Page 134 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
“Hey, Curbelo,”Higgins’s voice said over the line.“How are you doing?”
I puffed out my cheeks for a moment. “I’m good. I’m helping a friend set up their yard for a baby griffin that can’t be released back into the wild.”
There was a short pause before he snorted.“You know, as strange as that sounds, I’m not even surprised.”
That made a very reluctant smile form on my lips. “Yeah, well, you know me. Always willing to help animals and faeries.”
“Ha, yeah. Animals, faeries, and people.”
That hung in the air between us for a moment, and I knew he regretted making me think of Laney, but I didn’t know how to respond to that. He was right. I tried to help people too, even if it didn’t work out well all the time.
After a second, I said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“I’m sor—”
“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Higs. Stop walking on eggshells and just talk to me like normal, please.”
He blew out a breath.“Yeah, I can try to do that.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me, and I started brushing the grass back and forth with the toe of my boot. “Sooooo… did you find anything on the teens?”
“Right, yeah. Uh, so both those names are actually coming up as missing kids, labeled runaways by their foster parents.”
I closed my eyes, not even surprised by that. But sorrow for the twins still pierced my heart. I knew something was going on, I just wished those two amazing kids didn’t have to deal with it.
I asked, “What happened to their birth parents?”
“They died when they were eight. Had no other family, so they were thrown into foster care.”He fell quiet, and I had a feeling I was going to like what he said next even less than what I’d already heard.
“What?”
“They were shuffled around to at least nine foster homes each—”
“What do you mean each?”
He sighed.“They weren’t kept together all the time. They would spend a few months together at one foster home, then get shuffled around and separated, and… yeah, they had a rough go of it. They both reported abuse more than once, and last year…”He let out a loud sigh.“Last year, they were in separate homes again, and Aeson ended up in the hospital with broken ribs, a broken leg, and multiple other injuries. There isn’t much in the records about what happened, but Mortimer apparently tried to put a petition in to have Aeson removed from his foster homebeforeAeson got hurt. He tried again while his brother was in the hospital, but since he’s a kid too, no one listened, and… and Aeson was sent back.”
“Jesus Christ. What the fuck? How did the social workers think that was okay when he’d obviously been beaten up? What the actual fuck, Higs?”
“I know. It’s horrible. The twins were both reported missing a week after Aeson got out of the hospital, so everyone assumed they’d run away together.”
“Well, can you blame them?”
“Not in the least.”He sighed again.“Oh, by the way, you gave me the wrong age. That’s why it took so long to find you the info. They’re fifteen, not sixteen.”
I fucking knew it. So Chaos was driving without a license. Shit.
“They’ve been missing for six months.”
“That long?”
“Yes.”He sucked in a deep breath.“If you know where these kids are…”
“I’m not letting them go back into abusive situations, Higs. Not a fucking chance. No way will theyeverhave to see those bastards again.”
“I know that, and I agree wholeheartedly. I just… after… after everything happened back then, I spoke to a family law attorney. I… I wanted to make sure what happened to you never happens again—”
“With Booth still in charge, it’s going to happen again.”
