Chapter 8

Reprinted from Faust. Trans. Bayard Taylor. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1898.

Severus and Bo had brought Phil up to speed with all that Bo knew about the Old Ones. Phil thought Bo was setting him up again until Severus grabbed Phil by the belt buckle and lifted him over his head one handed as easily as someone would a five pound bag of sugar. Phil was a believer after that. The men headed inside the house just as Ulmdeh was ready to give her big pitch to everyone.

Betty Sue led all six of them into the TV room because it was informal and had comfortable recliners and couches for everyone. Once everyone sat down, Severus asked all of them if they had any questions before they went any further.

"Why us, I mean what could we possibly have that ya need?" asked Bo.

Ulmdeh was sitting on the arm of a small couch next to Severus and she took over answering all their questions. "When you live as long as we have you lose your inner fire, that spark that gives you the need to get out of bed every day. Over the centuries, I have been an artist, cook, doctor, you name it and I probably one time or another have tried my hand at it. Life is a voyage of discovery that everybody goes through every day. You wake up and hope you will learn or see or do something new that day.

"There has not been any new blood in our clan in almost one hundred years. Most all of the oldest members have entered what we call hibernation. Their bodies are inert and they just search with their minds for new ideas.

"I saw that the four of you would come together and each of you completes the other three in a way I have never before encountered. Bo was the first to catch my attention back when he was a teenager. The anger and pain he experienced did not tear him down, as it would most people. Instead, it tempered his resolve to defend those that were defenseless. Yes Bo, I listened to your pleas when you thought none were listening."

"Why didn't ya do something for my Ma back when she was in so much pain?"

"I could have come to your aid back then, but what would I have accomplished? Your mother would have seen me as an interloper and you would not have become the man you are today. Your mother was not concerned with her own pain, but she was concerned with what kind of man you would someday be. Your mother is very proud of you today even though she never has said it to you directly."

"I think I understand. I had to go through it to become strong."

"Yes you did. Betty Sue, you would not have gained your independent strength if your mother had not died when she did. Your experience with Harvey proved to you that you could stand up to men that were much bigger and stronger than you were.

"Esmeralda, you learned not to be fooled by smooth talkers into accepting their advances as anything more than what they were, the use of you for their own pleasure. You now see through everybody for what they truly are."

"What about me?" asked Phil. "I never had to go through any of that stuff?"

"You Tommy Phillips are the final key. You learned that a close and loving family is capable of withstanding anything. You four together are capable of forming an extremely strong family bond. Not what most people would think of as a family, but I have seen much stranger family groups but never a stronger combination."

"Severus told me the Old Ones can't have children. What kind of family would we be without children?" Bo asked with a pained look in his eyes as he looked back between Betty Sue and Ulmdeh. Bo had always wanted to be the father he never had.

"That is true. However, you can have your children before the conversion is complete and you can adopt children after the conversion. You have to know that there are plenty of children just in the immediate area that would love to have you as a father."

Esmeralda leaned forward, "What do ya mean before the conversion is complete? How long does it take?"

"The actual body awakening ceremony takes two days, but you do not just wake up fully capable. Let me explain how this works. This will be much easier to explain since you already know so much on how your bodies work. The instructions built into each cell of your body are unique to you alone."

"Ya mean our DNA," interjected Betty Sue.

"Yes, your DNA, and those instructions have many sections that pass from generation to generation but normally have no effect on how the body forms or functions. These inert sections of your DNA are the key. We simply turn on certain sections of your DNA that are asleep. Nothing is added or taken away; we just wake up what has lay dormant in your cells. The actual mechanism is a special amino acid that your body can produce normally once we give it a small boost. That is why we call it the awakening, certain parts of your body wake up.

"Once that happens each new cell that replaces an old dying cell has the new capabilities. Normally, about seven to ten years to replace most all of the cells you currently have. The nerve and brain cells rejuvenation takes much less time. That is where you will notice the effects first. For the first three months after awakening, you will be overwhelmed with the new information your body is dealing with. Increased tactile and sensory sensitivity and feeling everybody and everything around you. Severus or I will have to be with you every minute of every day for that first hundred-day period. Otherwise, you could physically hurt yourself or fall into insanity."

"For the first year following the awakening you will be awkward as your increased strength comes. You will slowly continue to get stronger until all of your muscle cells have been replaced."

"This seems like it will take all of yar and Severus' time for over a year. How will we all work around that? I mean, somebody has to bring some money in, cook, clean and all that daily grind sort of stuff," said Phil.