Page 95 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Miles
Once I made it inside, Chaos was back, sitting on the floor with his duffel bag open beside him and a few bowls and herbs or something already out and waiting.
He patted the couch pillow in front of him. “For your old butt.”
I snorted and sat on the designated pillow. “Gee, thanks, kid.”
He smirked. “Anytime.” I noticed that he wasn’t sitting on a cushion.
“You can sit on one too, you know.”
He glanced up. “You sure? I was joking about the old butt thing, and I figured you’d put it back on the couch if you didn’t want it on the floor.”
I rolled my eyes and held my hand out toward Winter, who was sitting on the couch. He obliged and threw me another pillow, and I held it out to Chaos. “Here. I don’t care what you guys do with the pillows and stuff. This living room is meant to be comfortable, so you can sit or lay to put your feet up wherever and however you want.” There. That should be clear enough, right?
Chaos stared at me for a moment before he plucked the pillow from my hands, stood, set it down, and plopped back down on top of it. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Winter didn’t waste any time finding another pillow to throw to Aeson since he was still sitting on the floor. I’d offered them pillows before, but maybe they’d been too shy or polite to take them earlier.
Hopefully, they wouldn’t hesitate from now on.
Chaos pushed his hair out of his face, and I was glad to see that his bruise was already healed. “Do you have the object we’re turning into an artifact?”
Winter held the statue out to him.
Chaos took it, then squinted at me. “Why would you, of all people, have a gnome statue?”
I sighed. “It’s a long story, but mostly, it was a… practical joke.” It was more like some assholes at my old job bullying me, but I didn’t want to go there. Not only did I not want to talk about it, I also didn’t want to make him and Aeson sad at all.
They both seemed so content right now, and I wasn’t going to be the one to disrupt that.
Chaos nodded, accepting my answer, luckily, and set the statue on the floor between us. “Okay, so we’re going to usesage to get rid of negative energy to clear the way for our magic, rosemary and dandelion to help guide our magics, and eucalyptus and thyme to strengthen our power. Basically, we’re going to call on our magics and push them into the statue. The herbs are just there to offer a little help and guidance. But that’s the easy part. The hard part is making sure we put enough magic inside and making sure it stays there.”
He went on to explain what all we needed to do, and I took a breath and asked, “You’re doing it with me?”
He nodded. “I… figured it would be easier to guide you that way, but if you don’t want necromancer magic mixing with yours, I don’t have to.”
“No!” Everyone startled at my outburst, and I cringed a little but rallied. “No, Chaos, that’s not what I meant at all. I was just checking because I’m actually a lot more comfortable having you do it with me since I have no idea what I’m doing.”
He stared at me for a long moment, his eyes searching my face and likely trying to figure out if I was being truthful. I let him look because I had nothing to hide. I’d meant every word.
Finally, after nearly a full minute, he nodded slowly. “Okay. Let’s do this then.”
I blew out a relieved breath, and Winter caught my eye. He shot me a fond smile and a wink before I looked at Chaos for direction.
He waved both our familiars over, and they both leapt off the perch they were on—Sola hadveryreluctantly let Clucky on it—and they curled around our necks, balancing on our shoulders. I was surprised they’d both seemed to know what to do when Chaos signaled them. I’d thought I’d have to call Sola over myself.
It seemed that when it came to magic, everyone, including the familiars, knew more than me.
I supposed that was what happened when you weren’t allowed to attend practitioner school as a kid, even though you had magic. And could even apparently perform spells.
Like… who the hell knew an empath could do that? Or any of the other things Chaos had taught me?
I sure as hell hadn’t known it.
