Borrowing a page from Opal's book… could it be? Foaly trotted over to a cabinet, selected a file briefcase, and flicked it open.

After a few moments of loading, the hologram popped up.

FILE: OPAL KOBOI

Chapter 6

Minerva was ever so annoyed.

The perfect moment! The perfect moment! And it was gone! For what? For what? A stupid, clumsy, little midget?

There was something else bothering her as well. Artemis had been too preoccupied to notice, but Holly was certainly not telling the truth. It was clear in her posture, her eyes, and her voice, amongst other things. Her injury was just a convenient excuse for staying at the Manor, monitoring – what? Who? Probably me, Minerva thought. She had sensed the fairies watching her through one of Artemis's cameras, but that was only for a moment before she snapped the connection. The People had almost certainly noticed at once that several of their fairies had lost their magic permanently, and by now they had most likely gathered what was going on. The truly troubling part, however, was that Holly had arrived even though the fairies knew Minerva was powerful. It was as if she were here to interrupt on purpose. Her many "accidents" were too perfectly timed to be coincidence. And for them to send someone to stay, they must have realized what she was about to put forward to Artemis. There would need to be a major change of plans if she was to avoid fairy intervention…

Artemis entered the room, apologizing profusely. Well, she might as well save some talk for another time, then. She rose gracefully, black silk swishing at her ankles.

"I suppose that is enough for you to take in for one day, Artemis. I will retreat to my room, if you don't mind."

Artemis hesitated to soak everything in, something he very, very rarely did. Finally he decided that there was little he could do until he got a chance to think alone.

"Minerva, I hardly think I could stop you from destroying the Manor, much less take one room. But if you will excuse me, I will not be escorting you."

Minerva's lips curved upward slightly. "Understandable," she purred, and glided out of the door.

Holly awoke with a start.

Of course! There was a loophole!

Just before Artemis left her room, he had said, "Stay. Otherwise…" and finished with a menacing glare.

Ha! "Otherwise"! He said the word "otherwise! Ha!

Holly limped out of her room experimentally. No ill effects. Good. But what was she going to do with a broken ankle and sprained wrist?

And where in the world was Butler?

Holly had patrolled the downstairs enough to know he wasn't here. In fact, shouldn't he have followed Artemis when he opened the door?

Not downstairs, not upstairs, so there was only one place in the Manor he could be…

Holly made her painful way toward the cellar.

Minerva struggled to keep her temper in check.

I am in control. This is my body. I am in control. I am calm.

For once, she really wasn't so sure.

Holly banged on the door. "Butler!" she shouted.

She had picked the locks on the door, but it still wasn't opening. And if Butler was in there, he wasn't responding.

"Butler!" she yelled again.

Holly slid to the floor, exhausted. This wasn't getting her anywhere at all.

Then, a few minutes later:

"Holly, is that you?"

Butler! He was alive! He'd probably be able to break open the door. And maybe he would have some answers.

"How did I get in here?"

Or maybe not.

Butler? She freed Butler? Why, the puny –

No.

Teach that insolent creature a lesson.

No. No! No, no, no, no, no!

Butler followed Holly into her room, weapons ready.

"Do you have something that'll counteract the mesmer?" Butler asked.

"It is against the Book to mesmerize another fairy…" Holly trailed off. Minerva didn't follow the Book. She retrieved her helmet and flicked her visor down – manually, since the buttons didn't work. "What about you?"

"Contacts," he said simply. Of course.

"Alright, then," the bodyguard switched to battle mode. "I'll take care of Minerva. You convince Artemis to get the hell out of there."

How dare they! Plotting to confront her! Her! Minerva Paradizo!

Don't tolerate this audacity. Go punish them!

Minerva's already straining control snapped. She streaked downstairs in a blur.

They were just about to go up when Minerva came down.

Butler dove and fired at Minerva's leg, shouting at Holly to go up stairs. Out of the corner of his eye, Butler saw her obey.

He fired again at the surprisingly still-standing Minerva several more times, now aiming for more damaging areas. Minerva simply turned around to face Butler, amusement plain on her face. "You weren't supposed to come out so early." Minerva smiled and Butler thought he saw something gold glint in her eyes. The fireplace exploded. Butler was blinded for a moment as the ash clouded his eyes. When it cleared, Minerva was nowhere to be seen.

Minerva was in the office long before Holly limped there. Artemis was standing, waiting.

"What happened?" he inquired, seemingly calm.

Minerva was too angry to answer. The rage consumed her, wrapping up every gram of sense and squeezing it to death. She whirled around as Holly appeared in the doorway.

"Artemis! You have to – whoa. How did you get here?"

Minerva said nothing, but her eyes – like flat golden disks, thought Holly – glared daggers at Holly. How dare the impudent elf question her? A rafter began creaking above them. It started bending, threatening to give way.

Holly reacted on pure instinct, ignoring the searing pain in her ankle as she rolled out of the way, and then her wrist began to burn too as she put her weight on it. She escaped just before the heavy granite beam fell, demolishing two busts, a painting, and the very spot Holly was standing on only a moment before.

Minerva sealed the door of the guestroom after closing it, melting down the doorknob and using the molten steel to seal the cracks between door and wall. It wasn't too secure for Butler or Holly to handle, so Minerva added an intimidating tangle of golden thorns. Closer inspection would reveal that the vegetation was actually constructed of billions of gold sparks – far more dangerous than any plant.

That completed, Minerva collapsed on the bed. What had she done? The magic was trying to control her again, fueling the tiniest piece of annoyance into roaring rage. She could feel the elf's heat signature downstairs as she narrowly escaped her doom.

Minerva had almost killed her. For what? For doing what the fairy thought was necessary. For reacting naturally. For being what she was. And that wasn't all. How would Artemis see her now? How would she be able to complete her mission?

Minerva sat there and used her anger against the magic's, locking it away in a safe lead chest bound by restraints and rules, not to be shown again unless she consciously willed it to.

Once she was completely in control of herself, Minerva stood and sighed, clasping and unclasping her hands, dreading what she had to do next. Another minor inconvenience of the magic – needing to apologize and even admit to rivals that she made a mistake. She decided to procrastinate. Instead of heading out the door, she closed her eyes and reached out with her mind for the microphone in Foaly's office.

Butler sprinted upstairs as a huge marble beam fell in the corridor. That couldn't have been an accident – the whole hall was made of one stone, and Butler would have noticed if any part was weakening. Either Holly had messily managed to shoot it down (and why would she do that?) or there was a whole lot he had missed.

Artemis was thrown to the floor by the vibration as the corridor was demolished. A few minutes later he peeled himself from the ground just as Holly stumbled into the office, covered in granite dust. Her visor had shattered and her gun was crushed under the beam. Her shoulder was bloody from where flying debris had nicked her, her ankle was just about ruined, and Holly looked altogether abysmal. Still, her next words shocked Artemis even more than her appearance.

"Min—Minerva. Sh—she tried to kill me."

A/N: For readers who have started before November 20, you should be confused. Yes, I changed the color of Minerva's magic from silver to gold. This is because of a variety of reasons but mostly because gold is a lot more ... emotional of a color than silver, don't you think? Well, this is just about bordering on a spoiler, so I'll stop here.

I updated two times this month to make up for not updating in October.