Battle of Bones (Anomaly Saga #5)

25

"Die!" Thorn shouted. "Die!" he grabbed a TV remote and threw it at Camellia.

She hit the remote in midair and let it fly off into the corner of the lounge. "Seriously, Thorn," she said, cocking her gun, "what is it with you and bringing terrible weapons to gunfights?"

She fired, but this time, Thorn was ready. He ducked and let the bullet fly past him-right in Catricia's direction.

The next few moments felt like they happened in slow motion. Catricia's wide eyes noticed the bullet coming for her, and she melted away until she was a little hairless cat again. The bullet soared over her pointed ears, embedding itself in the middle of a boy band poster that had been defaced with several poorly-drawn mustaches.

"You almost shot Catricia!" Preston shouted as he grappled with a scarecrow.

Camellia swept Thorn's legs out from under him, then kicked him while he was down. "It wasn't on purpose!"

Catricia shifted back to her human form. "No offense taken," she said with a quick curtsy before she returned to machine gunning down every scarecrow in her vicinity.

"Hey!" shouted Chandler from across the room. He shot a scarecrow that was about to hit him over the head with a chair. "Chaps called. He says Leta's okay, and he told me what we should do next. Follow me! This way!"

Chandler led the group down a few twists and turns. Alice and Preston stayed close behind him, wielding a sword and a baseball bat, respectively. Camellia and Catricia brought up the rear, shooting down any scarecrows that dared to follow them.

Chandler stopped outside a bathroom that was marked with a picture of a skull. He kicked the door down without hesitation.

"I love when you show doors who's boss just to impress me," said Alice, following him in.

"Anything for you," Chandler replied, stopping in front of the sinks. "Okay, everyone. See this mirror? Apparently, it's secretly a portal. Or something. Let's try crawling inside." He climbed up onto the counter and threw himself at the mirror. He disappeared inside, as if it wasn't a solid object at all.

The rest of the group wasted no time following him inside. Camellia went last. Once again, her senses went haywire and she smelled freshly cut lemons and she saw stars and suns exploding and lions running and leaves falling and then she was in a room that looked suspiciously like the lounge, but much more circular.

"Where are we?" asked Preston. "HQ 2?"

"Kind of," said Chandler, plopping himself down in a red velvet armchair. "Apparently, this is Chaps' tower. It's his house and it's on a completely separate dimensional plane. Or something."

"Well," said Alice, "now that we're not running for our lives anymore, we can talk." She turned towards Catricia. "Are you the Princess of Kittens?"

Catricia nodded. "That's me! My name is Catricia. Who are you, and who is that man? Is he your boyfriend?"

Alice smiled. "Fiancé. We'll be married not too long from now."

"Oh! Good for you!"

Camellia stepped up next to Catricia. "Hey, Catricia," she said quiet enough that Alice couldn't hear, "you would consider Preston your boyfriend now, right?"

"Oh, yes!" Catricia exclaimed. "Preston is my boyfriend."

Preston instantly snapped to attention, a look of horror on his face.

"Wow!" said Alice. "Didn't you two just meet?"

Preston cleared his throat. "Uh, she means I'm her friend. I'm not like, her boyfriend boyfriend. I'm her friend. And a boy. Well, more like a man. But you know what I mean. Right?"

"No," said Chandler. "But we should talk about more important matters."

At that moment, Camellia remembered something. "Oh! You're right. Catricia, there was something we were going to ask you. You're good at finding people, right?"

Catricia nodded. "That is one of my skills!"

"Well, we're going to need your help to find two missing people. They go by River and E."

Catricia hummed. "River and E. Is that all you know of their names?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Camellia said. "We don't have last names or anything." She told Catricia all she could about River and E, which, albeit, wasn't that much.

"Well," said Catricia, "I can certainly try my best. I will need a - what do you humans call it? - computer."

Camellia looked around the room. "Um . . ."

Curiously, Chandler opened a door on the side of the room, went through it, and emerged a moment later holding a Chromebook. "How's this?"

Preston grimaced. "Ew. Chromebook."

"That should work!" Catricia said. She took the laptop, booted it up, and got to work.