Page 76 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
Why did the twins keep evading questions about school? Did that mean they had bad experiences there—were they bullied? Or did that mean… they weren’t doing well in classes? Could it be something else?
I stared at them for a long moment, taking in how skinny they were, and my eyes widened.
It couldn’t possibly mean that they’d stopped going, right?
But… if they were in a bad situation at home, then no one was probably watching out for them and making sure they were showing up. Although, the kids were obviously responsible people since they maintained their jobs well, and Chaos was even still doing extra jobs with his necromancer magic.
So then… what was it? Why didn’t they like talking about it? Maybe they really were being bullied or something. That wasn’t uncommon, and kids could be mean, especially when people were different—like Chaos being a necromancer—or when people didn’t have a lot of money.
The thought made me sad. No one should be bullied. Everyone deserved to be treated with kindness.
Maybe I could go down to their school and have a few words with the principal. If they were made aware of the situation, then perhaps they could do something about it.
Or I could even have words with the bullies themselves… if I could get the kids to give me names.
“Win?” Miles’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I turned to him.
“Yeah?”
He sent me a soft smile and nudged my knee with his. “Aeson asked if you like working for Carry A Faerie now. The kids didn’t know you didn’t officially work for me when we were at the gnome house.”
I turned to them. Aeson was staring openly at me while chewing on a bite of food, and Chaos was staring down at his plate, but I had no doubt he was listening.
I offered a smile. “Oh, I guess it makes sense you didn’t know. Yeah, I used to work for Faerie Be Gone Pest Control, and I hated every minute of it.”
“They kill the faeries, don’t they?” Chaos asked, looking up and meeting my gaze with his one uncovered eye.
Aeson kicked his brother. “Don’t be rude.”
Chaos scoffed. “What? I’m not. It’s just a question.”
“Uh, yeah. They do… I… I, um, did. Before Miles hired me. I really love that we save faeries now.”
Miles reached over and squeezed my forearm, offering a sympathetic smile before he faced the kids and Lyric. “Most people don’t see the harm in using kill traps and poisons. Honestly, it’s not something I ever thought about until I had a pixie problem here at the house. I didn’t realize before that so many people use that stuff on the little creatures. I guess it’s just not something I thought about before then.” He shrugged, looking a little sad.
Aeson nodded. “That makes sense, I guess. Faerie rights weren’t really talked about when you guys were young, huh?”
I scowled at him. “We’re not that old.”
To my surprise, the smile Aeson shot me was shit-eating. “Really? From the looks of it, you’re a lot older than us.”
“Hey!” Lyric shouted and threw a napkin at him, making the teen laugh. “I’m the same age as those old geezers over there.”
Aeson put a hand over his heart. “Don’t worry, Lyric, you don’t look nearly as old as them.”
This time, it was me who shouted, “Hey,” and threw a napkin at him.
The teen laughed, and to my surprise, Chaos joined in, although he mostly laughed down at his plate. When he lifted his head, he did a head flick to get the hair out of his face, and I gasped.
There was a giant bruise on his face! What the hell?
Chapter Twenty-One
Winter
Without thought, I stood, put my plate on the chair, and rushed over to him. “What happened?”
“What? Nothing.”
