Battle of Bones (Anomaly Saga #5)

21

"Leta, how many more scarecrows do I have to shoot?" Chandler switched the gun to his opposite hand in order to stretch his cramped fingers.

"Chaps told me to get you to one hundred fifty million," Leta said.

"Oh, come on; this is ridiculous!" Alice said. "How many shots does it take to prove he can shoot a stupid scarecrow?"

"Hey, I never said it was reasonable," Leta said. "I'm just following orders. You got something in mind, secretary?"

"I don't know," Alice said. "What about . . . hand-to-hand combat? Or sword fighting! We did get into a sword fight that time at the hotel."

Leta considered this. "Tell you what. I'll teach you two both of those things, but, when Chaps gets back, we tell him we shot one hundred fifty million scarecrows. 'Kay?"

"I see no downside to this," Chandler said.

"Groovy." Leta walked over to a door in the back of the training gym and pushed it open. "Go on into the weapons room and choose your favorite sword."

Chandler entered the weapons room, Alice following behind him. "This is . . . quite a diverse offering." Chandler held up a butterfly net. "This is a weapon?"

"A weapon for fighting butterflies, obviously," Alice said with a giggle.

Chandler shrugged. "I suppose if we've got a talking skeleton, why not have to fight butterflies?"

Then, there was the faint sound of a telephone ringing. "I'll go get that," Leta said. "Keep on with your swords."

Back in the lounge, she opened the fire extinguisher box, removed the fire extinguisher, and answered the phone that was hidden behind it. "'Sup?"

"Uh, is this . . . the, er, Chaps residence?" a man on the other end said.

"Could I ask who's calling?"

"Daniel. Daniel Carter. I'm a friend of Chaps'."

"Oh, Daniel! I've heard of you. You're the one who took down the Destroyer of Worlds with Chaps, right?"

"That was me. And my sister."

"Rad. I'm Leta, by the way. I'm a trainer; I work with Chaps."

"Is he around?"

"He's not at the moment. Can I take a message?"

Daniel explained to Leta something his sister, Jenna, had told him. Leta paused before saying, "Maybe you oughta come down here. Chaps is currently in space, but he should be returning anytime now. How about we meet up someplace and I come pick you up?"

"Sounds good to me." Daniel gave Leta an address and they decided on a time. Leta gave Alice and Chandler something to work on while she was gone, and then she took off in her lime green Jeep.