THE VROL TRILOGY (172 page)

"Sure, I don't see why not."

Liliana started to giggle, prompting Clarisa
to ask, " What's so funny, Liliana?"

"It is the way in which you speak, Abuelita.
It is so like Mami and Papi."

"Well, I really wanted to talk to you about
that."

"About what? Your manner of speech?" the
little girl asked.

"Yes. Your parents informed me that once the
battles are over, we'll be moving to Azul, where you'll attend a
proper school in Córdoba. I'm afraid you'll have to learn to speak
more… like us."

Liliana immediately gained a panicked
expression, and slipped out of sight.

"I wish she wouldn't do that. I wonder what
happened?"

A very muddy Liliana appeared at the doorway
to the apartment of Janie and Tommy Williams, lycan children from a
Haida village in Southeast Alaska. Nearly out of breath, she
pounded on the door, only to see a very solemn-looking Tommy
answer.

"Tommy! I have the worst news! I am to leave
the Rhönen Dominion, where I shall attend some beastly school on
the planet of my parents. What shall we do?"

"Our parents are dead."

"What? How is this?" Liliana looked at Tommy,
able to comprehend his agony, having lost her own birth
parents.

"Didn’t you hear, Lili? New Sydney was
destroyed. Our parents were there, fighting, when it happened,"
said Janie, who had walked up and still had tearstains on her
face.

Liliana rushed forward and hugged the two,
prompting Tommy to push her back.

"Lili, you smell like manure."

"Oh shit, sorry," she said, and then
performed a cantus that removed most of the filth that covered her.
"I assume this is why you were not present at the Youth Brigade
training session this afternoon."

"Yeah, pretty much. Anyway, I guess we'll be
going to Azul too, eventually. But we don't know where," said
Janie.

"Would you like to join Abuelita and me in
the castle for dinner tonight?" Liliana asked hopefully.

The two shook their heads, both obviously in
a state of mourning.

"No thanks. I think we want to be alone for a
while," said Tommy.

"I am truly sorry for your loss. While I am
aware you are now orphans, at least you still have your
grandfather. Is he to care for you now?"

"Yeah, he is. Where are you going to live on
Azul?"

"Córdoba, Nueva Argentina. It is the
birthplace of my parents."

"Oh," said Tommy, casting his gaze downward.
"Our grandpa is chief of police in Buenos Aires. I guess we won't
see each other that often."

Liliana put her hand on Tommy's shoulder, and
said, "Tommy, do you not remember I can slip to any place on a
planet? I shall visit with you both tomorrow."

The little lycan/mage then disappeared from
sight with a light popping sound.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot," said Janie, as
her face fell back into a dazed expression.

###

"Abuelita, something terrible has happened!
The twins are now orphans," Liliana cried out as soon as she
entered her grandmother's chambers.

"Yes, sweetie. I know. Did you go to console
them?"

"Yes. Well, at first, no. I went to inform
them we were to be separated. Then they told me of their parents'
demise. However, they died in battle, so their deaths were
honorable."

"Um, sweetie, let’s not go describing
it that way to them. I don't think they really care just
how
their parents died."

"Perhaps you are correct, Abuelita. Anyway, I
am going to shower so we may consume our evening meal. I have built
up quite a hunger, especially since my meeting with Grandfather
Draagh this morning."

Draagh? That's not
possible. He's dead. What's she up to now
?

Clarisa had barely finished her thought when
she heard a light knock at her door. Smelling Max… and something
else, she answered, surprised to see Jennie with him.

"Max! Jennie! Wow, you smell different,
sweetie. Did you find a new perfume or something?"

Clarisa had only been informed that
Draagh was
dead
, but had yet
to receive any further information. Max walked in, kissed his
mother on the cheek, with Jennie doing the same after he did. The
two then took seats on her couch and gave her a solemn
gaze.

"Mom, where's Liliana?"

"She's showering in her quarters sweetie,
why?"

You haven't told her anything about Draagh
yet, have you?

"No, not at all. What happened, Max? And
Jennie, why have you… oh my god - your eyes!"

"Nice, huh?" responded the beautiful
hybrid.

"Did you get a gen-mod? Why would you do
that?"

"Mom, she got a gen-mod, but not the way you
think," said Max.

"Okay, what happened? And I want to whole
story, Maximilanus Gunnarsson."

Thirty minutes later Clarisa Gunnarsson sat
with a confounded expression, having heard the entire account of
what happened, and still trying to digest it all. Jennie was now a
Primulus hybrid, like Max, and Draagh would be gone for around a
century.

"Max, I think there's something you should
know. Liliana told me she visited with Draagh this morning."

"Well, that's impossible," said Jennie.

"Never say impossible, sweetie. We learned
that long ago, but still. I'd like to ask her what happened."

"
Liliana, are
you done with your bath yet
?" Clarisa asked over their
local castle comm.

"
Yes,
Abuelita. I am on my way. Oh, Papi is back, and with someone
else
!"

Liliana burst into her grandmother's room and
stopped dead in her tracks.

"Mami? Grandfather was correct! You have
changed! Oh my, you are so pretty. I love your new eyes."

Jennie gave her adopted daughter an astounded
look, and asked, "Lili, when did you see Draagh?"

"Why this morning! I didn’t actually see him.
He spoke to me, and told me that things were changing, and that you
had changed. He also said he would help me whenever I was in need.
Come! Let us have our evening meal!"

Liliana grabbed Jennie by the hand and pulled
her up off the couch. It wasn't but a moment later that the woman
yanked her hand away.

"Liliana! You… touched my wedding ring!
Didn't you feel anything?"

"Feel what, Mami?"

"Shit, Jen. She wasn't burned. Maybe my
cantus didn't work?" said Max.

"Hang on a sec. Clarisa, could you touch my…
your ring - just quickly?"

"Sure sweetie, why? What's the… ouch! What
the hell?" Clarisa yelped, as the rhodium in Jennie's ring made a
shocking/burning sensation on the lovely lycan's finger.

"Lili, come here please," said Jennie,
sitting down with her daughter and clasping her hand. "What did
Draagh tell you?"

"He said that everything was changing, and
that we would always be together. Then he touched my forehead. It
felt funny, but I am fine now. I do like your ring. It is so
pretty," she said, as she fondled the beautiful rhodium
setting.

Max knelt down in front of his daughter and
looked deeply into her eyes, and what he found astounded him.

"Her eyes, Jen. Look. They were coffee brown
before, and now they're hazel. They have bits of green and gold in
them." He then produced an infoscreen and examined Liliana's DNA,
creating a comparative analysis with her previously logged genetic
code. Two DNA strands rotated side by side, one looking much
significantly complex than the other. The lesser one was from
months earlier, and the more complex strand was from that very
moment.

"She's been changed. She's not Primulus, but
she's been changed. I need to ask Dad about this."

"Oh my god," Jennie exclaimed
breathlessly.

"Max, what does this mean?" asked
Clarisa.

"Well, first of all, Draagh's not completely
gone, and secondly, well, Liliana is… more than just a
minor-mage."

"Yay! Grandfather was correct! I shall
live forever with Mami and Papi!" she squealed in delight, and then
looked at her parents lovingly. "Perhaps then my cantuses are more
effective!
Graveincantatio
potentia!
" she screamed, as she pointed at
the wall.

Max, Jennie, Clarisa and Liliana all stood at
the edge of the floor, where Clarisa's bedroom wall used to be. The
little girl, using a simple push cantus, had destroyed roughly two
metric tons of stone and mortar, opening up Clarisa's room to the
outside world.

"Yup, she's changed, alright," said Max.
"Lili, I think we need to go see your abuelito now."

"Oh, that is such good news, Papi! Perhaps I
can show him my new skills!"

Sweetie, that's not in the
plan
, thought Max.

Chapter 40
-
Vacuum

Max, Jennie, Clarisa and Liliana stood in
Bagatelle's office on the Revolution, facing Michael, who was
seated at the admiral's desk, an infoscreen floating before
him.

"Hmm, yes, you are correct,
son. She has been modified. Enhanced would be a proper term. She is
the equivalent of a
mezzo angel
now."

"Woah. We weren't planning on this," said
Jennie.

"Father was always one to tinker. We should
feel fortunate that he did it while out of his corporeal form."

"Why's that?" asked Max.

"He is much more powerful now that he is not
hindered by a body, Max. I thought you would have known this."

"Um, nope."

"Very well, how shall we address this
situation? The youngster definitely has much more power than she
needs at this time."

Liliana gave her grandfather a curious look,
bordering on rebellion, when alarms suddenly went off throughout
the ship.

"That's a red alert!" cried
Jennie.

"
G, what’s the alarm for
?" Max asked
over the comm.

"
Vrol are on the ship, Max.
"

"
Shit, and I have Liliana and Mom in your office. I gotta get
them out of here
."

"
Do it quickly, Cuñado
!"

Max was about to slip off the ship, spiriting
Clarisa, Jennie and Liliana away, when the door to Bagatelle's
office blew open. Three Vrol ground bugs fought to get inside, but
before they could enter the office Liliana went into action.

"
Graveincantatio potentia!
" she
screamed, pointing at the rancid insects, the power of her cantus
disintegrating them and destroying 30 meters of the interior of the
Revolution at the same time.

"Holy cow! If that were in the other
direction we would have been sucked out into space! Lili! Be
careful! We're going now. Dad - Jen and I will be right
back."

"Nuuu, Papi! I want to fight! I just killed
three more Vrol! It is my new record!"

Four people - two Prīmulī, one lycan
and a little girl that was much more, disappeared with a light
pop.

Michael also disappeared, entering into the
fray of battle.

###

"Papi! Why can I not assist? I have proved my
worth, have I not?"

"Lili. No. Stay."

Max and Jennie blinked out of view as the
little angel sat down on her grandmother's couch, crossing her arms
and pouting.

###

Max and Jennie appeared on the bridge of the
Revolution and ran to Bagatelle's side. The admiral was scanning a
number of displays, tracking Vrol movements on his ship.

"Max, we have bugs in the corridors, as
well as on the flight deck. We need to get rid of them quickly. The
Brood Carrier is back, too."

"Got it, G. I'll slip them out into space.
Jen, can you slip other things also?"

"I believe so, hun. Let's do it."

The two Prīmulī raced off the bridge,
only to be passed up by none other than King Krynos, who was
charging down halls, trampling any Vrol in his path. However, his
attempts were futile, as he could only knock them over. Their
temporary shields were much too powerful for the lycan king to
overcome with brute strength.

"Have at ye, disgusting creatures of the
netherworld! Die by the hand of Krynos, protector of Mankind!"

"Boy, he really takes his whole protector
thing seriously, doesn't he?" said Jennie, as she lithely slipped a
small group of Vrol into the cold vacuum of space with a simple
gesture.

"Yup. Ooh, good move. Looks like you have the
ejection thing down," responded Max.

When they could no longer find any Vrol
nearby, they both slipped to the science lab, where Josh had the
facility on lockdown. The last thing the young lieutenant wanted
was for a Vrol to get its claws on the antimatter bomb he was
modifying.

"As you were!" Max bellowed, not having the
time for formalities. "Josh! Good move locking the lab down. How
close are you to getting this thing done?"

"It's done, sir."

"Cool, get it all polished up and ready to
go. Once we get out of range of the Brood Carrier I'll slip it
over."

Josh turned and got to
work, as Max contacted Bagatelle via the comm. "
G, we need to slip out of here. I'm going to set the
antimatter bomb inside the Brood Carrier, and then externally
initiate it
."

"
Go for it, Max. We've already started the hook. We'll be off
in a matter of seconds
."