It was a short ride to the station as Manhattan traffic went.
After calling Maria to let her know what was happening, she took to her com and spoke to the clan as a whole.
"Lex," Elisa called into the com. "I need to talk to Goliath."
"Patching him in now," Lex said.
There was a single popping noise on the line that signaled that connection had been made.
"Goliath," Elisa called out. "I need you to call everyone to the castle. No one goes anywhere. If you absolutely have to go out, you need to go in pairs."
"What is happening, Elisa?" Goliath's deep, rumbling voice answered.
"I don't know, yet," Elisa admitted. "But it sounds like there's a something big being planned that involves getting you guys out of the way. Stop at home, grab Liam and Skyler, and take them to the castle. I will get there as soon as I can."
"Alright," Goliath said. "I will make sure that our son and Skyler are safe, then everyone will be at the castle and we will be waiting for you."
"Thank you, big guy," Elisa said, feeling as if a a weight she didn't even know had been sitting on her chest was lifted. "I will get there as soon as I can."
"Be safe, my Elisa," He said.
"You too," Elisa said. Gingerly, she turned the comm off, and placed it in her inner coat pocket.
"God damn it," Elisa swore softly. She bent at the waist and held her head in her hands.
"Elisa?" Matt asked, worried about his partner.
"I'll be okay," Elisa said, trying to get a handle on her emotions. "I'll be okay as soon as everyone's at the castle. I'll be okay."
Matt kept on hand on the wheel, but laid a hand in support on her shoulder. "We'll be at the station in a few minutes."
"I know," Elisa said softly. "I need to get a hold of myself."
"Take a minute, Elisa." With a comforting squeeze, Matt put both hands back on the wheel. "Just take a minute, and I'll let you know when we get to the station."
"Thanks," Elisa said softly.
Elisa took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and took out her phone. She called her apartment, and almost felt like weeping when Skyler's cheerful voice answered.
"Skyler, this is Elisa," She said, her voice hoarse in relief. "Something has come up, and I need you to pack a bag of things for Liam and yourself. I'll explain later, but Goliath is on his way. He is going to take you both to the castle, and I will join you all as soon as I can."
"Okay," Skyler said, calmly. "Are you going to be okay? I can let Goliath take Liam, and I can wait here for you. Or I can come get you if you need me to."
"No," Elisa said. "I want you guys all in one place. I'm sure I'm over reacting, but as a cop, I've had threats made towards me before. I know that the apartment has some great security, but at the castle, you'll have the full clan with you."
"Alright," Skyler said. "I'll pack a bag, and Liam and I will be ready for when Goliath gets here."
"Thank you," Elisa said. "And I am so sorry."
"Don't worry about us. I'll text you when Goliath gets here, and I'll text you again when we are safe at the castle," Skyler said. "You be safe, and we'll see you soon."
Elisa said goodbye, and ended the call.
She turned her phone to vibrate, and placed the phone back in her jeans pocket.
"We are about a block away, Elisa," Matt reminded her softly.
"Thanks," Elisa said, running her hands over her face.
By the time that Matt parked, Elisa had pulled herself together. She was back to looking like her usual steady self, even if she felt like screaming on the inside.
Her life was almost always a mess. From Demona and MacBeth, from the Fae to the Hunters. All of whom had tried to kill her at some point.
What made her think she could take on a child, when she couldn't handle her own life?
Elisa took one more deep breath, ran a hand through her hair and tried to focus on the task at hand. She didn't have any idea of what was going on, and the worst thing she could do would be jumping to conclusions. She had to get the information from the girl, and she had to piece together what their plans were so that she could keep her friends and family safe.
Matt had to admire Elisa's iron will. Looking at the cool and confident woman who was striding up the stairs and into the noisy chaos that was the NYPD on a friday night, no one would be able to look at her and guess that anything was wrong.
Well, no one who didn't know her well, anyway. Judging by Maria's questioning look in their direction, Maria was one of the few who could see that something was upsetting Elisa.
Matt gestured with his head for Maria to follow them, and together the three officers went into one of the smaller meeting rooms, and locked the door behind them.
"What's wrong?" Maria asked, as straight to the point as ever.
"I don't know yet," Elisa admitted, telling them both as accurate an accounting as she could. "It might be nothing, but…"
"But," Maria picked up, "it would be better if you questioned the girl and found out for sure."
"With me in the wings, just in case," Matt threw in firmly.
"Not in the room," Elisa shot back. "You can watch from behind the mirror, but not in front of it."
"Fine," Matt ground out. He'd be there, watching from the small room behind the two way mirror, but he was going to be there.
"Fine," Elisa shot back. Part of her was grateful for his presence, but a part of her still stubbornly wanted to fix things on her own.
"Just be careful," Maria urged them. "I'll try to keep everyone from going in there with you, but you keep an ear out for anyone that we don't necessarily want overhearing anything having to do with the Gargoyles."
"Agreed," Elisa said. "Where'd they take her?"
Maria checked the paperwork in front of her. "You're in luck. She's in room 8, and she's 18 years old."
"She's an adult. Awesome," Elisa said, heading for the door. "No juvenile services to muck things up."
"I didn't hear that," Maria said, throwing her hands up.
"I'll keep an eye on her, Captain," Matt hurried to reassure her before jogging to catch up with his partner.
As they approached the door, Elisa felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Retrieving the small device, she looked at the message screen.
"Your guy, Liam and I are safe at the castle. All Members safe, and accounted for. Please be safe. See you soon. Skyler."
Feeling at ease for the first time in an hour, she took a steadying breath.
Elisa flung the door open, revealing the startled girl at the table before Elisa slammed the door behind her.
Elisa took the chair, pivoted it until she could sit on it backwards, her arms crossed on the back. She reached out, and flipped open the top cover of the file.
"Okay," Elisa scanned the info, "Jean Maynard. We're all alone now, so you want to tell me what you were talking about back there at the junkyard?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jean blinked those deceptive baby blue eyes at the detective.
"Bull," Elisa pronounced, slapping the cover of the file closed. "I have a witness that will swear before a judge that you were threatening an officer. You're over the age of 18, so that means jail time until your bail gets set, and I know a lot of judges," Elisa leaned forward, smiling that not nice smile at the young woman. "I can make sure that it takes a long time."
There was the slightest of flickers in the girl's eyes, and Elisa felt like she was getting close to unnerving her enough that she might spill the information.
"You wouldn't," she whispered.
"I would," Elisa said. "I am willing to bet that most of your file is fiction anyway, so that will take extra time to work through and verify, so I hope you like it here," Elisa tood and leaned across the table to scoop up the file.
She had every intention of letting Matt come in for a few minutes and try to be the good cop to her bad, but the girl reached up and grabbed a hold of Elisa's shirt.
"You think you're so smart," the girl's entire demeanor changed. "You don't even know what you are, let alone where you belong. You aren't human, at least not entirely human."
Elisa frowned angrily. "What are you talking about?"
The girl's face went blank, and she blinked at the detective a few times before answering. "You honestly don't know," Jean laughed then. "I thought you were just playing stupid, but you're not. You honestly think you're full human."
"Oh?" Elisa smirked. "Why don't you tell me what you think I am, then?"
"Oh, no," Jean drawled out slowly. "I would rather leave the mystery there for you to figure out, and I hope I'm there to see it."
Elisa had enough. She jerked back hard, trying to get out of Jean's grip. She succeeded in pulling her shirt out of the girl's grip, but Jean's hand managed to grab a hold of the necklace that Elisa had decided to wear that evening. Viciously, Jean jerked the necklace from Elisa's neck, breaking the chain.
There was a definite sizzle and then Jean was screaming.
Elisa stood in shock as Jean threw herself backward, and curled up in a ball in the corner.
The door to the room burst in, and Matt was suddenly there beside Elisa. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Elisa said. "She grabbed my shirt, and…" Elisa looked down and spotted her necklace. "Oh, god," ELisa muttered. She picked up the necklace and turned it in her fingers. "I think I have an idea. Don't let anyone in yet, Matt."
Elisa rushed to the woman on the floor and grabbed her hands. Elisa looked at the burns on the palms of the woman's hands to confirm her suspicions.
"You're Fae," Elisa said in shock.
"So are you," the girl cried. "It's diluted, but you have some fae in your blood. We recognize each other. Why didn't you come when the call went out? How did you resist?"
"What are you talking about?" Elisa snapped, "I'm not fae."
"If you can live with that around your neck, you are probably a few generations out, but you definitely have some fae in your family somewhere."
There was a loud knock at the door, and Matt hurried to answer it. After a moment, he stepped back from the door, letting the two waiting officers waiting in the hallway in. "Elisa, these officers are here to take Jean here to medical to get her hands looked at."
"Sure," Elisa answered, still a little stunned at the turn of events.
Jean had started crying piteously as soon as the other officers had entered the room. Elisa knew that the wounds were probably already healing, but she didn't want to call attention to it for the officers who wouldn't understand.
As soon as Jean and the officers were gone, Matt pushed Elisa down into a seat. Reaching around to the other chair, Matt pulled it over to the same side of the table next to her.
"What's going on?" Matt asked softly. "What happened to her hands?"
Elisa held up the small oddly tear shaped object. "This is the clapper from a bell."
Matt raised an eyebrow at her. "And?"
"Matt, this is the iron clapper from the iron bell that helped us defeat Oberon when we were in avalon. I took it with me when we left, just to have something on me that's iron at all time," Elisa whispered furiously. "Iron hurts the fae. It burns the skin, saps their powers, and could possibly be fatal in large enough doses."
"And it burned her," Matt said, jerking a thumb at the door that Jean had just gone through.
"So, that means she's fae," Elisa said, thoughtfully.
"But you said that Oberon called all the Fae back to avalon, right?"
"He called all of his 'children' home, yes," Elisa said. "With the exception of Puck, of course."
"So how is it that we have someone with Fae blood here in Manhattan?"
"The same whay that Fox and Alexander Xanatos are here," Elisa said quietly. Elisa raised her eyes to meet Matt's. "Oberon's children had children of their own."
"Why weren't they taken to Avalon with the rest?" Matt asked.
"Oberon probably didn't even think about it," Elisa said. "He didn't give Fox or Alexander a thought until Titania made a big deal about it."
"And she thinks that you're like her?" Matt asked doubtfully. "Why did the iron bother her and not you, if that were the case?"
"Think of it like genetics," Elisa said. "Say you and Pamela have a kid. If Pamela is allergic to… let's say Peanuts, but you are not, there is a percentage chance that your kid will have the allergy, too."
"Okay, I get that," Matt said.
"It might have a little something to do with how far away, generation wise, the fae connection is," Elisa mused out loud. "If I do have some fae blood in me, then it would be at least two generations back. Oberon only called his children home about six years ago. In Jean's case, she would have only been about twelve when that happened."
"Jeeze," Matt said, running his hand through his hair. "Any of those kids tonight would have been in their pre or early teens."
"One minute your parent is there, and the next, they just disappear."
"That would leave anyone angry," Matt pointed out.
"Something tells me that we have more to worry about than a group of angry teens," Elisa said. "They know who and what they are, and there was talk of getting Oberon's attention."
"How? How would you get the attention of someone on Avalon?" Matt asked.
"Fox," Elisa finished in a rush. "She'd know how to contact her own mom, right?"
Matt grabbed his keys. "Let's go ask her."