Page 108 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"Those are tougher to erase, so Tom's compulsion to keep what you know about the Kra-ell from anyone who's not in this compound at the moment will have to suffice."

"Then what good will erasing the recent memories do? I will still know about the aliens living among us, and the others will remember too."

Marcel nodded. "That's true, but the Kra-ell don't know some of the things I'm about to tell you, and those things need to remain a secret from them. The only reason I'm sharing the information with you is that they have to do with Sofia and her future."

The resigned expression on her father's face made him look older than his fifty-seven years. "Do what you must."

Sofia put her hand on Marcel's arm. "It doesn't make sense to tell my father about what might be in my future and then thrall him to forget it. Can't Toven compel him to keep this a secret as well?"

"Who's Toven?" her father asked.

"Oops." Sofia slapped a hand over her mouth. "I shouldn't have said that."

79

MARCEL

Marcel sighed. "I'll take care of it."

Reaching into Jarmo's mind, he plucked the name Toven from his memory and replaced it with Tom.

Sofia's father shook his head. "What just happened?"

"A small mishap." Marcel turned to Sofia. "You are right. I wanted to avoid asking Tom to do that after all the work he had done, but I will. I'm also going to cast a silencing bubble around us, so we are not overheard."

"What is a silencing bubble?" Jarmo asked.

"One more trick of mine." Marcel cast the bubble. "Can you feel it?"

Jarmo's eyes widened with wonder. "Even the Kra-ell cannot do that."

"No, they can't." Marcel took a sip of his coffee to wet his mouth for the extended version he was about to deliver.

When he was done, Jarmo gaped at Sofia. "You will become like them?"

"It's not a sure thing, Isi."

Marcel frowned. "Isi?"

"It means daddy in Finnish."

"Oh, I see."

Jarmo was still speechless.

"What's the matter?" Sofia asked him.

He shook his head. "I'm glad that you will have a long life, but I am not glad that you will become like her."

"You mean my mother?"

He nodded.

"Even if I grow fangs, I will still be the same person I am now. The transition will change my body, not what's in here." She put her hand over her heart.

"Here you are!" Sofia's cousin burst into the kitchen, her eyes red-rimmed, either from crying or lack of sleep.

Dropping the silencing bubble, Marcel pulled out a chair for her.