Ops Booth,Haven,Underground.

Way below the Earths surface, in the Lower Elements, Foaly the Centaur was worrying. It was the small hours of the morning and he had been watching re-runs of old Mud Men programmes when something at the bottom of his computer screen flashed. He had opened up the file and what he saw shocked him. In one of the abandoned tunnel chutes, three huge silhouettes where shuffling around. Demons. It had to be. No other member of the fairy race had the same sheer size or vastness.

He pressed a button on the side of his desk and waited. Eventually a groggy voice rang out over the wall speakers.

'What now, Foaly? You're using this button way too much!'

'Commander Kelp. We're in trouble, Trouble. Ha, I love your name. Anyway, we're up to our knees in dwarf waste from the rear end. And everyone knows that is not pretty.'

'I'll be there in five. Call Holly.'

The shapes were moving even faster. With trembling hands, Foaly picked up his phone and dialled.

Terminal 9, E12 Chute Tunnel.

After the demon business last month, Holly Short had been permanently re-instated as a Captain for Section 8. It suited her perfectly. Good pay and lots of above-ground missions. She was returning from her latest venture when her phone beeped. Only two people had the number. But who would call her at this time? She unhooked it from her moon-belt and flipped it open. She found herself looking at Foalys face in the video screen.

"Holly, we have a situation down here. A bad situation."

"I suppose it's one of those world-threatening disasters that could effect the world civilisation as we know it forever and it's up to the old gang to stop it again?" Holly said with a heavy sigh.

"You're almost as smart as me, Holly. Well, obviously not, no-one is! But you catch my drift. Don't worry, it'll be fine. Just fine." Holly got the feeling he was reassuring himself rather than her.

"Let me guess, we need Artemis, pronto."

"He could be considerably helpful, it's true."

"Fine, I'll go get him now. But I better be getting a pay rise for this. Why does no-one else have a go at this sometimes."

"Well, while you're doing that, Mulch could be helpful too. And so could Butler, now you mention it. Maybe Doodah would like to come too. And Artemis might want to bring his girlfriend along. She's staying with him."

"See you in an hour." Holly closed her fist on the conversation and started to walk back the way she came from. It was going to be a long night. And it wasn't the first time.

Fowl Manor,Ireland.

While Foaly was worrying, Artemis was frowning. It was something he was used too. He was lying on his bed, but he wasn't asleep. He was thinking about this new way of life. So much had changed since he and Holly had returned from Hybras. And that was a lot easier compared to this life. The twins were tiring him out. They were great but they were too... normal. Too lively and excitable. They showed no signs of extraordinary intelligence. It worried him. What if they turned out to be normal? What if his parents liked them more them him? He tried to shake these thoughts away.

He climbed out of bed and stumbled onto his balcony. He leant against the railing and gazed up at the stars.

'Arty, are you out there?'

Artemis jumped up and flattened down his hair. It was Minerva's voice. He had spoken to her through e-mail and over the phone for almost a month but he was still intimidated by her. His mother had invited her to stay over the summer but he wasn't sure it was a good idea for her to stay that long. She was affecting his brain. He spent most of his time thinking about her and when he wasn't he was looking at her.

'Hello, you. Couldn't sleep then? I couldn't, jetlag.'

'Yes, something like that.'

Minerva came and stood next to him. She had thrown a dressing gown on over her pyjamas and her was scraped back into a messy ponytail. She wasn't wearing any make-up and her face was ghostly-white in the moonlight. Despite all of this, she still looked stunning. Artemis was lost for words.

'It's funny, I mean, I've known about you for years and when I finally met you, I spent about three minutes with you and then you left and I didn't see you for almost three years. And I've learnt so much about you from Butler and...I kind of missed you. Which sounds so pathetic doesn't it?'

'No, course not. I'd have probably felt the same. It would have been nice to have another genius at my side. I mean Holly and the imp warlocks were great but I sometimes need someone of my own intelligence.'

'My point exactly. I got a bit lonely after a while, I'd given up my work for the Nobel Prize under the circumstances and I became bored!'

'The story of my life. I go from saving the world to babysitting my twin brothers in less than two days, my time.'

'Three years my time,' said Minerva, smiling. 'Well, a Goddess of wisdom and a God of hunting isn't a bad combination is it?'

Artemis looked down at Minerva and on the spur of the moment, he kissed her. When he pulled away he said 'No, it's quite a good combination on the whole.'

And all of a sudden a slender figure, dressed in black, stepped out of the air and lifted there visor.

'How lovely. And I got it all on camera. Foaly is going to have a ball. I wonder if the Police Plaza has popcorn?'