| Edited by:
Pegasus and MaryK | Created: Saturday, May 25, 1996
Completed: Tuesday, December 17, 1996 Last revision: February 29, 2000 | Revised by:
Cinnamon and Dasha Ariel |
This is an original work, not associated with the Walt Disney Corporation. No copyright infringements intended. All rights to the elements of this work reserved by the author. None of this content is in anyway directly copied from any Disney publication. "Gargoyles" belongs to Walt Disney Studios.
AGU historians note: In the timeline of Leva Mevis, this chapter occurs only about a week before our friends the "trio" came along and forcefully whipped away our fay friends from the ranch. The "trio" will, no doubt, do that sometime between chapters 3 and 4. The mirror Sharm gave Allsworth to pass on to her will play a very important role in Leva's stories. Also, Leva's character "Fanny Tarro" never actually appears in this version, although she is mentioned on several occasions.
This fanfic is rated for all audiences, and contains nothing sexual or improper of any nature. I would recommend it be rated G.
1996
It was a calm night, and gargoyles were merry. They sat around a campfire in typical human style, complete with roasting sticks and marshmallows. Phantom found the small puffy white treats highly annoying -- they stuck to his talons like paste as he struggled to move them from their roasting stick to his mouth. All in all, he was in a rotten mood.
The whole thing was Macaren and Lisonja's idea. Phantom still felt suspicious of them, but since Christine, or rather Malcora, hung to them like parents, Phantom tolerated his distaste for them and stood his ground. Somehow they managed to get food and supplies with their money -- Phantom was very suspicious as to their methods. Most likely because they were human methods.
Malcora was acting like a fish out of water. She hadn't recognized anything in her pack, not even her face in her driver's license. She had looked at automobiles and skyscrapers in Denver with awe and wonder as if she'd never seen such wonders in all her life. She was innocent as a child, yet seemed to bear this strange sense of dread about her. She bore a singular hatred against humans that Phantom could little find her motive for. He certainly had reason to dislike the humans, but not to Malcora's degree. She always addressed Phantom as her Elder, and Macaren and Lisonja as her rookery brother and sister. Worst of all, she never answered to the name Christine anymore, and Macaren and Lisonja encouraged her to correct Phantom every time he did not address her as Malcora.
Malcora and Macaren sat side by side on the dusty ground, worrying over the same roasting stick with more than just idle curiosity. Malcora leaned on Macaren as he held the stick, and occasionally resting her head against his shoulder.
"No no no, sister. If you leave it up there it will never cook. It is faster near the coals, but you must not get it dirty. That is the challenge."
"Marshwillow... Marshwili... what are they called again, brother?"
"Marshmallow." he corrected offhandedly, "we've always had these on camping trips."
"How is it you know so much about human customs?" Malcora inquired in an awed tone.
"Oh... we have our ways." Macaren stated.
"They were human once, Christine." Phantom theorized.
"Malcora." Lisonja corrected him. "Human? We spent these last three hundred years as stone, just as she."
"Then..." Phantom said, gesturing to the marshmallows, "explain this. You wouldn't have had any contact with humanity for the last three hundred years, and you seem to know everything about it."
Malcora sighed deeply, nuzzling into Macaren. "Let's not go back into all that has happened, please."
Macaren nodded, and pulled the golden toasted marshmallow from the coals. Phantom growled to himself at her stubborn resistance to hear the truth. He suddenly stood up, flared his wings, and began to stomp away towards the woods outside of camp.
Malcora lifted her head from Macaren's shoulder. "Where do you go, Elder?"
"I am going nowhere... only going." Phantom muttered to them.
Malcora laid her head back onto Macaren's shoulder, and sighed with contentment. Phantom snorted with disgust and left.
He tromped off into the trees, and onto the hill for a few minutes, until he suddenly stopped, leaned against a tree, and began to consider what was happening.
Macaren and Lisonja were obviously not telling the truth about something. Why couldn't Christine SEE that? Because the other personality had taken control and was not nearly as willing to accept it as Christine herself, that's why. Phantom groaned with disappointment. This was not going well. Why in the world was he going along with Malcora, anyway? It's not like he really needed Macaren and Lisonja to complete their quest. Why did he not just kill Macaren and Lisonja now? Because Christine would not have wanted it, that's why.
"How goes the war, Phantom?" a cheery little voice asked from the tree above him.
Phantom was about to look up, but stopped himself. "Ah. Sharm. What are YOU doing here?"
With a splashdash display of acrobatics, the red headed woman spun in the air to stand before him, hanging a few feet above the ground. "Checking up on Terra's little girl, of course... and you never answered my question."
"We're not doing too good, Sharm - we're losing. Slowly. 'Terra's little girl' is in comfortable quarters with the enemy. Shakespeare's changed the past, and now her mind is completely lost."
"Pbt! What?!!! You can't change the past! Believe me, I've tried. Several times. What did Shakespeare say?" Sharm inquired, sneering at the word Shakespeare.
"He said he had taken the soul of the Christine I knew when she was conceived inside Terra, and the human Christine died." Phantom recited the words Shakespeare had told him.
"THE NERVE OF THAT... THAT... OH!" Sharm shouted in exasperation as she stomped her foot on absolutely nothing. "HE DID NOTHING OF THE SORT! I DID ALL THAT WORK!"
"You?"
"Yes, ME. ...Taking credit for all MY work..." she continued to grumble.
"He said her family would not know her. He told me Christine had now always been a gargoyle."
"No, of course not, silly. Do you really believe everything that stupid liar tells you?"
"Do Mandy and her family still remember her?"
"Of course! The family was worried sick about her until they pulled her body from that car wreck. They even found gargoyle claw marks in her injuries. As for Mandy, she's been desperately trying to reach Christine by that Cellular Phone!"
Phantom felt guilty. He'd turned it off to save the battery after he didn't expect to hear from Mandy any longer.
Sharm sighed. "Okay... what else did he do?"
"Christine thinks she's some gargoyle named Malcora."
Sharm grinned. "She is! Didn't you hear what I said about doing all that work?"
"I think the entire forest heard you."
Sharm scowled. "No it didn't. I may act careless, but I'm not. No one heard me but you."
"He also did something to her head so that she doesn't remember who Christine is. She keeps calling me Elder."
Sharm cocked her head at him. "That's right. Come to think of it, you do look like one of her Elders. Well, this isn't according to plan. Does she always think she's Malcora? Or does she act like Christine still?"
"She doesn't act like Christine anymore, but the weird sisters said she would switch back and forth."
"The weird sisters?" Sharm sat Native American style, in the air as usual, "When did they get into this?"
"At the beginning. They're the ones who changed Christine to a gargoyle."
"That's not the beginning, my friend. No where close. She already was a gargoyle."
"When was the beginning?"
"Chronologically, or in order of events?"
"There's a difference?" Phantom held his temples, feeling a very LARGE headache coming on.
"Of course!" Sharm became serious again. Or her equivalent of it. "But this isn't helping. Do you want me to talk to her?"
"You? How?"
"How does one normally talk to a gargoyle?"
Phantom gave up entirely. She was impossible. They all were.
"What? And you aren't?"
"Not like you! I at least have some semblance of form! Not just your mindless hysterics!"
"Mindless hysterics? I at least have fun with what I'm doing."
"Are you going to talk to her, or not?"
"Of course I am! It's been a while since I've talked to Malcora. I wonder if she still remembers me." Sharm mused.
Phantom returned with nothing new added to his incredible smile. He appeared just as miserable as before. Malcora only glanced up a moment from where she leaned against Macaren when Phantom reappeared.
Then the other gargoyle stepped into camp.
Everyone looked up then.
The new gargoyle was quite tall, yet a little small boned -- even a bit awkward. She had no horns, but even if she did, her blazes of fire red hair covered them. She had two lochs of long straight red hair that fell from her hair, right before her ears, and ran down past her shoulders. She had large green eyes, and her body's skin tone was a light lavender. Her wings were darker colored as they hung low on her shoulders, blue and a normal purple on the edges. The inside of her wings, beneath her shoulders, were lighter blue. She wore a clean white smock, a black belt with a small leather band, and her loincloth reached down to her ankles like a long streamer. She stood in front of them with total attitude of I'm-here-now-so-everybody-pay-attention-to-me!
"Oh! Who's the new friend, Phantom?" Lisonja inquired with sudden energy.
"Umm... an old friend. We sort of... ran into each other." Phantom stuttered, and began to introduce the other. "Macaren, Lisonja... Malcora, this is Sharm."
Macaren, Lisonja, and Malcora blinked at Sharm. "What does your name mean?" Lisonja asked, incredulous.
"A bundle of trouble." Phantom sighed.
"HEY! I'll have you know..." Sharm began. Macaren and Malcora stood up, and waved off the impending war of sarcasm. "Well I wasn't going to do any serious damage to him." Sharm objected to having been waved off.
"Do we know you?" Macaren inquired.
"She does." Sharm announced, pointed one talon at Malcora.
Malcora's brows furrowed. "I don't believe so, friend Gargoyle. Are you of the Clann Na Ochter Oidhche Bheithir?"
Sharm scowled. "No." she said sharply. "You don't remember me?" she asked innocently.
Malcora shook her head. "I seem to have forgotten a lot of people."
Sharm threw her paws in the air and turned to Phantom. "The sisters could have, at least, left her memories of me!"
Phantom glared at her.
A tent had been erected nearby. The gargoyles slept during the day in there, with the touch that passers by would know at least someone was there and not to bother them, as opposed to wondering about a bunch of odd statues standing about. Sharm reached down into the tent, found Christine's bag, and pulled out her cellular phone. She pressed the battery into place like she were someone who used the things a great deal, and pressed the redial button.
It dialed, and Sharm tossed her flaming red hair from her eyes and put the phone to her ear, nodding occasionally as she spoke.
"Hello? Mandy? ... Yes, this is one of the gargoyles. ... Yes, Christine's right here. ... She's afraid you've forgotten all about her. ... Oh, don't blame her, Phantom was told it by this creepy relative of mine -- real jerk -- can't believe a word he says-... Me? Oh, I'm Sharm, one of Christine's very old friends. ... She doesn't have any old friends? My goodness, dear, there is much about her you've yet to learn! ... Uh huh... well, on the left side of the counter in the kitchen you will find an already paid airline ticket to Manhattan. We will all meet you at the airport. ... Well, talk to them, midear! I need you here tomorrow night. ... Alright, here's Phantom..."
Phantom watched Sharm with a degree of astonishment. Phantom took the device, and held it to his ear.
"Phantom? What on earth is going on?" Mandy's voice asked in pathetic bewilderment.
"Oh, hello. Sharm is... an old friend of mine I sort of bumped into."
"Well, fine, but what's up with Christine?"
"We... uh, thought that you'd forgotten about us. Christine doesn't remember you or any of us."
"Is she okay?"
"Well, yes, I suppose."
"Great, then the rest of it can wait until tonight. I'll see you all in Manhattan tomorrow night."
Then the line was dead.
"But..." Phantom protested, "we're in Kansas! How will we be in Manhattan by tomorrow night? That's two thousand miles away!"
Sharm grinned gleefully. "As the gargoyle glides."
The following evening
Stanford, Connecticut
Mandy looked at her watch. 8:47. She looked up. Across the Appalachian mountains behind the river, Mandy could see the enormous orange globe with shattered feathers of rainbows shooting from it dipping behind the horizon.
She stepped back, and gave them a lot of room.
Inside the tent, five stone figures curled. Mandy recognized only Christine and Phantom. Phantom looked the same as ever, but Christine's expression was unusual.
With a sudden roar of fury and exuberation, the gargoyles burst from their stone forms and into the air of the fading day.
Mandy sighed. "You know... I'm never gonna get used to that."
Malcora and the others saw Mandy. Malcora looked at her with nervous anticipation. "Mandy! You have come!" she noted, coming forward.
Phantom looked around at the landscape in confusion. Instead of the thick evergreen foliage, he found dense deciduous leaves. "Where are we? How did you find us, Mandy?"
"Connecticut!" Mandy laughed. "You must have made good time last night! We're only a few miles away from Stanford, one of a string of towns that lead onto Interstate Ninety Five into Manhattan. Somebody... left a... note in my ticket information, so I just rented a pickup and came out here."
Macaren, Lisonja, and Phantom looked at Mandy in exasperation. "M... Manhattan? We were in Kansas this morning before dawn!"
Mandy shrugged, and turned to Malcora with a blank expression.
Malcora leveled her eyes at Mandy, with a look that seemed to be taking her in for the first time. Mandy put her hands on her hips and looked at the gargoyle defiantly.
"Been here for a while." Mandy laughed gaily. "Airplanes are a lot faster than you. My professors gave me some time off when I announced my plans for a research project."
"Can I help?" Malcora volunteered.
"Well, I didn't tell them this, but you ARE the project."
"Eh?"
"I'll explain later. Who's the dark pair?"
"Macaren and Lisonja from my clan." Malcora said with a tone of formal introduction, leading Mandy out of the tent to where the gargoyles were gathering around the packs.
"Your clan? Whatever, Christine. I leave you alone with them for a few weeks and you start to sound like Phantom." Mandy laughed.
"Eh..." Phantom began, "Malcora, could you take up the bag so we may go hunt breakfast?" Phantom took Mandy gently by the arm, as if to lead her away. "I need to talk to you." he whispered.
"What, Phantom?" she hissed at him.
"She's not herself."
"Okay, let me have it. What happened?"
"She was placed under some kind of spell. It seems that her past was changed so that she was born a gargoyle."
"If she was born a gargoyle, how come I still remember her as human? And GT, and her folks..." Mandy's expression changed. "That's why you didn't think I'd remember."
"They... still remember her?"
"Look, Phantom, that guy Sharm talked about has been feeding you a line." Mandy sighed at the large blue gargoyle.
"You can't change history." Malcora said, revealing she had overheard.
"What?" Phantom asked.
"History is immutable." she restated.
Phantom was puzzled. "How can you know that?"
Malcora blinked. "Didn't you know that?"
"I want to know how you learned it."
"Someone told me about it, long ago."
"Malcora, I want to know who told you."
"Malcora?" Mandy asked, perplexed.
"Yes, Malcora is the name of the gargoyle that now shares the same mind as her. The Weird Sisters said she would switch back and forth until they became one, but lately it's been only Malcora's voice we've heard. She will not even answer to the name Christine."
Mandy's eyebrows were lowered. "I see, how weird. You MUST tell me all the details... later. I have dinner for you guys in the car."
"Fast food?" Macaren inquired, with a disappointed voice.
"Genuine article, cooked by Chris... Malcora's father only a few hours ago. I want to know if we wrapped it all tightly enough. I didn't want to spill it all over the cooler..."
Macaren's face lightened in anticipation. "Do you know how long I've missed a home cooked meal?"
"Christine's father is a cooker of foods?" Malcora asked.
Mandy blinked at the statement for a moment. "Your father is."
"How is Mr. Shelton, anyway?" Sharm inquired with a twinkling eye.
"Ah... you're the one I talked with on the phone." Mandy assumed, holding out a hand. Sharm took her hand just right and shook it.
"Yes, I am Sharm. How is Mike?"
Mandy sighed. "Not good. He, Matt, and Ket are all alone now... they took Christine's 'death' like Terra's. The police found all kinds of other wounds on the body they took from the car. Gargoyle claws, and Mike knows it -- don't ask me how. I think Terra told him about gargoyles, and now he's taking it way too seriously. He thinks gargoyles killed Christine here, and now he's organizing a mob to kill them. Matthew seems to be backing him up."
Sharm listened with a serious air, a new attitude for her. "And Ket?" Her voice was cold, she meant business.
"If this keeps going, she'll probably hunt gargoyles as well." Mandy replied.
"Perfect." Phantom groaned, holding his temples.
The taco shells in tin foil had not even cracked on the way down. All the warm meats, and cold cuts of vegetables had kept moderately well. Mandy, Macaren, and Lisonja ate hungrily. Phantom was a bit uncertain at first, but finally caught on. Malcora was simply awkward.
"Ick... human food." she complained.
"Malcora, that was impolite!" Phantom chastised her.
"Yes, elder." she sighed. She began to select some pieces and began to eat a taco.
"So where are you two from, originally?" Mandy inquired Macaren, trying to ignore Malcora's behavior and mood of angst toward the food.
"Drake Castle, on the Isle of Man." Malcora replied for them. Mandy sighed at her rebellious mood, and turned to her.
"Alright, Malcora, tell me about yourself. Christine knows me very well, so why don't you get to know me also?"
Malcora sneered. "Because I do not wish to, human."
Mandy bristled, but did not reply. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Mandy continued to meet Macaren and Lisonja, undisturbed for the remainder of the meal.
"You can glide faster than I can drive, so maybe the air is the best way to go. Just remember this IS a rental car, so please don't sink your claws in it or anything -- I don't care HOW strong the urge is, if you decide to ride with me." Mandy replied. "Interstate 95 is usually clear of any traffic until we hit the Bronx, in which case you'll have to take to the air, and I'll try and meet you there, otherwise someone could see you. Though it would be nice if you'd stick with me, in case of muggers." Some of the gargoyles piled into the back of her pickup, and sat down. "Keep down back there, guys. From what I've heard there are evil gargoyles in Manhattan. Something about flying lookalike robots, the works. I doubt we'll be too popular if anyone notices you."
"We can help direct you." Macaren offered, tossing the remains of dinner into a small basket and stuffing it in the corner of the cab. "The rest of you gliders hop in back. We'll do this southwest style. If things get crowded, take straight to the air."
"That's okay, Macaren." Mandy replied. "I've done this before. I need you out of sight as much as possible."
"Count me out." Sharm added. "I'll have to take care of some other business. See you when you come back! Try to avoid running into the skyscrapers!"
They watched her walk away, but since she was still a mystery, they decided to ignore her.
"Other gargoyles?" Phantom inquired.
"Well, I know for certain they've found gargoyle robots, so I'm not too worried. I mean, what real gargoyle would do the stuff I've been hearing on the net? What would one of your kind be doing poisoning a police officer?" Mandy sighed. "Common, let's get going before we meet any of them."
"Wonderful." Phantom sighed, his expression sour. This is just what he needed tonight.
Malcora had never seen so much chaos in any one place in her life. In the middle of the night humans bustled about, honked at one another, and were noisy in general. Mandy's rental pickup had tinted windows, so no one really noticed Mandy's unusual passengers out on the open road, but as they approached the city, for safety, the gargoyles had taken off long ago, and Phantom noticed them hopping from one building to the next as Mandy impatiently waited for each stoplight and slowdown.
After driving around in circles for a little while, they finally found the particular Elm Street that they needed to find to reach the small center street of a Manhattan suburb.
"102 East." Mandy muttered, pulling up in a small parallel parking slot in the narrow street. The gargoyles were waiting for her in the alley. The shop was wood framed, and had some signs of age to it. A sign hung out over the street with ivy carvings around the edges of it, reading "FANTASY'S MAGIC SHOP". There were some unusual and ancient knickknacks filling the windows. These windows were the only ones on the street without bars on them. A light, somewhere upstairs, revealed that someone was awake inside.
Malcora felt Mandy pull on her arms, and saw her turn to Phantom, Macaren, and Lisonja, telling them to keep a lookout while Malcora and her went inside. Malcora growled. Why did Macaren have to leave her with the little human? If there was a fight, she wanted to be there.
Mandy motioned at Malcora. Malcora grumbled to herself for a moment, reached up, and rapped harshly three times on the door. There was little noise, but the light quickly appeared on the lower level.
The door opened quickly. "Oh, hello. Come inside. You're late."
"Late? We didn't even know we were coming here a few days ago." Mandy muttered, and they quickly stepped in past the shop keeper, who shut the door and bolted it behind them. He stopped, turned to them both, taking each of them in, in turn. He showed little surprise at the gargoyle.
"Mandy got caught up in traffic." Phantom explained.
Mandy's expression was utterly stupefied. The shop keeper led the college girl and gargoyle into the dark interior of the shop. Mandy moved carefully, as if afraid to bump into things her humans eyes could not detect in the dark... like Malcora's tail.
They heard one door close behind them, and the room was suddenly filled with brightness. Malcora winced, and blinked her eyes a few times.
Mandy looked around immediately. "Whoa!" she breathed.
Malcora was amazed at the shelves and shelves of books, and small objects that simply radiated magical energy.
"You are a keeper of magic?" Malcora addressed the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper was middle aged man with medium build, and dark features. He was dressed in black leather and grungy jeans. He seemed to have an air of uncanny friendliness about him, and something of an authoritarian.
"We're looking for the proprietor." Mandy stated. She felt a little odd shopping this late at night with a gargoyle, but for some reason the shop keeper hardly noticed Malcora's large light pink form.
"Fanny's not here -- government business." he said in a low voice.
Malcora took the small slip of paper with scrolled writing on it, and handed it to the shopkeeper.
He blinked, and looked at the script for a moment.
"Oh! Just a moment..."
He stooped down under one counter and began fumbling through things. There were few moments as the noises of moving about continued, before there was an "Ahah!", then a thud under the counter top, immediately followed by an "Ow!".
The figure reappeared holding a small pink carbon copy sheet, holding his head with his other hand, wincing. His hair was slightly disheveled now. He extended the slip to Malcora. Malcora blinked at it for a moment, and then passed it to Mandy.
Mandy gasped. "ARIZONA?"
Malcora blinked. "Where is Arizona?"
"Not far from the land we just left." Mandy grumbled. The store keeper shrugged, dug into his pocket, and pulled out a cigarette. There was a metallic sound as he flipped open a brass Zippo, struck the flint a few times, and began to light the cigarette.
"ARIZONA? YOU'RE NUTS!" Macaren declared. "That's nearly three thousand miles in the other direction!" Mandy was thankful the alleyway was empty, or else his voice could have carried quite a ways.
"The date on the bottom says this was only done a few days ago."
"This is why the shopkeeper said we were late." Malcora observed.
Mandy sighed. In the background, Mandy heard something, and looked up. Malcora must have heard it as well, and soon everyone was looking up at the sky to where the sound had come from.
"Birds?" Macaren asked.
"Not this time of day - Gargoyles, I'd say." Phantom scowled. "Probably not anyone we want to meet."
Mandy was already starting the ignition. "I'll meet you guys outside of town."
Phantom and the others nodded. One by one they reached the far side of the alley, and clawed their way up the brick side with their steel-ripping claws. Mandy was already turning back out onto Elm street by the time they had taken to the air.
Macaren and Malcora were sailing along at their own rate, while Lisonja and Phantom looked back at them from the lead. Macaren was holding Malcora around the waist, as both glided along in close quarters. They were making any number of sounds that made Phantom uncomfortable, and made Lisonja blush.
"Hurry up, you two!" Phantom called. "Mandy's speeding up down there."
"Nightowl?" Sharm asked with disbelief, "Nightowl, you're alive?!!!"
Nightowl looked worriedly at the fay woman who had just entered the shop. How had they found him out? "Uh... Hi Sharm."
"Gosh, didn't anybody go to the gathering?"
"You mean you're not here to make me go back?" Nightowl had shown no outward signs of worry, but he relaxed visibly at her remark.
"No, of course not. I just barely got out of going myself. Is Fanny here?"
"No, she's out on family business."
"Oh. You mean the one she's hoping to join?"
"Um, you could say that."
"Drat. I'll have to give it to her in Arizona."
"She's already expecting you there, Sharm."
"Not me exactly. Well, thanks for the information. Good luck avoiding the Gathering."
"Thanks." he replied sarcastically. Sharm left before he even finished saying the word.
"We're not going!" Macaren protested.
"Why on earth should we continue across the world after this thing?" Malcora added.
"You do whatever you want." Phantom replied, "I'm going, so you might as well give me the sheet."
Malcora tossed him the pink slip without a thought. "Keep it."
Mandy sat in the driver's seat, ready to start banging her head on the steering wheel. She had not even had the chance to get out of the car before the gargoyles had landed and started arguing. She was to the point of pulling her hair out, when she suddenly heard a voice next to her.
"Annoying, isn't he?" Sharm asked. She was sitting on the passenger side, legs crossed, wings wrapped around her, idly playing with a strand of her hair.
"Who?"
"Macaren."
"Well... he's kinda opinionated, but he's got a point."
"Not really." She said smugly.
"What do you mean? Christine is doting over him, and we've just been told to go all the way back to the west for these darn... statues. What on earth will we do with statues when we have them? I'm certainly not going to use a rental truck to haul them across the US!"
"You don't like how those two are acting, do you?"
Now Mandy was REALLY ready to hit her head on the steering wheel. "NO, of course I don't like it! It's not even like her to act like this! She's a completely different person!", then she added softly to herself, "I want the old Christine back."
"I don't like it either. But luckily it's not going to last forever. The odd thing is that she didn't even like Macaren until recently. She liked Joseph... up until that last day. But, that's another story. We've got THEM to worry about." she said, pointing to the fighting quadrumvirate with one talon. "Do you think you can keep them here 'til sunrise?"
Mandy glared at her. "Yes -- whatever for?"
"I've got something up my sleeve."
Mandy's eyebrows quirked.
Mandy started setting up the tent -- on her own. This had the effect of making the others feel guilty, and so they kept arguing with words, while Mandy took charge of cooking, and sleeping -- well, stone sleeping arrangements, keeping them all bustling about around their makeshift camp out in a small field of trees several miles out in the countryside outside Stanford.
Sharm was nowhere to be seen, and Mandy began to get suspicious of the talkative, red haired, lavender gargoyle.
After camp was set up, everyone had mostly agreed on only one thing; to stop arguing before something got broken. Sharm then reappeared, and Mandy glared at her. "Thanks for the help setting up camp."
"Anytime!" she answered brightly. She smiled at her, placed a paw on Mandy's shoulder, and turned them both so that their backs were to the others. "I had a lot of things that had to be done. Can I have a bite to eat?"
"Sure..." Mandy sighed. "Why not...?"
Sharm sat down on a blanket laid out across the flat surface of a rock, accepted a bowl with thanks, and began to eat with her normal... enthusiasm.
Gathering the gargoyles into the tent after dinner, Mandy watched Sharm take her time entering with the others. Phantom and Macaren were still muttering between themselves about whether or not they should continue on their journey, and had decided very little.
Mandy turned her back on them, and continued to clean dishes, until suddenly the voices stopped. She turned.
The gargoyles were stone.
Mandy turned back to the dishes for a few moments, until the sound of cracking stone came to her ears. Mandy looked back at the gargoyles, thinking her ears were playing tricks on her.
Sharm's stone form decomposed and burst away to reveal a small elven woman with the same flaming red hair hanging in the air where Sharm had been.
Mandy gasped, wide eyed.
Sharm brought a finger to her lips. "Shhhhhh..."
With that, Mandy promptly fainted.
"Poor girl." Sharm said softly to herself. "Probably been up all night..."
Arizona
With a brilliant display, the bright rays of the day rippled the air as the sun fell. The evening lights faded to night, as the gargoyles awakened. Sharm, Malcora, Macaren, and Lisonja, and Phantom broke out of their stone forms with a roar.
Phantom looked around for Mandy as he left the tent, and was met with a very different scene from the one the morning before. He gasped. The others emerged, and mostly did the same.
The land was relatively flat, but rolling, covered in brush and small cactus plants, and dotted with occasionally with a large bush trying to be a tree. The dirt was sand-like, and red in color. Cattle were grazing in the fields. A ranch hand was even visible on the near side of the valley.
"Where are we?" they gasped.
"Arizona." Mandy answered. Phantom turned to her, as she stood flipping hamburgers on a gas grill, dressed in a cowboy shirt and form fitting jeans. "I suppose the name Flagstaff wouldn't mean a whole lot to you, but it's not all that far from here. I have some friends going to school over there."
"Overnight?" Phantom touched his temples like a headache was coming on. "How did it happen?"
"Beats me." Mandy said, "All I know is you guys turned to stone, and then I woke up around noon here with everything else from camp. My clothes were changed, the food was different..."
Sharm simply nodded her approval of it all.
"Phantom," Macaren began accusingly, "You have a singular ability to take people wherever you wish them be."
"I had nothing to do with this."
"Then who did?" Malcora asked pointedly.
Phantom simply looked at Sharm.
"What? You think I did this?" She began rummaging through the pouch at her side. "Let's see. Pixie dust, an alicorn, life lotion, powdered hens teeth... Nope, no transportation dust!"
Everyone decided to ignore her.
"I'm just glad I took the rental truck back last night. I have no idea how I would explain getting it here without putting three thousand miles on it." Mandy continued, her usual brilliantly chipper self.
Sharm immediately rushed over to help Mandy with dinner. Malcora and Macaren appeared to be ready to take off for a courting glide any minute.
"Stay clear of the land beyond the signpost there. Somebody came along there not too long ago with a sawed off shotgun. He was NONE to happy to see you guys, and wouldn't even help me find a stupid payphone. Jerk."
"A pleasant neighborhood." Lisonja nodded.
"You have no idea." Sharm muttered, and began to sort paper plates out. "If you only knew the half of it."
Phantom took in the lay of things carefully. There was a road off to one side, and an alfalfa field on the other side. Although Phantom couldn't see it, he knew there was something next to the road on the near side, further on. There were obviously lights, he could make out in the rising darkness.
Phantom forced himself not to watch Macaren and Malcora as they laughed and played.
The Hot Water Ranch
Justy was outside working with a length of vinyl tubing. He cursed to himself momentarily about the size of the fitting needed to hook the supply hose up to the generator. He trudged through the grass with half a mind to give up just go on in to dinner, and tell Uncle Allsworth to see about a bushing for the hose fitting, and to refill the propane tank.
Casually he scanned the sky as the sun's last lights were disappearing.
"Excuse me?" a voice asked. Justy whipped around, startled.
A gargoyle stood on the wall, his back to the road.
Well, it hadn't done anything, and Justy could see it's tail, so it obviously wasn't one of the Grotesques. He doubted it was anyone with intent to do harm. The figure leapt down from the fence onto the lawn, and hung his wings naturally. "I hope I'm not... interrupting anything."
Justy found his voice. "Uh... no - hi. Who are you?"
The front door opened, and someone turned the porch light on. "Justy?" Uncle Allsworth emerged from it. "Who have you found?"
"My name is Phantom. I believe you, sir, are the one we have been sent to find." the gargoyle said, producing a pink slip of carbon copy paper from his pocket. Uncle Allsworth accepted it, taking it without a bit of premonition from his talons.
'Phantom' was medium tall compared to Justy, and only slightly younger -- probably a year or two under twenty (by human standards). He was toned a rather sharp, deep blue, with a human- like face, save for a few small horns on his brow, white hair, and deep midnight blue wings. He seemed to have a very serious expression but there was a bit of light to his voice that betrayed another side to him.
Looking at the invoice, Allsworth began to wonder if this was some kind of trick. The slip told him just about nothing -- except for a carbon copy of Fanny's John Hancock on the bottom line. "I don't know if I have what you're..." he began.
A rush of leathery wings betrayed several more gargoyles touching down on the wall, one carrying a human girl. Each leapt down from the wall.
"Sharm finished the dishes for us."
"Find anything, Phantom?"
"Well, I think this is the man, but you came in just as..."
The human woman cut him off, whistling at the house. "Ohh... now this is the type of house I've dreamed of living in!"
They looked at her with expressions from curiosity to annoyance. Allsworth decided that he would have to keep this fiasco in hand, and interrupted them before they could say any more.
"Look, we've just got dinner on inside, why don't you all come in and have dinner with us -- on me. Justy -- Harold's looking for you."
"We don't want to be any trouble, sir." one of the females said, one of the two with deep black skin. "We've already eaten."
"It's no trouble, I enjoy this -- come on inside. Maybe we can," he flipped the pink slip in his fingers, "...figure out what it is you're after."
"They're looking for... what?" Valkyre demanded curtly. The gargoyles and humans lounged on a couch and on the floor in one corner of the library, as Allsworth attempted to file the new gargoyles inside.
"I have no idea. The slip is completely vague. Hang on... here they come."
Morgain took the slip from him, and scowled at the scrawling handwriting. "Whew! Does Fanny still not believe in a merchandise cataloging?"
Allsworth shrugged.
The gargoyles were quiet as they filed inside.
The first in was an enigmatic gargoyle with a lot of flaming red hair. Her first reaction to the others was to turn to Kestrel and wave delightedly, who, in return, scowled at her. A human followed, dark haired, probably only about twenty or so dressed in a western style outfit that fit right in with the countryside, and with a lot of dark hair. She was followed by the blue gargoyle Uncle Allsworth and Justy had met outside. He was followed by two well built gargoyles with pure black skin, the female first, and then the male, who was holding the hand of the light pinkish gargoyle in the jumpsuit with a lot of wing covering her as she hung her wings on her shoulders coming through the door. Allsworth closed the door behind them.
"Ah," the human girl whispered, "civilization, at last."
Once inside, the pinkish gargoyle and both black ones flared their wings again in the somewhat more open space. There were some interesting looks among the ranch gargoyles at the pink gargoyle's double wings, and how she clung to the black male. The others remained sedated, clustering near each other, talking in low voices with the human.
Allsworth approached the first threesome, and shook their hands/paws in turn. "...and who might you all be?"
"Mandy Dateair." the human said with spunk.
"Sharm." Sharm answered with equal flamboyance.
Allsworth turned to the other three "Do you have names?"
"Macaren." said the black male. Allsworth didn't care much for his condescending smirk.
"Lisonja." the black female said in an over dignified voice.
Then Allsworth turned to the pink one with the double wings. Immediately, there was a reaction on Uncle Allsworth's face. He extended his hand, and only reluctantly did she take it.
"Malcora."
Allsworth's eyebrows quirked. "Phantom, perhaps I can help you after all." he glanced at 'Malcora' once again. "But after we've eaten."
Most of the heads nodded at that. Tink immediately latched onto the human named Mandy. Lavender began playing social butterfly again. Kestrel decided he wanted to talk to the red head.
With the volume of chatter rising once again, they filed out into the kitchen.
* * *
Gary and Allsworth accompanied the six gargoyles ahead of the others who actually harbored an interest out to the wall. They passed by a fair number of stone gargoyles. They seemed to be grouped together according to their appearances. They passed a lot of Ancient American gargoyles, and a few that Malcora really couldn't place.
"Sahara? How did YOU end up here?" Sharm stopped and asked one of the statues.
Malcora was becoming suspicious that what they were looking for wasn't here, and that the quest would not continue. However, Allsworth stopped near one far end of the wall, where five other gargoyles stood.
"Here we are..." Allsworth began, "I think the... wait a second!"
"What is it?" Mandy inquired.
"There are... more than I expected. Gary? Did we get some more and you simply forgot to tell me?"
Gary shook his head, looking with a blank expression at the gargoyles on this part of the wall.
There were two gargoyles on the first half of the wall here, entwined in an embrace, one a rather impressive figure of a male gargoyle, which appeared wholly intact and undamaged, unlike the female he held, which had a large chunk missing from her side under her wings, had some outward branching cracks, and the entire side of her head appeared to be smashed. Whole limbs from this gargoyle were missing, namely the wings, one arm, and one leg. Finally, there were three females clustered together on the end of the wall, each looking alike, save they each stood in different poses - like gargoyle triplets.
The other three were the ones Gary could not explain. The invoice slip listed the other two... but who were these three?
"It is THEY!" Phantom exclaimed, rushing to the wall to touch them. "My sisters!"
Macaren looked at Phantom with an expression that said 'You're crazy.'
"That one is why I brought you to see these two here." Allsworth said, pointing to Malcora, then to the broken female on the end. "Especially you."
Malcora looked at the stone figure, barely tolerating the entire display. However, once she did, her entire countenance changed. The damaged female in the male's embrace was an identical twin of Malcora.
Suddenly, Christine awoke. She looked around her with utter confusion, and fell backwards on the unlevel ground. Phantom was at her side in a moment or two, helping her up.
"Oh! Thank you, Phantom. Wooaaaaaaah! What happened? One minute I was talking to those three sorceresses, then all of the sudden WHOOSH!" Christine said.
Phantom's eyebrows lowered. "Malcora? What's wrong?"
"Malcora? What has she got to do with this?"
"Christine? Is it...?" he asked with hope lighting his eyes.
"Yeah... who'd you think, silly?" she said sarcastically.
Macaren touched her shoulder, and Christine suddenly batted away his touch. "Hey..."
He backed off, startled. Mandy came rushing over at the occurrence. "Christine?"
"Mandy! What on earth are you doing out here...? Where are we, anyway?"
"Well, she called me, and told me I had tickets... Not sure where they came from, though..."
Sharm simply grinned. "Hello, Christine. Welcome back to reality."
Christine looked at Sharm with puzzlement. "Who are YOU? How long was I gone? WHAT'S GOING ON, PHANTOM?" Christine nearly screamed in bewilderment.
"The Weird Sisters changed your mind so that you would switch back and forth between your two personalities, until you could cope with them both at the same time, but it's been mostly Malcora all this time; she vanished as soon as she looked at..." Phantom began, turning to the statues behind him. They both got a good look.
"Oh my..." Christine muttered.
Allsworth could almost have grinned as Christine studied the figure which bore her own face. It was like looking into a mirror, only one of the two was made of highly damaged stone pieces. When he had first taken a good look at her in the library, he recognized her instantly. But, how did a living gargoyle have a 300 year old slightly damaged double? Twin sister, perhaps? Who was the nice looking gentleman embracing her?
Christine stepped next to the stone figure, touching it. "It's me!... but how?"
"Who is he?" Allsworth inquired, pointing at the male figure.
"I... I have no idea... I've never seen him before."
By this time, Sharm was becoming quite distressed. "You don't remember me, EITHER?" She turned to the three identical statues, and shook an accusing talon at them. "This is all your fault!"
Suspecting her insane, the others promptly ignored her again.
"Okay, Phantom. Why don't we all sit down, munch cookies or something, and have you all tell me EXACTLY what is going on, why I've got a double in stone on a wall, who she is, and just everything like that?" Christine asked sweetly, batting her eyes.
Gary volunteered to go get the cookies.
"Okay, lets make a list of everything I don't understand in the slightest." Christine announced, taking a pen from the table, and began scribbling on a sheet of paper. "(1) How did Mandy get the airline tickets? (2) How did we get to Manhattan? (3) How did we get to Arizona from Manhattan? (4) Who exactly is Sharm, anyway? (5) What's up with the gargoyle's on the wall?"
Sharm and Kitty were seated on the floor, both seemingly purring contentedly. Macaren and Lisonja were behind one of the sofas, pacing nervously. Phantom was seated somewhat comfortably on the sofa next to Christine, who was lounging on the sofa on her back, with the pen and paper in hand, occasionally nibbling the eraser in a distinctly human fashion. Allsworth was leaning against a chair near Christine, reading over her shoulder. Gary was nowhere to be seen. An occasional other gargoyle of the ranch passed in and out of the den, looking at the odd spectacle.
"Those sound like good questions for me to answer." Sharm sighed, "You still don't remember me, do you?"
"Should I?"
"YES! Well, it just happens that Phantom's sisters decided not to give you those memories..." she began.
Christine paused. You could almost see her take Sharm's remark, adding two plus two together. She got five. Christine's eyes popped open. She smacked her forehead. "AUGH! WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT BEFORE?!!! Phantom! Those three identical stoneheads out there are THE Weird Sisters. How are THEY a part of your rookery?!!!"
Phantom bit his tongue.
"Those three out there did THIS to me?" Christine continued with a note of horror, staring at Phantom in shock.
Phantom didn't reply, only looked at Sharm.
Christine looked at Sharm.
"I think the questions just came back to my ballcourt." Sharm sighed.
Phantom groaned. "I never did mention what that entire conversation, where I got the slip of paper that told us to go to Manhattan, entailed, I admit. It's not like you would have really been kind about the fact a few weeks ago."
Christine sighed. That was very true. She began to circle her questions on the page, and doodle in the margins, drawing little stick figures with wings and tails.
Phantom looked at Sharm. "Thanks a lot."
"Anytime." Sharm smiled.
"May I suggest that we chain Sharm up in the basement until we find out what is going on?" Macaren suggested viciously.
"I have some chains that will hold a gargoyle!" Valkyre offered, shouting from another room.
"Mind telling me where you got them?" Allsworth shouted back to her.
"Problem is, you won't find out anything without me." Sharm smiled contentedly again. Gary appeared with a cup of tea, and handed it to her. She thanked him, and hummed to herself as she stirred it.
She did not drink it -- only played with it.
Gary decided to ignore her and try for the cookies.
Everyone else stared at Sharm.
"Alright Sharm, I'll make this easy for you." Christine asked derisively. "I'll start asking you things in small, simple sentences, and you can answer with one of two options: a YES or a No."
"Yes, dear." Sharm answered sweetly.
"Are you responsible for the airline tickets? They appeared when you wanted them to be there." Mandy inquired.
"Airline tickets?" Sharm asked innocently, batting her eyelashes for effect.
"The ones that got me to Manhattan?" Mandy asked.
"Oh, those tickets! Weren't they there all along?"
"As a matter of fact, no they weren't. I'd have noticed something as expensive as first class tickets across the United States on a Xanatos Enterprises private airline before someone else could point them out to me from a cellular phone from the other side of the Rockies in Kansas!" Mandy added, somehow maintaining perfect calm in her voice. Quite a feat, actually.
"You want a straight answer?"
"YES!" Phantom burst.
"Phantom, I thought you were used to this." she stated, "You do it to others often enough."
Phantom glared at her. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" he exclaimed. Allsworth flinched.
"Alright... straight answer." she moaned, "Yes, I did -- all of those things. So what?"
"The transportation to and from Manhattan?" Lisonja asked.
"Yes..." Sharm drolled.
"How?" Christine asked.
"Do you really want to know?"
There was a simultaneous cry of "YES!" throughout the entire room.
"Great, there goes my disguise, thanks a lot Phantom." she muttered.
Phantom's jaw dropped.
"Disguise?" Allsworth asked, but changed his mind. He began to rub his sinuses. "Oh, never mind -- I think I see where this is going."
Gary returned to the room with a plate of cookies, to find a short elven girl with flaming red hair select one of the cookies from the plate, and thank him for it.
Gary touched his temples. "Not again..." he moaned.
Sharm, child of the Third Race, giggled.
* * *
Actually knowing how to understand Sharm, they found it much easier to cope with her -- simply don't try at all. Her idea of a raring fun night was to awaken all five of the gargoyles they had come for -- simultaneously.
That is, except for the Christine statue on the near end -- she would never wake up again.
The male gargoyle holding her awoke, and his companion was still stone. His touch found the gash in her side, and his eyes opened with shock. He leaned over onto the Christine-figure, and tears welled up in his eyes.
"My love..."
Christine ahemed politely.
The male gargoyle turned to Christine. He had flawless white colored skin, and his face seemed vaguely familiar to Christine. "Who are you?" Christine inquired.
"Mal... Malcora?" he asked, looking back and forth between the statue and the living gargoyle several times in confusion.
Christine tapped her head. "She's... in here... somewhere."
"Don't you know me?"
"I am Malcora's self from long in the future -- I'm sorry I don't."
The white gargoyle bowed. "I am Sir Joseph, my love."
Christine backed off from him slightly. Macaren ruffled slightly. This was really beginning to boost Christine's self esteem! If only she had this luck with boys as a human...
Christine turned to the other three gargoyles, three dark green females, all colored and shaped exactly alike, save for three different shades of hair: gold, white, and ebony.
Phantom introduced them. "Christine, meet Selene, Luna, and Phoebe."
Christine hesitated, then bowed before the three, her arms wide, and then stood up again. "Miladies." She addressed them formally.
"You need not bow, Christine Shelton."
"We are your companions for the next leg of your voyage."
"We are your equals for this journey."
"Though unwillingly." Selene added, unhappily.
Christine began to count on her talons. Herself, Phantom, Mandy, Macaren, Lisonja, Sharm, Sir Joseph, Phoebe, Luna, Selene, and a stone figure of herself. She ran out of talons after Phoebe, and had to do it in her head. Ten people and a rock-head. This ought to be nuts. "We don't have food enough for ten, do we?"
"Oh no, oh no! OH NO YOU DON'T! You three are NOT coming with us!" Sharm demanded.
"Sister, you are called home."
"You will not be able to continue with this quest at this moment."
"You will be able to return soon, we promise."
"Excuse me! I have a safety net, here. You can't gather me without gathering the human I'm linked to."
The sisters looked at each other, and shrugged. "This is for Oberon to deal with."
"Just be sure you feed yourself." Christine added.
The fay Sharm flashed in a shock of light, and reappeared in her gargoyle form. "Since we all seem to be going about dressed like this..."
"Impersonator." Christine accused her.
However, something else occurred which changed the numbers slightly. Sir Joseph turned to Lisonja. "Sister! It is good to see you as yourself again."
"Our human quest to the Spanish ended after the destruction of our home, and we lived for three hundred years in that accursed human form, until now."
"Don't listen to her." Macaren whispered to Christine. "He was in love with her long before he ever loved you."
Christine very nearly slapped him.
Sharm glared at Sir Joseph. "So this is the betrayer..." Sharm growled, eyes turning red.
"Understand, things are different now! I died with my love!" Sir Joseph said, turning to the stone figure, then to Lisonja. "But now I have another back."
Sir Joseph kissed Lisonja.
"Men." Sharm groaned. Christine harumphed in consent.
"We will not be able to join you." Lisonja said. "We must go."
"See the world." Sir Joseph echoed.
"My, this is sudden." Christine said. "Now they're starting to talk like them." Christine pointed at the weird trio.
Uncle Allsworth just laughed at this.
The only problem was what to do with a cracked version of Christine, undoubtedly Malcora, from long ago. The Allsworth clan seemed more than willing to have a few gargoyles that they didn't need to worry about protecting on the ranch, but Christine asked them to protect it anyway.
"Why?" Uncle Allsworth inquired.
"Ever have that feeling that someone just walked over your grave? This was my body once. If I ever settle down, I may want to keep her... for personal reasons."
Allsworth smiled. He was going to like Christine! They would have to keep in touch.
They accepted the invitation to stay one day, and then made plans and left the following night. Sir Joseph and Lisonja made their own way east, and the others waved to them as they flew off together. Christine wished she could feel some remorse for Lisonja's leaving, but for some reason the feelings were not there. Malcora was absent from her mind. Christine wished that they could both be present in her mind all the times. Perhaps in the future that would happen.
Sharm had one other thing she needed to take care of before they left.
"Allsworth?" She asked sweetly. "Could you deliver something for me?"
Allsworth was puzzled at first, but when Sharm gave him a small oval mirror, he found himself oddly unsurprised.
"Could you give this to Fanny, for me please? It's from her father."
"Oh stars..." Now Allsworth was sure he did not want to know what THIS was about.
Phantom was pleasantly surprised to see the clan of the Arizona ranch gathered to bid them farewell. There were an awful lot of them -- and Christine wished she could get to know them all. They were gargoyles -- and somehow Christine felt a kinship to them. If she really had been born this way, she felt comforted to know she had neighbors still in this world.
Mandy held her arms out to Christine, and Christine let Mandy climb up piggy back onto her back for the glide.
Christine pounded her talons into the wall, and scaled it, the others following. It was a little unusual seeing Phoebe, Luna, and Selene in their dark green young gargoyle forms, climbing up the wall. They actually did the work themselves! It seemed to Christine that the "Weird Sisters" didn't normally do this sort of work! Yet, they leapt from the wall, circled for altitude, and glided. Christine was amazed. She would never have believed it had she not actually been seeing them.
Truly, they had hidden talents.
After a few final remarks and thanks, the party departed, supplies and all, heading north again.
"Where are we headed?" Christine inquired.
"North and West." Phoebe answered.
"To the wood of your brother's savior." Selene added.
"Eh?" Phantom asked.
"Don't ask." Sharm commented.
"My brother?"
"I have a feeling we'll find out when we need to know." Phantom groaned.
"And not until then." Sharm finished.
"Your sisters are quite the tour guides." Christine commented.
"Aye, I have many ODD rookery sisters. Them especially." Phantom groaned again.
"Rookery Sisters?" Christine asked.
"Aye. They are not my true sisters. Yet, we accept them in our clan just as any other. We are one clan." Phantom added.
The Weird Sisters glanced at one another. Christine couldn't help but note the cold looks they gave her.
"Huh. I can hardly wait to meet the REST of your rookery." Christine commented.