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)
Something in the pit of Nolan’s stomach warned him that this would not go well. He walked to the tree and kneeled. He stared at the tree, waiting for it to…what? With a sigh, he rolled his eyes. It was a fucking tree. So what if it could scuttle around the house on its roots and fight with underworld minions? It was still a tree.
He reached for an ornament, and the tree jerked away so that he missed. He tried again, and the tree dodged him a second time. When he tried a third time, the tree dodged and shook, chittering as if demanding to know what the hell he was doing.
“Look, the holidays are over. We have to pack all this stuff up,” Nolan stated, waving one hand behind him at the stacks of empty boxes they still had to fill up.
A small noise left the tree that made Nolan think maybe it had resigned itself to giving up its decorations. Good. He reached for a different ornament. The tree dodged and actually splashed him with water.
“Ahhhh!” Nolan shouted, jumping to his feet and stumbling back away from the tree.
“What happened?” Sky called.
“The tree splashed me.” Nolan wiped the water from his eyes and face. A long streak of water was soaking into his sweat shirt across his chest.
“What did you do to it?”
Nolan shifted his glare from the tree to his boyfriend. “What you told me to—I was trying to get the ornaments off it.”
Sky smirked. “Be gentle about it. The tree is like a two-year-old. You need to coax it.”
Uh-huh. Coax it.
Slowly, Nolan squatted by the tree. “We’re packing up all the ornaments and lights for next Christmas. You can stay in your nice warm corner, but we’ve gotta pack everything else away. Besides, you don’t need these things to be pretty. You’re a beautiful tree without them.”
The tree did nothing. It didn’t chitter or move. Nolan felt like an idiot.
He reached for another ornament and got splashed in the face again for his troubles. He squawked and tried to lurch away but landed on his ass, cold water dripping from the end of his nose. At the same time, he heard the tree unplug its lights and skitter across the living room with a series of soft thumps.
“It’s on the run!” he shouted. “Block the exits! We can’t let this thing dart down the block in the middle of the day.”
Sky’s squeal filled the house, followed by the thunder of roots across the floor. Boxes tumbled, and bells jingled softly. Nolan shoved to his feet and charged through the living room, trying to figure out where the tree had darted off to.
“Front door! Get the front door!” Sky shouted from the rear of the house even as the pounding of roots hitting the floor grew louder.
Nolan leaped over a box and slid in sock-covered feet across the hardwood floor, just barely getting ahead of the tree as it ran for the entrance. Nolan slammed his back against the door and cackled. “Ha! Beat you!”
The tree retreated and squatted on all its curled roots, seeming to contemplate its options.
“If you go upstairs, you’ll be trapped. No escape,” Nolan argued.
The tree froze for a moment and then, one after another, the ornaments hanging on the ends of its branches were drawn into the tree, disappearing from sight completely.
That was the end of it as far as Nolan was concerned.
“I hope you didn’t have any of your favorite ornaments on that tree, because they belong to the tree now,” Nolan stated, lifting his voice so Sky could hear him.
“No, but…” Sky’s voice faded as he left the kitchen and entered the foyer to stare at the tree. “Oh. You got the ornaments off.”
“Nope. The tree sucked all the ornaments into the inside of its branches. If you want them, you can stick your hand in there.”
“What?” Sky gasped, half laughing. “Why won’t you do it? It’s not like it can bite you.”
“You sure about that? We’ve both heard it making that chittering noise. Where’s that noise coming from if it doesn’t have a mouth?”
Sky swallowed and gazed at the tree. “You know, on second thought, the ornaments are handmade or easily replaceable. Let the little tree have them if they make it feel special. That’s fine with me.”
“Uh-huh,” Nolan muttered. Sky’s cheeks grew redder the longer he stood there. This “pet” was turning out to be far too crafty for them. He was beginning to fear whether they’d be able to get it out the door when winter was over.
“All right.” Nolan sighed heavily and pointed at the living room. “Back to your pan. And no more splashing the water about, or you’re going outside tonight.”
A happy noise escaped the tree, and it turned toward the living room. Sky closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Nolan’s waist.