Chapter 9

Shelton

Tory was looking at the body. Because of course she was looking at the body. Heck, she was probably smelling the body since she had the best sense of smell out of all of us bar Coop. It was no secret that she wanted to be her great-aunt Temperance Brennan—yes, that Temperance Brennan—and bodies were not something that made her squeamish. Hi and I on the other hand were trying really hard to not look at the dead girl. Seeing her once was more than enough for me.

'Her lungs were cut out while she was still alive,' Tory said telepathically.

'I so did not need to know that,' Hi replied.

"What just happened?" I asked Leo when we'd gotten past the CSI people.

Leo looked down at Sapphire, who was sobbing into his shirt, and then over at Detective Fortune, who still looked like he'd just be slapped in the face with a wet fish. "Sapphire is terrified and I think Detective Tuna is freaking out."

Hi sputtered. "Detective Tuna?"

I hesitated for a second before waving my hand in front of Detective Fortune's face. He didn't respond.

"What exactly just happened?" Tory asked.

Leo gave Tory a wary look. "Who are you?"

I quickly introduced Tory as my other friend and also made sure to mention Ben since he was sure to show up sooner or later. Leo looked at Tory again, only slightly less wary. He was ready to fight again.

"Your hair is really red," Leo said to Tory. He forced a joking tone. "You're not a Weasley, right?"

"Well, she is a Gryffindor," Hi said.

"What happened?" Tory asked again.

Sapphire hiccupped and turned her head so she wasn't talking into Leo's chest. "Misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" I looked at Detective Fortune, who was still frozen. "That looks more like petrification."

Leo reached out and poked Detective Fortune's arm. Detective Fortune finally showed some awareness of the world around him and blinked. He even looked slightly less ill.

"Father help us," Detective Fortune muttered, which was surprising since I didn't know he was religious. "Anything else I should know?"

Sapphire wiped tears off her face and moved to stand beside Leo. "Lots, but not now."

Detective Fortune looked sideways at me, Tory, and Hi. "Not now," he agreed. "Head back inside. Olivia and I will talk to you later."

"Aye aye captain," Leo said.

'Sheldon, go with them,' Tory ordered. 'Find out what they're talking about.'

Yeah, that would be easy. It wasn't like it sounded like they were speaking in code when they weren't speaking in dead languages or anything.

Sarcasm is sarcastic.

I tried not to be too obvious as I hurried after Sapphire and Leo. Behind me, I heard Tory beginning her usual questioning of law enforcement on the scene of whatever crime had the audacity to take place in her vicinity. Luckily I'd mentioned Tory's interest in solving crimes a few times at D&D, so Detective Fortune was prepared. Probably.

In the kitchen, Aunt Mariko and Uncle Harrold were picking at the remains of the breakfast Leo had made. Richie was sitting between them at the kitchen table, still tied to a chair but with the added bonus of a t-shirt tied over his eyes. Amber was glaring at him like he would disappear if she took her eyes off him for a second.

"I'm fourteen!" Richie complained.

"Don't care," Amber said. "Still not letting you see a dead body."

Sapphire tilted her head. "I can't tell if Amber is the normal one or not."

"The police are going to talk to us soon," Leo said to the room at large. "Is there any coffee left?"

Sapphire, Amber, Richie, Aunt Mariko and Uncle Harrold all immediately shouted various versions of "You can't have coffee!"

Leo sighed. "I really need coffee."

Sapphire kissed his cheek. "We really need nothing to explode."

"Point taken," Leo said. Then he said something in their Greek conlang that sounded like a question, or maybe half a question considering how it trailed off.

"Shouldn't I?" Sapphire asked.

Leo shrugged. "I was thinking I'd be the scapegoat."

Sapphire grimaced. "Good idea."

Leo left the room and headed upstairs. Sapphire looked at Aunt Mariko and Uncle Harrold, then at Amber.

"Don't worry," she said.

"That makes me think that we should worry," Uncle Harrold said.

"Don't worry," Sapphire repeated. "Detective Fortune is handling things."

"He's a good guy," I said. "He'll make sure we're safe."

"Uh huh," Uncle Harrold said. He went back to his cold bacon.

Sapphire started pacing around the kitchen while I tried to eavesdrop on Leo. Not to brag, but I've got the best hearing out of everyone in our pack. It took less than a second for me to tune in on the conversation Leo was having on the floor above us. And it was a conversation, not just Leo talking to himself. I could clearly hear another voice, probably a boy talking through a phone or something.

The boy was talking rapidly in yet another language that I didn't know.

"Are you done?" Leo asked during a pause. "Or are you actually saying something important? Because, newsflash, I don't speak Italian."

"Gods damn—" the boy said. "You guys get here now!"

"Not happening," Leo said. "Sapphire's already decided, and you know she won't leave her family."

"She's going to get herself killed," the boy said. "You make her leave or I'm coming to get you."

Woah, killed? That wasn't good.

Leo scoffed. "Do you really think I can make her do something she doesn't want to do? Dude, you'd kill me if I did. Amber and I can watch her back, and there're two from the legion with the police. Besides, you'll know if she's in danger and be here in five seconds or less."

None of that was confusing at all, no sir. I was pretty sure there wasn't anyone from the French Foreign Legion in the police force and unless this other guy lived on Morris Island there was no way he was getting here in less than an hour.

The boy grumbled. "I am not happy about this."

"You made that very clear," Leo said.

"It didn't go well last time."

"I know. I was there."

The boy sighed. "We're not going to be able to stop her, are we?"

"Not a chance," Leo said. "Sapphire's determined to play bait."

A/n: Before Bones fans start yelling at me, its canon in the Virals series that book Temperance Brennan is Tory's great-aunt. It's even on her Wikipedia page.

-Cynder2013