Battle of Bones (Anomaly Saga #5)

36

Chandler and Alice didn't have to wait long before Gloria returned, followed by Casey.

Casey Diamond looked almost exactly the same as when they had last seen him-muscular, bald, and imposing-except he'd swapped his white suit with a new blue one.

"Chandler!" he exclaimed, shaking Chandler's hand. "And Alice!" he shook her hand, too. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How have you been doing?"

"We're engaged," said Alice, and she held up her hand to show him the golden ring on her finger.

Casey chuckled. "Whoa! And I wasn't invited to the wedding?!"

Chandler shook his head. "We haven't sent invitations out yet. You're definitely invited."

Casey nodded. "Good."

Gloria looked at Casey, then Chandler, then Alice. "I'll leave you three to talk," she said. "I have paperwork to do, anyway!" She walked away, disappearing through a nearby door.

"So," said Casey, "anything in particular you wanted to talk about? Or are you just visiting?"

"There is, actually," said Chandler, talking quieter. "It's about your research."

"Ah," Casey nodded solemnly. "Follow me."

He led Chandler and Alice through the extravagant and colorful halls. Once again, Alice was blown away by how beautiful it all was. And during this visit, she didn't have to worry about people trying to kill her and Chandler all the time.

The group stepped into the elevator. The doors closed, and an energetic piano song played over the speakers.

Chandler glanced over at Casey. "No more country," he said with a smile.

Casey chuckled. "No more country."

The elevator opened up again, and Casey led the couple down the hall and into his office.

The room was exactly as Alice had remembered it. Casey's desk was covered in various pieces of paper, all haphazardly thrown on top of each other. Behind him was a massive board covered in photos, newspaper articles, and other papers.

Casey led them to the board. "As for new research developments," he said, "take a look at this."

He pointed at a photo of a man in a space suit next to a scarecrow that Alice could have sworn she had seen during the raid on HQ.

"This man," said Casey, "suddenly started appearing everywhere. Several people have reported that he asks them to join a 'squad' of assassins. Strange, isn't it?" He pointed to a picture of a skeleton that could only be Chaps sitting in a bumper car. "And look at this! A living skeleton spotted at the carnival!"

"Oh, that's Chaps!" Alice exclaimed. "We know him."

Casey's eyes widened. "Wait. You know him? You both know a talking skeleton and you didn't tell me?"

Chandler shrugged. "I forgot to. But yes, that's Chaps. He's actually helping me do some personal stuff. But anyway . . ."

At that moment, a loud crash sounded behind the group. All three of them swiveled around to find a familiar man with gelled hair, a gas mask, and a blue, pinstriped suit.

"LaVarre?" said Alice, taking a step backward.

LaVarre stood up and brushed dust off of his suit. "You guys should really clean the vents more often," he said. "But yeah, it's me. I'm here to kill Chandler and Alice. Or something."