“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!”
“I agree, my love,” Griffin said, dropping Avery’s hand and going to put an arm around her. “How can Morganna offer someone else’s body as a shelter to a magical creature?”
“Unfortunately, the High Fae are known for their crooked dealings,” Bran said grimly. “They make twisted bargains with the natural world in order to achieve their own ends. It’s not the way Nature intended it, but they get away with it because of their great power and status in the Fae courts.”
I had been trying to hold it together up until then, but now I burst into tears—I couldn’t help it! The skink was happy where it was and had no intention of ever leaving! I was going to be stuck with a creature in my ear and my words coming out in awful rhymes for the rest of my life! How could I live like this?
“Emma, please don’t cry!” Megan and Kaitlyn were there, embracing me at once—one on either side of me. And I felt Avery’s comforting hand on my back as well.
“We’re here with you,” Megan was saying.
“Don’t give up,” Kaitlyn implored.
“There must be some way to get it out!” Avery said in a frustrated tone, sounding like he was talking to himself.
“There is.” Bran rose and came to stand in front of me. “Someone else must offer to host the skink.”
“What? You mean someone else has to offer to let that thing crawl in their ear?” Megan asked, looking aghast.
“Maybe we could take turns?” Kaitlyn murmured, but I thought she looked very pale. “Maybe it could spend a day in each of our ears and we could all share the burden?”
“That could work,” Megan said tightly, though she still didn’t look happy about it.
I loved my Coven-mates for being willing to share this awful burden with me, but I didn’t want them to be miserable too. I shook my head at their suggestion, not trusting my voice or what might come out of my mouth if I tried to talk.