CHAPTER 5: NEW YORK, NEW YORK: A HORRIBLE TOWN
Quietly and without fail, the young boy crept into Wyvern Castle. His parents had told him again and not to go there, that it was dangerous. But the boy did not care, he had a mission and now he was making it come true. It had been hard of course, getting past security. Or it would be for most other people. But the boy had been given special access. Access that almost no one else had. Even the squatters at the building below, hadn't figured out that there was a boy who had come here every night to stand in the Castle on the Roof and look out over the New York Skyline. Stowing his climbing rope and punching in the access code, ten-year-old Jack Conover entered the abandoned landscape that was his best friend's house.
Castle Wyvern had been deserted for the past eight months. No one knew where Alex or Beowulf, his Pit Bull-Irish Wolfhound Mix or his parents or Owen Burnett, his father's friend or the Gargoyles had gone. Officially they'd gone to visit Alex's grandmother in France, but Jack didn't believe it. Alex wouldn't go to see his without telling Jack. He just wouldn't. They told each other everything. Angrily, Jack threw open the Wyvern Castle Skylight and sat down under the stars.
Besides, Jack told himself, staying here is better than going home.
Jack's father would be working. He was always working these days.
"Crime's worse than usual." Jason Conover had told his son, more than once, "They need more men. I'll be home before you know it." He never was. They always needed more men. So Dad was always gone.
They wouldn't need more men if Elisa was here. Jack thought bitterly. Elisa Maza was his father's Captain at the NYPD. She had left the city to visit her brother, Derek in Los Angeles on the same day Alex had left.
"Sabbatical ." Dad had called it. Jack wasn't entirely sure what a Sabbatical was, but he was quite sure that it wasn't supposed to last all year. Then there was Mom and her nitpicking.
"Jack, do your homework!" "Jack, clean your room!" "Jack, go to school!" "Jack, these grades are disgraceful!" Jack's grades were always "Disgraceful". Alex, who was a year older and had skipped a grade, wasn't around to help with his homework. So his grades suffered because of it. Jack hated school. He'd always hated school. It was such a waste of time. It was even worse without his best friend around. And Mom was even worse nowadays because Dad was working all the time. She was convinced that Dad was having an affair and Dad wasn't there to rein her in. Angrily, Jack didn't see the arms he so accidentally walked into.
"What the devil are you doing here, boy?" Jason Conover stood before his son, tall and proud. From a distance, he and Jack looked almost identical with their tall, muscular frames, straight beetle-black hair and deep blue eyes. But once you saw them up close, you noticed that Jack's eyes were slightly slanted, that he slouched whereas Jason stood tall and strong, that his skin was light brown like that of his Chinese mother, while Jason's was fair and that Jack pouted defiantly while Jason's face was always stony and silent and emotionless.
"Watering the plants," Jack said sarcastically.
"Your mum called me." Jason put his hands on his hips, "She told me you hadn't come home yet."
"Now she notices."
"She also told me that you've been skipping school lately."
"Why do you care?" Jack threw up his hands, "It's not like you're ever home."
"Jackie, look," Jason looked at him for the longest time, "I know you miss Alex, but you have to be strong. He'll come back in time. Till then you have to go on like everything's normal."
"Easy for you to say," Jack muttered under his breath.
Suddenly a siren echoed through the Castle.
"Okay," Luke dug into his pocket for his GPS, "Where did we land?" Ahsoka grabbed it from him with a look of unmistakable annoyance on her face.
"Take a look, buddy." She gestured to the nearby New York skylight.
"Oh," Luke tried to look like he'd seen that before, "I am such an idiot."
"Let's agree to disagree on that." Franz took a good long look at Wyvern Castle, "Why would we land here?"
"Bad luck." Han gestured to the City, "Maybe we needed to see the sights."
Ahsoka took her own look at the Castle, "I have my own idea." She said, "Maybe there's something to we need to find, in there."
"Hold the phone." Leia said, "How do we get in?"
Ahsoka grinned, "I have a crazy idea."
Too hours later, Franz, Luke and Ahsoka had assembled a series of complicated knots in their climbing cables with the trajectory to get them past David Xanatos' personal security system. Which they helped install. Using Force Sensitivity, Leia moved the opening of the Skylight back. So far no alarms. Gingerly, Hakoda and Han who were the strongest, lowered the ropes into opening. Helen, who was the best climber, took the first rope. Leia, who was lightest took the second and Ahsoka, who was the fastest took the third. If they could get down, then the others would follow. It was easy enough for Helen. Until Helen knocked over a candle stick. She swore. Very creatively. The alarm went off.
"Come on." Leia tried to push Ahsoka through the window,
"We have to get out of here!"
"Don't have a cow!" Ahsoka pushed Leia in annoyance, "You okay, Helen."
"Oh you mean apart from the fact that we're all going to die." Helen said in a fit of annoyed desperation, "You're kidding right?"
The door across from them opened. A man and a boy walked in.
"Hi." Ahsoka said with an embarrassed grin, "What's up?"
Jason Conover was not amused, "Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?"
"We could ask you the same question." Helen pointed out.
"We're also all armed and we have people on the roof." Said Leia.
Grudgingly, Jason Conover helped the Mentors pull their fellows into the Castle. They gave their explanation in a manner that very few adults are ever forced to. It was not a nice meeting to say the least and everyone was left feeling exponentially, and understandably, awkward. Young Jack simply stood there with a look of blunt defiance on his face until he finally asked the one question to which he felt he was entitled an answer.
"Where's Alex?"
"Nice kid." Han said sarcastically, he kneeled. "He's in a safe place, runt. Now shut up!"
"You can't tell me what to do." Jack raised his fist, "I'll fight you, old man."
"Old man?" Han laughed with a rueful sense of irony, "I love this kid? Where'd you get him?" Jack stuck his tongue out. Leia made a face.
"I'd prefer the other one."
Jason glared back, "From what Elisa tells me you've got yourselves a whole brood of kids that's just as bad."
"Fair enough." Luke said, "So do you know anything about the following subjects…"
It was a long list.
After it was done, Jason was sweating furiously.
"You're sayin'," He said, his voice breaking, "You're sayin' that Johnny, my baby brother's been runnin' around with some madman. Why the Devil would he do that?"
"Aside from being a psychopath," Han said calmly.
"That's a lie!" Jason jumped upon the smuggler knocking him down.
Leia pulled them apart, "Do you know your brother?" She said firmly, "When was the last time you spoke to him?"
"He's just a boy," Jason said, "He doesn't know."
"WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SPOKE?!" Leia had long since started to lose patience with him.
Jason pulled back sadly, "The Night of the Praying Gargoyle."
Luke gave him a long disbelieving look, the Jedi had spent a serious amount of time cleaning up the Night of the Praying Gargoyle in 1996. Demona had attempted to use the Praying Gargoyle to release a deadly virus to wipe out humanity.
"Ten years ago." He said, "So you don't know what he's capable of."
Roberta "Bobby" Kelly did not want to go home. Mom would be there. And as usual, she would be mad about…..something. And when she was mad, she would make her go into the closet and pray. And she wouldn't be allowed out. Perhaps even for days. And Bobby really didn't want to be locked in the closet for days, this weekend. This weekend was Dad's weekend. And Dad's weekend meant only one day of Mass on Sunday, with a priest who actually made sense. Dad's weekend meant real TV instead of just CBN (which was the sole channel Bobby and her siblings were allowed to watch, everything else was too "sinful") and for five hours, maybe ten, everyday instead of just one. Dad's weekend meant she could keep reading Harry Potter and Anne of Green Gables without worrying about having them taken away and burned. Dad's weekend meant Bobby could talk to her friends (of whom her mother did not approve) outside of school. Dad's weekend meant junk food and pizza for dinner, instead of bland bread and fresh fruit that wasn't entirely fresh and vegetables that were most certainly not fresh at all. Dad's weekend meant a whole weekend getting to play lacrosse and play with her dog, Humphrey and her cat, Miss Kitty and taking long walks with Dad in the woods and just having fun and being twelve years old instead of staying home with her brother and sister, ten-year-old Eleanor and eight-year-old Robert praying and sitting still and reading the Bible. Especially since Bobby knew that if she didn't go to Dad's, no one would go. Mom and her new boyfriend, Mister Castaway and their creepy preacher, Mister Frollo had Robert and Eleanor completely brainwashed. Especially Robert, the baby of the family, the favorite, the sole blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy.
"Girls," Mom always said, "Are wicked creatures. Their sole purpose should be to serve the purpose of men."
"You got a divorce." Bobby had said, "And you're a Senator." Mom had slapped her for that, even if it was true. Bobby had questioned Mom's ridiculous paranoia of everything from gay people to fantasy stories to non Christian religions to the more progressive ideas of the Catholic Church, but her always-believing, always-accepting sister and her spoiled, entitled brother had drunk the Kool-Aid since they were breast-feeding and kept drinking it. Dad had put up with it when they were all still toddlers, but all that changed when Mom had thrown a fit over him reading to them from a book of fairy tales when Bobby was six, Eleanor was four and Robert only two. She had beaten all three of them bloody. That was when Dad went to the church to get an annulment and the courts to get a divorce. Both were granted, but the judge was prejudiced to give full custody to the mother with the father only getting every other weekend with them. And by then, Mom had convinced Eleanor and Robert that their father was Devil's Spawn and Bobby only got to go because Dad had threatened to call Social Services if she didn't.
Angrily, Bobby peddled harder. She was going to find a special place. A secret place to hide. A place where Mom would never find her. She was never going home. Never again. Not in a million years. Not after what had happened at school. At school, Bobby had merely been talking to her friends and minding her own business at recess like she always did. But then her best friend, Marti had produced a comic book about the X-men. Bobby had never seen such a thing before. It was mint condition and it was all about the mysterious super heroes that haunted New York and their adventures. Mom had called them, "Mutants." But they weren't mutants. They were people. Human beings. Dad had explained that to her enough times. Just because people had special powers didn't make them not people anymore. But that insufferable little snitch Eleanor had seen the whole thing. She'd heard Bobby poring over the comic book. Enjoying it. Mom would kill her. She would drag her to Mister Frollo for an exorcism. If she was especially unlucky she'd be sent to the camp Cousin Marcus had gone to when his parents caught him kissing another boy. Marcus had come back apparently, "cured" only to hang himself the next day. Bobby wasn't going to let that happen. She was leaving. Now. She was going to move in with Dad permanently.
I'm going to tell social services. Bobby licked her lips in anticipation. She was going to tell social services. No one would let Mom keep her once they knew. No one would let Mom keep Robert and Eleanor if they knew.
But they won't want to stay with Dad. Not that Bobby cared. She hoped they were both put into foster care. At least then they'd be forced to be with other kids for once. To have friends and activities and lives outside of church. The most savage selfish part of Bobby hoped that they would be separated first. Then beaten by their foster parents. Then locked up. Told they were a waste of space. Eleanor had told on Bobby.
"God will strike you down, Roberta." She'd said, "You're evil."
The world will strike you down. Bobby thought, For every time you told and it's Bobby. Robert had been pampered by their mother from the moment he was born. He was prince of the house. And Eleanor his most devoted servant. It made Bobby feel happy to think of them separated from each other and pushed into the system. Eleanor would be forced to confront the real world. To be herself instead of Robert's slave for once. She hoped Eleanor's foster parents would make her get good grades in school and do what her science teacher said. She hoped that Robert would be forced to live without his devoted protector, Mister Castaway and his indulgent mother and his slave, Eleanor. She hoped that his foster parents would beat him and make him do chores. She hoped they'd make him play sports and video games and watch TV shows that weren't on CBN. She hoped he would get beat up at his new school and expelled again and again. She hoped someone would make her siblings pay for everything they'd done. Bobby stopped by the subway station, took out her subway pass and entered the train. She would be going to New Jersey now. No one was going to make her do anything again.
Bobby's bike wheels ground to a halt. There was hustle and bustle all around. Grand Central Station. She dialed in with her pass the way she did so every day. Like any kid in the city.
At least I have that to make me normal. She though bitterly, storing her bike at the bike rack. Dad would come to the city later and claim it from the Lost and Found. At least if no one stole it. Realizing that as understanding as Dad was, he probably wouldn't share the sentiment about her losing her bike, she taped her library card to it. Bobby then bought a hot chocolate and a doughnut from the coffee shop and browsed the bookstore while she waited for her train. She had bought the ticket less than a week ago, with money she'd earned shoveling snow. Mom didn't know she had it of course. It would have all gone to the church if she did. Once the clock struck seven, Bobby's train to Hoboken appeared. Relieved, she climbed aboard. The sound of the train roared in her ears. She was free. Bobby climbed up onto the train bench. Looking, out as she traveled out of the city, she knew she was free. She would never have to put up with her mother ever again. Happily, Bobby took out her iPod and listened just to Hannah Montana disappearing into a secret world of music and happiness. Until she saw him. In his black suit. Mister Castaway. His blue eyes looking out at her. Dark with hatred. Bobby tried to disappear under the seat. To hide. But he was looking at her. Right then. Bobby looked in the eye for only a minute. And then the train turned around. They were going back to the city. How was that possible. When the subway stopped again. Bobby turned and ran out onto the Subway station.
She had to reach her bike. That was the only thing that mattered. The only thing that made sense. Bobby had to get to her bike and then she would bike to Hoboken and tell the cops about Mom and Castaway and Frollo and the things that Frollo would do to her when they were alone. Nobody would make her go to them. But then Mister Castaway was standing over her, he grabbed her by the arm.
"It's time to go home, Roberta." But it wasn't her home. And it never would be.
Bobby didn't go with him. She did the most natural, most normal, sanest thing. She kicked Castaway in, well try to guess and ran again. She barely noticed when she ran into oncoming traffic, dodging cars every which, it was a miracle she survived. And she kept running. She didn't look this time. She didn't even falter. She just kept going. There was no reason for her to do anything else. She wouldn't be caught. Wouldn't be forced to admit defeat. She wouldn't go back to them not ever. People called out to her, but she didn't pay attention. People tried to catch her, but she just kept moving. She almost got run over at least four times, but she didn't even notice. Survival was the only thing that mattered. The only thing that counted. No would tell her otherwise. At one point, she reached an apartment complex and ran for the fire escapes and she climbed. Climbed and climbed and climbed to the top of the complex. For a moment, she thought that Castaway might follow her. But he hadn't. He was making his way to the Castle nearby.
John Castaway was a hard man. A selfish man. This had not always been the case. A lifetime ago, he had been a callow selfless boy. But that was before. Before his father had started hitting. Before his mother had told him again and again that God wanted him to be strong and brave. Before his father had been cut down before when he was naught but nine years old. Cut down by the Demon. And before the Gargoyles had cut down his brother, Jason, so he couldn't walk and now needed those special pins inside his legs. Now John Castaway lived for one thing and one thing only. Killing those he deemed responsible. Killing Gargoyles. And Killing all demonic magic users that stood with them. And he was angry. Just a day ago, he and his lover, Rebecca Kelly had returned home from their first trip into one of the many false worlds. They had gone there on the orders of Judge Claude Frollo, the Master of the Order and it was the home of Young Gaston Le Gume, one of their newest recruits who been wronged by a Gargoyle, the Demon's Daughter in fact, in the same way that Castaway's ancestor, Gilcomgain the Great had been. They had gone to rid that world of the Demonic Beings who had lived in the horrible, hideous castle. The Master's skill had at first been enough to defeat their cruel foes. However, Xanatos' pet demon had arrived, and he had made them go back.
Back here. Castaway thought bitterly. He and Rebecca had planned on taking out their anger on Rebecca's spoiled slut of a daughter, Roberta, especially after she ran away to see her no-good father. But then Castaway had seen Castle Wyvern. The small, rational part of his brain told him that Xanatos would not be there, but the rest of him did not care in the slightest. He wanted the boy. A child of ten, eleven now, young Alexander Fox Xanatos had infiltrated Castaway's Quarrymen during the Summer Riots after the disappearance of the foster child, Michael Webber in hopes of saving his demonic friends. The Lord knew that Castaway didn't care for killing children. But the boy had done the unforgivable. With only his hands, the boy had touched Castaway's face and set him aflame. It was only due to Rebecca's aid and the Lord's healing that Castaway had survived, unscarred. But it had left him with a hunger, he, John Castaway would strike down the Xanatos demon child and kill him.
"STAY BACK!" Jason Conover aimed his gun at his brother.
"What are you doing here?" Castaway ducked giving his older brother a look of pure anger and malice.
"Stop!" Luke and Ahsoka immediately jumped in front of the brothers.
"I could ask you the same question." Jason snarled over Luke's Lightsaber.
"Stand Down!" Luke said, "You're a member of the Society of the Black Cross, are you not?"
"You know I was." Castaway looked at him in horror, "What are doing outside of your hole?"
"It's not a hole." Ahsoka said, "It's a world and we're only here to save the day. Now stand down and since it's three against one and we've got friends upstairs and as you can see when it's the easy way or the hard way, we prefer easy."
Castaway reached into his belt and pulled out a small device. From a distance, it looked like a bomb.
"I prefer the hard way, Demon Spawn!" He pulled the pin. Luke pushed back with the Force allowing the bomb to hover in place for a moment. Ahsoka reached out containing it inside a Force Field, allowing it to go off inside the bubble. Castaway lunged, reaching for a knife. But Ahsoka was faster, knocking him off balance. Luke held him done and Jason pulled out a rope tying Castaway's hands behind his back.
"And now," Ahsoka said, "You're going to tell us what your boss is planning."
"Wh-why should I?" Castaway struggled against his bonds.
"Because we're in control right now." Luke pointed out.
"And we have the ability to kill you before you try anything." Said Ahsoka.
"Boss?" Jason asked, "What boss? What the bloody hell are they talking about, Johnny?"
"Oh, you would like to know, wouldn't you?" Castaway laughed uncontrollably, "But this just in, traitor. I have no intention of telling you anything. Especially not after what they pulled last week."
"Last week?" Luke and Ahsoka looked at each other in confusion, "We just got here." Ahsoka explained.
"Lies!" Castaway postured, "Lies! We all know you're lying or at least you're following this mad dash into the Demon World and its made up timeline!"
"What are all of you doing here?"asked a voice.
Lennox MacDuff was a tall and handsome man who looked to be in his mid-to-late 50s. However, he was in reality much older than that. For Lennox MacDuff was not his real name. His real name was Macbeth. Lord Macbeth of Clan Moray. Son of Findlaech and Former King of Scotland. Once he had been the simple son of a lord who just so happened to be the uncle of the young Prince Duncan. But that was before Duncan had his father murdered in cold blood by Gilcomgain, the first of the Hunters. This act led the young Macbeth on a quest for revenge that brought him face to face with a young Demona, head of her struggling Clan of Gargoyles. Demona and Macbeth had made an alliance which the mysterious Weird Sisters had sealed by making both of them immortal. With the help of Demona and her clan, Macbeth had defeated Gilcomgain and Duncan and become a powerful King. But years later, Duncan's son, Canemore had begun to plot against his uncle with aid from the then young-and-upcoming Sith Lord Agram. These machinations served to drive a wedge between Macbeth and Demona that destroyed both their clans and ignited nine hundred years of conflict between the two. But then the Armageddon Comet fell and the Two Towers with it. These events not only led to Demona's reconciliation with her clan, but with Macbeth as well. Which as their immortality meant that they could only die by the hand of the other or by that of an extremely powerful Dark Magic User, could prove useful. Theoretically. The fact was with the War of Light and Darkness raging, both Demona and Macbeth had earned themselves more than their fair share of Dark Magical enemies. Macbeth was currently in the midst of a hostile takeover, working to prevent Demona's former company, Nightstone from being bought out by Ulrich's father, Harold Stern who was planning on using Nightstone's technology to implement the technology of the Sith. Harold himself was unendowed, but Darth Adolfus, the murderous clone of his son, Ulrich just so happened to be one of the most powerful Sith Apprentices ever born and Harold's other main source of muscle was equally powerful and hated Goliath and Demona just about enough to test the limits of Macbeth's Immortality Curse. He was Luscious, the Dark Gargoyle, infamous for enslaving thousands of members of his own species for the simple sake of gaining power for himself. Luscious was loyal to no one but himself and Agram, tolerated Harold Stern as a handler because Stern allowed him to take part in his twisted experiments and he was largely responsible for the Xanatos Family and Manhattan Clan's going underground. Very few people knew the details of what had gone on that Halloween. Macbeth was among the lucky few, which begged the question,
"What are you doing here?"
"Enjoyin' the scenery." Macbeth said, "What the bloody hell do think I'm doing here?"
"You knew there was something going on?" Ahsoka asked.
Macbeth groaned as though it were obvious, "I knew that some of his….." He pointed to Jason, "Brother's men have been in and outta this place every other day. I know that every third that Mad Gargoyle comes 'round though he should know there ain't nothin' to see. I know that every so often some Dark Wizards not affiliated with your Sith drop in for tea. I don't know what it is they're lookin' for and I don't know why, but I do have my theories."
"The boy?" Luke asked.
"That's one option." Macbeth admitted "And we all know Old Luscious wants the Manhattan Clan. The Devil he wants them bad. But mad as Luscious is, he's no half-wit. And those Dark Wizards that have been coming around are Society of the Crow. And the Crow don't break the Treaty. No, I've taken to thinking that they've been 'round lookin' for something in particular. Something that didn't leave the property on Halloween."
"And that would be…..?" Ahsoka asked.
Several minutes later, the entire group was standing together inside what normally would have David Xanatos' private office. Macbeth directed them towards a large tapestry depicting a group of tall, gallant knights dressed in silver chasing a White Stag.
"I didn't realize they'd put so much power time into stealing window decorations." Han said derisively. But Macbeth ignored him, pushing the Tapestry back he muttered a small blessing in Gaelic. For a moment, it appeared that only gray, granite wall was hidden behind the beautiful velvet veil. But almost as soon as Macbeth's words hit the granite, the wall bubbled a small metal square materialized along with a keypad. Macbeth singled to his captive audience to watch as he worked. Typing a series of strange letters into the keypad and allowing it to open to reveal a short, squat statue of a Gargoyle. A Gargoyle that looked like it was praying. For a moment there was silence. Pure, reverent silence as the Jedi looked in awe and alarm at the Praying Gargoyle. It was young Jack that broke the silence.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"It is." His father answered putting a hand on his shoulder, "This was the Gargoyle that once almost helped to wipe mankind off the face of the Earth."
"What need of it would Luscious have?" Luke wondered, "He already has the Gorgon's Gauntlet."
The Gorgon's Gauntlet was a powerful magical item that Luscious had used for centuries to enslave fellow Gargoyles. Once Branded with it, the victims were cursed to turn from stone to flesh at the Dark Gargoyle's command, to follow his orders on the pain horrible torture and to no longer be able to heal with the sun. Goliath and his clan were the only Gargoyles to date who had managed to break free from his control as a result of Alexander Fox Xanatos using the Lights to heal them.
"My guess is he can't gain his prized trophies with the Gorgon's Gauntlet." Macbeth said, "As for the Crows, they're probably looking for a good power boost. The good news is that the Quarrymen have yet to figure Xanatos has the damned thing and neither Old Luscious or the Crows have figured out for sure that it's here."
"But how would the Praying Gargoyle be of any use to Luscious or the Quarrymen," wondered Jack, "Isn't supposed to protect Gargoyles."
"Exactly," Franz said suddenly, "The Darkness corrupts what it can't control. And if it can't be controlled, destroying it could easily give them the next best result."
Macbeth nodded, "And that's not all they left. They left the Praying Gargoyle for those kids of yours. Xanatos thought it be of good use to them, especially if the Gargoyles were with them. But there was something else, something specifically for you, Hopper."
With Luke's help, Franz heaved the Praying Gargoyle out from inside the safe. Hidden below it was a set of paper inside a manila folder. Franz removed it himself and opened it. The papers were neatly typed, but not in traditional words or letters. Instead, they displayed a complicated set of symbols strung together in an endless set of words and sentences.
"What language is it?" Jason wondered.
"Huttese." Franz said, "At least I believe it is." He handed the papers to Luke.
"Definitely" Luke agreed. Ahsoka came forth and grabbed the papers from her husband's hand.
"Do these say what I think they do?"
"Yes." Franz said matter-of-factly, "This is what we've been looking for. A map to the Void."
For those uninformed, the Void was a rumored Separatist Prison. A place between life and death. Spiritual and physical. It was a prison saved only of very special prisoners of the Sith, particularly especially dangerous Jedi. Franz's wife, Antea was one such Jedi. Endowed with powerful Force Sensitivity and equally powerful Magic, Antea was the most powerful Fire Witch ever born. But that wasn't what led to her capture. During one particularly snowy December, she, Franz and Aelita had been attacked by a hoard of Heartless who had disabled Antea's Fire Magic all in the name of preventing her from stopping her older sister, Ursa, a Fire Witch of close to equal power from being taken to the Void as punishment for using her powers to kill her father-in-law, Fire Lord Azulon. And to prevent her from freeing multiple Gargoyles taken captive by Luscious, the Dark Gargoyle. It was rumored that they had interest in capturing her daughter, Aelita, one of the Princesses of Heart as well. Most thought that both Antea and Ursa were dead after their capture, but there was more to it than that. Franz had never fully accepted Antea's death and was more than determined to find the Void and reunite his family. But for so long, the Void had been an Urban Legend. But then that Easter, Erik Leshnerr had wandered out of the Void and despite his death, this was proof that the Void did exist and could, in theory, be found. And now, the way to find it was in their hands.
"How the bloody hell did Xanatos….?" Jason asked.
"I'm guessing Oberon could've helped." Helen pointed out.
"Or Puck." Agreed Macbeth, referencing Owen Burnett, Xanatos' right hand man who just so happened to also be the Faerie, Puck in disguise.
"Let's not forget." Countered Han, "Xanatos has connections, as in everywhere. Or at least everywhere on Earth. And even if there's not one solitary person on this mudball which I'd bet there's not, who knows where it can be found then by now there's probably at least one person on Avalon that Xanatos has connections with who could find that map."
"It's in Huttese." Leia pointed out, "Does Xanatos know Huttese?"
"Why should it matter where it came from?" Franz said softly, "I need to find where this map leads."
Bobby stood as still as possible as she watched Mister Castaway burst out of the Castle in a puff of smoke. She watched him go.
Good riddance. She thought. He was gone almost in a puff of smoke. One minute, he was there. The next he wasn't. Bobby couldn't believe her eyes. Did he just really use…magic?
No. Bobby thought, he couldn't have. After all, there was no magic. Not really. And even if there was, there's no way Mister Castaway would use it. Without thinking twice, Bobby climbed down the complex and made her way back to the subway station.
She'd have to buy a ticket now of course. It wasn't like she had a choice. Slowly, but surely she went up to the lady at the ticket office.
"When's the next train to Buffalo?" Bobby asked.
"Thirty minutes." The ticket lady was smoking a cigarette. She grinned at Bobby with stained yellow teeth, "Ten dollars."
Bobby checked. It would probably be easier to jump a train, but she did still have $20. She paid for her ticket and sat on the runway near the train, listening to her IPod. Lost in her own thoughts, Bobby was sure that she'd never see her mother or Mister Castaway or Mister Frollo or her siblings again. She was running away to a normal life and no one, no one could make her live with them and away from her dad ever again. She didn't even notice the cops arriving.
Despite her plans to tell the police about her mother's abuse, Bobby still felt the need to lie to them after they picked her up. She'd told them that her name was Evelyn Garret (William Garret was her father's name) and she was from Buffalo, New York and had run away from home to see a Broadway show. However, she was now very afraid of being separated from her father and wanted to go home. It seemed that the cop who picked her up, a Detective Bluestone, believed Bobby and wanted to help get back on the train. That was until she noticed that they had pulled up in front of Mother's house.
"This isn't where I live." Bobby said.
"Don't try to fool me, kiddo." Bluestone said, "Your mom has the entire city on edge. A Senator's daughter going missing in New York City, Roberta. You can't seriously think they're weren't any cops looking for you."
"I don't care." Bobby said, "I'm not going back there. My mother is evil."
"What?" Detective Bluestone asked.
"She hits me." Bobby explained, "And her boyfriend hits me. And they've as good as turned my little brother and sister against me. And their preacher is so mean and…..You don't believe."
"No." Bluestone said, "I think I'd need to take a good look at this."
The door to the Brownstone opened then.
"But I do think you'll need to stay with your mom until then." Bluestone added, "Go on."
"Fine." Bobby added, "When my dead body turns up in a marsh, it's on you." And there on the top of those stairs in all her selfish monstrous glory was a tall, formidable woman with a dark, serious frown. That woman was Bobby's mother, Senator Rebecca Kelly and she was pissed.
Mother led Bobby by the ear into the brownstone. Bobby knew what this meant. Mother threw her onto the floor in the living room. Bobby looked and sure enough sitting on the couch were Robert Eleanor very clearly waiting for her to come home. Bobby took off her belt. Pulled down her pants. Mother called to Mister Castaway. Mister Castaway came in, picked up Bobby's fallen belt. Bobby heard Wap of the belt against her bare skin, but didn't feel it. She never felt it. Not anymore. She just let it happen. It didn't hurt. It never hurt. In her mind, Bobby was in Buffalo. She was in Buffalo and she was free.
Jason led Jack by the scruff of his neck back to his mother's apartment in Greenwich Village.
"I know you don't realize this," He explained to his son, "But the reason I keep you away from all that is for your sake."
"My sake," Jack asked indignantly, "My sake? You think this is for my sake."
"You saw your Uncle there." Jason argued, "He's dangerous. And he ain't the only. Your entire blame family on my side is dangerous. You can't trust none of them. And you, what you're being caught up in something you don't understand and has nothing to do with you."
"And yet," Jack said bitterly, "It's got everything to do with you! AND MY BEST FRIEND! You're gone for days at a time! And MY BEST FRIEND, MY ONLY FRIEND IS GONE AND NOBODY WILL TELL ME WHY!"
There was nothing Jason could say to that except….
"Boy, I have to go away for a while. And you, Jackie, you have to stay here with your Mum."
"But," Jack began.
"No." said Jason, "You have to protect her."
The door to the apartment opened and a pretty Asian woman stepped out.
"John." She ran to Jack's side and grabbed him by the ear, "Where have you been?" Jack could only struggle in silent defiance. It was only then that his Mother noticed Jason.
"Jason." She said coldly to her husband.
"June." He responded weakly
"Where have you been?" She asked.
"Working." It was admittedly a weak lie even if it was mostly true.
"I wish I could believe that." June said simply.
"I only came here to bring the boy back." Jason admitted, "I have more work to do."
"When will you be home?"
Jason shook his head, "I don't know."
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know." Jason answered again. And it was true. Jason knew it was true as he walked away, oblivious to what would follow him.