Chapter Twenty-Six
Miles
Why in the world would my magic be perfect?
“What do you mean?”
Chaos grinned, and now Aeson paused the show so he could pay attention to us too. The necromancer said, “If we put your calming empath magic into an artifact, we can put that artifact in the garden, and the pixies should stop pushing people around.”
I blinked. Oh.
Oh.
I hadn’t been thinking about magical solutions, which come to think of it, was absolutely stupid of me.
I was just… unused to thinking outside the box when it came to my magic.
My entire life, everyone was afraid of me, afraid of my magic, afraid of me reading their minds even when I hadn’t been able to, afraid to touch me, just… afraid.
Constantly afraid.
After high school, when the police academy had trained me up, I’d had so many rules and regulations that everything, even my magic, had felt so regimented. I’d been taught to use my magic for interrogations and interviews, and that was pretty much it.
I hadn’t been taught to think outside the box.
Not the way Chaos had obviously been.
And I’d barely even heard about this whole artifact magic thing, so even if I’d been trying to think of solutions, there was no way that would’ve ever crossed my mind.
Sure, I probably should’ve tried to calm the little things down when they attacked us earlier, but I hadn’t thought about it. I’d never been trained to use my magic like that, so… it wasn’t exactly a habit. Most of my abilities were used more innately.
“You really think we can make one strong enough to cover that whole garden?”
Chaos nodded. “I don’t think you realize how powerful you are, especially now that you have Sola.”
Hm. I… couldn’t say I hadn’t noticed the power boost she gave me, but I hadn’t realized other practitioners could tell. “You can tell that?”
He grinned. “I noticed when we worked together on the gnomes, and since you were newly bonded then, you should be even more powerful now.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
He snorted. “Yeah. Sooo… wanna give it a try?”
I nodded and sat up, leaning up off of Winter. “Definitely. What do we need?”
He got to his feet. “I have stuff in my bag. I’ll go grab it from the car. You find something we can use as the artifact. Just make sure it’s not something you care about because we’ll be leaving it at the museum.”
As he walked out of the house, Aeson hugged Clucky to himself and asked, “Do you have any broken lawn ornaments or anything like that? That could work and would be fine to stay outside for a long time.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea.” I stood and stretched. “I think I have some stuff in the shed. I’ll be right back.”
Goliath followed me to the back door, so I let him come out with me, making sure to grab the shed key from the counter on our way out.
I walked to the back left corner of my yard where my shed was—it was filled with my lawn mower, a table umbrella, the outdoor chair cushions, and other things I didn’t want left out in the rain, wind, or snow.
Goliath ran around the yard, making me laugh when he started chasing a butterfly and leaping around, looking like a deer again—I loved his goofy hops.
I opened the shed and walked in. It wasn’t very big since I didn’t have a ton of stuff, but I knew what I needed was in the back corner inside a bin.
Once I found the right bin, I took a breath to center myself, then flipped it open with a cringe.
Inside were about twenty or so different-size and colors statues… of gnomes.
They icked me out, so I grabbed the one on top, set it aside, closed up the bin, shoved it back in the corner, and stood. Then I snagged the stupid gnome statue and walked out, locking the shed behind me.
“Come on, Golly!” I yelled, and he practically flew across the yard to me.
I braced myself for the incoming mini-horse even though he was trying to slow down—I’d seen how ridiculous he was when he was excited and tried to stop. He was all limbs and excess energy and never, ever skidded to a stop gracefully.
I knew what was coming.
But knowing it and feeling it were two different things.
Goliath rammed right into my body, knocking the breath from me as I stumbled back a few steps. I almost, almost went down, but arms wrapped around me from behind, scaring the shit out of me.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” I screamed—and no, I definitely didn’t sound like a twelve-year-old girl, no matter what anyone else said—and whirled on my attacker, ready to pummel them with my gnome statue.
Winter laughed loudly. “It’s just me.”
I lowered my arms and narrowed my eyes at him, willing my heart to stop beating out of my chest. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
He bit his lips, trying to hide his laughter.
“I see you laughing, asshat.”
He laughed out loud, then bent down to pet Goliath since he was jumping in circles around both of us. “I came out a minute after you to see if you needed help. Goliath distracted me on the way to the shed, but I was out here when you called him. I thought you saw me.”
I shook my head. “Nope.” Wow, was I really that freaked out by a stupid gnome statue that I hadn’t even seen him out here? What a dork.
Winter gestured to the statue. “Is that… what I think it is?”
Holding it up, I grimaced. “If you think it’s a disgusting gnome, then you’re right.”
He bit his lips again, clearly trying not to laugh. “Why…” He choked on his own laugh, making me sigh in exasperation. “Why the hell do you have a gnome statue?”
I rolled my eyes. “Some of the guys at the department got wind of my dislike of gnomes, so every few months, I’d come home to one of these things in my yard. It was annoying.”
His laughter died off, and he stepped closer to me, grabbing my hip. “Oh, sugar butt.”
I patted his chest. “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead. “Why did you keep this one?”
I grimaced again. “I kept them all… I… don’t really know why. I just… felt bad throwing them away or something. I put them all in a bin in the shed, and I meant to drop them off somewhere or give them away, but I honestly forgot they were in there until Ace said something about lawn ornaments.”
He slid one arm behind my back and gently put the other hand on the back of my head so he could give me a long, lingering forehead kiss this time. I closed my eyes and breathed him in for a few seconds.
When he released me, he grabbed the gnome statue from my hands with a wink and headed inside. Goliath leaned against my legs, watching Winter with me for a few seconds.
“Ready to go in, boy?”
He licked my hand and trotted off behind Winter, and I followed after them.