AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is so… nice,” I say. “And all the streamers and banners are black!”
“I thought you’d like that best,” August says, back to smiling.
“I love it! Damn, you’re beautiful.”
He laughs as he shakes his head. “Everyone did a wonderful job setting it all up. Ellison is a decorating machine.”
“I was surprised he could get his arms up that high with his suit on, you know? Thought for sure it’d affect his mobility!” Deus says as Ellison glares at him.
“You guys were out here doing stuff while I was just sleeping away, and OH MY GOD.”
I freeze as I look over at Zacia who is wearing a brand-new birthday outfit. It says, “Happy Meowing Birthday” and has little pom-pom anklets that she’s currently chewing off with vigor and hatred.
“Oh, my sweet mother of god,” I say as I drop to the ground right then and there and start taking photos of her.
“Do we have to watch this? It’s kind of embarrassing,” Lex says.
“It’s his birthday, so we have to, and we can’t say anything about how weird it is,” August says.
“I mean… do we even have to say it? We all can see how weird it is,” Ellison adds.
“You do realize I can hear all of you?” I growl. “Help me stage her. Put her in front of the banners.”
So the group of people, grudgingly, all gather together to make Zacia look absolutely adorable as I take around one or maybe one hundred pictures of her. As Deus helps position her while invisible, I realize that I finally found the best use for him.
“You guys are so nice. It’s really weird and scary,” I announce.
“You want to eat breakfast first or open presents or just stare at your cat some more?” August asks.
“You guys didn’t have to get me anything!” I say as August pushes me over to the pile of rectangular-shaped presents. I freeze as my hand touches them, feeling them over, breathing them in.
I gasp. “No… be still my quivering heart!”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t get you much. Deus kind of didn’t have much time, and when we were stuck at headquarters, Valerie wouldn’t let us leave to get you anything,” August says. “I even tried ordering stuff and the team refused to accept the packages in case they were rigged with a bomb or something. It might have had to do with you ordering underwear with my face on it, though…”
“Oh my god, it’s beautiful,” I say as I tear open the first one and look at the magnificent book. I check every edge and every page to make sure it’s pristine.
They’ve clearly been paying attention to my ranting about books because all of them—besides one—are exactly what I wanted. The last one is quite questionable since it’s about the multiple ways to hide a body which, of course, came from Deus.Buuuutit’s still in pristine condition, so I have to add it to my collection.
I mean… I guess one never knows when that’ll come in handy.
“August gave me a strict list which includes: cover cannot have any blemishes, no chips, scratches, dents, bends… the list went on,” Deus says. “It was dreadfully boring to follow, but I did it just for you.”
“Thank you guys so much,” I say as I go in to hug August, but Deus veers in front of me and hugs me first.
“Is this what it’s like to hug someone?” he asks. “We were only allowed to hug with the intention of killing someone.”
“Oh… umm… I’d prefer not to die,” I say as I give him a real hug. “Thanks for getting all of this stuff.”
The hug he gives me back makes me feel like he really needed this. Sometimes with Deus’s… oddities, it’s easy to forget that a lot of what I took for granted in life he never got to experience… even if my own lifestyle was strange.
“We’ll get breakfast and the movie ready,” Lex says as Deus lets me go with a beaming smile. I look over at August as the rest of them head to the kitchen.
“Thank you,” I say as I lean in and give him a kiss.
“I’m sorry it wasn’t more.”
“Excuse me? Are you dissing the best presents in the world? Books are phenomenal gifts. I’ve never had better presents… we didn’t do them much growing up. If we wanted one, we had to steal it. It was weird and awkward. Besides the one year my mom got me a jar of enraged wasps. She thought I would enjoy… setting them loose on people… which… I did when I opened them in the house before running out and pushing furniture in front of the doors with my power, but we’ll pretend you didn’t hear that one! Ha ha!”
