Page 45 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
Giving Miles's hand one last squeeze, I walked down the first step, then let go of him—reluctantly again—since we wouldn’t fitside-by-side and I didn’t want either of us to fall down the steep steps just because I wanted to keep touching him.
“I’m right behind you, Winter,” Miles said.
“And I’m bringing up the rear, which I’m not sure is my favorite spot among this trio, if I’m being honest, but at least I’m not first.”
I flipped them off over my shoulder. “Don’t even think about bringing up axe murderers right now.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of creepy basement monsters, like ghouls or something.”
I paused, then gave my best friend a murderous look over my shoulder. They just grinned at me like they were proud of being an asshole.
Miles chuckled and patted my shoulder. “Don’t worry, Win, I doubt there’re any ghouls down there. I mean, surely, we would’ve heard them by now, right? Aren’t they attracted to sound? They’d be coming at us already.”
“Maybe,” Lyric said. “But if not, at least you and I will make it out alive.”
“Wow, trying to replace me already, Lyr?” I asked, rolling my eyes at them.
Lyric chuckled, then reached around Miles to pat me on the top of the head like I was being a good dog or something. I batted their hand away, then took a deep breath and stepped into the darkness.
The second I crossed the barrier, a strange heaviness fell over my entire body, as if the air down here was thick and weighted. It was like I’d stepped into an entire other world, and the air was making me sluggish, like I was walking through mud and breathing through a thick cloth.
The feel of… something in the air—magic, maybe?—made goosebumps creep up along my arms and the back of my neck.
“For fuck’s sake, why’d you stop? Can we get this over with already?” Lyric asked as soon as they were in the room. Their voice came out harsh and angry, which gave me pause.
The change in attitude had me glancing at them with a raised brow. All day today, they’d been going from the usual, happy-go-lucky person I knew and adored to a grouchy person I’d only ever seen a few times in our whole lives. It was like their attitude was on a pendulum today, and that was so unlike Lyric.
Before I could say anything, Miles snapped, “Don’t be rude to him. We’ve only been down here for ten seconds.”
My eyebrows rose, because even Miles had been acting a little off throughout the day, and he sounded so pissed when a moment ago, he was fine.
What the hell?
To no one’s surprise, Lyric argued back. “He’smybest friend, I can talk to him however I want.”
“It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just treat people like shit simply because you know them. That’s called abuse.”
The dramatic gasp that came out of Lyric’s mouth was so loud, people on the moon could hear it. “How dare you!”
“Oh, I dare!”
The two of them looked seconds away from attacking one another with their fists, and neither of them were violent people.
As quickly as I could, I jumped between them, put my hands on their chests, and gently pressed them apart. “Okay, guys, please chill out. No one’s abusing anyone. Although I agree with that whole sentiment, it doesn’t really apply here, so thank you anyway, sugar butt.”
When I glanced between them, they both wore expressions of confusion.
Miles quietly said, “I’m so sorry, Lyric. I… I don’t know what came over me.” He shook his head and rubbed at his brow.
Lyric shook their head too, almost as if trying to clear the fog from their brain. “Uh, yeah, I’m sorry too. I, uh, I don’t know what happened.”
“Me either.” Miles looked down at my hand on his chest and gently touched my wrist before staring at me. “But I think I know what stopped it.”
Lyric said, “Yeah, there’s definitely some fucked-up magic in the air.”
I glanced between them again, then at my hands. Was that what’d happened? The magic had been affecting them negatively, but it stopped when I touched them?
Miles tilted his head at me. “Did you call Lyric sugar butt?”
