"I see. And this 'chat' somehow required the sedation of my bodyguard and the complete annihilation of my system?" And since when were we on "darling" basis?

"Well, I didn't want any interruptions, dear," Minerva said smoothly. "Speaking of which, there is a literally old friend of yours about to burst into the Manor in five. Four. Three. Two. One—"

A loud crack was heard downstairs followed by a distinct "D'Arvit!" as something collided with the invisible barrier that Minerva had apparently left intact.

Artemis cringed internally. Holly, Holly, Holly. . .

"Oh, and Artemis?" the silky voice caught his attention. "Before you rush off to deal with this little crisis, dear, I wanted to answer your other question. I didn't start the "darling" basis, as you mentally named it. You did, remember?"

Chapter 4

Foaly winced as Holly collapsed in a heap. He had known about the invisible barrier, of course, but he had assumed it was deactivated when it didn't show up on his sweep. How in the world had it gotten such a significant stealth upgrade in less than two hours? And then he remembered Minerva's system. How it had gone from a picket fence to the Great Wall, metaphorically speaking. Minerva. Of course, of course.

"D'Arvit, Foaly!" Holly's voice shrieked into the transmitter. "Why did you not –"

The complaint stopped suddenly. The line went dead. Foaly sat up and quickly began a security scan. Minerva may have been upgrading Mud technology, but there was no way …

He stopped mid-thought. His jaw dropped. All the video feed from Holly and the Manor was gone. And then all the lights connected to the feed began to power off. Two seconds later, everything turned back on – gold.

"Hello? Foaly, is it?"

Foaly whipped around, searching for the source of the sound.

"Over here."

Foaly stumbled back. The voice was coming from a failed microphone prototype that he was about to discard. The microphone wasn't connected to anything at all.

"Oh, please, centaur, just accept the shock. Everyone else has."

Foaly cleared his throat nervously and tried to put together a serious but coherent sentence.

"I suppose you would be the unnatural human-fairy burglar?"

Minerva laughed, sending shivers down Foaly's spine and into his tail. "If you say so. While Artemis is downstairs, I thought I'd talk with you."

"And you chose this particular microphone because…" Might as well try to learn something about her.

"I don't see what you have against it. It could be very useful with just a few minor tweaks, you know. And besides, this was the most advanced piece of equipment in your hearing range which was also capable of taking the strain."

"What do you mean?"

Minerva sighed. "I suppose you won't believe it until you see it. Very well. I will be transferring to your third monitor from the left. I advise you to keep your distance. Transfer in three, two, one."

Foaly just barely managed to catch a glimpse of a human female clad in black silk before the monitor cracked and the connecting wires began sparking. It quivered for a while, then settled down and began smoking. Foaly was speechless.

"You see what I mean?" Minerva returned to the microphone. "The more high-tech your equipment is, the less resilient. I, on the other hand, am brilliant on offense and defense, which is why it was effortless for me to avoid your attention while secretly sealing your laser-proof tent."

Foaly rushed to the door of his "tent" and tried desperately to unlock it.

"You really need to be more careful about that, Foaly." Minerva was very amused. "You've been locked in before by Koboi, haven't you? Yes, I know all about Koboi. One must learn from history. I have been borrowing a page from Opal's book and erasing her mistakes. And her bad luck. Luck is so very annoying. Well, Artemis is about to come back, so I'll bid farewell for now. I assure you that Holly won't be harmed unless it is necessary, but you really should be more worried for your own safety at the moment. Good luck!"

Foaly stared at the microphone, which seemed no different after being Minerva's vessel. What did she mean by good luck? Why should Foaly be worried? He trotted over to the microphone and inspected it. His already bulging eyes widened even further. He blew off the dust on a flat panel connected to the microphone, which had a screen which was supposed to display various information about the caller. It had been gold before, like everything else related to Minerva, but now it displayed five red numbers: 18000. And then, 17999. 17998.

Foaly took a shaky breath. Minerva was giving him five hours before something happened. He wasn't sure what the "something" was, and he didn't want to find out.

In four, hold four, out four, hold four… Foaly steadied his breathing. He had to be rational here. He shut his eyes and tried to calm his nerves.

Artemis glided down the staircase, one hand barely hovering above the rail, one behind his back so that his arm formed a forty-five degree angle.

"Ah, Captain Short," he addressed the figure lying on the ground before him. "Not one of your most graceful moments, I'm afraid. To what do I owe this … visit?" He couldn't let on that anything was unusual. Not yet.

Holly didn't move.

"Captain Short?" Artemis repeated, more insistently. "Are you all right?" The barrier was meant only to stop unwelcome company, not knock her unconscious. Artemis stretched out a hand experimentally. Sure enough, he felt a strong opposition, but no more serious effects. Suddenly, the resistance vanished – Minerva's doing, he supposed.

Artemis sighed wearily and scooped up Holly. She was surprisingly heavy. New suit, most likely. Gingerly laying her on an indoor hammock (he knew that would come in handy one day), he removed her helmet.

Well, there's the problem. Artemis noticed that many of her wires were short-circuiting, leaving all her technology useless and also delivering a minor shock to her head. Nothing significant, but enough to render her unconscious for a few minutes. Artemis sat back and waited.

One minute and eighteen seconds later, Holly frantically sat up. "Artemis!" she exclaimed at the sight of him. "What happened?"

"You were unaware for little more than three minutes," he answered unaffectedly. "I believe I am entitled to some questions as well. What are you doing here?"

"Artemis," Holly said guardedly, "Is there anything you need to tell me?"

Something strange happened to Artemis' face for a split second, but then everything was back to impassiveness. "If this is another technological witch hunt from Foaly, I have no time. I am currently entertaining guests. Your interruption was most unexpected and—" I am going to hate myself for this later. "—unwelcome."

"Oh?" Holly countered jokingly. "I'm hurt, Artemis. I'm very hurt. I simply wished to borrow a room for a couple days. I won't tell you why, but you'll probably figure out anyway, like you always do. If you need me, I'll be in my room!"

Artemis gritted his teeth. Holly had recently annexed a guest room in the Manor as "Property of Short". No matter how many times Artemis had explained to her why it was illegal in both human and fairy law, she had made a habit of simply coming and staying.

"I will be upstairs. And, as you are under my roof, Holly, you will not come upstairs."

Holly watched him go, and breathed a sigh of relief when he was out of sight. She hadn't even really minded the eyeball order at the moment. All she cared about was that he left, because if he stuck around he might have noticed that she really was hurt.