Page 61 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
Huh. I… never really thought of that before. “I thought you mostly did curse-breaking?”
The kid shrugged. “I do that too. Sometimes I do one more than the other, but both of those are the things I do most.”
“What else do you do?” Lyric asked, but before Chaos could answer, our number was called.
Aeson said to Miles, “I’ll help you carry everything.”
Miles grinned at him. “Thanks.”
The two of them—and Sola—got up, and I leaned forward, quietly telling Chaos, “I know you don’t want the help, but please know that Miles, Lyric, and I are here if you need it, okay? If you have a client you’re unsure of, and Ace can’t go with you, please, please,pleasecall me.” When he didn’t say anything for a long beat, I asked, “Can you do that? Please?”
He let out a long sigh, then finally gave me a single nod, staring at the table, not meeting my eyes. I watched him for a long time, wishing I could read his mind so I’d know if he meant it or not. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to this kid.
Hell, it looked like things had already happened to him and his brother.
They didn’t look healthy, but I didn’t know what else to do besides give them food.
When we’d met them back at the gnome house, I’d thought they looked underfed. But unbelievably, they looked even worse now.
What in the world were they doing with their money? Why weren’t they feeding themselves? They were clearly working really hard, so… why were they starving themselves?
Before I could open my mouth and possibly offend the kid, Miles and Aeson came back with Sola on Ace’s shoulder this time. They placed three giant pizzas, five large drinks, breadsticks, french fries, and some chicken strips on the table.
It looked like Miles was trying to feed an army.
As usual.
Definitely went a little overboard, but I knew he was feeling guilty that we hadn’t come out to see the kids sooner—see them and feed them, obviously. I honestly felt bad too, but there was nothing we could do to change the past. All we could do was be better about making time for them in the future.
Clucky let out a small hissing sound, aimed at Sola when Aeson sat beside Chaos, and Sola ignored her, pecking away at Aeson’s hair. Ace gave Clucky a few pets, which made Sola pause and make an unpleasant cheep. Aeson rolled his eyes good-naturedly and petted both familiars, although neither looked happy about it.
I wasn’t sure why they didn’t like each other. Maybe it really was because they both wanted to be loved on by everyone and got jealous? Who knew what the faerie familiars were thinking?
Chaos looked at all of the food, then lifted an eyebrow at Miles—I really wished I could do that—and said, “Really?”
“What?” Miles was trying to look innocent, but he couldn’t quite pull it off. He was the worst liar ever. But it was cute when he tried.
“And what exactly are we supposed to do with all this food?”
My boyfriend shrugged. “Take it home with you for later or tomorrow.”
Lyric snorted but surprisingly stayed out of it, quietly fixing their own plate.
Chaos stared at him for a long moment before Aeson punched his shoulder and rubbed his hands together. “I, for one, am starving, and this smells delicious. Let’s dig in before we run out of time.”
The other teen sighed and grabbed a plate.
I nudged Miles with my shoulder and sent him a small grin that he returned before he went back to worrying his bottom lip. He was nervous the kids wouldn’t take the food, but even though they were obviously prideful—especially Chaos—I was pretty sure they’d take the food anyway. At the very least, I was sure we could convince Aeson to take it.
Although, where they were going to put it all was another question. Hopefully, they had their car with them.
I grabbed my own plate and dug in.
We came out of the little pizza place with a ton of boxes, and I wasn’t surprised in the least—no one was—that Miles managed to get the twins to agree to take the food.
We walked them to their car, stuffed the food inside, then headed for the front of the museum.
“Thanks for dinner,” Aeson said with a grin. “I’ll see you guys at nine, right?”
