Previously:
Kyra stopped jumping around to catch her breath and wait for Demona's next move, Demona started the real attack, with magic. Kyra was confused at first, Demona was just standing there, then when she saw the jewel in Demona's hand, she realized what might happen, but it was too late, Demona said a few quick words and a beam burst from the jewel and hit Kyra as she jumped out of the way.
The force of the magic pushed Kyra to the ground, knocking her unconscious for nearly an hour. When she regained consciousness, she was afraid to open her eyes, thinking that Demona would still be there. Strangely, when Kyra finally opened her eyes, Demona was gone..... She'd been turned into a Gargoyle!
Love and Truth
When Kyra got to the castle, Brooklyn was getting ready to leave. "Hi, Brooks. Where are you going?" Kyra asked.
"Out to make sure no one's close to the castle that shouldn't be." Brooklyn answered.
"Like Micheal or Demona?" Kyra replied, it was her way of saying she wanted to go too.
"Come on, catch up when you put Lupus in." Brooklyn said and went out.
Kyra led Lupus in to the room where Cana was nursing her pups. He was allowed near them now that Cana had calmed down. Cana started whining as she came in, something was wrong with the pups. Kyra went in since she was the only one allowed to touch the puppies. The runt was stuck in the bit of space between the basket and the wall, Kyra couldnt figure out how the little mutt got out of the basket. She moved the basket away from the wall and got her answer, the only she-wolf pup in the litter climbed right over the wall of the basket and slipped onto the floor right then.
She was a black pup with an off-white paw and a bent ear, she couldn't use her voice box well. She was the strongest of the litter, her eyes and left ear were open when she was born and her legs strengthened very quickly. She was only a little over a day old and already moving, though not very well, but better than her brothers.
Kyra put the pups in an enclosed corner with boards around it just high enough to allow Cana in, but keep the pups from getting out. It was so the pups wouldn't bother anyone inside or lure Alex away from his room at bedtime with their whining and play-growls. She picked them up one by one and placed them gently in the pen. Nipper squirmed in her hands so it took longer to get her in.
Brooklyn had a three minute lead, but Kyra quickly caught up and even got past him. She was so far in front that she practiced her dives and loops while she waited for him to catch up.
"Think you could fly a little faster?" Brooklyn asked sarcastically, "It only took me five minutes to catch up this time!"
"Sorry, I gotta go as fast as the wind does." Kyra answered.
"Yeah right." Brooklyn said sarcastically and Kyra went off again, this time making sure Brooklyn wasn't too far behind. She knew it was dangerous to fly so close to Demona's territory without close protection, even her magic couldn't protect her from a lazer, could it? She never really wanted to test it, she was brave, but not stupid!
Later that night, Kyra went up to her turret room for the rest of the night. She had a lot of homework and had to think of a way to tell Chris what happened nearly a week ago. He would find out one way or another, and Kyra figured it might as well be from her. Little did she know that two new enemies would be made by telling him, neither would be him, but
they both would be because of him.
Kyra knew that the two girls that just transferred from the Queens district had their eye on Chris, and she needed to tell him why she couldn't see him during the night before he thought she didn't want him anymore and went to them! Kyra really
hated the Fisker sisters, they drove her crazy with their snobby attitudes.
They always complained that they would rather go to a private school, but since there were none on Manhattan, had to go to some primitive public school. Kyra hated to admit it, but half of the time, she wanted to ring their pretty little rich, "Better than thou attitude" necks like rags! Especially Gina. She kept her cold, hard olive-green eyes on Chris all day, when her nose wasn't in her make-up case, it was pointed right at Kyra's boyfriend. What really got her was that the Fisker sisters knew Chris was hers, they constantly attempted to steal Chris from her, but she worked hard everyday to prove to them that Chris was sticking with her! Still, she always kept her eye on them.
A few weeks later, Kyra had to stay after school to play a basketball game. When it was over, she had about 15 minutes before sunset, she figured it would be easiest to just wait in hiding until the sky darkened rather than risk changing in front of other humans. After Kyra changed, she went on her way, above the city so no one could see her. Then, in an hour, the one thing she forgot could happen, did. Demona intercepted, forcing Kyra to land on the street so she couldn't go back up. Micheal showed himself and Kyra instinctively ran before he could act. She went straight to Central Park because she knew even in that form, she could at least out run him.
One problem with Kyra's plan though, Micheal knew she would go there because she always did, and had his gang positioned in different places so that she couldn't escape. She thought she was trapped, then she remembered her magic, normally she would not use it since she figured she might hurt someone, but this was a definite emergency! Kyra glanced around at Micheal's auxiliary fighters, and silently hoped that her magic was strong enough to handle this.
She gathered her strength and focused on the nearest person. She said some words in her native language, a prayer for success, and aimed a "zap" of magic, it wasn't lethal, it only immobilized for a few moments, just enough time to escape. She fired at the boy and missed, but it was enough to make half of the gang back up. Kyra ran for the streets, if her biggest
problem was Micheal and other humans, she would need moves, not speed. She jumped over fences and climbed over boxes and dumpsters. It grew darker around her with every turn.
It looked like Kyra would lose them, except that she had forgotten Demona again. She realized her mistake as soon as she made a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end alley, she heard Demona's calls and realized her soon-to-be fate. Kyra's only hope was that the gargoyles were nearby. She took a deep breath and let out a bloodcurdling call: it was Gargoyle for
HELP!
The trio and Angela were nearby and recognized Kyra's calls, they heard Demona and pieced together that Kyra was about to become swiss cheese if they didn't do something fast! Even worse, a Quarryman might have heard her. The tower was too far behind them, they would have to risk fighting Demona on their own, going back to get Goliath would be too risky. They'd be playing with time, something they didn't have much of as it was. Demona had been one of the fastest gliders in the clan, Lexington even had doubts if they would get there in time anyway.
Brooklyn refused to listen, Kyra was his self proclaimed responsibility, if anything happened to her, he would blame himself for not getting there in time. They took the fastest air current they could find that was leading in the general direction of her distress call. Brooklyn arrived first, without a moment to spare.
Demona had just landed and was about to fire her lazer. Brooklyn got in front of Kyra to prevent her being harmed, Lexington and Broadway showed up just moments later. Angela knocked Demona away. Not having any help at the moment, Demona decided it would be better to retreat and get Kyra when she was alone.
Kyra was unharmed, so Brooklyn and the others decided not to tell Goliath about the fight, he had given Kyra enough restrictions as it was because of Micheal and Demona and they weren't about to give him reason to give her more.
When they got back, Goliath wanted to know why Kyra was late, she knew what time Demona started doing her deadly work and all of them were to be in before then and stay in unless something happened. The trio fibbed that Kyra was busy talking to her sister when the sun began to set and she was a very long way from the castle. Elisa was up visiting and could tell they were lying, but they seemed concerned about what would happen if they told the truth and she kept it a secret.
Kyra let the pups out to play and Nipper promptly went right over to Brooklyn who was watching Lex work on a remote controlled car. Nipper snuck lower to the ground and opened her mouth, baring her teeth.
"Don't even think about it." Kyra said sternly and grabbed Nipper by her scruff as she was running away from the attempted biting. Kyra put her back in the pen for punishment.
"Kyra, you've got to teach Nipper not to bite people." Elisa sighed.
"She did, I guess she needs to teach her not to bite gargoyles too" Angela answered.
"I told you she made Demona look innocent." Brooklyn said in a way that made Nipper whine, knowing he was serious about it. Nipper and her brothers were taught to growl and bark at Demona and Micheal, so Nipper figured they were bad since she was told never to do that to anyone else. Making one of them seem good was the worst complaint of behavior anyone could get, and Nipper was starting to get the idea that she was growing too big for her antics to be cute anymore.
"I'll take her to the park with Bronx for training later." Kyra replied.
"Why Bronx?" Broadway asked, "Why not Cana or Lupus?"
"Because Bronx is the only one who can keep up with that little rascal." Kyra explained, "Besides, he'll be a good example for her."
Bronx was tolerant of the rambunctious pups, but only let them go so far before he gave them a quick nip and walked off. Cana did not like Bronx giving her pups discipline, but they had to get it from someone and he was able to get away with it when Cana permitted.
Lupus wasn't exactly a good father, he let the pups get away with everything! Kyra usually gave the pups the discipline they remembered. A sharp yell of their name, or a slightly uncomfortable whap on the muzzle meant "no!", and the pups knew it. When Kyra even looked at them in a certain way, the pups knew they did wrong.
There was a deep, unnerving presence in Kyra's gaze, especially when she was angry, it was probably because of the gargoyle in her. The only problem with discipline was that Nipper was as disobedient as a two year old child, she repeatedly did offensive things after being told "no!" or, in extreme situations, getting a very hard slap on her back as well. Nipper was a little misfit pup and Brooklyn joked many times about her antics making Demona seem sweet and innocent, usually right after he'd been bitten on the tail. She was teething, getting rid of the jagged points on her teeth so she could learn to eat food in another month or so. Scratch had started teething yesterday, and Tuma was due to start either tomorrow or the day after.
"You'd better go soon, it looks like rain and you don't want to get stuck in it." Elisa called, looking at the clouds. "Unless you'd rather walk home."
"Don't worry, I know I'm the only one who can't glide with wet wings, which is totally unfair. If it rains, I'll go for cover and hide until it stops." Kyra said, petting Tuma, "I still think it isn't fair that my magic makes my wings thinner." she grumbled as she put him inside.
Later that night, Kyra took Bronx and Nipper out for special training at Central Park. Nipper was still difficult, but she was wearing down.
"Nipper, no." Kyra grabbed Nipper as she started to wander off. "Watch Bronx. Sit."
Bronx promptly sat on the grass. "Stay." Kyra took a few steps away from Bronx, holding a chew toy. Bronx stayed completely still, though he did watch it move. Nipper gave Kyra a look that seemed to say "You want me to do that? Boring!" She was definitely the most like Kyra out of the litter.
Kyra held up the toy and told Nipper to sit. Nipper, completely unaware of her disobedience went right up to Kyra and begged for the toy.
"Nipper. Try to listen." Kyra said understandingly. She went through the same sort of thing training Lupus, except he had to look, not listen.
Kyra felt a stillness in the air, as if something was about to happen. A loud voice yelled for her to duck. She obeyed, wondering who was talking, she never heard that voice at night before. As soon as she hit the ground, a lazer blast passed through the space where her head once was, Nipper yipped loudly at the annoying sound of it. She jumped back up, knowing who shot that and ran, with Bronx behind her, carrying Nipper. Whoever told Kyra to duck saved her life from Demona. When she was sure she was safe, Kyra looked around for the person that saved her. There was no one there.
It sounded like a familiar voice, but she hadn't heard it very often. At least she thought she hadn't. It sounded like a boy, but it couldn't be, the trio was still at the castle, and Goliath certainly didn't sound like that! It certainly wasn't Micheal either, he wouldn't save her. Who was it, and why did they save her?
Kyra went back to the castle, carrying Bronx, with Nipper in his mouth, it was starting to rain anyway. She had to get back before it started pouring. She went up to her room and did her homework.
The next day, Kyra went to school as usual and, as usual, Micheal pestered her in every class, but she strangely didn't mind it. Micheal was still annoying, but she was getting used to him. Micheal was annoyed by the fact that he wasn't even getting a "look" from Kyra, which made her extremely happy.
The Fisker sisters were sitting across from Christopher and he kept his eyes on Kyra, in fact half of the boys in the class stole glances at her, gaining them elbows in their ribs. You couldn't blame them, after all, Kyra wasn't one of the popular cheerleader girls in the school, but she was the one who caught their attention. There was something about her they saw, but couldn't quite understand. Kyra knew what it was when she felt the ghost of her wings when the seat began to get too hard after an hour of sitting.
After school, Kyra was on her way home since there was no practices that day. She saw Chris and went over to him, seeing her chance to explain a little about her night disappearances. Besides, if she didn't go over to her boyfriend the minute she saw him, Gina would get the wrong idea (she was out on the courtyard of the school, watching).
"Hi Chris." Kyra said, running up.
"Hi Kyra, why haven't I seen you around lately after school?" Chris asked.
"I've been pretty busy, Micheal's especially bothersome at night." she answered. It was the truth, she just wasn't telling it all.
"Kyra, I know you, there's more than that." Chris said.
"Ok, you've got me there, there is something else, but I can't tell you right now. I can't tell anyone." Kyra replied.
"Even me?" Chris
"Even Kirstie, and you know I tell her everything." she answered, "But I guess I could show you."
"Show me?" Chris was confused.
"You'll see, just come to Central Park at twilight, I'll be able to clear up everything then." Kyra quickly answered and went on her way.
When twilight came, Kyra took Nipper for a walk through the park, waiting for Chris, there was a problem though, someone else was waiting for her: Demona. At first the park was quiet, then Kyra realized that it was too quiet. Something had to be nearby, or there would be night birds about and squirrels heading for home. She looked around, Nipper growled at a tree. Kyra backed away, but it was too late. Demona leapt from the tree and Kyra ran, Demona was too fast and caught up with her in a matter of moments.
Kyra struggled to free herself of Demona's grasp, but Demona still had her gargoyle strength and Kyra remained captive. Nipper growled and yipped at Demona, lunging towards her, but could find nothing unprotected to bite. Chris was waiting for Kyra and saw her with Demona. He didn't know who Demona was, but something told him she did not have healthy intentions for Kyra.
Suddenly, the last rays of the sun creeped out of sight, triggering a change. Kyra's change was quick and painless, but Demona was not so lucky, Demona's pain allowed Kyra to escape, but it wasn't for long, soon Demona grabbed Kyra again.
"You think it will be that easy to escape me?" Demona asked slyly.
"No, but I do think it's possible." the younger gargoyle answered coolly. Nipper tried to attack Demona again, this time she succeeded, biting hard on Demona's tail. Demona swatted at the pup, allowing enough time for Kyra to get some distance from her. Nipper ran after Kyra into the city, they stopped running when they were far enough that Demona would take a while to catch up. Kyra scooped up Nipper and called for help as loud as her lungs could take the force, but she knew none of the gargoyles were out yet. Demona had caught up while Kyra was calling and was about to fire.
Kyra heard the same call to duck that she had heard the night before. Once again Kyra obeyed and once again, a lazer blast went through where her head was, but unlike the last time, the warner was in sight, it was Chris. Kyra immediately let out an ear splitting cry at Demona and forced her to subside, allowing final escape, Kyra ran out of the alley and went to Chris.
"You knew, all along." she said, amazed, "It was you last night."
"Of course I knew, I can recognize you no matter what you look like, and I can recognize danger too. Let's get outta here." Chris replied and they ran to a safer place.
"If you knew, why did you act like you didn't?" Kyra asked when they got to safety. "Or at least tell me you knew."
"I had a feeling it was something you didn't want Micheal or anyone else knowing about." Chris answered.
"Micheal already knows, he's partly responsible for it." Kyra told him.
"Still, I don't think Kirstie and Kiesha would take it too well." Chris replied.
"Chris, why weren't you afraid of me when I changed?" Kyra asked.
"I don't care what you look like. I love you for your personality and bravery, not your looks." Chris answered sincerely. Kyra smiled at him.
Later that night, Kyra got to the castle. Goliath was worried about her, but when he saw the look on her face, he knew she had been safe. She spent the rest of the night in her room, working on homework.
The next day, Kyra went to school and seemed to be happier than the previous day. Kyra had good reason, real proof that nothing could come between her and Chris. She didn't mind when the Fisker sisters looked at him, because she knew he would never look back, and she minded Micheal's annoyance even less. Micheal knew something was up, and he was going to find out what and put an end to it.
Kyra felt better about her secret now, it didn't bother her as much, she even started enjoying herself by using her magic while she glided so that she could stay in one place and hover while Brooklyn was forced to continue or turn around and land. Kyra's magic even strengthened more every time she used it.
The only thing Kyra needed now was the jewel, which was still in Demona's possession. She had no idea how she was going to get it back, but she did know that it would take all the help she could get. That would mean allowing her sister and Kiesha to know about her secret, which was absolutely out of the question for now.
That night Kyra did what she normally did, take the wolf pups out for a walk, this time she was extra careful not to let anyone follow her, especially Demona, and definitely Micheal. Of course by now it was clear that fate wanted to give her a hard time and it was doing a great job. A few minutes later, Micheal showed with about half of the gang. Kyra reacted quickly with her main defense, making herself look as mean as possible. Micheal knew her snarls and posture were fake. She was too nice and good hearted to be even close to that mean. Of course he didn't know that she had changed her inner form as well as her outer; if she was threatened, she could be just as violent as Demona was, which scared Kyra. It scared everyone actually. The other boys backed away quickly.
"Come back here you idiots, she won't hurt you!" Micheal called the gang back. They obeyed, but coming not as close as they were before.
"What makes you think that?" Kyra asked, the glow in her eyes faded, though her tone of voice was firm and threatening.
"I know you." Micheal answered.
"Maybe you think you do, but I don't." Kyra said coolly.
"What do you mean?" Micheal asked.
"Just that everything changes, including personalities. Demona's living proof of that." Kyra answered.
"Yeah, but you aren't Demona." Micheal stated, laughingly to Kyra's surprise. She kept her face straight and impersonal.
"Maybe not, but I am a warrior, and capable of being just like her if I have to be." she replied.
"I'm willing to take chances." Micheal said, his mean disposition returned, and ordered an attack. The fight didn't last too long, a few lashes of Kyra's tail and swipes of her claws, and every boy was on the ground, except Micheal.
"You should know better than to take chances with a gargoyle, Micheal." Kyra said and went home.
Later in the night, Goliath warned Kyra to be careful, "Micheal will try something again, and next time he won't be so easy to stop." he said worriedly, "I know you think you can beat him, but you won't always be under favorable conditions. I don't want to see you hurt."
"Goliath's right, Kyra. Micheal will probably have Demona's help on the next attack." Elisa added. "Those two don't give second chances on things like that, it will never be the same attack twice."
"I promise I'll be careful, but I have to go. I promised Chris I'd see him tonight." Kyra said and left.
"See Chris?" Broadway said confusedly, "But..."
"I know, Broadway, Chris must have found out and didn't mind." Elisa answered his question before he could finish it.
"I guess you were right, Elisa, looks don't matter." Angela said. "But how did you know?"
"That's a secret, and I'm not telling." Elisa replied, looking at Goliath.
When Kyra went to see Chris, he gave her a gold locket, visible proof to Micheal that Kyra would never leave Chris.
The next day, Kyra met her sister after school to go to a game off campus. Kiesha met them by the bike rack and they rode to the park's basketball court. The game was pretty long, but they won and Kyra got to the castle just in time for sunset.
"Cutting it a bit close, Kyra." Brooklyn teased after he woke up.
"Hey, I can't help how long the games are." Kyra said defiantly and went up to finish her homework. She would have stayed up there all day except that Elisa came up with bad news.
"What's wrong Elisa?" Goliath asked.
"I just got a call from Xanatos telling me to come over fast." Elisa said worriedly.
"Why would Xanatos call the Police Department?" Kyra asked, coming outside. "We're right up here."
"Well, he told me he wanted you guys on the case." Elisa answered.
"Like I said, we're right up here." Kyra repeated herself.
"I guess he figured you'd listen to me more than him." Elisa replied.
"Why?" Angela asked.
"The spare Steel Clan robots were stolen from the warehouse today, and Micheal's probably the one that did it." Elisa answered. "It was an expert job, whoever did it got past everything. Except the code... they had to break the lock to get in."
"Not the robots!" Kyra exclaimed.
"Why would Micheal want the robots?" Lexington asked.
"I have no idea, all I know is that it can't be good." Elisa answered.
"Xanatos doesn't know either?" Goliath asked.
"Actually even he's baffled." Elisa said. "No one knows about them except the police. To keep track of what sightings may mean."
"If Micheal is involved, I'll talk to him at school tomorrow." Kyra volunteered.
"Be careful, you know he won't like you knowing about it." Goliath warned.
"You want me to tell Xanatos?" Elisa asked.
"Not yet, wait until we're sure it's Micheal." Goliath said.
"I'm definitely not going out tonight." Kyra said, "Micheal's probably found someway of getting those robots to work."
"You're probably right. you'd better be careful after school." Elisa warned. "The day's are getting even shorter and it'll be nearly dark anyway."
Kyra sighed, "I can't wait for winter break..."
The next day, Kyra went up to Micheal, she was careful of her expression, she didn't want to arouse Micheal's suspicions. She was wearing Chris' locket, she never took it off since he gave it to her, though it clashed a little with her "tough girl" clothes.
"Yo, Mikey, wait a minute." she called toughly.
"Now what? I haven't done anything...yet." Micheal said.
"I know, and you'd better not do anything." Kyra replied "Did you hear the news? Some robots were stolen yesterday."
"Gee, I wonder how that happened." Micheal said like he was hiding something.
"You wouldn't happen to know who did it, would you?" Kyra asked firmly.
"You've been around that detective too much, Kyra." Micheal said sourly, "What makes you think I would know?" he added nonchalantly.
"Just that it's the kind of thing you and your 'friend' would do." Kyra answered.
"Wait a sec, you think I did it?" Micheal asked innocently.
"Don't give me your innocent act Micheal, you and Demona are the only ones who would want the Steel Clan, since Demona's the only one besides Xanatos that knows how to use them." Kyra said sternly.
"So maybe Demona has them." Micheal said casually.
"Guilt is written all over your face, Micheal. You're the thief in the gang. Either confess and return the robots or you'll be in more trouble than you want." Kyra told him.
"Forget me, Kyra, you stick your neck any farther into this, and you'll lose your head." Micheal said angrily and walked off. Kyra was unintimidated. She had handled Micheal's threats a lot when she was in the gang.
Then again, that was probably partly Demona's threat as well, and Goliath did say that Demona always carried out her threats...so Kyra was intimidated. She told Christopher about Micheal's threat and why she was worried about it.
"Don't worry, I won't let Micheal or Demona hurt you." Chris promised.
"It's not me I'm worried about. The Steel Clan always came very close to defeating Goliath and the others. They aren't a problem anymore because the fight between Xanatos and Goliath is over; but combining them and Demona would mean certain death for the gargoyles, and without them, it would mean death for Elisa and slavery for me." Kyra explained. "Not to mention the city would be overly screwed."
"Then you have to warn them." Chris said.
"They already know, but they can't do anything about it, going after Micheal and Demona now would be suicide!" Kyra replied.
"I guess that means it's up to us." Chris told her.
"What?" she was confused.
"You'll see, now listen carefully. We'll need rope, we have to attack after dark, and you have to bring Kirstie and Kiesha." Chris explained every detail of his plan, "Remember, the others can't know, they won't let you do this. Should I tell Kirstie and Kiesha about you?"
"Yes, Kirstie's my sister, I guess she should have been the first to know after the Gargoyles. I have to go, it's getting late. Please be careful, you don't know what Demona's capable of." Kyra warned and went home as the sky darkened.
Later that day, she walked home from school and was careful that at least one person could see her so Micheal couldn't try anything. When she got inside a small room in the castle, she turned on a small computer that Lex fixed up and started looking for something that would help her and Chris get the robots before Micheal could use them.
Kyra tapped into the architecture section of an on-line service and brought up files on really old buildings. She looked at the pictures that came on the screen and stopped as soon as she got to a familiar one, it was like Belvedere castle, but on property outside the city limits. Nightstone owned the land.
She printed the floor plans for the building and searched for a room that would be perfect to hide life size Gargoyle robots in. Then she scanned the paper carefully and circled a remote room far to the west and on the top floor, if anywhere, the stolen robots were there.
"Elisa?" she called when she heard a door open. It was almost sunset, so Kyra knew she would be coming up to see Goliath.
"What is it Kyra?" Elisa asked.
"I need to talk to you about something." Kyra answered as she came out. Chris did tell her that the others probably wouldn't let her carry the plan out, but she needed Elisa's help or the plan would fail. She made Elisa promise not to tell Goliath about the plan, he was the only one who could really stop them from doing this.
"Kyra, sometimes I think your plans are crazy and will never work," Elisa started, "But luckily this is not one of those times. Why do you need my help?"
"I'm pretty sure I can get to the robots, but I'm not so sure I can get them out without Demona or Micheal catching me. Chris, Kirstie and Kiesha will be looking out, but Demona's good at sneaking up on people." Kyra replied.
"Well, that still doesn't answer my question, how can I help?" Elisa asked.
"Oh, I need some way of preventing getting caught, Micheal and Demona won't give up the robots without a fight, and I'm the only one going that can fight them without getting hurt badly." Kyra answered.
"Sure, but why don't you want the guys to know?" Elisa asked.
"Because Goliath will never let me do this, and it's the only way to get the robots out of Micheal's possession safely." Kyra replied. "I guess Brooklyn, Angela and Lex can know, but not Broadway, he'll tell Goliath."
"Just be careful, if I don't hear about Micheal being arrested for stealing the robots over the radio by an hour after you leave, I'm telling Goliath to go help you." Elisa said.
"Fair enough, just not before then. Give us a chance, Demona's lair is so big it will take at least fifteen minutes just to get to the robots, who knows how long to get them outside." Kyra compromised, "Send help forty-five minutes after we get there."
"I'll tell Lex to bring a radio headset." Elisa answered and Kyra went up to her room to pack the things she would need for the plan. Some rope, a flashlight, and the map, for obvious reasons. "I hope Demona isn't too rough if she catches them, since Goliath won't be there." Elisa said to herself, scratching Lupus behind his ear.
"What?" Kyra called from her room.
"I was just thinking, if Demona catches you, you'll need help." Elisa answered.
"So...?" Kyra knew there was more.
"I know I promised I wouldn't tell Goliath, but if you're in real trouble, you'll need him." Elisa replied.
"All right, but you can only tell him if we get caught." Kyra said, coming out, "How long is the night now, I mean daylight savings time about is over, right?"
"Just about, there's well over ten hours of dark." Elisa answered. "It is almost Thanksgiving."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Good, then the plan has time to work." Kyra replied and went up to check the map for the easiest route to the room the robots were probably in.
After sunset, Kyra told Brooklyn, Angela and Lexington about the plan, away from Goliath.
"Shouldn't we tell Goliath where we're going?" Lexington asked doubtfully.
"No, he won't let us do this, but Elisa will tell him if we get in trouble. I doubt we will though." Kyra answered.
"How is she going to know?" Angela asked.
"Lex will have to wear the headset so Elisa will be able to hear what's going on, she'll be able to identify Micheal and Demona's voices, plus what they say will be a big tip-off that we're in danger." Kyra answered.
"So will what we say." Lexington added. "As in 'help'."
"All right, let's go." Brooklyn said as Lexington put the headset on.
"Where are you four going?" Goliath asked as they passed him going to the outer wall.
"Just for a look around, to see if anything's going on down there, every little thing helps build a good reputation with the humans." Kyra said and the teenagers went to the parapets and glided off.
They met Chris, Kirstie and Kiesha by the river and they all went to Demona's lair on foot, to prevent the gargoyles from being seen.
When they reached Demona's lair, Kiesha hesitated. "Gee, that place looks pretty creepy, are you sure it's safe?"
"Would I ask you to help me do something that wasn't?" Kyra asked.
"Yes." Keisha half-joked.
"I would not! Besides, you don't have to worry, I've got everything figured out." Suddenly, a lazer blast hit in the middle of the group, scattering them immediately, "Except that." Kyra said, pointing to the emblazoned spot the beam left. She was embarrassed that she had forgotten about Demona's gun.
"Kyra, why do you always forget the most obvious things?" Brooklyn asked, standing right beside her, well kind of right on her, they'd all jumped in total confusion and Brooklyn and Kyra slammed into a tree, her first, then him. He pushed himself away and Kyra stepped away from the tree.
"I don't know, just bad luck or something." Kyra answered, brushing dust and bark off her arms. "Lex, I think you'd better tell Elisa to send Goliath right now!"
"Hey Elisa..." Lexington began.
"I heard, so did Goliath, he left after I heard the lazer blast." Elisa replied.
"Goliath is going to be mad when he gets here, but not at you, at Demona, for shooting at us." Lexington said to Kyra.
"I'm not worried about Goliath being mad at me, I'm sure he understands that I don't want Micheal having such an unfair advantage for very long." Kyra replied.
"Which advantage, the robots or Demona?" Brooklyn asked sarcastically after dodging a lazer beam and crashing right into Kyra again. He immediately jumped away, this was getting monotonous.
"Very funny," Kyra said with no expression. She meant what he said and the jumping, he acted like she had cooties or something. You don't want to get stuck in that situation with your best friend, it'll get you everytime.
"I hope Goliath saves us soon, or there won't be too much left to rescue." Kyra added, holding her tail, the beam that Brooklyn dodged had burnt the end of it, and that burned her!
Suddenly, Goliath appeared, knocking Demona to her feet, he glided down to Kyra. "I'm not exactly pleased that you went and did this without telling me." he said.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I figured you'd say I couldn't do it because I'm too young, or something like that, and I just can't stand it when Micheal does stuff like this." Kyra said apologetically.
"Well, we'd better get those robots before Micheal learns that you're here." Goliath replied.
"You mean we can still do this?" Angela asked.
"Yes, but I'm helping you, in case Micheal shows up." Goliath answered, "Now, we'd better hurry."
Goliath, Lexington, Brooklyn, Angela and Kyra climbed up the wall and Chris, Kirstie, and Kiesha guarded the outside. The door was jammed, but Kyra's magic took care of it with no problems.
They followed the map through the lair and surprisingly, got to the robots without getting caught. Kyra stayed behind to look for any robots Micheal hid in other rooms. Goliath, Brooklyn, Angela, and Lexington took the robots outside.
"Where's Kyra?" Goliath asked.
"Looking for any hidden robots." Angela answered.
"She'd better hurry, Demona's gone. She probably told Micheal that at least Kyra's still in there." Brooklyn said.
"You go in and check on her." Goliath told him.
Brooklyn searched silently through the winding hall, suddenly he heard a simultaneous crash and shriek and ran with Chris to see what happened.
Kyra had given up on finding any hidden robots when she heard footsteps heading for the room and ran to get outside before she was caught. Unfortunately, that part of the building was very old and some of the floor was rotten. Her foot went straight through some boards, which closed on it, trapping her.
That was the crash Brooklyn heard, but chances that he would get to Kyra in time were slimming quickly. Demona heard it too and knew exactly what it was.
"Great, now I'm really in trouble." Kyra said as she tried to free her foot. Her jeans were torn and her ankle hurt badly, it was probably sprained, there was some blood staining the cuff of her jeans slowly. Kyra cursed, she'd have to get out of there before she bled to death. She heard someone coming and decided not to take chances, she stayed quiet. Just as she feared, it was Demona, but it was too late to be quiet.
"Well, well, what have we here?" Demona asked cruelly, "Sometimes the most obvious traps are the ones you forget about."
"I'm warning you, I may not be able to fight, but I can still use my magic." Kyra said bravely.
"Not for long you can't." Demona replied coldly and used a electric zapper on Kyra, draining her of the strength she needed to use magic. Nipper had jumped out of the satchel, Kyra had hidden her there, and growled at Demona, she immediately swept her tail away from the annoying pup once she saw it.
Just then, Brooklyn appeared and knocked Demona away from Kyra. "You have the worst timing." Demona said, quite annoyed at losing her victim.
"Actually, I have pretty good timing, considering what nearly happened." Brooklyn replied as Chris and Angela came behind him to help pull Kyra free. Angela broke the board holding Kyra's ankle and Chris held her steady as she stood.
"Even my daughter betrays me." Demona said, visibly annoyed.
"Lay off, Demona. Angela's just helping her friend." Brooklyn told her. With that Demona stormed away in anger.
"Thanks, if you had come just a few minutes later..." Kyra began.
"Don't even think about it, come on, Goliath's probably very worried about us." Chris interrupted. He, the gargoyles, and Kyra got out of there as fast as they could.
The next night Kyra decided it was safer to stay inside, since Micheal could still have a hidden robot. The others stayed in as well, they didn't want to take chances. Kyra heard a strange sound outside and looked, there was something glowing about a mile away.
"Hey guys, something weird is happening out here." Kyra called.
"It's probably a power surge or something." Elisa said.
"Do power surges glow bright red?" Kyra asked.
"What?" Goliath exclaimed, "You're kidding." He said as he came up to the parapet.
"No way, look for yourself." Kyra replied. There was indeed a bright red glow far to the east, it was obviously not a normal occurrence.
"Do you think it's Demona?" Broadway asked.
"No way, the jewel isn't that strong." Kyra answered.
"It may be another form of magic, a living one." Goliath replied.
"You mean a Child of Oberon is doing that?" Elisa asked.
"A what?" Kyra asked.
"You know, magical beings like those weird sisters." Brooklyn told her.
"Oh, it's one of them?" Kyra asked.
"Maybe, but that's how Children of Oberon call for help, why would one need help?" Hudson answered.
"It could be Puck." Lexington said. "Don't see why he'd do that though... unless he has to be sneaky."
"Puck?" Kyra was really confused, "You mean some hockey ball is calling us?"
"You never studied Shakespeare, did you?" Brooklyn asked her.
"Not really, we haven't gotten to it in lit class yet." Kyra replied.
"Kyra, Puck is one of the Children of Oberon, he has powers like the sisters, but he grants commands, usually adding a prank to the result." Elisa explained. "He hides himself in a human form most of the time though. He's forced to by Oberon's command."
"It just might be him, Demona's probably trying to use him or something." Brooklyn said.
"Why would Demona know him?" Angela asked.
"Puck's the one that turned Demona part human." Elisa answered.
"Why would he do that?" Kyra asked.
"Because Demona had him last and he didn't like her." Goliath answered, "But he's really working for Xanatos."
"Why?" Kyra asked, visibly frustrated by the confusion.
"His human form is Owen Burnette." Elisa replied, "Let's hurry, maybe Alexander's in trouble again."
"I'm really getting confused, what does little Alex have to do with this?" Kyra asked as they left.
"More than Xanatos likes." Goliath answered, far ahead of her.
Goliath, Brooklyn, Elisa and Kyra went towards the brightening glow, Kyra looked down on the street, no one even noticed the glow around them.
"Hey Goliath, why can't the humans down there see the glow?" Kyra asked.
"I guess Puck's making it so that only we can." Elisa answered.
"It must be serious, let's hurry." Goliath said and they rushed towards the center of the glow. It led to a small building, it seemed deserted, but they were cautious, in case there was danger. Kyra was the first to spot the strange little elf-like creature.
"Is that him over there?" she asked.
"Yes, let's go see what the problem is." Goliath answered.
"Puck, was that red glow you?" Elisa asked.
"No, it was the airtowers..."
Kyra thought Puck talked in an odder attitude than her, but the others were obviously used to it, so she didn't say anything. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Demona's making trouble, you're in dangers doubled." Puck answered.
"What does that mean?" Kyra asked Elisa.
"It means Demona's involved in a plot that'll bring trouble with someone else helping." Elisa answered. "Why didn't Owen tell us this?"
"No, Demona has a plot, then danger doubles, then Gargoyles have troubles." Puck said. "And would you have believed it from the stiffshirt?"
"Enough of the riddles Puck, we know you can talk in normal phrases." Goliath told him, he could see that Kyra was barely understanding a word Puck said.
"Very well," Puck said like he didn't want to. "The double danger comes after Demona's plot, it should happen to the young girl in your clan, her." he pointed to Kyra.
"Kyra's getting double trouble?" Elisa asked, "When?"
"Kyra, who is this Kyra?" Puck asked.
"I am Kyra. You know that, halfwit" Kyra answered. "Quit stalling."
"Well well, quite the attitude for a born sorceress." Puck observed, "You should beware in later years, more trouble will come for you than you want."
"What do you mean by that?" Kyra asked. "And how do you know I'm a born sorceress?"
"The second question will be answered before the first. You'd better be wary around strangers, and remember, everything is not as it seems. The truth's inside but hidden well, within Demona's heart it dwells, you'll understand that before any of the previous problems." With that Puck disappeared. Maybe Owen would be more co-operative, then again, maybe not. He barely even spoke to Kyra.
"Oh, great, more riddles." Kyra said sarcastically, "Elisa, what did he mean?"
"I have no idea. Goliath?" Elisa asked.
"I don't either, obviously Puck wants us to figure this out on our own." Goliath answered.
"Well, it's almost dawn, we'll have to figure it out tomorrow night." Elisa said, looking to the east.
Much later the next day, Kyra was still wondering about what Puck meant by the truth is inside, but hidden well. She knew it obviously meant a truth about Demona, but why would she hide it? For that matter, why in her heart? Did Demona even have a heart?
It was getting dark and late, so she decided to shrug it off and wait for something to happen before she brought it up. Unfortunately, not much happened! Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway had their usual squabble about practically nothing, and it took Goliath fifteen minutes to break them up. Elisa came up, but just to visit, it seemed it was quiet on the street as well. No one liked the fact that nothing was happening, not because they were bored, but because it usually meant someone was planning something big.
Kyra was getting tired of just sitting around and playing with the wolf pups who were growing so fast they looked more like their parents. She decided to go out and see why there was nothing happening. She asked Goliath if she could go out and check on the city, in case something small was happening. He said she could, as long as she returned within an hour of sunrise and was very careful, Angela went with her.
Kyra was still bored while she glided around the city, but at least she could stretch her wings and legs. She did some twists and loops to keep from being too bored and practiced her dives and climbs. Suddenly, she stopped in mid air and Angela looked with horror at what was in front of them. Demona was waiting, holding her lazer gun.
"Yipes, wrong way!" Kyra said quickly and they flew off as fast as their thin wings could go.
It wasn't fast enough, Demona caught up and forced them to land. Kyra knew they were in real trouble and thought quickly. A plan arrived almost immediately. It was pretty simple, Kyra yelled as loud as she could for help, she knew Goliath would be too far to hear, but hopefully another friend would.
Another friend did hear, someone she wasn't expecting. A large object knocked Demona aside, she quickly retreated. Kyra smiled at their rescuer.
"Thanks Derek." she said.
"Why is she after you?" Elisa's brother asked.
"First of all, I'm Goliath and Brooklyn's friend and second of all, I'm Elisa's friend." Kyra told him.
"Demona's after Elisa still?" Derek did not sound happy about that.
"Yeah, but Elisa's really getting good at stopping Demona." Angela replied, "We'd better go, Goliath's probably worried."
Kyra and Angela glided back to the castle and told Goliath about their run in with Demona, Elisa came up when Kyra got to the part about how Derek saved them.
"That's Derek's way." Elisa replied, "He hates to see kids get hurt, especially if the kids are my friends."
"I told Derek about how Demona is still an enemy to Elisa, he didn't like it when we told him that Elisa's life was constantly in danger because of Demona." Kyra told Goliath.
"Then Demona's going to have someone else getting in her way." Goliath said.
"Not to change the subject, but did you ever figure out what Puck meant when he said that Demona hid the truth in her heart?" Elisa asked.
"I haven't even figured out if Demona still has a heart!" Kyra joked.
"This is a real stumper, what is Demona hiding, and why?" Brooklyn asked.
"We'll find out in time." Goliath replied and Kyra went up to sleep early, she was very tired.
I know I know... what happened next and what's the point of the riddle? You'll find out next in "Surprising Memories"... if you liked this story (or didn't...) or have suggestions for another, don't hesitate to tell me:
Kyra stopped jumping around to catch her breath and wait for Demona's next move, Demona started the real attack, with magic. Kyra was confused at first, Demona was just standing there, then when she saw the jewel in Demona's hand, she realized what might happen, but it was too late, Demona said a few quick words and a beam burst from the jewel and hit Kyra as she jumped out of the way.
The force of the magic pushed Kyra to the ground, knocking her unconscious for nearly an hour. When she regained consciousness, she was afraid to open her eyes, thinking that Demona would still be there. Strangely, when Kyra finally opened her eyes, Demona was gone..... She'd been turned into a Gargoyle!
"All right Kyra, let's work on your landing." Brooklyn
called.
"Not on your life." Kyra said in a low sarcastic voice.
"Come on, you've got to learn, watch me." he glided down
to a building and landed right on his feet. "Your turn."
"No way, I can't do that!" Kyra exclaimed.
"Kyra, as a human you could do anything except glide and
land, now just take it slow and you'll do fine." Brooklyn said calmly,
"I'll talk you through it."
"All right, I'll try." she called, still a little skepticism
in her voice.
"Try to catch a down draft, there's one right over there.
Once you hit it, angle your wings down a little and lean towards the rooftop.
Just before you get to the rooftop, stick your legs out a little and I'll
help you." Brooklyn reassured her.
"Here goes nothing." Kyra said quietly.
She did exactly what Brooklyn told her and landed almost
perfectly right beside him. Angela, who had just gotten there, was amazed,
even she couldn't do that so well. Neither could Brooklyn, he just looked
at Kyra, his jaw was practically locked.
"How was that?" she asked.
"Almost perfect!" Angela told her, "It's like you've been
doing this all your life."
"I just wish you could be the way you're supposed to be."
Brooklyn sighed.
"She is." A voice familiar to the gargoyles said.
"It's the weird sisters." Goliath replied. Elisa was cautious,
she knew what they were capable of.
"What do you mean Kyra's the way she's supposed to be?"
Xanatos asked.
"She was supposed to be a gargoyle. Didn't you see even
a little bit of gargoyle in her eyes?" One of the sisters asked Goliath.
"Human by day, gargoyle by night, Micheal's not going
to be happy about that!" Elisa said.
"Especially the night thing, I can't wait to see his face
if he catches me at sunset!" Kyra exclaimed.
"Sometimes I think you can be a little too cruel towards
him." Brooklyn told her, "Then I come to my senses and remember he deserves
it!"
"I'd still like to know the little secret you two are
hiding." Elisa told him. "It's got something to do with Micheal, but what?"
Kyra and Brooklyn gave Elisa deadpan looks and walked away from her whistling
innocently.
"You and Kirsten are twins?" Angela asked, amazed.
"I thought you two looked too much alike to just be a
coincidence." Elisa replied.
"I knew it the minute I saw them together." Goliath added,
"You act alike as well."
"Maybe, but we still have our differences, like she's
calm and cool around Micheal when he's being a real jerk, and I practically
lose my temper when he just talks to me." Kyra replied.
"Kirsten isn't our biggest problem, and neither is Micheal."
Hudson interrupted, "Right now we have to worry about Demona and that jewel."
The bright afternoon sun shone down on Central Park. Kyra
couldn't get one thing out of her mind, would Chris still love her if he
found out her secret? Kyra still loved him, even though she saw less of
him because she had to be at the castle well before sunrise and sunset
or someone would see her change. Kyra missed him terribly. The wolf pups
had been born that night, so she kept herself busy thiking of names for
them as she walked with Lupus.
She couldn't even go out alone because Micheal and Demona
were looking for her. She wished her life now could be like her old life,
but then she could never learn the most important lesson in the world.
The one even Demona didn't, and probably never would know. As she thought
of Demona, Kyra realized she was nowhere around, this was highly peculiar
since Demona would leap at the chance to get Kyra while she remained unprotected.
Finally, she felt the evening air start to cool, it was
her only signal to hide from human eyes before sunset. Lupus ran right
to Kyra after she changed. Kyra was pretty recognizable, even in that state.
Her eye and skin color stayed the exact same, except that her wings were
pure black on both the inside and outside. She was only four inches taller,
all that changed was her shape. Kyra looked into Lupus's eyes and thought
of the female pup in the litter, the one that had a name.
Nipper was named so because of her bad treatment towards
Brooklyn when he first tried to pet her, she growled and nipped his hand
as hard as she could. She was just a newborn baby, so her teeth didn't
do any damage, but it still scared the heck out of him!
The second eldest pup in the litter was male, Kyra
decided to name him Scratch because he loved to be scratched in one spot
behind his ear. The runt was a male too and very clumsy. Kyra loved them
all, but Nipper was always Kyra's favorite, and always would be, even if
she was going to be difficult when it came to training.
When Kyra got to the castle, Brooklyn was getting ready to leave. "Hi, Brooks. Where are you going?" Kyra asked.
"Out to make sure no one's close to the castle that shouldn't be." Brooklyn answered.
"Like Micheal or Demona?" Kyra replied, it was her way of saying she wanted to go too.
"Come on, catch up when you put Lupus in." Brooklyn said and went out.
Kyra led Lupus in to the room where Cana was nursing her pups. He was allowed near them now that Cana had calmed down. Cana started whining as she came in, something was wrong with the pups. Kyra went in since she was the only one allowed to touch the puppies. The runt was stuck in the bit of space between the basket and the wall, Kyra couldnt figure out how the little mutt got out of the basket. She moved the basket away from the wall and got her answer, the only she-wolf pup in the litter climbed right over the wall of the basket and slipped onto the floor right then.
She was a black pup with an off-white paw and a bent ear, she couldn't use her voice box well. She was the strongest of the litter, her eyes and left ear were open when she was born and her legs strengthened very quickly. She was only a little over a day old and already moving, though not very well, but better than her brothers.
Kyra put the pups in an enclosed corner with boards around it just high enough to allow Cana in, but keep the pups from getting out. It was so the pups wouldn't bother anyone inside or lure Alex away from his room at bedtime with their whining and play-growls. She picked them up one by one and placed them gently in the pen. Nipper squirmed in her hands so it took longer to get her in.
Brooklyn had a three minute lead, but Kyra quickly caught up and even got past him. She was so far in front that she practiced her dives and loops while she waited for him to catch up.
"Think you could fly a little faster?" Brooklyn asked sarcastically, "It only took me five minutes to catch up this time!"
"Sorry, I gotta go as fast as the wind does." Kyra answered.
"Yeah right." Brooklyn said sarcastically and Kyra went off again, this time making sure Brooklyn wasn't too far behind. She knew it was dangerous to fly so close to Demona's territory without close protection, even her magic couldn't protect her from a lazer, could it? She never really wanted to test it, she was brave, but not stupid!
Later that night, Kyra went up to her turret room for the rest of the night. She had a lot of homework and had to think of a way to tell Chris what happened nearly a week ago. He would find out one way or another, and Kyra figured it might as well be from her. Little did she know that two new enemies would be made by telling him, neither would be him, but
they both would be because of him.
Kyra knew that the two girls that just transferred from the Queens district had their eye on Chris, and she needed to tell him why she couldn't see him during the night before he thought she didn't want him anymore and went to them! Kyra really
hated the Fisker sisters, they drove her crazy with their snobby attitudes.
They always complained that they would rather go to a private school, but since there were none on Manhattan, had to go to some primitive public school. Kyra hated to admit it, but half of the time, she wanted to ring their pretty little rich, "Better than thou attitude" necks like rags! Especially Gina. She kept her cold, hard olive-green eyes on Chris all day, when her nose wasn't in her make-up case, it was pointed right at Kyra's boyfriend. What really got her was that the Fisker sisters knew Chris was hers, they constantly attempted to steal Chris from her, but she worked hard everyday to prove to them that Chris was sticking with her! Still, she always kept her eye on them.
A few weeks later, Kyra had to stay after school to play a basketball game. When it was over, she had about 15 minutes before sunset, she figured it would be easiest to just wait in hiding until the sky darkened rather than risk changing in front of other humans. After Kyra changed, she went on her way, above the city so no one could see her. Then, in an hour, the one thing she forgot could happen, did. Demona intercepted, forcing Kyra to land on the street so she couldn't go back up. Micheal showed himself and Kyra instinctively ran before he could act. She went straight to Central Park because she knew even in that form, she could at least out run him.
One problem with Kyra's plan though, Micheal knew she would go there because she always did, and had his gang positioned in different places so that she couldn't escape. She thought she was trapped, then she remembered her magic, normally she would not use it since she figured she might hurt someone, but this was a definite emergency! Kyra glanced around at Micheal's auxiliary fighters, and silently hoped that her magic was strong enough to handle this.
She gathered her strength and focused on the nearest person. She said some words in her native language, a prayer for success, and aimed a "zap" of magic, it wasn't lethal, it only immobilized for a few moments, just enough time to escape. She fired at the boy and missed, but it was enough to make half of the gang back up. Kyra ran for the streets, if her biggest
problem was Micheal and other humans, she would need moves, not speed. She jumped over fences and climbed over boxes and dumpsters. It grew darker around her with every turn.
It looked like Kyra would lose them, except that she had forgotten Demona again. She realized her mistake as soon as she made a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end alley, she heard Demona's calls and realized her soon-to-be fate. Kyra's only hope was that the gargoyles were nearby. She took a deep breath and let out a bloodcurdling call: it was Gargoyle for
HELP!
The trio and Angela were nearby and recognized Kyra's calls, they heard Demona and pieced together that Kyra was about to become swiss cheese if they didn't do something fast! Even worse, a Quarryman might have heard her. The tower was too far behind them, they would have to risk fighting Demona on their own, going back to get Goliath would be too risky. They'd be playing with time, something they didn't have much of as it was. Demona had been one of the fastest gliders in the clan, Lexington even had doubts if they would get there in time anyway.
Brooklyn refused to listen, Kyra was his self proclaimed responsibility, if anything happened to her, he would blame himself for not getting there in time. They took the fastest air current they could find that was leading in the general direction of her distress call. Brooklyn arrived first, without a moment to spare.
Demona had just landed and was about to fire her lazer. Brooklyn got in front of Kyra to prevent her being harmed, Lexington and Broadway showed up just moments later. Angela knocked Demona away. Not having any help at the moment, Demona decided it would be better to retreat and get Kyra when she was alone.
Kyra was unharmed, so Brooklyn and the others decided not to tell Goliath about the fight, he had given Kyra enough restrictions as it was because of Micheal and Demona and they weren't about to give him reason to give her more.
When they got back, Goliath wanted to know why Kyra was late, she knew what time Demona started doing her deadly work and all of them were to be in before then and stay in unless something happened. The trio fibbed that Kyra was busy talking to her sister when the sun began to set and she was a very long way from the castle. Elisa was up visiting and could tell they were lying, but they seemed concerned about what would happen if they told the truth and she kept it a secret.
Kyra let the pups out to play and Nipper promptly went right over to Brooklyn who was watching Lex work on a remote controlled car. Nipper snuck lower to the ground and opened her mouth, baring her teeth.
"Don't even think about it." Kyra said sternly and grabbed Nipper by her scruff as she was running away from the attempted biting. Kyra put her back in the pen for punishment.
"Kyra, you've got to teach Nipper not to bite people." Elisa sighed.
"She did, I guess she needs to teach her not to bite gargoyles too" Angela answered.
"I told you she made Demona look innocent." Brooklyn said in a way that made Nipper whine, knowing he was serious about it. Nipper and her brothers were taught to growl and bark at Demona and Micheal, so Nipper figured they were bad since she was told never to do that to anyone else. Making one of them seem good was the worst complaint of behavior anyone could get, and Nipper was starting to get the idea that she was growing too big for her antics to be cute anymore.
"I'll take her to the park with Bronx for training later." Kyra replied.
"Why Bronx?" Broadway asked, "Why not Cana or Lupus?"
"Because Bronx is the only one who can keep up with that little rascal." Kyra explained, "Besides, he'll be a good example for her."
Bronx was tolerant of the rambunctious pups, but only let them go so far before he gave them a quick nip and walked off. Cana did not like Bronx giving her pups discipline, but they had to get it from someone and he was able to get away with it when Cana permitted.
Lupus wasn't exactly a good father, he let the pups get away with everything! Kyra usually gave the pups the discipline they remembered. A sharp yell of their name, or a slightly uncomfortable whap on the muzzle meant "no!", and the pups knew it. When Kyra even looked at them in a certain way, the pups knew they did wrong.
There was a deep, unnerving presence in Kyra's gaze, especially when she was angry, it was probably because of the gargoyle in her. The only problem with discipline was that Nipper was as disobedient as a two year old child, she repeatedly did offensive things after being told "no!" or, in extreme situations, getting a very hard slap on her back as well. Nipper was a little misfit pup and Brooklyn joked many times about her antics making Demona seem sweet and innocent, usually right after he'd been bitten on the tail. She was teething, getting rid of the jagged points on her teeth so she could learn to eat food in another month or so. Scratch had started teething yesterday, and Tuma was due to start either tomorrow or the day after.
"You'd better go soon, it looks like rain and you don't want to get stuck in it." Elisa called, looking at the clouds. "Unless you'd rather walk home."
"Don't worry, I know I'm the only one who can't glide with wet wings, which is totally unfair. If it rains, I'll go for cover and hide until it stops." Kyra said, petting Tuma, "I still think it isn't fair that my magic makes my wings thinner." she grumbled as she put him inside.
Later that night, Kyra took Bronx and Nipper out for special training at Central Park. Nipper was still difficult, but she was wearing down.
"Nipper, no." Kyra grabbed Nipper as she started to wander off. "Watch Bronx. Sit."
Bronx promptly sat on the grass. "Stay." Kyra took a few steps away from Bronx, holding a chew toy. Bronx stayed completely still, though he did watch it move. Nipper gave Kyra a look that seemed to say "You want me to do that? Boring!" She was definitely the most like Kyra out of the litter.
Kyra held up the toy and told Nipper to sit. Nipper, completely unaware of her disobedience went right up to Kyra and begged for the toy.
"Nipper. Try to listen." Kyra said understandingly. She went through the same sort of thing training Lupus, except he had to look, not listen.
Kyra felt a stillness in the air, as if something was about to happen. A loud voice yelled for her to duck. She obeyed, wondering who was talking, she never heard that voice at night before. As soon as she hit the ground, a lazer blast passed through the space where her head once was, Nipper yipped loudly at the annoying sound of it. She jumped back up, knowing who shot that and ran, with Bronx behind her, carrying Nipper. Whoever told Kyra to duck saved her life from Demona. When she was sure she was safe, Kyra looked around for the person that saved her. There was no one there.
It sounded like a familiar voice, but she hadn't heard it very often. At least she thought she hadn't. It sounded like a boy, but it couldn't be, the trio was still at the castle, and Goliath certainly didn't sound like that! It certainly wasn't Micheal either, he wouldn't save her. Who was it, and why did they save her?
Kyra went back to the castle, carrying Bronx, with Nipper in his mouth, it was starting to rain anyway. She had to get back before it started pouring. She went up to her room and did her homework.
The next day, Kyra went to school as usual and, as usual, Micheal pestered her in every class, but she strangely didn't mind it. Micheal was still annoying, but she was getting used to him. Micheal was annoyed by the fact that he wasn't even getting a "look" from Kyra, which made her extremely happy.
The Fisker sisters were sitting across from Christopher and he kept his eyes on Kyra, in fact half of the boys in the class stole glances at her, gaining them elbows in their ribs. You couldn't blame them, after all, Kyra wasn't one of the popular cheerleader girls in the school, but she was the one who caught their attention. There was something about her they saw, but couldn't quite understand. Kyra knew what it was when she felt the ghost of her wings when the seat began to get too hard after an hour of sitting.
After school, Kyra was on her way home since there was no practices that day. She saw Chris and went over to him, seeing her chance to explain a little about her night disappearances. Besides, if she didn't go over to her boyfriend the minute she saw him, Gina would get the wrong idea (she was out on the courtyard of the school, watching).
"Hi Chris." Kyra said, running up.
"Hi Kyra, why haven't I seen you around lately after school?" Chris asked.
"I've been pretty busy, Micheal's especially bothersome at night." she answered. It was the truth, she just wasn't telling it all.
"Kyra, I know you, there's more than that." Chris said.
"Ok, you've got me there, there is something else, but I can't tell you right now. I can't tell anyone." Kyra replied.
"Even me?" Chris
"Even Kirstie, and you know I tell her everything." she answered, "But I guess I could show you."
"Show me?" Chris was confused.
"You'll see, just come to Central Park at twilight, I'll be able to clear up everything then." Kyra quickly answered and went on her way.
When twilight came, Kyra took Nipper for a walk through the park, waiting for Chris, there was a problem though, someone else was waiting for her: Demona. At first the park was quiet, then Kyra realized that it was too quiet. Something had to be nearby, or there would be night birds about and squirrels heading for home. She looked around, Nipper growled at a tree. Kyra backed away, but it was too late. Demona leapt from the tree and Kyra ran, Demona was too fast and caught up with her in a matter of moments.
Kyra struggled to free herself of Demona's grasp, but Demona still had her gargoyle strength and Kyra remained captive. Nipper growled and yipped at Demona, lunging towards her, but could find nothing unprotected to bite. Chris was waiting for Kyra and saw her with Demona. He didn't know who Demona was, but something told him she did not have healthy intentions for Kyra.
Suddenly, the last rays of the sun creeped out of sight, triggering a change. Kyra's change was quick and painless, but Demona was not so lucky, Demona's pain allowed Kyra to escape, but it wasn't for long, soon Demona grabbed Kyra again.
"You think it will be that easy to escape me?" Demona asked slyly.
"No, but I do think it's possible." the younger gargoyle answered coolly. Nipper tried to attack Demona again, this time she succeeded, biting hard on Demona's tail. Demona swatted at the pup, allowing enough time for Kyra to get some distance from her. Nipper ran after Kyra into the city, they stopped running when they were far enough that Demona would take a while to catch up. Kyra scooped up Nipper and called for help as loud as her lungs could take the force, but she knew none of the gargoyles were out yet. Demona had caught up while Kyra was calling and was about to fire.
Kyra heard the same call to duck that she had heard the night before. Once again Kyra obeyed and once again, a lazer blast went through where her head was, but unlike the last time, the warner was in sight, it was Chris. Kyra immediately let out an ear splitting cry at Demona and forced her to subside, allowing final escape, Kyra ran out of the alley and went to Chris.
"You knew, all along." she said, amazed, "It was you last night."
"Of course I knew, I can recognize you no matter what you look like, and I can recognize danger too. Let's get outta here." Chris replied and they ran to a safer place.
"If you knew, why did you act like you didn't?" Kyra asked when they got to safety. "Or at least tell me you knew."
"I had a feeling it was something you didn't want Micheal or anyone else knowing about." Chris answered.
"Micheal already knows, he's partly responsible for it." Kyra told him.
"Still, I don't think Kirstie and Kiesha would take it too well." Chris replied.
"Chris, why weren't you afraid of me when I changed?" Kyra asked.
"I don't care what you look like. I love you for your personality and bravery, not your looks." Chris answered sincerely. Kyra smiled at him.
Later that night, Kyra got to the castle. Goliath was worried about her, but when he saw the look on her face, he knew she had been safe. She spent the rest of the night in her room, working on homework.
The next day, Kyra went to school and seemed to be happier than the previous day. Kyra had good reason, real proof that nothing could come between her and Chris. She didn't mind when the Fisker sisters looked at him, because she knew he would never look back, and she minded Micheal's annoyance even less. Micheal knew something was up, and he was going to find out what and put an end to it.
Kyra felt better about her secret now, it didn't bother her as much, she even started enjoying herself by using her magic while she glided so that she could stay in one place and hover while Brooklyn was forced to continue or turn around and land. Kyra's magic even strengthened more every time she used it.
The only thing Kyra needed now was the jewel, which was still in Demona's possession. She had no idea how she was going to get it back, but she did know that it would take all the help she could get. That would mean allowing her sister and Kiesha to know about her secret, which was absolutely out of the question for now.
That night Kyra did what she normally did, take the wolf pups out for a walk, this time she was extra careful not to let anyone follow her, especially Demona, and definitely Micheal. Of course by now it was clear that fate wanted to give her a hard time and it was doing a great job. A few minutes later, Micheal showed with about half of the gang. Kyra reacted quickly with her main defense, making herself look as mean as possible. Micheal knew her snarls and posture were fake. She was too nice and good hearted to be even close to that mean. Of course he didn't know that she had changed her inner form as well as her outer; if she was threatened, she could be just as violent as Demona was, which scared Kyra. It scared everyone actually. The other boys backed away quickly.
"Come back here you idiots, she won't hurt you!" Micheal called the gang back. They obeyed, but coming not as close as they were before.
"What makes you think that?" Kyra asked, the glow in her eyes faded, though her tone of voice was firm and threatening.
"I know you." Micheal answered.
"Maybe you think you do, but I don't." Kyra said coolly.
"What do you mean?" Micheal asked.
"Just that everything changes, including personalities. Demona's living proof of that." Kyra answered.
"Yeah, but you aren't Demona." Micheal stated, laughingly to Kyra's surprise. She kept her face straight and impersonal.
"Maybe not, but I am a warrior, and capable of being just like her if I have to be." she replied.
"I'm willing to take chances." Micheal said, his mean disposition returned, and ordered an attack. The fight didn't last too long, a few lashes of Kyra's tail and swipes of her claws, and every boy was on the ground, except Micheal.
"You should know better than to take chances with a gargoyle, Micheal." Kyra said and went home.
Later in the night, Goliath warned Kyra to be careful, "Micheal will try something again, and next time he won't be so easy to stop." he said worriedly, "I know you think you can beat him, but you won't always be under favorable conditions. I don't want to see you hurt."
"Goliath's right, Kyra. Micheal will probably have Demona's help on the next attack." Elisa added. "Those two don't give second chances on things like that, it will never be the same attack twice."
"I promise I'll be careful, but I have to go. I promised Chris I'd see him tonight." Kyra said and left.
"See Chris?" Broadway said confusedly, "But..."
"I know, Broadway, Chris must have found out and didn't mind." Elisa answered his question before he could finish it.
"I guess you were right, Elisa, looks don't matter." Angela said. "But how did you know?"
"That's a secret, and I'm not telling." Elisa replied, looking at Goliath.
When Kyra went to see Chris, he gave her a gold locket, visible proof to Micheal that Kyra would never leave Chris.
The next day, Kyra met her sister after school to go to a game off campus. Kiesha met them by the bike rack and they rode to the park's basketball court. The game was pretty long, but they won and Kyra got to the castle just in time for sunset.
"Cutting it a bit close, Kyra." Brooklyn teased after he woke up.
"Hey, I can't help how long the games are." Kyra said defiantly and went up to finish her homework. She would have stayed up there all day except that Elisa came up with bad news.
"What's wrong Elisa?" Goliath asked.
"I just got a call from Xanatos telling me to come over fast." Elisa said worriedly.
"Why would Xanatos call the Police Department?" Kyra asked, coming outside. "We're right up here."
"Well, he told me he wanted you guys on the case." Elisa answered.
"Like I said, we're right up here." Kyra repeated herself.
"I guess he figured you'd listen to me more than him." Elisa replied.
"Why?" Angela asked.
"The spare Steel Clan robots were stolen from the warehouse today, and Micheal's probably the one that did it." Elisa answered. "It was an expert job, whoever did it got past everything. Except the code... they had to break the lock to get in."
"Not the robots!" Kyra exclaimed.
"Why would Micheal want the robots?" Lexington asked.
"I have no idea, all I know is that it can't be good." Elisa answered.
"Xanatos doesn't know either?" Goliath asked.
"Actually even he's baffled." Elisa said. "No one knows about them except the police. To keep track of what sightings may mean."
"If Micheal is involved, I'll talk to him at school tomorrow." Kyra volunteered.
"Be careful, you know he won't like you knowing about it." Goliath warned.
"You want me to tell Xanatos?" Elisa asked.
"Not yet, wait until we're sure it's Micheal." Goliath said.
"I'm definitely not going out tonight." Kyra said, "Micheal's probably found someway of getting those robots to work."
"You're probably right. you'd better be careful after school." Elisa warned. "The day's are getting even shorter and it'll be nearly dark anyway."
Kyra sighed, "I can't wait for winter break..."
The next day, Kyra went up to Micheal, she was careful of her expression, she didn't want to arouse Micheal's suspicions. She was wearing Chris' locket, she never took it off since he gave it to her, though it clashed a little with her "tough girl" clothes.
"Yo, Mikey, wait a minute." she called toughly.
"Now what? I haven't done anything...yet." Micheal said.
"I know, and you'd better not do anything." Kyra replied "Did you hear the news? Some robots were stolen yesterday."
"Gee, I wonder how that happened." Micheal said like he was hiding something.
"You wouldn't happen to know who did it, would you?" Kyra asked firmly.
"You've been around that detective too much, Kyra." Micheal said sourly, "What makes you think I would know?" he added nonchalantly.
"Just that it's the kind of thing you and your 'friend' would do." Kyra answered.
"Wait a sec, you think I did it?" Micheal asked innocently.
"Don't give me your innocent act Micheal, you and Demona are the only ones who would want the Steel Clan, since Demona's the only one besides Xanatos that knows how to use them." Kyra said sternly.
"So maybe Demona has them." Micheal said casually.
"Guilt is written all over your face, Micheal. You're the thief in the gang. Either confess and return the robots or you'll be in more trouble than you want." Kyra told him.
"Forget me, Kyra, you stick your neck any farther into this, and you'll lose your head." Micheal said angrily and walked off. Kyra was unintimidated. She had handled Micheal's threats a lot when she was in the gang.
Then again, that was probably partly Demona's threat as well, and Goliath did say that Demona always carried out her threats...so Kyra was intimidated. She told Christopher about Micheal's threat and why she was worried about it.
"Don't worry, I won't let Micheal or Demona hurt you." Chris promised.
"It's not me I'm worried about. The Steel Clan always came very close to defeating Goliath and the others. They aren't a problem anymore because the fight between Xanatos and Goliath is over; but combining them and Demona would mean certain death for the gargoyles, and without them, it would mean death for Elisa and slavery for me." Kyra explained. "Not to mention the city would be overly screwed."
"Then you have to warn them." Chris said.
"They already know, but they can't do anything about it, going after Micheal and Demona now would be suicide!" Kyra replied.
"I guess that means it's up to us." Chris told her.
"What?" she was confused.
"You'll see, now listen carefully. We'll need rope, we have to attack after dark, and you have to bring Kirstie and Kiesha." Chris explained every detail of his plan, "Remember, the others can't know, they won't let you do this. Should I tell Kirstie and Kiesha about you?"
"Yes, Kirstie's my sister, I guess she should have been the first to know after the Gargoyles. I have to go, it's getting late. Please be careful, you don't know what Demona's capable of." Kyra warned and went home as the sky darkened.
Later that day, she walked home from school and was careful that at least one person could see her so Micheal couldn't try anything. When she got inside a small room in the castle, she turned on a small computer that Lex fixed up and started looking for something that would help her and Chris get the robots before Micheal could use them.
Kyra tapped into the architecture section of an on-line service and brought up files on really old buildings. She looked at the pictures that came on the screen and stopped as soon as she got to a familiar one, it was like Belvedere castle, but on property outside the city limits. Nightstone owned the land.
She printed the floor plans for the building and searched for a room that would be perfect to hide life size Gargoyle robots in. Then she scanned the paper carefully and circled a remote room far to the west and on the top floor, if anywhere, the stolen robots were there.
"Elisa?" she called when she heard a door open. It was almost sunset, so Kyra knew she would be coming up to see Goliath.
"What is it Kyra?" Elisa asked.
"I need to talk to you about something." Kyra answered as she came out. Chris did tell her that the others probably wouldn't let her carry the plan out, but she needed Elisa's help or the plan would fail. She made Elisa promise not to tell Goliath about the plan, he was the only one who could really stop them from doing this.
"Kyra, sometimes I think your plans are crazy and will never work," Elisa started, "But luckily this is not one of those times. Why do you need my help?"
"I'm pretty sure I can get to the robots, but I'm not so sure I can get them out without Demona or Micheal catching me. Chris, Kirstie and Kiesha will be looking out, but Demona's good at sneaking up on people." Kyra replied.
"Well, that still doesn't answer my question, how can I help?" Elisa asked.
"Oh, I need some way of preventing getting caught, Micheal and Demona won't give up the robots without a fight, and I'm the only one going that can fight them without getting hurt badly." Kyra answered.
"Sure, but why don't you want the guys to know?" Elisa asked.
"Because Goliath will never let me do this, and it's the only way to get the robots out of Micheal's possession safely." Kyra replied. "I guess Brooklyn, Angela and Lex can know, but not Broadway, he'll tell Goliath."
"Just be careful, if I don't hear about Micheal being arrested for stealing the robots over the radio by an hour after you leave, I'm telling Goliath to go help you." Elisa said.
"Fair enough, just not before then. Give us a chance, Demona's lair is so big it will take at least fifteen minutes just to get to the robots, who knows how long to get them outside." Kyra compromised, "Send help forty-five minutes after we get there."
"I'll tell Lex to bring a radio headset." Elisa answered and Kyra went up to her room to pack the things she would need for the plan. Some rope, a flashlight, and the map, for obvious reasons. "I hope Demona isn't too rough if she catches them, since Goliath won't be there." Elisa said to herself, scratching Lupus behind his ear.
"What?" Kyra called from her room.
"I was just thinking, if Demona catches you, you'll need help." Elisa answered.
"So...?" Kyra knew there was more.
"I know I promised I wouldn't tell Goliath, but if you're in real trouble, you'll need him." Elisa replied.
"All right, but you can only tell him if we get caught." Kyra said, coming out, "How long is the night now, I mean daylight savings time about is over, right?"
"Just about, there's well over ten hours of dark." Elisa answered. "It is almost Thanksgiving."
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Good, then the plan has time to work." Kyra replied and went up to check the map for the easiest route to the room the robots were probably in.
After sunset, Kyra told Brooklyn, Angela and Lexington about the plan, away from Goliath.
"Shouldn't we tell Goliath where we're going?" Lexington asked doubtfully.
"No, he won't let us do this, but Elisa will tell him if we get in trouble. I doubt we will though." Kyra answered.
"How is she going to know?" Angela asked.
"Lex will have to wear the headset so Elisa will be able to hear what's going on, she'll be able to identify Micheal and Demona's voices, plus what they say will be a big tip-off that we're in danger." Kyra answered.
"So will what we say." Lexington added. "As in 'help'."
"All right, let's go." Brooklyn said as Lexington put the headset on.
"Where are you four going?" Goliath asked as they passed him going to the outer wall.
"Just for a look around, to see if anything's going on down there, every little thing helps build a good reputation with the humans." Kyra said and the teenagers went to the parapets and glided off.
They met Chris, Kirstie and Kiesha by the river and they all went to Demona's lair on foot, to prevent the gargoyles from being seen.
When they reached Demona's lair, Kiesha hesitated. "Gee, that place looks pretty creepy, are you sure it's safe?"
"Would I ask you to help me do something that wasn't?" Kyra asked.
"Yes." Keisha half-joked.
"I would not! Besides, you don't have to worry, I've got everything figured out." Suddenly, a lazer blast hit in the middle of the group, scattering them immediately, "Except that." Kyra said, pointing to the emblazoned spot the beam left. She was embarrassed that she had forgotten about Demona's gun.
"Kyra, why do you always forget the most obvious things?" Brooklyn asked, standing right beside her, well kind of right on her, they'd all jumped in total confusion and Brooklyn and Kyra slammed into a tree, her first, then him. He pushed himself away and Kyra stepped away from the tree.
"I don't know, just bad luck or something." Kyra answered, brushing dust and bark off her arms. "Lex, I think you'd better tell Elisa to send Goliath right now!"
"Hey Elisa..." Lexington began.
"I heard, so did Goliath, he left after I heard the lazer blast." Elisa replied.
"Goliath is going to be mad when he gets here, but not at you, at Demona, for shooting at us." Lexington said to Kyra.
"I'm not worried about Goliath being mad at me, I'm sure he understands that I don't want Micheal having such an unfair advantage for very long." Kyra replied.
"Which advantage, the robots or Demona?" Brooklyn asked sarcastically after dodging a lazer beam and crashing right into Kyra again. He immediately jumped away, this was getting monotonous.
"Very funny," Kyra said with no expression. She meant what he said and the jumping, he acted like she had cooties or something. You don't want to get stuck in that situation with your best friend, it'll get you everytime.
"I hope Goliath saves us soon, or there won't be too much left to rescue." Kyra added, holding her tail, the beam that Brooklyn dodged had burnt the end of it, and that burned her!
Suddenly, Goliath appeared, knocking Demona to her feet, he glided down to Kyra. "I'm not exactly pleased that you went and did this without telling me." he said.
"I'm sorry, it's just that I figured you'd say I couldn't do it because I'm too young, or something like that, and I just can't stand it when Micheal does stuff like this." Kyra said apologetically.
"Well, we'd better get those robots before Micheal learns that you're here." Goliath replied.
"You mean we can still do this?" Angela asked.
"Yes, but I'm helping you, in case Micheal shows up." Goliath answered, "Now, we'd better hurry."
Goliath, Lexington, Brooklyn, Angela and Kyra climbed up the wall and Chris, Kirstie, and Kiesha guarded the outside. The door was jammed, but Kyra's magic took care of it with no problems.
They followed the map through the lair and surprisingly, got to the robots without getting caught. Kyra stayed behind to look for any robots Micheal hid in other rooms. Goliath, Brooklyn, Angela, and Lexington took the robots outside.
"Where's Kyra?" Goliath asked.
"Looking for any hidden robots." Angela answered.
"She'd better hurry, Demona's gone. She probably told Micheal that at least Kyra's still in there." Brooklyn said.
"You go in and check on her." Goliath told him.
Brooklyn searched silently through the winding hall, suddenly he heard a simultaneous crash and shriek and ran with Chris to see what happened.
Kyra had given up on finding any hidden robots when she heard footsteps heading for the room and ran to get outside before she was caught. Unfortunately, that part of the building was very old and some of the floor was rotten. Her foot went straight through some boards, which closed on it, trapping her.
That was the crash Brooklyn heard, but chances that he would get to Kyra in time were slimming quickly. Demona heard it too and knew exactly what it was.
"Great, now I'm really in trouble." Kyra said as she tried to free her foot. Her jeans were torn and her ankle hurt badly, it was probably sprained, there was some blood staining the cuff of her jeans slowly. Kyra cursed, she'd have to get out of there before she bled to death. She heard someone coming and decided not to take chances, she stayed quiet. Just as she feared, it was Demona, but it was too late to be quiet.
"Well, well, what have we here?" Demona asked cruelly, "Sometimes the most obvious traps are the ones you forget about."
"I'm warning you, I may not be able to fight, but I can still use my magic." Kyra said bravely.
"Not for long you can't." Demona replied coldly and used a electric zapper on Kyra, draining her of the strength she needed to use magic. Nipper had jumped out of the satchel, Kyra had hidden her there, and growled at Demona, she immediately swept her tail away from the annoying pup once she saw it.
Just then, Brooklyn appeared and knocked Demona away from Kyra. "You have the worst timing." Demona said, quite annoyed at losing her victim.
"Actually, I have pretty good timing, considering what nearly happened." Brooklyn replied as Chris and Angela came behind him to help pull Kyra free. Angela broke the board holding Kyra's ankle and Chris held her steady as she stood.
"Even my daughter betrays me." Demona said, visibly annoyed.
"Lay off, Demona. Angela's just helping her friend." Brooklyn told her. With that Demona stormed away in anger.
"Thanks, if you had come just a few minutes later..." Kyra began.
"Don't even think about it, come on, Goliath's probably very worried about us." Chris interrupted. He, the gargoyles, and Kyra got out of there as fast as they could.
The next night Kyra decided it was safer to stay inside, since Micheal could still have a hidden robot. The others stayed in as well, they didn't want to take chances. Kyra heard a strange sound outside and looked, there was something glowing about a mile away.
"Hey guys, something weird is happening out here." Kyra called.
"It's probably a power surge or something." Elisa said.
"Do power surges glow bright red?" Kyra asked.
"What?" Goliath exclaimed, "You're kidding." He said as he came up to the parapet.
"No way, look for yourself." Kyra replied. There was indeed a bright red glow far to the east, it was obviously not a normal occurrence.
"Do you think it's Demona?" Broadway asked.
"No way, the jewel isn't that strong." Kyra answered.
"It may be another form of magic, a living one." Goliath replied.
"You mean a Child of Oberon is doing that?" Elisa asked.
"A what?" Kyra asked.
"You know, magical beings like those weird sisters." Brooklyn told her.
"Oh, it's one of them?" Kyra asked.
"Maybe, but that's how Children of Oberon call for help, why would one need help?" Hudson answered.
"It could be Puck." Lexington said. "Don't see why he'd do that though... unless he has to be sneaky."
"Puck?" Kyra was really confused, "You mean some hockey ball is calling us?"
"You never studied Shakespeare, did you?" Brooklyn asked her.
"Not really, we haven't gotten to it in lit class yet." Kyra replied.
"Kyra, Puck is one of the Children of Oberon, he has powers like the sisters, but he grants commands, usually adding a prank to the result." Elisa explained. "He hides himself in a human form most of the time though. He's forced to by Oberon's command."
"It just might be him, Demona's probably trying to use him or something." Brooklyn said.
"Why would Demona know him?" Angela asked.
"Puck's the one that turned Demona part human." Elisa answered.
"Why would he do that?" Kyra asked.
"Because Demona had him last and he didn't like her." Goliath answered, "But he's really working for Xanatos."
"Why?" Kyra asked, visibly frustrated by the confusion.
"His human form is Owen Burnette." Elisa replied, "Let's hurry, maybe Alexander's in trouble again."
"I'm really getting confused, what does little Alex have to do with this?" Kyra asked as they left.
"More than Xanatos likes." Goliath answered, far ahead of her.
Goliath, Brooklyn, Elisa and Kyra went towards the brightening glow, Kyra looked down on the street, no one even noticed the glow around them.
"Hey Goliath, why can't the humans down there see the glow?" Kyra asked.
"I guess Puck's making it so that only we can." Elisa answered.
"It must be serious, let's hurry." Goliath said and they rushed towards the center of the glow. It led to a small building, it seemed deserted, but they were cautious, in case there was danger. Kyra was the first to spot the strange little elf-like creature.
"Is that him over there?" she asked.
"Yes, let's go see what the problem is." Goliath answered.
"Puck, was that red glow you?" Elisa asked.
"No, it was the airtowers..."
Kyra thought Puck talked in an odder attitude than her, but the others were obviously used to it, so she didn't say anything. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Demona's making trouble, you're in dangers doubled." Puck answered.
"What does that mean?" Kyra asked Elisa.
"It means Demona's involved in a plot that'll bring trouble with someone else helping." Elisa answered. "Why didn't Owen tell us this?"
"No, Demona has a plot, then danger doubles, then Gargoyles have troubles." Puck said. "And would you have believed it from the stiffshirt?"
"Enough of the riddles Puck, we know you can talk in normal phrases." Goliath told him, he could see that Kyra was barely understanding a word Puck said.
"Very well," Puck said like he didn't want to. "The double danger comes after Demona's plot, it should happen to the young girl in your clan, her." he pointed to Kyra.
"Kyra's getting double trouble?" Elisa asked, "When?"
"Kyra, who is this Kyra?" Puck asked.
"I am Kyra. You know that, halfwit" Kyra answered. "Quit stalling."
"Well well, quite the attitude for a born sorceress." Puck observed, "You should beware in later years, more trouble will come for you than you want."
"What do you mean by that?" Kyra asked. "And how do you know I'm a born sorceress?"
"The second question will be answered before the first. You'd better be wary around strangers, and remember, everything is not as it seems. The truth's inside but hidden well, within Demona's heart it dwells, you'll understand that before any of the previous problems." With that Puck disappeared. Maybe Owen would be more co-operative, then again, maybe not. He barely even spoke to Kyra.
"Oh, great, more riddles." Kyra said sarcastically, "Elisa, what did he mean?"
"I have no idea. Goliath?" Elisa asked.
"I don't either, obviously Puck wants us to figure this out on our own." Goliath answered.
"Well, it's almost dawn, we'll have to figure it out tomorrow night." Elisa said, looking to the east.
Much later the next day, Kyra was still wondering about what Puck meant by the truth is inside, but hidden well. She knew it obviously meant a truth about Demona, but why would she hide it? For that matter, why in her heart? Did Demona even have a heart?
It was getting dark and late, so she decided to shrug it off and wait for something to happen before she brought it up. Unfortunately, not much happened! Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway had their usual squabble about practically nothing, and it took Goliath fifteen minutes to break them up. Elisa came up, but just to visit, it seemed it was quiet on the street as well. No one liked the fact that nothing was happening, not because they were bored, but because it usually meant someone was planning something big.
Kyra was getting tired of just sitting around and playing with the wolf pups who were growing so fast they looked more like their parents. She decided to go out and see why there was nothing happening. She asked Goliath if she could go out and check on the city, in case something small was happening. He said she could, as long as she returned within an hour of sunrise and was very careful, Angela went with her.
Kyra was still bored while she glided around the city, but at least she could stretch her wings and legs. She did some twists and loops to keep from being too bored and practiced her dives and climbs. Suddenly, she stopped in mid air and Angela looked with horror at what was in front of them. Demona was waiting, holding her lazer gun.
"Yipes, wrong way!" Kyra said quickly and they flew off as fast as their thin wings could go.
It wasn't fast enough, Demona caught up and forced them to land. Kyra knew they were in real trouble and thought quickly. A plan arrived almost immediately. It was pretty simple, Kyra yelled as loud as she could for help, she knew Goliath would be too far to hear, but hopefully another friend would.
Another friend did hear, someone she wasn't expecting. A large object knocked Demona aside, she quickly retreated. Kyra smiled at their rescuer.
"Thanks Derek." she said.
"Why is she after you?" Elisa's brother asked.
"First of all, I'm Goliath and Brooklyn's friend and second of all, I'm Elisa's friend." Kyra told him.
"Demona's after Elisa still?" Derek did not sound happy about that.
"Yeah, but Elisa's really getting good at stopping Demona." Angela replied, "We'd better go, Goliath's probably worried."
Kyra and Angela glided back to the castle and told Goliath about their run in with Demona, Elisa came up when Kyra got to the part about how Derek saved them.
"That's Derek's way." Elisa replied, "He hates to see kids get hurt, especially if the kids are my friends."
"I told Derek about how Demona is still an enemy to Elisa, he didn't like it when we told him that Elisa's life was constantly in danger because of Demona." Kyra told Goliath.
"Then Demona's going to have someone else getting in her way." Goliath said.
"Not to change the subject, but did you ever figure out what Puck meant when he said that Demona hid the truth in her heart?" Elisa asked.
"I haven't even figured out if Demona still has a heart!" Kyra joked.
"This is a real stumper, what is Demona hiding, and why?" Brooklyn asked.
"We'll find out in time." Goliath replied and Kyra went up to sleep early, she was very tired.
I know I know... what happened next and what's the point of the riddle? You'll find out next in "Surprising Memories"... if you liked this story (or didn't...) or have suggestions for another, don't hesitate to tell me: