He returned not much later. He opened and closed the door quickly, sitting on his knees across from me.

Puck put his hands on my knees and looked me in the eyes. "Listen," he said quickly, "There's not much time. We have to get you out of here before it realizes where we are. We have to move quickly, I've drawn it away for now, but it'll come back -"

"Wait, what? Puck, what's going on? Why do we have leave? What's hunting us? Oh I hate this!" I exclaimed in exasperation.

He grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the closet. "Come on, we've got to-"

I yanked my hand back, still on the floor. "No, Puck! No! I'm not going anywhere until you give me some explanation!"

He looked at me his face hard, but it softened a bit, and he sat down. "Fine," he said. "I'll tell you."

"Good," I replied, sitting back against the wall, arms crossed over my chest, "Maybe something will finally make sense for the first time in two years."

He sighed and began, "There is an eternal beast that reawakes every five thousand years to challenge the eldest Prince of the Faerie. The beast is designed to find the prince's greatest weakness and destroy it, whatever it may be. The prince's task is to defend himself and his weakness against the beast and kill it. It's a test to measure the strength, courage, ability, and blah blah blah of the Prince. If he wins, he is allowed to become King whenever the time comes. If he is defeated in the battle, meaning he either is dead or has surrendered to the beast, then he loses his princehood and the next male in line has to take on the beast for the crown."

He sighed again. "The day that I left…my minions had found out that it had awakened. I had to leave because I needed to find it and figure out what my weakness was so I could defeat it. I couldn't tell you why because it's a secret kept among the Princes of the Faerie. I wasn't allowed to tell you then and I shouldn't even be telling you now."

He pointed outside. "That monster is outside right now, looking for…" he hesitated and shook his head. "Never mind. The point is that he's here, I have to fight him, and I need you to go home so you can be safe, alright?"

I looked away from him, my head spinning. "Okay…I guess that makes sense." I turned back to him. "But…that doesn't explain why you're back here, and why you've been gone for so long. You've known about this thing for two years and you haven't fought it yet?"

Puck raised his eyebrow. "Haven't fought it yet?" In one swift motion he pulled off his white t-shirt.

I gasped.

His torso was covered with long white scars where the beast had raked him. He turned around and showed me his back, it was the same. I reached out and touched them gently with the tips of my fingers. "I'm so sorry," I whispered, pulling back.

Puck turned around and put his shirt on. He sat back against the wall and laughed softly, shaking his head. "I've been trying to fight this thing for two years. I met it over in Germany, where it woke up. We battled hard, but I could hardly touch it. Finally it hit me and knocked me unconscious. I woke up a few hours later to find it gone. I tracked it for days and finally found it about to enter the ocean. It was trying to swim to England! It was moving constantly, searching for my weakness. We traveled through the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and the northern states all the way here. I've been trying to kill it for two years and I almost have. I've been this close to defeating it, but it always, always finds a way to get back up and keep going."

"Hmmm," I sat there, considering what he had said. "Alright. So…why are you here? It's looking for your greatest weakness, right? Do you know what is it? Have you found a way to protect it?"

He pursed his lips, looked away, and nodded.

"So what is it?" I asked, extremely curious.

"It's…it's uh not so much a question of what…as it is who…"

My heart skipped a beat.

His green eyes locked with mine and he said slowly, "You are my greatest weakness."

What! Me? Me? I was his weakness? What did that mean, anyways?

"Puck…" I whispered slowly. "Puck, I don't understand. What is…I don't…" I sighed looking into his eyes, emotions running wild inside me.

"I know," he said, running his fingers through his hair. "It is…confusing. From what I can tell…it's because of the way I feel about you."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "What do you mean by that?"

Puck gave a small laugh. "To put it simply…" he said, "you make me crazy. When it comes to you, I can't…I can't control how I feel. For four thousand years I've thrived on immaturity and stupid pranks and avoiding anything that had to do with what I feel now. Then you walked into my life and suddenly all of that wasn't enough. I wanted to be with you, I wanted to protect you and make you laugh and take away your pain." He shook his head. "I hated the way I felt, I didn't ask for any of it. I tried to stop, I tried to walk away from you but I couldn't, every time I found myself drawn back to you. I've never met anyone like you in all my life." He paused and whispered, "I love you, Sabrina."

I felt cool tears slipping down my cheeks. I looked in his eyes, trying to detect any hint that his words were false, that he was just messing with me, like the old Puck would. But all I saw was sincerity and truth. "Puck," I started, but that wave of emotion washed over me again and I couldn't hold it back. I put my face in my hands and sobbed for all I was worth.

I heard Puck crawl next to me. He slid his arms around me and I turned my face into his side, wrapping my arms around him, crying into his shirt.

"I'm not worth it, I'm not worth your love," I cried. "I'm a screw up, all I've ever done is cause you pain."

"No! How could you ever think that?" Puck pulled me up. I looked at him, tears still streaming down my face. He put his hand on my cheek and I closed my eyes, turning into his palm. He brought his face close to mine and whispered, "The time I've spent growing up with you has been the best years of my life, I've never been happier."

I opened my eyes and looked into his. "Really?" I whispered.

He nodded. "Really. And you know what?" he said smiling.

"What?" I replied, calm now, no fresh tears in my eyes.

"You're no screw up. The Trickster King," he said mischievously, "does not fall in love with screw ups."

I laughed, "Oh really?"

"Really," he said smiling.

A loud roar ripped the moment and then the house shook violently. We clung to each other as we bounced around in the tiny closet. When it stopped we were lying on the floor, bruised and shaken. Puck swore under his breath as he helped me up. When we were standing, he took my face in his hands and I put mine over his. "It's here," he spoke urgently. "Remember, it's not me its after, it's you. Do whatever you can to arm yourself, if I fail there's nothing standing between you and that monster."

"But you won't fail!"

He nodded once sharply. "I'll do my best." He looked at me for moment, then opened the closet door and flew out.

"Puck!" I called, following him frantically.

He flew back in an instant, concern lining every feature of his face. "What is it?"

I looked at him, my eyes drinking in every part of his face, his lips soft and full, his lovely green eyes.

I stood on my tip toes, placed my hands on his face and kissed him on the lips. I pulled back, smiling. His eyes were like lights. He gave me a wicked grin and started to come in for another kiss, but a deafening roar interrupted him.

"Oh come on!" Puck's face fell as he yelled at the beast. "That's not fair!"

I laughed, despite the situation, and gave him a quick peck on the nose "Go!" I said, "Defeat your beast!"

He smiled and winked at me, then turned and flew outside.

As soon as he was gone I ran downstairs to find a weapon I could use. I found the trunk where we had stashed our weapons in the past and sure enough, they were still there. I had my choice of knives, swords, bows and arrows, whips, or spears. I wanted to be prepared so I grabbed what I could.

I heard Puck shouting, taunting the beast as I ran to the window. I looked outside. The pleasant weather I had walked over in had taken a turn for the worst. A vicious wind blew through the trees and dark, thundering clouds swirled in the sky. A massive black shape blocked my view out the window and the next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of the house by huge, nasty paws.

I shouted and struggled, trying to fight my way out of its grip, but it was no use. I looked up at my attacker, but it was dark so I couldn't make it out. Then lightning raced across the sky, illuminating the earth and I was able to see.

The beast was huge, at least thirty feet tall. Its body was like that of a wolf but heavier. It had pointy ears and a short snout with gleaming white fangs. Two sharp horns stuck out next to its ears. Its thick, coarse fur was black as night, its cunning eyes red like blood. Its hide was torn and scarred and bleeding from recent wounds.

I gasped as icy fear consumed my mind, my body.

It lifted me up and held me across from its face. The beast smiled. "A pretty girl. This is the little prince's greatest weakness?" Its voice was deep and cold, emanating dark power. It gave an evil laugh. "Well, we shall see how pretty you are when I'm through with you."

Suddenly there was a flutter and a flash of pink and the beast howled with pain, releasing me from its grip. I screamed as I dropped through the air, but the wind stole the sound out of me and whipped it away. I fell fast to the ground and landed hard on my back. I saw stream of pink and white fly over me before I blacked out.