Colchester used Fay’s hand and picked a glass up off the table. Solid. Quality. Not cheap plastic, but real, heavy glass.

He shattered it in her grip. Blood and Coca-Cola ran over her fingers.

Merlin’s little apprentice began to cast a spell. The half-fairy princess reached below the table for the sword she carried in her bag everywhere. The other two were halfway out of their seats, probably about to do something boring and heroic as well.

Colchester didn’t care. He only wanted their fear. Inside her skull, there was a part of Fay that was screaming, but Colchester wouldn’t let that out.

Not yet.

He took a shard of the glass and gripped it like a knife.

Before any of them could stop her, Fay took the broken glass and jammed it deep into her own eye.

Only then did Colchester allow her to scream.

Amazing, Danny thought, as Chief Keene and the other cops stood around. He never would have believed it if he hadn’t seen it himself.

He always thought it was his father’s money that smoothed over the unpleasant aftermath of his adventures. Despite the property damage, or the laws broken, or whatever it took to solve the case or stop the threat, it always turned out okay. There were never any consequences for Danny. He figured it was because he was rich. Or because Chief Keene was Carrie’s dad, and they knew each other from school. He assumed he got away with bending a few rules because he was special.

But now he saw that it wasn’t just him. The police wanted to keep things quiet. They wanted Middleton to be a nice little place to live. They believed in that so much that they’d accept any story as long as it had a happier ending.

That was pretty hard work with Fay, but they managed it.

Colchester had laughed as they tried to help her, slashing at them with the shard of glass. The dark things pounded at the windows, trying to reach inside, only to be burned every time in the light. Eric finally cast an exorcism spell while Alana threatened Colchester with that sword she seemed to pull out of nowhere.

Colchester abandoned her body then. Danny could see it, like black smoke streaming out of her mouth and wisping up through the ceiling. At that same moment, the pounding at the windows stopped, and the dark shadows vanished. Fay woke up screaming and bleeding, with no memory of Colchester living inside her brain. They’d called 911, and the paramedics had been able to stabilize her.

They told the cops Fay had gone crazy. And everyone believed them, because she was shaking and sobbing and babbling like a lunatic. Chief Keene took Carrie aside and hugged her. That was all he really cared about. He wanted his daughter to be safe.

Danny finally understood.