"…. These memories are part of who I am."
- Artemis Fowl
Holly stood directly in front of Artemis, careful to make eye contact.
"Good-bye, Holly. I won't see you again, though I'm sure you will see me."
"Just relax, Artemis. Deep breaths."
When Holly spoke again, her voice was layered with bass and alto. The hypnotic layers of mesmer.
"That was some job we did on Spiro, eh?"
Artemis smiled sleepily. "Yes. The last adventure. No more hurting people."
"How do you come up with these plans?"
Artemis's lids drooped. "Natural ability, I suppose. Handed down by generations of Fowls."
You think that you know it all. That fairies are virtuous do-gooders-cum-occasional-philanthropists, as depicted in bedtime storybooks. That the brothers Grimm tell it like it is.
Fairies – bless their delightful souls – are nothing of that sort. Disney rampantly commercialised their pristine white images, without realising that they have merely been weaving a web of falsehoods all along. I wonder what mothers all over the world would think, should they know that the winged creatures that sprinkle fairy dust on beaming visitors in theme parks are actually deadly, smart and….
..and are currently 'interrogating' a thirteen-year-old. Dear me. How inconceivable, no?
Fortunately, it is no ordinary teenager, who is on the receiving end of their questions. Oh, no. It is I, Artemis Fowl, and I shall repel their magic, whether by hook or by crook.
Her magic, to be precise.
Artemis smiled craftily. So far, everything was working like clockwork; the screening effect of his tinted lenses showed no signs of letting him down. He was careful, though, to contract his facial muscles accordingly, to avoid arousing suspicion. A sarcastic, sneering, secretive character he was not, for once.
"Anything else?" pressed Holly.
"No. The storage site is our last hope. If the centaur finds that, then the fairy world is lost to me forever."
"Lost to me forever."
The sentence resonated in my head, long after the speaker's tongue was stilled. I glanced at a group of bumbling sprites who were sneaking admiring looks surreptitiously at Holly Short, and wondered why would Root – or any other superior, for that matter – assign them to so heavy a task.
The mind wipe.
That would be a good thing, I suppose, and my eyes settled on Root's image, on the screen. The Commander's face disappeared in waves of static, not long after, and my face grew pensive. Then again, it is not unusual, for me to be found pondering. It is something that comes to me naturally, something that I never thought of as a burden – above-average intelligence.
A very audible wail caught my ears, and my eyes trailed towards the source. Apparently, an intern had somehow managed to tangle a pair of electrodes in a maze of wire, creating interruption, and disruption. A little sigh escaped from my lips, but I avoided rolling his eyes, as Holly was looking at me.
"Amateurs," I muttered under my breath.
Holly accepted a set if sleep goggles from a tecchie, and hooked the elastic over Juliet's ponytail. She pressed a small button on the sleep mask, and a combination of hypno-lights in the eyepieces and a sedative administered through the seals knocked Juliet out in less than five seconds.
Butler was next, followed by Artemis.
The boy, whose brow was void of lines, appeared to be the epitome of serenity. His chest rose and fell to a rhythm that suggested of sleep, and nothing about him spoke of the panic, that was slowly rising.
Nothing about Artemis indicated that the rate of his heartbeat was torpedoing towards astronomical, or that cold sweat was starting to form, on his temples. He knew – he felt – that the contact in his left eye was slipping, as though trying to dislocate itself from its original position. His cornea was burning, but Artemis restrained himself from blinking. Already, the tears that were forming, out of irritation, was providing the ever-threatening lubrication. One little movement, one wrong step, and everything that he had strived for would shatter……literally.
That was when Holly turned towards him.
"It's a pity," she said quietly, "because we were almost friends."
Artemis blinked, more out of astonishment, than discomfort.
Friends? Almost friends?
I am honoured, but she should have kept those words to herself, nonetheless. Here I am, sitting in this chair, as I witness the destruction of my own invention. It has fallen, and has disintegrated into a thousand irretrievable pieces of glass shards. I could do nothing; unseen ropes bind my hands. If I were to seize it, my actions would surely catch her eye. Best to let it fall, than suffer the consequences.
But, aren't I already suffering the consequences?
Her lips are unmoving; that is good. If the infernal 'questioning' session is over, then I am in no harm.
But if she decides to speak, I can no longer shield behind my mirrored lenses.
Holly advanced to place the mask over Artemis's eyes, and realised that her hands were shaking. D' Arvit, she cursed silently. Shouldn't I be triumphant? Relieved? Happy?
Her eye caught Artemis's cold blue ones, and for a split second, Holly failed to suppress the question that had been plaguing her since time immemorial. She couldn't help it; after all, he would be gone in a few minutes. Just a final question, she told herself. Then it'll all be over.
I knew that it would come, the day when Holly pops the question. They say that I know everything, and who am I to dissent that notion? After all, it is not like I resent being called a genius, though I sure hate being branded as a 'know-it-all' pony.
But nothing prepared me for today.
I could sense fear in him, and a little alarm in my head was triggered. Why should anyone in a mesmerized state feel threatened? Something is definitely amiss here, and I cannot let it pass unseen. I will chase the 'white rabbit', as the protagonist in the silly Mud Men nonsense did, but unlike that daydreaming Mud Girl, I doubt that I will fail.
Holly's skin might be nut brown, but today, I'll call her pale. She seems to be mumbling, but, ha! Never underestimate the powers of a centaur's ears.
"Have you no conscience, none at all? You've hurt the People more than once; don't you feel anything? At all?" she asked.
Elves. Emotional creatures, them. But I, too, felt something, when I heard his reply. I don't think that I'd forget it, not unless someone administers the mind wipe on me. I'm not sure what was it that I felt, but it certainly wasn't joy.
"Conscience?" echoed Artemis hollowly. He threw his head back, and let out a horrible, mocking, laughter. When the gales had subsided, his eyes were blank, emotionless, and somewhat glazed. Those who were in the room noted that in spite of it colour, blue, Artemis's eyes resembled abysses, rather than the sea. There was a beast within, but there was a boy as well. The effect was both convoluted and frightening.
"Conscience, Holly? You insult me, dear friend. There are times, you know, when I even the thought of gold is insufficient, to lure me into treachery." The words flew freely, as though its speaker was engaging in pleasant conversation.
"I was visited by a man, an anonymous figure. It happened a fortnight after you presented me with a penetrated coin, at Tara. A man, Holly. A man who promised of riches, of gold, and of friendship."
Holly trembled; what man?
"It appears that an old informant of mine, Nguyen Xuan, was not being entirely truthful, in his promise to keep our initial meeting a secret. Apparently, Butler's threat wasn't as deadly as we thought."
"He decided to sell the secret of the sprite to those willing to seek her out. In other words, others like me. Fortunately, not many believed him."
"But there was a man, whose interest was piqued. He paid Mister Xuan a handsome sum in exchange for the sprite's location, but when they arrived, she was no longer there. I believe that she did not trust herself to survive yet another encounter with a human."
"Mister Xuan tried to salvage his situation by blabbing about yours truly, which eventually led the man to me. I first met him through the internet; where he gave his name as Hillsvalley."
"I tracked him down, of course, and discovered that he is none other than an old friend of my father; a man who would keep his word, to reward me with gold."
"He asked me to do it, you know. He wanted proof that fairies do, indeed, exist. I could've shown him the clips of you, during your kidnap, and a single frame with an auburn-haired elf banging on her cell would suffice."
"But I couldn't. Not after you gave me that medallion."
"Sometimes, I still lay awake, during insomniac nights, and berate myself for my folly. His number lies still in my laptop, and all it takes is a click, to boost my family fortunes."
"Do you know, Holly, that it is the coldness of the metal against my chest, that keeps avarice from burning too incandescently? Because you told me that I had a 'spark of decency' in me?"
Holly could not answer. She tried to look away, but her gaze seemed to be transfixed on the boy before her. The look on his face was strangely chilling.
"It is so foolish of me, to attempt to protect the very People who are about to rob me of my memories." Another caustic laugh ensued.
Holly finally tore her eyes off him, and turned away, leaving the unfinished business to Foaly and his crew. She could not look at him any longer, or anyone else, for that matter.
"I think that you know why the medallion meant so much to me, Holly," continued the voice, and it pierced through the dreadful silence. "I think that you do."
I drew a breath in, but did not exhale. Holly's back was facing me, but I could see that her steps were uncertain, and her breathing was erratic.
And somehow, for an unfathomable reason, I think that she knew.
A/N: Yep, this was posted twice. A big thanks to those who first reviewed it, you know who you are.