272 259: A Plague of Phantoms: In the Shadows of Demons III

Bo

"OH COME ON!" I grumbled as I tried to rush around my mother and follow after Iris. She'd just returned and had one of her new evos following her while dragging a man behind it with its tongue.

"No! Whatever they are doing you do not need to get involved!" Mom snapped and bopped me on the head. I groaned and rubbed my head.

We were currently in the hallway between my family's car and Louie, Angie, and KC's car. Since Indy and I had nothing to do until the combat simulation later tonight were in the middle of playing hide and seek inside King's Glaive while we waited. It was my turn to seek and I had just started looking when Iris came into the train with a captive.

"But I'm bored!" I exclaimed and stomped my foot. Out of nowhere I felt a boot kick me in the butt, hard. "OWWW!"

I shouted and jumped, grabbing my butt as I turned around. I saw Indy standing behind me with a scowl and puffed up cheeks.

"Well I'm sorry I'm boring!" Indy exclaimed. I gasped and pointed at Indy.

"How'd you get behind me!" I exclaimed. Indy stuck his tongue out at me.

"That's a secret." Indy jeered.

"He was standing behind you the whole time. Following you." Mom said. I jerked my head to look at my mom and gasped.

"Wait! What?!" I exclaimed then whirled around and looked at Indy and pointed a finger at the boy. "You cheated! I said no magic or evos!"

"I didn't use magic! I just kept in your blind spots." Indy proclaimed proudly and puffed out his chest. He then looked towards the door to the next car. "Lucky for me my father isn't here and can't tell me no."

Indy started towards the door only for my mom to bop him on his head and grab the collar of his shirt to keep him from taking another step. Indy didn't make a sound or rub his head but pursed his lips in annoyance.

"Not lucky for you I'm standing right here. Just because Chase is constantly getting into trouble doesn't mean you two need to." Mom said then shook her head and pulled Indy so he was standing in front of her like I was. "Honestly, a little normalcy around here would be great. Not having to worry about getting attacked or assassinated….the dream."

"Normal is boring!" I grumbled and crossed my arms. "And besides if it wasn't for Chase constantly getting into trouble we'd still be under the control of the red dragons and possibly dead."

Mom started to say something in response then closed her mouth and shook her head. She had a sad look on her face that I had seen way too often before Chase came into our lives. She quickly recovered though and frowned at me.

"Normal can be good for you. Besides, if all you have is violence and excitement around you then isn't that normal?" Mom replied.

"She has a point." Indy said contemplatively. I looked at him and rolled my eyes.

"Stop trying to sound like a wise sage." I grumbled. Indy looked away from me and signed.

"I wasn't trying to sound sagely, I was agreeing with your mom." Indy said. He walked around mom, suddenly free from her grip. I was shocked that she let him go but a quick look at her face made me realized she hadn't she was looking between the hand she had held him with and Indy with a confused look on her face.

"How did he…?" Mom muttered as she looked at her hand. Her eyes widened as she heard the sound of the door to the next car opened. "Wait! INDARIQ!"

I snickered as I watched my mom dart after the kid then waited a couple seconds before sneaking behind her. The next car which was Old man Haws and Chase's Grandpa's car. When I walked into the hallway beside the actual living quarters were. Old man Haws was standing in the center of the hallway, scratching his head. He turned towards me when he heard the door open again and frowned.

"Bo? Wait, who was that your mom was chasing?" Haws asked in his deep American accent. I smiled and walked towards him casually.

"Indy, he managed to slip past her." I said. Haws arched a brow at me intrigued.

"Indy? Wonder how the boy managed that?" Haws asked then shook his head. "He probably went to see what Iris was up to. Seamus and Colossus followed after her once they saw her and her evo dragging that unconscious guy down the hall."

"Yeah, we were trying to do the same. Lucky for me Indy is such a good distraction." I said with a smirk then hurried down the hall.

"Bo don't go causing trouble now." Haws called after me.

"I never cause trouble." I replied as I walked through the door to the next car.

"HA!" Haws barked humorously as the door shut behind me.

The next car was Jane and Madilyn's car but there was no one in the hallway this time. As I walked down it towards the door I felt the familiar sensation of Gadget's mind connecting with mine. My vision blurred for a brief moment and as I stopped I was suddenly seeing through Gadget's eyes. He was on top of a crate inside the storage car which was the thirteenth car on King's glaive. I knew it was that car because Gadget like to sneak around and steal things from the crates when no one was looking.

Gadget was looking over the edge of the crate down at the rest of the room. Iris had the man that she'd captured and was in the middle of tying him up to a chair while Seamus and Colossus watched on. Suddenly Indy rushed into the room and took a quick look around and tjen rushed behind Seamus. My mom came rushing in a second later and glared at Indy.

"Indariq Walliaskir, you have five seconds to come with me or I'll tan your hide!" Mom threatened.

"Why!? I just wanted to see what was going on and you're not my mom!" Indy exclaimed.

The connection was suddenly cut and I felt a wave of uncertainty wash over me from Gadget. As my vision returned to normal I shivered and rethought about heading to that car.

[Big brother, I think mom is going to murder Little Indy.] Gadget said through our mental connection.

[Rest in piece, Indy.] I replied.

[More like rest in pieces…] Gadget quipped.

I snickered then suddenly felt a pang of guilt for thinking about leaving him to my mom's punishment. While I didn't know the full story behind Indy suddenly staying with Sin, I knew enough to know that it wasn't happy or that he wasn't a normal kid, despite how he tried to act. He knew next to nothing about living with normal people and was a little weird with his goody-two shoes act. Which was why I liked being around him, he had secrets, he was more than he let on. Much like Chase, Sin, and Madilyn.

With a sigh I hurried to the door to the next car. This car was the twelfth car and the widest of all the cars on King's glaive and made especially for Chase. It was his shaping car. It was filled with extra techno-splicing equipment, namely those growing tanks that filled Moldworks main floor. The tanks were empty currently and the consoles in front of them powered off since they weren't in use.

I hurried through the car and into my target car. As I walked through the door I was greeted by the scene of seeing my mom hold Indy in the air by the scruff of his jeans. The little kid was kicking and squirming, trying to get away but my mom wasn't going to let him get away. Seamus and Colossus were watching the scene play out, Seamus seated in a crate in front of the stack that Gadget was hiding on top of. While Iris was ignoring the scene and finishing up securing her prisoner.

Mom, Seamus, and Colossus all turned towards me once they heard the door open. Mom frowned at me and shot me her "You're fixing to be in trouble Bo." look. Which I will admit made a shiver go up my spine.

"Isn't this a little excessive, Mom?" I asked and motioned to her hold on Indy. Ignoring all the warning bells ringing in my head.

"You want to see excessive, Bo?" Mom replied. The tone of her voice made those warning alarms turn into full on tsunami sirens. I quickly shook my head then pointed to the unconscious man that Iris captured.

"No, but is now the right time for that?" I asked. Mom glanced back at the captive then looked back at Indy and sighed. She placed back on the ground and he quickly jumped to his feet and rushes over to me, putting me between my mom and him. Mom disregarded us for a second and turned to Iris.

"What did he do?" Mom asked.

"One of the spies watching King's glaive." Iris replied as she finished tying up the captive. "Other one will no longer be a problem. However Chase has plans for this guy."

"Plans?" Mom asked and arched a brow.

"He's not gonna have ya dress up as this boy is he?" Seamus asked jokingly then started to laugh. When Iris didn't laugh with him, his expression turned serious. "Wait a minute lass, there ain't no way ya can pass yerself off as that laddie. There about two heads between ya."

"You going to use that body swap spell?" I asked. All the adults looked to me and Iris nodded and crossed her arms.

"The plan is to keep him here while I steal his face and sneak into the hotel that the American's are all staying at and gather some intel." Iris informed us. "So I need someone to watch him while I'm using his face."

"OH! OH! I CAN DO IT!" I exclaimed and Indy jumped up and down excitedly behind me.

"WE can do it!" He insisted.

"Absolutely not!" Mom exclaimed and stomped her foot down. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"Why not?!" I groaned.

"You're ten! And you're five! I'm not letting two children watch a soldier!" Mom exclaimed.

"Yeah, no. Not you two." Iris said then looked to Seamus and Mom. "Is Alberto, Damon, Chad, or Astrid on the King's glaive?"

"'Fraid not. They all headed ta that expo space thingy after Sin said they had a little trouble with some Scientists and soldiers." Seamus said.

Iris sucked her tongue sharply then look off into the distance for a brief second. Her manacite communication ring glowed, letting me know she was using it. After a few moments her face twisted with frustration, hinting that she didn't get the answer she wanted.

"Well shit. They're too busy to come and watch him for me." Iris muttered.

"I can watch him fer ya." Seamus said suddenly. Iris looked shocked.

"Wait are you sure?" Iris asked. Seamus frowned and crossed his arms.

"Of course I'm sure! I might be old but I'm not helpless. 'Sides I got Lil Colossus 'ere with me." Seamus said then looked down at the Hell-hog that was sitting happily at his feet. On hearing his name Colossus stood up snorted loudly.

"Nothing getting away from me and nobody getting near the Old Man!" Colossus said proudly, the little flame mohawk burned brighter. I threw a hand up and jumped.

"I can stay with him too!" I exclaimed. Mom glared at me once again and spoke with a fierce tone.

"No Bo! I've already said…"

"But mom I'm a splicer! I have enchanted items that work great for knocking out people! Plus I have evos!" I interrupted. On cue Gadget jumped down from his hiding place on top of the stack of crates and landed on Seamus shoulder then quickly jumped to the floor and scurried over to me and climbed up to my shoulder.

"Gods! Gadget! How long were you in here!" Mom exclaimed and pointed to my evo. Gadget chittered innocently and then opened his mouth, his jaw unhinged as he channeled a attribute of mana I knew nothing about and made a small black pocket form in his mouth. Similar to Chase's void pocket spell. A crowbar fell out, free of spit or anything else. I quickly picked up the crowbar and held it in two hands then stuck my own tongue out.

"Garglesh!" I exclaimed as I summoned my evo, butchering my Orkand's name as usual. It was so hard to say most names with your tongue sticking out your body. His crystalline structure was flung off to my side and Gargesh stood and stretched.

"Ya called for me Big Boss?" Gargesh asked. I smiled and pointed to Gargesh.

"See! With Gargesh, Old man Seamus, Gadget, Colossus and I, this guy ain't going nowhere!" I exclaimed.

"AND ME!" Indy snapped and crossed his arms.

"Yeah! Indy too." I added. Mom opened her mouth to start yelling at me again but Seamus spoke before she could.

"Jade, dear before ya start yelling at the boy remember who he is. I haven't known the boy long but I can see he'll just wait until yer back is turned or yer too preoccupied to keep an eye on him and sneak back here." Seamus said. Mom frowned and narrowed her eyes at me.

"So I need to lock him up is what you're saying Seamus?" Mom asked. I shivered involuntarily and Gadget chittered nervously and clung tighter to my shirt.

"No, well maybe…" Seamus said looking contemplative then shook his head. "…no. Let him and Lil Indy stay with me. Under my watch. It's better they're in one place than running amok on me grandson's mana train."

"Seamus…" Mom started. Only to have Seamu cut her off.

"I'll be fine lassie. Think bout it this way, I can keep Chase in line, keeping yers and Sin's boys in line is nothing compared to that." Seamus said.

"Well I'm sold!" Iris exclaimed. "I'm still trying to figure out what godly powers you're using to get that idiot to listen to you."

"Iris!" Mom exclaimed.

"I'm sorry how many life or death situations has Chase got us into in the half a year that we've known him?" Iris asked.

"It's only been four months for us." I spoke up.

"My question still stands." Iris said then motioned to Seamus. "Seamus is the most qualified to keep the Boys in line by virtue of being a chaos whisperer. Plus I would feel better about halving at least one splicer watching this guy. Even if that one is ten."

Mom shook her head and then pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked calmly at me then a look of agitation or possibly constipation; it was hard to tell with her at times; flashed across her face.

"Gods above, I must be losing my mind by considering this…fine! Bo, Indy, you two can stay here with Seamus and watch the prisoner or whatever we're calling him." Mom said. I turned to Indy and smiled broadly, he returned the smile and I slapped him on the back.

"ALRIGHT!" We both exclaimed.

"BUT!" Mom exclaimed, snatching both Indy and mine's attention. "This is serious, no playing around. Watch him and make sure he doesn't escape and above anything follow Mr. MacClery's orders."

"We will!" Indy and I exclaimed in unison. She gave us both a hard look then turned to Seamus.

"Please keep them safe." Mom said.

"I got them lass. Don't worry." Seamus said.

"Yeah, don't worry, I won't be long. Besides aren't you supposed to be getting ready. It's almost time for that commencement ceremony to be over. They'll need you over at presentation area to help set up the enchanted item booth." Iris said. Mom sighed and shook her head.

"I know. Chase said he'd have Grimm-Guard come and fly me over soon." Mom replied. She walked over and then kneeled down kissed me on the top of my head.

"Love you." She said then reached over and ruffled Indy's hair and scratched Gadget's chin.

"MOOOOM!" I groaned and wiped off my head, earning a chuckle from her.

"May the gods keep us all safe today…."