A/N: Here's my update! I said Tuesday, didn't I? Well where I am it's Tuesday, 8:22 p.m. If you were dying from suspense, blame my English teacher. He made us write a freaking BOOK (I'm not complaining about writing, I LOVE writing. Just the fact we had two weeks to write it). Anyway, here we go.
Chapter Three
It was an acorn. Ettie frowned. She looked up. She could see the clouds passing by and birds in the air, but no trees. At least not directly above her. She looked back down at the acorn in her hand. "That's weird," she said to no one in particular. "No trees around here have acorns."
Holly saw the acorn slip out of its container but was too late. "D'arvit," she said as she closed her fist around empty air.
"What is it?" Chase said through his helmet.
"My acorn slipped."
"Oh. Are you running low on magic?"
"No."
"Okay then."
"The problem is when I do..."
"You can use mine."
They flew on in silence.
"But then when you do..."
"Holly, just..." Chase sighed. "We'll address the problem when we come to it."
Ettie dug her hand into her pocket for the basement key. She always entered the house from the basement. It was easier not to get caught when she came home after her curfew. Upon finding her pocket empty, she grunted and tried the other one. "Damn," she said.
She looked to the side of the house, but the gate was closed, and could only be opened from the inside. Ettie jiggled the handle, just in case it was loose. "Damn," she said again.
She looked up, wondering if she could get in through the window. Finding that quite impossible, she put her hands on top of the gate and pulled herself up. The top of the gate hit her in the stomach and she groaned, wishing she had payed more attention in PE during those boring fitness tests. Basketball didn't prepare you for crawling over fences.
Falling over the other side, she landed on her back, knocking the wind out of her. She dodged the discarded furniture and spiderwebs and opened the window of her downstairs bedroom and was about to crawl in when she heard voices.
One of the voices was a female voice. But not her mother's light, soft voice or Mrs. Fowl's soprano. It was sharp and alto, but her voice sounded more important and businesslike. It was one of those voices that could belong to someone between sixteen and thirty years old. The other voice was Artemis.
Curiouser and curiouser, Ettie thought. She tiptoed toward the voices, almost expecting to see a white rabbit jump out and disappear down a hole.
Artemis was there. He held something in his hand (Ettie thought it was a phone) and was talking to it. It was about the size of a palm pilot.
"Are you sure, Artemis?" the female voice said, coming from the palm pilot look-alike. "Think very hard."
"I'm quite positive," Artemis said. "You know you can trust me."
The female laughed. "You're cute," she said. "Okay. You can be expecting a call from me later."
"Are you certain you don't need me right now?" Artemis said.
"For now," the female voice said.
Ettie frowned. Who was this person? Girlfriend? Probably not. What kind of weirdo would date a stuck-up nerd like him? Ettie slipped through her window and dropped to the floor, her fall muffled by the rug. She hurried out of her room, closing the door behind her, and dashed up the stairs. She had to hurry. Artemis might be heading toward his room.
She entered the room softly and glanced around for something, anything, that might explain that mysterious call and who the person on the other side was.
There wasn't much. The bed was neatly made. A black suitcase lay closed by the side of the bed. Ettie bent by the suitcase and zipped it open. Inside was a flawless pile of folded polo shirts and another flawless pile of folded khaki trousers. Nestled in between the two piles was something wrapped in cloth. This was it.
Ettie lifted it gently from the suitcase and took off the cloth. It was a cube.
Why would Artemis keep a paper weight wrapped up in his suitcase?
The cube was blue, and glowed slightly. Ettie shook it. She squealed when the top popped open and revealed a tiny screen.
"Cool," Ettie said.
She stared at the little box, wondering what it was, and was so entranced that she almost didn't notice the footsteps approaching the room.
Artemis stepped in through the sliding deck door. He was sure Holly was bluffing when she said she didn't need his help. It would be a big blow to her pride if she had to resort to going to a mud boy for help.
It must have something to do with...that. Ever since those blueprints disappeared he had been expecting a call from her regarding them. True, Holly didn't really mention it, but he knew what it was about.
Or perhaps it wasn't the LEP that had them. Perhaps it was someone else. Opal Koboi? No, she was still locked up, wasn't she? Well, one of them was.
He opened the door to his room when he heard a door open behind him. Artemis turned sharply.
Ettie came out of the bathroom, her hand in the pocket of her sweatshirt. She saw him and smiled.
"Uh...hey," she said. "Heh...heh. Just got back from the park with Yvonne. I had to go pee really bad. Heh. Yeah."
Artemis raised one eyebrow. He looked at the pocket of her sweatshirt. There was a lump in it. But then, her hand was in it.
Ettie chuckled. "Heh, heh. See ya." She walked a little too quickly downstairs. She almost tripped on the first step.
Artemis looked after her. How strange.
A/N: Did you like that update? You know the story: If you liked the chapter, review to tell me what you liked about it. If not...review anyway to tell me what you think I should fix so my writing will get better. That would make EVERYBODY happy!
Here is my favorite review from last chapter from Liris.
"Demented Cookies is a cool screen name, if I haven't already said so. Holly's character? Bang on. Love it - you got her spot on. What hit Ettie? When are you updating? If I read Fairywings, will my questions be answered? Sorry about the questions. I do that when I get excited. Update!"
Thanks Liris!
-Demented Cookies
