Chapter Four: The Unorthodox Rescue Plan

Holly had put up with leaving her friends behind, but she wouldn’t allow these strange women to dress her in altogether strange clothes and paint her face with their makeup.

The elders took their “god” into a hall of mirrors, and Holly had a chance to look at herself. The clothes she were forced into was very revealing; the skirt wasn’t really a skirt, but it had the same sorta style to it, and her top was just like a strapless top made of gold. The makeup was gold as well, and black eyeliner was applied to her eyelids and pulled back in a thick line. Her hair was straightened and a small tiara of bronze placed on top. The women put bracelets on her arms and added gold flecks to her hair. Holly certainly looked the part of Ra in fairy/human form.

The radio, which was still in her ear, emitted a sound that was obviously Foaly laughing. Holly’d forgotten she still had the iris-cam in her eye. She exhaled sharply.

“Drink it in, centaur, because this is all you’re ever gonna get.” she said, and the laughter stopped.

“We’ll come get you before they hurt you.” She wasn’t sure if she could trust the Mud Boy’s words, but the sound of them comforted her, if only for a minute.

“Short, there’s no time to fool around. We’re thinking up a plan to get you out.” That was Artemis. No doubt he was down below, watching what was happening.

Holly took a deep breath.

“I won’t. I trust you.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In all actuality, only Artemis was thinking up a plan, with the assistance of Foaly, Butler and Juliet, but he was too concerned for Holly’s safety than what they did or didn’t do.

The transmission on Foaly’s plasma screen pictured Holly looking at herself. She looked by far much prettier than she ever had; it was obvious. Trouble Kelp, who was in the Ops booth as well, gave a low wolf whistle. Luckily Holly didn’t seem to have heard it. Her eyes shone from under her newly straight hair, the eyeliner she now wore making them stand out even more.

Butler shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cleared his throat.

“Just stay there for now.” The picture on the screen moved with the movement of her head.

Artemis chewed his lower lip. The only thing he could think of was swooping in at the last minute and saving Holly then, but that just seemed like one of those romantic/action/adventure movies that were coming out with these days.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holly collapsed on her bed, closing her eyes and sighing. From what Foaly had translated for her, she had three days before they would take her to a temple to be sacrificed.

“Sacrificed my ass. Stabbed is more like it.”

“Hey, don’t be so ‘the-glass-is-half-empty’ on us now Holly.” Juliet.

“How can I not, seeing as they’re planning to kill me in three days?”

She heard Juliet sigh.

“Holls, don’t worry. We’ll get you out of there before long. And, by the way, I really love the Egyptian-queen look on you. I’m sure everyone here thinks you’re gorgeous.”

Holly’s eyes flicked open for a split second before closing again.

“Oh really?” I can use this to my advantage.

“Yep. I’m sure even Artemis thought you looked nice.”

“I don’t think so.” she replied, smiling smugly. Said boy was probably in the same room as Juliet. Holly thought she heard someone shift around awkwardly.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he did.” Did she hear a hint of teasing in her voice?

“He might have, but we’re only friends. I’m quite sure he’d only think of me as a good friend.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holly’s words hurt. Sure, she was a good friend, but Artemis may have had feelings for her. Stupid puberty. Juliet looked back at him, smiled mockingly, then turned back to talk to Holly again.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, he kidnapped me to start with. I’ve only thought of him as a friend beginning with when he helped me reattach my pointer finger. That was painful.”

“I bet it was.”

Could she really think of him as only a friend?

“I think he’s a good match for Minerva. I only know that he makes her happy.”

Minerva? Oh, God. he thought. She must know I’m here.

“What makes you say that Holls?”

“Haven’t you seen the way she looks at him? It’s extremely obvious.”

Juliet looked at Artemis to speak up.

“Hello, Captain.”

The picture from Holly’s iris-cam came up. She’d opened her eyes.

“Hi Artemis. How goes it down below?”

“Fairly well, I assume.”

“You know what they say about the word ‘assume’….”

“You still have your cockiness, I see.”

“You still have the ability to point out the incredibly obvious.”

Juliet stifled a chuckle.

She’s piling on the sarcasm now.

The iris-cam moved slightly, and suddenly they saw Holly as if they were there looking at her.

“Enough with the jokes. You just stay put and we’ll-“

“Come get me. Yes, I know the drill.”

Holly inserted the camera back into her eye.

“’Night. I’m going to bed.” The camera’s feed went black.

Juliet got up and left the two to be alone.

“Sleep well, then.”

“You two Mud Boy.”

After two minutes the audio began to buzz. She’d turned of her radio.

Foaly had returned, sucking on a carrot.

“Hey, have you seen Root lately?”

“No; he’s on vacation, remember?”

Artemis shot the centaur a death glare.

“I don’t keep up with the dates of a LEP officer’s vacations.”

Foaly snickered.

“Oh, of course you don’t.” The usual sarcastic reply.

“Don’t give him any of your lip, Foaly.” said a familiar voice. Root had returned early because of Holly’s second capture.

Artemis shook the commander’s hand.

“Nice to see you again, Fowl.”

“You as well, Commander.”

Root nodded, chewing on his noxious cigar.

“So, what’s this I hear about another kidnapping involving Captain Short?”

Foaly cleared his throat.

“She’s in Egypt.”

“Doing what? What’s her status?”

“She’s…..well, you tell him, Arty.”

Artemis narrowed his eyes again, but spent the whole night explaining the situation. The camera feed from Holly came up again.

“Good morning, Captain.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holly sat bolt upright on hearing Root.

“Commander? What are you doing down there? I thought you were on vacation!”

Root grunted.

“I heard about you getting kidnapped again, so I came to see what your status was. Happy?”

Holly was still a bit bleary-eyed, but she looked in the mirror; her hair was a bit messy, so she ran her hand through it. She heard Root whistle.

“Didn’t know you could clean up so well, Short. Like the straight hair.”

Foaly chuckled.

“Shut up Foaly. I don’t think Caballine will be happy to hear about this.”

She could almost see Root turn beet red and Foaly’s pupils dilate.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now it was Artemis’ turn to chuckle. The fact that her situation was bad didn’t make a blow to Holly’s cockiness.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, it can’t be-“ Her sentence was cut off when two women entered the room and led her somewhere.

“Foaly, where is she going? I want to know where she’s headed right now!” Root was now a light shade of purple.

Artemis had his laptop on his lap, and immediately pulled up a blueprint of the village where Holly was being held. A bright green dot appeared, moving down a passageway; he’d put a locator on Holly.

“Holly, you’re headed towards a new building we didn’t see earlier. I don’t know what it is. I’m sorry about the vagueness.”

“That’s okay, Artemis. I’ll find out soon enough.”

If you want to see what Holly’s outfit looks like, watch The Mummy Returns. The outfit that Evie/Princess Nefetiri wears is what I based it off of.

Some other stories by thecutevillan:

• Update for A.F. and the Red-Haired Egyptian!

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