I told everyone. I nodded at Megan and Kaitlyn.
“You two go show your dress
About me don’t stress.”
“Are you really sure, though?” Megan anxiously.
I nodded vigorously, not wanting her to have any doubt.
“I’ll be all right
‘Till the evening light.
Please don’t fear
What’s in my ear.”
“Oh, Emma…” Kaitlyn put an arm around my shoulders and then Megan and Avery were reaching out to hug me too. We might have more people in our Coven now, but our core group of four was still really tightly knit.
I took comfort from their arms around me and their murmurs of encouragement. I would be okay, I told myself. I could stand having a skink in my ear just a little while longer providing Avery could figure out a way to get rid of my unwanted guest by tonight.
And if he couldn’t…well, I didn’t even want to think about that possibility. The skink had to come out…one way or another.
16
“All right, are we ready to go?” Avery asked, looking around at everyone assembled in the Norm Dorm on the two blue overstuffed couches and the two ratty old armchairs, which were surprisingly comfortable.
Our whole Coven was there, including Griffin, Ari, Saint, and also Bran, since he seemed to know more about skinks than anyone else. I had been worried about him getting into trouble for staying on the castle grounds past curfew, but he had assured me he would be fine. If the skink removal went too long, he would just spend the night in the boy’s dorm with Avery and Saint. After all, there were plenty of beds and he would have been housed in the Norm Dorm anyway, if he’d been living on campus.
“We’re all present and accounted for,” Megan told Avery.
“Well, except for Jalli,” Ari sounded apologetic. “I was afraid she might be sick again, so I sent her to bed early with her chimelings.”
“That’s fine,” Avery said. “We don’t need anyone puking around Emma because then she’ll start puking.”
Which was absolutely true. I’m one of those people who just can’t be around someone else when they’re barfing—not unless I want to lose my lunch too.
“Now, first things first,” Avery continued.
He was standing in the middle of the room in front of the fireplace like a general reviewing his troops and I was beside him, keeping my mouth shut.
“I’ve read up on skinks and Bran is right—or partially right,” Avery said. “They either have to be convinced to vacate a human host voluntarily, or ordered out by one they respect.”
Bran looked doubtful but remained silent at this.
“Ordered out?” Megan asked. Then she got an excited look on her face. “Why, Griffin can do that! His family gift is the dominion over animals!” She turned to her Bond mate and looked at him eagerly. “Can’t you?”
Griffin shrugged.
“Of course I will be happy to try.” He stood up and came over to where Avery and I were standing in front of the fireplace. He looked at Avery for directions. “How do I address the creature? Do I speak directly into Emma’s ear?”
“Yes, but first you have to speak the skink’s language,” Avery told him. “Which is an ancient form of Celtic.”
Griffin frowned.
“I do speak several languages, but I am afraid ancient Celtic is not one of them.”
“Fortunately, I thought of that,” Avery told him. “I worked a translation spell on myself before we started. When you hold my hand and speak into Emma’s ear, the skink will be able to understand you and you will be able to understand it. In fact, all of us should be able to hear it,” he added, nodding at my Coven-mates, who were sitting anxiously on the edge of their seats.
“Very well.” Griffin held out his hand without hesitation and Avery clasped the Nocturne’s long, white fingers loosely in his own.
“Order it out,” he told Griffin. “You don’t have to shout, though—just be firm.”
“As you wish.” Griffin nodded and ducked down to speak directly into my right ear.
If you’re wondering if this was weird for me, the short answer is yes, absolutely. It was very weird to stand there and have the tall Nocturne speaking to the creature who had taken up residence in my ear. But at that point, I wanted the skink out so badly, I didn’t care what had to happen to make it leave—I just wanted it gone. So I stood still as a statue as Griffin spoke into my ear.
“Do you hear me, skink?” he asked and as he spoke, I heard a weird echo of some language I didn’t know but felt like I should, for some reason, in the back of my brain.
There was movement in my ear—(and let me tell you, it is not pleasant to feel something moving around in there, I had to grit my teeth to keep from screaming and freaking out)—and then the skink answered.
“I hear you, Nocturne,” it said in a tiny, squeaky voice that might have been cute if it wasn’t coming from inside my freaking ear.
“Good,” Griffin said. “Then I order you to leave Emma’s ear at once and find residence elsewhere. Though not in another person’s ear or any other, uh, bodily orifice,” he added quickly.
I held my breath, hoping against hope that the skink would crawl out. I did feel it shifting around again but then it said,
“You cannot master or control me, though you master beasts of this world. I am of the Realm and you are not of my kind.”
“What? What does that mean?” Megan exclaimed, her green eyes filled with irritation and disappointment.
“Maybe it’s saying that it comes from a different world than Earth and Griffin doesn’t have any dominion over it,” Kaitlyn said thoughtfully.
“That’s exactly what it’s saying,” Bran said. “The skink is a magical creature of the Realm of Fae. Therefore, it can’t be ordered out by someone from the human world.”
“Reason with it, then,” Ari suggested. “What does it want?”
“What do you want?” Griffin asked it, again speaking into my ear—his breath was cool against the side of my face. “What did Morganna offer you?”
“Whatever it is, we can top it!” Megan exclaimed. “Er…I hope,” she added a bit doubtfully.
“I want nothing but a safe, warm place to sleep and plenty of thoughts and words to eat,” the skink informed us. “I have all that I need and all that the High Fae promised me. I do not wish for anything else.”
“Oh dear…” Kaitlyn bit her lower lip.
“It sounds like the creature is happy in Emma’s ear,” Ari remarked.
“And it doesn’t wish to leave,” Saint added, frowning.
“So Morganna offered it Emma’s ear canal as a ‘safe warm place to sleep’ with plenty of food in the form of Emma’s verbal output, and it took her up on her offer?” Griffin said, frowning.
“Apparently,” Avery said grimly.
“But that’s not right!” Megan said hotly. “You can’t just go around offering other people’s bodily orifices to magical creatures like they were hotel rooms on the Vegas strip!”