The Phantom of the Night

by Tigris Euphrates

Christine P. Shelton of Salt Lake City, Utah accidently runs across the gargoyle she names Phantom, resulting her becoming involved in a massive feud of warring halves of the Children of Oberon. Illustrated. (homepage: http://www.miniclan.org/tigris/saga.

10. Cross of Changes

Writing begun on: February 3, 2000
Writing completed on: February 9, 2000
This version is current as of: February 29, 2000

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.

This fanfic is rated for all audiences, though it does contain a fair amount of violence and some mild language. I would recommend it be rated PG.

April 23, 2034

The Shelton family gathered themselves around the room. Some of the children were in tears. Some of the adults had violently protested. Nevertheless, a family reunion was taking place, and three generations began to fill a single hall, in a steady trickle. This family reunion would bear no photos, no laughter, no picnics, and no long nighttime glides together. This family reunion was unplanned, unwelcome, and unnecessary as some would argue.

On the left side of the hall was the clan native to this home - the Salt Lake City clan. It was composed of Tutela, age 56, Christyne and her mate Phantom who were eternally locked at 25, and their children clustered about their feet, including Tanya (16), Corala (15), Carribea (13), Pacifica (11), Atlantica (8), Mediterrea (6), Artica (3), and in Christyne's arms was a small boy named Indiana, of about ten months. Of course, these were their apparent ages, even though they were all much older. There were also two pseudo-humans in this clan, who's ages were apparent, Keturah (44), and Mandy (63). Mandy showed her age with a little more dignity, then Ket.

Next to them was the Olympia clan, led by their father Erik (29) and mother Tigris Euphrates (25). They had four children, but unlike Christyne, theirs were much younger and closer together in age, Jasmine (2), Magnolia (14 months), Rose (8 months), and Daisy (2 months). The latter of these was taking nourishment from her mother, who was seated on one of the tables along the wall, singing softly to her two nurselings.

Tutela and Christyne were in charge, none too happy with the circumstances, but determined to see them through. Christyne, the salmon-pink gargoyle with fluorescent pink hair and eyes was pushing a wheelchair with an IV bag hanging from it. Tutela walked along side as the two guided the wheelchair into the dining hall.

The infirm man in the wheelchair was impressed at the dining hall. "You built all this?"

"Yes, me and my husband." Christyne explained.

The old man looked around at all the gargoyles standing in the hall. He was taken aback. "These are all... family?"

"Well, Mandy, the young human over there, she's just a friend."

"Chrissy, baby - young I ain't." she smiled.

"I remember her." he said. "The children... are so young..."

"Gargoyles age at one half the speed of humans." Tutela explained. "That's why Ket and Mandy are so much older than the others."

Tigris Euphrates stood up with her nurseling in her arm, and Keturah went over and stood beside her, both facing the elderly man. "My children..." he said.

"We are." Christyne explained, Tutela at her side. "What's on the outside is a mask, look beyond it and see the heart inside - we are your family."

"Are you Matthew?" he asked, referring to the gargoyle woman nursing the child.

Tigris nodded in the affirmative. "I am."

"Why are you a woman?"

She shrugged, paying more attention to her baby than him. "Things happen." She honestly didn't think about that anymore - she had changed sexes over two decades ago.

"Why are we here?" Keturah asked. "I am needed on Avalon."

Christyne gestured to the man in the wheelchair. "Michael asked to see his children and his grandchildren. There is no genetic recombinant yet that can cure his type of cancer." she turned to all the children. "Your grandfather Michael is dying."

Tigris scowled. "I'd hoped to keep the children away from this."

Christyne shook her head. "I can see no reason not to grant his request. Every man deserves a final request. His time is very close, I know it."

Tigris returned to her small family, where some of her young girls were softly sobbing. She was obviously pregnant again, and her lover doted over her.

"Can't you help him with magic?" Mandy inquired.

"I want none of your sorcery to keep me alive - let me die in my own time." Michael replied firmly. "Though I can see my family has become a breeding ground for sorcery."

Tigris was angry - she didn't want to stand there and let him insult her, let alone her children. Christyne, however, was more level headed.

"A combination of science and sorcery, actually." Christyne explained. "Just as we are a mixture of human and gargoyle. We all carry a very small sidearm - a laser device with just a touch of sorcery in it."

"You each carry a sidearm?" He asked, incredulous.

"The adults, yes." Tigris explained, holding her nurseling close. "SOME have not made it easy for us to defend our families!"

Tutela's paw went up to Tigris. "Enough, now. Put away your personal feelings for now, daughter. Can we please try and make this a little more pleasant for all involved?"

"Besides," Phantom pointed out, interposing his large blue frame between the arguers. "This vengeful backbiting accomplishes nothing. Vengeance, anger, and hatred only beget themselves again. This is something we should know by now, even if our human cousins have not. Even the Weird Sisters knew this. Let's not fall into the same cycle."

Christyne nodded in approval, and nuzzled her mate slightly.

Michael, his elderly wrinkled face twinkling with intelligence, looked up at him. "What do you see in my daughter?"

"She is highly resourceful, astonishingly intelligent, a creative thinker, and is slow to judge a person until she really knows them." Phantom replied, a very well thought out answer.

Michael turned to Erik, Tigris's mate. "And you? What do you see in my son?"

Erik looked at Tigris, who's eyes flickered for a moment on Erik's, before returning to their suckling child, Daisy. Both Daisy and Rose were not yet weaned, but for the moment Rose was in a perambulator soundly sleeping. Erik stood, and addressed Michael in a very reserved tone.

"I don't know - I've never met your son. I wed a woman. I have never known her to be anything else. She may not be the genius that Christyne is, but she has a heart of gold as wide as the oceans. That is why I married her. Even for a gargoyle, she is one of the most human individuals I have ever met." he answered honestly.

Michael smiled, and turned to them all. "I am not here to make your lives sorrowful, but I had to know some things. I had to know what had become of my family. Now I need to make certain that you are protected after I leave."

"To protect is the gargoyle's way of life." Phantom offered, intellectually. Ever the poet. "Any gargoyle who does not is corrupt."

"Then ours was meant to be a family of gargoyles, then." Michael smiled. "Because we are a family of protectors. Ever since Terra met that first clan back around the time Matthew was born, I knew then that we were a family of protectors. We will take in any in need of help and give them the shirt off our backs."

"And in return, I think we've been given quite a lot over the years." Tutela said, gesturing to the marble-tiled caves all around them. "And I don't mean just momentarily. We have a large family - two whole clans worth! I have eleven grandchildren, and now Christyne has decided to go on birth control for a while, Tigris has one egg in the family rookery, and Tigris is expecting another."

"You kinda have to start believing in birth control, I discovered, after you realize that immortality gives you a real idea of what never growing old really means. Sharm taught me a lot of that nearly 400 years ago." Christyne explained. "Einstein was right - time is a crock of sh**!"

Tigris shrugged at Tutela's comment. "I always wanted to be the mother of a large family. I don't know if we'll have a eight of them, like Chrissy, but I enjoy being a mother. I find it very fulfilling."

Michael nodded in approval. He turned to Ket. "And you?"

"Well, I'm a little old to start a zoo, but I would like to find someone and settle down. Unfortunately most of the men I know are either non-human, or live in some far off place that it gives 'long distance relationship' a whole new meaning. I do try and keep busy though."

"Even if you don't, Ket - you tried." Michael soothed her ruffled feelings on the matter. "That's what counts."

"I still think you should have given Kachina Coyote more of a chance." Christyne commented.

"He's hot on some medical student named Beth Maza. Besides, you know how I feel about you tricksters. You were always so serious until you became one of them, and then you can become so clownish at times it drives me nuts!"

Christyne shrugged. "Then steal his heart! Even Oberon is vulnerable to the magic of a woman! Besides, I just want to have a little fun. It gets tedious after the first three hundred years or so. I know when to joke, and when not to."

"Not to mention all that magic you joke around with...!"

"I could cast a love spell on you."

Keturah's eyes went wide. "Don't you DARE!!!"

"Just kidding." Christyne giggled a little at the thought of the handsome Kachina Coyote doting and fawning all over her little sister.

Michael was smiling, some of the tension had left the room. "I know you don't trust me, Tigris. To be honest, you have no reason to - I'm the one who shot the original Tigris, and I'm sure you spent many years stirring in anger over that. Now things are different - I'm dying myself, and I want to end the hating and the hunting. I want to be with and protect my family in any way I can before I go."

Tigris looked at him, but said nothing. Erik held his mate's shoulders. The old Tigris of Cassandra's clan had died close to 23 years ago, but it was the first time she had died, when she had taken Michael's bullet meant for young Matthew, that Tigris Euphrates was having difficulty forgiving Michael for. She still had nightmare (daymares?) about the man with her father's face firing a shotgun at her.

Christyne looked at her sister sympathetically. "It's time to make peace, younger sister."

"I hear you." Was all she said.

"I'm sorry about what I did to my family, and now I want to make it better. I wish I'd done it... a long time ago. I'm especially sorry about what I did to you, Tigris - especially because I know the bullet that would have slain Tigris was originally meant for you. That troubles me, but I am happy to see you are... happy."

"Hey, better late than never, sis." Christyne had to hand it to Michael, he was really trying. She was sympathetic to her sister as well, she was the one who had suffered the most from the division in the Shelton family. Christyne hoped... really hoped that it would finally, once and for all, come to an end.

"Besides, Matthew. I did not spend my life hunting you, I hunted Christyne. I had deluded myself into thinking she was the whole problem. Then... I got sick." he sighed.

"I know you don't trust him, I'm not sure I do either, but for the sake of a dying man's last wish, please at least listen." Christyne encouraged.

Tigris wrapped the gargoyle infant in her arms up tight in her blankets, and lay her in the arms of her mate. Young Daisy had stopped feeding, and had drifted off to sleep. Erik, in turn, laid her in the Pram beside Rose. After straightening her blouse for a moment, she turned to Christyne. Tigris looked very much like a mother. Christyne counted herself lucky when she noted what motherhood had done to her sister's body - it had not been kind to her. Her breasts were very large compared to what they had always been, and they sagged a great deal. Her hips had grown quite large, and she'd gained some weight on her lower half. She was not fat, but motherly. Christyne had managed to keep her gargoyle form looking quite good after her first five, but after that Christyne had become immortal, and no matter how many eggs she laid, she couldn't change her figure for better or for worse, and so she'd laid the last three without gaining or losing a single ounce. Tigris, however, simply did not have the experience she did at keeping her figure, and in the end it was Tigris's body itself which betrayed her. Such was the lot of being mortal - Christyne hadn't aged a single year day since then, and Tigris had only just turned Christyne's age just two months ago.

Tigris regarded them with a conservative look, folding her arms over her breasts. "I accept your apology."

"Listen to me, very carefully, all of you. There are still hunters and quarrymen. I spent my life tracking Christyne down, and regret to say that they know where you live. They have some kind of new scientific-type weapon they have invented, and they are building it, intent on destroying you. It's my fault, and I want them stopped. I am charging you with this attack."

Erik shook his head. "This is very different from defending our homes - this is an attack, not a defensive."

"Would you rather harry them at your doorstep?" Tutela put in, in defense of Michael.

"I do not know when their construction will be finished, but I know it will be soon. There is a large petroleum refinery near Gallup, New Mexico, and the Hunters have built their hidden base there to build whatever it is they have invented. They will attack as soon as it is finished. That's all I was told. They don't have much respect for their elders..."

"We might call on the Hot Water Clan - they aren't but a couple hundred miles from there - they might be able to help." Mandy suggested.

"One hundred eighty nine, according to the computer." Christyne said. "I've already tried to reach them, and I can't get ahold of anyone."

"Do you think they have been hurt by them?" Asked Tanya. The young green daughter of Christyne's was already showing signs that she was not going to be left alone on this adventure. This was the biggest thing that had come along in - what - a decade? The teenager had decided she was ready.

"It's possible." Christyne said, "But with all the activity between Hunters and Quarrymen in the thirty years, I think it's also very likely they have enough problems of their own. Remember, they don't live in very friendly territory, Tanya."

"Do you think I should enlist Kachina Coyote?" Keturah offered.

"It may come to that." Christyne said.

"Then who's going?" Tigris asked.

Christyne looked at her sister. "YOU'RE not."

"I most certainly am!" she protested.

"Not while you're pregnant AND nursing two children, you're not! That's three lives in your paws, not counting yourself." Erik rebuked her.

"I'll help watch her." Tutela offered. "I may be over fifty, but that doesn't mean I've lost my edge."

"IF Tigris goes, we'll all watch her and her youngones."

Keturah and Mandy looked at each other. Mandy spoke up. "Do you honestly think you can keep Tigris here while the rest of us go off to a firefight with gargoyle haters? No offense, Erik and Chrissy, but you have got to be kidding!"

Tigris appeared vindicated, and smiled. Christyne, the unofficial leader, relented. "Very well, Tigris you may come along, but when we near a dangerous situation, I want you to lay LOW and NOT get involved, is that understood? You are too important to take chances on right now. I too have Indiana, but he is weaned, and my girls can take care of him."

The pregnant female agreed with as much grace as her slightly portly frame could achieve.

"I will also agree to let my children come along. Tanya and Corala are nearly of age to be on their own, and we may also need their rather unique specialties on this quest."

"I was fighting bloody battles right beside the Queen of Gargoyles herself when I was eleven!" Tigris pointed out. "I don't see why this is any different."

"True, and perhaps the age of decision is the right age at which to let our children participate in these affairs." Phantom offered.

Tutela was the one who shot this down. "No, I'm not comfortable with this, and I don't think Christyne is either. Perhaps, when Chrissy and I were in less dangerous times, we'd let the children help us dispose of the enemy when they passed their sixteenth year - when they turn eight, as humans reckon."

"Let's keep it in human reckoning. Otherwise you make my head hurt." Keturah complained, holding her temples.

Tutela continued, "But these are very dangerous times, and gargoyles no longer thrive. We MUST be very careful to protect our numbers, and if that means shielding our younglings, then so be it! I move Tanya stays here."

Tanya was furious. "Then how do we learn?"

Christyne and Tutela shared an incomprehensible look. "Their my daughters. I think they are ready. I'm the one who has to make the final decision, and I know my daughters better than you do. I think Tanya and Corala are ready. However, I am not blind to compromise - if we meet serious danger, I want Tanya and Corala to remain with, and protect Tigris and her nurselings, understood?"

Tanya and Corala walked over next to Tigris and nodded. Christyne noted her daughters were taller than her sister.

"Mother! Can't I go?!!!" exclaimed Carribea, who came bounding up to her mother's fetlocks on all fours. "I'll be really useful! I can make this thing just wink out of existence!"

Christyne leaned down and patted her daughter's head. Carribea and Indiana did not have hair, though Indiana had a special hornplate on his brow. Christyne rubbed the skin on her daughters head gently. "No, honey, not this time. Next time, okay?"

"But...!!!" she began to protest, but Christyne shushed her.

"You are getting to be as big as your sisters, yes. I will also agree you will be a big help to us someday - I won't even need to worry about obtaining materials someday with your help. However, right now you are too young and impetuous. Remember what happened building those laser arrays?"

Carribea sighed. "You guys don't forgive, do you?"

"We have forgiven you dear, but this is for your own protection as well as ours. What would you do if you did something that caused, say Tigris, Tanya, and Corala to be hurt? Or even killed? How would that make you feel?"

Carribea fidgeted uncomfortably. "Pretty bad, I guess."

"I don't want you to feel that, so that's why I'm asking you to stay here." Christyne coaxed her child.

"I understand." she acquiesced, stepping back over with her sisters and brother.

Tutela smiled approvingly at how Christyne had raised her gargoyle children. There was even a smile on Michael's lips.

"Okay then, it's settled. Tutela, Christyne, Phantom, Tanya, Corala, Erik, Tigris and her two nurselings, Keturah, and Mandy. Nine is a fair clan for our attack. I'd like more, but I don't think we can risk any more." Erik put in, counting.

"It's what we ran with during the fay war." Phantom concluded.

"What about the dragon?" Mandy inquired. "Could she come with us?"

"No, but as long as the other children are staying here, she will guard our home. Otherwise, she'll stay down in the rookery. She may even have the children stay in the rookery in case of serious trouble."

Christyne's children and Tigris's looked at each other in agony - they did NOT want to be sent back to the rookery. "We'll protect caves, with Xylana mom!" Carribea offered.

"I'm sure you will, honey." Christyne smiled. "Make sure you behave for Xylanamalthiatibia, and that I won't hear from her about how misbehaved my children are, okay?" The children nodded. "There's one thing you can do for me right now, Carribea, can you give me nine two handed units like we were working on the other day?"

Carribea bounded excitedly from one side of the room to the other, where a table sat empty. Tigris silently wondered if the young gargoyle ever walked bipedally. She looked at the table top, and nine large hand weapons appeared. Each was about the length of her wrist to her elbow, and encased in a white metal Tigris could not name. It had a few red and green lights at the top, and a button or two. Christyne began to show Erik how to use it, but Tigris found her sister's work fairly self explanatory. Tigris set the safety, spun it by the handle a few times for effect, and clipped it to her belt. "I prefer a sword."

"What's the old saying?" Phantom smiled. "Never bring a knife to a gun fight?"

"You're going NOW?" Michael asked.

"As you said, there's no time to loose. I don't fool around father, I don't waste time. Don't worry, we'll be back soon." Christyne answered. "Xylana will take care of you if something happens, just as long as you don't piss her off. I won't be responsible for her actions if you do. She has a short temper with people sometimes."

"Thanks." he muttered. Christyne laughed and kissed him on the forehead. "Carribea - take care of the kids now, you're in charge while we're gone."

"Sure, momma!"

Tigris handed a bag of things to Carribea for her to use to watch after the two of her children she was leaving under her care.

With that, seven gargoyles, and two humans gathered at the center of the room. "Everybody hold hands. It makes it easier." Tanya said.

They did so, and promptly were covered in flames as they winked out of existence.

The night was cool, but not cold - and for that Mandy and Keturah were glad. They had dressed fairly warm. They were in a land of tall sandstone cliffs and river valleys. The cliffs were sheer drops, as thought the mountains themselves had shot straight up out of the flat valleys below. There was not much sign of civilization here, with the exception of a few small houses occasionally, most often with large propane tanks in the back, and which probably did not get much power. The gargoyles took to the wing, as did Keturah, and Christyne let Mandy ride piggy-back. There was very little conversation. Phantom took his weapon and drew back the bolt on it, and Mandy heard it whine from a lower to a higher note.

"Particle weapons, Ms. Loco Scientifico?" Tigris asked Christyne, her children safely stowed away and sleeping soundly in a cloth sack on her back which fastened around her shoulders and waist, and around the shoulders and waist of the child within it's warm wrappings. Christyne was annoyed once again Tigris and her friends from the Miniclan who called her that - but she knew Tigris meant nothing by it so didn't get angry... just annoyed.

"Yes. Remember that technology firm in Manhattan, Sharm introduced me to? Same idea, though I spiced it up a bit with magic." she replied.

"How is Sharm, anyway?" Tigris inquired.

"After she married Puck, they went off to visit friends in Manhattan, and they've lived there ever since. She invited me to the wedding of a friend of hers there, and I attended sheerly because he was the boss of the company that invests in a lot of my work."

"David got married again?"

"Apparently his former wife was killed in a helicopter crash. Sharm said there was magic involved in it too. David's apparently much happier now, and Sharm says he's a real good father to David's son."

...And that was about it for small talk. Sharm had been trapped as a male for several years since Tigris had rescued her from the Unseelie supporters by Oberon's hand, and between the two of them managed to talk Oberon into letting them both go a few years later when they saved Lord Oberon from a fairly nasty fate at the hands of space aliens or something. Mandy was all confused on the details from there. Not that she discounted the possibility - no, since Christine became a gargoyle almost forty years ago, she believed very strongly in the adage "all things are true". However, Mandy just wasn't too sure of the hows and the whys. She did know Oberon was vulnerable to iron, and iron could be manipulated in all kinds of scientific ways.

Anyway. Once returned to themselves, Puck still had to train David's son in some way Mandy didn't understand, but Sharm seemed more than happy to live with that arrangement as long as she had back her womanhood, and Puck could be by her side. From there, another wedding was imminent. Sharm hadn't seen too much of the Shelton's since that time. If it was because of a grudge against Tigris or from just being busy only Sharm knew, but Mandy didn't think Sharm was the type to harbor a grudge.

Christyne and Phantom was in the lead, guiding mostly by instinct, and they soon found themselves following a road through the mountains along the gulley floor. The sage brush was getting thicker here as they traveled north, deep into what must be Indian country. It wasn't very hard to miss a semi tanker moving along that winding road, and for a while they followed it.

"I'd give ten dollars to know what he's hauling." Christyne pointed out.

"I can find out!" Corala offered.

Christyne nodded in approval. "Hurry back and don't let yourself be seen!"

Tigris drifted over by her. "What abilities do the others have?"

"Pacifica is a telepath - a mind reader. She can also place her thoughts into your mind." Christyne explained.

"Atlantica can become totally invisible when she wants to. Chrissy and I had to install detectors in the caves to figure out where she was hiding from us whenever she threw a fit. Heat sensors were useless - she doesn't give off any radiation whatsoever - it's almost as if she has no substance, but she can sure knock things over! We were able to detect her using the sound of her movements, or her breathing." Phantom also explained.

"Mediterrea seemed to not have any special or unique abilities for many years, so we just trained her in using her magic for a long time, until one day something happened." Christyne went on. "Sometimes I would speak to Phantom in Gaelic when I didn't want the children to understand, but that day Mediterrea had wanted a cookie, and -- in Gaelic -- I told Phantom not to give her one either, because I knew she would go right to her father for permission. She went right up to Phantom and asked him, as I expected - in GAELIC!" Christyne said with excitement.

Phantom laughed at the memory. "Mediterrea had no idea what she had done, but it was perfect Gaelic, no gargoyle accents like me and Chrissy tend to use - you know, our own little mode of speaking? Gaelic is a dead language, there was no way she could have learned it."

"Several months later, I brought my cat over to visit." Mandy put in. "She not only spoke to the cat, but was able to talk to me in Feline as well!"

"She can communicate in ANY language - be it human or animal, vocal or movement based." Christyne was proud of her daughter. "Fay are not omniscient, unless they've been to that century and learned the language, they can't speak it anymore than I can speak Ancient Greek. I'd have to use a spell, and I would only speak English, and the listener would hear Greek."

"I've used that spell more than once, and I don't think it works for animals." Tigris nodded. "And Artica? Has she shown any signs yet?"

"Oh yes!" Christyne exclaimed. "Playpens are useless on her. She can walk right through a wall, and there's nothing I can do to stop her. Fortunately, so far she respects her mother when she puts up a barrier, but she done it a few times - she's still visible, she just seems to change the vibration of her body's molecules just enough to get past something. A locked cookie jar has no effect if she's determined disobey her mother."

Just then Corala returned with a small marble-sized sphere of some kind in her hand. "I never went near the truck. He never saw me. I just drew it straight through the tank liner. He'll never know I took any."

"Good job, honey!"

"She." Phantom corrected her.

Corala blinked.

"The truck driver's a she." Phantom corrected her.

Tigris momentarily wondered how he knew that, but repressed the urge to ask.

Corala handed the small marble to Christyne, whereupon it instantly became fluid again once leaving Corala's paws. In Christyne's paw, she stirred the fluid around a little, and sniffed it She stuck a talon in her mouth, and spat it out again. She looked very puzzled. "Phantom?"

Phantom took some on his paw, and sniffed. "It's a liquid, not very acidic, has a low iron content because it doesn't seem to bother us at all. Beyond that, I couldn't tell you."

Christyne too seemed baffled. "Acetelyne Glycol is my best guess, but it just doesn't taste right. Acetelyne Glycol is sweet to the taste. I wouldn't drink it if I were a normal human or a normal gargoyle, because I think it might be hazardous."

Tigris blinked. She knew that one. "Acetelyne Glycol? You mean anti-freeze?"

"Some of the components are the same. This might be a more industrial coolant - for something a lot bigger, that produces a lot more heat than an ordinary engine."

Tanya drifted over. "I could grab you your mass spectrometer from home, and be back in a minute!" she offered.

Christyne shook her head. "Thanks Tanya, but that wouldn't do me much good. Sure, I'd know what's made of, but I can basically guess that. What I need to know is what it's used for, and it's chemical makeup won't tell me that."

"It's a piece of the puzzle, I'll bet." Phantom put it, making the chemical disappear from his hands and into the wind with a tinkle of magic.

Christyne gestured to Corala, who gathered the fluid into a ball again, and stuck it into a pouch on her belt, where it stayed a small marble with her magic. "Let's not let it get on the brush - it would kill the plants, I think."

Tigris tested the air. She could smell something familiar. "Do you smell that? It's like natural gas."

"Fuel refinery." Christyne said. "It's not gas, it's just stink. Salt Lake has a diesel refinery on the north point, and it sometimes blows the wrong way and makes some people sick."

"It this a diesel plant?"

"Who knows? Doesn't matter. I get the feeling from what Michael said that the refinery was just a cover. They could be refining ordinary gasoline."

"Look over there." Erik pointed to the horizon. There was a small twinkle of lights in the night, there. "I'll bet that's where we're going."

"If not, the truck will show us." Tanya deduced. "I don't like it - I'll bet it's in on this... project."

"That's my feeling as well." Phantom confirmed.

They had followed the truck for probably an hour before the truck reached the refinery. It was covered in lights, and seemed to be made up of towers and pipes. There was a boxy shaped building on one side that was several stories tall, and a guard shack by the gate. The truck didn't even stop at the gate, but was passed straight through.

"That's odd." Tigris thought aloud.

"Why?" Erik inquired.

"A truck driver normally has to present his/her bills of lading - the load information, to the gatekeeper before being let inside, that's how they gain clearance." she explained.

The facility was well lit, so the gargoyles found a ledge to watch from. The truck was driven down a tunnel made in the side of the one of the cliffs, there on the plant's grounds. A large door was shut over the cave's entrance behind it.

"How weird! Who would drive a truck into a cave?" Tigris observed. "How would they turn it around and drive it out? Or breathe with the exhaust?"

Christyne looked over at Tanya. "Can you get us inside? With that door closed, we don't have to worry about getting past the refinery security."

"Let's get back from the clifftop, or they'll see the flames." Tanya suggested. They pulled back several hundred yards onto the mesa, and where Tanya snapped her fingers dramatically, and flames billowed up around them. The scenery changed to one of a cave with all kinds of pipes lining the side walls, dripping with condensation. The sounds of water dripping and of water running were everywhere. The cave was basically dark, and there were no signs of the truck.

"Keep a low profile." Phantom insisted. "Let's go."

Down on all fours, they began to dash along the roadway on the bottom of the cave, Keturah and Mandy, running behind them, Ket flapping her wings by her side slightly in the enclosed space as they went on, her wingtip feathers brushing the pipes.

There was a large space opening up around them after about a half a mile. Ket and Mandy were starting to get tired. Here the truck had stopped. There were several large tanks along the walls, and the driver woman began to hook up a pump to her trailer tank. Some security man walked up to her, and talked to her.

"Any problems?"

"None."

He nodded, and they exchanged some paperwork. "Thanks." said the driver, who turned back to her truck and crawled into the sleeper for a while.

Tigris looked at them. "Deaf." was her magical command, though said in a small voice. "Let's get past them while they're distracted."

"Wait!" Christyne said, and pointed one talon at the ceiling, where a small surveillance camera was pointed at the truck. It's monitoring light was on. "Let's take them out before they see us."

Phantom looked at them, pointed a talon at them, but said nothing. The little red monitoring light went out. "That should take care of those - at least for a while."

The clan quickly scurried past the truck, and into the bowels of the mountain. The passageway opened up into a large chamber. It was rectangular, and had a high roof, with a large door at one end. Christyne and the others ducked down behind some tool chests and tanks. Christyne turned to Phantom. "It's like an aircraft hangar."

"It might have once had military use." he suggested.

"Possibly."

"Look at the floor!" Tigris said, referring to the center of the hangar. "What kind of airplane is THAT?"

It was like nothing any of them had ever seen. It's wingspan was probably eighty feet across, but the craft itself was no more than twenty feet high. On it's wings were mounted large arrays in the shape of dish, only wish large open air spaces to let air flow between them. The dish continued below the wing, and on the end of each little prong of the dish was a device of some kind. A large boom extended out from the center of each dish, far out to the front some fifty feet, where another device had been mounted. There was a ten foot side window on the front of the craft for the pilot, slightly tinted to keep out direct sunlight. It was powered by what appeared to be two large jet engines. The whole thing couldn't have been more then two or three hundred feet long.

"Man alive..." Christyne muttered. "Aircraft sure has come a long way in the last quarter of a century."

"I'd wager my lunch that this is what we're after." Erik noted.

"Sounds like a safe bet to me. Okay, stage one is completed - we found the weapon. What now?" Christyne asked.

Phantom pulled up his sidearm. "Might I suggest the direct approach?"

Christyne looked down at the hangar again. It was a few levels below them, and several people were milling about working on the craft. "I'm worried about fuel. If it's got a lot of fuel in it - or in this room, then Tigris will never have her baby, I can guarantee that - the heat alone from the blast would incinerate us."

Phantom was pacified. "Then what do we do?"

"Ow! Stop poking me!" Corala complained, looking at Tanya. Tanya, however, looked at her with a baffled expression.

The two looked up.

The blast sent the two young gargoyles rolling, and tools flying from the tool chest that had been hit. Alarm klaxons went off all over the place. The two youngsters immediately grabbed Tigris, and pulled her away, while Christyne and the others turned to find three security men holding some kind of weapon with the business end at them. After the first shot, Phantom quickly squeezed off another, and blew the man backwards, a gaping hole in his chest. Subtlety was not in Phantom's nature. Erik pointed his weapon and fired, missing. Christyne did what came naturally for her at close range, and jumped for the nearest one, claws extended. She managed to beat one man's head in. However, the third man proved to be a problem. Her took his weapon, grabbed Mandy by the shoulders, and pulled her back towards him, pointing the weapon at her head.

"Back! Back!" shouted the man. There was a pause. Phantom had his weapon pointed at him, unmoving. Christyne was still snarling furiously. Keturah had her weapon out and leveled, as did Christyne's youngsters, who were hidden behind a wall, guarding Tigris. Tigris was singed, but okay - she had been as close as the young two, and they were all a little singed. But... Christyne thought, where was mother?

"Don't do anything stupid." Phantom warned him. "I have an itchy trigger talon."

"He does." Mandy panted, frightened.

"Fine, all you have to do is go through her!" the human said.

A roar was heard. There was a flash of red, and the human was on the humans were on the ground. Christyne pulled Mandy to safety as Tutela, having tackled the man like a sack of potatoes, picked up a wrench, and used it like a club to knock the senses out of him.

They all rounded the corner, out of sight of the hangar.

"Terrific, they know we're here."

All present had their weapons raised. In the darkness was a scuffling sound, and they turned back towards the tunnel.

Erik's eyes went wide. "Where's Tigris?!!!"

"Tanya? Corala?" Christyne looked around. They were nowhere to be seen.

"They were here just a second ago!"

Keturah paused, looking at the floor. She picked up a small object. A half a hair clip. Christyne saw it. "Tanya's."

Tutela was furious. "They've got them!"

"Not until Tanya gets them out." Ket observed.

"Perhaps, but to where?" Christyne pointed out. "We can't get past the refinery guards or that door without her!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Everybody scatter, try and find Tigris and the children. Go in pairs. Take these." She reached into her purse and pulled out three small necklaces. She handed one too Mandy, one to Tutela, and kept on herself. "These will allow us to communicate. Mandy, go with Erik, Tutela, go with Ket. Phantom, you're with me. Go!"

The gargoyles shot apart. Erik and Mandy chased down the gangplank overlooking the hangar to the other side. Phantom and Christyne turned the corner chasing among storage bins and tanks of chemicals. Tutela gestured to Ket, and they chased back up the tunnel they had come through.

Erik and Mandy were at a dead end. There was no place to go - but down. A ladder led directly down into the hangar. Erik took Mandy by the shoulders, tossed her like a rag doll onto his back, and slid down the ladder, by placing his paws and feet outside the railing and sliding. With Mandy still on his back, they went into another office, and locked a steel door behind them.

Mandy had pulled the black wire necklace around her. "Hello hello?"

Christyne's voice came back. "I hear you, Mandy."

"We're in the lower hangar. There's some offices here. Betcha the cops would have a field day with these shady deals." she said, rifling through papers.

"There's a lot of jet fuel here." Christyne said. "I can program one of the weapons to overload on countdown, hide it, and explode the tanks, which I'm sure would incinerate this place, but I need to find Tigris and the girls, and get us out of here in one piece."

"Didn't you see that on a Star Trek episode?" Mandy asked.

"Sure, lotsa times." Christyne said. "Don't knock Star Trek, Mandy - a lot of what they imagined became today's fact. Where do you think I got a lot of my ideas from?"

Erik looked at Mandy, who turned to him. "Christyne says she can make a bomb and blow this place if we can get the kids and make it out of here intact."

He nodded. "...And my mate, and our youngest child."

"Exactly. The kids." Mandy laughed a little.

Erik rolled his eyes.

This office was basically empty except for a few tools. Mandy and Erik opened a door which led out into a hallway. Erik started looking in the rooms. "Bathroom. Another one." he reported. "A locker room."

"Cleaning closet." Mandy reported. "Another locker room."

There was a laser shot, and the sound of a door being forced open. "We're trapped!" Erik shouted. "Get behind me!"

Running as fast as her legs could carry her, Tutela strained to get down the tunnel after the kidnappers. A human security guard with a small laser pistol jumped into her way, but Tutela was too quick for him. She had no time to waste on him, and she immediately blew him away unmercifully. She had to find the children! Poor Ket was panting to keep up with her, as her mother probably had three times her endurance.

When she reached the spot where the truck had been unloading, she looked around. There was room enough here for the truck to turn around, and there were vents in the ceiling to clear away the exhaust. The truck, however, was gone. Tutela cursed, and continued running up the corridor.

Keturah found the security guard with part of his head disintegrated by the force of the weapon Tutela had used on him. Silently, she cursed - Tutela was really ticked to get this violent! She panted for a moment, staring at the body, and then followed up the corridor.

Tutela reached the door first, she paused only a moment before she jammed her claws into it and tried to pry it apart. It refused to budge. She beat on it, but could not make a dent in it! What the hell kind of metal was in this door?!!! It was only making her paws bleed. Taking a few steps back, Tutela stepped up the power on her weapon to maximum, and opened fire. The metal turned rosy red, but remained solidly in place - totally impenetrable. Furious, Tutela threw the weapon down on the ground.

Keturah came running up, and found Tutela curled up in a ball on the other side of the tunnel as her weapon, weeping, and the door glowing an angry red.

Ket took charge, taking the black wire necklace from Tutela, and touched one of her feather's to it's transmit key. "Chrissy - Tutela and I chased down the tunnel, but the truck is gone, and the door is closed up tight. We can't break through it, even on maximum power."

Christyne's reply was a curse. "We're trapped in here."

"We lost the kids. I failed!" Tutela sobbed like a child.

Fifty Years Before

January, 1984

It was a clear day on the mountain side - perfect for painting. She looked up at the sunset with growing anticipation. She was already making some summarizing lines on the canvas, sketching mountains and the skyline. The colors were beginning to take shape, and Terra Shelton began to apply colors.

The sun was a beautiful bright white sphere against the purples and blues of the setting sun, and she captured all of the colors she possibly could. In a furious hour, she did as much work as she could, and then sat back in her chair, and rested. Her furiously swollen abdomen made it very difficult for her to stand and work for very long. Her time was close, she knew that. For a long time, she sat back and rested. She allowed one hand to rest on her expanded girth, and to feel it. For a moment, she thought she felt a bump - a small push of someone pushing back from the other side her placenta.

Terra smiled.

It was Michael who had chosen the name Matthew for the boy. At least, the ultrasound had said it's a boy, but after three successive ultrasounds with different reports, Terra wasn't so sure. First it was a boy, and Michael had nearly thrown a party, then the doctor was positive that there was no indication of that on the ultrasound and was therefore a female, and then the third time, the doctor concluded it HAD to be a boy. Terra wanted it to be another girl. Could she will her own baby to be a girl, she wondered? She hadn't cared last time, and Christine was born. Maybe that's all she should do now... or would that be trying to change things once again, although indirectly?

She shook her head. She was confusing herself unnecessarily. She sighed, and allowed the cold winter breeze to stir her hair a little. She pulled her coat close to her, and wondered if she might nap a little before she decided to put her things away and call it a night. She fingered the amulet around her neck, rubbing it's metal with her fingers without even thinking about it. If there is a God, she pleaded, can't I please have a girl?

Unseen to her, the jade stone set in the amulet began to glow.

A mournful cry was heard in the distance. Terra looked up, towards the direction of the setting sun. There, backlit by the final fires of the dying light of dye, was a bat-like creature, flying in her direction.

She tensed up a moment. What the in the good name of God -- ?!!!

There was another cry, as the shape grew closer. It collapsed in a heap on the mountainside, with a grunt of pain. Terra gasped, and with a surge of adrenaline ran down the mountain path as quickly as her pregnant feet could carry her.

She rushed up to it and found... the most mysterious looking young man she'd ever seen in her life, bloodied, and laying in a heap. His skin was blue with brightly white hair. He had batlike wings on his shoulders, one of which he was laying on, struggling to breathe. He had fetlocks instead of feet, a muscular tail, his hands and toes only had four digits on them, and he bore a large circle of little pointed horns all around his brow. She took his head in her hands. "What's wrong? Can I help?"

"He'll... Kill me..."

"Who?"

"Sephlan."

"Can I help?" she asked. "Let me get you out of here."

He tried to say something, but she refused to listen. If he was being hunted, as he claimed, she needed to get him to safety. Without a thought for her own safety, she pulled the man up into her arms with the strength of a pregnant woman on a strong adrenaline rush. She took him to her small blue Chevy Malibu, and placed him on the passenger side. Without thinking of her painting or supplies, she put the car into gear, and drove down the mountain as quickly as the law allowed.

The gargoyle, as he called himself, slept for a few hours in her care, and then awoke and began to talk coherently. He had a variety of stab wounds through the flesh in his wings. She caressed his wounds gently, willing them to heal. For a moment, she could almost seem to feel a tingling energy spread from the amulet, through her body, and into the hurt creature's wounds. She whispered it would be alright, and sang to him. He was beautiful in a strange sort of way. There was something... right about what she was doing, that she simply couldn't place.

"It IS you." he said, looking coherently up at her.

"Yeah, last time I looked into the mirror I was me. Why - do I look different?" she smiled.

The gargoyle simply smiled. "I did not expect to survive this night."

"Why are you fighting this, Sephlan?"

"He means to destroy my clan - my family. I made a deal with him to fight me. If I lived through this night, he would leave us alone, and if I died he would have the clan to himself." he said.

"You tried to sacrifice yourself for them?"

"Yes - and now I've failed them. He'll return to the clan and claim I'm dead."

"Have you called the police?" she asked, as if there were nothing unusual about the situation.

He looked at her. "Look at me, and ask that again. Do I look like I could just stroll into a police station and ask for help? My kind are hated, feared, and hunted!"

She just blinked. "Why not? Have you tried asking them?"

He gave her the strangest look. "Are ye mad? If only other humans saw us that way."

"Appearances mean nothing to me, it's what's in the heart that counts." she said. "You're a man defending his family. That's what I see."

"If only there were more humans like you, then I might find some to help me defeat Sephlan."

"We'll you've got me. Michael is working late tonight, but when he gets home, he'll help to. That is, IF he doesn't stop to buy birthday presents..." she said the last part mostly to herself.

"When's your birthday?" he asked, smiling.

"In a few weeks. I'm turning the big three-oh."

"You don't look sixty." he smiled.

"You mean thirty, right?" Terra asked, really confused.

"Same thing." he sighed. "What's 60 years for me, is 30 years for you. We live quite a bit longer than you."

"I see. You're saying then, in your own way, is that I don't look my age?"

"Precisely! Although, you'd look a lot more beautiful with wings." he added.

"Let's not jump too far, big boy. I have a daughter of six upstairs, too."

"I meant nothing by it." he replied honestly. "For if I do not defeat that Fay Sephlan tonight, then I will truly be the last of my kind left in this world, and better off dead."

"Don't talk like that." Terra tried to encourage him. "What do you need?"

He shook his head. "I do not know. No weapon can kill an immortal Fay."

"Immortal?!!!" she exclaimed dubiously. "Look, maybe you'd better tell me a little more about yourself and Sephlan."

He did. He probably spent an hour doing it too! Terra listened closely to every detail. She was enraptured by his tale - a clan of refugees running from the world, and met with betrayal everywhere. It was pretty unbelievable... but then so was the monstrous thing that was telling the tale. Monster or no, Terra saw that he had a large heart, and in her mind that made him just like her. No one would ever change her mind of that.

"An elf, a fairy...unicorns..." Terra breathed the words to herself, thinking aloud. "Those kinds of creatures are only vulnerable to..."

"...to Iron." he completed her train of thought.

Terra snapped her fingers. "I have an idea. You're going to think I'm crazy, but wait just a second, and I think you'll see what I mean..."

Terra dashed up the stairs to young Christine's bedroom. She tried to do so quietly, but Christine turned over in bed and looked right at her mother. "Hi mom."

"Hi dearest. Can I borrow something?"

Christine shrugged. "Sure mom."

Terra walked over to the little girl's dresser, and selected a small metal bell from among a cluster of things. It tinkled merrily as she moved with it. Terra sat on the bed next to her daughter and kissed her on the forehead. She stroked her hair for a few moments. "Sleep tight, sweetheart." she told her, as she moved to the door to leave.

"I love you, mom." the little girl said as she turned over to go back to sleep.

"I love you too, sweetheart." she replied, closing the door. To herself, she added. "I'd fight for you too."

"A bell?" the gargoyle inquired.

"It's made of iron, therefore wouldn't that make it's very sound poisonous to him?" she asked. "Christine's grandmother gave it to her. Since it's iron and not glass, she hasn't managed to break it yet."

He smiled. "I like the idea, very creative!"

Terra snickered. "I liked the sound of it!"

Even the gargoyle couldn't resist a chuckle.

The hospital staff had been great, and Terra was SO glad to finally be leaving. Holding baby Matthew in her arms, Michael drove her home, showering her in kisses as they went along. Terra sighed contentedly to herself, "It was for moments like this, I was MADE to be a woman." She thought about the young boy in her arms. Oh well, she shrugged, I've already got ONE girl, it's only fair. Besides, who knows what the future might bring...

Once she was in home, and resting peacefully in bed with the baby at her side, Michael came in. "Something came for you while you were away. It was just... left in the mailbox. No address or anything - just your name was on it." Curious, she let Michael use a screwdriver to open it. There, inside was Christine's little iron bell - and a note.

Thank you for lending this to me, friend - your quick thinking saved my life - and my family. May yours grow without the difficulty and trials we've had. Remember to look at people for who they are inside, always. The world needs more people like you. We'll be nearby if you need us. Stay in touch.

- A Friend

Michael was impressed. "A bell?" he asked inquisitively.

Seven and a half years later.

May 27, 1991

The cave appeared dark and deserted, but Terra knew it was not the truth. She pushed aside the brush, and stepped inside, flipping on her flashlight.

"BOO!" said a friendly voice.

Terra flipped his nose with her finger. "Hah, nice try!"

There was a ring of ten or twelve creatures here, like her friend. Of course, none of them had names, but they all certainly looked very different from one another. There was even one member more to their number now than when she had first met them - an egg, which they said would hatch in a couple years or so.

"Eggs are very reliable." he expounded. "Always ten years - and it's not uncommon for it to be to the very night a decade after it was laid. Clockwork!"

"Well, Geez - that means my oldest would only been three years old!" she laughed.

Her old friend gargoyle smiled. "How's your boy?"

"Doing well! He doesn't have Chrissy's photographic memory, has some children getting along well with other kids in school, but he seems to have a better eye for fashion than I do!" Terra was struggling to laugh. "He asked me the other day why I didn't dress 'en vogue' with other women my age, and was making suggestions at ZCMI the day before last that I should wear. I may have a young male fashion consultant on my hands!"

Terra was silent for a moment, and both looked at the ground uncomfortably.

"I got your message." Terra finally said.

"I'm sorry, I know this will hurt you."

"Well, I can't be your mother." she tried to laugh, but it seemed to come out awkwardly. "No, if you need to go..."

"We feel it's what we need to do. Perhaps it's simply restlessness. You are a good person, Terra Shelton." he held her hands in his paws. "Don't ever stop being who you are. Please, try to understand. You've watched over and protected our clan for seven years. Gargoyles are supposed to be the protectors, but in today's world... we are the prey."

Terra sighed deeply. "Then I must change this world."

"Someday, I believe you will." he said. "I hope I will live to see the world that you create, for it is a place I want to live in."

Terra hugged her old friend tightly.

The following morning, Terra gathered up her purse and keys. She put her Violin in it's case, and slung it over her shoulder. She turned to Michael. "I need to visit my parents today, and I need to be able to get back up the canyon and home afterwards. Mind if I take the red car today?"

"Not at all." Michael said. "I'll see if I can find an eight barrel that runs better to put in the Chevy - one that doesn't have a cracked head, hopefully."

Terra kissed him. "See you this evening!"

"Momma!" Came little Christine's voice. "I found my undies in Matthew's room again!"

Terra looked at Michael and sighed. "Matthew's not very good at sorting the laundry yet. Help him out a little, ok Chrissy?"

She hung her head. "O-kay."

Terra bent over and kissed her child on the brow. "See you tonight, I gotta go down to Salt Lake. Love you, Chrissy."

Christine turned on her heel and ran back up to children's rooms.

Terra's visit with her parents was fairly uneventful. They were being taken care of in a home in the Salt Lake valley, because Terra and Michael could not afford the time or the money to watch them and still house and raise their family. Besides, the Josephsons had made it clear that they refused to make themselves a burden on the Shelton's very limited funds.

She thought about Matthew, as the red coupe worked it's way back up the wintery Interstate Eighty as rain began to fall - hopefully it would not fall any thicker! Matthew sure seemed to get into trouble a lot. He was always getting sent home from school from being in fights with other students. However, as Matthew told it, what the administrators called a fight, was more like a Matthew curling up into a ball and letting any number of boys punch him mercilessly. She knew the school officials did not like to play judge and jury, so it was considered as much Matthew's fault, and that made Terra angry. If Matthew was being tormented, then it was not his fault the school couldn't teach discipline and respect! The whole idea infuriated her. Why did they hate her son so much? Terra momentarily wondered if he would get along better in school if he had been born a girl like Terra had always wished?

The sound of a horn blared behind her. They'd reached a downhill part of the rolling mountain. The truck pulled his air horn over and over again. He was sure coming up on her awfully fast! She signaled to get out of his lane, but there was another tractor in front of her signaling to get over as well. She looked behind her to left her, and changed lanes. The semi in front of her also moved over at the same time, and suddenly cut back on his brakes. Terra slammed her brakes, and winced as taillight filled her windshield.

The car spun, and the world twirled dizzily in her view. The car was hydroplaning! Quickly she spun the wheel back around the way she was spinning, trying to regain control. She pumped the brakes. She heard the violin case lurch in the back seat.

The car stopped - finally. Terra shook her head. Her eyes were filled with headlights. The sound of an air horn pierced her ears. Terra screamed.

Oblivion.

She was running, as fast as her feet could take her. Signal flares had been set up in the rain, and police were signaling all the cars past them. The traffic had slowed to a halt, and this side of the canyon was nearly impassible. She found the nearest police officer, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "WHERE IS SHE?!!!"

"Excuse me miss! Who are you looking for?"

"Terra! The driver of the auto."

The officer pointed at an ambulance and a circle of police cars on the side of the road. "Someone jammed a penny into the trucker's air lines in just the right way so that they pressurized and released the brakes, but when he hit the brakes, and the air lines evacuated, the penny jammed itself over the piping, and the air in the trailer couldn't escape. He had lost his brakes and was out of control." The officers were saying to one another.

"Small and easy to hide."

"The brakes were sabotaged."

"Automotive homicide."

Homicide?

The police woman in the red hair pushed through all of those around the red coupe, and found herself eye to eye with the bloodied form of Terra Shelton.

"TERRA!" she shouted. "TALK TO ME!" she put her hands on Terra's face, willing her to live. She felt Terra's life slipping away.

Her eyelids fluttered once, and affixed themselves upon her. "S... Sharm?" she asked in weak voice, before her eyelids rolled back into her head once more, her head slumped, quivered once, and was still.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

2034

There were a lot of lights around them, a lot of plastic cupboards, and medical equipment. Tanya stirred slightly, looking around. It looked like the medical bay back their home in Salt Lake City. A man in a labcoat was drawing some kind of chemical into a needle. Tanya felt around for her weapon without moving too much and revealing she was awake. Her weapon was gone. That didn't matter much to her. She knew where there was one at home.

The medical person left the room for a moment. Tanya willed the weapon to come to her, and in a second or two, it was in her paw. She hid it underneath her. The man came back into the room in a moment.

She was on an examining table of some kind. There was also a table bearing Corala, and Tigris. Tigris's baby carrier was missing, she noticed. She looked around the room, and saw the small bananna-nut colored gargoyle baby, and the deep rose colored baby laying on a table next to where the medical person had been working.

What were they doing? Were they prisoners or lab rats? Did she want to know the answer? She was about to jump up and grab the baby, when the medical person tested the needle for air pockets, and then turned towards the gargoyle child.

Tanya's eyes immediately went red. "NO!" she shouted, and let go two shots from the weapon she had hidden underneath her.

There was a thud as she had toasted two holes in a Doctor Medre. She didn't particularly care who he was - only that he probably worked for the enemy, and Tigris wanted to know what he was going - and may already have - pumped her baby cousin full of. For that matter - perhaps they'd shot up each of them with some kind of heavy tranquilizer. Corala had awoken at the noise, and ran over to Tanya, not saying a word, but looking down at the doctor Tanya had shot.

"He was about to inject Daisy and Rose with something." Tanya explained. She handed the small device in her paw to her sister. It was a small black plastic thing with a metallic tip. It was a heat-based device, unlike the particle-beam weapons they had carried in here, and Christyne had made them very small. It was no more than five inches long, an inch wide, and half an inch tall. It tapered from the wide base where there was a single large button, to the metallic tip which had small jewel set in it. It was a laser that was aligned to fire exactly and precisely through the tip of the diamond. The diamond multiplied it's power a hundred fold, super heating the laser beam. It was the small sidearm that Christyne had mentioned before, that all the other adults carried after they turned 18 (by human standards).

Corala went over to Tigris. She tried, but could not wake her. Corala search Tigris's belt and found a small pouch, and inside it she found Tigris's version of the same heat laser.

"Oh yeah. I got the other one from home - under momma's pillow." Tanya blinked. "I forgot Tigris had one too. If they took our larger particle beam weapons, why didn't they take her small one?" she asked. The room only had one entrance, and so the two girls guarded it.

Corala shrugged. "Too small. Too different a shape than what humans are used to. They like them with barrels, handles, and triggers."

Tanya's eyebrow were worried. "I can't get Daisy and Rose to wake up either."

"They must have already pumped them full of something. They'd already put Daisy and Rose to sleep..."

"Then what is this other drug?" Tanya's eyes were wide with horror.

"Mother... where are you...?" she asked herself.

"Can't you get us out of here?"

"Sure!" she said. "The problem is - what about mom? If they can't move that door and get past the refinery guards, then she and the others can't get out without my help! We can't abandon her!"

Corala sighed. "Perfect."

"If you want to see your young friends or the pregnant one again, you will do exactly as I tell you." said a man in a hunter's suit, pointing a weapon at Erik. Mandy was crouched behind him, and there were several more suits behind the hunter pointing weapons at them.

Erik and Mandy set their weapons on the floor, and they were led out of their blocked hallway.

Like cattle, the six remaining warriors were gathered together, and chained. With Keturah this was difficult, as her wrists simply... didn't exist, sort of. The gave up on shackles and manacles, and used handcuffs - which adjusted better, and chained her feet together, and kept the weapons pointed towards her.

They were each successively disarmed, shuffled into a cage, and locked tight. The cage was built into the wall, and lined with the same apparent material that had been used on the front door, as Tutela tried to break through it, and quickly discovered she could not. Phantom snarled, and raced forward, only to find himself jolted as soon as he touched the bars. The human who had made to original demands and threats regarding the 'children', looked at Christyne with great contempt.

"Very interesting weapons. I shall enjoy taking them apart and learning how they work."

Christyne had shifted into her Malcora mode, and her eyes were ablaze. "I shall enjoy taking apart your skull and learning how your brain functions."

The humans looked at each other, laughing among themselves. "You have to reach me first."

"I'm just biding my time to learn what you've done with my children before I start dismembering your body." Christyne replied. "I suggest you run very quickly, before I decide to eat a little snack first."

The humans were laughing more. "That cage has enough energy in it to fry your gargoyle body to cinders. You are NOT invulnerable to our other weapons either." They hefted their laser weapons for effect.

Mandy nearly laughed. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch!"

Christyne smiled. "I like your thinking, Mandy."

Christyne and Phantom shared a silent conversation with their eyes.

"The bars, Phantom?" Christyne asked, bowing in a stately fashion.

"With pleasure, my lady wife." he replied in the same mockingly regal tone.

Phantom turned the bars, but did not touch them. A light wind rose in the room, and Phantom shifted... shimmered... becoming Arion. Christyne stepped forward, and took his hand, doing the same. Instead of two lead gargoyles facing the hunters, stood two fay, hanging in the air above the cage floor.

"You forget." Christyne said to them. "Electricity is just energy in another form."

Together Phantom and Christyne both stretched their arms out, near the bars. Without even touching the bars, electricity began to jump between them, growing in size, speed, and strength. Arion and Christyne began to glow brightly, their eyes shining like small mercury-vapor lamps. They were both laughing.

All at once, the two motioned forward with their arms, and the bars on the cage exploded in all directions. Christyne, still hanging in the air, bearing her membership in the Third Race all around her, she lanced the same shocks of electricity from her fingertips, electrocuting the humans in the room. Several more came into the room, firing laser weapons, but the two elven creatures brushed them aside as if their laser bolts were not more than mere flashes of light, where they would impact harmlessly against the cavern walls.

Phantom was paying direct attention to their leader, the one with all the flaunts and boasting. With one fist clenched, he created a straight beam of blazing electricity and drove it into the man's face like a sword. He screamed in terror, his hair on fire, and his skin beginning to roast.

The two fay stopped their attack, and looked around. Several of the humans ran away in frightened terror. Their leader groaned.

Christyne became her gargoyle self again, and picked up the man gruffly. "Pathetic little man! Still laughing now? What have you done with my children?!!!"

He groaned pitifully, but refused to say. "You'll never find out, will you. You'll never know if they're alive or dead!"

Arion and Christyne was infuriated, and began to blast him again with sheer energy. He howled again in under her torture. Tutela and the others followed them out of the cage, and hollered at the couple. "STOP IT! This accomplishes nothing!"

They stopped, but were still angry. Christyne picked up one of her weapons from where the humans had dropped it. She pointed it at the head of the human she had been torturing a moment before. "Who's laughing now?"

The human was not laughing, but seemed on the verge of tears.

"You want a war, I'll give you a war. I don't know what these new inventions of yours are, but I intend to find out, with or without your help." she told him.

The furious salmon-colored gargoyle, still holding the human in one paw, and her weapon in the other, she went down the corridor that the humans had used to lead them to this area.

"I don't see why you didn't do that before." Mandy said to her.

"I didn't think of it. Malcora kinda takes over at times. Blood of Fey or not, I'm still a gargoyle at heart."

"Old habits die hard, eh? I'll remember that the next time you start transforming things for fun."

"Even after having been a fay for almost a quarter century now. I still amaze myself with what I can do sometimes." she smiled, laughing at her former captor for effect. "You hunters will regret tangling with us ever again!"

"You filthy, ugly beasts!" shouted the human in her grip.

Christyne rolled her eyes and smacked him across the face with the back of her hand. "Keep quiet and do as I tell you and I might not eat you."

It was about this time that Christyne led them to the craft they were building. Christyne nodded in satisfaction, and teasingly ran her talon's across it's surface. It was made of the same material as the door and the cage had been. Technicians, mechanics, and other civilians scattered in all directions as the gargoyles stuck together, guarding Christyne's back. She led them up the gangplank and on board the craft, and still holding her hostage with her, closed the hatch behind her.

"We should be safe here for a while. Phantom, help me." she directed.

Phantom took Christyne's hostage, and began to familiarize him with the business end of Phantom's sidearm. Christyne sat down at various computer consoles and began to punch up data.

"Hah! I was right! They're construction is basically complete except for some minor details, and they've already conducted some pre-launch test flights." she read aloud. Mandy leaned over her shoulder, listening. "It's VTOL, and features those two large weapons arrays on the sides. They are based on particle-beam weaponry, relatively dated technology now, as far as I care. What interests me is this metal they've developed. It's pretty thin, light weight, and withstands a gargoyle's claws. It lined the cage and the door to the cave."

"What's it made of?" Mandy inquired.

"Almost pure carbon! These sons of bitches stole my idea! What - do they have keys to the patent office too? They used a serious almost pure linked carbon super-molecules. It's bullet proof, flexible, and a can be made into wiry strands, to make nets that they wanted to use to capture us that we couldn't break through. This would be a great way for me to make tubing for my anti-matter experiments..."

"How does that help us find my love?" Erik interrupted her.

"You're absolutely right. I'll have to save this for later. There's an abandoned medical facility in a town not too far from here, that where they took the children. They want to interrogate them!" Christyne shouted this last bit in shock. "Those sons of...!!!"

"For what?"

Christyne snarled to herself, eyes ablaze. "I don't care! Everyone strap yourself in. Time for a flight this ship will never forget! Phantom, I need you up here."

Tutela took the human next, as Phantom went up to the front of the craft near Christyne. The interior was fairly small, and so the others were a little cramped on the inside.

"I can't get through their access code to open the door." Phantom reported.

"Who needs an access code?" Christyne sneered. With a blast of superheated gas, all the armed humans surrounding the craft waiting for them to emerge, were suddenly looking for cover, and cursing very colorfully. The craft hovered in the air, directly facing the large hangar door. It's weapons arrays came to life, as bolts of red light were emitted from the fingertips of the dishes towards the device on the end of the long boom, where the beams coalesced, and fired as one.

Outside, the wall of a sand stone cliff and metal door crumbled to the ground and Christyne punched her way through it. "There's a taste of your own medicine." she smiled to herself.

"I'm with Phantom - why wasn't it coated with that same impenetrable substance that they used on the door - and the side of the cage?" Ket asked.

"Why? Think like one of them. The door was intended to hold us out, not keep us in. Once they'd captured us, lock us in their cage. Where does the hangar door come into this? We didn't even know where to look for it from the outside." Christyne explained.

With a whine, the engines roared to life. Weapons fire was heard from outside, as the human attempted to shoot down the ship.

"Go ahead and shoot, you ninnies. Look what you've created." she sneered.

Their weapons ricocheted off the black material harmlessly.

A beeping noise filled their ears. Tutela looked down at her captive. A small device on his wrist was beeping. Tutela motioned for him to go ahead and deal with the device. He pressed it. "Commander! Are you alright?"

"Safe enough for the moment, though I'm going to need a serious haircut. And I'm not eating roast beef for quite some time, mind you."

"Yessir. We've lost containment at the medlab, apparently the original stunning device was not nearly as effective as we had calculated!" the voice on the line reported.

Christyne smiled coyly, but the gargoyles were silent. Tutela just motioned with her weapon for him to continue talking. He panicked for a moment, unsure as to what to say.

"You mean we've lost complete control of the situation?"

"I've already lost three of my men, and Dr. Medre."

"Didn't you take their weapons?"

"Of course, but somehow they have obtained two small super-heated laser devices. They don't look like anything from the medlab."

"You fools! You didn't search them properly!"

Tutela found the whole conversation mildly amusing, and just smiled. Phantom leaned over to Christyne. "Looks like they're using your stash from home."

Christyne whispered back. "Why don't they find safe cover someplace?"

"Worried about us." he answered.

"Hang tight, sir." said the voice on the other end of the line. "We'll have you out of there soon enough."

At this point Tutela flicked a switch on the comm device, and the conversation was abruptly ended. "I don't think so." so smiled.

Christyne beamed. "Hey -- what can I say? They're JUST like they're mother!"

Several suits were busily cleaning up the medlab after the departure of their former captives and the security people had gone running after them. Now the bodies were being attended to. The lab was a mess - bullet holes in the walls, tables overturned and used as shields, everything seemed to be in disarray.

Just when the cleanup people felt they were getting a handle on the damage, a rumble began to fill the air. They heard the sound of a jet engine, and a loud sound of a laser letting go.

However, Christyne had aimed her shot specifically so that it would miss the building, but shake everybody up a bit. "That ought to get everybody's attention."

However, that was the second that her monitors lit up, and Tanya's face appeared. She had bruises on her face, and Corala was next to her, in a similar predicament. "Momma?"

"Tanya! Where are you? Are you okay?"

"She's fine." came the male human's voice they had heard earlier on their leader's comlink. "And if you want to see them again alive, you'll hand over the ship and Corporal Tanner, and come peacefully."

Christyne tracked the transmission. She scowled. Phantom and she exchanged a serious look. "Fine, I'll play your game. First thing this evening." she lied, and Phantom closed the transmission.

Tutela's captive laughed. "Hah! You're a fool! You'll never survive! You mangy dogs!"

Phantom took Tutela's weapon and blasted three times in their captive's skull. "I'm sick of hearing his voice. If they want him, they can have him."

In the center of the redrock desert, near Shiprock, New Mexico, rises a 1,500 foot edifice of nature's majestic beauty. The Tse Bida'hi is composed of numerous spires of stone clustered together into the shape of a mountain. After awaking from stone, Christyne looked at it, pensively.

"How appropriate - Winged Rock. Legend says that a Navajo tribe was lifted to safety during a battle with an enemy tribe when the mountain 'grew wings' and caarried them to safety. Funny, Tse Bida'hi sounds exactly like one of us."

"Yeah, especially the 'grew wings' part." Keturah laughed.

The humans could see them coming, because they knew from which direction to expect the jet. It circled once, and from it's door each of the gargoyles leaped free. Confused, the humans held their captives tighter, waiting to see what was going to happen. Tanya hoped she wasn't stupid enough just to give the ship back to them.

The gargoyles had all taken to the wing, plus Keturah, and one human carried by one of the male gargoyles. They each came screaming towards the mountain as the abandoned jet with the impenetrable skin veered, lurched, and plunged into the valley below, exploding a ball of flames.

There was a scuffle, Tanya's captors were going to dispatch their captives. A burst of flames appeared, and one of the humans screamed. The scream alerted the gargoyles, who cried battle yells and dove in that direction. Tanya reappeared nearby, pulling herself free of the gag and chains that had been used on her. "MOTHER!" she shouted. "I'M WITH YOU!"

Laser fire began on both sides. Christyne was not fool enough to play by their rules. Tanya led them straight towards a cleft in the mountainside between a cliff and a spire, where Corala and Tigris were still chained. The gargoyles glided in formation, like an arrowhead, straight in the direction Tanya indicated.

The gargoyles attacked, dodging laser fire, and finally tackling the humans to the ground. Erik was immediate in dispatching the bonds on the gargoyle captives, who tore free the remaining impediments. Corala was met by Tutela, and the very pregnant Tigris was met by her mate, who embraced her. "Where are my babies?" she looked around.

Christyne stood with one foot on top of one of the humans she had tackled. "You wanted your craft, you have it. You may have made it's skin impenetrable, but it's frame was not made of it, and it crumbled like tinfoil. Where is your leader?"

"He was with you! You were supposed to return him!"

"I did. He was in the craft." she snarled angrily.

"You animals! You'll never get away with this! We will hunt down and destroy every last one of you!!!" he shouted. Rolling once, he managed to free himself from Christyne's pinning, and ran. Christyne chased him, weapon in hand, and clan in pursuit.

All at once there was the sound of a baby crying. "DAISY! ROSE!" Tigris pleaded with desperation, but it was already too late. "MY BABY!"

There the hunter stood, weapon in one hand, and in the other he cradled a bundle of cloth with two screaming gargoyle nurslings, who cried so loudly your ears hurt. "Stay back! I can at least have the satisfaction of knowing that two of your kind are dead!"

"NEVER!" Christyne snarled, and took careful aim at the human's head. He rolled, and began to run.

"DAISY! ROSE! STOP! DAISY! NO! ROSE! PLEASE, DON'T HURT HER! PLEASE!" Tigris begged pleaded hysterically, and tried to run after them, but Erik and Tutela held her arms back. She pulled and pulled against them, trying to reach her nurselings.

"Murderer! How noble is your cause when you use innocent children?" Christyne shouted, following the human around a corner and into a dry gully between two spires. The human was trapped, and turned to face Christyne. He came rushing at her, pointing his weapon at her. Daisy wailed with an ear-spitting cry. In self defense Christyne tried to aim at him before he opened fire on her, and pulled the trigger.

Tigris and the others watched with horror. Christyne's laser never reached it's target, but in a burst of fire and blood, little Daisy screamed one last time and died. Her little body exploded, and little shards of bluestone began to rain down on the ground. Rose fell to the ground, whole, intact, and still wailing, among the stone dust that had been her little sister moments before.

The human made a dive to get past them, but was body-tackled by Mandy. Tutela was there right behind her, and together - with a few well-placed punches, his weapon was on the ground, and the two held him as a captive. Erik, eyes wide with disbelief and forming tears, let go of Tigris and fell to his knees. Tanya leapt forward and plucked poor Rose off the ground, checked her for anything broken, and tried to quiet her down.

Tigris let out an inhuman wail, and collapsed into a sobbing heap, screaming unintelligible sounds over and over again.

"You will all perish! We will see to it every single one of your kind is wiped off the face of the earth!!!" shouted the human at his captor.

Christyne roared with fury, her eyes crimson. "DON'T YOU GET IT?!!! YOU ARE JUST LIKE HITLER AND THE NAZI'S FROM ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO! YOU MURDER AN ENTIRE RACE AND CALL IT 'ETHNIC CLEANSING'! YOU ROUND UP AND MERCILESSLY MURDER ANY PERSON YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO FRIGHTENED TO UNDERSTAND THEM! I AM YOUR NEMESIS! I PROTECT AND DEFEND THOSE WHO ARE DIFFERENT! THIS ROCK - THE TSE BIDA'HI WAS THE HOME OF NAVAJO INDIANS BEFORE IT BELONGED TO THE YANKEES, AND WHAT DID WE DO AS AMERICANS? WE DROVE MILLIONS OF INDIANS TO EXTINCTION, IN THE GREAT AMERICAN HOLOCAUST CALLED THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF TEARS! YOU ARE BULLIES, AND I AM JUSTICE! I WILL NEVER ALLOW ANOTHER HOLOCAUST TO OCCUR, BE IT JEWS, INDIANS, PAGANS, MORMONS, GARGOYLES, OR ANY OTHER! YOU ARE DEATH, I AM LIFE! LIFE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH - IT WILL ALWAYS PREVAIL!" She screamed. Her fay voice began to take over, and her words echoed for miles. She threw the human on the ground in anger, and kicked him once in the head to make sure he was out for the count, leaving little trickles of blood behind. Hoisting her weapon she turned to other humans who had come to try and rescue the comrade.

"Who's next?" Phantom asked them.

Erik, wide-eyed, settled his paws into the fine dust and the bluestone shards that stood out in start contrast against the redrock all around them. He leaned his head back towards the sky and screamed towards the newly rising moon. Christyne fell to her knees at his side, threw her wings wide, and joined his cry.

Stone to Stone, Dust to Dust. From the Stone were we created, To the stone we must return.

Several Weeks Later

A dark cloud hung over the house in Salt Lake City, from which thing never really seemed to recover. Christyne kept herself locked away in her and Phantom's room, and Phantom was really the only one who ever saw her. Phantom said she cried a lot, but said little, only that she blamed herself - if only her aim had been a little better. If only she'd thought with her head instead of her instincts.

Tigris cried a lot too, and became sick for a time with an illness no amount of stone sleep during the day could cure. Erik struggled to be strong and hold her up, but he was too sensitive to the pain himself, and often time would be seen taking long walks or glides with just him and his tears.

The stone and dust remains of Erik and Tigris's fourth child were placed in a small child size gold casket, and brought home, and with Mandy's helped, a secret burial was arranged next to the bodies of the human Christine and Terra Shelton, and Terra's parents, the Josephsons.

Daisy Avalon

December 13, 2023

- April 24, 2034

Daughter of Arion and Christine Phantom

Murdered by hatred and racial prejudice.

There seemed to be one other tragedy, and his name was Michael. Upon hearing the news, he too said very little to anyone. Finally, after a few weeks of this, Tutela seated herself near Michael.

"Talk to me." she said.

There was a long pause, while she waited.

"Are we still married?" he asked.

Tutela's expression remained unchanged. "I married for eternity, not 'until death do you part'."

"Then perhaps you should arrange it before I die." Michael said.

Tutela shook her head. "Why?"

"I was the one who gave them the password to crack the computer system, allowing them to steal Christyne's C-60 research. It was many years ago, before I became sick and realized what I was doing." he confessed. "That's why I wanted you to stop what they had created with that knowledge."

C-60 was an idea that Mandy had first suggested when Christyne had first become a gargoyle, noting that gargoyles bore talons that cut stone and steel alike. For such a material to be grown by a carbon-based lifeform, Mandy deduced, it must be some kind of organic material. Christyne would later perform extensive research on the compound that made up a gargoyle's talons. Using spectral analysis and mass spectronomy, Christyne learned that the major building block was an organic super-molecule or tightly interlocking carbon atoms in a formation that theoretic chemists had already dubbed "The Bucky Ball". It's closest relation was the diamond, which had a similar tightly interlocking structure of carbon atoms, but it was not a perfect crystal - C-60 was a perfect crystal. Because the atoms interlocked so tightly, in such perfect formation, anything made of the substance was bullet-proof and strong as diamonds.

Christyne, however, did not see it's usefulness as a weapon. Crystals of C-60, when the atoms are linked together with Potassium Ions were perfect room-temperature superconductors, and Christyne was able to construct her massively powerful hand-held supercomputers. Computers were her fascination, and had moved on to using computers to construct spells from the ground up, and had even begun to move into the lofty realms of theorizing about the origins of matter and energy having a single common root, work done right up there with Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

This, of course, made it easy to allow the Hunters to spend the intervening years designing C-60 as a weapon. Fortunately, to date, while Christyne had closeted herself inside her lab, she had already not only reproduced the C-60 plating the hunters had used, but had learned it's vulnerabilities. Her small heat based diamond-tip lasers, because their light was focused using the carbon atoms of the diamond at it's tip, made it the perfect tool for cutting the C-60 plating.

Tutela considered the implications. "I'm sorry to say this Michael, but if that's the case, then the death of your granddaughter Daisy rests on your head, and you must apologize to Tigris, Erik, and Christyne, who blame themselves."

One by one, with Michael on his deathbed, apologized to each of them, very genuinely, finally apologizing to the whole family together. Tigris's tears were not abated, but she forgave him - taking a dying man's last words as the truth. Michael finally passed on in August, and once again the gargoyles arranged for a nighttime funeral, where Michael was buried next to the body of Terra.

Michael Joshua Shelton

September 30, 1952

- August 3, 2034

Devoted husband, Loving father

May your soul find peace.

September 2, 2034

At Christyne's insistence, Tigris and Erik were not to return to their home in Olympia, Washington until after Tigris delivered. The couple had graduated from college in the year 2026, and according to the Unicorn's word, they had become ordinary gargoyles from that day forward, not returning to their human illusions during the daylight hours. However, they still had the control to use those forms if they wished. The couple had made many friends during their years in school, and looked forward to seeing them again at their ten year reunion in 2036.

Tigris, with a lot of loving support from her family and her lover and mate Erik, finally seemed to rise above her depression, finally able to put her loss behind her, and to place her emphasis back on her other three children. It had not been easy, but she'd finally moved on. Christyne felt especially bad for her sister, because her children were full-blooded children of the Third Race, and were - in the end - immortal. She felt her sister's mortality keenly, like a thorn in her heart, but she refused to put Tigris and her children through what she had been through to get where she was. Such was the curse of immortality.

Tigris entered her final trimester, and lost a lot of her strength. Christyne and the others did their best to keep her fed, but it was in the hands of time now.

"Will I loose this one?" Tigris inquired of her elder sister.

Christyne lay down on the bed next to her sister, comforting her. While Tigris was on bed rest, Christyne spent time with her this way to keep her company, and to hold up her spirits. Their tails looped around one another, a sign of the sister's affections for one another. "What makes you ask that?" she inquired. "I don't see any problems. You lost a lot of strength last time. Besides, the bed rest has been good for you and you didn't deliver premature."

"You once foresaw I had four eggs, remember?"

"Yes."

"Before Daisy was slain, I had four hatchlings, and one egg. When this is over, I'll have two eggs and three children. Could I been doomed to loose another of my children?"

"I doubt it. I think the foreseeing was just to show me that you were a true woman, and had a future as a mother, so I doubt the numbers were too important. You create your own destiny, you know. When I see the future, I see only a possibility. Besides, Maybe I was only seeing the first four, not knowing that there were more to come." she explained. "I was simply trying to tell you that the first four were to be females."

Tigris and Erik had laid Jasmine, Magnolia, Rose, and Daisy all within a short period of time between their marriage in 2020 and December of 2023. The couple had been so desperately happy together, wanting so much to have children, that they hardly waited for Tigris to menstruate a couple times began they started over. However, after Daisy had been laid, they slowed down, taking Christyne's example of once every few years.

"I've finally seen them, do you want to know what colors they are?"

"Yes! More girls?"

"More girls. If it weren't for Indiana, I'd think our family was cursed or something."

"I worry about that poor little boy yours, Chrissy." Tigris admitted. "Maybe he'll turn out like me."

"Oh, I hope not. I'll encourage him to learn sensitivity, but I will NOT encourage him towards anything he isn't. I really don't know if he is or not, I haven't seen that."

"However, if he is, promise me you'll at least teach him that it's okay if he needs to, when he's old enough to make that decision." Tigris requested.

Christyne nodded. "Of course. I'm more worried about the reverse, though - one of our girls becoming a lesbian, or needing to become a boy."

"I doubt it. Being truly gay is rare, and transsexual even more so - one in 300,000 gargoyles." she smiled. "I think I've outdone the numbers for our families."

Christyne laughed a little at this remark. She put her hands over Tigris's eyes. "Let's hope so. Can you see them now?" Christyne closed her eyes and cast a little spell.

"Yes."

"This is the one in the rookery now."

"Marigold. Marigold would be a good name for her." Tigris thought aloud.

When Christyne and Phantom had named their children for the oceans of the world, Erik and Phantom started a tradition. After their first child hatched, her light blue coloring reminded Tigris of a Jasmine flower, and that was where little Jasmine got her name. Each of their children seemed to follow a pattern of pastel colors like their mother, so the tradition stuck.

"Don't decide right away - you've got time yet before she hatches." Christyne cautioned. "And this is the girl you carry now."

Tigris sighed. "I'll need to think about her name."

"I've seen that color before." Christyne noted. "The flower was called Portula."

"Portula." Tigris tested the name on her lips. "Interesting."

Christyne lifted her fingers. From her sister's eyes. "So... can I get you anything?"

Tigris looked at her with pleading eyes. "Do you know how much I MISS a cheeseburger?"

Christyne laughed. "Now THAT I can do, if you promise to eat it."

"Promise."

Christyne shifted, and became her college-student self, shocked in the most atrocious fluorescent pink hair. "Back in a flash."

Tigris lay back, looking up at the ceiling, her paw once again exploring her girth. There were no bumps, no kicks, no movement she could feel. While disconcerting, it was a good thing - it meant that the shell was forming around her baby to protect it until it hatched in another ten years. Rose began to squall and wail from her crib, so Tigris found herself having to roll over and fish her out - thank goodness Mrs. Loco Scientifico had made that crib only waist-high, Tigris smiled to herself. Rose did her job, and immediately set about feeding herself. Rose was almost weaned, but since Tigris's body didn't seem to know Daisy was gone, and so her breasts were in pain a lot of the time. Tigris welcomed a little relief now and then from Rose, even if Rose was starting to prefer the bottle.

She turned over the image of her child, as Christyne had shown her, in her mind's eye several times. The foreseeing saw a child of eight who bore the star on her brow that her mother did - marking her ascension to that of Unicorn. Now that she thought about it, Tigris was glad she was having girls, because what would she do with a boy?

They had decided that when the children turned the age of decision, eight years old, they would be introduced to their Unicorn heritage, which is when they would take the form for the first time, and learn from Tigris's mentor - the Night Angel of Olympia. From that time forward, they would bear their mother's mark - a silver star on their brow that marked the place of their horn.

How would she handle a boy, if she had one? He would feel left out, that was for sure. He would never bear that mark - only a female could be a Unicorn, that was just the way things worked, and as much as Tigris hated that, there was nothing Tigris or anyone else could do to change that. Tigris remembered how she had felt as a young man, Matthew, watching other girls getting pampered by boys, or by their parents, just for the sake of their womanhood. It was a jealousy that had eaten young Matthew alive. She did not wish to cast her boy into that same curse.

Tigris groaned, and clutched her middle, wondering how much longer it would be. Was it her imagination, or was it hot in here?

Christyne reappeared with a "Burger King" bag under her arm, and she shifted back to her normal gargoyles self with the flashy pink hair. "Sorry about that, there was another one of those 'Jesus Jumpers' at the BK - holding up everything - proclaiming that Jesus was STILL coming and everything... You okay? You don't look too hot."

Tigris gave her that LOOK. "I'm pregnant, Christyne."

She laughed. "Yes... VERY VERY pregnant, I'd say."

Tigris sighed, and changed sides with Rose. "How much longer must I endure this agony?"

"Until you're delivered, and that's final. Hey, you're the one that wanted breasts so badly, now look at you. It's like SARK says - 'Breasts are like pets - they're nice to have sometimes, but you're the one who has to take care of them.'"

Tigris had asked Chrissy once before if she should take something to stem the flood of milk her body was producing, but Chrissy had outright refused to give her anything of the sort until after her egg was lain.

"Very deep. There's a section for that in... UNGH!!!" Tigris grunted, she squeezed her eyes shut, and then moaned.

Christyne looked at her. "You okay?"

"Fine... Chrissy... Fine... My water just broke."

Christyne shifted to elven form, and touched a small button on her desk keypad. "Mother? Would you join me in the infirmary? Phantom dear? Could you take the Erik and the kids for a glide or something?"

Christyne took the blankets Tigris was laying on, and in them carried Tigris down the hall to another chamber, and flicked the lights on. Mandy and Tutela came in. "What's the matter, Tigris?"

Tigris groaned again, breathing laboredly. "It's called a contraction, dipshi**!"

Mandy whistled. She never heard Tigris openly curse except for one time - whenever she was in labor. "How can we help?"

Erik didn't listen to Christyne's instructions. He knew better. He and Tigris had done this a few time before, and he knew when to put his foot down. While Phantom and Ket watched the others, Erik went to the infirmary to hold his mate's hand.

Tigris was already laid out with her legs in the air, and when Erik insisted on being there for Tigris, Christyne laid out a sheet for his sake, but he turned to face his lover's eyes, and concentrate on her.

"Will the fetus be alright?" he asked.

Christyne was determined. "If I have anything to do with it. I can invent great weapons, but I need to make up somehow for my lack of ability to aim."

Erik and Tutela exchanged a look - she was taking this all very personally.

"Calmly, dear. This has nothing to do with you." Tutela encouraged her. "We've all done this before."

"Don't you ever get tired of being down here watching the eggs?" Keturah inquired.

Xylanamalthiatibia shrugged. "I am an immortal. I enjoy the task that Arion has asked of me, and I do it with joy. Arion is not fool - he asked me to guard the youth of his family - and a family is eternal if it's children are protected. I for one never had family until Arion. It is a very wonderful feeling." she smiled in a kind, motherly way, as Christyne and Erik found a soft place among the ferns and other greenery of the rookery to lay the egg. It was a pristine milky white. It's natural camouflage would develop within the first couple of weeks.

Satisfied it would not shift about, Christyne stood and considered the egg. "I'll bet you I could design a plexiglass shell that uses C-60, and make it a mesh that we can use as an added layer of protection for the eggs, that would still allow to eggs to breathe as needed." she said, looking at Xylanamalthiatibia.

"Why?"

"I'm a gargoyle - I worry if they'll be protected. After all, before too much longer they expect a major quake in this area, and I don't want to risk the rookery."

Xylanamalthiatibia smiled. "I will not let anything happen, but if it helps alleviate your worries, you can count on my help."

She petted the dragon's ears. "Thanks Xylana."

Erik turned to another part of the rookery, where hidden among the fronds was another egg, it's camouflage long since in place. With a tender smile, Erik turned the egg, stopped to rub it's surface for several moments.

The children were allowed to come in and look. Tigris wanted the rookery to be a sacred and special place, not an embarrassment to them. However, right now Tigris slept like she were stone in the upper chambers. Tutela helped some of the children up to the basins were the plant life grew that filled the rookery and exchanged air with the eggs. It was not necessary of course, to have the plant life, but the little ecosystem that Christyne had produced just seemed like the right thing for their clan's rookery. Better than a cold basement or a storage closet. Besides, all the eggs that had come to term in their rookery thus far had all hatched, and none had died - it was a good record so far, and one that Christyne wanted to keep.

Demeter, Lysander, and a few others came to visit from the Miniclan to see Tigris and her new egg. When they learned about the death of little Daisy, they chose to stay a while and spend time with their friend. They seemed to know when they needed one another.

Tutela couldn't help but smile. Two deaths had darkened things in their two clans, but the laying of another egg was something so bright and happy that it seemed to blow all the dark clouds away. Christyne had been right - though you can never have on without the other, life was ever so much more powerful than death.