The branches of the maple tree swayed drunkenly, pushed this way and that by the wind. Their newly acquired leaves rattled and threatened to fall, and yet somehow remained attached to their wood parents. Two small, red figures were there in the tree, but only if one were looking for them. A male and a female, sitting tensely. It was going to be a fine day for a romantic picnic, or a walk in the hills. But they weren't here for the yellow jonquils, the grassy highlands, or the fluffy sheep always found on the Scottish lands. What they were here for would not come until just before dawn.
Dong. The Clock chimed once. Artemis Fowl awoke from his uneasy sleep, looking anxiously around the room. He turned on the light, and started pacing. The realm he had just exited, the realm of dreams and unreality, still haunted him with its reality. He could still see Abbott's sword piercing Holly's chest, could still hear the snick it made as it entered her flesh, could still smell the acrid scent of her blood pooling around her.
Dong. The Clock chimed for the second time. Holly Short, tossing and turning from a frightening dream, was awoken by her alarm clock. She got out of bed, checked the time, groaned, and started her shower. As she washed, she let the water run over her body, melting away the anxiety she felt. Her skin felt contaminated by the ashes of the demon island, as if she could never truly disconnect herself from that place. The place where she had almost died.
Dong. The Clock chimed for the third time. Qwan thrashed in his bed and fell off, the sudden thump of his landing Awakening him. He had been falling through the air, pushed by the traitor, becoming stone…
Dong. The Clock chimed for the fourth time. No1 sat up in bed, breathing heavily. Memories of Abbott still haunted him, and of the demon island. He had been a rabbit, endlessly chased through dirt tunnels by innumerable demon claws…
Dong. The Clock chimed for the fifth and final time. Beckett Fowl, asleep next to his brother, blinked owlishly as he woke from a deep sleep. Still sleepy, he cast his young eyes around his room, afraid that the monster from his dreams had somehow found its way here in the dark. He remembered the slick hallway, the fun he and Miles had had sliding on it in their socks. Then, him, sliding to far and slipping on the first step. The thrill of cold fear that had tingled in his feet as they hit open air, and then the fall, down the stairs, to land awkwardly on his back, and Artemis there immediately…
The first rosy fingers of dawn pushed their way above a series of hills to the East. The man in the tree started chanting, the woman rocking back and forth and cackling madly. Their eyes shone a bright, silvery blue, and a wind picked up around their tree. The sun resolutely kept coming, but it slowed and, as the chant increased in intensity and volume, stopped altogether. The mantra did not slow, though, but rose and rose until it resounded in the countryside, and then abruptly stopped. The male fainted dead away, but the female caught him before he fell out of the tree, crooning over him, a mad gleam in her eye.