Ben Blazze and Heimdall's Orb

Chapter 17: The Vika

The situation was so grave and unusual that Prof. Ficus had to end the class and dismiss the students. Except for Mirelly and her friends, of course. Moments after the incident, the six of them were already in Madre Sonia's office, escorted by the teacher. The headmistress was sitting on the edge of the chair, jiggling her foot, perhaps eager to practice her favorite sport: terrorize students.

"Very well," she snarled, "first of all, I want to know how this human got down here." The headmistress didn't even bother trying to cover up for their secret. The SCAM was ineffective down there, meaning Mirelly could see their original appearance, even without a DUPER.

"Madre, they didn't..." Mirelly started saying, but Sonia Lukan didn't let her finish:

"You are friends of hers!" continued the bad wolf. "How did you get her through security?"

"Mother, we had nothing to do with this," said Anna Julia, trying to take advantage of her reputation as a good student. "We are as puzzled as you!"

"That's right, sis. We were surprised when the elevator spoke of six people," Kaleb dragged on by the words, "but we thought it was a defect, you know?"

"Could I..." Mirelly tried again, in vain.

"Kindwood, do not call me SIS! You're going to address me as MADRE, do you understand?!" she shouted, snarling at the end once more.

"Are you saying that the elevator detected and authorized her DNA, but none of you could see her? You better explain it right, because she didn't do it alone. All of this smells fishy!"

"Maybe it's the surströmming..." said Sam, sniffing all of his hands at once.

BAM! Madre Sonia smacked the table. "Spektor! I swear to God..."

"AHEM!" Mirelly interrupted the headmistress, clearing her throat loudly. "Madre, may I explain, PLEASE?!" she said, almost screaming.

The Sirianee nun cast a look at her that could wilt a cactus. Then, she consented: "Yes, you may! But if you lie to me, young lady, I'll make you deeply regret it!"

"T-the thing is... I have some powers, you know?" the girl started. "I'm not supposed to tell that to anyone, but I guess the secrecy train has already left, right? None of my friends knew anything about it."

"What do you mean by powers?" inquired the Madre.

"Like camouflaging myself in the environment, which is how I got down here, by the way. I was curious about what was going on here in the afternoon, and..."

"Camouflage yourself in the environment?" Madre Sonia interrupted, impatient with Mirelly's babble. "How can a human do that?"

"Like this: LIQISTEA!" Mirelly said, along with a left-hand gesture, and then vanished. Just like that.

Madre Sonia jumped up. The others uttered a variety of exclamations, and Kaleb, the only one who managed to articulate a word, shouted: "Sweet!" and laughed out loud.

Finally, the headmistress pulled herself together enough to say something: "Salamander! Come back here and explain it right away!"

"MEDUI!" she said and reappeared right where she was, to another round of interjections. "I can't explain. It's a family thing. My parents can also do that sort of thing."

Madre Sonia sat down, hid her furry face in both hands, and sighed. Then she looked at Professor Ficus, almost crying out for help. He did nothing but shrug.

"Those voice commands of yours... they are in the old language," said the headmistress, at last, trying to reason it out. "Some human dialects in the Nordic countries have incorporated Vagui words. That could explain why you know them, but it doesn't make clear why your DNA passed the elevator's access control system. We need to get to the bottom of this. There could be a breach in our security, and we are inches away from a CACA intervention." Then, she pressed a button at the communicator on the desk and said: "Sister Naddine, we need Professor Rogeria here right away. Please, ask Philip to bring a DNA scanner."