THE VROL TRILOGY (82 page)

"But what if your idea doesn't work, Father?
What if I have been damaged beyond repair and your scheme
fails?"

"Then we shall continue to look, Brother. We
shall not stop. I have spent centuries despising the mon… the
humans, but I have gained a new outlook, mainly thanks to these two
amazing girls," Gabriel said, to everyone's surprise. He had been
travelling across the entire European continent and had arrived at
that very moment.

"Hello, Brother. How were your travels?"
asked Michael, only noticing Gabriel's arrival via his interjection
in their conversation.

"Enlightening, Michael. Did you know that
there is a massive quadrinium operation along the Pyrenees mountain
range?"

"Quadrinium? Where is this Pyrenees?"
demanded Krynos.

"Far from here, King Krynos," stated the
newly arrived archangel. "Well outside the reach of your kingdom.
But you may indeed meet those in charge and perhaps form an
alliance."

"That does sound excellent, my good
archangel," responded Krynos, in a grateful tone.

"So, hearing your conversation, I believe
that there is something we can do to ensure a lack of further
loss."

"What's that, what do you mean?" asked
Jennie.

Gabriel held a small medallion out in his
hand, giving it to Michael, who awkwardly accepted it from his
estranged brother.

"You are important to us - to our family,
Michael. This will enable me to keep track of your location no
matter where you are. So, in case Father's ghanlo rejects you, we
will not lose your location."

Michael nodded and thanked Gabriel, putting
the medallion in his pocket.

###

Later that day, in the early evening,
everyone gathered for dinner so they could discuss final plans for
the following day. Everyone agreed that Draagh and Michael would
try to replicate Max's attempt at returning to Machu Picchu, with
Gabriel monitoring from The Hub. In case Draagh's staff hurled
Michael out on his own, at least they would be able to immediately
go to his location. In either case, once wherever Michael was sent
had been identified (if he indeed was not sent to Max's ship),
Gabriel would join the two and do a bit of recon before Draagh went
back to the Rhönen Dominion to retrieve the rest of the team, which
was to include Jennie, Bagatelle, Krynos, Donus and Liliana.

Being a small girl with a nascent
fashion sense, Liliana insisted that the team have matching battle
gear. Krynos thought the idea to be adorable - until he saw her
sketches -which included shark logos on their backs. To make it
worse, the sharks had ribbons tied around their heads. Krynos
commended the girl for her efforts (and her artwork), but made the
suggestion that it would be better to keep low profiles and not
have fancy logos. The little girl hid her disappointment well, but
the king could see that she felt her contribution was inadequate,
so he promised her that he would later allow her to design training
uniforms for his new
Youth Brigade
of young lycan trainees. This caused her to cheer up
substantially, and she happily sat next to her mother as the rest
of the team discussed more critical issues.

"We have no idea what we'll be up against, if
we indeed do arrive in Max's precise space/time location. It could
be a land much like where Michael was living - peaceful, yet
dangerously inaccessible, or it could be completely violent. I
cannot stress too much that we shall need to be ever vigilant,"
Draagh stated in his typically eloquent fashion.

"I like the fact that everyone is positive
we'll find Max," said Jennie, who was looking much more hopeful
than ever in the past few days. Draagh watched her, hoping for her
sake, more than anyone's, that they were indeed successful.

"I am glad to be of assistance, especially as
it involves the Gunnarsson family, all of whom I consider to be
next of kin. And that also includes you, Bagatelle," said Donus,
surprising the former rear admiral.

"At what time shall we arise, then?" asked
Michael.

"I believe 6 a.m. shall be sufficient. We
meet here for breakfast and then we begin," said Draagh.

Chapter 19 - Loose Ends

Waking up at 7 a.m., Max looked around the
small room he had occupied since he was violently tossed into his
current world from the Rhönen Dominion. He was going to miss it - a
bit - but he was prepared to move on. It would have been easy to
stay where he was; everyone loved him, and he could certainly earn
his keep, but he had to get back to his family and then to his home
world. He knew staying in Seven Sins wouldn't help in the
least.

Max walked downstairs and smelled breakfast
being prepared. Entering the kitchen quietly he saw Jessica merrily
preparing the morning meal. She was quite happy, as he had spent
the past couple of days teaching her to cook edible meals. He heard
some pounding out from the bar area, and peeked out to see Adam
crushing coffee beans for their morning beverage. It was nice
seeing someone who had been such a pain before finally being part
of the clan and contributing. Max was all about contributions - he
would practically bend over backwards for anyone who helped.

"Morning, mate. Slept well, didja?" asked the
height-challenged clan leader, Dons.

"Hey Dons, yeah, I am well-rested."

"So, is today the day? You gonna take off and
try to find home?"

"That's the plan. I'd like to get started,
but I gotta tell you, it's been good here. Thanks for everything
you've done for me. Anyone else would've tried to kill me in my
sleep -"

The two looked over at the bar where Adam was
smashing frozen java beans, prompting them to start laughing,
gaining Adam's attention.

"Morning, gents," the fake mage said kindly,
"coffee will be up soon. Anything else for you while you wait?"

"I'm good, Adam, but thanks. What about you,
Dons?"

"I'm good too, thanks, mate."

Adam gave Max a sincere look, causing him to
figure that something was up. "Um… Max, I was wondering. I know you
are leaving soon, but could you put my wand back to where it was
before you go? I kinda depend on it to… survive, ya know?"

Max nodded, pitying Adam slightly. The fellow
had street smarts for sure, and while his self-opinion was a bit
inflated, Max was relatively certain that the man could contribute
to the clan and not cause further issues. He figured he would
probably never see these people again (if he managed to get home),
but did desire to leave them in the best shape possible.

"Sure, Adam, I'll fix you right up. You've
been doing great and you deserve it. Just remember - no funny
stuff, got it?"

Adam looked at the two and nodded. "No
worries. I don't wanna sound lame, but I kinda like this new
arrangement. Makes me feel like a better person."

Jessica came streaming out of the kitchen,
crying her eyes out. She had burnt breakfast and was freaking out,
but Max popped up and went back to see the mess she had made. Once
she had explained everything, Max attempted to calm her down.

"Hey Jess, no big deal. Let me see if I can
track this back a bit."

"What do you mean, Max? Track it back a bit?"
asked Dons.

"Yeah - a bit of a backup in time to right
before where it started to burn. Pretty easy to do," he said.

Adam's expression changed to something…
different. It was like a light bulb went off above his head.

"Max, can I ask you something?"

"Sure Adam, what's that?"

"If you have the ability to command time
itself, why don't you just go back to before where you came here?
Wouldn't that get you home?"

Max stood in place, stunned. Not only had he
not thought of that, but someone for whom he had no intellectual
respect brought it up.

"Woah…you know, Adam, that's a great idea.
Honestly, I never considered it. All of the complexities in the
universe and you come up with a simple yet direct solution. Good
work." Max smiled sincerely at the fake mage, causing Adam to be
slightly pleased with himself.

Max went into the kitchen and used a cantus
to create a time bubble. This was necessary to contain the
space/time manipulation in a specific area and not affect the
entire club… or city. He then performed his cantus to track back
roughly seven minutes - right before Jessica started to ignore her
food. Instantly, everything was perfect. As Max released the time
bubble, the smell of delicious breakfast again wafted through the
air. Everyone simply shook their heads; they were so amazed at
Max's abilities, and were a bit sad, because they knew he needed to
leave soon.

Sitting back down in the bar area, Max
started to formulate a plan. Adam was right - by creating a fairly
complex cantus to deal with space/time, he could send himself back.
However, he did want to see what the northerly pull he felt was,
but first things first. He was hungry, and Jessica's repaired
breakfast smelled delicious.

"Jess, you gonna pay more attention to the
food in the future, eh?" asked Dons, prompting the girl to nod her
head while wearing a silly grin.

"Hey boss, I'll make sure she watches things.
Hell, I'll be there helping her," said Adam.

Just then, Pandy rambled into the bar.

"Morning everyone! Food smells great and I'm
famished!"

"Heya, sis, slept well?" asked Jessica.

"You know it," said Pandy, as she winked at
Dons.

Jessica had long suspected that Pandy and
Dons were having a bit of fun in private, but she always chose to
not say anything. As long as it didn't affect their sisterly
relationship and their ability to work together she didn't care.
She also knew that Adam had a massive crush on her, but she wasn't
going to have any part of that - she found him a bit creepy and not
very attractive. However, she would accept his help in the kitchen
without complaint. She was a survivor, and had done much worse in
the past, so that didn't even faze her in the least. Pandy, on the
other hand, was still young, and although she was also lycan, she
was roughly the same age as Dons - and she had much less life
experience than Jessica. Much less.

"Heya Maxie, thanks so much for getting that
nasty demon tracker out of me, hun. I really appreciate it,"
gratefully commented the younger of the two lycan girls.

"No worries, Pandy - it's all good. I just
wanted everyone to have even odds when dealing with the alien
parasites," replied Max. "In my timeline those bastards murdered
the world of my ancestors and then left. At least here you all can
make them suffer a bit for what they've done, right?"

"That's the plan, Max," said Jessica, as she
laid plates of food out before everyone.

Feral Kids (plus Max) plowed down their food
and coffee, unaware of the danger that was approaching, because at
that moment a very odd, mutated being was skittering southbound on
Brand Boulevard, looking for someone named Max Gunnarsson.

The day wore on, and Max was regretting the
fact that he had to leave. He really believed he could teach them a
whole lot more, but he had to get back to his wife and daughter,
and eventually to his home world. Assuaging his guilt, he busied
himself with tasks around the club, easily fixing things with
magic, this time not being careful to mask his abilities, and
simply power-housing his way through getting things done. It wasn't
long before the club was disturbed with a loud, booming voice.

"Where's Max Gunnarsson? I'm going to kill
him! Bastard!"

"Dons looked up to see a ragged figure in the
doorway, its clothing was shredded to ribbons, making it look like
it was a scarecrow that had just been run through a wood
chipper.

"Oy mate, what's the issue, eh? Whatcha want
with Maxie?"

"He didn't fix me! That bastard didn't do
shit! I was just attacked by some demons and they almost killed me!
Where is he! I want a refund!"

Marko was visibly upset, having just barely
escaped with his life, but no one felt any sympathy for him - he
was that much of a jerk.

"You get no refund, mate. He didn't charge a
dime. We charged a small fee for organization, so if you want your
money back from us that's fine."

"I think I'm owed a whole lot more, you
little dick!" yelled the rude lycan.

"Marko, you should come inside, calm down and
discuss this with us," said Jessica.

"Screw you, bitch!" screamed Marko. But he
barely got the words out of his mouth when Jessica used one of her
new, powerful abilities that Max had embedded into her bracelet. By
simply pointing at him and muttering a cantus, she caused him to
fly out the door and land on his head roughly 50 meters away.

Pandy jumped up and down, clapping her hands,
kind of like a little girl.

"Oh my god, that was so cool! I gotta try.
Where is he?"

"Waaaay out there… he hasn't moved yet… oh,
there he goes! He's up… aaaaand he looks pissed off too," Jessica
stated comically, causing everyone to laugh. Pandy then darted out
of the bar, and giggling madly, hung him upside down and slammed
his head into a large container full of putrid wastewater, causing
him to nearly vomit from the stench.

"Hey Marko! If you were on a boat it would be
your turn in the barrel, ha ha ha ha!" Pandy squealed as she repaid
the abusive local for his many years of bullying. He was no longer
a threat to the clan, even if any of them were caught alone. It was
just another great thing Max had done to help them, even though he
didn't feel like it was any big deal. For Max it was simply
something he could easily do, and he was glad to assist.

Pandy returned to the bar and plopped down
next to Jessica, as they, plus Max, then relaxed and enjoyed some
beers while the local denizens started to wake up and mill
about.