Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Winter
The twins had stayed the night last night, sleeping on that air mattress after everyone calmed down from the dragon hatching. Lyric, Maggie, and Nash had headed home after making sure to get some good dragon snuggles in first—everyone loved the little guy already.
After Miles had convinced the kids to eat breakfast, they’d left even though we’d tried to get them to stay.
Now, we had a new… idea. Or at least, we were going to talk to the kids about what was really going on. And hopefully, they’d take the offered help.
I really hated the fact that I legally couldn’t do anything to help Miles and the twins. In fact, my presence would be a mark against Miles, but I had to pray that this Higgins guy would come through with the paperwork.
But first, we needed to get the twins back home—back to Miles’s home.
I’d texted Aeson earlier to find out if they were working tonight, and I was relieved they both were. So Miles and I drove out to the museum. Yet again.
And since we now had a newborn baby dragon to contend with, Miles had the hatchling in a baby sling on his chest. If anyone decided to come see the baby, they’d get a big surprise when all they could see were green scales.
Since Miles had the dragon—who still needed a name—I had Sola on my shoulder. She wasn’t about to be left behind.
We saw Chaos at the ticket booth and headed there first. They were getting off work in fifteen minutes, so we should be able to talk to them soon.
“Hey, what are you guys doing here? I thought you never wanted to see this place again?” The teen smirked as we approached him. “Oh my god, is that the hatchling?” Chaos looked nearly as excited about the baby dragon as Aeson had before they’d left.
I gave him a wave and nodded. “Yep. The faerie vet told us to keep him close at all times.” We’d had the vet come to the house earlier today, and as far as she knew, the hatchling was healthy. Oh, and he was a boy. So at least we’d gotten something right so far.
“That’s really cute.”
Miles offered a small smile, then cleared his throat. He looked so nervous as he said, “Uh, thanks. Um… we wanted to run something by you and Ace after you get off work. Do you think we could meet by your car or something?”
Chaos immediately looked suspicious, but luckily, he trusted us enough to know we wouldn’t do anything to put him or his brother in danger. He slowly nodded. “Alright… I guess.” His head tilted to the side as he examined us. “Is everything okay?”
Miles nodded frantically. “Yep, yes. Uh-huh.”
“Riiiiiiight… sounds like it.”
I snorted and threw an arm around Miles, tucking him into my side, aware of the hatchling on his chest and Sola on my shoulder.
I gave Sola a pet with my free hand, then ran my finger over the hatchling’s snout—his scales were softer than I would’ve thought.
I kissed Miles’s hair, hoping I was helping calm him down as I spoke to Chaos.
“Everything’s fine. We just want to ask you guys something. ”
“And you couldn’t do it over the phone?”
I shook my head. “Nope. In person only.”
“Right. You guys are being really weird. Like, way weirder than usual.”
I gasped dramatically. “Are you saying we’re usually weird?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I snorted.
“So… what’s with the weird?”
Miles sighed. “Sorry. I’m… nervous, but I… we…”
“We want to talk to you both at the same time.”
“Right. Okay. Well, we’re stuck here for another ten minutes, but we can meet you by our car. It’s in the side parking lot.”
“Cool. See you in a few.”
I tugged Miles with me, and he let out an annoyed huff when we walked around the corner. “Why am I such a dork?”
“You’re an amazing dork.”
He chuckled. “Gee, thanks. I feel so much better now.”
I laughed and kissed his temple. “You should. An amazing dork is quite the compliment.”
He snorted, shaking his head, but leaned further into me. I kissed his head again, and we slowly made our way into the parking lot. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of cars, so it was easy to find theirs.
I moved my car over to the spot two spots from theirs so we could lean against it while we waited. The kids took nearly twenty minutes to get to us, and I could tell they were nervous when they walked up.
Apparently, Miles’s nerves were rubbing off on everyone else.
Which meant I was going to have to be the one to keep everyone relaxed.
Hopefully.
I wasn’t relaxed. At all.
But I could pretend, and hopefully that’d be enough to help Miles and the kids.
The twins leaned against their car, mirroring us, and Aeson sent us a nervous smile, saying, “Hey. Is everything okay? Is the dragon alright?”
Miles startled beside me and straightened. “Oh yeah, he’s fine. See?” He leaned forward a little and opened the sling so Ace could see him.
“Good. What about Confetti? Is she okay?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s doing great. She thinks she’s the ruler of the house, and usually Odin, Goliath, and even Sola let her get away with it.”
Aeson blew out a breath and put his hand on his chest over his heart. “Oh, good. You had me worried for a minute there.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Confetti’s fine, and the vet gave this little guy a clean bill of health.” Miles sucked in a huge breath, then let it out slowly. “So… I, um, we… we know you guys are… I know you… ran away from your foster parents.”
Chaos straightened, already looking extremely pissed and ready to bolt. He placed himself a step in front of his brother. “How the hell do you know that?”
Miles winced. “We… I looked into you guys.”
Aeson paled. “Wh-what… what are you…”
“Did you tell the police where we are?” Chaos asked, pushing his brother against the car, either to flee faster or because the poor kid looked seconds from passing out.
“No, of course not.” Miles took a step forward, then seemed to rethink his movements and stepped back to me.
“Listen, I’m sorry if I scared you, and I’m sorry I…
well, I guess I’m not sorry I looked into you guys.
I just… I have room at my house. Two rooms, to be exact, and I have a foster license, so you guys can come stay with me… if you want.”
Both teens stopped what they were doing and stared at Miles with slack jaws.
I decided I should step in before Miles had a heart attack from nerves. “We know someone who can help get you placed in Miles’s house officially, but you guys can come back with us right now and stay there. You… you don’t have to live… wherever you’ve been staying.”
Chaos grimaced. “We don’t need your help.”
Well, that wasn’t true at all, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud to them.
“I know that,” Miles said, clearing his throat. “You guys are doing great by yourselves, but you don’t have to be alone. We can help. We want to help.”
Chaos stared at him again, his jaw ticking. “You really want two unhoused teenagers sleeping in your house? What if we steal your shit and leave? You really want to take that chance?”
Did he forget that they’d spent the night last night? Although, I supposed that was different since we’d all been in the living room together, watching a baby dragon hatch.
Without missing a beat, Miles said, “Yes. And I don’t believe for one second that either of you are the type to steal from me.
But even if you are, I don’t care. You need a place to live, and I have the room.
I don’t… I don’t want to watch another kid get…
hurt…” He trailed off with a grimace, looking upset, so I rubbed his back.
Chaos and Aeson stared at Miles for a long moment before they looked at one another and did that twin telepathy thing they seemed to have going on for them.
“Listen, guys, I know you’re nervous, and I get it. But the truth is that it’s starting to get colder and colder at night. Pretty soon, there’ll be snow and ice everywhere. You need somewhere warm to stay. So… stay with me. Please.”
After another minute, Aeson looked at Miles and quietly asked, “Are you sure?” He looked so nervous and shy, which was so very unlike him.
“Absolutely.”
They exchanged another look before Ace nodded and met Miles’s eyes. “We’ll come stay with you. Temporarily. But we can leave anytime we want.”
Miles nodded. “Agreed. You can stay as long as you like. And if you want to stay longer, then we can get the official paperwork going, okay?”
They did their silent twin thing yet again, then Aeson nodded at us. “Alright. Deal.”
Miles seemed to sag with relief so much I had to hold him up so he didn’t melt into a pile on the ground.
“You’ll meet us there?” I asked them.
I knew they technically weren’t allowed to drive since they were too young, but at this point, we had to pick our battles. The driving thing would have to be brought up later, after Miles was their legal guardian or something.
One step at a time.
Chaos nodded. “Yeah, we’ll meet you there.”
I started to pull Miles to the car, but he stopped and turned back, asking, “You’re really coming, right? I promise we won’t do anything with the paperwork or anything like that without your permission.”
Chaos clenched his jaw, but after he glanced at his brother, he gave a nod. “Yeah, we’re coming.”
“Thank you.”
I wasn’t sure why Miles felt the need to thank the kids when he was the one offering up his home, but it was kind of cute of him.
I dragged him to the passenger seat, shut his door, and climbed into the driver’s seat. I waited for the kids’ car to start, then I slowly pulled out of my spot and headed for home. Er, for Miles’s home.
While I drove, I kept glancing back to make sure the kids were following.
I parked in Miles’s driveway since his work truck was on the street, and the kids parked in front of his house. They seemed cautious when they got out, but as soon as we all made it inside and the pets all came forward to greet us, they calmed a little.
Miles asked, “Do you need anything?”
“Nope,” Chaos said.
Ace hesitated, then asked, “Can I hold the hatchling?”