Con Man's Daughter (9)
Hey guys, I am not dead. With Halloween on the way, how about something spooky.
[Masterlist]
(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 7.5) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10)
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Nino knows that his childhood friend can be eccentric at times.
That is mostly due to her rebellious spirit and her equally weird father who talks of demons and monsters when Nino and Kim came over for a sleepover at Marinette’s house while he was visiting.
They both are too embarrassed to ever admit that they were scared while Marinette remained entranced by the ‘bedtime’ stories.
Over the years, he had seen her do unexplainable things that were all brushed off as magic with childlike wonder. There were a few hazy memories of a shrieking Chloe being levitated into the air and Chloe being ‘cursed’ which he brushed off as a dream.
Marinette was very interested the moment anything supernatural was mentioned. Later, Alix and Juleka joined her in that odd hobby of hers.
The three of them would disappear for a weekend and come to school on Monday with scratches and bruises, passing them off as accidents from trying sports.
While he and Mari has known each other for years, there are still things that are hard for him to explain or rationalise when it comes to Marinette Constantine-Cheng and the inevitable conclusion was that it just is.
That was also the reason he was hiding in some room in the Agreste mansion, hoping that she would pick up her phone.
“Ello?” Marinette sleepily answered.
“Dudette, help.” He whispered as quietly as he could into the phone, hoping whatever it was that was after them couldn’t hear him, “I didn’t know who to call. We were just goofing around and now there is something chasing us. Please tell me how to stop this.” His voice filled with fear.
On the other side of Paris, Marinette shot up, more awake. “Hold on, Nino. What happened?”
“We are at Adrien’s house…and….Kim…he brought an ouija board. I swear we were just playing around and….Oh god, I don’t know what happened to him. Please help, Marinette.” Nino heard something moving and it felt a little colder than before. The hair on his neck raised.
“Hurry.” was the last thing he said before he hung up and covered his mouth and breathe as quietly as he could. How did things go this bad?
—--(Flashback to 10 hours earlier..)------
The boys were talking among themselves about something or the other and Adrien’s room came up.
It devolves into the boys planning a sleepover in Adrien’s room while his father was out of town for his upcoming trip.
Max did a little hacking so they can sneak pass the security and Adrien let the boys in through the window.
They did the usual party games and played around in Adrien’s admittedly very cool room with the Arcades, mini basketball court, rock climbing wall, etc..
Then, Kim brought out the Ouija board because his reasoning is no sleepover isn’t complete without something spooky.
Plagg sees that this is a bad idea (He might be irresponsible at times but his holder might die from this because spirits are out of the his domain). He tried to get Adrien to not go along with it but Adrien ignored him thinking that Plagg was just being over-dramatic.
Plagg decides that the best thing to do was to find Lady Rouge aka Marinette since he heard from Wyazz that Tikki’s holder’s father is a famous magician who dabbles in the dark arts with the title Hellblazer. Where did Pigtails live again?
So the boys are summoning something but nothing happens for a few minutes so they takes their hands off the thingy. (Found that it is called a planchette.)
And the planchette began moving on its own.
Max tried to rationalise the phenomenon while Adrien excuses himself to find out that Plagg was missing.
He thought that Plagg was messing with him so he starts insulting the spirit and the other boys tried to get him to stop. When Adrien declare to cut the ghost off from camembert, everyone is confused. Then, the spirit starts to go crazy and attacking people.
The boys spilt up and ran. They were all glad that Gabriel was away because their screams probably had woken up the entire neighbourhood.
Adrien finally realised that Plagg wasn’t making things up or it was the kwami behind the ouiji board and by taunting the entity, he had fucked up. He followed the other boys out the door.
—--
Plagg arrived at Marinette’s place, just as she had just hung up with Nino and changing into appropriate sprit-hunting attire.
“Pigtails, I don’t have time right now but I need you to come with me. Adrien is in danger. You need to follow me right now.” Plagg stopped in his tracks as he realised what just happened and turned to face Marinette, “Wait, you knew?!”
“Knew what?”
“That Chat Noir is-” Plagg paused, “Adrien.” The kwami’s eyes widened at the implication.
Plagg was beginning to feel a sense of panic as bubbles didn’t appear when he said his holder’s name.
“Oh, that…it was kinda hard to ignore the enormous amount of destruction magic from the ring on Adrien.” Marinette said offhandedly as she shrugged on her red coat
“And Master Fu let you keep the earrings.” Plagg said with awe, eyes wide.
“Well…I am not giving him a choice about it and no one is going to do a better job than me right now. Besides, once I set my eyes on something, I am pretty stubborn in seeing it through. Burning Hawkmoth in his ridiculous suit is what I want to see.”
Plagg grinned, “Now I wished he had given me to you instead, Pigtails.”
“Marinette, we talked about this. No arson at night.” Tikki sleepily flew towards them. “Oh. And what are you doing here *yawns* Plagg?”
“My kit ran into some trouble with supernatural creatures. The non-Miraculous kind. I am here to ask for Pigtail’s help.”
“I was going to go anyways.” She opened her coat to reveal the inside pockets made especially to fit kwamis. “Hop in, Plagg. Tikki, go back to sleep. It won’t be long. I hope.” She said as she opened a portal to the inside of Agreste Mansion.
Tikki sleepily mumbled a goodnight as the portal closed before she flew back to the cosy bed Marinette made for her.
—----
Meanwhile Nino closed his eyes and breathe through his mouth quietly, hoping whatever the fuck it was chasing them would disappear when a cold hand touched him.
He screamed and tried to fight off the attacker who covered his mouth with their hand and turned him around.
It was Marinette.
“Nino, don’t give us away.” she hissed. “Now, are you going to scream when I remove my hand.”
Nino shook his head and she removed her hand.
“What? How…? How did you get in? Max said that the house has like insane security.”
Marinette gave him a secretive smile, “I have my ways. So where is this creature that you have unwittingly summoned?”
“It was in Adrien’s room…..but then, it chased us and- and we split up and I don’t where it is or where the others are. Oh my God, are we going to die? We shouldn’t have listened to Kim and play that stupid game. Adrien is probably already dead.”
“Why would Adrien be dead?” Marinette doesn’t seemed concerned that one of their friends might have possibly be a corpse but also looked bored with the entire thing.
“I don’t what exactly he was talking about. Something about getting rid of camembert.”
A muffled cry from Marinette’s direction made him look up but her expression remained unchanged. “And what happened next, Nino?”
“The thing didn’t like that apparently and it started going crazy.”
“Did you get a good look at it?”
Nino described the creature as best as he could.
“Sounds like a revenant or a wraith.” Marinette said thoughtfully.
“Is there a difference?”
“Kinda? I mean, if you see one undead hell-bent on killing people, you have seen them all. But depending on the type, ways of containing or getting rid of them are different. Sometimes, we can bargain with them to go away. Luckily, most efficient way to getting rid of anyone of them is by destroying what is anchoring them here. So we need to get that ouija board.”
Marinette stood up and opened the door of the room they were in, only for the ‘ghost’ to be on the other side of the door.
Lots of glowing symbols shows up on Marinette’s coat which causes the creature to scream as if it had been burned and flee.
Marinette looked disappointed and swore in English under her breath, “Dammit another wraith. Why can’t they bloody stay in Scotland?”
Meanwhile, Nino looked on in awe. “Woah, Dudette, how did you do that?”
Marinette pulled out a bunch of necklaces with symbols from every religion and a few protection talismans her father gifted her.
“Always useful to have a few of these on you at all times. Never know what kind of spirit you might run into. If you don’t have anything, salt will do in a pinch.” She explained.
Then, Marinette confidently walked out of the room, and Nino scrambled from his position on the floor to catch up to her.
“Where- where are we going?”
“To the kitchen, of course.”
“Why?”
“To get salt.”
“But why?”
“Did you think that I am going to do all the work? This is partially your fault and you called me here at the middle of the night when you know how hard it is for me to wake up in the mornings and get to school on time.”
“Sorry about that, Dudette. I would have been dead without you. But why the salt?”
“Salt is believed to be pure and ward off spirits….” Marinette listed why salt is the number one thing you should have on hand during supernatural situations and the zombie apocalypse.
Embarrassingly enough, she had forgotten to refil her salt reserves before coming to the Agreste Mansion so she hoped that Gabriel is not one of those rich people who doesn’t keep salt in their house. If not, she could lock herself in the bathroom and teleport home to get some.
Marinette decides to not tell Nino that the worse thing the wraith would do was knock him out and have nightmares. And then, he will wake up in the morning with a slight headache and feeling a little emptier and depressed as they would like to feel on happiness. (They are mostly harmless on the supernatural scale of what she has faced and the victims usually get better in a week or a year at most if the wraith had been feeding on them for a long time. Plus Nino deserve this for waking her up at 12 am to fix the boys’ mess.)
------
On the way to the kitchen, they met up with Kim and Max who were hiding and jumped out to attack Nino and Marinette whom they thought was the beast after them.
Unfortunately for Nino, Marinette moved out the way of the attack causing the two boys lost their momentum in their surprise and crashed on top of Nino with Kim at the top of the pile. (For those wondering about Markov, he can be either at home charging or got lost when the wraith attacked.)
Kim recovered first and recognised the raven-haired girl. “Marinette! You are here. We are saved.”
Max looked up at his friend’s exclamation, glasses eschrewed, “How did you get in here? By yourself, there is a 5.3% success rate of getting in here.”
“It’s Marinette, Max. She’s magic and she can get into wherever she wants.” Kim stated in the same way one would say the sky was blue.
Marinette helped them up so poor Nino can finally breathe properly, “Nino called me for help. We were going to the kitchen to get some salt. This place like a maze.”
“So how did you get in here?”
Marinette smirked, “Like Kim said, Magic.”
Kim fist-pumped the air and laughed.
However, Max frowned, “That is not a definitive answer.”
“Sorry, Kante, some things are best left unanswered. Now, come on. We need to get salt.”
“Can you at least tell us why we need salt?”
“Salt, in most culture, is believed to be pure and an excellent repellent for most undead and supernatural creatures. Same with silver and iron. Those ancient people knew what they were doing. Anyways, if you want to see the light of tomorrow, we need to be armed, boys.”
Kim mock-saluted, “Aye, Aye, captain.” Marinette giggled.
They raided the kitchens for bags of salt and grabbed a few silverware just in case. (Marinette reluctantly grabbed some camembert at Plagg’s insistence.)
On their way out, they bumped into someone and Nino threw a fistful of salt into their face.
--------
“MY EYES.” Adrien screamed.
“Oh shit, dude, I am so sorry.” Nino tried to help his bro the best he could with a bag of salt in one hand and the other clutching a silver fork.
Kim and Max lowered their ‘weapons’ when they saw who it was and went back on guard in case the wraith came their way while Marinette looked around for something to help Adrien.
Plagg used the opportunity to get back to his holder after Marinette guide Adrien into a nearby bathroom to rinse his face while the boys stood guard outside.
Once Adrien recovered, “Marinette, how are you here?”
“A little black cat god with a stinky breath came to me while I was sleeping and told me to follow him here because he needed my help.” Marinette deadpanned.
Adrien stiffened and panicked internally. Oh my god, she knows. Master Fu is going to take Plagg away and I won’t be Chat Noir anymore. whatdoidowhatdoido
Marinette grinned and laughed, “Nah, I am just kidding. Nino called me, in the middle of the night by the way, about the trouble you boys got yourself into. You sunshine owe me a nice large of coffee with extra cream and sugar in the morning.”
Adrien nervously chuckled along with her. “The cat thing. Was it just a joke?” he asked weakly.
“Is he even trying to be subtle at all?” Marinette thought but she answered him anyways, “I was just messing with you.”
“I am going to see if the others are still alive. We will be waiting for you to get done.” she said before closing the door behind her.
Plagg came out of his hiding place, “Hey, kit.”
“Plagg, you are alive. Where have you been?”
“Of course, I am alive. It will take more than some measly soul to take a handsome cat like myself out. As for where, I went to seek the comfort of my dear camembert while you kids mess around. You can’t deny it but I told you so.”
“You were right, Plagg. I shouldn’t have ignored you.”
“That’s why you should listen to me more often.”
“I am going to get you more camembert after this.” Adrien paused in his excitement.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you do like what Marinette told me?”
Plagg laughed, (although oblivious sunshine boy didn’t notice that it sounded a little forced), “That was just a coincidence. Headphones kid called her as soon as he managed to find a hiding spot. Besides, some kwamis can travel in dreams like Nooroo but I am not one of them. So stop worrying about the ring being taken away if you think that pigtails might have found out who you are.”
“Thanks, Plagg.”
“No problem, kit. Now get out there before your friends starts to worry.”
—--
Adrien armed himself with a salt shaker and a silver spoon. (His father might be angry if he finds out about this.) He looked around and saw that Marinette wasn’t armed.
“Hey, Marinette. Where’s your salt? ”
Nino answered instead, “Marinette don’t need it. She has her own protection thing and it’s awesome.”
“Oh, I wanna see.” said Kim.
“It’s nothing, guys.” She replied, “Religious symbols have gained power over the years and they can keep spirits at bay. A few ‘Hail Marys’ or some prayer from a holy book can buy you some time.”
“Just show them your bling, Mari.”
She sighed and opened her coat so the boys can ooh and ahh at the many protective charms and symbols she wore.
“This is like some Supernatural shit.” Nathaniel commented.
Marinette rolled her eyes but kept quiet the fact that she had visited the Universe of that show. (Speaking of, she should sent Jack back a letter.)
—--
Surprisingly destroying the ouji board was the easy part.
Adrien volunteered to be the bait while the others were in charge of keeping the wraith busy. They also ran into Ivan, Natheniel and surprisingly Luka along the way.
Luka gave her a look which Marinette chose to ignore as she laid out her plan.
“Mari…”
“Luka, your mother would be very proud of you. Sneaking into a mansion late at night and using a sleepover as an excuse. If she knew, she would be popping the champagne.”
“She doesn’t even know that I am here.”
“More reason for her to be proud. Besides, I will make sure to take care of what you are worried about.”
“Just know, I have your father on speed dial if it turns out to be something stupid.”
“I am not that reckless.”
“And Lady Rouge didn’t jump into the mouth of a T-Rex just last month.” (Yes, Luka knows too. He immediately recognised the person who would be dramatic enough and take the opportunity to be a mysterious person with a terrifying power like Lady Rouge is often portrayed as.)
“I am not like her. Besides, this is a routine job at most. I am more surprised that the wraith stuck around even though it is in the presence of a Miraculous.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Apparently, Miraculous are the equivalent of a repellent to the supernatural.”
“Is that why you guys haven’t been stirring up trouble in Paris for the past year?”
Marinette grinned as she finished setting up the salt circle in an elaborate pattern that would alleged hold the wraith while buying time for her to completely destroy its source, “Yeah. We had to look outside of Paris to get anything.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Great, if the boys are ready, let’s get this show on the road.”
“MARINETTE, what do you mean look outside of Paris?”
—--
Adrien taunts the wraith and draws it towards the room (A guest room) where the circle was and where the rest of the boys were hiding in.
They all poked it with the silverware and threw lots of salt at it so it got inside the circle.
Meanwhile, Marinette booked it to Adrien’s room where the Ouji board was and started chanting to cut the connection between the wraith and the board.
But before she started to chant, she noticed something particular about the board. Looks like her work wasn’t done for tonight.
After cutting the connection, she took pictures of the board before asking Plagg to destroy it.
She walked into the guest room where the boys were all passed out on the floor.
“What’s wrong with my kitten?”
“He’s fine. They all are. Cutting the wraith’s tie to the mortal realm made it release the energy it had collected so far into a blast that knocked them out. They will be fine in the morning with just a slight headache with the probable side effect of seeing glimpses of each other’s memories in their dreams since wraith feeds on memories and what not.”
Marinette walked up to Luka and woke him up with a slap to the face.
“Ow. What? Mari? What happened? What did the three of you do now?”
“Do you remember anything?”
“I went with the boys in your class to sneak into Adrien’s house while his dad was out of town because Juleka and Rose were worried they might get into trouble. We were finishing a pillow fight and was going to do something else. I can’t remember what.”
“Temporary amnesia like I suspected. You boys have been missing for three days.”
“What?” Luka sat up in panic and rushed out of the room before realising he was still in Agreste Manor. He took his phone out to see only a few hours had passed.
“That was not funny.” Luka said as he re-entered the room where Marinette was dragging a passed out Ivan.
“It was to me. Now help me move them back to Adrien’s room because it’s not long until dawn and I don’t have the energy for a clean up spell.”
“What are we going to tell them when they wake up?”
“Nothing. You are going to tell them nothing.”
“What?”
“They probably won’t remember what happened in the past few hours the same as you. So that means that my powers will remain secret.”
Luka picked up both Max and Nathenial. “Why?”
“One, to better hide my extracurricular activities. And two, I promised my Maman that I will try to live a normal life as possible and that would be impossible if they knew.”
They cleaned up as best as they could and Marinette made sure that all footage of last night was erased.
She portalled herself directly above her bed as soon as she was done.
Luka pretended to be asleep when the others woke up an hour later.
They all hurried to sneak out of the house as the sun rose.
Thus, Adrien’s first sleepover ended.
—---
The next morning, the chef hired by the Agreste was confused by how little salt was left in the bag he brought just a few days ago.
The cleaning maids were surprised at how much of a mess the usually neat Adrien had made of his room last night.
Adrien decided to make a stop at a coffee shop and bought extra large cup of black coffee with cream and sugar. He didn’t remember why exactly he felt like he had to buy it until Plagg filled him the blanks and told him that he had called Marinette last night and she asked for that in exchange for keeping quiet about the sleepover.
Adrien placed said cup in front of a tired Marinette who perked up at the smell of coffee, causing Alya to squeal at the scene.
Only for her boyfriend to later also enter with a large cup of coffee and placed it in front of Marinette.
“Why are you giving my girl ridiculous amount of coffee?” Alya asked, completely baffled as boys continued to filed in with cups of coffee which they all placed in front of Marinette.
The boys didn’t have an answer for her but they knew that last night, they had messed with something they shouldn’t and Marinette was the one who saved them.
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(Part 10)
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