This fan-fiction runs off after the sixth one, and please do not flame. Too hard. This is my first time with an Artemis Fowl fan-dom, and what I need is your help, not your constant raves about how out-of-character my characters are.

*

Artemis never usually paid much attention to the CNN feed, but today he did. And with ample reason. He was following up on the Stargate story. It had started a few weeks back, with the Stargate stocks shooting through the ceiling. Artemis was naturally interested. There had to be a reason for the upstart to shoot past the Fowl stocks themselves. Then the owner and CEO of Stargate Enterprises had been found dead, along with his wife. There were no signs of external injury on their bodies, but an autopsy revealed that they had sustained severe internal injuries and lost a lot of blood.

And today, the headline splashed across the wall was incredulous to the point of unbelievable. The Stargate heir, a child of fourteen, had replaced her father as CEO. The courts were indignant, the child's-rights societies aghast. The feed was running a small interview of the present CEO. The heir was a girl; her name was Jasper Stargate. She had long black hair and ocher eyes against wheat-gold skin. She spoke in a self-confident tone not very unlike Artemis' own when he was ten. And goodness he was annoying then.

"Why do you think I am too young?" she spoke at the camera, steepling her fingers. She had a cold voice that seemed to openly defy the very notion. "I have got the skill, the background, the personality - what more do you need? For me to be ten years older? In which way is that relevant?" The reporter squabbled but Artemis wasn't listening. He suspected foul play. A hack into Interpol and a quick search revealed that he wasn't the only one who'd smelt a rat. The Stargate file was only a few megabytes large, but it was active.

At that very moment an email popped up on his screen. It was from Foaly.

"Code Alpha. We need your help." Foaly wasn't the kind to use text formatting in his emails. Now that had happened, the matter must be extremely important. Besides, they'd had no contact either way for over six months, as of then. And the Fairies would never beg him for help, especially not in that way. He acknowledged the email with an equally short reply and waited.

*

A few hours later, he was in the communications booth. Foaly sat on a swivel chair and Holly was there too, perched on top of a stool. They had assumed expressions appropriate to those seen at a funeral, and were oddly tensed. Artemis suspected a lot of things but didn't voice any of them.

"You must be wondering why we need your help," began Foaly.

"Indeed. Either the Fairy race is in danger, or you need something you do not have."

"Both." Foaly took a deep breath and continued "It concerns the the Stargate Enterprises. The heir, to be exact." Artemis gave an almost imperceptible nod. Why did his enemies always have to be multi-billionaire heiresses?

"What we are discussing here," said Holly, "is top secret. If this leaks out anywhere, be it the Surface or Haven, there will be utter pandemonium." So this was extremely dangerous information. Artemis had gathered as much by the expressions on the fairies' faces.

"A few millenia ago, an elf-human hybrid race started. They had tainted magic, and needed very few rituals to replenish them. They looked and acted just like humans. They were called the Dark People. They are the Fairies' worst enemy and we thought we were rid of them when they disappeared in fourth millennium BC. They still popped up now and then, though. There was one particularly poisonous one in the fifteenth century. She masqueraded as the handmaid of a countess and managed to finish off at least seven hundred fairies in her time. We cannot kill them very easily, they have the darkest magic under their control - namely, the control over Shadows. Souls."

Artemis blinked. "So the heir is one of the Dark People."

"Yes," said Foaly, sighing. "She is one of them; a Witch. We did not imagine that she could turn into one, especially because of her age. You see, to become a fully fledged Witch, they have to kill all close family. Including parents."

Artemis blinked again. That he hadn't quite been expecting.

"Revolting, I know. That was why we never suspected her. You wouldn't expect a child to do that. The stocks skyrocketing was all her tricks, and that was probably just basic witchcraft. Now she'll be able to do far worse things." Holly sighed. "We need your help for this. She will kill every Fairy she sees. If we decide to use numbers against her, she will run into a cemetery and bring up all the dead."And then, seeing the amused look on Artemis' face, she insisted, "Witches can do that. The Shadow includes that power."

"We need you to set on a task so that we can study the limit of her power. Knowing witches, she will only do it for a price, but this is an entire race at stake. Then we can find out how to finish her off , and hopefully that will be the end of them. Or else," spoke Foaly darkly, "we might as well hold on to our seats and hope she doesn't find us when she sets cursed fire upon Haven. This is the second coming of the Witches, and all the fairies are in mortal danger."

"I gather that these aren't the eye-of-newt-in-cauldron witches in fairy tales," said Artemis.

"Probably not," replied Holly. "The last time we saw them they walked around with bottles of belladonna in their pockets and slipped it into people's food every now and then to replenish their powers. They went out at night on broomsticks to catch fairies dancing in the moonlight." And then, seeing Artemis' face, she said, "Yes. Their Ritual involves the death of a human." She shuddered. "What a garish race. And to think they still survive. Nowadays they are probably a lot more advanced, like us. It's a long time since the fifteenth century."

Artemis considered it, rubbing his temples. If he didn't help them he knew what would happen. If he did help them it meant putting himself in danger. Ah well, he'd been in mortal danger many times before. Besides, this meant trying to save the Fairies - all the dwarves, sprites, goblins, elves, centaurs, Holly... "Yes," he said finally. "I'll do it." He let out an inward sigh. He'd let his heart decide for him again, instead of his mind. Was this going to be a habit? This tendency of his had led him into major trouble as of recent times.

"Nice to see you're blowing on that spark," said Holly, the barest hint of a smile on her taut face.

Artemis smiled back, but he didn't feel as hopeful as he looked. He didn't fully know what he was letting himself in for, and he wasn't too keen on finding out.