1.
Snow fell from the sky, blanketing Manhattan. The peacefulness of it seemed to stifle most sound of the city. A young boy with red hair held out his small hands for the flakes to land and then melt on them. The five year old looked back at his father in wonder. David Xanatos knelt down next to him and softly said, "You know what makes snow?"
"No daddy, what?"
"They are the magic from angels. They use this magic to give new life to our planet."
"What do'ya mean? We're alive! Are they gonna get rid of us?!" Young Alexander looked up at his father with frightened eyes.
David chuckled, "No, son. The snow gets rid of the old life so that when spring comes, new life will flourish." Then he added, "Most intelligent creatures have learned to adapt to the cold weather, so we're fine!" He picked up Alex, "Now let's get home before your mom starts to worry about you!" Not too far from them, a limo was parked next to the curb of the park they were at.
The driver, Owen Burnett, greeted David and Alex as he opened the back door of the limo for them. "Owen, back to the Eyrie Building."
"Yes, sir."
At a stoplight, Owen noticed something strange in the sky. Of course it was cloudy, but in one area of the sky was dark purple. Owen felt goosebumps appear on his arms and neck; his knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel and stared hard at the sky. Car horns could be heard behind him since the light had turned green, but Owen paid no mind to them. Black lightning, small at first, then gradually gaining in strength, began coming out of that purple spot in the clouds. Everyone stopped to stare at the sky and the honking behind him ceased. Manhattan was silent as its inhabitants gazed in wonder and fear at the sky. A black lightening bolt shot from the sky and hit a building near Owen and his two passengers. "GET OUT!" Owen yelled back to David and Alex, who were already in the process of leaving the vehicle. Open pushed his door open and tried to unbuckle his seat belt, but it had somehow gotten stuck. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. He may be a Fey, but he was in his human form, and he had programmed his human form to be able to be like a regular human: no magic and mortal. For the first time in his long life, he was scared for his life. What was worse is that his powers were locked so that he couldn't change back to his real self unless he was tutoring or protecting Alex.
Owen opened his eyes, wondering why the building hadn't crushed him. He realized he wasn't in the limo anymore. He was now on top of a skyscraper a couple of blocks away from the limo. That shouldn't have happened since he can't use his magic. But then he realized that he wasn't the only one. Across all the skyscrapers and buildings stood people that were once on the street. Owen assumed that whatever was going on, had moved everyone out of the way of the falling skyscraper. Something zapped past him, catching Owen off guard. He turned his head in the direction whatever it was went, but didn't see anything. Suddenly there were two things zapping in front of him, but they were moving so fast that he couldn't see them. "Dad, what's going on?" The small voice of Alexander asked his father. Owen turned around to see David and Alex behind him.
"I don't know Alex." David watched the lightning-like movements and then drew his eyes to Owen and gave him a look that meant something serious was going on. Owen nodded. He ran off to hide behind a building that housed the staircase. For Alex's safety to protect him from whatever these things were, he was able to change back into his true form – Puck. His true form was vastly different from his human form. He had long white hair and long elfish ears, wore a red shirt and a purple roman-styled tunic over it, along with darker purple tights and brown boots. His eyes remained the same light blue.
Puck took a stance, ready to shoot a freezing beam at the two warring creatures. They moved, it seemed, as fast as the speed of sound – or at least close to it. There was no way Puck could just aim the beam at a specific location, so instead he put both hands together, with palms facing outward, and let out a burst of magic at the sky, hoping to at least get one of the creatures. He was rewarded with two humanoid creatures falling from the sky. Puck realized that one was a young girl, seeming to have features of the Third Race and the other was a man who looked human – except for having a blue tail, blue antennae on his head, and blue stripes on his cheeks.
Somehow, the girl was affected by Puck's spell, but the man wasn't. He chased after the girl at a somewhat normal speed and landed beside her when she hit the skyscraper, several feet away from Puck. The girl struggled, but managed to break free from Puck's spell. As the man came down at her with his glowing fist, the girl put both hands together, palms facing outward, and an enormous blue blast emitted from them, sending the man far into the sky until he couldn't be seen. The girl fainted and Puck flew over to her to inspect her. She had light blue hair and a blue six-pointed star tattooed on her forehead. She had long elf-like ears like his own and had a petite frame. Her clothing was strange; it was mostly white, but the edges were yellow. Her sleeves and the bottom of her short dress were like flower petals. Bands were placed above each elbow and long flowing white sleeves extended from them. She had gold-colored sandals that wrapped around her legs up to her knees.
Bruises, scrapes, cuts, and gashes covered this girl's body. Puck had a feeling that this girl was the victim in the fight. Realizing that the man hadn't come back, Puck looked up at the gray sky. A cold rain drop hit his cheek. It wouldn't be long before it would start sleeting. He scooped up the girl and teleported himself, David, and Alex back to the Eyrie building. He wasn't worried about the other humans left on the skyscraper, they could find their way down.
The trio appeared in the living room in the castle part of the tower. Wouldn't be much longer before the Gargoyles awakened. David lifted his son onto his back. "Come on, Alex, time for bed!" Alex laughed as his father played piggy-back on the way to the elevator and then to his room.
Puck flew down the hall and into one of the rooms. He gently laid her on the king-sized canopy bed and then stood next to her as he studied her. He moved a few strands of her from her face while using the contact of their skin to determine her race. He pulled his hand back puzzled. He could definitely sense that she was a Fey, but that was only half her heritage. He couldn't tell what the other half of her blood was. It wasn't from any creature on Earth.
He stepped back and pointed a finger at each corner of the room, sending out little balls of energy that instantly became invisible. It was a sort of security. If she were to awaken then he would know. Before leaving the room, he took one last look at the girl. "You're a strange one, but beautiful." With that thought, he teleported out of the room.
Sky blue eyes fluttered open; the girl sat up in her bed and took in the room she was in. "I don't remember sneaking into a hotel..." She floated out of bed and over to a full length mirror to see if her injuries had healed. Most of them had, but the bad ones would take a little longer.
Memory of two nights ago came back to her; that man had been chasing her for a while now. It started on her fiftieth birthday a few months ago. She had been hanging out with her human friend, Amara, who had treated her to ice cream as a birthday present. The whole day that day, a man had been following them. It was that night, when she walked Amara back to the orphanage that her friend lived at, that the man attacked for the first time. He had sped up to Amara and pierced her body with all five of his extended claws. He had turned to look at her and said, "This is only the beginning. I will slowly tear you up, piece by piece." With that he had disappeared, but the attacks were constant. They were about once a week, but this past month, they had become more frequent and she was becoming tired of it all. She thought back to Amara; her poor friend had barely survived. She was still in the hospital, in a coma. She wanted to help her friend, but had no idea how to. She knew she had powers, but all she knew how to use them was for fighting.
Sighing, she walked over to the window to try to make out her location, but all she could see were clouds. The door to her room opened behind her and a man with blonde hair and sky blue eyes with glasses in front of them entered. He was dressed in a black suit with a red tie and a white shirt underneath. "Mr. Xanatos would like to see you."
The girl blinked in surprise. "Have I been reborn into another life or something?" She followed the man through several halls, down an elevator, and a few more halls before reaching extravagant-looking doors. Owen opened one and waited for her to walk in before closing it. Big glass windows were literally the wall straight across from her; a big expensive oak desk were in front of the windows. To the left side of the room was a giant flat screen TV. A man with a brown beard and brown hair tied back into a low ponytail stood behind the desk. He wore a white shirt and a brown jacket over it, along with brown kahkis.
"Good morning, young lady. I'm David Xanatos, CEO of Xanatos Enterprises. My co-worker and I had witnessed a fight between you and someone else and you were knocked unconscious. We brought you back here for you to rest and heal." He paused, "We are curious as to what you are though."
The girl tensed up and her eyes hardened. "Why would you care?!" She stepped back, "Thanks for allowing me to rest in your home, but I didn't ask for help." She teleported out of the room; Xanatos didn't seem surprised, as he rarely was.
"We'll be seeing her again, sir."
Xanatos turned his attention back to Owen with a half-smile, "I know we will."
Several blocks away, the girl stood on top of the police station. The icy wind gently blew her hair. Since she didn't know how to use her magic to keep herself warm or to summon warmer clothes, she had stolen some clothes from a store a few blocks away. That was the way she has always had to live. She stared at the Eyrie building for a few minutes, contemplating what had just happened. The two men seemed nice, but she knew all to well how someone could act like your friend but turn out to be your enemy. She stepped off the ledge that she was standing on and sat down next to it, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She buried her face in her arms as she tried to figure out what to do next. A tear slipped out of her right eye; she hated being so cold towards people, but the pain in her heart was too great; she couldn't bear any more hurt. The way she had just behaved was something that had become an automatic reaction. "I'm sorry." She whispered to no one.