Free Gnomes of Suburbia by Viola Grace

quick check of the clock in her car and she giggled in surprise and a bit of shock. The whole visit with Ms. Montrose had only taken five minutes.
    Driving home, she tried to come up with a clever excuse to talk to Xander and came up empty. She pulled up in her drive and immediately the car was swarmed by gnomes. So were her legs. She limped to her front door with Bitsy firmly on her ankle. The gnomes had the door open and were running a mini relay from her car and into her home. Teeny little butlers, they put her shopping away with a maze of upended boxes, stepladders and chairs. She had to watch in amazement. There was a circus act in her kitchen.
    Bitsy was slowly crawling his way up her leg and she reached down to scoop him up. They had a nice cuddle as the rest of the troops handled the dispensation of her purchases. She finally turned to the tiny gnome in her arms and asked, “So did you guys have a good day?"
    All the small faces turned to look at her and beaming grins broke out around the room. It was at that moment she realized that she had never addressed her creations directly. A part of her heart broke as they gathered around her and she sat on the ground to hug them all. She greeted them all by name. One by one. Even Skint got a full on hug, while Harby got a smack on his leather bottom for unhooking her bra again.
    She was a Nexus and these were her creations.
    Now she just needed to find out what that meant. Off to Xander's she went.
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Chapter Fourteen
    She straightened her hair before ringing his doorbell and waited. She admired the tidiness of his yard and the panels of stained glass in the door she was facing. Abby was just about to examine her nails for chips when the door swung open to frame Xander. “Hiya. I have a few questions that I need to ask. Is now a good time?"
    "That is one question already.” He smiled.
    Her pulse sped up. Magic began to pound in her veins and she ruthlessly calmed herself.
    "Come on in."
    "Thank you.” She followed his tight ass and meandered through a home that was packed with antiques. “You know, no straight man should have this many antiques.” It popped out of her mouth without notice. Her blush could probably have sparked a fire.
    "It's my job."
    "What?"
    "I uncurse family heirlooms and objects that have been deemed dangerous to the public, both magical and non.” He escorted her to a living room with walls lined with portraits and tables covered with objects. “Until the council assigned me here, it was how I made my living.” Two glasses of lemonade floated through the air at his gesture, one into her hands and one to his.
    "Well, you would have been able to make a fortune in the hospitality trade.” She sipped at the drink and found it pleasantly sweet. Curiosity dragged her gaze around the room and she burst out laughing as one painting caught her attention. “Why is there a clown painting in here? How cursed could that be?"
    He leaned forward to grip a palm-sized object from the table. “You have enough magic in you to use this. It is a viewer that I use in my work. It will show you the last time that the curse was activated.” He rose to put it in her hands.
    She studied it for a moment before setting her glass down and moving to the ridiculous portrait on the wall. The clown was the standard pose, his mouth open with laughter, his nose ridiculously large. She fumbled for a moment with the object in her hand and finally managed to open it. It was built like a large pocket watch, but the large case was completely crystal and the face was a mirror. “So I aim it at the object and look into the mirror."
    "Exactly. It will show you the details of the curse involved."
    "Great.” She aligned the reader with the portrait until she could see the image in the mirror and nothing happened. She twisted her lips, focussed and let a tiny bit of her energy leak into the object. The show started.
    It was Laura Exner. The clown in the