And voila! Next one as I said :D!

Heheheee, I wuv my new laptop, it's awesome (V)

*** Chapter Thirty-Eight : The Bad Seed ***

Niño watched the windows of the house go dark, one by one. He was hiding in the bushes outside the bank clerk Arthur Boyles house, just waiting for the mouse and his wife to go to bed. After successfully making a mold after Beans' key, he had proceeded with stalking Mr Boyle to his home. He had thought about how to get this second key for a long time, but now he had hatched a plan; at night, he'd break into Boyles house while they sleep, find and copy the key. He had learned a couple of things one should consider when breaking into a house by Pacha, the experienced burglar. He claims that the only one who's better at breaking into stuff without leaving any trace is his little brother. In any case, Niño didn't think this would be too hard!

It felt like forever until the last window, the bedroom window, went black, but he waited a little bit further until he could hear the loud snores. Then he quickly dashed to the house in shelter of the shadows. His first option would be an open window, but after circling the entire house, he discovered to his dismay that there were no open windows on the bottom floor. On the top floor however, there was a single window open, with curtains that waved outside in the faint breeze. He looked at the window with a slightly tilted head. Placed in the middle of the short side, there was nothing nearby that he could use to climb the wall, and it was too high up for him to reach even if he were to stretch his entire body.

Thing is, he wouldn't need a lot to be able to climb up there; a water spout would be enough! But apparently, it didn't rain all that much over here, so they hadn't bothered putting one up. He held back an annoyed growl and started looking around for option number two; a basement with an entrance both outside and inside. He thought he had seen it when he did his first round, and chuckled victoriously when he saw it; an entrance to the basement. But the doubledoors were locked together through the handles with a thick chain and a heavy lock.

He looked at the handles. If he could get one of them off without alerting anyone, he would be able to push the doors open. But there weren't a lot of things laying around. Or at least not at first glance, but when he made a third round around the house, he noticed that Mrs Boyle had left some garden tools in a nice, little cactus garden. He took a small spade and attacked the handles of one of the basement doors.

It took a while for him to get it off since he was trying to be as silent as he could, but eventually the nails gave in and the handle were free to dangle in the chain. He threw the spade aside and winced at the damage he had made. One of the first rules of breaking and entering, as Pacha once told him, was to never cause more damage than what could go unnoticed for a while. The longer people were unaware of it, the better for the burglar.

But what was done was done, and there was no going back now. He used his head to carefully push one of the doors open, slithered down with the rest of his body and lowered the door as carefully and quietly as he could. So far, he had managed to stay very quiet, but once he came down to the basement, he knew that it would change; what he managed to glimpse of the basement was that it had been really messy! And after the door was closed, it instantly became pitch black.

He hesitated for a while before proceeding to stumble forth into the dark, towards the other set of stairs. He tripped over buckets, stumbled into shelves and managed to stab himself on something that probably was a pitchfork. But other than that, he was surprised over how relatively quiet he was; the buckets barely rattled, nothing fell down from the shelves and when he pricked himself on the pitchfork, all he did was to curse under his breath.

Things went a LOT better than he expected and it didn't take too long until he arrived to the other staircase and was able to enter the house. He wasn't looking forward to go back to the basement however, but that was an issue he'd deal with later! Now his next step was to find the key. Since Mr Boyle always walked around with it in a chain around his neck, just like Beans, the bedroom was his first guess.

But to his disappointment, it didn't seem to be there. He gave up looking for it there after he had rummaged through practically every cabinet and drawer he could find, and he was about to go back downstairs again when he suddenly heard footsteps approaching. He froze up in fear for a moment, before instinctively diving into the first, best hiding spot; underneath the parents' bed. Luckily he was still small enough to fit, but he had lie all curled up in a bun to not leave any coils out in the open.

"Ma? Pa? I think there's someone here!" A young girls voice said as a pair of feet approached the bed. Niño recognized the voice as one of his classmates, but he had never bothered to remember her name.

"It's nothin' to worry 'boud, Maud..." Mr Boyle yawned sleepily and shifted in his bed. "Jus' go back to sleep, hun..."

"But pa! I heard somethin'!" Maud insisted and nudged her father. "Wake up!"

"Maud dear, pa needs to work early t'morrow" Now it was her mother who replied, and she sounded just as sleepy and distant as her husband. "Jus' go back to bed, it's prolly jus' the wind..."

"No! I heard somethin'! First the basement, an' jus' now the stairs!" Maud protested and appeared to be crossing her arms. "I think we're bein' robbed!"

"Go back to sleep, Maud!" Both her parents said in unison, and Niño almost chimed in.

Maud went silent for a while, then he heard her snort angrily and turn around, walking back to her room with angry strides. It wasn't until Niño heard a door slam that he dared to peek out from his hiding spot. The parents were snoring yet again. He let out a faint sigh of relief and was about to leave when he saw something shimmering underneath Mr Boyles pillow; the second key!

With an enormous amount of carefulness and patience, he managed to get the key out without waking the mouse up. He hurried to make a mold out of it before putting it back under the pillow. But when he was making his way out, he instantly ran into more trouble as soon as he walked out of the bedroom.

"MAA! PAA!" Maud screamed, causing Niño to jolt and turn his head around. She was standing at the end of the stairs and stared at him with wide eyes. Didn't she just go back to her room?! "MA! PA! THERE'S A BURGLAR!"

When he heard commotion begin behind him in the bedroom, he quickly dashed into the opposite room, discovering that he had entered Mauds room, and her window was the opened one. He didn't hesitate to lunge out through the window, and just barely managed to hold back a scream as he fell to the ground. He landed on the dirt with a heavy thud, but didn't waste any time to make sure he was okay before fleeing to the same bushes he had been hiding in earlier.

As he hid in the bushes, pressing himself flat to the ground and looking up at the house, from which an upset voice could be heard from the open window.

"But pa! I swear I saw someone!" Maud was close to screaming in frustration. "He went into my room! I think it was a snake!"

He heard some muffled voice respond and some more protesting from Maud, but slowly all the sounds from inside the house died out as the family went back to bed. When the night once again went quiet and still, Niño first then realized how scared he had been; the adrenaline was still coursing through his veins and no matter how hard he tried to calm down, his heart just wouldn't stop hammering like mad in his chest. That had been a close call! Too close!

When he finally dared to venture back to the house, his body began to ache all over but he couldn't see any bruises or wounds in the darkness. So while he made his way back to his and Blakes 'rented' house, despite his entire body protesting in pain, another set of eyes were watching him, hidden across the street.

"I told'cha he's up to somethin', Jolene!" Beans said as soon as the young snake was out of sight. Her voice was low and whispering, in case the sound would travel as far as to Niños ears. "He ain't stealin' the keys, so why's he doin' this?! It doesn't make any sense unless he's plannin' somethin'!"

Jolene frowned and had to restrain herself from rattling her tail. "I don't know..." She hissed through clenched teeth. "But I'll talk to Blake the first thing in the mornin'! I promise we'll git to the bottom with this!"

…

The next day, Jolene found her brother sunbathing by the lake. Niño had just been sent away to school and the suns first rays were quickly heating the ground up. Right now, Blake didn't have a single problem in the world! Except for when his sister decided to block his sun and cast her long, ominous shadow over him.

He groaned in annoyance and opened one ember-like eye. "What?!"

"We gotta talk. Now!" Jolene hissed seriously and leaned down closer.

"What 'ave I done this time?!" Blake instantly assumed it was about him, and shook the sand off his scales as he straightened out.

"This ain't 'bout you, it's 'bout Niño!"

"For cryin' out loud, whaddya want from me?!" He exclaimed dramatically. "I did as ya asked me; I did somethin' father-son-ish with him yesterday, but what happened? Ya PUNISHED me fer it!"

"Ya let the 'runners out! They were runnin' all over the street!"

"Well that's what they're s'posed to do, innit? Run 'round? That's why they're called 'runners!"

Jolene closed her eyes and counted to ten in a futile effort to calm down. It wasn't a great success, but it kept her from slapping her brother straight across the face. "Look, Niño is up to somethin'" She said in a low voice and glanced around the lake before turned her head back to Blake. "Yesterday, he took the keys to the bank vault, but he didn't steal 'em"

Blake blinked in confusion. "Wait, what? Whaddya mean?"

"First he tricked Beans into freezin' up like that, an' then he took 'er key an' did somethin' to it b'fore puttin' it back in' 'er purse. An' this night, while he should be sleepin' like ev'ryone else, he broke into Mr Boyles home an' did somethin' to his key too!"

He narrowed his eyes at his sisters story. "Whaddya mean he did somethin' to the keys?"

"Well, we found somethin' strange on the keys this mornin'; we b'lieve it might be some sort of clay or paste, but it's hard to tell" Jolene slowly shook her head. "Look, Blake, ya NEED to keep an eye on him! I'm serious!" Her brother didn't reply, he only muttered something inaudible and bitterly averted his eyes. "I know he could be doin' this just to git attention, but the fact that it's the vault keys he's been messin' with worries me. Jus' look at me when I talk to ya Blake! This is important!"

Blake reluctantly did as he was told. "Fine, I'm listenin'" He bitterly mumbled.

Jolene nodded. "First, have ya noticed that he's been actin' weirdly? Maybe actin' or lookin' different from when he went to bed?"

"Nah, he's always just the same lil' annoyin', big-mouthed punk as the day b'fore!" Blake replied without skipping a beat, but then he hesitated and seemed to think for a while. "Wait... Now when ya mention it; a couple of nights ago, his bed, floor an' even him was all muddy! But I just thought he was a sleepwalker or somethin', b'cause I r'member that he DIDN'T go to bed like that!" He told her, and she frowned and tilted her head as she intently listened to her brother, for once. "An' this mornin' he looked like he had been in a fight or somethin' 'cause he was all bruised up on the side!"

"Well, he oughta be; he jumped straight down from the second floor after all..." Jolene mumbled to herself and rubbed her chin with her tail. After a while, she looked up at him again. "Blake, I need ya to watch 'im t'night. If he leaves, ya NEED to go an' tell me at once! An' don't tell him 'bout this! Let him b'lieve that we ain't noticed a thing yet!"

Blake hesitated, but then seemed to change his mind and nod. "Fine, as long as it'll keep ya off my back I will! But ya know y'all could just be paranoid an' overthinkin', right?" He shrugged. "I mean, I admit I did some shenanigans like that when I was his age, but I jus' did it 'cause I thought it was fun to creep people out, r'member?"

"Yeah, I r'member" Jolene winced at the memory. "An' I hope you're right, I really do! But I dunno, there's just somethin' 'bout this that makes me uneasy..."

"Sure" Blake snorted and nudged himself down against the ground again and closed his eyes. "Now, leave me alone, 'kay? I'm dealin' with important business right now!"

Jolene sighed and got out of the way of the sun. She slithered back to the town without looking back at her lazy brother, still in deep, concerned thoughts about Niños strange acts.

…

Meanwhile, Niño was just focusing on getting through another day of school. Now his classmates had a new reason to bother him; his light brown scales were tinted in purplish blue bruises along his left side, plus his left eye had swelled up a bit during the night. Everyone was curious as to where he got them, except for one.

Niño had just curled himself up in a bun with his head resting on his desk at the back of the class, waiting for the teacher to arrive so he could just get this over with, when she strode up to him. The light brown and white spotted mouse girl about the same age as him, with golden brown hair and suspiciously narrowed brownish green eyes. Maud Boyle stopped in front of him and folded her arms.

"You..." She growled lowly, and Niño arched a brow at her.

"Si?"

"Ya were in our house last night, werent'cha?!" She stomped her foot in the ground. "I saw you!"

Niño lifted his head from the desk and stared at her, slowly narrowing his eyes. "Is that s'posed to be a joke or somethin'? I don't get it?"

"Dont'cha play with me, snake!" Maud snorted. "I know ya were in our house! What're ya up to?!"

"Ya seem to know more than I do 'bout this, so why dont'cha enlighten me instead? WHY would I be in yer house in the middle of the night, eh?"

Maud opened her mouth to say something, but then quickly shut it again for a while. Then she pointed at his bruises. "But what 'bout those?!" She growled. "I bet ya got 'em when ya jumped down from my window, didnt'cha?!"

"Why would I jump from the second floor?! That's just stupid! And don't avoid my question!" Niño growled in return and glanced at the bruises. "B'sides, I got these when I was forced to help Blake catch the 'runners he let out yesterday. They weren't exactly easy to catch!"

"That's the dumbest excuse I've ever heard!" She exclaimed, but suddenly someone cleared their throat behind them.

"Actually, that DID happen!" One of the other boys said and grinned, revealing a huge gap between his front teeth. "Didnt'cha see it, Maddie? It was hilarious! Jolenes lil' brother let the 'runners out into the street an' then he an' Niño had to catch 'em! EVERYONE saw it!"

While thankful for getting some backup in this 'interrogation', he couldn't help but to shamefully blush and wince. Everyone had seen their stunt with the roadrunners, huh? Great... Maud angrily clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes at Niño once again, but she didn't get the time to say anything until the teacher finally arrived. The little, old burrowing owl was humming a happy tune to herself as she trotted in through the door, grinning widely.

"Good morning, children!" She chirped and was instantly greeted by the entire class, sounding like an army of mindless drones. "Maud, please go to your seat so we may begin!"

"Yes ma'am!" Maud said, but before she went back she leaned over the desk and growled at Niño. "I never told'cha my room was on the second floor!"

"Lucky guess" Niño replied in the same low, hostile tone and watched the mouse girl as she turned around and went back to her desk. But every now and then she'd throw a glare back at him, and he'd return it.

…

Blake shifted on the pile of mattresses and blankets, which made his bed in the biggest room of the house. Which actually wasn't that big. He glanced at the door to Niños room and muttered something inaudible for the twelfth time. Jolene had told him to keep an eye on him tonight, but to what point?! He would probably just the sleep as usual! Jolene and Beans were just paranoid, that's all! What on Earth could Niño possibly be planning anyway?!

The big diamondback once again shifted with an annoying groan. He wanted to go to sleep, but IF anything would happen, IF Niño would leave and pull something off and Jolene found out, he'd never get to hear the end of it.

But they were wrong, weren't they? They were surely just being paranoid ladies, famished for action so their bored little minds were inventing something involving his 'son' with a plan. Seeing connections where there are none. They really WANT something to happen, don't they? Blake yawned and rested his head on a pillow. Nothing would happen tonight. Niño was just like any ordinary annoying little punk, but he'd never do something. Not without having friends to back him up, and lets face it; Niño doesn't have any friends here! What would he even be doing with the keys?

Blake chucked lowly and threw a glance at the door. Niño was fast asleep, as usual. He let ouy another yawn and closed his eyes. He was just about to drift off to sleep when his eyes suddenly sprung open, alerted by a strange sound from Niños room. Suddenly the youngster stuck his head through the door, and Blake hurried to clench his eyes shut and pretended to go to sleep.

When Niño made sure Blake was sleeping, he returned to his bed and pulled out the scarf containing the two key molds. He threw it around his neck and slithered out through the door. Blake stared in silence at the door until the sound of scales dragging across the ground was gone. He waited some more until he sprung up from his 'bed' and followed him. He had no idea where Niño were headed this late at night, but that's exactly what he wanted to find out!

The snakes slithered out into the night and left the town. Blake made sure to always keep Niño within his sight, while he also did his best to stay hidden. So far the youngster didn't seem to notice him. As he followed him into the desert, he felt his stomach churn. What if Niño actually was up to something here? What if the delusional ladies were right?!

He was tense as he kept following the young snake through the night, but it was getting harder and harder to hide in case he'd suddenly turn around and look behind him. There weren't a lot of hiding spots on the open plain, and eventually Blake had to resort to quickly flattening himself to the ground and silently pray when Niño got suspicious.

It felt like they had been going forever until Blake suddenly realized were they were headed; the Crystal Canyon. He had been there three years ago, when the canyon was used as a hiding place for smugglers, but it had changed a lot since then! The dried out riverbed was now filled with clear, shimmering water, and green grass and plantlife were growing close to the edges.

For a moment, he almost lost Niño as he became too mesmerized by the changed landscape. Plus he really had to stop for a drink once he saw the water! It might not be as hot as it would be in the day, but it was quite far between the town and the canyon; almost two hours.

Niño continued along the rivers edge for a while, followed by Blake in the water, until the river abruptly stopped in a short, steep waterfall, only to continue to stream on as if nothing had happened. He stopped and turned around one last time, Blake just barely avoided getting caught by diving under the surface. The stream had gotten quite strong since he was so close to the waterfall, but he managed to hold his entire body under the water until Niño had slithered down the side.

When Niños head had disappeared behind the edge, Blake spat and coughed out some water and made his way to the edge, only to find himself gazing down the waterfall. No signs of Niño anywhere. His eyes widened and he cursed lowly.

"W-what?!" He looked around with a bewildered look on his face. Bullshit! I can't lose him! Not now! He was there just a second ago! Blake gulped and looked behind him. He had to go back and tell Jolene about this! But she wouldn't be happy when she hears that he lost him here...

…

After making the journey through the desert and the canyon, Niño finally made it to the hideout. Though all this time he's felt uneasy, for some reason. But he hadn't been followed, he was sure of it! It had to be something else!

He shrugged the feeling off and slithered down into the hidden cave and hollered. "Oy! Amigos!" He said and rounded the corner. "Told y'all I'd make it!"

Bad Bill and his gang jumped in surprise when the young snakes voice bounced inside the cavern. Bill hissed at him. "Keep it down, kid! Ya might've been followed!"

"Hardly" Niño scoffed and tossed the scarf with the casts to the gila monster. "I would've noticed!"

Bill caught the scarf, which had been tied into a small bag, and opened it. He was slightly impressed when he saw the casts, and picked one of the blocks up and opened it, revealing perfect key outlines in the clay on both sides. A curious Stump tried to reach for one of the blocks, but his hand got swatted away by Bill. The gila monster handed the bag to Grant before turning to Niño again.

"Good job, kid!" He admitted with a nod.

Niño shrugged in return. "I hope I'll be able to say the same to y'all tomorrow night!"

"What?!" The outlaws all burst out at once.

"Tomorrow?!" Grant exclaimed, and Stump continued: "We can't do it tomorrow night!"

"And why not?" Niño snorted.

"It's gonna take us at least a day to git the keys done!" Bill waved with the cast in his clawed hand. "The locksmiths in Dry Creek ain't exactly known for bein' quick with their wares"

"So? You don't think wavin' a gun in their face's gonna speed things up or what?" The snake frowned at the outlaws, who began exchanging looks. "B'sides, I wanna get this over with rapidamente! I wanna leave this town as soon as I can!" He then averted his eyes and muttered. "And a girl noticed me when I broke into their house to git the second key..."

"She saw ya?!"

"Yeah, but her parents didn't b'lieve her so I don't think anyone else will" He shook his head at Bill. "An' I know no one ain't suspectin' a thing yet, but it doesn't hurt to get done with this soon!"

Hmm, unfortunately this part with Dirt isn't going to be so long, I just realized. It might even be shorter than I thought (for once!), but hey! I guess that means that we'll get back to the mission faster, huh ;P?

Awright, I'll see when I can finish the next chapter, people are getting worked up for the summer break now :D! Sure it's like, a month and a half left, but still! Just six weeks :D!