Demona raced frantically toward the cries she'd heard, bounding from the forest floor to the tree trunks and branches in order to avoid the thick, crippling undergrowth. Behind her, she could hear Goliath and Cato making their own ways through the brush and calling her name, but she ignored them, focusing on getting to the waterside as quickly as possible. Once there, she beheld with dread, the sight of the dilapidated rowboat, bobbing loosely along the sandstone ledges. Luach was held captive by a young, but well-muscled gargoyle who looked extremely anxious, despite his obvious advantage over the unarmed man. Nearby stood two females, one young and one older and both looked very distressed. The younger of the two cowered slightly, as if she knew she was awaiting a very severe reprimand from the elder.

"Demona!" Luach cried out upon seeing her, "Forgive me! I didn't know…I saw you gliding here and I was afraid you were leaving because you were upset with me. I wanted to apologize! I swear, I meant no harm!"

"It's alright, Luach," she said, approaching them slowly, and trying to appear as calm as possible, despite her racing heart.

"You can release him," she told Luach's captor, "He is not an enemy." The young male, looked at the others questioningly, but he did not release Luach.

The tense situation was shaken by the voice of Cato, who had finally arrived with Goliath.

"What has happened?" he thundered, his wrath evident in his voice. The elder female gave the younger a severe look and told her,

"It is best that you confess truthfully."

Bowed with shame, the wretched young one stepped forward and addressed her leader,

"I'm sorry, Cato. I was seen by a human."

"How did this happen?" Cato demanded in a voice that was quieter, but no less furious than before. The young one looked devastated but tried to explain herself.

"I grew bored as we were waiting and the water looked so refreshing to me. I took the cloak off for only a few moments. The next thing I knew, this man was approaching me. I was careless. I am so sorry!"

Cato's eyes scanned his warriors sternly, his eyes filled with anger, but also disappointment and sadness.

"Do you realize what your actions might have caused for our clan?" he asked and the young one nodded in embarrassment.

"I do."

"Tomorrow evening you will stand before the council and answer for this."

"Yes, Cato," she replied sorrowfully, "I understand."

"Take her," Cato demanded of the elder female, who gathered the cloak from the ground and, placing it on the young one's shoulders, escorted her into the forest, past two warriors who Demona hadn't noticed before. She wondered if they had heard the commotion and come running, or if they'd been there the entire time and only just then removed their cloaks so she could see them.

"The poor girl is clearly distraught over her mistake," Goliath told Cato gently, "And there was no great harm done. The man is our friend and is already well-acquainted with our kind."

"It could have been much worse," Cato agreed, "And that is why we must ensure that it does not happen again. One act of carelessness risks so much, when it involves the exposure of our kind and our home. It is most regrettable, but it is the way it must be."

Something shivered in Demona at Cato's last words and she glanced at Goliath, who was studying Cato with a furrowed brow.

"What will be done with her?" Goliath asked boldly and Cato sighed as he gave a gesture to the two warriors.

"She will be disciplined appropriately, and she will learn. And then, I suspect, she'll be assigned to a role more suitable to her attention span."

Goliath looked a little relieved at this explanation, but Demona was watching the two warriors approaching Luach, who remained under the talons of the reluctant-looking younger warrior. One of the older gargoyles gave the distressed lad a nod and tapped his shoulder. The young one gave his older brother a grateful look and he released Luach and headed in the same direction the others had disappeared. For a moment, Luach also looked relieved at having gained his freedom, but the older gargoyle quickly took hold of his shoulder with his massive claw and bid him kneel on the wet, stone ledge beneath him. Demona cried out in rage and horror as the second warrior drew the sword at his waist.

"Stop!" she growled at them, leaping at the one with the sword and seizing his arm, "What are you doing?"

The sword wielder looked genuinely confused at the outburst and firmly dislodged Demona from his arm before explaining in an agitated tone.

"Sister, our law forbids us from allowing humans to see us. Sadly, any human that does see us must be destroyed, lest they reveal our kind to the rest of the human world."

"Did you not hear?" Demona demanded as she stood between him and the man now struggling futilely for his life in the other warrior's grasp, "Luach is no threat to you. He already knew gargoyles existed. He's been a friend of my clan for nearly his entire life! He knows nothing of your clan and has no interest in revealing it to anyone."

Her opponent appeared quite convinced that he was dealing with some pitiable soul that had completely taken leave of her senses. He glanced at his leader, clearly hoping for some guidance in how to proceed.

"My friends," Cato said firmly, "There can be no real friendship between his kind and ours. Centuries of gargoyles have tried to form alliances with humans, and what has it gained, but the near extinction of our race? Our clan's home is the last corner of this whole world that has been left safe from these ruthless, powerful beings and we must do whatever it takes to defend it. I know you understand that. I'm truly sorry, but this is the only way."

Cato's words seemed to have inspired a spirit of compassion in his assigned executioner who touched Demona's shoulder gently in an attempt to console her.

"I will be quick," he promised, "He will know no suffering."

Enraged, Demona pounced at the warrior, knocking him to the rocky ground and seizing his throat between her talons. He gasped in shock at the force of her attack.

"You ought to be far more concerned about the agony you will experience if either of you dares take another step toward him!" she snarled.

Goliath sprang to collect the warrior's sword and brandished it toward the gargoyle that held Luach. Judging himself well out-matched by Goliath, the warrior quickly released the man, backing away from Goliath to join the circle of gargoyles that was quickly forming around them, all watching with a sense of horror as they awaited Cato's order to attack.

Cato, however, still seemed reluctant to give it. Maintaining a calm demeanor, he approached Demona where she held her victim, still gasping for breath as she clenched his throat.

"Release him, Sister," Cato demanded, staring at her intently with his strange, green eyes.

"I will not," she hissed. Showing his age, he stiffly crouched down beside her, meeting her at eye level.

"He has done you no harm," he attempted to reason with her, but she only squeezed tighter until drops of his blood flowed at the tips of her talons.

"Luach!" she called, her voice strained with pain and confusion of the moment, but still clear and resolute, "Swim quickly across the lake and return to the house. When you get there, tell Detective Maza to fire her weapon once. Tell the others to stay there with you and be prepared to defend themselves. Go!"

Luach looked around him at the circle of powerful gargoyles, who clearly had no intention of letting him reach the shore.

"You will let him pass or this one will pay with his life," Demona snarled at Cato, "Only when I hear the signal that the man is safe among my warriors will I release him."

Cato shook his head in dismay, but made one last attempt to reason with Demona.

"Your leader told me that you were given to treason, bloodlust, and even insanity, but I was disinclined to believe it."

"You would do well to believe it now," she told him coldly.

"You would kill your own kind? You would send us all into battle, brother against brother? You would risk spilling the innocent blood of both my warriors and your own, all for the life of this one human?"

Demona's eyes widened and she trembled with a growing sense of devastation as Cato's words bore into her soul. Doubt and shame stormed within her, growing into a rage that matched the chaos that seemed to be swallowing her whole.

"I will," she growled fiercely.

Cato's face contorted into an expression of repulsion, as if he had just witnessed something pure, healthy, and beautiful instantly rot down into something foul and sick. It was a reaction she had become well-accustomed to.

"Well," Cato said matter-of-factly, as he rose to his full height, "I will not have it on my hands."

Cato turned and addressed his clan, "Let the human pass unharmed!"

Giving Demona one last look of desperation, Luach plunged into the water. Quickly crossing the narrow channel to the dock on the other side, he disappeared into the dense forest.

Demona looked down at the ground, unable to feel anything but fury. In silence, they all waited what seemed like an eternity until they heard the single shot fired. Then, as promised, Demona released her hostage and slowly rose to her feet, thoroughly spent. Several of the other gargoyles rushed forward to help their brother, quickly moving him away from Demona as if they were afraid her madness might be something contagious that could seize one of them. She looked about for Goliath, suddenly aware that she could no longer see him. Then she felt his touch on her wing joint and she realized that he'd been right there behind her the entire time.

Cato watched as his clan enveloped themselves in their cloaks and, one by one, disappeared. Then, he turned to Demona.

"You will not see us again," he told her sternly, "But know that we are always watching and we will know if your promises are not kept."

Both Demona and Goliath were too stunned to answer. Cato himself disappeared beneath his cloak and they stood together in the quiet, listening to the gentle waves as they hit the rocks, awkward and unsure if they were completely alone or not. Slowly, Demona lowered herself to the ground and her trembling turned into sobbing. Goliath knelt beside her and, gripping her wing joint, he pulled her into his embrace and buried his face in her hair.

"Leave me," she begged.

"I won't."

"Go back to the house," she told him, "Stay with the others. Please. I just need a moment."

Reluctantly, Goliath agreed to return to the others, who had to be greatly worried about them, but promised that he would return shortly if she didn't come back to the house on her own.

Alone again, she crawled to the edge of a ledge and reached her claws into the lake to splash her feverish face with cool water.

"Look! Now I have a real boat!" laughed a familiar, bell-like voice. Demona straightened up to find the fairy boy, perched on the end of the row boat, posing with the worn paddle that Luach had used to row it there.

"What am I playing at?" she moaned.

"What do you mean?" the boy asked, "I didn't know you were playing anything."

"I almost tore someone's throat out!"

"You saved Luach though," he pointed out.

"Why did I even start this ill-fated quest? What did I think I was going to do?"

"You were trying to save your clan from the Hunter," he reminded her. Demona looked down at her claws and shook her head.

"Was that all it was, or did I dare to hope that I might yet be saved as well?"

"Saved from who?" the boy asked, "the Hunter?"

"No," she said sadly, "Saved from the past I can never undo."

She reached into her bag and removed Old Felix's healing stone.

"Felix said I would have to be pure of heart to use this, but I know my heart is filled with rage and guilt. How could I use it to heal anyone, let alone my worst enemy?"

"But, didn't he also say that you might be ready to use it by the end of your quest?"

"Yes," she argued mournfully, "And here I am at journey's end, still just as broken as I was at the beginning."

"I don't think you are broken, Adelpha," the boy told her adamantly.

"Perhaps I was broken from the start. Perhaps, I was never right in the first place. I have gained so much power, and almost no strength. The only strength I have comes from Goliath and the others. Without them, I am lost. But they can't face the Hunters for me, and I am not sure I can do this."

"Worrying is a waste of a good imagination," he told her in a familiar tone that was both condescending and honest.

"I've heard that one before," she grumbled, reminded of Xanantos and his annoyingly arrogant brand of optimism. Then another thought came to her.

"Do you know where Xanatos is right now?"

"Well…" the boy replied hesitantly and she grabbed him by his small hands, turning his face toward her.

"Can you get into his library without him seeing?" she asked urgently and he smiled mischievously.

"Of course I can!"

"I need you to do it now and find that book," she told him, "If Xanatos ever tries to make use of that page about Bain Felix, he's a dead man. Do you think you can recognize the correct page?"

The young fairy nodded, his youthful face grown solemn with an understanding of the fearful importance of the task.

"Good. It's best to tear it from the book and destroy it. He'll be suspicious if the whole book goes missing, but he won't miss a single page. Bain Felix wishes to be forgotten by the world and so they will be. Hurry!"

The child disappeared with a confident nod, and Demona was completely alone. Over the eastern mountains, she could see the flashing light pattern of Xanatos' hovercraft approaching. Quickly, she rose from the ledge and hurried to join the others.