Chapter 7: Bad Feelings

The rest of the day went by without major flaw and Artemis went to bed exhausted from the long day spent swimming. As he lay in bed though, his thoughts troubled him. He hadn't really let himself think much about what had happened that day and the fact that Butler wasn't with him was just sinking in. It wasn't like Butler to leave him and he had been too preoccupied to notice it before.

He was still totally unsure of what he was going to do about going to Atlantis. Butler had told him to stay but, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. He had managed to fend for himself without Butler before and as far as he was concerned, as long as Holly was there she could help him.

Maybe his newfound "teenage hormones" were starting to take over and blind his better judgment, but damn it he wanted to go.

God, he thought to himself, I sound like I whiney little kid. He shook off the feeling of childish stupidity that was slowly creeping up his spine and into his every thought. There will be time to worry about this later he decided as he lay down on his bed. He was too tired for it right now, but there was one thing he had to do. He got back up and wrote his mother a note.

"I am going with Zinnia and her parents to Paris for the day. You can call me on my cell phone."

Then he made a new voice mail message and fixed it to deliver itself to his mother.

"Hey mom. Sorry about not calling you and telling you but there really wasn't much time for that. I will be staying with Zinnia and her parent for a few days at their lake house. They said it's to pay us back for helping them out. I will call you as soon as we get there. Oh and don't be mad please. It's just I've been having so much fun being a kid these past few days. I knew you would understand. Love you."

Zinnia felt awful but, Butler had been too big of a threat. She had a mission and her people were depending on her. She was still unsure of how she would get Holly out of the picture. Probably with the same method she had used with Butler. She would have 2 of her people waiting on Holly at the meeting place. One would capture her and take her back to Atlantis, were she would be kept in a holding cell along with Butler. Then the other one would shape shift and pretend to be Holly long enough for her to get Artemis to Atlantis and convince him to help them.

But still the nervous feeling in her stomach told her she was getting in too deep here. Artemis wasn't going to be happy when he found out what she had done with his friends, but she would convince him that it was what had to be done. For the good of her people…his people.

Holly was early getting to the cave the next day, as she had intended. She liked being early. Plus, this would give her some time to set up the equipment. She went slowly down the curvy maze of tunnels until she was at the water front. She gazed wearily at the glowing water. Something was wrong. She reach for the gun that was hanging at her waist but her attempt came too late. Someone had their hand over her mouth.

"Don't struggle Miss Short. We don't want to have to hurt you, but you need to come with me right now."

She didn't listen to the voice. She struggled. She fought her hardest to get away from whoever this was but she just couldn't free herself from her capturers grasp. He was pulling her towards the water and when the cold liquid seeped through her shoes it had the same effect on her as a fire alarm. Panic rushed through her. She was going to die. The man holding her jumped back into the water taking Holly with him.

Once in the water her attacker spun her around to face him. She was stunned, it was a mermaid. What was going on here? His lips moved and Holly could hear his voice but not through the sound of his voice because there was no sound but his words were echoing in her head.

"We need Mr. Fowl Holly. We need his help," the mans voice said.

She fought to get away again, she had to get away and warn Artemis. If he got hurt it would be her fault. Her fears were comforted only by knowing that Butler would be there and even though he was not what he used to be he could still protect Artemis.

"Butler is no longer with the boy," the mans voice said in her head. "We have already taken care of him."

No, she screamed to herself, Artemis will never come without Butler.

"The boy is counting on you to protect him. That is why he still comes. He and the princess are on there way here as we speak."

But I won't be there! He won't go willingly!

"We have taken care of that as well."

At that moment the world around Holly began to fade as a prickling feeling ran up her spine and her lungs began to burn. She thought at first she was drowning, but had she breathed? She decided it didn't matter if she did now. So she breathed in deep hoping to make this as short a death as possible. Nothing happened though. She didn't choke on the water. It was as if the water were liquid air. She felt a tingling sensation going up her legs and when she looked down she screamed. Though her vision was fading she knew that what she saw in place of her legs was indeed a fin.

What the hell is going on here? She thought to herself and then the world around her went black.

"You do remember the way don't you?" Zinnia asked Artemis.

"Yes…of course I do," he replied while rummaging through his blue tout bag. Where was that walkie talkie? "Ah here we are," he thought aloud as he pulled out the little black box.

"What's that for?" Zinnia asked eyeing the device suspiciously.

"I have to call Holly first," Artemis said without looking at the girl.

"Why? She is already- I mean I am sure she is already now there waiting. Didn't you talk to her about this yesterday?"

Had he seen a heard a hint of panic in her voice. He looked up at her. She had a delicate smile on her face. Her green eyes showed no sign of anything but their usual joy.

"I just want to double check and make sure she is here. She can be forgetful."

He switched the device on and held down the button. He waited a few minutes but nothing happened. Odd, he thought to himself.

"She probably forgot it at her house or something," Zinnia suggested.

"Maybe…," something about all of this was off. First Butler leaves and now Holly wasn't answering.

"We are going to be late if you don't hurry up Little Arty," she said teasingly. "Listen. Don't worry she is probably sitting down there waiting on you. So let's get a move on okay. Lead the way," she gestured for him to go ahead.

This really wasn't good, but despite the fact that every part of his body was saying stay. He went.

Holly woke up to here a muffled buzzing noise. She opened her eyes, hoping that she had just had a really bad nightmare, but when she looked around she saw that he nightmare was a reality. She saw her walkie-talkie sitting on a table in the far corner of the room. She tried to crawl towards it. Then she noticed the chains on her arms.

"Urg…." she shouted out loud.

"Holly are you awake?" a low voice said. She looked around the room and it the other corner was a large heap on the floor. Was that a person?

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"No need to be so touchy. It's me Butler."

"Where are we?" she asked.

"As far as I know Atlantis. We were brought her by orders of Zinnia. She's after Artemis. I don't know why yet. I only know what I have heard the guard's say."

"Well that's definitely bad news considering the fact that that is who Artemis is with right now. We were supposed to be meeting back at the water, but someone came and got me before he got there," she explained.

"Yeah sort of the same thing here. I was getting ready to get in the Hummer to go get Zinnias thing and then I saw someone behide the vehicle. So I went to see who it was. I nearly passed out from the shock, because the person that was back there was either my long lost twin or they have cloned me. "

"There have been some rumors that mermaids can shape shift but they are kind of like dwarfs in that aspect. Very secretive about their abilities. Did you see anything else though?"

"No I heard a noise behide me and before I could turn around someone had hit me on the head. I woke up here….and with fins."

"Yeah me too. So any ideas for escape yet?"

"No…still working on that. If we could get ourselves free we could use the walkie-talkie to try and warn Artemis, but at the moment I have no grand ideas on how to do that."

"So all we can do is wait."

"Yeah…"

You're on your own Artemis. Don't let us down, Holly thought to herself.

Artemis walked into the cave and was immediately hit with the feeling of needing to run. Then he saw movement in the shadows, he stepped back but then he saw Holly's face. Relief rushed through him.

"I was wondering when you would get here," she said jokingly. "Where's Butler?"

"Juliet is missing. He went to go and find her," the words felt strange on his tongue. The excuse felt like one of his half-baked lies, but it was the truth right? That's where Butler was.

"Oh…well then lets get a move on," Holly said smiling as she got in the water.

"What about the equipment?" Artemis asked.

"What equipment?" Holly asked confused.

Artemis pointed in the direction of the oxygen tanks.

"Oh--that. Simplely back up."

Artemis laughed out loud.

"I don't know about you, but I can't breathe under water."

"Zinnia will explain," Holly said as she threw her wet cloths onto the sandy bank and submerged under the water.

"What is she talking about? And more importantly why is she taking her cloths off?" he said with an expectant look on his face.

"Well the water along with a little magic does things. It will change you."

Artemis did not like the sound of this.

"Change me how exactly?"

"Well it will make you a mermaid. Or merman if that makes you feel better," she giggled. She rolled her eyes and sat down and started taking off her shoes.

"Do I have to do that too?" he asked nervously.

"Do what? Take your cloths off? Yeah."

"Are you serious?" he asked desperately.

"God stop being such a mud-boy. No one cares that you're going to be naked except you, but if it makes you feel better you can wait until you're in the water before you take it off," she smiled at him.

He was blushing now. There was no why he was getting in that water.

Zinnia took off her pants and Artemis turned away. Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into? You should leave right now. Just walk away.

He felt Zinnia tap him on the shoulder and he dumbly turned around and there she was, naked again. How many times did this make? One? Two? Three? He wasn't even embarrassed by it now. Well maybe a little. She smiled at him and then pushed him back into the water.

Cold was the first thing he thought of. Very cold. He heard a loud splash and looked around and saw Zinnia. She was glowing almost and she was changing.

She swam around happily for a moment and then motioned for him to go to the surface.

"Alright Arty….time to take it off." He just looked at her spitefully. "Hey either you do it or I will."

"Fine…" he reluctantly stripped off his clothes and threw them onto the shore.

Zinnia didn't say anything for a long time. She just smiled at him.

"Alright mud-boy. You're going to need to hold my hands," she said with her eyes still looking him over.

"Why?"

"So that my magic can help the water change you."

"Oh." he lightly took Zinnias hand in his and began thinking of the first time he had held her hand. He still didn't know if he liked the feeling he got from her or not, but he had to trust he for the moment. Plus, he trusted Holly's judgment. They sank into the water and Artemis felt this weird tingling go all through him. He looked down and saw that he didn't have legs anymore. Instead he had blue fins.

He was amazed for about a second because that's how long it was before the pain hit. He hunched over in agony.

"Artemis!" Zinnia cried. He felt her grab his arm. "Hold on. Please. Just hold on."

"What's wrong with me?" he choked out. What's happening?