Volume #32: "Moment of Truth"

However, she hadn't thought she was hallucinating yet. But that changed entirely when she happened to look into the rookery, at the gargoyles in stone within the warm room. Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she came in closer.

Ariana sat there, her arms cradled around a smaller gargoyle, her son Solomon. The Hawaiian newcomer Lili sat by her side, one hand on Ari's shoulder. Along a nearby wall stood Brooklyn and Sata ... sort of; Brooklyn was curled into a fetal position, his mate with a concerned hand on his shoulder. Pontiac was also there, curled up with her legs in her arms on an opposite wall.

But Rose's gaze centered on the hatchling in Ariana's arms, Solomon. For some reason, he seemed awfully ... old ... to have just hatched not two months before.

"I know. It's strange."

She turned on her heel to see David Xanatos entering the rookery. "Strange doesn't even begin to describe it, David. What's wrong with him?"

"If my guess is correct ..." He crouched down next to the statue Ariana had become, carefully looking over Solomon. "Yep, it is. He's his father's son, all right."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

David looked at her in shock. "You mean you didn't know? Samson's genes had some kind of mutation which made him ... well ... age fast."

"And now you think he's passed it along to Solomon?"

"It would be unfortunate ... but yes, I do think so." David stood back up, approaching the Wyvern leader.

"Unfortunate? How?"

He sighed. "There's no easy way to say this, really. Because he ages fast, Samson's life expectancy is about half as long as even a human's is. Truth be told, I'm surprised he's even lived this long."

Rose sucked in a gasp. "Oh no. That must mean ..."

"... that in essence, Samson's given his son a death sentence."

Now that he was in stone, standing in her office, she could see it clearly. His face was now much more lined. The lines around his eyes were more pronounced, as were the ones around his mouth.

She stood before him, trying to think of how he could be this old. It was impossible. Unless ... striding quickly, she went over to her desk and picked up the phone.

"Sevarius, I have a question for you."

"Ahh, that's what I always liked about you, Ms. Destine. Straight to the point, as always."

"Spare me your pleasantries. Just tell me you will answer my question!"

"All right, all right. What is it?"

"Are you familiar with my grandson, Samson?"

"Samson, Samson ... ahh yes, the son of your daughter and that big fat guy from David Xanatos' gargoyle clan ..."

"Get to the point, doctor."

"Yes, I know about him."

"All right. Now, in any of the times you encountered him, did you notice anything strange about him, something like ... he seemed too old?"

"Not really. Because that's not unusual. I do good work."

Had Dominique been in her gargoyle form, her eyes would have glowed with the savage roar she screamed through the phone. "YOU WHAT?!"

"My dear, I thought you knew ... the attack that injured Samson so badly that he needed the cybernetics also delivered a mutagen into his system. Nothing at all drastic, like the Labyrinth mutates, but a little subtle thing that would make him age faster. Makes him age faster than humans do, even."

Dominique stewed as she heard Sevarius chuckle over the phone. "He may look like a younger man, but he's probably only about thirteen!"

She screamed, slamming the phone down on its cradle. If Samson had indeed been mutated by some kind of Sevarius-generated hell, then there was no telling what could happen to the gargoyles down the line should the mutation spread. She looked up, trembling, looking up at her strapping grandson ... who she now knew was much younger than his body claimed.

Then in a flash of inspiration, she looked over at the other wall of the office, to where Thorn had been caught in stone sleep.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner?"

"I don't know how this could have happened. Really."

"Think your mom's got something to do with it?"

Angela closed her eyes. Tinges of regret, the result of her long-enforced slavery under the Obedient Child Spell, crossed her face. "I would certainly hope not. If there's anything that she values more than her vengeance against humans, it's her family. I doubt she would introduce anything into Samson that would make him age fast."

"But didn't you notice anything? I mean, for God's sake, you're his mother!"

"I know, I know!" The pain was showing now in Angela's voice, as its pitch and timbre rose in despair. "I tried to be blind to everything! Tried to keep it from him that I knew he was aging too fast ... maturing too fast ..."

The older sister looked at the hatchling once again. "I swore he was too young to take a mate. And the day I left, I cursed Ariana. Oh God, why did I do such cruel things to my own clan?"

The two sisters huddled together, in the midst of the stone gargoyles in the rookery.

Thorn seemed relatively sedate during Demona's announcement, acknowledging the instructions with a brief =Yes, my mistress.=

"What's happening, grandmother?"

"Samson ..." Demona approached the young man ... though he looked more middle-aged now. "My dear grandson, it has come to my attention that you carry a mutagen in your genes, one which makes you age faster than normal. If it makes it into further generations ... it could mean the end of our race as we know it."

Samson seemed taken aback. "But I don't want to die."

Demona smiled in reassurance at Samson. "Not to worry, my grandson. I have an idea which could possibly eliminate the mutation. An idea which involves you ..."

Demona motioned across the room, toward the hybrid standing there. "... and Thorn."

Suddenly, the roars were pierced by Ariana's scream. All eyes in the rookery turned toward her, as she revealed herself to be holding a much larger hatchling than what Solomon should have been. In human terms, he could have been mistaken for a six year old.

"What's happening?! What's going on?!"

Rosanna and Angela came over to Ariana, trying to console her. "It's his father's genes, Ari. They caused this. But it's a lot more accelerated in Solomon, for some reason."

"His father's ... oh no." Ariana's face crunched in sorrow, as the realization hit her. The sad scene was suddenly interrupted by Owen Burnett and Alexander Xanatos entering the room. The younger Xanatos immediately approached the mother and hatchling.

"You were right, Owen."

Owen's normally stone face raised an eyebrow, in an almost obviously Puck-ish manner. "Of course, am I ever wrong?"

"True." Alexander took the hatchling into his arms, approaching the majordomo. Ariana, just now realizing that her hatchling had been taken away from her, suddenly jumped to her feet, eyes glowing bright red, lips curled into a snarl.

"And just what exactly are you doing with my son?!"

Alexander looked deeply into Ariana's eyes, turning around, cradling Solomon close to him. "If my guess is right, Ariana ... we're going to save his life."

Demona faced down her creation, alone in the elder gargess' office. Demona was now starting to get frustrated and angry, as her calm explanations of the situation to Thorn had apparently fallen upon deaf ears.

"I want you ... and Samson ... to produce a child. Can it get any simpler?!"

=But I hate him. He's a weakling ...=

The smaller gargess lashed out at the Rokkan hybrid again. "Now listen to me, Thorn. I've tolerated this insubordination long enough, I'll have no more of it! You owe your existence to me. Don't make me regret creating you."

=And what are you going to do about it?!=

A low growl appeared in Demona's voice. "I will destroy you if you disobey me on this, Thorn. All I have to do is take away your heart."

=My ... heart?=

Demona sat back down behind her desk. "Your heart, Thorn. At the center of your being is a small chip of a magical stone of immense power. Its origin comes directly from Avalon. The only reason you have life right now is because that stone is part of you."

Demona stood up again, her eyes glowing. "So help me, Thorn, if you disobey this order I am giving you right now ... I will take the stone away and destroy you."

"Owen, if you would ... the Puck's services are required. Teach me, professor."

Owen's mouth opened. Without moving his lips, the happy voice of the Puck echoed through the room, yelling "I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ASK!!" A flash of light later, Owen had been replaced by his alter ego, laughing.

"Nice to see you after so long, teacher."

"Yeah, you gotta let me out more often ... the scenery changes have been quite the improvement." Puck turned to the other fae trickster next to him, high-fiving Coyote. "My man, how's it been?"

"It's been. Nice to see you, too."

Puck's gaze went past Coyote, past Beth as well, centering on the magical gargess Lina, standing there a little bewildered by the scene. He leaped over to her side.

"Well there, sweetheart ... I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

Lina couldn't help but giggle. Alexander stood there, tapping his foot impatiently during Puck's display. But at this point, his impatience became too much.

"If you don't mind, Puck ... we have a life to save here."

Puck sighed, rolling his eyes. Holding up his hand to his mouth, he softly muttered to Lina, "Boy, they grow up so fast, and they lose their patience faster!" Lina couldn't resist giggling to this comment, as well.

"All right, I'm ready." Puck leaped back over to where he had been standing as Owen. His face took on as serious an expression as the Puck could realistically muster.

"All right. Now, the problem here is," Alexander motioned toward Solomon, "his father had a mutant gene in his bloodline, which causes accelerated aging. Somehow, the youngster on the table here inherited that gene in spades. His aging is so fast, he might not live through the year."

"So you wanna return his aging to normal, huh? Piece o' cake, especially with the amount of magical force you have assembled here. Let's see here ... two fae tricksters, one halfling, and two mortal sorceresses trained in the Way ... one more than the other."

"Wait, what about this?" Lina tossed her Avalon stone over to Puck, who looked at it with glee.

"Yeah ... this might be good, too." He placed the stone on Solomon's forehead. "Great, works as a fine focal point. All right, everybody join hands."

The magic-users standing around the table formed a circle with their hands. Puck nodded.

"All right. Now, everyone focus all of your energy, all your magic ability on Lina's little rock sitting there on the boy's head. You might feel a bit drained after this is done, but believe me, the results will be worth it."

"I certainly hope so."

Alexander's comment was not lost on Puck. "Watch and learn, o ye of little faith. Now focus, everyone."

All eyes rested on the stone, the concentration level increasing instantly as soon as they all began staring. Soon, the magicians' eyes emitted an otherworldly glow. Puck finally broke the intense silence.

"Now I'll begin the incantation. Carry it around the circle, for the only way we can make this work is to make sure it's an unbroken incantation, okay? I'll begin."

Everyone nodded, half-listening, their gazes locked on the stone. Puck's voice began to take on a deep echo as he began the incantation.

Alexander, without prompting, picked up the incantation.

While not too familiar with Avalonian incantations, Lina picked up the chant with ease.

Another sorceress unfamiliar with incantation magic, Beth Maza kept her part of the incantation as well as she could.

The incantation now came around to Coyote. Though he usually made his chants in Hopi, he knew that in order for the spell to work it had to stay in the same language all around the circle. Uncomfortably, he continued the incantation ... in English.

Puck smiled. The magic intensified throughout the room ... then suddenly a huge flash came forth from the stone on Solomon's head. The room was completely bathed in light for a moment, then returned to normal.

Slowly, the participants in the spell came back around. They all looked upon Solomon, still lying upon the table.

Still apparently the same age. Alexander looked up at his teacher, questioningly.

"You want to know if the spell worked?" Puck passed a hand slowly over the sleeping hatchling's head. He then smiled widely. "Congratulations, folks. It worked!"

"Who is it?"

=It's me, Samson.=

He looked up, and was instantly stunned by the sight which greeted him. Thorn stood in the doorway ... but not in the normal militia uniform she usually wore. Rather, it appeared she was in a bathrobe. This made a question cross Samson's face.

"Thorn? What's going on?"

She slowly crossed the room, approaching the desk with what approximated to a seductive walk. This made more questions pop up in Samson's mind.

=You've been working and fighting too hard. You need to relax ... and I'm here to help you.=

Now she was coming around the desk. Samson was fighting mightily to keep his impulses under control ... as it was pretty obvious what Thorn wanted.

=Relax, Samson. Let your instincts guide you.= She slowly untied the robe.

At about this time, Samson could hold himself back no longer. He nearly leaped out of the chair he had been sitting in, his lustful impulses taking over. The gargoyle and the much larger hybrid wrestled around on the floor in a passionate clinch.

Then just as suddenly as it had started ... it stopped short. Samson had successfuly freed Thorn from the confines of the robe, but other thoughts were taking hold in his mind, blocking his instincts.

... the mating flight ...

=Samson? What's wrong?=

... Ariana's joy ...

=Samson?=

... laying her egg ...

=Samson, you're starting to scare me ...=

... IT WOULD HAVE HATCHED BY NOW!!

Samson's face went from shock to bewilderment to despair in a matter of moments. He let out a primal scream, the conflicting thoughts in his mind driving him mad as he sped out of the room, leaving a completely confused and equally as naked Thorn on the floor of his office.