, “Don’t I get one too?”
His face flushed, but he snorted out a laugh and pecked my lips before shaking his head at me. “I can’t believe you got me to do that.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we’re technically on a job right now.”
Oh. Right. I frowned at him. “Sorry.”
He waved me off. “No, it’s fine, I’m just…” He trailed off with a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever kissed someone while I was at work.” He took me in for a beat. “I liked it.” Then he turned on his heel and marched toward the others, calling out, “Let’s get this over with. Chaos, what do you need us to do?”
I had a little pep in my step as I carried Sola over to the group.
Finding myself back in the basement of the creepy mansion with a group of overly angry people, fighting off a horde of gnomes, was not my idea of a fun time.
But here we were.
Again.
I couldn’t wait for Chaos to finish breaking this damn curse so my friends and my Miles would go back to normal.
Everything had been so peaceful and fun outside only twenty minutes ago, and now, it seemed like Aeson, Lyric, and Miles were ready to throw fists. And to make matters worse, Sola was perched on Miles’s shoulder, squawking and trying to biteanyone—including me—every time we got too close to Miles. Luckily, I could nullify her too, but like the others, I had to be touching her.
“What did you just say?” Lyric asked, trying to puff out their chest as if anyone in the entire world had ever been intimidated by their cute face. “Say that again, Miles, I dare you.”
“You’re such a—”
I cut him off with a hand over his mouth, stopping whatever nonsense was about to spew from it and simultaneously giving him a break from the curse magic. Sola nibbled at my hand, but as soon as she touched me, she started rubbing against the nibbled spots as if in apology.
After giving the two of them a few seconds to calm down, I released Miles and took a step toward Lyric, who was still spewing nasty shit at my guy.
Since Chaos began working on the cursed seal, it’d amped up its magic, so everyone was even more high-strung than before, including the gnomes.
“Oh fuck!” Chaos yelled. “Incoming!”
