I forgot to ask in the last chapter: what did you think of the iron panel and chain idea? I'm not even sure where I came up with that. I knew I wanted a place with iron to hinder the fey and I just came up with that.


Carson doubled over in pain.

"Your phantom was defeated, wasn't it?" Coyote asked weakly. He was on the floor with his head in Peter's lap. "Those sorts of spells hurt like the dickens when they're forcefully broken."

Carson stormed over to the cell. "You know who it is, trickster. Tell me! Who is she really?"

Coyote smirked.

"Answer me!" yelled Carson.

"You'll find out soon," Coyote told him.

Carson snarled and went back over to the altar for the book. He flipped through a few pages before finding what he was looking for. He snatched a few bottles from the altar and went to the cauldron.

"We'll see how she does against this!" he said, dumping the contents into the cauldron.


Liz saw a light at the end of the tunnel she was in. She turned off her flashlight. She heard voices.

"What are you doing?" That was Peter's voice.

Liz kneeled next to the tunnel exit, putting the hammer down.

"To be honest, I hadn't planned for another fey to come to your rescue."

Liz's face twisted in a silent snarl. That was the voice from the memory.

"And not one that was powerful enough to use magic within my rune web. A collar won't work on her. I need something stronger. And then I'll have to drain her of her magic quickly. As powerful as she is, she's probably one of the goddesses out of one of the many legends your kind is based off of."

"Carson, if you take her magic, you'll kill her!" Peter yelled.

Liz peered around the corner. She could see someone standing by a cauldron holding a book. She recognized the sweatshirt he was wearing. This was same man from the memory for certain.

"Her sacrifice will show the world magic is real!" Carson yelled.

Liz stepped out into the cavern with the hammer resting casually on her shoulder. "There you are."

Carson whirled around to look at Liz in the entrance of the cavern. She was mussed up, but she looked like she was still going strong.

She looked around nonchalantly. "You've been busy. Animation spells, necromancy." She saw the altar. "And if I'm not mistaken by the looks of what's on that table over there, sealing and transfer spells. Hoping to take the power of a fey for yourself?"

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 saw Peter and Coyote in the cell. "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. She held up the hammer and started for Carson. He yelled it again and this time Liz was struck in her arm. She let out a cry of pain and dropped the hammer.

"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. She kicked the spell book away from him and to the altar.

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

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

Carson went for the spell book. Liz got up and took out the throwing stars she had in her pocket. She threw them, the throwing stars catching Carson's clothes and pinning his sleeve to the front of the altar albeit briefly.

"Witch!" shouted Carson, pulling himself free.

Liz grabbed her blow dart gun, and shoved one dart in it. Carson picked up the spell book and ran at her. Liz blew out the dart. The dart hit Carson in the stomach, going right through the fabric of his clothes. She couldn't have asked for a better shot. The toxin worked quickly, paralyzing Carson.

He stumbled and fell to the side, right into the cauldron. The cauldron swung off the holder and the contents spilled onto Carson, extinguishing the fire beneath it. If he could scream he would have as the liquid hit him. Whatever the ingredients were in the cauldron were extremely caustic. Liz could tell that there was nothing she could do for him and that he was a dead man.

"Liz!" called Peter.

"Grandpa Peter!" Liz ran over to the cell.

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

Liz reached into her pocket and pulled out a set of lock picks. She picked the lock and opened the door. She helped Peter support Coyote and they walked out of the cell.

"We'll need to call it in," Peter said, looking at Carson's body.

"And how would we explain all this?" asked Liz, motioning to everything in the cavern. "Let's just get to the city. We can worry about this later."

They started walking to the surface.


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. "What happened to you?"

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

Peter and Diane moved Coyote to the couch.

"Already an improvement," Coyote quipped tiredly. "Would be even better if I had this collar off."

"We'll find a way," Peter promised.

Liz staggered over to them. "A good strong gargoyle should just be able to snap it off."

"I'll call Elisa," said Diane. She hurried to the phone.

Liz shrugged off her backpack and let it fall on the floor. She flexed her hands and hissed.

Peter turned to her. "What's the matter?"

Liz looked down at her hands. Her palms had a thick red line across them and they were inflamed and oozing.

"I hurt my hands," she replied.

Peter stood up from the couch. "Let me see." He took Liz's hands in his and turned them palm up. "What happened here?"

"I think that's from the iron panel I grabbed to knock the ghost out with," said Liz. "I felt it burn when I did. I guess the combination of the iron and the runes on it did this. Normally I can touch iron and it's not a problem."

Diane came back into the room. "Goliath's on his way," she told them.

"Well there's your good strong gargoyles," Coyote chuckled.

"In the meantime you should clean up, Liz," said Peter.

"Yeah," she said. "At least my hands anyway."

Diane came over to her and put her arm around Liz's shoulders. "Come on," she said gently and guided her to the bathroom.

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

"Goliath," he said with some relief.

"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."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm fine," Liz called out from the living room.

Puck walked into the living room. Diane was helping Liz hold a glass with a straw between her bandaged hands.

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

"Oh, not much. A sorcerer wannabe kidnapped Peter trying to get Coyote and wound up biting off more than he could chew," she answered flippantly.

"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, now serious. "I only wanted to incapacitate him. He happened to fall into the cauldron and spill it all on himself. Do you know what liquid drain cleaner does exactly? Yeah, believe me, I'm not proud of what happened."

Puck put his hands on his hips and shook his head dramatically. "You always seem to get yourself into sticky situations."

"And I always get out of them," she easily shot back.

Puck turned his attention to Coyote. "You look terrible, cousin."

"Thanks," Coyote said dryly. "Can someone get this cursed collar off me, please?"

Puck looked at the iron collar around Coyote's neck. "I'm not touching that," he told him.

Peter led Goliath and Angela in.

"Oh, good, just the gargoyle we need," said Puck. "Mind helping a trickster out, Goliath?"

Goliath walked over to see what he could do.

Angela made her way over to Liz. She bent down and gave Liz a hug. "It's so good to see you again."

"Same," said Liz.

There was a metallic snapping. Liz looked over and saw the two halves of the iron collar in Goliath's hands.

Coyote let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now I need a very long nap."

"I know the feeling," said Puck. "Let's get you back to the castle. Davy's already got the guest rooms set up."

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

"I will," she replied.

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."