CHAPTER FIVE: CINDERELLA DRESSED IN WHITE

Holly and Mulch arrived at around nine. Artemis hardly noticed. He was too busy staring at a wildly tangoing Butler. Obviously the bodyguard had gotten bored with chaperoning, and had asked one of the teachers from a Girls' school to dance.

'Hey Mud Boy, what are you staring at?' Mulch wasn't really a master of subtlety either. He was chewing a bag of potato chips noisily. Artemis wondered distractedly why nobody had noticed them. After all, they were both under a metre tall and Mulch had a moving beard, for goodness' sake, but he hadn't been able to look away from the dance floor and the suddenly amazingly gallant Butler. And realise that the pair looked a little different.

'Looks like Butler's having fun,' commented Holly, simultaneously answering Mulch's question and diverting Artemis' attention from the dancing. He stopped staring at Butler and finally looked at Holly. Then he started in surprise.

'Er…Holly, I don't mean to sound rude, but – '

Holly grinned. 'I know. It's a new invention of Foaly's. Should help Reconnaissance no end.' Holly appeared to have grown. She was now almost a five feet tall, and wearing a white dress. She also looked about fifteen, which explained why nobody had noticed her, but her bright hazel eyes and voice were definitely Holly.

Artemis was fascinated. 'How does it work?'

Holly shrugged 'Foaly didn't really have a lot of time to explain it. I'm not technically supposed to have it, but you know Foaly. He can't resist showing off his inventions, and you're always an exception.' Holly raised an eyebrow and Artemis shrugged almost sheepishly.

'It's a magical storage and mixing unit,' Holly continued. 'Foaly calls it a Melder Unit. What he basically said was that it projects something like a Mesmer-Shield, in the form of someone who blends in with wherever you're going.'

Artemis nodded. 'Clever. Would it stand up to mirrored sunglasses?'

Holly shook her head. 'Only safe at night. Unless, for some reason, a human happened to be wearing sunglasses at night' she winked. Artemis flushed.

'Holly, you know I'm sorry about that. But tell me about this Melder Unit. I wouldn't imagine it would last very long.'

Holly nodded. 'Cinderella thing. I have to be gone by midnight, or it'll start to fade. But the best thing is, it doesn't use up any of my magic. I can look like this all night and then just shield if it runs out. Or that's what Foaly said.'

'Right.' Artemis stared at Holly for a long moment. Even though she knew he was actually interested in the projection, Holly felt herself blushing.

'Can the projection be changed?' Artemis asked finally.

Holly nodded wearily. She wasn't exactly thrilled to have come all this way just to be questioned about a new piece of fairy technology. Actually to tell the truth, she wasn't really sure why she'd come.

'Only by Foaly. And eyes, voice and fingerprints always stay the same. It should stop people from abusing the privilege of looking different.' Holly gestured towards Mulch.

Artemis grinned and held out his hand to the young teenager next to Holly. 'Mr Diggums, I presume?' The kleptomaniac dwarf had been turned into what looked like a younger version of Sean Connery. The mirage grinned and shook Artemis' outstretched hand.

'The name's Bond. James Bond.'

Artemis almost groaned. He should have seen that coming.

Meanwhile, Holly had been gazing around the room intently.

'Look Artemis, I'm going to go dance with som–' the sentence petered out as spotted a tall brown-haired boy with brown eyes that could only be described as being puppy-dog. She was out of her seat in an instant and walked over as though in a trance. Artemis couldn't hear what she said to him, but in seconds the pair were dancing. Artemis wasn't surprised. Holly really looked quite lovely. And she hadn't been lying - She was an excellent dancer.

Artemis felt a pang as he watched them. Some sort of strange feeling in his chest. Perhaps he'd eaten something that disagreed with him. Trying to ignore the feeling, Artemis turned to Mulch. 'Just you and me, Mr Bond,' he sighed. Mulch shook his head. 'No way. I'm not wasting tonight hanging around with you, Mister I-refuse-to-dance. The night is young, and so am I.' With that, he strode confidently onto the dance floor and was surrounded by giggling girls within a minute.

Artemis watched Mulch play toy-boy for a while, trying to ignore Holly. Unfortunately, it was difficult to ignore the best dancer in the room. The floaty white dress she was wearing was glowing in the lights from the ceiling and she looked euphoric with every new song, her face lit up and filled with innocent fun.

Very soon she had moved on from puppy-dog eyes and was dancing with a tall boy with bleached blonde hair and blue eyes. Then a slightly shorter boy with red hair and green eyes. Then another tall boy with a ridiculously dark tan. More tall boys with multicoloured hair. Artemis could only suppose that tall people must be a novelty for Holly, who would be so used to living with the short inhabitants of Haven. All the boys quickly blurred into one for Artemis, who found himself wishing he was taller. Not that he was particularly short, but he wasn't exactly Michael Jordan either.

After a while it became increasingly difficult to watch Holly due to what Artemis definitely considered excessive amounts of interruptions. First several girls came over to try to get him to dance. This irritated Artemis almost as much as being at the dance in the first place, and accordingly the comments used to get rid of them became progressively more cutting. Eventually the last few were leaving almost in tears.

After a while Butler stopped dancing and came over. The music dwindled as the song changed, and Artemis could see Holly was switching partners again. She exchanged a tall boy with streaked brown hair and glasses for yet another tall boy with blonde hair who was in desperate need of a shave.

'You should ask her to dance,' Butler said. Artemis jumped slightly. Butler had that effect.

'Who?' he asked in an irritated tone. Butler nodded towards Holly, who was spinning happily in circles with the blonde boy. 'Holly,' he added, in case Artemis needed further clarification. Unlikely, but it prevented the teenager from playing stupid, a game that he was unsurprisingly very bad at.

Artemis scowled at Butler. 'I will not dance, Butler. Leave me alone.'

Obedient as always, Butler shrugged and melted into the crowd every bit as effectively as a seven foot man can melt at a high school dance, and left Artemis in relative peace.

Ha, Mulch can dream. I can't really picture a ninety-centimetre James Bond. But then, I've never really been a fan.

I'm having trouble figuring out whether to call the characters Holly is dancing with 'guys' or 'boys'. Men doesn't seem appropriate, considering their age, and neither does males. I don't know…it's a definite problem. I think I overused 'boy' a bit.

Its true, the last chapter was a bit of filler. Although I guess it fulfilled a purpose in setting the scene and establishing a cliff-hanger. But hopefully this chapter and the next are a little more interesting. PLEASE KEEP READING! ROMANCE IS COMING! (cougheventuallycough)

Ooh, I know - I'll give you a sneak peek at the next chapter! But only if you promise to keep reading and reviewing, okay?

ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

Leaving her current dancing partner in the middle of the floor, Holly walked towards Artemis' table, stopping just within earshot as a blonde girl sat down next to the Mud Boy.

'Hi.' She said in a friendly voice. 'I'm Cassie.'

Artemis maintained his cold, detached scowl. Some idiot girl was sitting next to him. She was talking to him. She would probably want to dance. It was getting extremely irritating to have to get rid of these girls all the time.

'Look, I don't care who you are. Unless you have a tremendously high vocabulary, a practical idea on how to fix the hole in the ozone layer of some sort of plan on how to get me away from this dance without anyone noticing, I have absolutely no interest in anything you have to say. And before you ask, I do not want to dance, with you or with anyone. If you had enough brain power to scratch yourself and talk at the same time you wouldn't find it any fun either.'