"Artemis, will you hand me a screwdriver? I know you have one." Holly's helmet had gotten stuck - again - and she had to ply it off. She could see nothing but the faint outline of the Mud Boy's head, leaning over a keyboard, typing furiously. Screens were lit up about the room, depicting carnage from a freak storm in New York.
Holly sighed in exasperation. "Artemis-"
"Here, Holly." Butler cupped her head in one meaty hand and pulled a screwdriver from Artemis' desk drawer. He placed it in the sides near her chin and yanked, causing Holly's head to jerk over to one side, and, quite by accident, make a spark of blue magic jump from her fingertips. Butler pulled the helmet apart and handed both pieces to her. "Never trust Artemis to do anything when he's focused. He won't even notice you."
"Does he notice I'm even here?" Holly said, scratching her head. She combed her hair through with her gloved hands and sat down on the stool Butler offered to her.
"No."
"What is he doing? Looking at a bunch of storm report? When has Artemis ever cared about a storm?" She shook her head and looked over the Mud Boy's shoulder. "Hey Artemis." She snapped her fingers beside his ear. After five seconds of nothing, she punched him on the shoulder. Hard.
"Ow! Captain Short!" Artemis pulled himself off of the ground and rubbed his shoulder. "What is the meaning of this? Might you have instead asked me to acknowledge you instead of throwing your fist at me?" He shook his head in disgust and got back into the chair. "Butler, an ice pack, please." Butler nodded his head and hurried out of the room, eager to get out of Artemis' way.
"So, Artemis, explain yourself. I don't like to be ignored." Artemis smoothed out his suit and straightened his tie, picking off invisible pieces of lint and fixing his hair back into place.
"Very well, Holly, you may have your answer." He pointed to the screen on the right wall. "Watch closely."
A news reporter appeared on the screen. He started to talk, but Artemis fast-forwarded the footage, scene after scene playing after one another, until he came to a picture of the Empire State Building from a birds-eye view.
"Watch here."
He played it, and the video zoomed in until Holly saw a man with graying hair pick up a stick and thrust it into the air, like a sword.
"And here."
She saw a woman close by rummage through a police officer's car and pull an umbrella out, pushing it out and in like she was cranking a gun, and then a loud pop afterward.
"Artemis, I don't see what's so special about a man stabbing the air with a stick, and a woman shooting a gun. Would you please explain?"
He didn't seem to notice her, only rewinding the video. "Watch this time."
The video was in slow motion, only going at one frame per second. Holly waited for a full minute just to see the face of the gray haired man again. This time, though, the stick he was holding flickered and changed into what looked like a sword. Monsters popped into view, hundreds of them fighting, and even more coming out of the ground. The man with the sword stabbed a green-scaled woman in the gut, and she slowly disintegrated.
"Artemis! Did you just see that? How is that possible? One minute there was nothing and the next-"
"Yes Holly, I know. Now watch the woman."
The woman who had the umbrella was no longer holding it, but instead had a gun. This time, the woman whirled around and shot a giant twenty feet backward, impaling it on a different sword a boy was holding.
"Artemis, are these different videos? They can't be the same. There's no way all those monsters could appear out of nowhere and just...attack in the middle of the city! I mean, people would notice. Wouldn't they?"
"Holly, don't you think people would notice thousands of fairies, dwarves, and goblins living underground? Ten thousand years, and no one has ever noticed. Don't you think that a little odd?"
"Except for you. You noticed."
"Yes, but that was because I was searching. And I found my answer." He gestured to Holly. "And now I search again. And I shall find my answer." He glanced back up at the image of the giant skewered on the boy's sword.
"What was that Artemis? That certainly wasn't a troll." Artemis made no movement, except for the occasional click of a mouse and play of his fingers over the keyboard. "If those...monsters were all there in the first place, then wouldn't they be hidden by magic? Or vibrating at a supernatural speed?" She glanced back at the Mud Boy. "Artemis, are you even listening to me?"
"Here, look at this." He showed her a picture of the Empire State Building again, except this time it was glowing blue. "I think that might be a little odd, don't you?"
The building glowed with bright intensity, like a flare in the middle of the night sky. Holly heard car horns and the usual sounds of New York in the background. "This isn't a still picture?"
"Holly, that video I showed you earlier was from a camera from above. One of my satellites took it. I enhanced the image to show it to you."
"And why didn't you just look into a nearby camera from one of the many buildings? I'm sure you could easily get into a security camera."
"There were none." Holly's eyebrows scrunched together as she turned to look into Artemis' face. "All of the cameras in Manhattan were shut off. So were all the cars. And the people."
Astonishment crossed Holly's face. "All the people? You mean they died, or what?"
"I mean they were turned off. They fell asleep. Amazingly, though, no one crashed."
"And people wouldn't notice this because..."
"Time was slowed down in a ten mile radius; weaker on the outside and stronger on the inside."
"Stop pulling my leg. Time didn't slow down. That's impossible."
"It is not any different than the fairies time-stop methods."
"Yeah, but Manhattan? That's a whole island! Did a fairy do this?"
"No, Captain Short. I'm afraid faries didn't do this."
"But-"
"Have you ever stopped to think about history in particular? Not just the fairies' history, but mankind's history as well." He took the loop of the Empire State Building's blue light off the screen and turned so he could fully see her.
"What are you trying to say, Artemis?"
"I'm saying not just that fairies are real, but many other mythological creatures as well."
Before Holly could say anything, Butler walked into the room with an ice pack and a bottle of cream. "I brought some medicine as well, Artemis. Do you have need of it?"
"No, just the pack is fine." Butler handed the pack over, along with a handtowel that Artemis used to secure the ice pack in place. "Thank you. That will be all, Butler." Butler nodded and went back to his usual place by the door.
"You were saying, Artemis?" Holly scowled at him and held up her fist. "I'm not afraid to punch you twice, you know."
To her surprise, Artemis laughed. "No, Holly, you're not. Or a fourth or fifth time, either."
Holly's face turned crimson and her scowl deepened. "Just tell me what you know. All of it. Don't hide anything like you usually do."
"Like I usually do?" Artemis asked innocently.
"All of it!"
He raised an eyebrow and nodded. "I shall do what you say. But keep this to yourself. Don't even let Foaly know."
"Too bad, because this whole outfit is bugged, not to mention that the helmet is a bouncing camera." She glanced at the helmet that was lying in two pieces on the floor. "Although I think that it's bouncing days are over, now that Butler broke it."
"I made sure that your 'outfit' was...debugged, and as for your helmet," he gestured to Butler, who picked it up and threw it out the door, securing the lock. "You needn't worry about it."
"Hey, that's the new design Foaly came out with! I'm the first fairy he tried it out on!" Holly cried indignantly. "Foaly will be mad."
"Forget Foaly for right now. I'm about to tell you the answer to one of mankind's greatest mysteries."
"And what might that be, Artemis?"
"We are not alone."