Heyo!! I'm back to waste your time yet again!!! WOOT!!!!! Man I gotta lay off the yogurt...
Twiggy: Don't you mean sugar?
Me: Nope! I mean Muller Corners in Toffee Flavour! Some people get hyper off sugar I go hyper off yogurt!
Twiggy: You don't go hyper; you just go weird!
Me: Me no no care. ON WITH DA SHOW!!!! High fives to everyone who reviewed and also to the crazy parrot on the Lilt advert.
Twiggy: WHY?
Disclaimer: DarkMagicWhiteLight does not own Steven Sommers or Van Helsing. She also doesn't own Terry Pratchett's Only You Can Save Mankind. There's a scene from that in this chappy.
Cardinal Pironti led Millie and Lexi up to the alter at the front on the chapel. He stepped behind it as if conducting a sermon while the two teens stayed on the opposite side. Lexi's attention was drawn away by the large ornate crucifix behind the Cardinal. It was quite fancy for a small chapel. It had been made about two years earlier by some Art GCSE students from the nearby high school out of black card and coloured paper. Nevertheless it was extremely well made and had been deemed worthy to be put at the head of the chapel.
Her attention reverted back to the holy man when he spoke.
" There is a lot to explain," he repeated, " I assume that your grandmother's name was Florence Demdike?" he said, gesturing to Millie.
" That's right." she answered, with just a hint of suspicion. But that was just her character; she was cautious.
"Good," the Cardinal seemed relieved, " It would not do to have a case of mistaken identity. And your grandfather was the late Dai Tachyon?"
" Yes. But he died before I was a twinkle in anyone's eye." replied Lexi.
" So you two are Millicent Demdike and Alexis Tachyon?"
" Yes! We understand your need for certainty, father, but there's no need to get stupid," Lexi was getting irritated, " And I'm Lexi!"
" And I prefer Millie."
" I'm sorry," said Pironti," I have to be careful that I get the right people. The information I'm about to give out is very important--"
" What's our grandparents got to do with anything?" cut in Millie.
" I was getting to that!" Pironti employed a bulldog-sucking-lemons face," Children these days; no patience!"
" 'K, know you sound like my uncle," quipped Lexi
" Er...Maybe we should start listening know?" said Millie while eyeing the prominent vein in his forehead nervously.
Taking a deep breath and ordering himself, the unfortunate man began to speak.
" Fine. We'll start with you, Alexis. Your family, as you probably know, came from Cardiff, Wales, where we have an outpost."
"Outpost?"
" Ever since we can remember, there has always been an order dedicated to protecting innocent lives from the evil servants of the dark. Those that have found it their calling have became the Knights of the Holy Order and have fought hand to hand with these demons. We have outposts in places were it would be difficult to reach quickly from Rome herself. The one in Wales is stationed at current Knight is Rhys Barraclough,
" And, in his time, so was your grandfather."
Lexi stared at the Cardinal, eyes wide and jaw hanging open in a comical expression of shock, before saying; " Cobblers."
" Eh?"
" Who put you up to this? 'Knights of the Holy Order' Seriously?"
Cardinal Pironti looked stormy.
" I have no reason to lie to you, so watch what you say, child!"
Millie put a restraining hand on her friend's shoulder in an attempt to keep the peace. Despite her earlier words, she wanted to hear what the Cardinal had to say. And she wanted to get out in time to collect some homework from Brooklen. It was a rare occasion for Brooklen to actually do someone else's homework.
" Carry on, father." she said in a soft voice.
" Very well. Your grandmother, Millicent, was heavily involved with the Knights and at one time was our greatest ally since the Valerious family."
" So, what's this got to do with me?"
" This: Millicent, your grandmother was a witch and made enemies when she allied herself with the church. One of them, Loogaroo the vampire-witch, has recently escaped from one of our prisons. After so many years, she is still bitter and may plot against you. And Dai Tachyon was one of our best and he too made enemies. Thankfully, most of them are now dead."
Millie had similar expression to the one Lexi had been wearing a few moments ago and that was reinstating itself on Lexi's face.
" Sir," asked Millie," Would you ever break a commandment?"
" No, I would not lie," he answered, seeing what she was getting at," You will have to have faith..."
At seven o'clock the two girls re-entered the church-hall, dumb-struck. They went to meet two girls that had just appeared at the entrance. One was about thirteen years old while the other was eleven. They both had slightly feathery auburn hair. The elder one had it shoulder length in a low ponytail with wisps escaping. The younger one had it cut just past her chin with the fringe held back with a clip. They were Brooklen and Ally Magreagor.
Brooklen was gangly and looked as though she ought to be fast but really had a mild case of asthma and a habit for getting into chaotic and unusual situations. Her speciality was unusual fields of information and breaking into things.
Ally was small and light and possessed a great deal more grace and fluidity than her sister. She did gymnastics and possessed all the speed that should have gone to a cheetah and the athletic grace of a monkey.
But they had skills, though. They just weren't the ones that people thought you ought to have. If you could get graded in getting top score on Smackdown vs Raw on the first go, then Ally would get top marks. If ever there was an Inter-Schools First-One-To-Break-The-Unbreakable-Copy-Protection-On-Galactic-Thrusters, Brooklen wouldn't just be on the team, she'd be picking the team.
" Yo," said Brooklen.
" It's not cool to say Yo anymore," said Millie, finger on the pulse as always.
" Is it rad to say cool?" said Brooklen.
" Cool's always cool. And no-one says rad anymore, neither."
Brooklen shrugged, looked around conspiratorially and then fished a package from her bag.
" This is awesome. Take a look"
" What is it?" asked Lexi.
" We cracked Fighter Star Terabomber," said Ally," Only don't tell anyone, aye? Just type FSB. It's not much good, really. The space bar drops bombs, and...well....just press the keys, you'll see what they do..."
" Listen....you know if we ask you about something weird, will you help us find out about it?"
" Probably know 'bout it already. How weird?"
Obscure fields of knowledge were Brooklen's speciality. She knew were to research it.
" You'll wanna chuck us in a loony bin," said Millie with a small grin," Tell ya later. Back room."
" Aye?"
" Uh-huh," said Lexi," Thanks for Star Fighter Pilot--"
" Terabomber. Our dad brought Alabama Smith and the Jewels of Fate from the States. You can have a copy if you want."
" Right." said Millie.
" It's okay."
" I don't play half the games you give me, you do know that?"
" I know. Just so long as your cousin get that half."
Lexi's gaming mad cousin often ended up owning most of the games that Brooklen and Ally passed on. Neither Lexi nor Millie could understand how it was possible to play as many games as he did. You just couldn't. Not if you wanted to sleep and eat meals. But that was alright because it ws his business.
As far as the Magreagors were concerned, unless it was Tomb Raider or Ratchet and Clank, games were more fun for breaking into and rewriting so that you got extra lives or that the theme song was Crazy Frog or something, and passing on.
Basically, there were two sides to the world. There was the entire computer games software industry trying to stamp out piracy and then there was the Magreagors. Currently, team Magreagor was winning.
" Did you do my History?" said Millie.
" Here," said Brooklen," 'What it was like to a peasant during the English Civil War', three pages."
" Thanks," said Millie,"That was quick." she added while handing over a five pound note in payment.
" Oh, in Geog last term we had to do an essay on what it's like to a farmer in Bolivia. I just got rid of the llamas and put in stuff about kings getting their heads chopped off. You have to bung that kind of stuff in, and then you just have to keep on complaining about the weather and the crops and you can't go wrong, in peasant essays."
Well there you go, now you know why Cardinal dude was there, everyone who wanted to know.
Feel free to give reviews, constructive criticism, flames, pie, whatever you like. I like to get some sort of feedback.
