Day 1
Trini entered
the apartment and put down her luggage. She didn’t really bring a lot
with her. She was only here for the month. If she couldn’t make
some progress in a month she was going to have to go back home, and hope for
enough money to fall in her lap to let her come back and get her own place to
stay. New York was the only lead she had, and she wasn’t going to waste
it.
She looked
around her stepbrother’s best friends place. At least she had taste.
The small one bedroom apartment was clean and uncluttered. The windows
were large and overlooked the city. She wasn’t in the penthouse, but
close enough. She had a good view of the sky over Manhattan. It was
a beautiful summer day.
“Hello?” The voice
startled Trini, and she turned to see that she had forgotten to close the
door. “I heard that Trisha would be having a friend housesit.” The blond
mid thirties woman smiled at Trini, “I’m Margot Yale, your new neighbor.
And you are?”
Trini walked
over to the door, smiling, “I’m Trini Stephens. Nice to meet you.” They
shook hands, and Trini could feel that Margot was trying to size her up.
This woman just felt phony. Just as she was trying to think of some
polite way to get rid of her visitor a man in a business suit and short brown
hair walked up.
“Brendan, you
have got to meet the new neighbor, Trini.” Margot called to the man.
“Nice to meet
you.” Brendan smiled charmingly at her. “Trini, that is an unusual name.
Where are you from?”
“Oh, Trini is
short for Trinity. Mom was a little odd. I’m from Washington
State.”
Margot perked
up, “So how do you know Trisha?”
Trini mentally
rolled her eyes, she had heard that she should watch out for the Yales, they
were the local noisy neighbors. She would just have to keep this
impromptu interview short. She had plans. “I don’t. She’s a
friend of my brother. They went to school together. I was just
lucky she had a place for me to stay.”
“Really.
So what are you doing in our fine city?” Margot set down her grocery bag,
obviously setting in for a long conversation.
“Oh, I’m a
writer,” the half truth rolled off Trini’s tongue with ease. She was a
part time writer, but that wasn’t why she was there. “I have research
that I need to do. Oh, damn…that reminds me, I need to get ready to get
to the library before it closes. I haven’t even showered yet.” It
sounded very obvious that she was trying to get rid of her guest. Trini
didn’t really care. She was only here for the month, she didn’t need to
waste the little time she had with niceties to the building gossip.
Brendan spoke
up, Trini had the impression that he didn’t do that often. “Oh, well we
don’t want to keep you. Perhaps we can have dinner sometime this week and
you can tell us about your current project.”
“Oh, yes.
You must come to dinner!” Margot leeched on to the idea quickly.
“Well, I don’t
know if I will have time. I only have a month to do all my
research. If I don’t get it done I’m out of luck. Maybe, if I find
time.” Trini tried to brush them off politely.
“Yes, well we
live in 1723, so come by if you can.” Brendan started to guide Margot away,
“nice to meet you.”
Trini closed the
door as soon as she could, and went to unpack. She only had a month to
find the Gargoyles.
The trip to the
grocery store was pretty short in the big city, and Trini was grateful.
She didn’t have a car with her, she didn’t want to try and drive in New
York. She pulled her map out of her pants pocket and stared at it
again. The Internet printout showed that she still had a block to go, so
she turned down the busy sidewalk and immediately noticed the commotion.
A group of men
were handing out flyers. Trini tried to walk a little closer to the
buildings to avoid them. They just gave her a bad feeling.
“These beasts
are a danger to all of us!” one of them started yelling, gaining some attention
from the passersby. “These Gargoyles attack people. It isn’t even
safe to go out at night anymore!”
Trini, looked
around the busy street. Like being out at night in New York had ever been
safe. Idiots. She was startled when one of the men held out a flyer
to her. “We are having a meeting this Saturday. You should really
come.” His voice was soft, gentle, and flirty. Trinity’s eyes
widened as she studied him, not taking the flyer. He mistook her stare
for interest, and smiled, “I’m Mark.” Trinity noticed the large print on
the flyer in his hands said Quarrymen. It figures, the second day here
and already she was meeting the local fanatic group.
“Trini.
I…I’m just visiting. I don’t live here.” She started to walk away, but
Mark stepped in front of her again. “Well hello Trini. You should
really come by Saturday anyhow. See what were about.” He was
obviously trying to be seductive. He was very attractive, well built, and
shoulder length brown hair. He probably thought this act would work on
all the women he met.
“No…thanks.
Too busy. Gotta go, bye.” Trini dismissed him and walked around
him. She could feel his eyes follow her into the grocery store.
She left the
grocery store with two bags. She really couldn’t carry any more than
that. Outside the store the Quarrymen demonstration had taken a bad
turn. She gritted her teeth and damned the store for only having one
exit. Right into the mess.
The vocal
Quarryman was yelling at a woman wearing a red bomber jacket and jeans.
“The Gargoyles are monsters! The people who harbor them are TRAITORS TO
THERE RACE!” The woman just brushed a lock of her black hair out of her
face and continued to talk with the man next to her. Looking into the
enraged faces of the gathered quarrymen, Trini felt that something really bad
was going to happen. Was that woman an idiot?! Couldn’t she see
that she wasn’t safe here?! Trini knew that she should just get out of
there before everything went to hell. She really wanted to just leave,
but…something in her just couldn’t ignore people in trouble. Silently
cursing her altruistic tendencies yet again, she marched over to the woman and
her friend. A small part of her wanted to hit them with her groceries for
putting her in this position.
As she got
closer she could overhear the man over the ranting voice behind her “They have
all the permits they need Elisa, I checked.” She didn’t really pay much
attention, just plowed into their conversation. Her irritation with the
situation came across quite clearly, she knew she sounded like a bitch and
didn’t really care. Damned woman didn’t have any sense of danger.
“Look. I
am sure that your conversation is truly fascinating, but if you hadn’t noticed
those assholes over there are pissed at you. This isn’t a safe place to
CHAT.” Trini tilted her head to indicate the group of men glaring their
way. Mark was just watching her, which really didn’t make her any more
comfortable than the glares did.
The woman just
gaped at her, while the man grinned mischievously and talked with that woman,
“Well, Detective Maza, it is now official. There is no good reason to
stay here.” He winked at Trini, who’s jaw dropped when she found out she
had just snipped at a police officer. Oh God! Was that against the
law?!
Detective Maza
noticed her shocked expression, and in spite of her disgust at the
demonstration, had to hold back a laugh. “Thanks for the warning.”
Trini could hear the amusement in her voice and started to relax.
“Oh…okay…bye.”
Embarrassed Trini started to walk back to the apartment with her
groceries. As soon as she turned the corner and was out of sight she started
to hurry, just in case the cops changed their minds about being amused.
After she put
away the groceries Trini decided to take another shower. New York was
just so warm this time of year. As she took off her baggy cargo pants she
sighed. It would be so nice to be able to wear comfortable short once in
a while. Still wearing her t-shirt she looked into the mirror.
“Clever…really clever. Should have just left it alone. I can’t
believe I said that to a cop!” Trini swept her hair behind her ear, and
studied her reflection. Her brown hair fell below her shoulder. She
knew that people thought she was attractive, with her delicate frame and
pronounced cheekbones. She just didn’t see it. She pulled off her
t-shirt and bra and stepped into the cool water.
Trini was
leaving the library, having spent the third day in a row looking up all the
news articles on the gargoyles that she could find. She knew that this
could have been done from home, so that she wouldn’t waste her time while in
New York, but her chance to come to New York had come unexpectedly. She
only had three days notice that she would be house-sitting. She had spent
that time taking care of business so that she could be away.
She was further
dismayed to recognize the police officers that she had so rudely talked to
yesterday as being part of the Gargoyle Task Force. That was just great…
Trini was so
lost in berating herself that she didn’t see the child stop in front of her and
plowed right into him, making him drop all the books he was carrying to the
ground. At least he was still standing. “Oh, honey…I am so
sorry.” Trini bent down to help the kid, he must have been about three or
four, not that Trini could really judge that. She didn’t have much to do
with kids. “Let me help you get these. You sure have a lot of books
here.” She grinned at him, silently grateful that he wasn’t crying.
“Alexander?”
Trini heard a woman’s voice behind her. Good, the kid’s mom. At
least I don’t have to try and find her. Can’t leave a little kid like
this alone.
“Mommy!”
Trini turned to
greet the mother and explain herself. Her eyes widened. The woman
was absolutely gorgeous: Beautiful red hair, pale complexion. She had
some sort of tattoo on her face. Trini stared at it for a second, then
noticed that the eye it surrounded was staring at her, crinkled with
amusement. Trini felt her face blushing and wanted to sink into the
floor. Whenever she blushed it was always very noticeable. Her skin
was just about as pale as this woman’s. She looked down to try and
compose herself. “Hi…I accidentally ran into him. I was just trying to
help him pick up all his books.” She continued to assemble the books, geez,
who’d have thought such a small boy could carry so many books. There must
have been about fifteen of them.
“Oh, well thank
you.” The red head held out her hands to accept some of the books. Trini
just handed them over. “My name is Fox, and this is Alexander.” She
indicated the child, who was trying to look very studious, clutching his books
to his chest. “And you are…” Fox smiled at her.
“Trinity…I’m
Trinity” she started to hold out her hand, but realized that Fox’s hands were
now full. She awkwardly moved to brush her hair back, and stopped
herself. “Well, Alexander. Nice to meet you. Sorry about all
this.” She moved her attention to the boy.
“It’s
okay. Thank you.” Trini was impressed by what a little gentleman he was
being. He even offered her a hand to shake. Trini noticed Fox grin
out the corner of her eye. Trini shook the little hand somewhat
awkwardly. The next thing she heard floored her, “Are you a fairy
princess?” Her eyebrows went up in surprise.
“No…no I’m not.”
She humored the question, curious as to why Fox suddenly looked so
protective.
“Alexander, we
better be going if we want to meet daddy for dinner.” Fox addressed the
boy. “Thank you for your help Trinity.”
As Trini stepped
out into the street it was about 6 pm. She started to head down the
sidewalk towards the apartment. She would really rather not cook, but she
needed to save her money. She didn’t know what she might need later.
“Well, if it
isn’t the Chat police.” A male voice called out to her. When she turned
and saw the Detectives from last night coming towards her she just knew that
she was not done with embarrassing herself for today. They both were
grinning at her, which helped to ease her nerves a little. They must not
hold a grudge.
She took a deep
breath, “I am so sorry for that. I had no idea you were cops. I
would never have…”
“Relax, it’s
okay.” The woman, Detective Maza grinned at her. “We hadn’t been
introduced. I’m Elisa, and this smart alec is Matt.”
Trini gave them
both a little grin. “I’m Trini”
Before anything
else could be said, Trini noticed that Alexander had started running in their
direction, “Elisa!!” he yelled joyously. Fox, looking concerned, ran
after him, her arms loaded with the books. Trini noticed that Alexander
didn’t even seem to notice that he was running into the path of a bicyclist on
the sidewalk. Without thinking Trini rushed forward then grabbed
Alexander, spinning him and herself out of the way of the bike. She stood
in the grass in front of the library, holding Alexander in her arms as Fox,
Elisa, and Matt walked over to them.
“That was sure
some fast moves Trinity” Matt sounded awed.
As soon as Fox
was close by she put Alexander on the ground. She was surprised when he
didn’t let go of her hand.
“Alexander” Fox
sounded really mad, “don’t you ever run off on me like that again!” She
then turned to Trinity and Elisa. “Hello again Trinity. Thank
you. Hi Elisa. Sorry I can’t stay and chat, but were late to meet
David.” She grabbed Alexander’s hand and started walking off. She
still seemed just a little cool towards Trinity, and she just didn’t understand
it.
“Well, what do
you do for an encore eh?” Matt laughed, while Elisa stared after Fox with a
curious expression on her face.
“How do you know
Fox?” Eliza asked
“I just met her in
the library.” Trini decided to leave the embarrassing details out.
Eliza looked
like she wanted to say more, but the radio in her car came to life. “Oh,
well nice seeing you again. Gotta go.”
“Yeah,
bye.” Thinking about the task force that these two were on she added,
“See you around.”
Trini sprinted
for her purse as her cell phone rang for the third time. “Hello?”
“Trini, how’s New York?” She instantly recognized her stepbrother’s voice.
“Robbie, it’s great! Thank you so much
for arranging this for me!” Trini walked toward the window to look out into the
night sky.
“So, what are you up to?” Robbie pushed, “Shopping and sightseeing?”
Trini didn’t really want to tell him that she had spent most of her
time in the Library researching. He would undoubtedly ask what she was looking
for. “Yeah, I plan to go see a show next week. Haven’t decided which one.” She
decided that she really should do a few normal touristy things, just to cover
up her real reasons for being in Manhattan.
“You mean you haven’t yet?!” Robbie was so loud that she pulled the
phone away from her ear. He was always loud, as if he needed to yell his
conversation all the way from California.
“I’m not rich, I have to spread out the fun…I still have to pay all my
regular bills you know. I still have my apartment at home.” Trini decided to
change the subject, “Speaking of apartments, your friend has a great apartment,
I wish I could live here! Have you ever seen it?”
“No, I haven’t been to New York, unlike some people.” He was jokingly
snide. “I wouldn’t waste my time reading, which is probably all you’ve done,
isn’t it.” He couldn’t help but accuse. He’s been trying to play at the bossy
older brother ever since their parents got together. Trini was 15 at the time,
and he was in his senior year of High School. Remembering what a jerk he had
been Trini was grateful that he moved out to go to college. He was much easier
to take if you didn’t live with him.
“I am still working on my novel. I’ve been researching local myths.”
Trini thought she had been vague enough. He rarely asked about her book,
probably afraid she’d have him read it.
“You mean the gargoyles?! Get real, those New Yorkers are on crack and
you know it.” Robbie snorted, “Imagine flying beasts in Manhattan. It’s crazy.”
Trini’s stomach clenched at the term beast. But she said nothing. She
didn’t really want to argue with Robbie, he never listened to her. “Well, real
or not, it is fascinating, and I need a novel completed before I can get my
Masters degree.”
“Yeah, what were you thinking, majoring in Creative Writing? What type
of job are you going to get with that? You don’t need a special degree to write
Trini.” Robbie started his normal nagging.
“Look, I don’t want to get into that right now. It is a little bit
later here you know.” Trini looked at the clock on the wall. It was 2 am, she
was no where near tired, but he didn’t know that.
“Oh, geez…I am so sorry. I forgot. I’ll talk with you later.” Robbie
hung up, sounding a little sheepish.
Trini moved back into the living room, which had photocopies of
newspaper articles laying on the coffee table, the couch, and the chair. She
was busy marking all the sitings of gargoyles on the copy of a map of Manhattan
she had bought at the grocery store. Even though she was only half done, it was
very obvious that they spent a lot of time in the park.
Day 5
Trini got off of the elevator holding all of Trish’s mail. She was
responsible for getting Trish’s mail and watering her plants while she was
away. She knew that she had a very good deal. Trish got to go to Australia for
her vacation, and she got New York for next to nothing. The thought alone made
Trini smile.
“Trini, how are you doing.” Margot had opened her door, which was
closer to the elevator, just as she passed by. Trini turned around, plastering
a fake smile over the one that had been genuine.
“Oh, I’m doing fine. With all the reading I’ve been doing it feels like
my eyes will pop out of my skull, but otherwise I’m fine.” She just wanted to
underline the fact that she was a very busy woman. She held up the mail, as
evidence, “Well, I better put this stuff away and get back to work. See you
around.” She spun around to leave, but was irritated to find that Margot
started to walk with her.
“How are you liking New York?” Margot pried.
“Oh, it seems fine. I haven’t really seen too much of it yet, with all
the work I’ve been doing.” Trini kept up her brisk pace down the long hall to
the apartment.
“Do you plan to see a Broadway show while you’re here?” Margot stood
outside the apartment as Trini unlocked it.
“Yeah, probably next week. Can’t be in New York and not see a show. My
brother would never let me live it down.” She grinned at Margot as she stepped
into the apartment and put the mail in the shoebox she had placed by the door
for that purpose.
“Oh, my…you really are busy aren’t you.” Margot stared at the living
room, which was still covered with articles. “What are you looking for?”
“Oh, this…” Trini hadn’t really expected Margot to be rude enough to
follow her in uninvited. She decided to use the same strategy she used on
Robbie. “I want to find out more about that gargoyle myth. It is far more
widespread than Bigfoot has ever been.”
“Oh, those animals aren’t myths. I wish they were. Filthy dangerous
animals! Brendan and I have seen them several times.” Margot’s voice took on a
disgusted angry tone. “They really don’t belong in this city.”
Trini knew that the gargoyles had enemies, but she was really getting
tired of hearing these closed-minded bigots calling them beasts or animals. She
took a quiet breath. “Well, as a writer it is a fascinating subject. I need to
finish my research. Sorry I can’t visit now, but work is calling.” She brushed
Margot off. Yes, she may be an eyewitness, but from looking at the newspaper
articles, she was sure she could find a nicer one to talk to.
“Oh, well…” Margot obviously was surprised at the hint to leave. “If
you need advice on which show to go to just drop by.”
Trini was glad when she finally shut the door and was alone. She went
back to the large window and watched the sun slip down below the horizon,
imagining the Manhattan gargoyles waking up. She was going to start patrolling
the park tomorrow night for gargoyles, but she had been up all night
researching, and just wasn’t up to it today. The park was not going to be the
safest place, which is exactly why the gargoyles went there so often. Tomorrow
she was going to need to get some supplies before nightfall.
The sun shone
through the large bedroom window onto the bed. Trini stretched lazily,
kicking the covers off. Her sleeping schedule had become completely odd
long before she came to New York. But the late night research wasn’t
really helping. She had managed to go to sleep before midnight last
night, something she hadn’t done in a couple of years. It was now
noon. She still had quite a few hours before dark, and she knew that she
would most likely be up all night again.
Looking through
her clothes, of which there wasn’t a lot, Trini noticed a distinct lack of
black or dark colors. She had beige and brown pairs of cargo pants, and a
pair of jeans. She did have a black cat suit, but she wasn’t planning on
wearing that to central park. She figured if she blended in with the
night, and moved quietly off of the main paths she could avoid the muggers and
increase her chances of catching sight of the gargoyles in action.
Trini walked
into the weapons store around 4 pm, careful not to upset the mace display with
her large shopping bag. She just had a couple more items to buy. The
store was plain creepy. She expected to see a militia meeting in the back
room. The neighborhood wasn’t that great either.
“You can’t carry
that bag in here!” a gruff looking man with a shaggy beard addressed
Trini.
“Oh, okay…”
Trini handed her bags over to the man and he placed them behind the
counter. She was worried that she might not see everything back, but she
just walked into the store in search of a few things.
The bell over
the front door rang loudly. Trini was busy looking at the selection of
clubs along the back wall, when she heard the familiar voice.
“You are coming
to the meeting tonight right?” Mark addressed the shopkeeper.
“Of course
Mark. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Trini could see the shopkeeper
smile at Mark, before she ducked behind the shelves, trying to blend in.
She really didn’t want to talk with any Quarrymen. Thankfully Mark had
just stopped by for a second, and she could hear the door chime again as he
left.
She grabbed up a
couple cans of mace and ended her browsing. She didn’t really know how to
use any of the weapons anyhow. After paying for her purchases the
shopkeeper gave her back her bag. She discreetly checked the contents by
appearing to be hiding the mace in the bag. She was grateful to see all
of her new clothes, her new camera, and fanny packs were still there.
It had been dark
for about an hour. Trini figured that the Gargoyles would need time to
eat or something before heading out. Luckily it was a pleasant night, not
too cold and it was only raining lightly, nothing a person from Seattle would
even notice. She stood in front of the full-length mirror studying her
reflection before she headed out.
She wore her new
clothes: a pair of very black cargo pants, and a tight black long sleeved turtleneck.
Her hair was pulled back through the opening in the black baseball cap.
She wanted her hair out of her face, which is why she bought the cap. Her
two fanny packs, black of course, were hanging over each hip. In one pack
she had two cans of mace, in the other her new camera. The camera hadn’t
been cheap; she would be stuck eating top ramen for quite a while. It
wasn’t too cold, so she didn’t need a jacket. She tucked the keys to the
apartment and her wallet in with the camera. She knew that she looked
like some sort of cat burglar, so she planned to stay out of sight as much as
possible.
The apartment
wasn’t really that far from the park, so she walked. She was grateful
that her strange getup didn’t seem to gain her any attention. New Yorkers
just filed past her without giving her a second glance. Once she was in
the park she noticed that the paths were well lit. As she slipped off the
path she tried to decide how to go about this. She could spend the entire
night wandering around, or she could sit still and listen for trouble.
Her hearing was very good, and her brother always told her that her night
vision was amazing. She decided that she could just climb up a tree and
wait for a couple hours, at least until the crowd died down a little.
There were still joggers hanging around. Like they didn’t have anything
better to do on a Saturday night. She could hear if anything odd happened
nearby.
Trini fidgeted
uncomfortably in the tree. She had been sitting there for about a half
hour when a couple sat down on the bench below her. That wasn’t what was
bothering her. The couple were now engaged in a very heavy make out
session that from Trini’s view looked to be just a moment away from actual sex,
and had been like that for at least a half an hour. She tried to look
away, but every time someone moaned she found her eyes trailing after them, and
to think that she had been proud of her hearing just a little while ago.
Trini felt a
deep blush cover her face as she watched the man slide his hand underneath the
woman’s dress. As she watched the arm pistoning under the dress she knew
that it was definitely sex now. The muffled moans coming from the woman
leaving no doubt about the man’s skill. Trini swallowed hard. She
needed to get out of here, and climbing down the tree in full view of the
couple would only prove that she had been watching them this whole time.
She didn’t want them to know, she didn’t want anyone to ever know.
She slowly, so
as to not disturb the branches, moved around to the other side of the
tree. She winced as she heard the woman’s moans become louder with her
orgasm. Trini climbed higher into the tree, as high as the branches would
allow, and looked over to the other tree. It was probably twenty feet
away, but it was just as tall. Taking a moment to look down at the
couple, she could see that the man was being rewarded for his behavior, his
groans reaching her ears. She was not going to stick around for an
encore. Trini took a deep breath and ran along the branch, jumping into
the air. Her arms spread wide as she neared the other tree, and she
snagged a branch and pulled herself up, and further in towards the trunk.
She looked back. The couple didn’t even notice the bouncing branches.
Trini climbed down
the side away from the couple and walked away, further into the park. She
felt a real need to keep moving now. The trees had been sheltering her
from the light rain, but she didn’t even pay any attention to it as she walked
through bushes and trees. Checking her watch she saw that it was only
11pm.
She heard what
sounded like a large group of people up ahead, so Trini took greater care not
to be seen. She didn’t want to have to deal with a gang. She peeked
through the bushes along the side of the path and saw a group of maybe twelve
men standing under a lamp. She noticed that one was Mark, that creepy
Quarryman that hit on her.
“Man, Castaway
was great!” she heard an enthusiastic young man’s voice carry easily to her
Mark’s voice
didn’t carry as well, Trini had to concentrate to hear it, “I told you he would
be.”
A cell phone
rang and one of the men fumbled around his jacket pockets looking for it.
“Hello…Really,” his eyes widened and he grinned and motioned to his phone. “You
found a gargoyle!” He now had the entire groups attention as they
listened in to the conversation. “We’re on our way. Be there in a
minute.” The man with the phone put it away. “Jerry and the other guys
cornered a gargoyle!”
“Where are
they.” Someone said. Trini strained to hear the answer. She had to
beat these goons to the site. Her face became stone serious and her eyes
gleamed. Her body tensed, ready to race.
“They’re at the
north side of the Park, near the water fountain.” As soon as Trini heard
this she took off running, dodging the bushes and trees. Cutting across
the paths, in full view of people. She was currently at the South side.
She didn’t doubt that she could beat these men there, but who knew how
many Quarrymen were already tormenting the gargoyle.
Trini heard the
taunting voices and growling as she neared the water fountain. She slowed
and was careful to hide in the bushes so she could see what was going on.
What she saw made her cringe. She was no warrior, and there were already
eight men with weird hammers circling a…What the hell was that?! It was
standing on all four legs, growling at the men like some sort of dog. She
guessed it was some sort of Gargoyle, but her heart sank to realize that this
one really was little more than a beast. Well, dammit, beast or not it
was a gargoyle. She was only minutes ahead of the rest of the
Quarrymen. She could take on eight or she could wait and take on
twenty. No contest. She didn’t even consider walking away.
She didn’t
really want to be seen. Reaching around on the ground she found a few
good size rocks. The grin that crossed her face in that moment was
wicked. Grabbing the rocks and putting them in her fanny pack, next to
the mace, she crept closer to the group.
Identifying the
leader, who was the one doing the most yelling, she hurled the first
rock. Her aim was perfect, she could hear the bones crunch in his
hand. His hammer fell to the ground. She quickly moved position,
just in case any of them saw where the rock came from. The group looked
around nervously. She tossed another rock at one man that was a little
too close to the doggy gargoyle. When he fell to the ground the gargoyle
took advantage of the opening given and ran out of the circle and into the
bushes opposite Trini. This caused a lot of loud cursing from the
Quarrymen, who started to give chase. Trini forgot about being careful
and just started tossing her rocks at as many of them as she could.
They soon turned
toward the darkened corner that she was in. She reached into her pack and
felt nothing. No more rocks. Just the cans of mace, which she would
need to get close to them to use. Looking at the nasty hammers that they
carried she didn’t want to do that. She turned to run.
Trini didn’t get
very far before she heard the siren sound and bright lights flooded the
area. When she was able to see again after being hit with that light, she
wished she hadn’t. A large group of police officers were in front of
her. She turned to look behind her and saw a larger group of
Quarrymen. Mark had caught up with his friends. Shit!
Some nearby
church bell rang out midnight. Trini was standing between a group of
police officers and a group of Quarrymen, wishing that she had tried to run the
other way.
“Remain where
you are and place your hands on the top of your heads!” it appears that at
least one officer has a bullhorn. Trini slowly complied, since it looked
like the orders included her. She could hear the Quarrymen behind her
also moving to place their hands on their heads.
“What is this
about? There is no law against meeting.
This is America!” Trini just sighed as she heard Mark’s voice
rising to try and take charge of the situation. When she saw Detective
Maza step forward to reply her heart sank. The woman stared at the group
with steel in her gaze. She was beyond pissed off. Trini had to
force herself to not take a few steps back. Elisa wasn’t a large woman,
but right now she would rather claw her way past the Quarrymen than face her.
“Mr. Yamamoto’s
shop has been vandalized, and his family threatened. We think that you
might know something about that.” Detective Maza, which was how Trini had to
think of her, because right now there was no hint of the friendly woman she
talked with outside of the library, turned to face one of the officers.
“Bring them all in for questioning.”
Trini took a
deep breath and spoke. “Detective Maza, I’m not with these guys.”
The Detective
turned around and looked at her for the first time. Her eyes widened once
she recognized Trini. Trini had hoped that Eliza would realize the error
and let her go, but when she saw her eyes get colder her heart sank. She
didn’t believe her. Elisa was the first real friendly person she met here
and she didn’t believe her.
“EVERYONE is
going downtown for questioning.” Detective Maza replied more to the other
officers than to Trini. Trini took a deep breath and tried to keep the
tears from falling. She was being arrested. This was a
nightmare. When was she ever going to learn to mind her own business?
As they were
waiting for the van to transport them to the precinct, since there were over
twenty people being taken in, Trini scanned the sky. It was better than
making eye contact with any of the Quarrymen. She could hear them
muttering about “that bitch.” and didn’t know if they meant her or Elisa.
She made sure to not look Matt or Elisa’s way. Even though she knew that
she really didn’t do anything wrong, she felt ashamed.
She could make
out the outline of something large flying away from the park towards
downtown. She wanted to scream! That was a gargoyle, and she
couldn’t do anything about it. She clenched her fists and closed her
eyes. She was so damned closed and nothing. Gargoyles were in the
park and she came away empty handed.
As the police
wagon drove up she could hear mutterings of “show that bitch a lesson.” and
“wait until we get a hold of her.” She realized that they were talking
about her now. She was going to be in that wagon with them. She
looked at the Quarrymen now. Some were rubbing bruises, that she probably
gave them. One man was holding his hand carefully, and really glaring at
her. Oh shit, she can’t get into that wagon. These men would kill
her.
“Detective Maza!”
Trini called out loudly, upset to hear the quaver in her voice.
It took a moment
for Eliza to come into view. She had been talking with a group of police
officers. “What?!” she growled at Trini.
“Please
Detective!” Trini motioned for her to come closer, fearing that she would be
ignored. She was relieved when Eliza did walk over to her.
“What?” Eliza
said a little more civilly, but she crossed her arms in front of her.
Trini kept her
voice down, hoping that the Quarrymen couldn’t hear her. “Please, don’t put me
in the wagon with these guys.” She couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder at
the men.
“What, tired of
your friends?!” Eliza raised an eyebrow at Trini
Trini’s face
took on a pleading look, “These guys aren’t my friends…Please Elisa…If you feel
you need to bring me in, take me yourself, or put me in a squad car…” Trini
felt a tear travel down her face. She bent her head down, using the rim
on the hat to hide it from view.
Elisa sounded a
little confused, “Alright. Matt and I will bring you in. Dammit
Trini…” She turned and walked back toward Matt, presumably to tell him the
change in plans.
As the last of
the Quarrymen were loaded into the van, a uniformed cop walked her way.
Detective Maza intercepted him. “I’ve got this one. Meet you at the
precinct.”
Trini felt her
stomach clenching as both Detectives walked up to her. The other police
cars and the wagon drove off, leaving just the three of them. Eliza was
still projecting the tough cop image, and Matt had no hint of a smile at all.
Out of nowhere it hit her all of the sudden that she had taken on the
Quarrymen, and the Quarrymen knew it. They knew where she shopped, knew
what neighborhood she was in. She collapsed on the side of the water
fountain and stared at the path in front of her. She saw two pair of
shoes enter her line of sight.
“I’m dead.” She
said quietly, a hint of shock in her voice. Her jaw was hanging open as
she realized the extent of the trouble she was in. Before she was
terrified of going to the precinct, but that was just the beginning.
“What do you
mean?” Matt sounded concerned.
Trini looked up
at them briefly then went back to studying the path. “The gargoyle didn’t
give them all those bruises. I did. They are going to kill
me.” Her voice was still quiet, almost to herself. Trini was not
one for getting into dangerous situations, and had never imagined making such
powerful enemies.
Elisa’s voice
rose in surprise, “Gargoyle?! What are you talking about?”
“There was a
gargoyle here. Those guys were capturing it or something.” Trini couldn’t
figure out what gender that beast had been. She didn’t like calling it an
it, like all those prejudiced people. “I…started throwing rocks.” She
looked into Elisa’s surprised eyes, “I was supposed to be able to run off so
that they wouldn’t know it was me, but you guys stopped me. I know that
one of them recognized me.”
“Can you
describe the Gargoyle?” Eliza asked, “Was he hurt?” She sounded really
concerned.
“Beastly with no
wings. I don’t know if…he…was hurt.” Trini answered quickly. “He
did manage to get away.”
Elisa traded a
look with Matt that obviously meant something. Trini wished she knew
what. Matt walked further away to make a phone call. Elisa sat down
next to her on the ledge of the fountain.
Elisa’s voice
sounded softer “Are you hurt?” Trini looked up and saw the gentle concern on
her face. She suppressed a sudden urge to hug the Detective. Her
emotions were just a little too close to the surface right now.
“No, they never
got close to me.” She gave Elisa a very small grin.
Matt came back,
and motioned for Elisa. Both Detectives talked out of Trini’s range of
hearing for a few seconds and then they both came back to her.
“Do you have
anyone to pick you up?” Matt asked.
“No. I don’t
know anyone in New York.” Trini felt lonely saying that. “I haven’t even
been here a week yet.”
“Oh.” Matt
sounded like he really didn’t expect to hear that. He looked at Elisa for
more silent conversation. “I guess we could drop you off at home.”
“You’re not
bringing me in?” Trini looked up hopefully.
“No, like you
said…You're not with them.” Elisa gave a small apologetic smile back.
“Thank you.”
“Although… You
have to admit that you look suspicious dressed like that. What were you
doing, or do I want to know.” Matt was the friendly joker once more.
“You really don’t want to know.” Trini shook her head and stood to
follow them to the car.