Chapter 14

Methods Tried and True

Warning: Possibly the worst chapter ever written by ICA. Seriously. I could not get this one. I've tried for three months. GGGRRR! Anyway, I thought I should just deal with it and post it, so I can move on to the real plot. Good luck getting through this monstrosity. :)

Holly swung her feet listlessly off the side of the bed, staring at them as if they would magically shrink back to their original size. Artemis and N1 spoke quietly in the background, their worried glances darting between her and each other, drawling on and on about magic versus science. But she didn't care anymore. She couldn't bring herself to care about anything.

How had this happened? Why her?

She shuddered. Human…

A hand grasped her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"Holly…"

The voice sounded as if it were underwater. She glanced up blearily, the image of Artemis slowly coming into focus.

"Holly, we have something N1 might be able to do for you."

Her head slowly turned to the demon, his stature suddenly so short. He smiled up at her, nonetheless, and placed a hand on her knee.

"Holly." His voice was so… powerful. "Holly, can you feel your magic?"

She wavered, her head tilting as if she might pass out, but a sharp, sudden pain under N1's hand brought her around again, causing a yelp in surprise. As she glared down at the imp, she noticed the blue sparks running down her kneecap, flitting between the threads of her now-short LEP pants. They sparked their way along, until reaching her ankles and winking out. She gasped.

N1 nodded. "Good. I was right, Artemis! It is only Mí Samain!"

The young man's brow crinkled in a thoughtful frown. "What…what bearing does that have on our situation?"

"And how do I still retain my magic? What is Mí Samain? And why am I-"

N1 placed a comforting hand on her knee. "Calm down, Holly."

He smiled sweetly, until noticing her frosty glare."I will tell you in a moment, but-"

"No, N1! What is Mí Samain?"

N1 jerked as if struck, startled by the intensity of her tone. "Holly…You are sounding… frustrated. Mad. Frantic. Phrenetic. Agit-"

"I am well aware that I am frustrated! I think I have a reason to be!" She shouted, standing up on the duvet and waving her arms crazily. Her limbs were bony, Artemis decided, with pursed lips and furrowed brow, as he watched her movements slow and eventually falter, her face crumpling in grief. Her knees gave out and she pitched backward, landing spread-eagle on the bed. Tears strained her voice as she spoke.

"I'm so sorry, N1. I didn't mean to- I need your help… I just… don't know what the heck is going on..." her words ended in a whoosh of breath, a hand dragging down her face.

N1's stubby legs managed to clamber up onto the bed beside her, his little arms encircling her shoulders in a friendly hug.

"I don't mind, Holly. It's okay. But…" he sat up by her head, and gave her a quizzical frown. "Mí Samain, as you had asked, is something very old that I thought for sure you would know about."

She shook her head, hands bunching the sheets in a white knuckled grip. Her voice was laced in tension. 'What is it, N1?"

Artemis, who had been somewhat forgotten in his corner of the room, stepped forward and gave N1 an imploring look. "If I may explain the beginning, I think I know where this is going. Correct me if I am on the wrong tangent."

"Frond forbid you be wrong, Artemis." Holly said, her hands over her eyes and red hair sprawled around her in a mesmerizing way.

After a moment of awkward silence among the three, with Artemis staring at the red hair in front of him, Holly lifted a hand to reveal an icy blue eye.

"Well? Get on with it."

He shook his head and continued. "Mí Samain Irish form of the name Samhain, pronounced Sow-in. Surely you have heard of it? Your magic should have translated it."

"It did. I don't know what it is."

He paused, a petulant frown on his lips. "Ah. Well, Samhain was the Pagan Irish celebration on the thirty-first of October and the first of November. The fertility ritual was important, in part perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun, symbolized by the lighting of fires that the livestock were driven through to bring to the slaughter, and the people danced around in a sun-wise direction. Large bonfires marked a time of purification and transition, protecting them while the sidhe gates opened. With it were ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, like the Aos Si. It symbolized the ending of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. "

She stared dumbly at him, as if not quite sure how to respond.

"Sooo… A giant love-making festival?"

…Or …maybe she did have a response.

"Erm… No, that's Beltaine…"

"Yes, yes it was."

Holly's head jerked toward the demon. "N1! You should not even know what that is! You're still a kid!"

The imp's shoulders shrugged. "To much time with Mulch, I guess."

She waved a hand in frustration and impatience. "We'll fix that later. But how is this relevant to me?"

N1 smiled. "Why, the festival is the cure to your ailment."

She sat up with wide eyes. "Erm… come again?"

The smile turned into a malicious smirk. "You heard me right. Samhain is the key. You see, back when we had just recently fled the above ground world, we oft… interbred. Samhain was such a time we did so. Beltaine was humans love making, Samhain was ours. It helped keep relations warm with the sympathizers, you know." He gained a mock thoughtful look that was belied with a smirk. "Or maybe it kept relationships steamy… either way. I digress. An old spell would turn all elven woman- who were considered the most beautiful- into humans, and then allow them to retain their magic. They could keep this form for a year, time enough for their…activities… and then to bear the child."

Both Artemis and Holly stared at the demon with incredulous eyes.

"So, Holly is here to…"

"So I am human so I can…"

N1 giggled delightedly, his knees bouncing on the bed as he laughed. "No, Frond, no! You have merely been included in the spell. I assume that, when your mind was attempting to connect with your body, it had to grasp on the only connecting factor: Artemis. When a glimpse of humanity was brought into your system, it transferred to the quickest format, per say, it could do. Mi Samhain."

Artemis brought a hand to his lips pensively. "So it transferred similarly to Einstein's equation of energy-mass equivalence?"

The demon nodded, even as Holly interjected.

"So, explain this. What the heck happened to me, anyway? At the beginning, I mean."

Here Artemis sat down beside her, elbows resting on his knees as he gazed at her in a scholarly way.

"Your soul was literally being pulled from your body. All of our meddling in time caused your atoms to be slightly jumbled, as we have pointed out many times before. But this time, your body was also burdened with the after-effects of the rune. So your essence was pulled back into the stream."

Holly's brow furrowed. "So… how did I come back?"

"I…I had to reassemble your memories. N1 set up a connection not unlike the one from Hybras. And… then, as he explained, you were included in the Samhain spell. And here you are."

'How long will I be like this? If… If it's even temporary." her voice was ridden with a resigned despair as she stared down at her body, the curves, lengths and skin as unfamiliar to her as any stranger.

N1 paused, waving a finger in the air as if conduction a musical orchestra. "Six… no, nine months. It's March now, we must wait until November."

She jerked around like she was burned. "Nine months? Nine? Are you crazy? What am I suppose to do until then?"

N1 shrugged. "Live. Explore. Ehhh… Oh, yes, and find the sacrifice. Other than that-"

Holly jerked her head from her hands. "Sacrifice?"

Artemis nodded furiously. "Yes. That sounds rather worrying."

N1 looked between them as if they were beyond hope. "The Sacrifice? How could you not… Oh, never mind. The Sacrifice. You need a sacrifice. It's more of a ritualistic thing, however. They don't really sacrifice anything. It is slightly painful, but that is to be expected: it is transferring your elfin-ness from the Earth, through the 'sacrifice' into you."

Both human occupants blinked in unison as they stared at the imp. Holly was the first to speak.

"So… how do I find this… sacrifice?"

N1 bit his lipped and nodded as if in thought. "The sacrifice… has to be three items that embody you, in your elfin days. It is up to you to decide what they are, but you have to choose correctly, or you will have to wait another year."

'Oh Gods…" Holly muttered, carding a hand through her now-thoroughly-mussed hair.

Silence sat heavily upon them for a minute as Holly contemplated how she would do this; Artemis wondering how he was going to handle this.

This silence reigned until Artemis, somewhat awkwardly, cleared his throat.

"Ah, N1… I believe Holly has had a very long and obviously stressful day. I think it would be wise for her to rest in solitude. May I escort you out?"

N1 blinked, and then nodded quickly as his gray feet slid onto the carpeted floor. And, with a sound much akin to that of old parchment against a hand, he shuffled out, Artemis closing the door behind him.

As darkness slid over the room with the absence of the hall's light, Artemis sighed. He walked silently back to Holly, clicking on a wall sconce on his way. His weight sunk the edge of the mattress beside Holly, and she turned her head to look both up and back at him.

Her eyes, he decided, had such a deep sadness about them. The darkness only seemed to turn the colors deeper, pulling in slight flecks of light.

Not knowing what else to do, he slid a hand onto her shoulder and held it there for a long moment.

"You should get some rest, Holly. Tomorrow, we shall begin anew."

She sighed. "Artemis… what do I do?"

He gripped her hand as she-waveringly- clambered back into the cushions and slid her legs under the duvet.

"I don't know Holly." He added a bit of extra confidence into it. Some that he did not feel. "But we shall figure this out in the morning, contact your friends belowground, and straighten this all out."

He strode confidently out of the room, and, with one foot in the door and one out, he turned back over his shoulder to see her watching him.

"Goodnight, Holly."

She nodded and slowly, slowly, closed her eyes.

He shut the door quietly, and leaned his forehead against the wood panel.

How was he going to get through this?

Whoa! You got this far? Better man than me, and I had to write it. I wouldn't wanna read it. Encourage the poor author, le doth hoil? :)