"What?" roared Carson. "Who is this girl?"

His rage turned to excitement and he walked over to the cell Coyote and Peter were in. "You've been keeping secrets from me," said Carson. "Who is she really? A goddess of legend?"

Peter did not answer and Coyote could not.

"Answer me!" yelled Carson.

"There you are."

Carson whirled around. Liz was standing in the doorway to the cavern. She was mussed up, but she looked like she was still going strong. She looked around the cavern.

"You've been busy," she said. "Animation spells, necromancy." She saw a table in the shadows of the dim light. "And if I'm not mistaken, sealing and transfer spells. Hoping to take the power of a fey for youself?"

Carson chuckled. "You have been taking me on a ride," he said. "I doubt a lowly trickster could do such a thing. You must be one of the more powerful fey."

Liz roared with laughter. "Me? One of the more powerful fey? That's rich!"

"Then who are you?" asked Carson.

"Just a street kid that you really shouldn't have messed with," Liz replied. She took out her daggers, one in each hand. She looked at Peter and Coyote. "I'll have you out in a minute."

Carson laughed. "No, she won't."

Carson yelled an incantation and pointed at Liz. Liz stepped out of the way as a magical bolt shot her way. He yelled it again and this time Liz was struck in her arm. She let out a cry of pain and dropped the dagger in that hand.

"Nice shot," Liz ground out.

"Thank you," said Carson.

Carson pointed his finger at Liz again. Liz ducked, crawled on all fours, got back up and threw herself on Carson. They both fell back, Carson hitting his head, stunning him.

"Magic alone won't defeat me," said Liz. "Street kid first." She punched him one in the face. "Half-blood second!"

Carson kicked her, sending her sprawling. "Half-blood?" he shouted.

Liz got up and out of the way before Carson could cast another spell. She reached into her pockets and pulled out her throwing stars. She threw them, the throwing stars catching Carson's clothes and pinning him to the cavern wall albeit briefly.

"Witch!" shouted Carson, pulling himself away from the wall.

Liz grabbed her blow dart gun, shoved one dart in it and blew. The dart hit Carson in the stomach. Liz couldn't have asked for a better shot. The toxin worked quickly, paralyzing Carson.

Carson stumbled back and fell into the table, knocking it over. If he could scream he would have as the ingredients for transfer and sealing spells were extremely caustic. Liz could tell that there was nothing she could do for him and that he was a deadman.

"Liz!" called Peter.

She turned and ran over to the cell. "Grandpa Peter!"

"Hurry up and get us out of here," said Peter. "Coyote looks like he's about to kick the bucket."

Liz found the keys and unlocked the cell. The two of them pulled Coyote out with them. At the mouth of Iron Skull, Liz sat down for a moment.

"Are you all right?" asked Peter.

Liz nodded. "We have to get out of here," she said. "Coyote won't last. Iron does not affect me like it does Coyote. I'll be fine, but I'm tired."

"How do we get out of here?" asked Peter. "We're in the middle of nowhere."

"I have enough juice in me for one last spell," said Liz.

"What are you going to do, Liz?" asked Peter.

Liz looked at her grandfather. "There's no place like home," she said.

Summoning the last drops of her magic, Liz hung onto Coyote and Peter.


Diane Maza let out a scream when a powerful gust of wind came in through the living room windows. She hurried to shut them, afraid the wind would knock something over with its force. She entered the living room and nearly fainted.

Peter, Liz, and Coyote were in the middle of the living room, the latter two on the floor.

"Peter!" cried Diane. "Where have you been? What is going on?"

"Not now, Diane," said Peter. "Coyote is in bad shape."

Peter and Diane moved Coyote to the couch. The trickster's face was twisted in pain.

"Peter, what are you going to do for him?" asked Diane.

"Get the iron out of him," said a weary voice. Liz was forcing herself to stand. "His arm. Check his arm."

"It's bandaged," observed Diane.

"He had that when I woke up," said Peter.

"Fey wounds close quickly," said Liz. "If it's still open, there's a reason."

Peter yanked off the bandages and found what appeared to be an iron spearhead lodged almost parallel in Coyote's forearm.

"Good Lord!" gasped Diane, paling. She stared at the wound. "Is that blood?" she asked.

The Coyote's bandages were stained with a with what looked like black pus.

Liz staggered over to them. "You can call it that. Fey don't bleed like you and I. They have magic running in their veins. But when that magic comes in contact with iron, it becomes tainted and creates this nasty stuff."

"We have to get this out," said Peter. "Diane, I need towels and antiseptic."

Diane ran out of the room to get what was needed. She came back a moment later.

Liz pulled her bag off her back and began searching for anything that could help. She had a special balm that stopped bleeding the moment it touched a wound. Coyote would need that.

"I can't watch," said Diane, looking away.

Peter had the spearhead in his hand and began to pull it straight out. There was sickening squelch and blood began to pour from the wound. Peter quickly pressed a towel to it.

"That's a lot of blood," he said.

"Put this on the wound," said Liz, handing the balm to Peter. "Just smear it on."

Peter removed the towel and did what he was told. The bleeding stopped and scabbed over.

"Thank you, Liz," said Peter. "Diane, the gruesome part's over. You can look now."

Diane looked at Coyote. He seemed a bit peaceful now. "Will he be all right?" she asked Liz.

Liz shook her head. "Hard to say. If I could get him back to Avalon, he'll be fine. But I don't have enough power to do that."

Peter picked up the telephone.

"Who are you calling?" asked Diane.

"Elisa," replied Peter. "Maybe she knows something or knows someone who can help."

Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the backdoor. Peter answered it.

"Goliath," he said.

"Xanatos told me Elisa called and that something happened to you," said Goliath, coming inside followed by Angela and Puck.

Peter looked at Puck with some confusion and concern. "More like it has to do with Liz and Coyote. I'm fine, but those two are in rough shape."

Puck walked into the living room. Diane was bandaging Liz's hands and was casting glances at Coyote to see if he was all right.

"Hey, Lizzie!" chirped Puck. "What did you get yourself into this time?"

Liz looked up and smiled faintly. "Oh, not much. A sorcerer kidnapped Peter trying to get to Coyote and wound up biting off more than he could chew."

"You gave him hell, didn't you?" said Puck, walking over to his cousin.

"A bit more than that," said Liz. "The guy's dead."

"You didn't have to kill him," Diane said, trying to push the thought of her granddaughter being a killer out of her mind.

"I wasn't trying to," said Liz. "I only wanted to incapacitate him. He happened to fall into the table with his spell ingredients and they fell on him. Do you know what liquid drain cleaner does to a person's insides? Imagine that on the outside. Believe me, I'm not proud of it."

"Why does it always seem like every time I see you you're ready to fall asleep on your feet?" asked Puck.

"'Cause I always am," replied Liz.

Puck turned his attention to Coyote. "He's lost a lot of his magic," Puck observed. He looked at Coyote's newly bandaged arm. "I see there's an iron wound here."

"The creep embedded a piece of iron in there," said Liz.

"Will he be okay?" asked Diane.

"Oh, he'll be fine," said Puck easily. "He just needs to sleep."

Diane let out a sigh of relief. She turned back to Liz. "How's that?" she asked, adjusting the bandages.

"It's fine," said Liz.

"You should get some rest," said Diane.

"We will make sure of that," said Goliath, coming into the room with Angela and Peter.

Liz jumped up and ran over to Goliath to give him a hug.

"Where's mine?" asked Angela after a moment.

Liz hugged Angela as well.

"Let's get these two back to the castle where they can rest," said Puck. "Davy's already got the guest rooms set up for them."

"You stop by before you leave Manhattan," said Diane.

"I will," said Liz.

Goliath carefully lifted Coyote into his arms. Liz leaned on Angela for support. They went outside and Puck conjured a large gust of wind to get them off the ground.

Liz looked over at Puck. "So what have you been up to now that you've got your powers back?"

Puck smiled, not a mischievous one, but a genuine smile. "You'll see," was all he said.

Angela, who was carrying Liz, whispered, "He has found a girlfriend."

Liz's eyes went wide. Puck? A girlfriend? "Remind me to stop by more often."