"What is to be done with Coldsteel?" Ophelia asked, "Will he be imprisoned here in the castle?"
"It matters not where his vessel is kept," Coldstone told her, "Only that it is rendered completely harmless and unable to interact with the world."
"So…kill him?" Broadway replied in an incredulous voice, "Basically?"
"No," Coldstone replied in a voice devoid of any emotion, "It is worse than mere death. When a mortal body dies, its soul is freed from it and passes to the next realm. But Demona's spell left our souls unnaturally bound to these lifeless vessels. If they are broken or dismantled, our souls remain trapped within. Even if destroyed beyond any function or recognition, our souls would still be forever bound to them."
The clan let this terrible thought settle.
"Is there no way to reverse the spell?" Angela asked once the chilling moment had passed.
"The living part of Coldstone's face grimaced in regret as his mechanical voice lamented.
"With both the sorceress and the source of her power destroyed, I can see no way."
"There is a way," Brooklyn argued, "We will find it. But in the meantime, I am not convinced that we have the right to use it against Coldsteel's will. And we do not destroy our own. We will keep him here in the castle, as if he were a living prisoner. Xanatos designed his body. I'm sure he will know how to de-weaponize it."
Lexington nodded eagerly at this statement.
"I've spent a lot of time studying Coldsteel's plans. It would be easy to leave him enough of a body to function and communicate, while still rendering him harmless to the clan."
"You don't understand," Coldfire told him sadly, "Coldsteel's most terrible weapons are neither physical strength, nor blades, nor laser beams. Our brother is truly a force of evil. If you had witnessed what we saw as we sought him! The devastation he left in his wake!"
"Tell us," Brooklyn asked.
Coldstone shook his head.
"Coldsteel has lost everything that gives a life value," he explained, "So he wanders restlessly. He knows no love. He senses no pleasure. He has no hope for the future. Even with the freedom and power to do whatever he likes without fear of pain or death, he can find no contentment anywhere in this world. Because he has rejected his own nature, in turn, nature has rejected him.
But everywhere he looks, there is joy which he can never touch. He resents it. He despises it. He cannot tolerate it. And wherever he finds it, he seeks to destroy it from within."
"How?" chorused several of the clan members.
"By corrupting weak spirits with doubt, fear, resentment, and rage," Coldfire told them, "He uses deception to turn virtuous people to destruction and murder. He delights in the carnage he can manipulate others into pertetrating. Then, when his victims are either dead or completely broken, he moves on to find his next campaign of misery and destruction."
"So you see, my brother," Coldstone continued, "Coldsteel must be kept completely incapacitated. He must no longer be allowed to manipulate and destroy others, especially within the clan. I know it seems a cruel and unnatural punishment, but it is the fate he has chosen for himself. If Xanatos or some other sorcerer can find a way to reverse Demona's spell and free his wicked spirit to whatever fate awaits him beyond this realm, then so be it. But until that time, this is the only way."
The room remained quiet for sometime after Coldstone finished speaking. Orion glanced at Sister, who was curled up under Angela's wing. She caught Orion's gaze and he could tell that they were both equally disappointed in how this adult meeting had turned out. The things they spoke of were dark and disturbing, but Orion was still glad he had heard them. Even if it was something as terrible as this, he wanted to know what was going on within the clan. It was better to know the truth, Orion reasoned, than to see the grownups worried faces all the time and to only be able to imagine what horrible things were troubling them.
Finally, after giving the matter consideration, Brooklyn spoke.
"Of course, Goliath will have the final decision when he returns," he told the clan, "But in the meantime, Lexington and Xanatos will work on fully incapacitating Coldsteel and he will be stored under tight security."
"Brooklyn…?"Angela asked in a pleading voice.
"It's a temporary solution," he assured them, "But it will keep the clan safe for now until we determine what our options are."
"I do not believe there is a better solution to find," Coldstone told him honestly and sympathetically, "But I'm glad you will heed our warning and keep the clan safe for now."
Brooklyn nodded his thanks.
"It's about time for our late patrol," Brooklyn observed, "Let's get him locked down and get ready to go out."
As he stood, he caught sight of Orion on the floor.
"You have school in the morning," he observed, "And you haven't slept a bit."
"Yeah, I know," Orion replied self-consciously, "I'll go to bed soon."
"School?" Coldfire asked in surprise.
"Yeah" Orion explained sheepishly, "I turn into a human during the day and that means that I can go to school with human kids."
"How is this possible?" Coldfire asked, "Is it sorcery?"
"No, no!" Orion stuttered, seeing the look of alarm rising on Brooklyn's face, "It's not sorcery! It's pure magic and I was born with it. My biological mother has-"
"It's alright, Ori," Brooklyn interjected sternly, "I'll explain it all. You get your rest."
"Okay," Orion replied, uncertain if he'd done something wrong or not, "Goodnight, clan!"
The clan bid him goodnight and he headed out into the hallway that led to the dining room, where he was surprised to find Sister, who hushed him frantically as he approached. Curiously, he crept beside her and they both peeked around the corner to where Angela and Broadway had relocated. Orion felt a pang of sorrow as he recognized Angela, sobbing as Broadway held her in a tight embrace.
"How could she do this to them?" they heard her whisper in a voice filled with bitterness and sorrow, "She, of all people, should have known the cruelty of such a fate! How could she?!"
Angela's face was hidden in her mate's strong shoulder, but the young ones could see that he was helpless to offer a response and could only console her with his embrace and gentle kisses. Sister pulled Orion's arm and led him down the corridor with large arches overlooking the courtyard, then drew him into the stairwell that led to the rookery.
"I hate her!" she spat angrily.
"She's gone though," Orion pointed out pragmatically.
"Good. I don't care. I still hate her."
Orion put his arm around her shoulder sympathetically.
"If Brooklyn would let me learn sorcery," she pointed out, "I could reverse the spell on them."
"Maybe, but then they'd be dead. What good would that do?"
"They wouldn't be trapped in robots for the rest of time, unable to feel anything!"
"But at least they have each other now," Orion pointed out, "And they have the clan."
Sister's eyes widened as if she'd just thought of something horrible.
"What about when we're all dead?" she demanded, "And they're just stuck to a hunk of metal, all alone, forever?"
"Well, suppose they make new friends?" Orion suggested and Sister rolled her eyes at him.
"What about when the earth gets so close to the sun that it can no longer sustain any life?!" she continued.
"Well, I don't know!" Orion admitted, wishing his sister didn't have to be so overdramatic.
Sister's eyes narrowed as she seemed to consider this problem.
"Are you coming to the rookery?" she asked him in a sudden change of topic.
"I was going to Adelpha's room," he told her, "She's been in there all night and I thought I'd sleep in there this morning and keep her company."
"Alright," Sister replied, "I'm going to get my gear on. Brooklyn said I could go on the late patrol tonight."
They said their goodnights and Orion started down the stairs toward Adelpha's room.
Adelpha was the only member of the clan that had her own room. This was most likely because, until Orion was born, she was the only member of the clan that required a bed to sleep in, though she just as often passed out on one of the sofas in the rookery. Orion couldn't really blame her. The rookery was a beautiful, comfortable space filled with bright colors and pleasant textures. During the day, the sun streamed through the skylights on the ceiling and filled the space with light. Adelpha's bare, windowless room felt like a cold, lonely monastic cell in comparison.
Other than her own bed, the only furniture was a daybed with a rollout, where Orion recalled sleeping when he was quite small, and a card table with a few chairs. The only book she kept was a worn copy of a children's book for young gargoyles. It contained pictures and information about various rituals that their ancestors performed and Orion found it quite dull. The only toy in the room was a comical, stuffed penguin that held a felt sign that read 'Welcome Home'. It was hardly Adelpha's style, but it had been a gift from Brooklyn and she kept it there on a shelf by her bed. The bathroom held only towels and toiletries. The unnecessarily large closet was almost completely empty except for a small basket of human clothing she never used and some chalk markings on the wall that Orion had to assume one of the children had scribbled there at some point. The only decorations were a few drawings which Bonnie had made for her and hung there. There was no television, or games, or anything else to look at, think about, or do. To Orion, it seemed like the room's only possible function, other than a place to sleep, was as a place to be sent when you had done something bad and needed to think about it for a while.
In truth, the only prolonged periods of time Adelpha had spent there in Orion's recent memory, had always been after a quarrel with Goliath or one of the other grownups. So perhaps the room's true purpose was a quiet retreat where she could be alone and think over difficult or painful matters. This suited him well, as he had a lot to think over, though it worried him that Adelpha had cloistered herself there all night. He wondered if seeing Goliath in the Zoom call had been too hard on her. He wished he'd thought to look for her when he'd arrived home from school. But now he meant to check on her and he was happy that the arrival of Coldstone and Coldfire had finally given him something exciting to talk about that he was actually allowed to talk about with her.
He rounded the corner of the corridor and nearly ran into Bonnie, who stood before him with her claws on her hips and a discontented pout on her face.
"I want Adelpha!" she wailed.
"Well, then let's go in to see her," Orion replied, a little annoyed that the peaceful conversation he had hoped for was being infringed upon.
"Can't. The door's locked," she groused.
Surprised by this news, Orion looked beyond the cranky hatchling to the heavy steel gate that blocked the entrance to Adelpha's room.
"That's weird," he commented. He had never seen the door closed before, much less locked. Thoroughly befuddled, he gave the gate a firm knock.
"Adelpha!" he called loudly, "It's Orion and Bonnie. Please let us in!"
"Where is she?" Bonnie growled when no response came, "She would never lock us out!"
Feeling even more worried, Orion banged on the door again, calling even louder, with no response.
"What's wrong, Ori?" Bonnie asked as tears streamed down her face, "I want Adelpha!"
"Come on, Bonnie," he replied determinedly, "We'll find her."
He boosted the little gargoyle on his shoulder and hurried down the corridor to the stairs, hoping to catch the others before they left. He was quite relieved to find Brooklyn still on the parapets, with Broadway, Angela, and Sister, as well as Coldstone and Coldfire.
"Brooklyn, wait!" Orion called as he raced along the curtain wall with Bonnie hanging on his shoulders.
"I thought you were going to bed," Brooklyn observed sternly as they approached.
"I was," he gasped, "I mean, I am. But I was planning on sleeping in Adelpha's room, because I haven't seen her all night and I was worried about her. But her door is locked and she isn't answering. Do you know what's going on? Is she okay?"
"I want to see her too!" Bonnie demanded anxiously, sliding down Orion's shoulder.
"Adelpha?" Coldstone asked curiously.
Brooklyn skirted the question and knelt down to speak to Bonnie.
"Adelpha needs some rest tonight, that's all," he told her.
"But I need her! I want my mother!" the child wailed, smacking her tail loudly on the cobblestones.
"But you have lots of mothers to look after you," Brooklyn reminded her.
"But I want MY mother!" Bonnie cried, "I love her and she's sad! She misses Goliath. So I have to sing my song for her to make her feel better. We promised to take care of each other while Goliath is gone! "
Brooklyn sighed.
"You're right," he said, "You have to sing your song for her."
He stood and handed Bonnie to Angela.
"Will you take her?" he asked her and she quickly stepped forward and scooped Bonnie into her arms.
"Who are they talking about?" Coldstone asked in his low, emotionless tone, "Who is this Adelpha?"
"Broadway?" Brooklyn pleaded, looking at his brother.
"Don't worry, Bro," Broadway assured him, "I'll lead the patrol. Are you coming, Sis?"
"Um…" Sister stalled, "I just remembered that I haven't done any homework in, like, two nights. So maybe I should stay in tonight and catch up?"
"How very responsible of you, my little scholar," Broadway replied, kissing her on her brow ridge with a chuckle, "And you, go to bed! Remember, your parents can't call you out of school sick when they've turned to stone."
"Right," Orion replied uneasily, "Goodnight."
Broadway soared from the curtain wall and was soon joined by the rest of the clan going on patrol.
"Goodnight, Ori," Sister said in an uncharacteristically chipper voice that was their rookery sibling code for 'meet me behind the bushes'.
"Is something wrong, Brooklyn?" Coldstone asked him uneasily.
"No," Brooklyn reassured him, "But there's something I need to tell you. It's kind of a long story and it's best done in private. Goodnight, Ori!"
But Ori had already leaped from the curtain wall and made his way across the courtyard to meet Sister and plan their surveillance strategy.
"Did you see where they are going?" Sister asked apprehensively as he landed beside her in the big planter.
"I think the common room," he replied in dismay and sister groaned.
The dining room was easy. So many heavy curtains to hide behind. The library also provided multiple nooks and crannies for a curious hatchling to find out what the adults were up to. They had long since discovered the dumb waiter in the kitchen, the empty record cabinet in the TV room, and the security control room that had high-tech cameras in nearly every hallway and common space in the castle. But the north tower common room was the worst. There were no cameras and no options for a hatchling to hide other than a broom closet that was so overloaded with everything-but-a-broom that the poor soul who opened the door was at great risk of being crushed to death, and the rafters, on which they were forced to hide precariously in plain sight and the slightest movement would wiggle the chandelier and alert the adults to their presence. But it seemed that the north tower common room was where Brooklyn and the two cyborgs were headed, so Orion and Sister raced through the dinning room to get there first, hopefully unseen.
Luck did not favor them, however, and the doors were already shut.
"Great. What now?" Sister grumbled.
"Maybe we could listen in through the window?" Orion suggested hopefully. Sister looked skeptical, but they snuck out to the courtyard and under the casement window that opened to the common room. Orion boosted Sister up and she balanced her arms on the narrow windowsill, trying to steady herself enough that she could lay her large, winglike ear against the stained glass window pane.
"Can you hear anything?" Orion asked earnestly.
"Shh!" she replied curtly, moving her feet from his claws to his shoulders. Orion stood still and silent, hoping that Sister was able to hear enough to tell him what was going on. Suddenly, Orion heard a strange sniffing sound and Bronx' large head appeared from behind a rose bush.
"Ruh-roo?" Bronx whimpered, tilting his head curiously.
"Go away, Bronx!" Orion scolded anxiously, "We're doing espionage."
Bronx would not be deterred. He lifted a great claw and pawed at Orion's bare chest.
"Stop! That tickles!" he hissed as he grabbed at Sister's feet to prevent her from falling, "Knock it off, Bronx!"
Bronx stood up on his hind legs and placed both claws on Orion's chest, licking his face.
"Come on, Bronx!" Orion groaned.
"Will you be quiet down there?" Sister demanded, "How am I supposed to hear anything?"
Bronx was enjoying this game immensely. He grabbed ahold of the end of Orion's tail in his gentle jaw.
"I've had my tail yanked enough tonight!" he told him, but Bronx continued to tug until he had pulled Orion away from the window frame.
"Hey!" Sister cried as she clung to the stone wall with her talons, trying not to fall. Slowly, she slid to the mulch of the flower bed, glaring at Orion, who turned and glared at Bronx.
"You two are no help at all!" she scolded.
"Did you hear anything?" Orion asked urgently.
"Nothing specific," she said glumly, "But they don't sound happy. I think they are talking about-
But she was suddenly cut short as the great wooden doors of the north tower opened forcefully with a bang.
"I don't believe it!" Coldstone bellowed in an enraged voice, "My brother would never allow her to remain among us!"
"Coldstone, stop!" Brooklyn pleaded, "Adelpha is his mate!"
"No!" he thundered.
"Please, I know it isn't easy to forgive her but…she is your sister!"
"My sister is dead!" he roared and in a fury that caused both Orion and Sister to shudder and duck out of sight behind the bushes, he engaged his propulsion pod and blasted away toward the south tower.
"You can't ask us to accept this," Coldfire told Brooklyn in a far more reasonable tone, "She is not as she once was. She has become a monster. We could never trust her again."
"Adelpha, a monster?" Sister whispered to Orion in both confusion and outrage.
"Please, don't leave!" Brooklyn begged, "I promise you won't see her. We will make her stay in her room until Goliath returns. I'm sure when Goliath speaks to Coldstone they can-
"You can't do that!" Sister interrupted furiously, scampering out of the bushes to stand before Brooklyn, whose long jaw was dropped in surprise.
"Adelpha's done nothing wrong! How can you lock her up, just because of these…strangers!"
"Strangers?!" Coldfire gasped, "Child, we are your family!"
"No!" she retorted, "Adelpha is!"
"Sister, you're too nosy for your own good!" Brooklyn scolded, though his expression was greatly pained.
"Maybe I'm nosy, but I'm not a coward! You know Adelpha isn't any of the things she says she is, but you're going to break her heart just because they don't like her?"
"I know a lot of things," Brooklyn replied defensively, "Many of which you don't know."
"You don't know anything if you would do something like this!" Sister accused in a ranting cry, "What kind of leader is cruel to their own sister?"
"You are out of line, Sister!"
"You are no leader!" Sister retorted bitterly, "You know that Goliath would never allow this!"
"Sister!" Brooklyn yelled in a threatening voice, but she had turned away from him and bolted into the castle. Frustrated, he turned to Coldfire.
"Please don't leave the clan," he begged, "We've been waiting to be reunited for so long!"
Coldfire's neck creaked eerily as she turned her head to look at her mate, who stood glowering at them from the other tower, then turned back to face Brooklyn.
"I will try to convince him to stay," she agreed, "But we will not see her and we will never accept her."
With that, she hovered above the curtain wall and joined her mate on the tower. Brooklyn watched her, then angrily slammed the door shut behind him without even noticing Orion or Bronx, who was busy licking the tears from the young warrior's face.
Slowly, Orion rose to his feet, trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed. Part of him wanted to run to the rookery, where he guessed Sister had fled and was now crouched alone on the highest level of the spider web, raging at the injustices of the world. But instead, he hurried to Adelpha's room, where he was thankful to find the door wide open, as he knew it should be. Angela crouched on the floor beside the daybed, where Adelpha sat with Bonnie curled up beneath her wings.
"Good evening, Orion!" she greeted him warmly and Orion scrambled onto the bed and joined his little sister in her warm embrace. With a concerned expression, Adelpha stroked his face where his deep blue skin was always dappled with white speckles. The clan suspected that they were reverse freckles, caused by his daily exposure to the sun. They were a rare trait and both he and Bonnie had them.
"There are tears here among your moon freckles!" she exclaimed, "What has happened, my son?"
Orion glanced at Angela, who gave him a sad, but warning look. It was no matter to him though. Even if this was one of the topics he was allowed to discuss with Adelpha, he didn't think he could endure trying to tell her what he'd heard. Instead, he buried his face in her neck and held her tight.
"I love you always, Mother," he whispered to her.
"I love you too, my son," Adelpha whispered in turn, but above his wavy, red hair she gave Angela a questioning look.
"Don't worry," Angela promised, "Whatever happens, we will take care of each other."