A Piece of Mind

Chapter [15]

Holly made her way through the streets of Haven, a part of her mind marvelling at the lack of traffic - she should really start waking up earlier.

She tried again to rub her headache away - the medicine she had taken was not working. Artemis' conversation had unnerved her. She knew there were things he was keeping from her but she hadn't pressed. She was surprised he hadn't contacted Foaly for help with the communicator problem or figured it out earlier on his own. She supposed he had a lot of other things to think about, even for his big brain.

She walked into Section Eight, smiling in amusement at an intern who was fumbling around with a box of files. It must have been his first day, and he was already sweating buckets. After readjusting his grip, he glanced up and saw her looking, his face turning as red as a beet.

"O - oh, Commander Short! I, uh, sorry." He speed walked away down the corridor, ears flaming red. Holly shook her head and laughed softly. She was still getting used to the new ranking, an honour to be sure but also a constant, painful reminder of Julius. He left big shoes to fill, and it would be an insult to his memory not to do the best she could.

Granted, this was Section Eight and not the LEP, but the sentiment was still there.

Pushing through the door to Foaly's tech room, she blinked as she adjusted to the darkness. Foaly recently got a huge workload dumped on him due to the still-arriving mass of demons flooding both Haven and Atlantis. This was his third all-nighter this week, and he was looking more than a little dishevelled.

"Oh, Holly. Shouldn't you be at home?" He asked blearily, clutching his coffee mug like his life depended on it.

"Shouldn't you?" She countered with a raised eyebrow. He grinned at her, the bags under his eyes ruining the effect somewhat.

"Touché." He swivelled in his chair to face the glowing monitors once more, clicking and tapping away at his keyboards in an almost robotic fashion.

"I talked to Artemis," Holly said into the silent humming and tapping of the computers.

Foaly whipped around to face her, eyes wide. "The communicator is working? Oh, thank Frond. I gave it a little boost a few days ago to see if that would help because, although I am a genius, human magic is beyond me. For now, at least. I've been reading up on them in my spare time."

"Spare time? And, when is that exactly?" Holly asked dryly, crossing her arms at him.

"Every now and then," Foaly said, waving one hand dismissively. "It doesn't matter now. What did he say?"

"He has a plan-"

"Of course he does," Foaly grumbled.

"A plan to infiltrate an organization bent on stopping an evil wizard from killing all non-magic peoples, who they call muggles. It would be a worldwide genocide and with enough wizards with enough magic..." Holly shuddered. "It's possible. Scarily possible."

Foaly was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Okay. Do you know what you're going to say? The Council sometimes loses sense when it comes to our smart little mud-man."

"I wrote a speech on my way over," Holly said, heading for the door.

"Tell me if you need a perfectly timed emergency exit," Foaly said, chuckling softly.

"I don't even want to know," Holly mumbled as she left.

_.~._

Holly took a deep breath as she waited for the Council to filter in.

After talking to Wing Commander Vinyaya, the pixe had called a meeting of the Council and since it was barely 6 in the morning, they took their sweet old time getting to the meeting room and sitting down. It just gave Holly more time to run what she was going to say through her head and worry that it wouldn't be enough to convince them.