by E G McNally
Chapter XIII: Gym
“Professor,” Philip called as he stepped into the lab.
“Oh, yes, just a moment. . .” He startled, when Philip woke him up. Looking down he noticed that he had fallen asleep watching the news in the lab.
“What is it, Philip?” The professor asked, once he was coherent enough.
“I just wanted to let you know that Willem has returned, Sir. He came in around three o’clock this morning and I believe he is in the courtyard. He heard that Taylor made it here safely and wanted to meet with her. I told him that he ought to let her rest she’s been running on very little sleep for days now, and that you had quite a busy schedule for her later, so he’d have to wait, Sir.” Philip informed him. He glanced around the laboratory and then commented quietly. “I really wish you would let me have this place cleaned, Sir.”
The professor raised an eyebrow to Philip and then glanced around the lab. He noticed that it was indeed very messy and unorganized. “Very well Philip, but only because Will has been working in here for a while, without my presence and I would agree that this place is a terrible mess. Oh, and by the way did, he mention anything about Major Bradshaw?” He asked, checking his wristwatch. “Four thirty-five,” he commented and then asked the butler, “You said he got in at three?”
“Yes, Sir, three o’clock, and I believe he has some information on Major Bradshaw. Will that be all, Sir?” Philip finished talking. The professor nodded to him as he walked around the lab and picked up several glasses and a couple of plates scattered about.
“Oh, and try and have the lab ready by noon. I’d like to continue my research with Taylor later.” The professor added, watching as Philip left with a pile of dishes. He didn’t notice the terrible condition of the lab, the night before, because he had been too excited, trying to get Taylor’s x-rays done. Usually he didn’t let Philip or any of the maids clean the lab because things could easily be broken or misplaced, but in order to get any work done later, he needed the lab to be in usable condition and at the moment it was not. He had no choice, he needed the lab clean, and he did not have time to clean it.
He walked down the long corridor, all the while glancing at the moonlit stain glass windows, covering the walls, until he had found his way out into the courtyard. He remembered, playing as a young boy in the trees, when his parents threw balls inside. It was nice being a child, he never had to worry about anything, and his parents always took care of him. But now, he had a war to fight, and he had to take care of the kids that lived with him.
The professor’s thoughts were interrupted as he heard a shaking of some branches and his eyes averted in the direction of the noise. Once his eyes adjusted to dim light, he was not surprised in the least to find Will, standing on a large branch hanging toward the East Wing of the Chateau. His long silver tail, almost like a third arm, twisted around the tree trunk, bracing him, while he leaned outside a window.
“Will,” the professor yelled at him. “What on earth are you doing?”
Will startled, releasing his grip on the trunk, and leapt down from the branch, silently landing in the snow beneath.
“Sorry, I was just trying to see if she changes in her sleep like I do sometimes. Your nephew, Tim, said that she might have once. He caught her off guard in a church and was hoping to retrieve the stone piece, but he said that she didn’t have it. She’s not like me, I think she has far more power than any of us realize. When I’m carrying the stone, I can find her anywhere. That’s how I found out she was in Maine. It pulses anytime it gets near her. She was just lucky I’d been following her when she got hurt on the tracks because after I gave you the stone back, I couldn’t track her. She’s almost like a honing beacon for the stone; the closer it gets to her, the stronger it pulses. Crazy I know, but maybe it’s saying something.” He explained, wrapping his long silver wings around his shoulders.
“Keep your voice down you’re gonna wake her and she needs the sleep. I’m planning a lot of work for her later. There are things I need explained, and I need her for most of them.” The professor shushed him.
“Oh, don’t worry she’s in a deep sleep right now, she won’t hear anything. She’s having a strange dream about the stone. I think maybe she feels its closeness, and it’s calling to her in her sleep.” Will explained.
“Hey, I know I’ve warned you about looking into people’s minds, plus it’s an invasion of privacy. If you don’t behave better, I’ll return you to Major Bradshaw.” The professor teased. He would never truly intend to put any of the kids he’d rescued years ago into danger. “But speaking of the stone, where is it?” He asked.
“Don’t fret,” Will commented, reaching down into a money pouch attached to his belt, pulling out a little quarter inch piece of stone that looked like a diamond. “See what I mean,” He added as he pointed to the small glowing stone piece.
Both the professor and Will watched as the stone piece released a dim glow that barely lit Will’s silvery hands, in a slow pulsing rhythm. “Watch this,” Will said, holding out his hand, with the stone inside, and stepping closer to the window. The glow in the stone became just a little brighter and the rhythm of the pulse quickened with each step. “It’s calling to her, I swear.” He said.
The professor watched, and sure enough with each step the stone grew brighter. The professor hadn’t really seen Will very much as a gargoyle, and remembered how impressive he could be. Once Will was close to the building the professor noticed that he practically disappeared into the snow. Were it not for his clothing or obscure shape, Will’s silver color, shadowed by the moonlight, made him look just like the snow. He could lie down into the snow and vanish, if he wanted, but probably only in the night.
“How do you think I get by unnoticed so well?” Will asked, catching the professor off guard.
“Stay out of my head, and get back here. I want you to keep the stone for right now. At this point in time I’m pretty sure the other piece is indefinitely a part of her heart. If I remove it, I will kill her and that’s not necessary. Let’s get inside and talk some more. I don’t like talking outside, and you know that. There are always ears listening.” The professor finished and then led Will back inside.
“We might as well grab something to eat while we’re catching up. Cook should be awake.” The professor remarked. Will agreed and stopped in the dining room. He was about to sit at the table before he realized that he needed to make a change.
“Can you bring me a glass of water?” He caught the professor before he disappeared into the kitchen.
“Sure, what do you want for . . .” the professor stopped mid sentence and shuddered, as the remarkable, but also disturbing sight of Will phasing back into a human began. First, his silver embossment of leather skin began to sport a Mediterranean tan, and then the ridge that ran from the nape of his neck to the end of his tail began shriveling up and sinking back into his body. The large silver wings that were wrapped around his body sank into his back, and his tail sucked into his rear end, leaving a tall, medium tanned boy, with a gentle muscle build, standing in a pair of loose pants.
“Derek Ralph Willem, you have seriously got to be more private about that. The sight of your change can ruin an appetite, you know.” The professor scalded.
“Sorry,” he snickered. “I just can’t eat at the table like that, and I wouldn’t mind hanging around for a while to catch up with Taylor. I would love to see what she knows about her abilities. Or if she even knows she has any. Last time that I saw her, it was just for a brief moment and I was trying to give her something to do, to keep busy at school. I was hoping that she wouldn’t get caught up in all this so quickly, but that whole fiasco at the game happened, and then Tim sent her up here.” Will explained.
“Just a sec,” the professor said, disappearing into the kitchen and then returning with two large glasses, one with water and the other with milk. He handed the water to Will, who was now sitting at the table, and joined him on the opposite side. “O
kay, so how is Tim doing anyway?” The professor asked, drinking some milk. Will paused while the cook carried in two plates smothered with some sort of egg scramble and then thanked her.
“You boys are up early this morning,” the cook commented, distributing the plates.
“The early bird catches the worm, or so to speak,” the professor reminded her.
“Well I’m not complaining. It gives me something to do. You boys enjoy.” She stated and returned to the kitchen.
Will began, “Tim’s fine, but I’m not sure he’s on our side. I mean he sent Taylor to the Inn where you were hiding out and I’m pretty sure he knew she had a tail on her. I know he’s family and all but I’m not sure we should trust him right now, I don’t know if Major Bradshaw has gotten to him.”
“So what is Major Bradshaw up to right now?”
“I’m not sure. I thought he was part of the caravan tailing Taylor, but when I returned to slow them down, he was gone. I led them off on a faulty trail back toward the west coast. I’m not sure how long his men will follow it, but they won’t find us here. Shyla’s tailing them. She’ll let me know if they change their course. The good news is that I don’t think Major Bradshaw knows that she swallowed the stone.” Will explained.
“Well let’s hope you’re right for now.” The professor grunted. “You sure Shyla is okay?” He added.
“She’ll be fine. Aren’t there more important things we should be worrying about right now anyway? I caught a glimpse of the news last night, and I’ve been meaning to ask, why does the Major need so many young kids?”
“So you think he’s been kidnapping them too?” He pushed back in his seat and groaned again.
“Undoubtedly, who else can pull so many children out of school without anyone questioning the act?” He replied.
“I know. I’ve just feared that it was him. One thing we did discover about the protein strain injection, was that the younger the host, the more it affected the brain, and the less it affected their appearances. So little kids, like the ones he’s probably been kidnapping, would be prime subjects for intense psychic abilities. And at such an influential age, who knows what he might be preparing them for.” He explained.
“Oh god, that sounds horrible. We’ve got to stop him. What if he experiments on them like he did us? I mean look what he did to his own daughter.” Will paused, thinking about poor Shyla and her permanent tiger-like transformation.
“Did you catch the part on the news about the White House attack?” The professor asked, finishing up the last portion of his egg scramble.
“Yeah, I see he made another staged attack, only this time he’s targeted the U.S. If he keeps these supposed terrorist attacks up, he’s going to win quite a bit of support by the United Nations to make his research public, and possibly begin regular injections of the army, to create a super powerful army of gargoyle drones. And who knows, maybe he’s brainwashing the children so that he can use them to control his army.”The professor sighed, slapping his hand against his forehead, and rubbing away the wrinkles formed from his scowl.
The professor sat thinking for a moment and then finished eating. He stood up and gestured for Will to follow. Although Will was not quite done eating, he knew that the professor had some serious issues bothering him and decided it was imperative to follow. He followed him into the lab and watched as he fumbled through some paperwork. The professor twitched his finger at Will, signaling him to come closer, and then pointed at some locations on a map.
“This is the Cyndac Oil Refinery, North East of Hughes, Alaska; it’s in the Kokrine Hills. I’ve been there once before, for a research project with Major Bradshaw. It’s not really an oil refinery but rather a prison. We were able to experiment freely without risk of inspection or anything else on whomever we wanted. The refinery was rather secret, but I’ll bet that’s where he’s taking the children, if he’s behind their disappearances. Anyhow, I want you to fly out there and poke your nose around. Find out what you can about the children and what he’s up to. I need to know if he plans to experiment on them. Call Shyla back and take Kam with you, I would prefer that you work with a team out there in case anything goes wrong.”
“What about Taylor?” Will inquired.
“Don’t worry about her. I’ve got other plans for her. Take the stone with you, but keep it safe, just in case you need it.” The professor added, “Now get going!”
“Guess I’m not catching up with Taylor after all.” Will grumbled under his breath.
“What’s that?” asked the professor.
Will responded agitatedly, “Don’t worry, I’m leaving.” And with that, he stood, scowling, and despite the professors scalding earlier, began phasing back into a gargoyle as he was exiting the laboratory.
The professor observed the final changes as Will disappeared into the corridor. His silver wings jutted out of his back and the ridged tail sliced through the air just as it slid out the door. The meticulous control that Will had over his abilities stressed the professor.
“Now if only I could get Taylor to do that,” he mumbled, wondering what kind of work it would take to teach Taylor control over her abilities.
After Will had left he noticed that Philip was in the lab with two maids organizing and washing materials.
“Philip, if you think that you guys are nearly finished in here, I could use some help in the gym. Do you think you could rustle up a couple of kids to help me out, and then send Taylor in later?” He popped his head into the lab, catching Philip’s attention.
“Yes Sir, that shouldn’t be a problem.” He replied.
“Also can you make sure she gets breakfast, before you send her over?”
“Certainly Sir,” the butler added.
The professor’s eyes wandered the lab searching for an item he had used in the past to induce transformation in Will and Shyla. He wasn’t sure exactly how he was planning on training Taylor, she was young, much younger than the other kids he had worked with, and he had been working with them for many, many years. She only had a little bit of time.
Taylor needed to learn what they had learned, control, calmness, sense of self, strategy, and teamwork, but quickly, and he had no time for her to rebel like a few of the others did. Will for instance, had gotten so frustrated with his inability to control mind reading that he ran away for several years. The professor had sent Anisa to look for him, but in his rebellion he was not to be found. He mastered blocking out other’s from entering his mind. The professor was so relieved when Will finally returned, that he didn’t even pester him about his amazing control over his mind channeling ability. But that was then, and this is now, and Taylor had no time for such nonsense. She needed to learn how to hone every detail of all the abilities she possessed.
“Ahh, there it is,” the professor cheered, reaching for a small machine with two prongs and a little dial. He placed it in a little pouch, and fumbled around for some papers. Once he was finished in the lab he head out to the other end of the castle and out to the hotel looking building.
He crunched his way step by step through the pathway outside, until he was met by a large locked door. He pulled out a set of keys; they jingled while he fussed with the door, and then propped it open, heading inside.
Once inside the professor flicked on a set of lights and turned down a long empty hallway. He stopped outside two large plain doors and pushed both open, stopping them with a door jam, fully open. He waited near the doors while the large fluorescent lights flickered on around the enormous room. Once the lights were on, he walked down the left side of the gym and into his office.
“This will have to do,” he mumbled, tossing the small pouch onto a desk, and stepping over to a shelf that held a big stereo, turning it on. In the back of the office were a couple of counters, one with a sink and another with a coffee pot. He turned on the sink washed the pot out and set up a pot of coffee to brew, while he waited for some kids to appear.
The professor sat in his leather
office chair for about ten minutes before the first two boys appeared. One had long scraggly black hair and the other shorter spiked blond hair with white frosted tips. Both boys had very similar features, high chiseled cheek bones, olive skin tones, and muscular builds. The professor knew right away that the only two, truly related kids of his unorthodox family had arrived, always eager to help. Both Wolfe brothers stood at ease, against the office door, full of confidence, and beaming with anticipation.
“Philip said you wanted some help?” Ranulf, the slightly taller one, with the long scraggly black hair commented.
“Yeah, I hear we get to help train the new addition to the family.” Arnulf chimed in with enthusiasm.
“Rumor is going around that she’s the one who’s caused all the tumult in the states. Is it true that she found the other part of the stone, professor?” A third, delicate voice questioned as the professor saw Esa Rosa, one of the youngest kids he’d ever had to experiment on, pass between the two brothers in the doorway, holding in her hands a rolled up stack of newspapers. She stepped over to the desk that the professor was sitting at and plopped the pile in front of him. “Here, I’ve been collecting all the stories that appear to be connected, ever since that strange pulse back during the autumn months, while you were gone. I just had this feeling like it was important.”
