Page 120 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
I followed right on his heels, not wanting to get separated from him again.
Aeson rushed through some large flowers, and I was so relieved to see that he was up and moving around. He and Chaoscrashed into each other, giving a big hug that sort of melted me a little.
When Aeson released Chaos, he stepped over and hugged me too. I hugged him back, relieved beyond measure that both the kids were alright. Both familiars gave him cheek rubs, and again, they didn’t chirp angrily at each other. Huh. Maybe they’d learn to work together after this.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I murmured. “Are you injured at all? Do you need medical attention?”
“I’m fine.” He let me go and offered a smile. “My butt hurts a little from them tripping me, but other than that, I’m fine.”
I took him in and thought he was telling the truth, so I gave him a nod. “Alright. Let’s go find Winter.”
I let the two of them do most of the yelling since my ribs were letting their discomfort be known, but I yelled his name once in a while as we walked.
Finally, Win’s voice called out, “Over here!”
The kids ran, and I tried to keep up, but fell behind a little, so by the time I made it to the new clearing, the twins were already there, staring at Winter in shock.
He was… tied to a tree.
“What the actual fuck?” I yelled, rushing for him.
A big swarm of pixies flew out from behind him, chattering angrily and heading right for me. I pulled out my pixie repellent again and started squirting. I didn’t care what this was, what their plan had been—was this some sort of trap to get the rest of us or something?—I was going to get to Winter no matter what.
The swarm dispersed, but they came right back at me, so I drew out my net as if it was a sword and started waving it at them.
Sola squawked loudly and leapt from my shoulder, chasing a group of pixies away. To my surprise, Clucky followed her lead, so both of them were flying around, snapping their beaks atpixies, and loudly squawking at them, scaring a good bit of them away from us as they worked together.
Unfortunately, there were still more than enough of the tiny bastards to keep up their attack.
When they rushed me, I squirted them and swung my net, catching a good number of them in one sweep. I kept the net moving so the force would keep the little bastards inside, then swiped again and again, catching more of them.
Then Chaos and Aeson both used their spray and nets, doing the same thing. Catching good bits of them while spraying the others.
The little things yelled and screamed, and after at least half of them were inside our nets, they finally got the message and took off.
“Close your nets,” I told the kids. “We can let them go later, but at least there’ll be less of them attacking us.”
The kids did as I asked, and I carefully placed my filled net on the ground, then raced over to Winter. His head looked… unbalanced. Like he was having trouble keeping it upright.
“Oh, baby, what happened?” I asked as I carefully cupped his masked face so I could get a look at his eyes. “Did you hit your head?”
“Ugh. Yeah… not too bad, but I was dizzy for a minute while they were dragging me. I couldn’t really fight back.”
“So they tied you up?”
“Looks that way.” He offered me a small smile. “Are you hurt?”
“Bruised ribs, but I’m fine. The kids are okay too.”
“Thank fuck for that.” He cleared his throat. “Are you planning on untying me anytime soon or are you just going to stand around and stare?”
If he was joking, he couldn’t be too hurt, right?
“I dunno, I was kind of enjoying being the one rescuing you for once.”
He snorted. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“The damsel needs a kiss from his rescuer?”
