As Holly entered Police Plaza, she felt cautiously optimistic that they might actually be able to save the school. The Council had been hastily convened, and once the situation had been fully explained, they were willing to give the go-ahead. The only problem had been convincing them of the wisdom of Artemis's plan. Then again, they had no other choice, given that the Council's gold was held in various well-hidden vaults around the world, and it would take days to gather three tons' worth. If they wanted to meet the deadline, they had to cut corners—much like Mulch Diggums' old construction business.

Across the Plaza, Holly saw Butler, no doubt enjoying the luxury of standing at his full height. Sitting on a bench beside him was Artemis, head in his hands.

"What's up?" Holly asked as she approached. "Having second thoughts about the plan?"

He looked up, dropping his hands to his knees when he realized she was standing there. He smiled slightly, though his eyes still seemed distant. "No second thoughts. The plan will succeed. I know what it is like to be in the grips of the Atlantis Complex. While those watching the sufferer from the outside see only chaos and unpredictability in his or her behaviour, everything seems so logical and predictable from the inside. Five was safety. Four was death. For Mortilla, three is her number of security, and as was the case me, four creates terror."

"That's all very interesting—but what's bothering you?" she prodded, sitting down beside him on the bench.

He frowned, looking absently out across the Plaza. "I will admit that something is troubling me. This Mortilla seems so familiar to me—like I have seen her before but I cannot place the memory." He exhaled, seeming a bit frustrated. "This occasionally happens to me now—ever since I was revived." He gave a short laugh. "Not that I'm complaining, of course."

Holly involuntarily shuddered. "I still hate to think about those six months when you were…gone," she said softly. "It was one of the worst times of my life—wondering if you would ever come back, if your plan would work."

Artemis suddenly looked up at her. She knew he must have heard something in her tone—a tone almost never heard in Holly's voice.

Holly couldn't help but look back. Those eyes that could be so cold and calculating were filled with something else now. A guarded hope.

She wanted to say something, anything. But it seemed like her powers of speech had deserted her. And then she realized after a moment that it wasn't so bad, not talking.

Artemis opened his mouth to speak, softly. "Holly—"

Before he could get another word out, they heard Foaly's voice calling loudly, accompanied by the clip-clop of his hooves on the cobblestone ground of the Plaza. "There you are. I've been looking for you guys."

They both nearly jumped at the sound of Foaly's approach. Though their non-verbal exchange had only lasted maybe five seconds, Holly felt like a lot had happened.

Artemis almost leapt to his feet from the bench. "Foaly. What is it?"

Foaly seemed a bit surprised by Artemis's evident agitation. "Uh, well, not much. I was just going to tell you that I ran the tests on your battery-powered tracers."

Suddenly, Artemis's expression went from distracted to smug. "And what were the results? I know I don't really have to ask, but I want to hear you say the words."

Foaly sighed. "You were right," he mumbled, quietly. Then, more loudly, "But that is just a loophole—and I'm going to close it right up on my next model. So you're going to have to think of something else next time, Mud Boy."

Holly decided to toy with her friend. "Let me get this straight, Foaly. You wanted Artemis to be wrong—thus throwing our plan out the window and making it that much more difficult to save an entire school—just to soothe your pride?"

Foaly thought for a moment. "Well, it doesn't sound great when you put it like that, but yeah."

Holly laughed and punched Foaly in the shoulder affectionately. "I can't believe you two sometimes. One of the great rivalries of all time." She stole another glance at Artemis, and was surprised to see him looking back at her, much as he had been looking at her before Foaly had entered the scene. Their moment had been interrupted this time, but they would get another. Holly would make sure of that.

Of course, Foaly didn't notice anything going on between Holly and Artemis, so he merely continued his interruption. "All the crates are on schedule to be ready to go to the drop off point tomorrow. Mortilla is going to be swimming in chocolate ingots by the end of this—at least before we cart her off to jail."

Holly saw the troubled expression again fall upon Artemis's countenance. He looked again at Holly, and appeared for a moment as if he was going to say something—but then turned and walked away. Butler followed along after him. She had almost forgotten Butler was there, like it was just she and Artemis. Foaly could learn a few lessons in tact from Butler, she thought.

"Where are you going?" she called after them.

Artemis stopped walking and turned around, now about twenty feet away. "To call Mother. I promised I would call when I got the opportunity to let her know I got here safely." He grinned. "For some reason she gets anxious when I leave home to come to Haven."

Holly laughed as he turned again and continued on his way. But she couldn't help but allow her mind to dwell on how he had looked at her, and couldn't stop wondering what he had been about to say when Foaly had interrupted them.

When Artemis and Butler had walked out of sight, leaving the Plaza, Holly turned back around to Foaly. "All right, centaur, let's go see how those crates are doing."


The next morning, all was ready for the half-hour journey to the designated site. The shuttle was loaded with the crates of "gold" and Holly was itching to get going, even though they wouldn't leave until later in the morning.

She found Foaly, Artemis, and Butler waiting for her arrival in Police Plaza, near the same bench where she had spoken with them the day before.

"About time you got here," Foaly teased. "You do realize this mission starts in three hours?"

"Shut up, centaur."

"Nice comeback," he said, smirking.

She looked at Butler and Artemis. Both looked tired, no doubt from a restless night trying to sleep on fairy-sized beds at Haven's finest hotel, Chateau Haven.

"Good morning, you two," she said, nodding.

"Good morning, Captain," Butler returned, stiffly. He must be annoyed about something, Holly realized. It was probably the fact that he was being separated from his principal on a dangerous mission. She knew Butler hated to feel like he wasn't doing his job.

"Hello, Holly," Artemis chimed in. Suddenly, his normally pale face was flushed. "You, uh, you look nice this morning," he said awkwardly.

Holly was taken aback. This was probably the first time Artemis had complimented her appearance. She hadn't done too much differently than usual in getting ready that morning, either. Well, she thought, other than actually looking in the mirror before I left home. Maybe also spending a minute or two styling her hair.

What astounded her more, however, was the fact that instead of feeling like she wanted to hit Artemis for having the gall to compliment her, she wanted to hug him. She enjoyed being complimented by him. Maybe her advice to No1 wasn't so bad after all.

"Th-thanks," she stuttered.

The group was silent for a moment. Holly became conscious that Foaly was staring at her. Turning to him, she said, "What?" perhaps a little more belligerently than she had intended.

"Aren't you going to punch him?" Foaly asked.

"Shut up."

"Wow, Captain, you're certainly full of zingers this morning!" he replied, chortling.

Butler chose this moment to speak. "I have to again register my concern that I am not allowed to be part of this mission. Who knows what—or who—is waiting for you at the drop-off site? You could be walking right into a trap."

"I'm sorry, old friend," Artemis replied. "You understand the dangers of us going alone, but I know you also understand very well the dangers of going against Mortilla's wishes and bringing you along. She needs to feel as if everything is going precisely as to plan. If she saw you her paranoia might cause her to do something rash. Besides, you're leaving me in good hands with Captain Short."

"An unarmed Captain Short," Butler mumbled.

"I agree with Artemis on this, Butler," Holly broke in. "Even if we covered you in camo-foil, those crates have filled the shuttle to capacity. There wouldn't be room for you in there."

"Well, of course you would agree with him," Butler said, almost growling. Artemis quizzically raised an eyebrow at his bodyguard. Butler responded by stalking off to the other end of the Plaza, clearly still irritated by the situation.

Artemis watched Butler walk away, an amused expression upon his face. "I'm afraid I frustrate poor Butler to no end," he told Foaly and Holly. "I remember one time when I was testing my hacking abilities by making some attempts on a foreign government website. Butler apparently felt I had developed enough enemies by age thirteen than to deliberately try to anger powerful organizations, and no matter how many times he tried to convince me to cease my infiltration of the website—which was painfully simple—I kept going. I believe he felt vindicated when two foreign government agents appeared on my doorstep a few days after the incident."

Holly heard only the beginning of Artemis's anecdote. She had lost focus on what he was saying when she found her eyes drawn to his mouth as he spoke. She thought back to that trip back in time years ago, when she had kissed him. It had felt very right, very natural back then. She knew it would feel the same way now, if she had the guts to do it again—not that she could really do it with Foaly standing there watching. Her eyes lifted to his, and she felt her heart beat faster.

She felt almost jerked back to reality when she perceived Foaly sidle up to her. She turned her head to look at him. He was focusing his gaze very intently at Artemis, who now looked at the two of them, perplexed.

"What the heck are you doing?" she asked Foaly.

"Artemis must have something on his face from this angle, because you sure have been concentrating hard on whatever it is," the centaur replied.

She punched him on the shoulder as she frantically searched her mind for something to say to help her feel a little less like an idiot. It didn't help that she felt her face turning warm. "My…my mind must have wandered off. I'm trying to focus on the mission. Getting mentally prepared," she finished lamely. Looking back at Artemis, she saw he was trying not to smile.

"Well," Artemis said, breaking the slightly awkward silence that reigned after Holly's attempted cover-up, "I am going to see if I cannot alleviate some of Butler's concerns. I will meet you both in the Situation Room in a half hour so we can go through the plan once more." And with that, he walked off to join Butler.

Holly and Foaly also started wandering out of the Plaza, in the general direction of Foaly's control booth. As they walked, Holly punched him again in the arm for good measure, feeling vengeful from being called out for staring at Artemis.

"Hey," Foaly protested, rubbing the spot where she had hit him. Then, in a moment his eyes changed from hurt to suspicious. "Why so sensitive? Have I hit a nerve?"

"Are we going to play twenty questions? I thought we had a mission to prepare for," Holly said, knowing that her attempts at evasion were really leading Foaly straight to the truth.

"You don't have…feelings for the Mud Boy, do you?" Foaly asked incredulously, eyebrows lifted.

Holly didn't know exactly how to respond. The smart thing would have been to just say "No," but instead, after a brief hesitation, she simply replied, "Shut up."