Page 66 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“Hm. Okay. Seal works for me. Uh, do you think the gates will work?”
Winter nodded, and even though I was terrified of going back in that basement, I nodded too. If I had the gate shield thing, maybe I’d be able to handle it better.
Chaos took the gates from Winter and started disconnecting them.
Winter grabbed my elbow and bent down a little to meet my eye. “You’ve got this.”
I grimaced. “What if I don’t?”
He shrugged and winked. “That’s what I’m here for. If you need to leave, I’ll help you get out, then head back in to help the kids.”
I nodded. “You think it’s safe to let the kids go down there? They’re like sixteen. Should we even let them do this? What if they get hurt?”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking, but it sounds like Chaos does this kind of thing all the time.” He glanced at the kids, cleared his throat, and asked, “Chaos and Aeson?”
They both turned to him, Chaos looking grim, and Aeson smiling. Seriously, how were they twins? They were so very different.
Winter asked them, “Do either of you have any empath abilities?”
For some reason, that made Chaos tense up, but all he said was, “No.”
Winter stared at them, and I decided to use my abilities to see if the teen was lying. My magic washed over the whole group, and I got lots of anxious excitement, a little fear, and a little giddiness—that last one was from Aeson. I had no idea what he had to be so giddy about, but I didn’t feel anything that felt like lying coming from him or Chaos.
To Winter, I whispered, “He’s telling the truth,” then louder, I said, “Win’s only asking because I’m an empath.”
Empaths were just as rare as necromancers, and I had a feeling that coming clean and sharing this would go a long way toward gaining the kids’ trust. I knew how scary it must be for Chaos to put himself out there like this and basically announce to the world that he had this rare magic, as proven by whatever Aeson had been about to say about previous clients.
Stuffing Chaos into a bag…? Did I even want to know what he meant by that?
There were a lot of people in this world who wanted to take advantage of a practitioner’s abilities, and I was sure necromancy was in high demand for those people. I didn’t blame his brother for being worried. I barely knew the kid, and I was worried. I didn’t want him going out alone to meet people who wanted to—supposedly—hire him. He could end up hurt or kidnapped or something.
Chaos’s eyebrows rose, and Aeson made a similar expression, although he still looked happy. Neither of them said anything, though.
I cleared my throat. “The gnomes have been targeting me because they figured out if they touch my skin, they can overwhelm me and, uh, basically take me out of commission.”
Chaos stood straight, staring at me hard. “Are you telling me they’re planning attacks now? Gnomes aren’t that intelligent.”
I lifted my hands in a what’re-we-gonna-do gesture. “Trust me, it surprised us too. I was attacked yesterday, but that seemed almost like an accident. But today’s been… rough. It’s like they remembered me, told all their little friends, and have been coming after me since.”
“He’s not lying.” Lyric stepped closer to the group. “I watched them completely bypass me to get to him, although they were jumping on me too.”
Chaos’s eyes were wide, and he turned his attention to the door again, clearly thinking.
Aeson asked, “Were you hurt?”
“Just a few scratches and bruises. Nothing major.” I sent the kid a small smile.
Aeson took a step toward me. “I could—”
Chaos grabbed his wrist to hold him back. “No.” His voice came out quiet but hard and angry and not like anything I’d heard yet. It was honestly almost a little creepy. Or it would’ve been if that one word had come out of anyone other than a tiny and cute teenager.
The brothers stared at each other for a long moment before Aeson sighed, sagged, and stepped back toward his brother, grabbing one of the gates.
Winter and I exchanged a look—because what the hell was that?—and then we each took a gate from Chaos as well.
After taking a deep breath, I faced the door.
Okay, Miles, you can do this.
