Since Iron Skull is out, I have to go in a different direction. Hopefully you enjoy it.
A strong gust of wind blew down a New York street. It dissipated to a slight breeze. Liz walked quickly to one of the houses on the street. She knocked on the door. Someone inside the house came running to the door and threw it open.
Diane Maza looked at her hopefully, but her expression soon fell. "Something bad happened, didn't it?" she said. "Something happened to Peter." She started to tear up.
"We should take this inside," said Liz.
The two Mazas sat down at the kitchen table with mugs of coffee.
"I sent him out for groceries yesterday," said Diane. "He never came home. I reported it when he didn't back for supper, but it hadn't been twenty-four hours yet. I called Elisa and she said she would get in contact with Derek. They've been out looking for him. All of them."
Liz knew when she said all of them she meant the clan.
She sniffed and held her mug of coffee with both hands. "They found his car at a gas station on his route home. The police are pulling the surveillance video."
"Has there been anything out of the ordinary going on?" asked Liz.
"No," replied Diane. "Everything has been normal, even for this family."
"Peter isn't the only one that's gone missing," said Liz. "So has Coyote."
"Coyote, the trickster?"
Liz nodded. "He said he was coming up here to check on Peter, but he never came back. I went looking for him back on Avalon, but he wasn't there."
"You think their disappearances are connected?" asked Diane.
"Peter would be the perfect bait to draw out Coyote," said Liz. "The other fey tried tracking Coyote, but something's blocking their magic. Iron seems to be the most likely thing. Fey are weak to it and Coyote wouldn't go somewhere with a lot of it. Not willingly, anyway."
"You think someone kidnapped Peter to get to Coyote? But why?" asked Diane.
"Power. The Children of Oberon are beings of pure magic. If someone could control one they could do a lot of damage."
"But how will you find them when they couldn't?" asked Diane.
"Because I'm going to think outside the box," replied Liz. "Now, where was that gas station?"
Another strange gust of wind happened at the gas station where Peter's car had been found. Liz walked around the side of the building with a light breeze ruffling her hair. The car had been towed and there was no sign that anything had happened here.
"Misfortune has happened here, reveal to me by eye and ear, the plight of one my heart's near, images of the past appear."
It wasn't the best rhyme, but it did the trick. Ghostly images began to appear to Liz. She saw Peter's car and a work van parked next to it. The hood of the van was popped and the driver was working on it. Peter walked out of the gas station and approached the man.
"What seems to be the problem?" Peter had asked.
"Not so much mechanical, but I think there's a cat in the engine," the man had responded. The man had a round face and was wearing a sports team sweatshirt.
"A cat?" Peter took a look for himself.
"Yeah, I was on my way to work and I kept hearing a cat meowing."
"Hmm, might need to call animal control."
"I know but, I don't want to leave it in there. It could be hurt."
"Have you seen it?"
"No, but the light isn't so good. If it's a black cat, I can't see it."
Peter then asked the man if he had a flashlight. They both went over to the side of the van and got flashlights out of the back. Liz followed them over and looked inside the van. She could see there were symbols painted on the inside and the paneling was different than a normal van.
"I'm not seeing it," Peter had said. "And I haven't heard it. Maybe it took off."
The man had sighed. "Maybe. I hope it's gone. I don't want to be driving and it gets caught in something."
Peter had gotten up. "Cats are crafty. When I worked on the force, there was a cat that got into the ceiling of a supermarket. The workers thought there was a person crawling around up there. So we get the call and when we get there, the cat fell through a ceiling tile and then ran rampant through the supermarket before somehow getting back in the ceiling."
The man had chuckled. "Sounds like an interesting day."
"It certainly made fools out of us."
Liz watched them put the flashlights away. She watched the man. He had a keychain on his belt loop. It was made from feathers and colorful beads. It looked Native American, but she couldn't remember seeing a keychain quite like that before.
Peter had noticed it, too. "That's an interesting keychain."
"Oh, thanks. I got it in Arizona. Ever been there?"
"I grew up there."
"Have you ever seen the Dance of the Coyote?"
"I was Coyote when I was younger."
"What an honor having a connection to such a powerful being, Peter."
That set alarms off in Liz's head. Peter never introduced himself.
The man hit Peter over the head with a heavy duty flashlight and shoved him into the back of the van and closed the door behind them.
Liz stepped forward like she was going to do something, but remembered that she could only watch.
A few minutes later Coyote appeared. He looked at Peter's car and then in the gas station. "There's your car, but where are you, Peter?"
The man got out of the van. "You looking for someone?"
Coyote had turned around. "Yes. Have you seen an older gentleman, tan skin, gray hair?"
"Looks like an older version of you? I did. He was helping me with my van."
"Did you see where he went?"
"We were just cleaning up. Hey, Peter! You have somebody looking for you."
Coyote had followed the man around the side of the van. He had then been shoved into the van and the man had wrapped something around his neck.
Liz got as close as she could and looked at the collar now wrapped around Coyote's neck. It was iron with symbols on it. The man shut the door and walked around to the front of the car. He had then walked around and shut the hood and got into the driver's seat. The van started off and had pulled out of the gas station.
Liz made herself invisible and flew after the memory van. It drove out of the city and for several hours she followed it upstate into the mountains. The memory van stopped in a clearing in the woods. Liz landed in the trees and looked around. The memory van vanished and the real van was parked up next to an embankment. There was a boarded up mine entrance that looked like hadn't been used in years.
She looked around before slowly coming out into the open. Liz walked over to the van and rested her hand on the hood. The engine was cold. She looked at the ground by the tires. The tire tracks showed that the van had parked and stayed. Next to the side door were several footprints and two sets of drag marks. The footprints were at least three different sizes. They led to the mine entrance.
She pulled her knife from her belt with one hand and reached out for the side door handle with the other. It was unlocked. She threw the door open quickly and held her knife up to protect herself. There was no one inside. Liz took out her flashlight and pointed it inside. She got a better look at the symbols that she had seen in the memory. They weren't anything she had seen before, but she didn't like them from the feel of them. She guessed they were some type of runes. They were also painted on iron panels.
Liz walked up to the mine. There were two signs in front of the entrance. One was the "Danger: Do No Enter" sign. The second was a longer sign with smaller lettering.
"'In memory of those lost in the mine,'" Liz read off.
She grabbed one of the boards covering the mine entrance and pulled. The entire boarded up section swung open like a door.
"Clever," she muttered.
She stepped inside and pulled the board door closed behind her.
As soon as she did, she felt like something slammed down on her body. Liz grunted and grit her teeth. Her magic retreated deep inside her.
"What was that?"
She took out a flashlight and flicked it on. She swept her light along the walls. There were the same symbols – runes – painted on pieces of iron all over, linked by iron chains.
Looks like I won't be able to use magic so much.
She pulled her backpack around and opened it up. Avalon's armory had quite a collection of weapons, including iron weapons. Liz had borrowed a few and kept them in her room in the palace. She had brought with her an assortment of throwing stars, a blow dart gun with plenty of darts that were laced with a mild toxin, and several daggers of various sizes and styles.
Liz strapped an extra knife onto her belt and slipped two more smaller ones into her boots. The throwing stars went in one pocket and the darts in another. She tucked the dart gun in her belt. She shouldered her backpack again.
"Okay. Here I go."
She started down the shaft. Her head began to pound and her earlobes began to burn from her earrings. The magic in her diamond earrings did not like being there. Liz could only contribute this to the iron and the runes.
"No wonder the others couldn't use their magic to find this place," Liz said. "This place is set up like a black hole for magic."
The mineshaft forked. Liz took a moment to determine which way to go. She swept her flashlight up and around and noticed something that didn't belong. She acted like she hadn't seen the camera or the wires going down the right side. She took the right tunnel.
The iron panels and chains continued down the passage. Liz kept an eye out for more cameras and where the wires were. They were her guide back to the surface.
She heard something behind her and froze.
Trap!
She turned around only to be tackled to the ground. Her flashlight went rolling away. Hands grabbed the front of her shirt. She pushed back.
"Get off!" she shouted.
She punched her attacker in the face. She heard and felt something break beneath her fist. She flipped them around and got up.
Someone else pinned her arms to her sides and picked her off the ground. Her first attacker got back up.
The flashlight was pointed in such a way that Liz could see them now.
"Whoa!"
It was a skeleton dressed as a miner, the clothes ripped and full of holes. The jawbone was hanging from one side from where she punched it. She glanced down at the arms holding her. They were just bone and cloth.
The first skeleton advanced.
Liz kicked her feet up and knocked the skeleton back. She then threw her weight forward and flipped the second skeleton off her. Liz felt something behind her and she ducked. Something whizzed over her head and hit the wall with a metallic clang. There was a third skeleton miner and this one had a pickaxe. The third skeleton swung again at Liz, but she just stepped to the side. One of the skeletons behind her had its head knocked off instead. She grabbed the pickaxe by the handle. A well-placed kick smashed the skeleton's pelvis and it crumpled to pieces. She took the pickaxe and whirled around with it, slashing downwards. She hit another skeleton and destroyed its ribcage. She choked up on the handle and got a horizontal swing in, breaking its spine. The beheaded skeleton had found its head and put it back on its neck. It turned around only to have Liz crush it with the pickaxe.
Liz dropped the pickaxe, picked up her flashlight, and looked at the damage. The bones of the skeletons had strange marks on them. Runes to be exact. She wasn't well versed in runes, but she knew what some of them did.
"Someone's been playing with animation spells," muttered Liz. "'In memory of those lost in the mine.' Looks like someone came and found them. Guess I should be grateful it's not necromancy. Either way, this guy does know what he's doing."
She continued down the mineshaft.
Peter watched their captor from the makeshift cell he and Coyote were locked in. He had figured out that the man's name was Carson, or so he thought it was by a name badge that had fallen out of his pocket at one point. Peter didn't know much about the man's motives, only that he wanted Coyote's magic.
Coyote wasn't doing very well. He barely moved since they had been put into the cell. The collar around his neck had weaken him severely. There was no chance of escaping with his magic.
Peter looked through the bars at the cavern they were in. The bars had been installed into the rock recently and showed no wear or flaw that he could exploit to get them out. Not that it would do much good as Carson sat not very far away watching the security monitors hooked up to the many cameras in the mine. He was sitting in the chair right now with a frown on his face.
"You seemed troubled," Peter said. "Something not going according to plan?"
"Shut up, old man!" snapped Carson. "Only a minor setback, one that I will soon be rid of."
Carson got up from the chair and glared at them as he walked over to the other side of the cavern. There was a large cauldron hanging over a low flame, simmering. Next to it was an altar covered by a black cloth with sticks, bunches of herbs, precious stones, little bottles, and lit candles. In the middle of the altar was a book. The candle flames flickered higher and a strange mist ran from the book. The mist floated across the floor and to the pile of bones off to the side. The bones started to move, collecting themselves to stand as full skeletons.
"Kill the intruder," Carson ordered them.
The group of skeletons turned and walked out of the cavern.
Liz paused. There was something a head of her and by the sound of the footsteps, it was a lot of some things. She drew a knife.
Several more skeletons came into the beam of her flashlight. She counted at least seven and these guys were armed with pickaxes and hammers.
"Oh, crap," she muttered.
The skeletons spotted her and started to charge.
"Wish I kept that pickaxe now," she said to herself. She ran forward and did a flying kick. She hit the leading skeleton in the sternum and knocked it back into the others. Those in the back that hadn't been knocked down ran over the others and attacked Liz.
Liz knocked their heads off. Even though that didn't take them out, it made them flounder around. They swung around wildly with their weapons. Liz dodged and one of the skeletons took out another with its pickaxe. Another with a large hammer swung it at Liz's head. Liz backpedaled and the skeleton missed and staggered forward. Liz grabbed the hammer and brought her knee up, catching the skeleton in the jaw and knocking its skull off. She smashed the rest of it.
A skeleton grabbed the handle of the hammer and pulled. Liz stumbled forward and was tackled to the ground. The other skeletons piled on top of her.
I didn't want to do this.
Liz called upon her magic. It burned as it surfaced to her skin. A blast of green magic exploded from her. Bones flew in every direction, slamming against the walls and shattering.
She sat up and surveyed the damage. None the skeletons were standing or moving for that matter. They were all in pieces on the ground. She did notice that the runes on the walls were glowing an angry red and quickly fading. Liz winced as her magic retreated again.
"Okay, I take it you didn't like that," she said, rubbing at her chest. "Let's try not to do that again."
She got to her feet and picked up her flashlight and a hammer.
"What? How?" roared Carson, staring at the monitors. He slammed his fist on the desk. "Looks like my rune web didn't hide your fey magic entirely. They sent someone to find you." He glared over at the cell Peter and Coyote were in.
Coyote opened his eyes and rested them on Carson.
"Not much help she's going to be," Carson went on. "She's just a girl. A girl with magic, but still a girl."
He stomped back over to the altar. He picked up the little bottles and started pouring the contents out into a bowl. He opened the book again and chanted out something different.
"No," Coyote said weakly.
Peter leaned down, but kept his eyes on Carson. "What is it?"
"He's using necromancy," Coyote replied.
"Wasn't he doing that earlier?" asked Peter.
"No, those were animation spells. The bones were brought to life with the runes on them. He's trying to summon a spirit now."
Peter turned to the monitors. He saw someone moving on the screen.
"Coyote, it's Liz," Peter whispered. "She's coming."
"Rise, my servant!" Carson yelled, drawing Peter and Coyote's attention to him.
A tall robed figure with a blank mask rose from in front of Carson.
Carson pointed to the exit. "Capture the girl and bring her to me. Her power will strengthen mine."
The phantom nodded once and flew out of the room.
"You're doing all this for power?" asked Peter.
Carson turned to him. "My family has been obsessed with proving that magic is real. They studied legends, gathered information from all over the world, dedicated their lives trying to prove to the world elves, pixies, and shapeshifters are real. And do you know what happened? They were laughed at, called crazy. But no more. I found this spell book on one of my trips to Europe and it has everything I need to show the world that magic is real."
"But why take us?" Peter asked.
"Why? I needed proof, of course! If I captured a magical creature, I would have the proof I needed. Unfortunately the only one I thought I had a sure chance of capturing was a trickster. But a trickster is slippery. He'll twist my words and my proof to suit him. That's why I need his magic. Once I have it, I can show them there is magic out there."
"But how did you find out about my connection to Coyote?" asked Peter.
"That took a lot of research," said Carson. "I must have gone through dozens of records on those who participated in the Dance of the Coyote, but you were the only one I could find that was back in Flagstaff when the strange events with Xanatos Construction happened. I knew what happened at the geoglyph was magic, that it was Coyote and with your link to him, I knew he would come to you if you were in danger. I thought about your daughter, but she didn't fit the bill."
Peter growled. "You stay away from her!"
"She's useless to me now. I have you," said Carson dismissively. He turned to the monitors. "And soon I'll have that girl and her magic, too."
Liz felt a chill run through her. She stopped and listened. She heard something moving, like the wind, but she did not feel the wind. Liz turned around to see if anything followed her and had been trying to sneak up on her. Nothing.
Good.
Liz turned back around. Standing in front of her was a dark robed figure with a blank mask. It reached out to her. Liz yelled and jumped back. She brought the hammer up to swing. The figure disappeared.
"Oh, great," muttered Liz. "A ghost. Now this is necromancy."
Liz tried to remember the deterrents of ghosts and phantoms. The only one she could remember was salt. It was said that circles of salt could protect from harmful spirits. Liz did not have salt.
She put her back to the wall. It won't do me much good if it decides to come through the wall, Liz thought.
It can't come through the wall, said the voice in her head.
What do you mean it can't come through the wall? It's a ghost!
Think, Liz, said the voice. Salt keeps them away. What harms them?
I don't know! Liz thought desperately of things that could harm inhuman creatures. Stakes for vampires, silver for werewolves, iron for fey.
Then it clicked. She could almost hear Coyote's voice.
"Iron harms both fey and spirits."
That's why it can't pass through the walls! The iron panels and chains keep it from doing so!
She dropped the hammer and pulled the other knife she had on her belt. This one had an iron blade.
The phantom reappeared in front of her and Liz slashed at it with her knife. It caught its shadowy form and it reared back.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" Liz asked with a grin.
The phantom recovered. It disappeared to reappear by Liz's side. It grabbed her arms and pulled her around so her arms were behind her back. She dropped her knife. Liz felt her ears burn as the protection spell on her earrings tried to ward off the phantom, the phantom's own power filling her with cold. She fought back, not sure what to do, but she'd been taught to fight until her last breath. She threw herself back and both of them hit an iron panel. The phantom let go and Liz jumped away from it.
Liz suddenly had an idea. She reached back and grabbed one of the iron panels and pulled as hard as she could. Her palms burned from the contact. It came off the wall, breaking the chains connecting it. She spun around and hit the phantom across its masked face. It fell back and Liz let go of the panel. Now the phantom was trapped between the iron on the walls and the iron on top of it. Liz found her iron knife and jumped onto the panel on top of the phantom. She stabbed the phantom in the chest. She grinned triumphantly as it began to disappear.
"Ghost or not, an iron blade to where your heart once was will do you in," Liz said. She stepped away. As she did, she could swear that the mask the phantom wore disappeared and the face behind it smiled at her with genuine happiness.
I know I went back over what the conversation was with Peter and Carson again, but I tried doing it with Liz simply observing and summing it up to your readers and I just couldn't get it at all.
So what do you think about the change in location?