Chapter 10: What Happened?

When Artemis awoke, he was lying in a large soft bed with a pounding headache. He cracked open one eye and looked around the room. He then opened the other eye and saw a fresco on the ceiling. He was back in his own bedroom. He noticed there was a figure leaning against his bed but the person was blurry. Artemis rubbed his eyes and looked again at the person. It was a small girl with pointed ears and flaming shoulder length red hair. Artemis sat up and shook the girl until she woke up.

'Holly? Holly, wake up.' The said girl woke up with a start and glared at Artemis until she realised who it was that had woken her. Her expression softened.

'Hey Artemis. How are you feeling?'

'I have a dreadful headache but apart from that fine. Why, what happened?'

'Um… I'm not really sure. We were doing the spell to remove Miss Thomson's powers and then they sort of… hit you.'

He gazed at her confused for a moment. 'Hit me?'

Holly felt herself squirm under his gaze as she answered. 'Yeah, and then when we went over to see if you were all right, you had her powers,' she finished rather lamely.

'Ah… So I now have Miss Thomson's power. Yes?' She nodded.

'Foaly's working on how to fix it without giving the girl back her powers.' He nodded in understanding and tried to sit up but Holly put a hand on his chest to stop him. 'You should rest.'

'I refuse to just lay here, Holly, when I can be of more use,' he said stubbornly.

She rubbed her forehead. 'Fine, but you're explaining it to Butler.' She removed her hand from his chest and he sat up and then stood up, with her help. They then left Artemis' bedroom and headed down the stairs to the kitchen where the others were. Foaly greeted him but Butler gave Holly a reproving glare. She had the decency to look guilty.

'You shouldn't be up right now.'

'I know but I point blank refuse to say in bed while we're in this mess. I want to help, plus, with these new powers I can help with Miss Thomson.' He gave his vampire grin, he knew that these were logical reasons and Butler would have to give in.

'Fine.' He sighed, 'But be careful. We don't want you fainting again.' Foaly gave a small snicker but soon shut up when Butler glared at him.

They all left the room to go and check on Miss Thomson. When they entered the cellar, Artemis noted that her hands were still cuffed behind her back with the cuffs Foaly had brought along with him. Butler entered the room first, still as cautious as ever. As he got closer, he felt her pulse from a distance and noticed that it was at a steady beat, which meant that she was still unconscious. He pinched the back of her neck again and the girl groaned as she regained consciousness. After a moment, she jerked awake and glared at Butler and the others as they stared at her. She got steadily to her feet, with the help of Butler, and continued to glower at the occupants of the room and closed her eyes, muttering something under her breath. When she opened them again she gave a small grin but then looked down at her hands. There were no sparks, she looked confused for a moment and tried again with the same result. Her mouth opened in shock but her mouth almost hit the floor at what she saw next.

Artemis was staring at the girl curiously as she tried and failed twice to use her powers. Then all of a sudden it didn't matter as a wave of light-headedness hit him. His eyes were instantly drawn to his arms, as were the eyes of every other person in the room, including Miss Thomson. Red sparks were once again dancing around his fingers, their swirls of colour and elegancy making them look as if they were dancing. Each one doing a counter-part to the other as they flickered. Artemis felt blackness eat at the corners of his vision as he began to fall backwards but was caught by Holly who lightly slapped his cheek leaving a red mark. It served its purpose though and Artemis was pulled away from the blackness and back to the world.

'Are you OK?' asked a voice in his ear as he was placed back on his feet with a steadying hand on his shoulder.

'Ye… Yes. I'll be fine.' He glanced next to him to find that Holly had been the one to speak. He next noticed Althuna or Miss Thomson, as he knew her as, who was staring at him as if she couldn't believe her own eyes with her mouth hanging open. Then, when she noticed him looking at her, she spoke.

'But… But how? How did you get my powers and what the hell is going on? Who are you?'

Artemis sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a migraine coming on. 'It seems Miss Thomson has lost all memory of us. Well done Foaly, this is just what we need, on top of everything else,' said Artemis, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Hey, don't blame me, it's not my fault,' the centaur said indignantly as he crossed his arms.

'Fine,' snapped Artemis startling everyone. 'Butler, please unlock the handcuffs and escort Miss Thomson to a guest room.

'Artemis, I don't think that's a very good idea.'

'Look, if she can't remember then she can't stay locked up down here. Anyway, she hasn't got her powers so she can't hurt us.'

'I beg to differ Artemis. In fact, my face begs to differ after what she did,' Holly said quietly.

'I know but still, Butler I will not ask you again, please do it. I will speak with her later.' Butler nodded and unlocked the handcuffs but he did not look very happy about it. Something was wrong with Artemis, he was sure of it but he couldn't disobey so he led the girl up to one of the guest bedrooms. After telling her where everything was, he left the room quietly and locked it. Now, to have a little talk with Artemis.

A/N: There we go, that's chapter ten. Hope you like it and I know I said this wasn't going to be romance, it's not, but I might add a few moments in like I already have put in. Sorry if I have confused anyone, I hope that clears it up. Anyway, please let me know if I can improve, creative criticism is greatly liked. Well, bye!