Holly sighed. Hadn't the mud boy had enough with the fairies? In truth, though, she was glad. Because although she'd never admit it, she had missed him. She took a minute to glance at her surroundings. Believe it or not, it was her first time in Vegas. It was night, and the lights were blindingly bright. Finally, she found it. She landed outside the lab. The first thing she saw was a brunette with an expression eerily similar to her own: determination, stubbornness, a small amount of bitterness. Clearly, she was no stranger to pain.
"Hello, Holly." Holly came to a dead halt in the air. This woman could see her? "Before you ask, I have no idea how I can see you, as I assume you are shielding." Holly gulped. Evidently, in addition to being able to see through a shield, this woman knew a lot about the fairies. "I guess I won't ask how you know about a shield."
"Come on in." The woman evaded the question entirely. "Oh, by the way, my name is Sara."
After a tour of the lab, Holly was directed to the conference room for a debriefing. Catching the other's stares, she grinned. "What, never seen a fairy before?" Obviously not, or they would have been mind-wiped. Still, she couldn't resist teasing them about their stares. "So, where's Artemis?"
She had a hard time reconciling the image of Artemis smirking at her with the shaken boy seated in front of her. She felt a wash of pity at the uncharacteristically beaten expression on his face. "I missed you."
Three words. Holly spoke them almost without thinking, not considering the consequences. Showing compassion for someone like Artemis…she had no idea what he would interpret her confession as.
"I missed you, too. I couldn't get you out of my head, but I couldn't remember you. All I could see was the shadow that saved me." His last sentence was uttered so softly that only the expression on his face told Holly she'd heard him.