Battle of Bones (Anomaly Saga #5)

15

Camellia sat through the launch tensed and uneasy, unconsciously holding her breath. However, Chaps seemed to learn how to fly the ship extremely quickly, and within a few minutes they were sailing through the stars.

"I told you it would be fine!" said Chaps, chuckling to himself. "I learn faster than a clown on a unicycle speeding away from malicious goats!"

"What?" asked Camellia.

"I've been making up my own idioms. It's a new hobby of mine. How did I do?"

"Awesomely," said Preston before Camellia could reply. "I'm going to start using that to spice up my conversations now."

"Aha!" exclaimed Chaps, throwing his arms up in the air triumphantly. "First the dictionary, second the thesaurus!"

Camellia crossed her arms. "Did you make that one up, too?"

"Indeed, I did!"

"I thought so. Anyway, how are we going to find the Princess of Kittens?"

"Oh, that's easy!" Chaps pressed on one of the several screens in front of him. "This is my kitten tracker! If anything meows within a million kilometers from here, this will pick it up!"

"Would it show up if I meowed?" Preston wondered aloud.

"Probably," said Camellia, "but please don't do it. Chaps, why do meows lead us to the princess? Does she have a bunch of kittens with her? Is she a kitten herself?"

Chaps shrugged. "To be honest with you, I completely forgot! I am not too familiar with the Princess of Kittens, which is why I don't know her name. I met her at a family reunion a billion years ago, but I forgot what she looked like. And I think she tried to do one of those awkward reunion hugs, too, which is a memory I have blocked out of my brain forever. Anyway, it'll be a fun surprise when we do run into her!"

"Uh, Chaps?" said Preston, leaning forward in his seat. "Look at the kitten tracker."

Chaps turned back towards the tracker, which was now full of innumerable flashing, white dots. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "This many kittens can only mean one thing. We've found her!"