Author's Note: Okay folks, this is the limit of what I had the chance to develop. From this point on, the best I can promise is that updates become sporadic at best. Sorry!

Chapter 6

That Holly could see anything at all was a blessing as far as she was concerned. So she didn't particularly panic when she opened her eyes to a hazy distorted view of the world around her. That moment of disorientation was probably the only thing that saved the Fey that appeared in her clearing vision from having her hands around his neck.

Invisible hands restrained her as she shot up, arms lunging for the Fey, screaming with rage and murderous intent, gently pushing her back down.

The had thought the Fey she tried to attack was the claysmith, until it spoke in Zartoo's voice. Nonplussed by Holly's attack, the Magister noted, "Believe it or not, that's the typical reaction, Miss Short. Nebanazar really should be more straightforward with his intentions."

"They don't panic as much when they don't see it coming." The claysmith answered unrepentantly. "This way it's just instinctual reaction. Otherwise, they're tense through the whole thing, and it can cause problems."

The invisible force holding her down vanished, allowing Holly to sit up more slowly. A gold rimmed mirror popped in front of her face, and Nabanazar's voice asked, "Well... what do you think?"

Her human face looked back at her, exactly as it had appeared after the claysmith had done its work. It was her, finally. The changes surprised her as she ran her fingers along the rounded lobe of her ears. She swore she could still feel the points.

"Phantom sensations." Zartoo replied. "Your mind still thinks and processes your surrounding as if you were an elf. It will take time for it to adjust to your new human body and physiology. This is the beginning of the acclimation process. Once it is completed, you will be ready to join the surface world."

"How long will that take?" Holly asked, surprised by the change in her voice (though not a bad change honestly... she doubted some of her harsh vowels would sound like she was squeaking anymore). She found her impatience rising now that the change had finally happened, and found the idea of this acclimation process distasteful

Zartoo sounded indifferent to the question, his shoulders shifting in what could have been the Fey equivalent of a shrug. "That is hard to say. For some, it happens quickly. For others, it can take months."

"It better not take me months." Holly grumbled, shifting her legs so they dangled off the hovering cot she discovered she had been laying on. It was merely a few inches for her feet to reach the ground, and she slid forward, pushed herself up...

… Then tottered dangerously before falling forward flat on her face, yelping in pain.

"Your center of gravity has changed, both in relation to the ground as well as its location in regards to your body. Humans are more top-heavy than elves, and are taller. Your mind is still thinking from a lower center."

Holly forced herself back up to her feet, arms out for balance, as the magister continued. "Much of what your mind processed instinctively is no longer correct. You will have to relearn many of the things that came to you naturally; like walking."

Holly, however, found she was coming to terms with it faster than the Fey suspected. "It feels like I'm walking on stilts. But I'm used to that. Used to do it all the time when I was little. I liked feeling tall."

"Ever tried to run in stilts?" Zartoo queried.

"Well... no." Holly answered. "But I think I'll get the hang of it quickly enough. See?" She then dropped her arms, taking steadily confident steps forward, even if she occasionally teetered from side to side. She spied a doorway in front of her, and decided it was a good target to aim for. "Don't worry, I got this!"

Zartoo spied her destination, and warned. "Another thing is that your proportions have changed. Humans are wider and not as svelte. As a result, your spatial awareness is skewed, and you must be careful not to do things like run into..."

Holly had reached her goal, prepared to turn left, then smashed her shoulder painfully into the side of the doorway; the pain disrupting her thoughts and therefore balance, and causing her to fall over backwards with the back of her head bouncing painfully on the stone floor and sending stars cascading through her vision.

"Doorframes." Zartoo finished with a pained grimace.

Nebanazar had sidled up to the magister and quipped, "You really need to start finishing your warnings faster, Magister."

"Hurt... you. I... hurt you... all." Holly hissed while trying to decide which was in more pain, her head or her shoulder.

Her acclimation did proceed faster than most according to the Fey, however. Her time already spent on the surface had already prepared her on a social level; the former elf actually able to teach them a few things about the surface cultures.

And she did pick up the on the physical changes quickly, though she was a bit depressed to discover that she had lost a great deal of her natural dexterity and it wasn't returning swiftly.

"It's a consequence of being roughly three times more massive than you used to be. It takes several years of studious training for them to match an elf's inherent nimbleness." Nebanazar said, trying to comfort Holly after she attempted a back flip that went horribly awry.

It took the new human a few seconds to process the words through the painful throbs where she had landed on the top of her head. "I used to pick on Artemis for being so slow and lumbering. I never realized just how much of a disadvantage he had."

"Hah!" The claysmith laughed, "Oh, I'm sure he wasn't a physical specimen even among his kind."

"But even I'm a clumsy oaf!" She protested.

"No, you aren't. You're already above average in thirteen days time... at least to surface reckoning. If you keep working at it, I think you'd discover you could be every bit as light of foot as before. It would just be more effort to stay at that level."

"However, that is time that you really do not have at this moment." Zartoo declared as he entered the training room. "The LEP has discovered your forged orders. They are keeping things under wraps currently, and out of the LEAF's prying eyes... but it is only a matter of time before they are discovered, and you are deemed a renegade of the Lower Elements."

Holly had known this, but had figured she'd have a plan in place when that time came. She, however, did not. "D'Arvit!" She exclaimed.

"Language, dear lady!" Nebanazar replied.

"Oh, please. You were born before the flight underground." Holly snapped back. "I'm sure you've heard worse cursing."

Nebanazar shook his head. "Of course I have. But humans don't say 'd'arvit'. They say, 'fucking arse' or 'goddamn shite.'"

That earned the claysmith an angry glare from both Holly and Zartoo.

Holly then dropped her head, "I was hoping that I'd have a plan. But I took too long here, didn't I?"

Zartoo waved off the concern. "In your handbag you will find an address for a location on the surface. There, you will find sanctuary and aid. However, it will likely be a long travel for you and your friends, so I wouldn't waste time."

Holly jumped to said handbag, hanging from a hook where her day's clothes were also set out, and sure enough, there was a slip of white paper that had not been there before. Written in a human language on plain paper and with blue pen (likely in case it was found on the surface) was indeed an address.

14095 Woodinville Redmond Road NE

Redmond, WA

Holly blinked. It wasn't an address to anywhere she was used to, though she could have sworn she had seen something like it before, at Artemis's manor several years ago.

"It's in the United States." Zartoo said. "The state of Washington. I do not believe you have ever been there."

Holly's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How can... this place help me?"

Zartoo shook his head. "That I cannot tell you. Those who lord over that place would not take kindly to me talking so freely. You trusted us with your life. You need to trust us again. Go there."

Holly tucked the paper back into her handbag. "Very well. So how do I get to the surface?"

Zartoo closed the distance, and said, "Expose your shoulder. The right one."

Holly complied, and the Fey's thin fingers closed around said shoulder. A flash of violet light followed, and when Zartoo stepped back, there was an ornate tattoo-like insignia like an elaborate compass. "That is a Transposition Emblem, more old magic of the Fey, lost to fairy and human. With it, we can swap you with another person anywhere that carries the same mark. It should also buy you considerable time, as such methods bypass normal transportation that the Lower Elements could detect."

Holly examined the emblem more closely, and discovered it actually wasn't on her skin, but floating just above it. "Do I need to keep it exposed?"

"No." Zartoo replied before resuming his briefing. "Even though the LEP has discovered your duplicity, they have not reported it to LEAF. You have time, and it is fairly important that you don't act rashly and cause them alarm. I will maintain contact with you initially while monitoring the situation. Do not make your flight until I give you word."

"Are the Fey normally this helpful?" Holly wondered out loud.

Zartoo shook his head slowly. "No, but it seems like as good of a time as any to test our new listening systems. It's a mutually beneficial process. Nothing has been added or detracted from our arrangement, I assure you. Now, follow me. We must leave the den to transpose you. We'd rather not let the one we will use inside our home."

It turned out leaving the den meant leaving the phased reality that the Fey reside in entirely. Yet she was surprised that they didn't emerge into the Face of the Lower Elements. In fact, she wasn't exactly sure where she was.

"The LEP are searching where you entered our phase." Zartoo said. "Therefore, we left somewhere else." The magister closed his eyes, and said. "This is unfortunate."

Holly didn't like the sound of that. "What is unfortunate?"

"It would seem that our friend has moved in the last handful of hours. He is now in Cherbourg, France. And I would recommend that you run and make yourself scarce once you are transposed."

"Why?"

Zartoo frowned. "It seems our friend has gotten himself in a wee bit of trouble. You shouldn't be surprised, really. You know him, and how he tends to attract undesired attention from those he shouldn't antagonize."

Holly couldn't imagine who among her friends or associates could be running in the same circles as the Fey. "I do?"

"Yes. Mulch Diggums."

"Wha...!" Holly began to exclaim as she felt yanked out of her own skin and the world around her was put into a spin cycle.

"...t?" She finished when reality decided to slow down, she found herself in a dank alleyway off what she presumed was a French street. She guessed this because she was told that Mulch had been in France, and that three seconds later, five city police barged from the corner into the alley, guns drawn, shouting at her in French to not move, and tell them where the little person had run off to.

"Fucking arse." Holly grumbled as the officers took her into custody for questioning. If she ever saw Mulch Diggums again, she was going to kill kim.

Holly wouldn't leave France for another six days. Not due to anything tied to Mulch, at least... after all there was absolutely no evidence linking her to whatever crime the dwarf had tried to commit. But there was a slight problem in that the Fey hadn't given her quite everything she would need, especially when in a foreign country.

Like a passport.

Zartoo had been in telepathic communication during her detainment, telling her not to make any rash decisions with the limited magic she had remaining, or expect Fey assistance to that effect. To be fair, there was good reason for that; throwing around magic to grease the wheels would probably draw attention of the LEAF, the last group of people Holly wanted to have stick their noses in and start sniffing around.

She was advised to let the gears of bureaucracy run its course. The LEAF still was not getting involved with her supposed disappearance, and Trouble was in no hurry to surrender control of that investigation.

So she complied, and she was indeed released and issued a new passport by the UK Embassy... six days later, after she was finally able to convince the proper authorities that she had oh so tragically mugged by a terrifying little person who took her wallet and passport before approaching police scared him off, and she hadn't said anything right away because she had been so shocked by how suddenly it all happened. Her familiarity with Mulch Diggums helped here as she was able to provide an excellent description of the dwarf without prompting that matched their own.

Yet her trials didn't end once she crossed the channel and landed in Christchurch, Dorset; because even after the embassy gave her free travel, the Fey also neglected to provide something that she would need in pretty much any country she was in.

Money.

As she groused about the absence of coin to herself, Zartoo interjected telepathically.

We provided you with the means to have an identity on the surface. The Magister said. You were the one who supposedly had friends there.

Maybe the nature of bargains with the Fey weren't entire true, Holly had decided... but they weren't entirely false either.

She had decided while in detainment that she wanted to surprise Artemis with her new self, to see the look on his face as she bared her soul to him. That meant contacting him for money was out of the question. If she called Butler, he'd just tell Artemis. Artemis's mother might have been willing to play along, but Holly didn't know a number to contact her. Juliet, Butler's sister, would have also been willing, but she was in New York, where the "rent was too damn high" as it was.

At least Juliet was willing to keep the secret; but it still didn't change the fact that she really needed a change of clothes. Badly.

Holly remembered she had a special account set up for Artemis while she was on the surface, but she hadn't wanted to use it because he would no doubt notice the activity. At this point, however, she didn't have any other options.

Now she just had to find an ATM in which to access it.

It couldn't just be any one... Holly (or any elf for that matter) was forbidden to have access to human wealth, and had ways to track transactions at nearly any financial institution. There however, was on exception.

A specific banking institution apparently was "clean" from fairy influence, according to Artemis, and it was a claim that seemed to be supported by the fact that she had used that account multiple times without Trouble ever barking at her about it. So either trouble didn't care (which was laughable), or there was a bank that had managed to shove out, and keep out, fairy eyes and ears.

Which is why her path to Christchurch had not been an accident, as one such bank was here, in the city.

The green sign and insignia of Emerald Employees Credit Union was her personal pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and damn was she glad to see it.

But there was one more potential hurdle that she remembered and discovered once she entered the building, and the kiosk where the ATM was situatied.

Emerald ATM's used a new identification technology. You didn't have cards. You provided a thumb print and a retinal scan. What if... the new body she was given was different? Retinal scans were notoriously hard to replicate perfectly, after all.

"Goddamn shite." She grumbled, leaned into the sensor while dropping her thumb onto the print reader, and gave it a shot...

Artemis couldn't help but grin cheekily as Holly reached the conclusion of her tale.

"While the ATM did accept my fingerprint and retinal scan, I had a different official name than the one on the account." She said with mounting frustration at the recollection. "Took twenty-four hours to jump through those hoops before I could see even one pound. Fortunately, one of the tellers was a dear and spotted me forty to get a motel room with a shower."

"Then even once I got here, it was no peach. Turns out they don't just let anyone into a gated complex like this one. And again, as my name was changed, I wasn't on the list." Holly growled, leveling a baleful glare up at him. "Tried to find you on campus on a day you were supposed to be teaching, only to discover you had called in sick."

Artemis grin turned into a wince, mostly because she had starting poking him in the chest. "I had to use some of my limited residual magic to mesmer your neighbor so that I could get in here. At that point, I learned about his party, and figured it was as good of a way to get you to see the new me."

The chiding was replaced by a tired sigh. "You are a very hard man to surprise, you know that?"

Artemis allowed himself a chuckle, and dropped a kiss onto her forehead. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't have lived to see my teen years." He then followed it up with another peck on her lips, and an appraising look into her eyes. Even with all the changes, they were still her eyes.

He'd know. One of them had been his for a while.

"So this was done for me, was it?" He asked. It wasn't something he was still totally sold on, especially the fact that it would no doubt make a mess of his life in the very near future.

Holly again dropped her head against his chest. "Maybe it was stupid. Maybe it's just going to make a mess of both our lives." She then looked up at him. "But... it was chance I wanted to take. I... didn't get the chance to say it a month ago, Arty... but I love you too. I have for a while, really. What's the point of living a millennium if I'm never going to find someone who makes me feel so much of everything ever again?"

It was her turn to drop a kiss on his lips, and she did so. "I want us to be together, and we couldn't be when we lived in two different worlds. So... I decided to become part of yours."

Artemis tightened his embrace. "Then lets get to work so that we have that future. Why don't you show me this address that the Fey gave you? Even if they don't want us making a break for it yet, it would be a good idea to have a plan in place."

Holly nodded, broke contact, turned around, then "accidentally" let the sheet fall to the floor as she crossed the hall to retrieve her handbag. She rather needed to get dressed anyway... might as well give Artemis one more show before she did.

When she returned ten minutes later in a green tee and denim jeans, and the handbag off her shoulder, she offered the slip Zartoo had given her to Artemis.

Any cheer he had vanished the moment he read it contents, the change so rapid and profound that it startled Holly. "Arty? What is it? What's wrong?"

Artemis held up a single finger to quiet her as he grabbed his cell phone from his desk and hit the top number on his speed dial. Once the recipient answered, Artemis said with a morose tone of voice, "Hello, Butler. Are you still planning on coming down this afternoon? Great. I could probably use the company right now, old friend."

Holly's eyes bulged, "Butler was coming to visit?"

Artemis demonstrated the saddened voice was wholly faked when his response was completely neutral. "Well, he is now. I didn't want to tip off anyone down below in case they were listening in by asking for an unplanned meeting."

Holly knew that the bodyguard wasn't exactly in peak condition, the years and the course of her healing aging him all those years ago had started to take its toll. "Artemis... should we be dragging him into this?"

"We'll need his expertise, Holly. Not necessarily his muscles." He replied. He held up the address she had given him and explained. "I know this address, you see. My father is an investor in the company where this address holds it headquarters."

"What is it?"

"The company is called Emerald Technologies, formerly InfoTech. They've become the primary player in the tech world since Opal's murder paradox. My father thinks they're nothing more than that, but Butler and I know differently."

Holly wasn't sure she was liking where this was going. The deal she made with the Fey was starting to look even worse. "What are they... then?"

"I'm not entirely certain what their game is, and that's scary enough. All I know is that they have technology that is 'clean', completely lacking any fairy influence or surveillance. You know how good LEP listening was, and I can't imagine the LEAF let that slip once they took over."

"That 'clean' nature couldn't have happened by accident." Holly surmised.

Artemis nodded, "They know about the People, Holly. They have to. And the way that their company has expanded world-wide, I shudder to think what they could be brewing. But that's not even the worst of it."

Holly grimaced. "And what's the worst?"

"The man who heads this company goes by the name of Sean Broderick, but Butler knew him by an entirely different name. His bio would tell you he's a former Army Green Beret Major; but he worked for the CIA under the code name Eraser, as well as freelance assassinations for anyone who could spare fifteen million American dollars in exchange for someone dead."

Artemis's face was grim, and his voice wasn't any better. "Holly... the Fey want to put you right on the doorstep of quite possibly the deadliest man on Earth."