Chapter 12: Almost Normal Again

Artemis came to a couple of hours later. By that time, the spell had already been reversed and he was now himself again. Well, almost himself. You see, there had been a slight side affect from the spell, which couldn't be reversed, but it shouldn't hamper Artemis in any way. He didn't know this of course, all he knew was that he had a blinding headache and seemed to be tied to a chair from the pain he had in his arms. He opened his eyes groggily and had a look around. He seemed to be in his own bedroom and all the lights were off. Artemis quickly glanced around the room, most of his bed was in shadow and he was facing his bed. Artemis tested the ropes, they were tightly securing his arms and legs to the chair. For a few minutes he thrashed around, trying to get out of the ropes but after a minute he realised his attempts were useless. Suddenly, he heard a creak from the far side of the room.

'Who's there,' he asked, his voice with a slight quiver. Since when do I get afraid? he thought. There was another creak and a lamp flickered on, giving the room some light.

'Artemis? You're awake then?'

The boy was relived to here Butler's deep voice. But then, he realised, if it was Butler then he wouldn't leave him tied to a chair. What was going on?

'Yes, I'm awake.' Again there was another creak and a silhouette appeared in front of Artemis. The man took another step forward and Artemis mentally sighed, it was Butler. Then his gaze flickered to what Butler was carrying. In his arms, he held a high-powered dart riffle. That can't be good. 'Butler, what's going on? Why am I tied to a chair?'

'Do you remember anything?'

'No, the last thing I remember is doing that spell to bind Miss Thomson's powers and then waking up here.'

'So you can't remember what happened to you?'

'Butler, your cognitive functions must not be working as fast as they usually are. I just told you I don't,' Artemis snapped. 'Now would you please untie me from this chair and tell me what the hell is going on?' Butler looked taken aback for a second. Since when did Artemis curse? He raised the dart riffle slightly, pointing it at Artemis.

'I can't do that, Artemis,' the manservant replied levelly.

'Why not?' the boy asked irritated. He usually kept his calm but after everything that he remembered happening, you can't blame him for being a bit on edge.

'I can't untie you because of what you might do, if it is really you.'

'What? Butler, you are not making any sense what so ever.'

'No, I'm making perfect sense.'

'Fine. Let me prove I am Artemis,' the youth said testily. 'Your first name is Domovoi, you died once at the hands of Arno Blunt, bodyguard to Jon Spiro when I was careless and revealed the C Cube to Spiro which contained fairy technology but ex-captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon brought you back to life but you aged fifteen years. I first met Holly when I kidnapped her and held her hostage for fairy gold. Then, she helped us rescue my father from the Russian Mafia after we helped her stop Opal Koboi. Then, last year, Opal came back, murdered Commander Julius Root and almost killed us all but we stopped her. Shall I go on?'

'No Artemis. Even though all of that is true, I'm still unsure whether it is you.'

'D'Arvit! What do I have to do to convince you I am me?'

Butler raised his eyebrows. 'Nothing.'

'What do you mean 'nothing'. Surely there is something?'

'No, nothing you can say will prove it. I'll be back in a minute.' With that, Butler turned around and left the room.

Meanwhile, outside the room, Holly and Foaly had been listening to the entire conversation. At certain points, they shared the same disbelieving expressions. After a couple of minutes, they heard Butler walk towards the door. A minute later, the man left the room and, closing the door, turned to the other two.

'Is it him?' Holly asked.

'I really don't know, he told me only things himself or us would know but, as Foaly said, if it's still Miss Thomson, she could just be going through Artemis' memories and picking out things.'

'I know, it's just that, if it is him, then he doesn't have any idea what is going on and he's probably scared shitless. How can we prove that it's him?' Holly asked.

'I don't have any idea. Foaly?'

'Well, we should go and talk to Miss Thomson. If she has got her powers than Artemis is telling the truth. Butler, you go talk to the girl, she probably more of a danger than Artemis. Me and Holly will keep an eye on him.'

'All right. I'll be back in a bit.' Butler turned around and headed off down the corridor while Holly and Foaly entered Artemis' room. Holly stopped Foaly though, before they could completely enter.

'What?'

'Do you think we should tell him what happened?'

'Yeah, then he won't be annoyed at us later.' Holly nodded in agreement and then entered the room, closing the door behind them.

Artemis heard the door open again. He sighed, back to the questions then. He expected to see Butler but he saw a centaur, Foaly and an elf, Holly. They walked towards him and stopped. Holly made her way to the bed and sank into it while Foaly stayed standing. They didn't talk for a while, just staring at him. It was making Artemis more uncomfortable than he already was. Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

'Is one of you going to speak or are you just going to keep staring at me all day?' he snapped.

'Artemis, we know your angry but if you were in our position you would completely understand what we're doing,' Holly said tentatively.

'How? Do you really think I would understand you tying me to a chair and then accusing me of not being me?'

'Well, yes.'

'OK, I'm trying to be calm but this is not making any sense to me and that's saying something since I'm a genius. Now, would one of you please explain what is going on?'

'All right,' Foaly said. 'After we cast the spell to bind the girl's powers, they transferred from her body to yours, along with part of her personality. This resulted in you acting strange. At the time we didn't know what had happened, that is, until you acted weirdly and we noticed what might have happened. Then Butler knocked both of you out with the tranquilliser gun and we reversed the spell.'

'So, what does that have to do with me being tied to a chair?'

'Well, we're not sure if it worked. We're not sure if you are actually you,' finished Holly.

'Right. That's explains it and no matter what I tell you, you can't be sure that I'm me. Correct?'

'Yep. Butler's gone to talk to the girl to see if she has her powers.'

'Ah, so if she has her powers, it proves the spell worked and that I'm me and then you can untie me. I guess I can wait a little while. Has anything else happened since I was unconscious?'

'That's right, Butler should be back any second.' Just as he said those words, Butler burst into the room, not looking very happy. 'Hey, what's wrong?'

'We have a big problem. Miss Thomson's loose.'

A/N: There we go, that's chapter twelve, hope ya liked it. Please let me know.