Ok, so since I'm kind of busy with my 13 Days Of Halloween. But, it will be done by October 31st! Not BATB, 13 Days...there is still alot to go through with BATB.

Holly sat in the bed for quite some time after Artemis left, pushing all thoughts of everything to do with him and what he'd done and said from her mind. She had a very hard time doing so, and ended up pacing the length of the bed rapidly. She was just too restless to sit still.

Suddenly, she felt the need to escape, even stronger than ever. And since she couldn't leave the manor...

She bolted for the closet, throwing the door open and rushing in, ducking in the hole that led to the tunnels, and took off running.

Meanwhile, Artemis sat in his study, unaware of Holly's actions. He was at his computer, trying to hack into Foaly's security systems, and get far enough he could get some information on Holly. He decided finding out a little more abou her past couldn't hurt, and would probably be a good idea to figure out how to deal properly with her.

Foaly sure has a lot of security measures in place, Artemis thought. But then he smiled. Of course he did. He was a genius, after all. And Artemis would enjoy the challenge, and the distraction of breaking them down, slowly, one by one.

It took several hours, even with Artemis's intelligence, mostly because this was the first time he'd ever tried to do something of this magnitude. Next time would be easier.

Of course, the issue with this was, though Artemis didn't know it, was that while he was on the computer, Holly was roaming the tunnels alone, and with him busy and unknowing, every second he spent on the computer gave her another second to roam. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, of she actually remember how to properly navigate it. It had been a while, and she wasn't sure whether she could keep herself from getting lost or not, but at this point, she also didn't care.

Holly was in the tunnels for about two hours, roaming and wandering around aimlessly. But she was enjoying the solitude, so she stayed.

Eventually, her legs tired. But instead of heading back to her bedroom, she just sat down where she was, crossing her legs and leaning back against the hard wall. It was cool, and it felt good against her burning skin. She slid down it, crawling over nearby to a big rock, and laid down on it, resting her head on her arms. And soon, despite the hard surroundings, she was surprisingly comfortable, and she fell asleep.

Artemis, by this time, was already finishing up his hacking. Just as Holly dozed off into the realm of sleep, he was finally breaking into Foaly's computer systems and beginning to search for her file.

It didn't take long; there was only one Holly Short in the whole Lower Elements, let alone in the LEP. He had found and downloaded the whole file in under an hour. Which was a good thing, because soon after Foaly's systems booted him out.

Then he printed it out and started reading.

The file was far more detailed than he expected, which meant it was longer. It covered everything from her date of birth, up to her tragic "death" a while back. And it even covered the insignificant details, too, which he thought was a bit much, but was still grateful for anyways.

Since the file was so long, it took long than expected to read it. He had planned to check on Holly afterwards, but he didn't have to, as it turned out.

Holly woke up not long after she fell asleep. Still tired and extremely groggy, she stood and stumbled back in the general direction she thought her bedroom was in.

She was headed towards a bedroom, but not her own.

Tired and still bleary eyed, Holly stumbled through the tunnels and, unknowingly, into Artemis's room.

The boy jumped up when he heard the footsteps in his adjoining bedroom, bursting in to see Holly staring at him with unfocused eyes. "Holly?" he asked, worried, pushing her down on the bed.

"Dang it," the elf muttered. "Wrong room."

Artemis caught on immediately. "You were in the tunnels." She nodded. "Why?"

"I don't know. I just wanted to somewhere, I guess. I couldn't think of any other place to go."

He nodded, studying her face carefully. "Holly... Did you fall asleep in the tunnels?" She nodded again. "Oh, geez. I don't even want to know how."

She smirked. "I have talent, that's how. It's LEP training. Now, I'm going back to my room."

She started to stand, but Artemis grabbed her arm. "No. I'm not letting you go so you can run through the tunnels again." He nodded at the bed. "Lay down in here."

She made a face. "But-"

"But nothing. You. Will. Lay. Down," Artemis ordered, looking her straight in the eyes. Holly cursed quietly and laid down on the bed.

"There. Happy? Now go back to whatever you were doing," she muttered. She rolled up in the blankets and turned over on her side, away from him.

"Actually, I was just about to come looking for you. There's some things I thought we should talk about."

"Like what?" she asked without looking up.

"Like, why didn't you ever tell me your birthday was in three days?"

Her jaw went slack. "How did you find that out?"

"I have my sources. Now, why didn't you?"

"I didn't want my birthday celebrated. I hate it. And I certainly don't want anything you humans would get me, if anything..."

"Oh, well, okay then. Guess I'll just have to give you your present another time."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Like I care."

Artemis arched his brow, but didn't say anything, just shook his head.

He started to stand up, but Holly started to get up as well. "Holly, stay here. Try and get some sleep.

Holly didn't get up, but she didn't lay down either. Only the first part was a command. "Artemis...just don't."

"Don't what?" He asked.

"Don't think that this changes anything." Holly responded.

"We'll see. Now, lay down and get some rest. I have work to finish." He turned and walked away, but paused in the door. "Rest well, Holly." She nodded and immediately laid down, closing her eyes, and Artemis turned and headed back into his study, feeling satisfied with the small spark of hope he'd acquired when he thought about her gift. He smiled inwardly. It wouldn't take long to get he to come back around now, despite anything she said.

He'd get her trust back, one way or another.

625 GO!