Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Miles
Sola came soaring down to me within a minute, and as soon as she landed on my outstretched arm, I pulled her into my chest, hugging her.
“Thank you for coming to me, babygirl.”
She trilled and nuzzled me, and I sighed in relief.
“Help me find the others, yeah?”
She whistled, making me smile, and then I yelled, “Win! Ace! Chaos!” To Sola, I said, “If you can keep your fire down, that’d probably be good since we’re surrounded by flammable materials.”
She trilled her understanding, and I hoped I was interpreting that right. The last thing we needed was a fire in the middle of all this nonsense.
I continued walking, following my track marks and yelling for the others, over and over again with Sola adding her trill every time.
“Miles?” a voice croaked out, and I wanted to sigh in relief, but I had a feeling the person whose voice that belonged to was in pain. “O-over here.”
“I’m coming!” Fuck, where were they? Their voice was so muffled, I couldn’t even tell who it was, but I rushed through the plants and flowers, ignoring getting whipped in the face by branches and leaves. “Say something so I can find you!”
“I’m… over here.”
Chaos. It was Chaos, and he was close.
I rushed through a big bush, pushing its leaves aside so I could scramble through it. Probably not the most efficient way to get to him, but I didn’t know where I was, let alone where he was, so trying to find a path would waste time, and I needed to get to him. I needed to make sure he was okay.
“Chaos?”
“Here.”
I pushed through a row of flowers that were way taller than me and popped out on the other side into a small clearing.
A small clearing where Chaos was lying on his back with Clucky on his chest.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?” I crashed down beside him and ripped my gloves off so I could undo his suit and find where he was injured. “What hurts? Do you know if you’re bleeding anywhere? Fuck. I’m so fucking sorry, Chaos. I’m so, so, so sorry.”
Clucky jumped off Chaos and started hopping around anxiously.
Sola and Clucky chattered back and forth, but for once, they didn’t sound like they were arguing or being mean to each other.
Maybe they were so concerned about their humans that they decided to set their beef aside—even though I had no idea what said beef was about.
My hands were shaking as I grabbed Chaos’s zipper to check him out.
Yes, it would be a risk with the pixies everywhere, but I could keep them off with the spray while I triaged him.
It wouldn’t be easy, but what choice did we have?
I couldn’t risk moving him without knowing what was injured. What if he had a spine injury?
Just as I started to unzip his suit, he grabbed my wrist with his gloved hand, stopping me. “I’m not bleeding. I’m okay.”
“But you’re lying on the ground, not moving.”
“That’s because a bunch of bitchy pixies dragged me away, just like they did to you, and I finally got them off of me. I was catching my breath.”
“You sure you’re not injured? Maybe I should call an ambulance so they can put a neck brace on you and—”
“Miles.” He cut me off with a gentle voice and a squeeze to my wrist. “I’m okay. Probably a little bruised, but I swear I’m okay.” He gave my wrist a push, so I relented and let go of his zipper.
He released my hand and sat up, so I helped him and brushed some of the dirt off the back of his head and back.
Sola tried to be helpful, picking things off him with her beak.
He scooped Clucky into his arms, hugging her like she was his security blanket—she probably was since Sola was quickly becoming mine.
“How do you feel now?”
“Honestly? I feel like an idiot for letting pixies of all things get the drop on me.”
I snorted. “You and me both. Are you okay, though?”
“Yeah. Fine.”
“Do you know where the others are?”
He shook his head. “No. I saw them grab you, and the next thing I knew, I was on my back being dragged in a different direction. I assume they did the same to Ace and Win.”
I nodded since I figured that too. “Probably.” After a few seconds, I asked, “Can you stand?”
He sighed but started to get up. “Yeah.”
I stood, ignoring the pull on my ribs, then helped him up, hiding my wince of pain.
As soon as he was standing, he said, “You’re hurt.”
“Just some bruises, like you.”
“No, something’s wrong. Is it your ribs?”
I sighed. “How are you so smart?”
He snorted. “Are you okay to walk? I can go find the others and bring them back here.”
That made me snort this time. “Ha. Yeah, like I’m going to let you go off alone? Now that we’re back together, I don’t think we should separate.”
He nodded. “That’s fair. These pixies are a lot smarter than we gave them credit for.”
“Right? Let’s follow your track marks back to where we started. We should be able to find their drag marks from there.”
We headed that way with our familiars wrapped around our necks, calling their names as we went.
“Morty?” A yell came from the right, and Chaos and I immediately went that way. Obviously it was Aeson if he was calling Chaos that.
“Ace!” Chaos yelled, moving a little faster than me and crashing through a copse of baby trees.
I followed right on his heels, not wanting to get separated from him again.
Aeson rushed through some large flowers, and I was so relieved to see that he was up and moving around. He and Chaos crashed into each other, giving a big hug that sort of melted me a little.
When Aeson released Chaos, he stepped over and hugged me too. I hugged him back, relieved beyond measure that both the kids were alright. Both familiars gave him cheek rubs, and again, they didn’t chirp angrily at each other. Huh. Maybe they’d learn to work together after this.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” I murmured. “Are you injured at all? Do you need medical attention?”
“I’m fine.” He let me go and offered a smile. “My butt hurts a little from them tripping me, but other than that, I’m fine.”
I took him in and thought he was telling the truth, so I gave him a nod. “Alright. Let’s go find Winter.”
I let the two of them do most of the yelling since my ribs were letting their discomfort be known, but I yelled his name once in a while as we walked.
Finally, Win’s voice called out, “Over here!”
The kids ran, and I tried to keep up, but fell behind a little, so by the time I made it to the new clearing, the twins were already there, staring at Winter in shock.
He was… tied to a tree.
“What the actual fuck?” I yelled, rushing for him.
A big swarm of pixies flew out from behind him, chattering angrily and heading right for me.
I pulled out my pixie repellent again and started squirting.
I didn’t care what this was, what their plan had been—was this some sort of trap to get the rest of us or something?
—I was going to get to Winter no matter what.
The swarm dispersed, but they came right back at me, so I drew out my net as if it was a sword and started waving it at them.
Sola squawked loudly and leapt from my shoulder, chasing a group of pixies away. To my surprise, Clucky followed her lead, so both of them were flying around, snapping their beaks at pixies, and loudly squawking at them, scaring a good bit of them away from us as they worked together.
Unfortunately, there were still more than enough of the tiny bastards to keep up their attack.
When they rushed me, I squirted them and swung my net, catching a good number of them in one sweep. I kept the net moving so the force would keep the little bastards inside, then swiped again and again, catching more of them.
Then Chaos and Aeson both used their spray and nets, doing the same thing. Catching good bits of them while spraying the others.
The little things yelled and screamed, and after at least half of them were inside our nets, they finally got the message and took off.
“Close your nets,” I told the kids. “We can let them go later, but at least there’ll be less of them attacking us.”
The kids did as I asked, and I carefully placed my filled net on the ground, then raced over to Winter. His head looked… unbalanced. Like he was having trouble keeping it upright.
“Oh, baby, what happened?” I asked as I carefully cupped his masked face so I could get a look at his eyes. “Did you hit your head?”
“Ugh. Yeah… not too bad, but I was dizzy for a minute while they were dragging me. I couldn’t really fight back.”
“So they tied you up?”
“Looks that way.” He offered me a small smile. “Are you hurt?”
“Bruised ribs, but I’m fine. The kids are okay too.”
“Thank fuck for that.” He cleared his throat. “Are you planning on untying me anytime soon or are you just going to stand around and stare?”
If he was joking, he couldn’t be too hurt, right?
“I dunno, I was kind of enjoying being the one rescuing you for once.”
He snorted. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“The damsel needs a kiss from his rescuer?”
Winter laughed. “Obviously.”
“Ew, we don’t need to see that,” Aeson said, but he was laughing and clearly joking, which made me chuckle.
The three of us got him untied—with the help of Sola, Clucky, and their sharp beaks—and I pulled him into a hug as soon as he was free. He hugged me back, then kept his arm swung over my shoulders as we headed back toward the stupid dragon egg fossil.
“I can’t believe they’re acting like this over a damn fossil,” Winter murmured as Sola sat on his shoulder, rubbing on him, pecking at him, and obviously very concerned.
“Me either. I’ve seen them do some shitty things when protecting their eggs, but it’s never been this bad. Not even close.”
Win shook his head, then winced. He wasn’t really leaning on me, but I had a feeling I was helping him with his balance.
When we were about twenty feet away and could see the gazebo, Chaos said, “I can try shielding us when we’re a little closer. It won’t last long enough if I start it now, and it won’t be easy since we’re moving, but I can hold it for at least a few minutes.”