Holly gripped the arms of her seat. 'A couple of years ago? How long have we been gone?'
Foaly snapped his fingers. 'Oh, uh, yeah. I wasn't supposed to just blurt it out. Sorry. I mean it's not serious, like a thousand years or anything.'
'How long, Foaly?' demanded Holly.
The centaur thought about it for a moment. 'OK. You've been gone for nearly three years.'
Qwan reached over and slapped Artemis's shoulder. 'Three years! Nice going, Mud Boy. You must have one hell of a brain to get us that close. I wasn't expecting to see this side of the century.'