"So how long does the second stage last on average?" Lexington asked, looking over at a comatose Angel.

"Hard to say." Amber replied from behind the curtain where Fox was looking over some of her wounds. "When I went under, I was out for a week. But from what I've found, some Gemmalite's can go under from days to months at a time. OW!" She pulls her arm back. "Stop it!"

"Do you want this to become infected?" Fox asked seriously.

The teen looked away from her.

"I thought not." She pulled the disinfectant out again. "Now relax, I'm almost done."

"Lass," Hudson began. "Ye said Angel was born when you turned six. Don't that mean ye should be-"

"Eighteen? Yeah, I should be. But one of those stupid scientists thought it'd be 'interesting' to see if they could keep me alive by keeping me is stasis for a year. OW!" the disinfectant was on a cut near the base of her neck.

What is…'stasis'?" Goliath asked.

"A means to keep the body alive while the conscious sleeps. The body doesn't age at all during that time." Xanatos explained, standing near the curtain. "If they did that to a child, I'd hate to see what they'd do to an infant."

"Blood samples, testing of heart rate, if the gemstone is rare or not, see if they can take hits like their older generations…need I continue?"

"They did all those things?" Elisa asked, taking notes so she could tell Matt later.

"Not just to Angel." Amber replied, letting Fox wrap the last of her wounds. "There were thousands of kids that they stole, and every year a handful more go in. There's a list in my quiver on the chair of who they want this year."

Broadway was the one closest to the arrows and bow, so grabbed the papers inside.

There were hundreds of kids listed throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. But only a few were highlighted.

"Why are some of them highlighted?"

"Those are the kids they want. Everyone else is just what they thought they wanted, but their D.N.A. wasn't compatible with any of the Heartstones-the gems in our chests." Amber replied as Fox finished wrapping gauze around some of her scars. "And a Gemmalite is nothing without its Heartstone." She fingers her own gem as she says this. "It's where we get our energy; our power. It's who we are and so much more."

"So you're saying the gemstone in your chest is a part of you?" Angela asks, handing the girl a new set of clothes.

"It's everything that I am and everything I will ever be." Was the reply given as Amber pulled on the clothes. This time she wore a flame themed t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, a black hoodie jacket, black fingerless gloves, and black sneakers. "That's what my mother used to say."

"What gem did she have?" Fox asked, pulling the curtain back as the girl finished dressing.

"A magenta garnet." She stated, feeling the streak in her hair as she tied it back. "This is the only way I remember her since I couldn't grab her gem before I escaped."

"Your mother sounds like she was a good woman."

That caused the girl to smile a bit. "She was the best." She stuffed her hands in the jean pockets. "So what now? You going to turn me in to the Gem Cutters?"

Goliath got up from his seat and stood in front of her for a bit, then put a hand on her shoulder.

"If we did that, we would be no better than those who'd done you wrong all those years ago." He tilted her head up to meet his eyes. "We will help you find the remaining members of your clan. After that, you may decide what happens to you and them."

She looked at him in shock. "You mean it?" she looked at all of them. "You're not going to turn me or Angel over to them?"

"What Goliath says is practically law lass." Hudson replied, petting Bronx. "If he says we help find your clan, we help find your clan."

"I'll call Matt down at the station." Elisa said, closing her notebook and leaving the room. "See if he's heard anything about super-powered kids."

This was too much to digest. No one was this kind; this honest with her. Not since her mother died.

"I…" She backed away from them. "I need to think about it."

She ran out the door, grabbing her quiver and bow as she did.

"Why'd she do that?" Lexington wondered aloud.

"Amber doesn't want to get her hopes up." Fox said as she took Alexander into her arms. "She's probably asked for help plenty of times only to almost get caught because of human greed."

"But gargoyles aren't like that." Angela stated, crossing her arms.

"I know that and you know that." The red head stated, looking at the doors. "But Amber doesn't. She only knows what she's been living by in the last years of her life; that by this time next year she won't be here." She looks over at the comatose girl. "She won't get to see Angel grow up."

Brooklyn didn't feel like sticking around after Fox started to fix Amber up a bit. He still needed to process the fact that Amber wasn't human. She was something else; a Gemmalite.

He'd heard stories about them when he was a hatchling. How they had powers over the elements and were masters at whatever weapon was put in their hands. Also that they were guardians of their own variety. But they protected their young more than their home. The only thing more valuable to them than life was their queen.

Gemmalites thrived on the word of their queen, as she could tell who could be trusted or not. But only the Gemmalites themselves knew what kind of gemstone she was. It was their best kept secret.

To have them die out, it seemed like an impossibility.

"What's impossible may or may not be improbable." A voice said behind him with a sort of laugh to it. "But then, you should know all about that eh gargoyle?"

Brooklyn groaned. "I'm not in the mood Puck."

Said child of Oberon floated in front of him upside-down. "Not in the mood? That's rubbish. Everyone's in the mood for mischief."

"How can you be so cheerful?" The gargoyle asked as the mischief-maker floated around him. "Don't you know what those people did to kids?"

"Oh I know believe me." Puck replied, picking at his nails. "What they've done to kids is downright wrong. But this generation…" He started laughing. "This generation is so full of mischief-makers. The sugilite has mechanical genius to make pretty good traps. The onyx's a great teaser, but the ruby doesn't really get them. Though she is a bit of a tease herself. And of course," he tilts the gargoyles head down to the courtyard. "There's that one."

He looked down to see a girl with long black hair in a mostly black outfit, a quiver, and a bow.

"Amber." Brooklyn said, watching the girl glance about.

"Ah yes." Puck said with a love-struck sigh. "The queen of mischief herself. Now that girl is a girl after my own heart. Her tricks have gotten her out of many a jam. Not to mention other kids that almost got snatched by the Gem Cutters. She's a tactician in her own right. Probably matches your way of thinking."

He pushed the trickster away from him. "What are you getting at Puck?"

"What I'm 'getting at', is that there may be more similarities between you two than differences." The trickster said with a serious face. "Talk to her. She needs a confidant now that Goliath has said you'd all help her find the others."

With that, he disappeared.

This surprised the second-in-command, as it seemed that his leader hadn't trusted the girl at first. But then, he'd acted the same with Elisa.

He looked down again. 'She needs someone to talk to huh?' He thought with a smile.

Amber couldn't find a way out of this place. It was way too high to jump and she had no idea what security was like.

'Why did I agree to come here?' she thought to herself, sitting on a bench nearby. 'I could've found Angel a safe place to be until she woke up if I tried. So why did I agree?'

"You okay?"

She looked up and was reminded why.

Brooklyn's dark onyx eyes met her unnaturally two colored eyes. The true worry she'd seen the night before was back again. But it was also laced with concern.

"Been better." She replied, moving over on the bench so he could sit beside her. They didn't talk for a bit. "Goliath says you're all going to help me find the others."

"Isn't that a good thing?" He asked her, watching her face for any change in demeanor.

"But I don't understand." Amber stated, messing with her bow a bit. "Every person I've ever met, the moment they find out what I am try to shatter me or turn me in to the Gem Cutters." She met his eyes. "So why haven't all of you?"

"Amber, gargoyles protect. We don't feel what humans feel about money or power." Brooklyn told her. "We're like the police. You do know what police are right?"

She gave him a queer look.

"Right. Stupid question." He said, facing away from her.

"…Elisa is a detective right?"

He looked at her, seeing that her eyes had changed color again. But they weren't the yellow that he'd seen the other night.

This time they were a cross between deep blue and a bright purple. Her stance showed that she was scared; her knees were close to her face, her hands were shaking.

"Amber-"

"Just answer the question." Her hands clenched harder.

"Why should it matter?"

Amber shot up. "Because most detectives I've met are the reason I almost get caught." Her eyes were a blazing red now. "All those people who ever found me eventually tried to turn me over! Some even tried to-"

He turned her around and met her eyes. "We aren't like that. None of us are. Yes there are bad people in the world, but everyone here cares about this; cares about you."

Her eyes widened, turning back to her natural colors.

"But you seem to think we don't." He said sadly, turning away from her.

As he was about to walk away, he felt two hands grab his arm. Then a head pressed into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She rasped. Her body shaking. "I don't mean to do what I do or say what I say sometimes. But I…I can't control them."

He was silent for a moment, then he turned to face her.

"Who can't you control?"

She picked up her quiver, unzipping a hidden pocket on the side. "When a Gemmalite dies, the Heartstone falls out of the place it was on the body." She pulls out a red sunstone, a purple charoite, a yellow topaz, and a blue sapphire. "Just before it does, it absorbs the personality of its bearer and a piece of their soul." She placed them in his hand. "Take a look."

He looked down and wasn't sure what he was seeing.

Inside each one was a person's image showing a certain emotion. The sunstone contained a boy filled with rage, the charoite had a girl filled with fear, the topaz another girl filled with disgust and anger, and the sapphire was another girl filled with sadness. They all shared some similarities, like the shape of their eyes and the looks they seemed to be giving him when they noticed him. Confusion.

The same confused look he'd seen on Amber.

"These are my sisters Charlotte, Topaza, Saphira, and my brother Sumner." Amber stated, taking them back one by one. "I haven't found my mom's or Jasper's yet. But the moment I touch a gem that belonged to a fellow Gemmalite, I take on their memories; their personalities." She shakes her head lightly with a small smile. "I haven't been just 'Amber' since I took back my brother's stone almost eight years ago."

"So…it's like you have multiple personalities?"

"That's the best way to put it I guess." She said, putting the gems back. "My family's all I had on the streets. So whenever I got in a jam, they were the ones who pulled me out. They'd take over and I'd wake up fine with no memory of what happened. So…I'm trying to cut myself off from them, but I can't abandon them. They're my siblings; they died so that I and the others could live."

"Too bad it ain't gonna be that long."

Both Gemmalite and Gargoyle turned towards the voice.

It was a young man with unruly silver hair and pure green eyes. He wore a black combat suit, black combat boots, and had a spear tied to his back.

"Friend of yours?" Brooklyn asked, backing away from the man.

"Hardly." Amber replied, backing away with him. "He calls himself the Nightwatcher-an assassin that'll kill anyone for the right price. He's tried to kill me a number of times. As for what or who hired him, I've got no clue."

"Aw, come on princess." The guy said, moving forward. "I just wanna do my job."

"If you're trying to bring her in for a reward, forget it." Brooklyn said with a growl. "She stays here."

"Well you're no fun." He drew his spear. "Guess I gotta kill ya."

Amber's eyes widened. "No…"

"Say 'bye-bye' ya freak!"

The spear flew directly at him. But before it could hit its target, a large gust of wind blew it away.

The Nightwatcher looked confused. "What the-"

"You aren't killing anyone tonight." A young voice said from one of the towers.

All three looked up to see a twelve year-old with long magenta hair and jade eyes in a thin white nightgown that reached her knees.

Amber smiled. "Angel, you're awake!"

The girl smiled and gave a link. "Oh I'm awake all right." A small tornado started in her hand. "Awake and mad."