Okay, so I had a brief hiccup with the plot here, followed by a slight bout of writer's block, but it's all good now. ^.^ Anyway, just thought I'd post a quick chapter. Things'll be going more smoothly as we near the end.

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"LET'S MOVE IT!" Myles shouted, limping towards the nearest helicopter. One of his men scooped up the lifeless form that was Claire Davenport. Others attached massive hooks to Anthony's containment unit and two helicopters. I looked around frantically for the vampires, but they were busy protecting the others and getting them to safety.

"Wait! We have to—" I stopped as Serena grabbed me around the waist and ran into the cover of the trees.

"It's over, Artemis. You'll all be killed," she hissed as she sprinted.

"But Claire and Anthony…"

"We have no other option." She paused and glanced up at the menacing sound of the helicopters taking off. "We have to get back to safety. We'll bring you to our place. Richard?"

"Yeah," growled the vampire as he fell in step beside us. He cradled an injured and sparking Holly in his arms. I swallowed.

"We have to bring them home and figure out what to do."

"What can we do?" chimed Nicholas, who had Mulch in one arm. The choppers resounded above the canopy of the trees.

"It's not safe to talk here," Serena muttered, avoiding the question. "Hurry."

oOo

We crashed into the dim, cluttered studio apartment that belonged to the trio of vampires. I collapsed on the nearest dingy futon, my knees weak from the day's battle. Holly had finished healing, and tiredly curled up next to me. I dropped my head in my hands.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. Not only had Claire been captured, but Anthony too.

And Minerva, I realized with a long exhalation, She betrayed us.

I'd long suspected that there would be repercussions for stealing No1, and I knew that Minerva would never truly forgive me. It was understandable; I had taken away her life's dream and nearly gotten her family killed after all. However, I couldn't help but feel personally hurt by her betrayal.

I had also trusted Anthony to tell us if my fears had any ground or not; I hadn't anticipated that Myles possessed the technology necessary to block the vampire's powers.

"We need the fairies," I stated, leaning back, steepling my fingers. That wasn't all we needed, though. We needed a plan.

Holly sighed. "We can't. Foaly can't risk having the Council shut down Section 8."

"How could we convince them that this has potential to be a global issue?"

"Just how is this global if it's between Claire and Myles?" snorted Mulch from his spot in a beanbag chair.

"We," I began, staring off into space, "Are in a great predicament here. Not only is my family at a severe risk, but Anthony and Claire have been taken. Myles has completed his goal, so he'll be impossible to bargain with. Same with Minerva, who will most likely expose Anthony and the entire vampire race very shortly unless we do something. Not to mention he has a hold of fairy technology, which could lead him to Haven—" I felt Holly shudder beside me, "—And inevitably lead to the exposure of the fairy race as well." I took a breath. "If we ignore this and do nothing, we will lose everything."

"What can we do?" asked Holly. "We have to save Claire and Anthony and mindwipe Myles."

"But we don't have approval from the Council. Without that, we're powerless; our only resources are a handful of fairy gadgets, a dwarf, an elf, and three vampires…"

"We can't," Serena said before I had finished.

"Why not? Didn't you hear him? We need you!" Mulch said indignantly.

"We could be in trouble as it is," Nicholas sighed. "The Volturi don't appreciate us exposing ourselves to humans. Even for the sake of saving one of ours. They'd rather we killed Anthony before he can give up any of our secrets."

"Volturi?" I quizzed.

"It's not important," Nicholas continued firmly. "But we can't help you any more than we already have. It's too risky."

I glanced at Richard, who stared at the ground with his arms folded. I pressed my lips together, struggling to hide my frustration. "Very well. Seeing as our chances have gotten even slimmer…"

"We can't help you," Richard reaffirmed, his crimson eyes glinting unnaturally in the dimness of the room, "But I know some people who can and will."

"Who?" I pressed.

He shook his head gently. "Later. How do you plan on getting fairy support?"

I scratched my chin as I twisted the ring on my finger. He picked up after two rings.

"What's our status?" I asked Foaly.

"I terminated the helmet four hours ago. All that's left is a puddle of acid and some weeping scientists."

I ground my teeth. "We needed that."

"It wasn't up to me. Vinyaya ordered it be done so no technology could be taken from it."

"Too late," I said grimly. "Myles used it to create a hairclip that enabled the wearer to hide her thoughts and be used as a tracker."

"A hairclip?"

I swallowed. "He gave it to Minerva. Apparently he had a chat with her when she was captured."

Foaly was quiet, the words taking a minute to sink in.

"How bad is it?" he murmured.

"Anthony, in an attempt to gain her forgiveness, was tricked into being captured. When Claire and I arrived, Myles and his men were already there. Even with three vampires, we didn't stand a chance."

He whistled through his teeth. "This means exposure of the whole vampire race, and possibly the fairies too. This is catastrophic…"

"We've already gone through this lecture," I said dryly. "I need to know what needs to happen to get support of the Council."

"I…I honestly don't know…This involves vampires, not us. We haven't talked to them in centuries, so even if the Volturi were to appeal to us…" I forced myself to ignore the name, even though curiosity was starting to prickle at me.

"At the risk of sounding egocentric, couldn't we make this about me? I've come to your aid a number of times and am an established friend of the People. Couldn't I…?"

"No offense, but half the Council hates you and has been trying to get you mindwiped again for years."

"Of course," I grumbled with a roll of my eyes.

"The only way you'd get their attention would be if somebody got killed or captured or something. I'm joking, though. Don't do something stupid."

I glanced at Holly, who peered at me quizzically. The idea that had surfaced in my mind was quickly discarded and shoved into a figurative drawer.

"No. That's not an option."

"Then you don't have Section 8."

I pressed my lips together as Holly whispered, "What does he want?"

"He says the only way we could receive Council support to rescue Claire and Anthony would be if one of theirs was killed or captured."

"I'll do it."

My eyes narrowed. "No."

"It's perfect! I'll go there, get myself caught and locked up. Mulch will lend me some stuff so that I can break out again, and then we'll have both Section 8 and a person on the inside." Her brown and blue eyes were pleading. "Artemis, from what you're saying, we don't have a choice. If we don't do this, Myles will win and nobody will be safe."

Foaly sighed. "Let me know when you figure something out. Just…be careful?"

"As always, friend," I murmured as I hung up.

The long moment of silence that followed was broken by Richard chuckling, "That's a pretty sick phone. I need to get myself one of those."

My expression remained serious. "About those contacts, Richard?"

He nodded and was gone and back in a heartbeat, a yellow sticky note with a phone number on it in his grasp. "Ask for Edward."

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I'll get another chapter up soon. Please keep reviewing ;)