The next time Elisa opened her eyes, she found herself still on the bed. It was cold and damp here, and she shivered. Quietly, Elisa sat up, being careful of the injuries to her back… to Nell's back, she corrected. Though it was getting harder and harder to make the distinction now that she seemed to be able to actually control Nell's movement.

Elisa was worried about that. Before, it was as if she were in a theater, watching Nell's life on a movie screen. There had been a distance to the whole experience, but now she could speak and move as if she had actually become Nell.

The longer she stayed like this, the more it felt like she and Nell were inhabiting the same body. While Elisa was aware of Nell as a separate personality, she was curious to know if Nell knew about her.

'I wonder if this is how Coldstone felt,' Elisa wondered. 'One body with multiple souls with vastly different personalities.'

Elisa slowly sat up, wincing at the pull and stretch of the torn skin on her back. Elisa had been along for that ride, though she hadn't experience the whole sensory experience. She was getting it now, however, and she struggled to her feet. She was in a small stone room, dark except for a soft light from the hallway. Elisa saw the vague outline of a stool, and something on top of the seat.

Elisa felt around, finally realizing that except for the cot/ bed/ whatever it was that she was sleeping on, the stool was the only other furniture in the room.

Elisa finally made it to the stool, and realized that there was a stack of fresh clothing on the stool. She was still wearing the nightgown that Nell had put on before going to sleep, before being awakened by the soldiers. The gown was a stained and tattered mess now, and Elisa was thankful to whomever had thought to give her decent clothing.

Carefully, Elisa changed clothes, both shocked and horrified by the bloody and shredded back of the gown. Medieval "justice" and punishment, she assumed, for a girl suspected of stealing.

Well, they could keep it.

Modern law enforcement was far from perfect, but it worked better than this.

Slowly, she made her way to the hallway, where she found a line of stone Gargoyles blocking off the hallway… and her exit. So she wasn't kept behind bars, but she was still being held where she couldn't escape.

Honestly, it wasn't likely that she could have escaped anyway. Her back hurt like a mother, and she could only imagine what it would have felt like without that extra layer of the numbing goop that the Gargoyle female had put on her just before sunrise.

Not to mention that she should have recognized where she was, but felt completely turned around.

Elisa made her way to the line of sleeping gargoyles and studied each one. The elder female who had treated her wounds was there, but she didn't recognize the others.

Well, this way out was blocked off, but she could try the other way, and see what was there.

Turning, she made her way farther into the hallway, squinting in the faint light that the wall torches gave off.

She passed a few more small alcoves, much like the one she'd been in, before she reached the end of the hall. She pushed open a heavy wooden door, and walked into a large dimly lit room.

After her eyes adjusted, Elisa found more stone gargoyles. These gargoyles, all standing in their fearsome poses, again blocked her access to most of the room. Elisa looked past them and gasped.

Eggs.

She had accidently discovered the original rookery. Again, she peered at the gargoyles in the room, and again found no familiar faces.

It hit her like a train then. They weren't familiar, because none of them would survive the attack on the castle.

And the eggs, Elisa looked again. The thirty-six eggs she knew would be transported to Avalon. Chances were that one of those hard shelled wonders would eventually hatch to become Angela, Gabriel, and the rest of the Avalon clan.

Elisa felt tears well up in her eyes. So many gargoyles, lost.

Quickly, Elisa turned back to the hallway, closing the rookery door behind her. They had taken pity on poor Nell, and brought her here to treat her wounds, but they were wise enough to take precautions to protect their children.

Their future.

The unborn generation of fierce protectors who would never see their parents, and be raised by humans on a magically hidden island for many years.

Elisa entered her small room, and sat on the bed. Without the benefit of a window, she had no idea what time of the day it was, but her short excursion left her exhausted. Gingerly, Elisa laid back down on the bed, curled up on her side, and prepared to wait out the daylight.

-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-

"Father," Angela cried.

Goliath's head came up, and he sought his daughter out in the crowded room. "I think I found the spell!"

The crowd parted to allow Angela to approach her father.

She hurried up, a single page in her hand that looked as if it had been torn from a book. "I think this is it," Angela said to him in a hushed tone, "But I can't find the counter spell."

Goliath growled in frustration.

"If I knew which book she got this from, maybe the counter spell is on another page." Angela said, hopefully. She motioned her mate over, and explained what she was looking for.

"Okay guys," Broadway said to the room at large. Some of the humans had had to leave, needing to go to work at their respective jobs, but some still remained. "We have a new mission."

The writing was Latin that much they knew. They weeded out all of the books written in different languages, and focused on the Latin books.

Goliath couldn't help the feeling of foreboding. The last time this had happened, a spell cast from a single page with no counter spell, he and the few surviving members of his clan had been frozen in stone for a thousand years.

That wasn't an option. Not for Elisa.

-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-

Doctor James was jerked awake by the sound of a hysterically sobbing woman. His eyes flew open, but instead of finding Elisa on the bed, he saw… no one. Where Elisa had been laying a short time ago, there was not just a twisting mess of blankets. The IV stand had fallen over, the IV line itself looked stretched to its limit.

He blinked a few times, trying to get his overly tired brain to focus and understand what he was seeing, then leapt to his feet.

"Elisa?" He asked, slowly walking around to the far side of the bed. "It's okay. You're safe."

No answer, but the sobbing abruptly quieted.

He rounded the bed, and found her huddled on the floor, curled into a ball as if she were trying to hide.

He stopped abruptly. Frowning, he cautiously said her name once more. "Elisa?"

Elisa looked up, vivid violet eyes meeting the startled doctor's gaze.

"Tha mi airson a dhol dhachaigh," she sobbed.

I want to go home...