Page 99 of The Pushy Pixies Are Going Down
I sent him a smile, and as we walked back to our truck, I began taking the pixie gear off. The pixies were leaving us alone now, so there was no need for all this crap. As soon as we locked up the gate and made it to the truck, we both stripped the rest off, and Win said, “Please tell me we don’t have any pixie cases this week?”
I groaned. “Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t even look at the schedule yet. That’s a tomorrow problem—Mondays suck. But I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we don’t have any.”
“Do we need to take these suits somewhere special to clean them off?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Just to my backyard. I hose them off to get any dust off, then throw them in my washing machine.”
“That works?”
“Yepppers.”
He nodded, then sighed. “Let’s go tell the manager and make our goodbyes to the twins. Maybe we can do a little party type thing again in a couple of weeks with the kids and my sister.”
I nodded because I also wanted to see the kids again—mostly to make sure they were doing okay—and his sister. Despite what she’d done—and she was a kid when she’d chosen their parents over Win, so I wasn’t sure how much I could hold it against her—I kind of… liked her. And her fiancé. I was really glad she was forming a relationship with her brother. I was grateful he had some family back in his life.
“Sounds like a plan, White Knight.”
That made him grin and wink at me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Miles
Going to a pet shelter was an exercise in resistance. Because I wanted to bring home every single pet we passed, even the grumpy ones.
“Oh my god, look at that one,” I said, pointing to a tiny dog that couldn’t even weigh five pounds. “He’s soooo stinkin’ cute!”
Lyric moved closer to the little dog, and he started barking and growling like a maniac. Lyric looked at me. “Yeah, I don’t think he likes me.” They sighed. “I’m not sure. There’s, like, too many choices, and I feel guilty picking one over all the others.”
I nodded, completely understanding. “I know, but you can’t save them all. But you can save one. So think of it as saving one, not as leaving the others behind.”
Lyric took a deep breath, squared their shoulders, and charged ahead toward a door we hadn’t gone through yet.
It was labeled asSpecialty Pets, but I had no idea what that meant. Did they keep pets with special needs in a separate area? That seemed… like a bad idea because then they wouldn’t get seen as easily. Plus, they deserved to be treated like all the other animals here—with care and love.
Win and I followed Lyric into the room, and I almost ran into them because they stopped so suddenly. Win bumped into my back and grabbed my hip so I didn’t tumble down and knock Lyric over. He left his hand there for a few seconds, so I leaned back against him while we took the room in.
There were a variety of cages, crates, and other habitats all around. The room, which I’d expected to be smaller, was actually the same size as the large dog room with all their kennels—so huge and filled with a ton of animals.
Inside the cages here, they had a bunch of faeries, the kinds that were legal to keep as pets. There were pixies, sprites, a few dwarves, and some gremlins.
And then there were a bunch of rabbit-like animals that people needed a permit to adopt. A jackalope, which was a rabbit with antelope antlers. A couple of almirajes, which were horned bunnies, like unicorn rabbits. A few wolpertingers, which were large rabbit-like creatures with antlers, duck wings, and fangs.
And oh my god, ewwwww, gnomes. So many gnomes.
Who in their right mind would inviteanyof those into their home? Like… I got it if you wanted to attract some garden pixies to your outdoor garden, but to keep them inside in a cage? That sounded cruel.
I was surprised this shelter, or any shelter, even allowed it.
We walked farther into the room, and to my surprise and horror, there was a tiny griffin in a cage.
Griffins had the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, only they got to be about the size of a medium dog. So not nearly as big as some fantasy pictures would have you believe. Although, like dragons, they used to be a lot bigger in ancient times.
But this little guy must’ve been a baby because he was only the size of a small chihuahua.
“What in the world is a griffin doing here? They’re so protective of their young. How the hell did they get him away from his family?”
“I dunno,” Winter said, stepping toward the griffin’s cage. “There’s a card on the cage, so let’s see if his story’s there.”
