Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 103(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
“What do you mean, what is that?” Sky shouted. “It’s the Yule tree you sent me!”
“The what? I didn’t send you anything!” Zalramon snapped. The enormous demon king, whose horns nearly scraped the ceiling, took a step away from the dining room, putting more distance between himself and the tree. Frank was still grumbling, but all Nolan’s attention was now on his boyfriend.
“You said that Zalramon sent you the tree as a gift,” Nolan argued.
“I…I…I thought he did. I assumed—” Sky stammered until Nolan broke in.
“You assumed?”
Sky flapped his hands. “Well, it’s not like it came with a fucking card! I’m not close to the earth witches, and it had a smell of brimstone on it, so I assumed it was from the underworld rather than a witch or even the fae.”
Nolan’s heart jolted in his chest as if starting again only to race a hundred beats a minute. He gawked at the tree and edged a couple of steps away while his hands tightened on the broom. “Is it fae?”
The little tree made a soft noise as it lowered itself on its roots, shrinking in size as if trying to make itself smaller so no one would notice it.
“That would explain why I can’t understand its speech,” Sky mumbled, but he just as quickly shook his head. “But it can’t be fae. The fae all went through their doorway. If it were fae, it would have died once the door was closed.”
Nolan turned his attention to Zalramon, who was appearing less skittish now. He’d actually inched closer to the dining room, peering at the tree. “Is it an escapee from the underworld?”
Zalramon glared at Nolan, and Nolan glared right back at him. It was not like this would be the first time something had escaped from the underworld.
“I’ve never seen its like in the underworld, but I agree with Sky. It’s not fae.”
Nolan released one hand from the broom and rubbed his forehead. He was developing a headache. They’d allowed a magical thing to live in their house and follow them around for three weeks while assuming it had been a “safe” gift from Zalramon. It was more likely they’d allowed the equivalent of a magical wild animal in their home. They were probably lucky they hadn’t been killed in their sleep.
“Sky, baby, could you give Frank his sandwich so he can return home?” Nolan murmured.
“Oh, yes! Of course!”
Nolan dropped his hand in time to see the grumpy black fluff ball seize his brown bag and disappear in another puff of smoke. At this point, they were going to need to open a window to air the place out.
“Are you sure this isn’t from the underworld?” Sky asked Zalramon.
“Positive.”
An idea formed in Nolan’s head, and he let out a groan.
“What?” Sky demanded.
“What if…what if the tree is like your roses?”
“No! What? No! It can’t be. No!” Sky denied immediately, but Nolan didn’t miss that his second ‘no’ sounded a hell of a lot less confident than the first.
“Like the roses and the dahlias in the backyard. And the lily of the valley.”
“But my magic only affects flowers. It’s never done anything like this to the trees!” Sky waved his hands at their tree houseguest. “Besides, I don’t have any trees or shrubs like that in my yard.”
“Do any of your neighbors?”
Sky didn’t have to say anything. His face just grew paler and paler. Zalramon chuckled as he wandered over to the pantry. The big demon stuck an arm inside and snagged their last bag of chips. “Well, it looks like you don’t need me here. Good luck, Nolan!”
After using their pantry as his personal grocery, the demon king stepped through another black doorway and closed it behind him, leaving them alone with the sentient tree Sky’s magic had accidentally made.
“I think it came from the Carmichaels’ yard,” Sky whispered. Those were the neighbors to the left of Sky. They weren’t all that friendly, and James Carmichael took great pride in his perfectly manicured yard. He was going to notice a missing shrub.
“Your magic is leaking outside of your yard.”
“But I have barriers in place. That can’t happen.”
“It has,” Nolan stated, sending one last look at the tree. He felt silly holding the broom now. The thing had been living somewhat peacefully with them for nearly a month. If it were going to kill them, it would have done it already.
“But it can’t!” Sky repeated.
Nolan set aside his broom and closed the distance between himself and his panicking boyfriend. He wrapped his arms around him, pressing a kiss to his temple. “Didn’t you say that magic got all screwed up because of the fae? Maybe holes formed in your barrier without you knowing it, and your magic leaked out. You’ll have to recreate your barrier before your magic wakes up any more local plant life.”