After a few moments of shocked shouts and squeals, Alex and Orion led Luach and his wife Laura toward the roaring fire, where the others stood to greet them. They were accompanied by their son, Liam, who had reluctantly dressed in last year's pirate costume after it was discovered that the gruesome horror film mask he'd purchased from Amazon and his younger sister could not coexist peacefully in the same room. Sophie, the youngest of the MacMorey family was dressed beautifully as a blue fairy, while the twin brothers wore Ninja Turtle costumes, complete with plastic weapons with which to hit one another.

Luach brought his wife to greet the party in his usual formal manner. He thanked the hosts and greeted Adelpha and Orion with a bow and an affectionate smile.

"Good evening, Milady and young Master," he said, "How lovely you look!"

"Good evening, Your Highness," she replied equally formally but with a noticeable smirk in her expression. Adelpha always spoke to Luach MacMoray in this strange way, calling him 'your highness' as if he were royalty, despite the fact that, as far as Orion knew, he was the regional manager of a cooperation of shipping yards. At least, that is what Liam had told him. But she continued to smile and regard him as a prince, as if it was a joke that only they shared. Orion didn't understand what they meant by it, but he could tell it was a friendly secret between them.

"Kids, say 'hello' to Mr. and Mrs. Xanatos and thank them for inviting you," Laura MacMoray instructed her children. Xanatos and Fox made a great fuss over the children and their costumes, while the children smiled back shyly and Owen began distributing drinks.

"When's dinner?" Liam asked and his father gave him an incredulous look.

"What?" he whined and Orion giggled and led him to a display of caramel apples, wrapped in decorative cellophane.

"Where are the younger ones?" Laura asked as they were seated at a table near the fire. She tried not to sound as greedy as her young son had, but the others could sense her delighted anticipation as she glanced about, hoping to catch the sight of a baby gargoyle dressed as a zombie.

"The children are still on their candy raid," Adlepha informed them, glancing at the sky with a touch of concern, "They ought to be home by now."

"I'm surprised you don't go with them," Laura commented innocently, and Luach gave her a discreet squeeze of her hand beneath the table.

"The children are safe with their clan," she said cooly, still intently looking toward the top of the curtain wall for a sign of their return, "And I've no interest in watching them wheedle strange humans for sweets."

She returned her gaze to the guests and added, "Even if they are absolutely adorable!"

Laura smiled eagerly. She was a strange character, Adelpha thought, though she had grown to tolerate her. Perhaps even to enjoy her company in small doses.

Laura had made the acquaintance of the clan many years back, when she had come to New York as a graduate student. She had desperately sought an internship with Xanatos Enterprises, claiming an interest in a career in mechanical engineering. She was so persistent, that the director of the program had reluctantly accepted her, despite her lack of experience, mostly out of admiration for her tenacity. It had all been an act however, as engineering was only a mild interest of hers when compared to her primary objective, to meet a real gargoyle.

Such had been her obsession, since she was a teenager and had seen the nationwide broadcast of the New York gargoyles on television. Despite the many claims that it was all a hoax, she'd become immovably convinced that the footage was real, that the gargoyles were real, and that she had to find out as much as she could about them. From that day on, she became a gargoyle hunter, with the same manic drive of the Canmore Hunters that had sought their race throughout the ages, but with none of the malice. She had no desire to harm, destroy, or control the gargoyles, but only to know them, and to taste a hint of something mysterious and powerful, and fully beyond the bland realm of northern Indiana that she'd always known.

So she came to New York, fully resolute that she would research and work her way somehow into the presence of one of these elusive, fascinating beings, which her research led her to believe were both intelligent and honorable. One night, when she and the other interns had finished an urgent project well after regular business hours, she took the rare opportunity to set her plan into motion. She had found a way to rig a stolen access card to allow herself past the security and into the upper floors of the Eyrie tower, just below the castle. And there, she discovered a doorway with glass panel flanked by two robots designed in the image of a large gargoyle. To her dismay, she found that her access card would not persuade them to allow her to pass, but peering through the heavy glass, and a layer of protective steel bars, she beheld a rookery with two beautiful gargoyle eggs. She'd barely had the time to wipe the tears of joy and amazement from her face when she turned to discover a monstrous female gargoyle, bellowing a wrathful, murderous scream that chilled her blood, and left no question of its intent to tear the intruder to pieces with bare talons. And so the gargoyle might have, had Luach not been present and foolishly and courageously placed himself between them.

Luach had almost certainly saved Laura's life that night, though her trespass did not go unpunished. She was held prisoner in the castle for nearly two weeks, until Goliath became satisfied that she truly meant them no harm. Her release earned Goliath several months of silence from his mate, until the night the eggs hatched, but having spoken with the young woman, and seeing the genuine amazement and good will in her face as she met the clan, he knew there was no point in keeping her longer. Luach had been taken with her as well. During her imprisonment, he had several conversations with her about the gargoyles, their nature, and his interaction with them. Then they began to talk of other things, and the more they shared, the more ensnared he became by her passion and joy. After her release, he continued to check on her and visit with her, until one night, when he confessed his love.

Sometime later, they were married, and one of the first things Luach did was bring his young bride back to the castle and shock the entire clan by reintroducing her to Adelpha. Of course, initially, she was not the least bit pleased to see the intrusive young woman and told them so in less-than-friendly terms. But Luach had boldly informed her of their bond, and this caused her to fall silent. For over two hours, they waited, while Adelpha said nothing. The rest of the clan tried, in vain, to apologize for her, to comfort the newly wed couple, and to encourage them to return to their home and be happy, but Luach would not be moved and would not leave without the blessing of his friend.

At last, the rest of the clan began to gather themselves and leave for the tower, and Lexington had hesitantly reminded Luach of the impending sunrise. Sadly, but promising to return the next night, Luach rose and Laura went to do the same.

"Wait," Adelpha had ordered, and they both stopped. She had approached Laura, and said in a low voice, "Love him freely and without fear. He deserves that much." Laura had smiled and nodded her agreement and that was how she was accepted as a trusted friend of the clan.

Now the party guests were interrupted by the barking and growling of Bronx, who was barreling into the courtyard wearing four additional, hairy legs and a felt cap with a spider's mandibles on his head. He howled frantically at the sky, and the children all laughed at the sight of him.

"Look at Bronx!" one of the twins cried, "What's he howling for?"

"See for yourself," Orion told him, pointing at the western curtain wall, where eleven winged shadows of various sizes sailed above them and landed noisily in the open space of the courtyard. Once landed, shoulders were emptied of excited hatchlings, dressed in a variety of costumes, and carrying sacks of treats. Bonnie bounded forth from the assortment of little hatchlings and landed herself into Adelpha's arms, growling in the way she thought a zombie gargoyle should.

"Did you have a good time, my darling?" Adelpha asked her.

In her sugar-induced euphoria, Bonnie hadn't had a chance to give Adelpha a good look before jumping into her embrace. Now she did and her eyes widened.

"You turned into a spooky skeleton!" she informed her in a low, dramatic tone.

"Uncle Alexander did this to me," she explained, "Do you like it?"

Bonnie gave her a grave, scrutinizing look over.

"Will you turn back at sunrise?" she asked.

"I imagine so."

"The flowers are pretty," Bonnie admitted, though her small face still seemed pretty concerned at Adelpha's strange appearance. She soon got over her worry when she saw the food was being distributed. The rookery of pages progressed by next, all shouting excitedly over each other as they greeted their human guests. Micah and Fleet were wearing the two corresponding mutant turtle costumes to match Liam's brothers and they all greeted one another with various reptilian battle cries. Lark and Lyndon had recovered from the disappointment of having their Transformer costumes de-weaponized by Elisa, but even without the glitter cannons, they were still very impressive, with real working lights and moving parts. Lexington looked very proud of their work and announced repeatedly that he had not helped them with their designs. Lyra followed behind her siblings, looking slightly pensive amidst all the excitement. She and sister had made matching fairy costumes. Their chiffon skirts glittered with battery operated twinkle lights, and both Sister's unruly red waves and Lyra smooth, black tresses were braided into crowns atop their ridges. A reasonable artist, Lyra had painted intricate patterns on both of their wings, arms, and faces in a silver, glowing paint. They looked lovely together as Sister guided the younger one toward the tables around the firepit.

"Did everything go alright?" Adelpha asked hesitantly, catching the concerned look on Lyra's face.

"Except for the angry man," Bonnie confirmed as she gnawed at a chicken wing.

"Angry man?" Adelpha repeated suspiciously, directing her concern at Sister.

"It was nothing serious," Sister reassured her, "One of the neighbors got a little close, that's all. Elisa and Brooklyn took care of it before it got out of hand."

"Did someone threaten you?" she questioned, an edge of anger rising in her tone.

"No, not really," Lyra replied, lowering her head with a bitter expression in her eyes, "I just didn't like the things he said to us."

Adelpha reached for her chin and drew her face up to look her in the eye.

"What did he say to you?" she asked firmly.

"He said that gargoyles were dangerous monsters and we shouldn't be dressing like them. That our parents were stupid for letting us and it would be their own fault if someone mistook us for a real gargoyle and…"

Lyra trailed off and angry tears formed in her eyes. She tried to lower her gaze again, but Adelpha wouldn't let her.

"Hold your head up," she told her in a firm, but gentle voice, "That man is wrong and you will not let him into your head or your heart." Lyra shrugged.

"How can I not let him in?" she asked sadly, "It hurts!"

"But look at your clan!" she whispered to her, "We need you. We must always be there for one another, and how can we be when we're listening to the hiss of a frightened, hateful snake, who has no power of his own but to strike fear and doubt into us?" Lyra glanced at the rest of the clan, gathering around the tables with plates of food and she smiled slightly.

"Lyra glided all the way back to the castle on the tether!" Sister announced, artfully changing the subject.

"Did you?" Adelpha replied proudly, "So far, already?"

The young page's smile broadened and she nodded shyly. She was the only one of her rookery, so far, whose wings had developed enough strength to hold her aloft. Due to her size and strength, she was often found training with her two older siblings, and so she had begun to learn to glide a bit earlier than expected, but only holding onto a leather tether strapped onto one of the elder's arms or legs.

"She'll be able to glide on her own soon," Orion predicted, "We've been practicing with her every night!"

"You just have to practice your landings, Crash!" Fleet teased as he passed her with a plate piled high with an enormous sandwich and a precarious mountain of potato chips that looked in immediate danger of landslide. Sister and Lyra gave him a superior look but did not dignify him with a response.

The party continued on, with everyone getting plenty to eat and drink. Alexander entertained the guests with shapeshifting and tricks that all the children enjoyed. There was talking and storytelling around the fire, while the older children swapped jokes and riddles. After a while, Owen lowered a screen and announced that they would show a child-appropriate Halloween film.

"That means a movie for babies!" Orion groaned.

"In case you haven't noticed, Bro, we've got a lot of babies around here," Sister pointed out with a roll of her eyes. Indeed, the five hatchlings were assembling chaotically on a blanket that was spread out in front of the screen, along with Liam's younger brothers and baby sister. Ophelia and Angela knelt among them, trying to wipe all the stickiness off of busy claws and eager faces. One small lad had a face covered in the luminescent goo from inside a glow stick, and his sister was working hard to gnaw open another in order to get the same effect. Bonnie, having been awake for much of the day, was already showing signs of weary eyes, and had nestled herself against Bronx' warm flank. Bronx, being a well-trained beast, was very tolerant of being used as a pillow by his small mistress and nuzzled her affectionately as another zombie-gargoyle-pup took a place beside her, and another on his shoulder, and soon, the MacMoray's sleepy human child curled up beside him as well and began to stroke behind his large ear.

"Good boy, Bronx!" Angela told him and his stubby tail wagged despite his crowded situation.

"Come on!" Alexander coaxed Sister, Orion, and Liam once the rest of the party was settled and watching the film, "I've got something set up for you older kids downstairs!"

"Where're you going?" Fleet cried indignantly, "Don't leave us here with the hatchlings!"

"Yeah!" cried Micah, who was shedding his turtle costume in order to stretch his budding wings, "I can't sit through this boring movie anyway! I've eaten too many candy bars! I'm wired!"

"I don't know," Alexander replied with a put-on condescending tone, "This is going to be really scary. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Are you kidding?" Fleet demanded as he took what he considered an intimidating pose, "Look at me! I'm a warrior! Nothing scares me!"

"You turned a table and squealed like a little girl yesterday, when you saw Lark's remote control tarantula," Lyra pointed out snidely as she joined them.

"That was not fear!" Fleet objected, "That was…"

"Springing into action?" Micah suggested.

"Exactly!" Fleet agreed, folding his arms across his chest.

Alexander grinned at their bravado and motioned for them to follow him. As they headed for the elevator, Liam's two younger brothers caught sight of them and joined the group, which caused Liam to groan.

"Are you two coming?" Orion whispered to Lark and Lyndon, who were crouched, face to face, on the stone floor, each with their eyes fully enslaved to some game they were playing on their tablets.

"We're good," Lyndon assured him and Orion rolled his eyes. Lark and Lyndon were often thought of as the clan's "twins". Though gargoyles couldn't give birth to twin infants the way humans did, it wasn't uncommon for a female to give two eggs during the same rookery summer, and Lark and Lyndon were blood siblings, both born of Linnet, to the same rookery. From the moment they hatched the two had formed a natural bond that often separated them from the rest of the rookery and sent them forth on their own private adventures. By the time they were Bonnie's age, they had developed their own special language they still spoke among themselves. Both being small in stature, compared to the rest of the rookery, they had learned to depend on one another and their own cleverness and ingenuity to match the strength and bravado of their rookery mates. And match it, they did! Though they tended to leave Lyra alone, as she wasn't given to flaunting her strength against them, they enjoyed finding new ways to torment Fleet and Micah whenever they felt they needed to be taken down a notch. Though it couldn't be said that they didn't participate in the training and shenanigans of the rest of their rookery, they were also perfectly fine left in their own company, as it seemed they wished to be at that moment.

Orion caught up with the others as they piled into a freight elevator, bouncing with excitement to see what Alexander had planned for them. As they descended, however, the elevator began to make a strange sound and it shuddered with unusual friction as it came to halt. The doors opened to reveal a gray, cinder block wall.

"Uh oh!" Fleet groaned, "Now we're going to be trapped in the elevator!"

"It's just stuck between two floors," Lyra told him, "Push the button again."

Fleet pushed the correct button, but the elevator doors closed and began whisking them back up.

"I guess we're going back into the courtyard," Alexander commented with a wicked smile. The children wiggled impatiently. Liam looked particularly worried. He had once been trapped in an elevator in a friend's highrise apartment building. It had been less than an hour before they could get an engineer to get the doors open so they could crawl out, but it had felt like hours to him and he still felt a bit weak in the stomach wherever he was in an elevator that wasn't cooperating.

The doors opened again, this time on a pitch black hallway with only the red glow of an exit sign at the other end.

"Let me try," Alexander told the worried children. He pushed the button to close the door, but the lights flickered, then went out completely.

"We lost power," Micah's voice said in the darkness, "Should we get off and try the regular elevator?" Orion was considering this when suddenly, the car lurched and began racing down the shaft, making a strange screeching noise.

"Back away from the doorway!" he ordered the others, as the flashing lights of each floor passing indicated that the internal doors hadn't closed. The elevator stopped awkwardly and suddenly at the lobby of an office suite. All the offices were closed at this time, and there was only a single desk with a desk phone, a fake plant, a heavy flashlight, and the dirty boots of a Xanatos Enterprises security guard who was snoozing in a rolling chair.

"You know," began Liam in a trembling voice, "We've been eating a LOT of candy tonight! Maybe we should take the stairs? You know. Just to work off those extra calories." The children nervously disembarked from the dysfunctional freight elevator and, as they had no way of knowing if this guard was part of the team that knew about the gargoyle clan or not, they tried to creep past the security guard without waking him. As they went, the man began to stir and mutter in his sleep. Micah giggled and Sister gave him a whack with her tail.

The guard began to groan even louder, as if he was experiencing some great stomach pain. As he stirred, his face lifted and from under the brim of his cap, they caught the sight of two bleeding, empty eye sockets. They gasped in horror as the guard screamed and began clawing at his face. From behind them, a door opened and a woman, pale and covered with deep gashes and scratches emerged, shrieking incoherently about her missed appointment. While the ghostly figure of a little girl with half of her face missing crept out at them from under the desk, grabbing at their ankles.

Shrieking in undisguised fear, children ducked past them and ran toward the other end of the hallway, where they expected to find a set of public elevators. As they approached, the bell rang and the doors opened to reveal three more crazed, screaming figures, heading toward them with glowing eyes. Shrieking again, they turned and raced back toward the freight elevator, which seemed to have mysteriously regained its light. The doors closed just before the screaming figures were able to advance on them. The children all gasped in terror. The MacMoray twins trembled as they clung to Liam's waist. Micah and Fleet were wordlessly pushing behind one another in a competition for who had to stand closest to the door and Lyra was readjusting her skirt from where someone had nearly ripped it to shreds as they had tried to push past her to get away from the monsters. Then slowly, one by one, they began to giggle nervously.

"That was epic!" Liam exclaimed.

"Yeah," Lyra agreed, "Best Halloween prank yet, Uncle Alex!"

The children looked around to congratulate him, but were surprised to discover that he was no longer among them. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud bang above their heads. They looked up and saw the heads of two strange, squealing creatures with gray, rotting flesh and bloody claws emerge from the evacuation panel on the roof of the car. They all screamed as the lights went out again and the elevator car ascended once again, in complete darkness.

The doors opened and the children scrambled out into the courtyard, where their families were still seated, enjoying the film.

"So? What did Alex have to show you?" Elisa asked casually.

The children looked at one another, dumbfounded. Lark and Lyndon peeked at them over the edge of their iPads. Brooklyn gave Thorn and Blaze a knowing smile, and Fox cleared her throat loudly as she rose and asked Xanatos if he'd like a refill on his drink. From the floor, Bonnie giggled at them, then quickly turned away and pretended to snore when they looked down at her.

"Man, your family is brutal!" Liam told him, "But totally awesome!"

"I know, right?" Orion replied proudly.