Page 90 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
Glancing around at my new friends, I realized that everyone was in the same predicament. Dodging missiles and fighting off gnomes. This was a disaster.
Chaos grabbed my attention again. “Miles? Can you shield us?”
I jerked back. “Can I… what? I’m an empath, not a regular practitioner.”
His brow furrowed. “Dude, empaths are more powerful than regs, especially now that you have Sola.” He shook his head like he was dismissing his thought, meanwhile, I was over here likewhat the actual fuck are you talking about? Empaths are more powerful than regs? What?
Chaos said, “I’ll create the shield. You watch the path I take. Our magics aren’t that dissimilar. I can’t hold it and concentrate on the curse spellwork at the same time. Once I have it set, you can hold it yourself.”
I had some serious doubts about that, but I’d give it a shot.
The others were screaming and objects were flying off the shelves, aiming right for us, but Winter, Lyric, and Aeson grabbed some old picture frames and a random large piece of metal. They were knocking flying objects off course or blocking them with their makeshift shields. Books, tchotchkes, trophies, empty flower pots, canned goods, and who the hell knew what else were flying everywhere. But the three of them were keeping it away from Chaos and me.
“Ready?” Chaos was asking for my help, so I trusted the others to keep the two of us safe while we figured this out.
I gave him a nod, and he sucked in a breath, and as he slowly released it, I used my inner-eye, for lack of a better word, to focus on his magic. And I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sola was watching just as closely. She was planning on helping me with this, I could feel it, and my affection for her grew. Examining another’s magic wasn’t something I did often—I didn’t know any practitioners, so it wasn’t like I could easily practice—but it didn’t take long for me to remember how to do it.
His magic had a golden hue to it, and I watched as a few runes I recognized were woven into his magic, like smoky gold symbols floating in the air.
The rune forprotectwas woven in over and over and over again. I could see how Chaos was asking his magic to do his bidding, how he was making it form those shapes, those symbols.
And then finally, I watched the magic sift and flow until it was in a perfect dome around our group. As soon as it was in place, a pulse of necromantic energy rushed through the entire dome, making it turn into an almost solid entity.
He breathed out again. “Okay. There we go. That should keep the ghosts and any flying objects out while I finish up. I’m almost done.”
“That… that was amazing, Chaos.”
To my surprise, he sent me a tiny smile. “Thanks. Can you take it over?”
“H-how? I don’t want anyone getting hurt because of me.”
“You can do it, Miles. Just… close your eyes and let your magic reach out to mine. Sola’s magic will help you too.”
I stared at the teenager for a beat before I gave him a nod and closed my eyes, putting a hell of a lot of trust in this kid. This necromancer.
Funny how just yesterday morning I’d been terrified of even meeting one, and now, I was wishing I could work with him more… and wishing I could protect him from whatever was keeping him and his brother from eating enough.
Shaking away those thoughts, I pushed my magic out, and Sola didn’t hesitate to push her energy into me, powering me up. I was immediately hit with a quiet rage coming from Aeson and red-hot anger from Lyric. But I ignored those emotions as best I could and pushed my magic past them.
The second it touched Chaos’s shield, I expected to feel something… gross, maybe? Something that horrified me because it was death magic?
But I didn’t.
Chaos’s magic felt soothing and inviting, peaceful even.
Once I realized it wasn’t going to horrify me or make my mouth taste like ash or something, I pushed even further, reaching out with everything I had—which was a hell of a lot more now that Sola was bonded to me—and trying to grab onto his magic.
“There you go. You got it.” Chaos’s voice sounded like he was smiling. “I’m going to release it slowly, okay?”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I opened my eyes and caught his gaze.
He gave me a nod. “You’ve got this, Miles. Promise.”
How it had come to having this sixteen-year-old kid—and I still wasn’t sold on that age—comforting me and teaching me more about my magic in five minutes than literally anyone else had in my entire life, I didn’t know. But I appreciated it more than he could possibly understand.
Sola gave me an encouraging trill, so I sent Chaos a nod. “Alright. I’m ready.”
He sent me another of those tiny smiles that was almost a smirk, and I felt him pulling away from the shield. As he did, I made sure I was clinging to every single inch of the thing. I could feel the ghosts banging on it and objects flying and hitting it, but I didn’t let that stop me from holding on.
