Holly's jaw dropped. "That," she said in an incredulous voice, "that, is an ATHLETIC centaur."
Foaly looked at her, a hurt expression on his face. "I've been jogging..." he complained.
Meanwhile, Artemis' thoughts had been whirring so fast, he was barely able to register one before the next one came. He stared at the picture. Then, one thought came and stayed. Artemis smiled. He now had a theory of how to beat this... whatever had taken his sister.
"Artemis? Hello, Earth to Artemis?" came a voice, startling him out of his thoughts.
"I think I might have figured it out," was his reply to Holly. "I think I might know a way to get into that other dimension."
"How?" asked Foaly.
"That picture. Can you re-create it?" asked Artemis.
Foaly snorted. "Of course!" he said indignantly.
"No.1, do you think that you can... well, you know, create that blue vortex?"
No.1 just looked at him. "I don't know Artemis, maybe. I'd need Master Quan's help, at least. And... I don't know where he is at the moment."
Artemis looked at the little demon. "Well, we really don't have a lot of time. So... lets see how quickly you can find him." The demon nodded and ran off.
"Artemis, what you're thinking is really, really dangerous," said Holly quietly. "We know absolutely nothing about that place where Athena was taken..." Artemis looked at her, his eyes full of hope. Holly just couldn't bring herself to continue that the chances of this working well very small.
"I know, Holly," he said quietly, looking over to where Foaly was busying himself with the 3-D imager. "But I have to believe."
Holly looked at him in shock. "Did you just say... believe? Since when did you just... BELIEVE stuff?"
The boy chuckled darkly. "I think Athena's rubbing off on me."
::::::::::::::-::::::::::::::::::::::::
They stood again on the spot where Athena had disappeared. Finding Quan hadn't taken No.1 too long, just a couple of minutes. Now he stood with them, doubt plain on his face.
"I have no doubt that No.1 has the amount of power needed," he said finally. "But we've never practiced using so much power so... finely. So precisely. I may be able to help, but even my area of knowledge is limited in this area. I will not be able to... ah... fine-tune the radius."
And... what does that mean for us?" asked Holly nervously. She had come to notice that in dire situations like this... being a fraction, just a fraction, off, could easily spell disaster.
"Well, It basically means that you and Artemis may not be the only living things sucked through. No.1 and I should be quite safe, we're the ones wielding the power."
"Well," she said, relieved. "That doesn't sound too bad."
Foaly raised his eyebrows. "Just so long as I don't end up sucked in..." he muttered as he fine-tuned the 3-D scanners to the exact spot the cameras had shown the picture before.
The two demons held hands. "Good luck you two, and at least this time you get to keep your cloths on. Also, make sure Athena's holding onto you when you come back. I can only drag you two through the dimensions, since I have given you both a bit of my magic. Fare well!" said No.1.
Artemis closed his eyes, he wasn't sure he was looking forward to this ride. He felt Holly slip her hand into his and flinched slightly in surprise. Then There was a rushing sensation.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::_-_:::::::::::::
Before Artemis could register the soft grass beneath him, a lot of things happened at once.
First, there was a swoosh and a thud as something embedded itself in a tree right behind him.
Someone, Artemis' mind brightened when he briefly recognized Athena's voice, yelped "Artemis!"
And a boy nearby yelped "Gods Almighty!"
And then, Artemis noticed that Holly and he weren't the only ones to have come through the inter-dimensional portal.