A/N: This chapter is dedicated to all you patient people who read the first chapter and don't hate me for posting another this late. All I have to say for myself is... Regionals for One-Act. Practice all week for four hours. And homework.

Okay, I'm done blathering now. Enjoy.

Artemis blinked. He blinked again and looked at the spot where Athena had vanished. Just... disappeared into that horizontal funnel of electric blue light. What had just happened?

He moved forward slowly, watching her boot prints. Those ridiculous thin fake-leather boots of hers, which were totally inadequate to run through snow in... He stared at the ground where Athena had been standing when she was whooshed into the light. There was a circle, about two feet in diameter, of green grass. Green grass... in the winter. One would normally assume that the grass under the snow would be dead, but this grass was the greenest thing Artemis could see.

Artemis noted that he was being very calm. Any normal person who just saw their sister snatched by a funnel of light would be hysterical. Of course... he wasn't normal, and throughout his adventures, Artemis had come to notice when magic was at work.

There was one person who he HAD to contact. Of course... the last thing she had said to him (almost six months ago) had been to keep Athena safe... so she'd probably wring his neck when he told her Athena was missing. But who else could (or WOULD) help him? With a sigh, Artemis twisted his fairy communicator ring so it rested in his palm.

He took a deep breath... and activated it.

Foaly was just briefing Holly on her next mission (the mag sensors had picked up a rouge troll in Japan. Japan, of all places. There wasn't even a chute in Japan, so how the creature got topside was a total mystery.) when the call came in. Holly fidgeted a little when the communicator buzzed in her jumpsuit pocket.

Foaly raised his eyebrows. They were alone in the Ops booth... so Holly had no reason not to answer it.

"Give me a moment, Foaly?" she asked. Her tone made it evident that 'no' wasn't really an answer, though.

"Really, Captain?" The centaur whinnied.

Holly sighed. "Artemis knows better than to contact me unless it's an emergency."

The centaur gestured to his plasma screens. "This is an emergency, Captain."

Holly ignored the centaur, and activated the fairy communicator.

"Hello, Holly. How are..."

"What's wrong, Artemis," Holly asked impatiently.

"No one lets me talk anymore," the Irish boy grumbled.

"Artemis, if this isn't important..."

Foaly smirked.

"No, no, it's important, I think we'll need No. 1," Artemis said quickly.

"Speak fast, Mud Boy."

"Athena's in trouble."

At those three words, Holly deactivated the communicator and ran towards the door, stopping only to snag a pair of wings as she ran. "You'll have to get someone else to get the troll," she said and then she left the Ops booth, running for the Tara shuttle port.

. . .

Foaly looked after her. "Well," he muttered to himself. "It's a good thing I already gave her the iris cam and ear piece." Then he turned to the plasma screen. "Now we just need someone to take care of that Troll," he mused.

Artemis watched as Holly hovered over the grassy spot. The cold wind was already spreading the powdery snow over the green.

"Again," the elf said, voice tight. "Describe it again."

Artemis sighed. He'd already told the whole story three times.

"We were running, and all of the sudden there was a horizontal funnel cloud of electric blue light. Athena got drawn into it and then the funnel just... flashed out of existence."

No. 1 hadn't said anything, and Holly looked at him. "What do you think?"

"I think... well, the residue energy feels similar to when I spirited you two into the past to rescue Jay Jay." The imp said.

"So... she got sucked into another time!?" asked Holly, horrified.

"No...," said No. 1 slowly. "It's similar, but not exactly the same. If I had to guess, I'd say that she was drawn into another dimension."

"Another dimension! How is that possible!?" asked Holly, while Artemis said, "There are other dimensions!?"

"Well, we demons were in inter-dimensional limbo. Master Quan explained some of it... like, we were stuck between two dimensions. Like... being stuck between two black holes. There's a point where they cancel each other out... so if you know where exactly you want to stop... and you can make a path... you'd be in limbo. It's actually easier to travel to different dimensions than go into limbo, if you have enough energy."

Holly and Artemis stared at the little demon, who fidgeted a little under there looks of complete astonishment.

"Did I mention that it's nearly impossible to find her?" asked the imp nervously. Artemis knew that No. 1 hadn't met Athena yet, due to her extreme reluctance to go underground and due the council's attempts to keep the Aeri a secret. Still, he had to stop himself from throwing a few scathing comments his way.

"Well then," Holly said. "It's a good thing we've got a couple of science geeks on our side who excel at the impossible."

"I suppose I should come underground then," Artemis said.

"Foaly says that would be a good idea," Holly said, her expression making it clear that she was not happy about conveying Foaly's messages to the rest of them. "You might want to let your family and Butler know first though."

Artemis took out his cell phone. He had to take off his gloves to dial the Manor, and his hand was really quite cold by the time he had persuaded Butler to stay at the Manor and keep his family safe. Artemis hung up and looked at Holly. "I hope you have a moon belt. I don't like driving in the winter if I can avoid it."

Holly nodded. "I was suiting up for another mission when I got your call..." she trailed off and winced. Artemis could hear Foaly's voice even from about six feet away. "Yeah, good for you, Foaly. I'm glad you got another officer to do it, I'll give you a pail of carrots as soon as I have time," she muttered.

Then she pulled out some line and fastened Artemis and No. 1 to her moon belt and flew them towards Tara.