Chapter 1: Rage and Recall

Fowl Manor; seven hours left

Artemis was lounging on his bed and thinking. He was thinking about his latest plan for money. All right, so if I—

Just then the phone rang. Artemis stood up lazily, walked over to his desk, and picked it up.

"Hello?" he said.

"Fowl?" asked a voice. It sounded female, and strangely familiar.

"Who is this?" asked Artemis cautiously.

"You don't need to know that. All you need to know is this: you have seven hours."

"Seven hours for what?"

"To rescue her."

Who's 'her'? Artemis wondered. But the voice was speaking again.

"Remember, Fowl, seven hours to rescue your little girlfriend. Otherwise she dies."

There was a click as the person on the other end hung up. Artemis sat back on his bed, astonished. My girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend. And why should whoever this person is talking about die? And if they thought I wanted to rescue her, why should they give me seven hours? He wondered about all this as he slowly got up and went to his computer. He sat in his desk chair. He shouldn't care if anyone he didn't even know died. He was, after all, Artemis Fowl the Second. He didn't have time for everyone else's woes. But then why did this incident tug a little at his heart, as though he did indeed know the person and… That's preposterous, he chided himself. I have never liked a girl in my life. He shook the thoughts out of his head entirely and went downstairs for lunch.

LEP Headquarters

"Captain Short! Report to my office, imme—WHERE IS SHE!"

"I don't know," said Foaly worriedly. "She should be in her office."

"I know that! Do I look like I don't know that?"

"Er, no sir. I was just sort of stating the facts."

"Whatever! We have to find her," Root growled. He began pacing the room. "Contact her house to see if she's there for some reason. If she's not, then send out Retrieval to locate her."

"Okay, Julius. I wonder…"

"Foaly," said Root calmly. "WHAT IS IT NOW! AND DON'T CALL ME JULIUS!"

"Nothing." He grinned. "Sorry, Julius."

Root made a noise of disgust, opened his mouth, then shut it and stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

Fowl Manor

Artemis was musing on his earlier phone call. That voice had sounded female, but so…familiar. And so evil. Almost as evil as he had been before he met the fairies—Wait. Why did I just think that? Everyone knows there are no such things as fairies. He sat down on his bed, confused. So many things had been strange lately…

He was interrupted from his reverie by his computer beginning to flash. He looked at it in surprise. He hadn't set it to do that, and no one—no one—had ever hacked into his computer system before. Hmmm…I wonder what's wrong with it. He went over to it, but just then it stopped flashing. Two people appeared on the screen. One of them had a very red face, and the other looked reasonably normal. Artemis started. He knew he had seen these people before somewhere, but he couldn't remember it.

The one with the tomato-colored face spoke. "Get ON with it, Foaly!"

"Uh…right," said the normal one. "Fowl. You probably don't remember us. However, we need to bring your memories back. We need your help."

Artemis was shocked. How did these people know his name? Nevertheless, he remained cool and collected on the outside, as usual.

"I certainly don't remember you," he said icily. "In fact, I do not believe I have ever set eyes on you before, and I would like to know two things: one, how did you hack into my computer system, and two, why are you telling me all this?"

"Listen, Fowl," said the red-faced one. He seemed to be going purple. "We don't have time for this. If…"

"Your computer system was easy enough to hack into," interrupted the other. "But of course you would expect that, except that you don't remember that I ever did it before."

"So let's make him remember it!" snarled the one who seemed to be the boss. "That's what we're here for! Remember, Foaly?"

"Oh…right. Well, let's get on with it. Fowl, we're going to do a couple things which should hopefully make you remember. First, listen to these words: LEP, fairy, Commander Root, Foaly, Holly Short, Trouble Kelp, Retrieval, Lower Elements, goblin, pixie, sprite, Opal Koboi, Briar Cudgeon, mind wipe, Jon Spiro, Mulch Diggums."

Artemis looked at him, eyebrows raised. "None of those words means a thing to me." Not strictly true, of course. Quite a few of those words had given him a painful start in the back of his mind, but he wasn't about to show or say that to a couple of strangers.

The normal-looking one looked slightly concerned. "Okay. Um…let's move on to pictures." He pulled out a pile of papers and held up the first one. "Nod your head if it means something, shake if it doesn't." The first picture was of the Spiro Needle. Artemis shook his head. Foaly grabbed another picture, of Koboi Labs this time. Artemis shook again. This went on for some time, with Artemis continuing to shake his head every time. Finally, Foaly got to the last picture. "If this doesn't do it, I don't know what to do. At least I'll know that my technology works," he added wryly. "Anyway, here goes nothing." He held up the picture of Holly. Artemis started to shake his head, then suddenly stopped. He looked again at the picture. Auburn hair, hazel eyes. Hazel eyes he knew. Artemis closed his eyes, suddenly caught in a rush of memories—feelings, sights, sounds. His face was a mask of pain. Then he opened his eyes. "I…I remember you. Foaly. Commander." He looked suddenly afraid. "Where's Hol—Captain Short?"

"Er…that's what we needed your help for," said Foaly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…well, see…Holly's gone missing."

"Gone missing?" Artemis echoed dumbly. His voice sounded not at all like usual—it was hollow and hoarse. Just when I recover from the mindwipe and figure out that I like her, she's gone missing, he thought to himself.

"Figures."

"What figures?" asked Foaly, confused, and Artemis realized he'd said it out loud.

"Um...figures that just when I come back from the mindwipe and am able to say hello to old friends, one of them has gone missing," he answered quickly. His face had gone red, however, and Foaly grinned.

"I knew it," he whispered to Root.

"What, donkey?" asked the commander, turning to Foaly. "What did you know?"

Foaly looked at Artemis with a sly expression on his face. "Look at Fowl's face," he told a confused Root, still whispering. Root did as instructed, but still didn't get it.

"I still don't get it," he told Foaly. Foaly sighed.

"Nevermind, tell you later," he said.

The commander looked at Foaly curiously, but at the expression on Foaly's face, he subsided. "Okay. Anyway, Fowl, we need you to help rescue Holly," he told Artemis, who had, the whole time, been berating himself inwardly for letting his face get hot. When he still didn't answer, apparently not paying attention, Root tried again to get his attention. "Fowl..." No response. "Fowl. Fowl! FOWL!" Artemis jumped and tried to look as if he had heard Root the first time. He had no such luck, however, and only managed to look as though he was trying to look as though he had heard the first time, which didn't help him any. He finally gave it up and settled for putting on his usual calm mask—or trying, anyway. He had been pretty shaken by being told that Holly was gone, and was having a hard time keeping his face normal, despite all the self-control he had. "What?" he asked.

"Fowl," Commander Root told him. "I need you to get Butler and come down here. Much as I hate to admit it, you're probably the only one who can get us out of this. Or more accurately, get Captain Short out of this."

Artemis didn't answer. He had just realized something, and he had gone even paler than he usually was.

"That's what that phone call was!"

"What?" asked Root, bewildered.

"Oh, sorry. I got a phone call a short while before you hacked into my computer system. In it, someone told me that she was missing. Of course, I didn't know that I knew her then, and it puzzled me. I was thinking about it when you—er, arrived."

"Oh!" Foaly said. "We need to know all about it. Who was it?"

"Can't this wait until he gets down here?" asked Root.

"What?" said Artemis. The commander turned purple again.

"WEREN'T YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME! I TOLD YOU YOU WERE COMING DOWN HERE!"

Foaly looked at Root. "Now, Julius..."

"DON'T CALL ME JULIUS, CIVILIAN!"
"Ummm...Fowl, that actually might be a good idea."

"All right. I'll bring Butler, shall I?"

Root was still raging. When he heard that, he turned furiously on Artemis again. "I TOLD YOU THAT, TOO! DON'T YOU HAVE EARS! OR ARE YOU DEAF, LIKE THE REST OF THE MUD MEN OUT THERE!"

"Julius, don't you think that's a little harsh? Yes, Fowl, bring Butler. Juliet, too, if you want. The more, the merrier."

"Will do," said Artemis, and left the room, trusting Foaly to shut off the connection. Foaly was still trying to pacify the commander. "FOWL!"

Artemis stuck his head back in. "Yes?"

"HURRY UP!"

"All right, but keep in mind, it will take a while. Butler and Juliet still don't have their memories back yet, so I still have to restore them."

"WELL, HURRY ANYWAY!"

"I will hurry," said Artemis, and quickly shut the door, leaving Root still yelling at Foaly.

"DONKEY, I AM NOT TOO HARSH WITH HIM! HE IS A CRIMINAL MUD MAN!"

"But he's helped us so much, Julius..."

"TOO BAD! HE'S STILL A CRIMINAL! AND DON'T CALL ME JULIUS, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!"

"But he has helped us! And he's about to help us rescue Holly!"

"DONKEY..."

Artemis sighed and walked down the stairs to go give Butler and Juliet their memories back.

Chapter Two

LEP Headquarters, Haven City; six hours left

When they got down to Haven, Foaly had successfully calmed the commander down, so they got right to business.

"Okay, so tell us about this phone call," said Foaly.

"Well..." Artemis started, but Root interrupted him.

"Just a minute. Do we really need to know about a phone call placed to the Mud Boy?"

"Yes," said Foaly at once. "Weren't you listening, Julius?"

Commander Root glared at him. "Don't call me Julius!"

Foaly smirked. "Yes, sir. But seriously—weren't you listening? Or are you as deaf as all the Mud Men out there?"

"FOALY..."

"Now, Commander," Artemis interrupted hastily. "Let's not start a fight when we most need unity."

"All right," said Commander Root grudgingly.

"So were you listening?" asked Foaly.

"Yes."

"Somehow, I don't think you were. If you had been, you'd have heard that the caller mentioned Holly's kidnapping."

"All right already! Let's get on with it!"

"Why didn't you just say so?" Foaly muttered, but he got on with it. "Okay, Fowl. What exactly did this caller say?"

"If I remember correctly, they said we had seven hours to rescue Hol—Captain Short." He hesitated, and considered telling them the voice had called her his girlfriend, but decided against it. "They sounded female, and..." He broke off with a gasp.

"WHAT, Mud Boy?" said Root, beginning to turn red again.

"I know who it was now," said Artemis, his eyes wide. "Since the person called before you two did, I didn't have my memories back, and didn't recognize the voice. But now..."

"Now what?"

"Well...I think...I think it was Opal Koboi."

Foaly gasped, and Root's face lost its red color and turned pale instead.

"Opal Koboi?" said Foaly. "That's...that's impossible. Koboi is sitting safely in a cell right now."

The commander, whose mouth had dropped open, closed it with some difficulty and turned to Foaly. "No, remember? She escaped recently. I can't believe we didn't even check it out. We were busy, but..." He trailed off into a horrified silence.

"Well," said Artemis, "the best thing we can do is to track her. I assume there is some way to do that."

Butler, who had been sitting in a corner with Juliet, silently listening to the conversation, now broke in. "Yes, we need to track her. If you don't have a way, I can think of several."

"Yeah, that's easy," piped up Juliet.

"No," said Foaly. "I can do it, easy as ABC."

"Then get on it, donkey," growled Root. Foaly got on it. He went over to the computer and quickly logged on. Then, fingers flying over the keyboard, he explained to the humans what he was doing. Commander Root, who had heard this lecture many times, tuned it out.

"Each prisoner in the jail has what's called a sleeper-seeker in their upper arm. With it, I can track them, and then I can press a button and put them to sleep."

"Interesting," said Artemis. "So I assume it contains a sedative within, which..."

He was interrupted by Root, who was getting impatient. "Hurry up, donkey."

"Okay," said Foaly, looking a little miffed. "I just have to push the button now."

"So push it, before I push it with your face!"

"Remember what happened the last time you said that."

"What do you mean?"
"Well, let's see. I wanted you to apologize, you told me you had already used your apologies for the day, it turned out you had apologized to Cudgeon, who turned out to be a traitor."

"Fine. Just push the button."

Foaly pushed it. And pushed it again. And again.

"What's wrong, donkey?" asked the commander.

"It's not doing anything," said Foaly worriedly.

"How can you tell?"

"If it was, it would be emitting a beep right about now. That means that the target has gone to sleep."

"Oh, right," said Root, a little sheepishly. He quickly recovered his "Commander You-Better-Listen-To-Me-Or-Else" manner, though. "So, donkey boy, what now?"
"Well," Foaly told him, "it looks like we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"What old-fashioned way?"

"We're going to have to go over there and knock her out with our Neutrinos."

Root was speechless. Artemis, however, was not. Of course.

"All right. Well...we need a plan. I can give us one. Just give me a moment."

Five hours left

"Here's how it's going to work."

Artemis was sitting in the office again. He had gone off for a long time, meditating, while outside, Butler, Juliet, and Foaly tried to keep Root from having a heart attack ("HURRY UP, FOWL! I WILL NOT BE SLOWED DOWN BY SOME SILLY MUD BOY! WE NEED TO HURRY! WE ONLY HAVE SEVEN HOURS!").

Now that Root had finally calmed down, Artemis was explaining the plan to everyone else.

"The plan is simple. We locate Koboi. We use fairy technology to determine whether she has any outside guards..." Here he broke off. "I assume we can do that?"

"Yes," Foaly answered quickly. "Go on."

Artemis opened his mouth, but before he could respond, Root broke in.

"Wait a minute, donkey. What if they're under cam-foil?"

Foaly grinned. "I have a new invention that will sense anything, even if it is under cam-foil, or any other way they might have to hide. The Detector will take care of everything, don't you worry."

Root snorted. "The Detector. Creative name."

Foaly looked at him, annoyed. "I'm too busy inventing to think of creative names, Julius. You know that. Besides, my names are better than the Mud Men's. Theirs are plain trash."

Artemis turned to Foaly. "Thank you."

Foaly grinned. "You're welcome. No offense meant."

"All right, break up the party," said the commander. "Get back to the plan."

"All right. As I was saying, we use fairy technolgy to determine whether Koboi has any outside guards. If so, we get rid of them. Then we go in, stun her, and get Holly."

"And what about Opal?" asked Foaly.

"If you'd let me finish telling you, you wouldn't have had to ask that question. We take her and put her in a top-security cell."

"Good," Root said. "One problem though..."

"What?"

"We had her in a top-security cell before she escaped."

"Hmmm..." said Artemis slowly. He hesitated, then spoke again. "There...is another way. But it would be dangerous, and..."

"And what?" Foaly turned to Artemis with a worried expression on his face. "And what, Fowl?"

"And...just dangerous. Very dangerous."

"SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!" yelled the commander. "I'M LOSING PATIENCE!"

"All right...she can come to Fowl Manor." Seeing the looks on their faces, he quickly continued talking before they could protest. "I know it's not ideal, but the manor has better security than any top-security cell I've ever seen. My parents won't find her because they're in America, taking a trip. And...well, it's the only other way, unless any of you can think of anything better."

"But—but you might all be killed!" said Foaly.

"Absolutely. I can't allow it," broke in Butler, looking at Artemis sternly. "If once she broke past our defenses..."

"I know," said Artemis. "But it's the only way."

They looked at each other, then, one by one, agreed.

"I suppose," Butler muttered. "But I still don't like the idea of that...that monster in our house."

"Yeah," Juliet piped up. "But Artemis is right. It is the only way."

"You're right," the commander conceded.

"Yes," Foaly told them. "He's right. I just hope..."

He didn't finish the sentence. But they all knew what he had been going to say anyway.