Holly Short reawakened in agony. Her head felt like it might explode and she did not move for fear of it doing so. Slowly her memory was restored along with some of her senses. Juliet, the female human, was gently examining her body, and she was lying on the concrete floor of her prison. She remembered only shady moments, but her memory slowly returned until it all clicked into a clear and painful memory.
She had refused to tell Artemis what her commander's name was, although he claimed that he had given her a truth telling serum and that she had told all the fairies secrets. She had lost all hope then, because if Artemis didn't kill her, her own people would kill her for being a traitor. He had tried to trick her into it a thousand ways, but had failed at all. He had finally gotten tired of it and tried torturing. Holly thought it not beyond the monster. He hadn't fed her in two days, and she was getting weaker, and had decided not to tell him anything, since in her weakened state, she might slip up. He had taken a ray gun she had once carried in her belt. He aimed it at her and fired, and the ray rattled her body slightly and made her sway from her position resolutely standing firmly, hands on hips. He had turned it away and said,
"Silly me, I left it on level one. Let's tune it up a bit to, say, level five." He had smiled a sadistic smile and aimed it. Juliet had spoken then.
"Uh, Artemis…" But she had been interrupted by the sonic boom from the gun as it shot. The rays had struck Holly and thrown her backwards. She knew not what had happened then, as the ray had knocked her unconscious at contact.
Juliet knew, and was now examining the small body of the elf. She took her pulse again. It had been gradually getting stronger. She had tried to warn Artemis about possible negative effects of the ray on the little fairy, but had been interrupted by the blast. The ray had flashed, shimmering, toward the dazed elf and hit her. She had gone limp then, but had been thrown against the rough concrete wall of her prison. She had crumpled to the ground and there was silence as Juliet and Artemis stared at the small body lying at the base of the concrete wall. Then Artemis dropped the gun and ran off, nearly sobbing. Juliet had run to the small, still form and rolled her over.
At first Juliet could not find a pulse, and after pounding on the limp body for a few seconds, she felt the little heart jump and start beating weakly. The little elf then started breathing again. Juliet had then started examining the little body for broken bones. She first looked at the head. Her left ear was scuffed and bleeding, but that stopped quickly. Juliet worried most about what had happened inside the little creature. Had any bones been snapped in her wall collision, and was her head okay?
Artemis had fled in horror from the scene. He knew not what had possessed him to shoot the little elf in her weakened state. He had run to his study where he now stared at the monitor showing what the video camera saw. He looked at it as Juliet knelt by the still body. He watched Juliet lean back with a relieved look on her face. He gave a small sob, realizing what he could have done.
Juliet knew nothing of Artemis's reaction. She carefully watched the little elf slowly recover. She gasped in pain and shivered. Juliet noticed that she was much skinner than when she had come, unconscious in Butler's bag. As the elf continued to shiver, Juliet took off her jacket and wrapped the small body in its warm folds. She gently lifted the little elf and carried her to the pallet laid in the corner where she had slept. In disgust, she realized that it consisted of a towel covering a throw rug. She realized that Holly – that was her name; it said so on her uniform – would have a horrible head ache at the least from the ray and the concrete wall. Juliet laid the little elf on the pallet, still wrapped in her jacket.
She walked quietly out to ask Artemis if she could get a pillow and blanket for the little elf. She almost bumped into him in the hallway. He looked scared, and that alone unnerved Juliet. He stammered,
"Is… is the fairy okay?"
"I think she'll live. I wanted to ask you if I could get a blanket and a pillow for her. She's shivering." She said.
"Sure… sure, and when she wakes up, if she can hear you, tell her that she didn't betray her people. That… that hurt her too much…" He was about to continue, but Juliet interrupted impudently.
"HURT her too much? And what do you think that ray did to her, Artemis? It wasn't just a small jolt! The ray from that threw her into the wall. Who knows what it might have done to her body." Artemis gulped.
"Just don't tell her about the book. Do whatever it is you need to do to help her live." He muttered huskily. He brushed past her and went up to his study again.
Juliet grabbed a small, soft pillow, a folded foam mattress, and a warm blanket from a closet and carried them to Holly's concrete prison. The little elf still lay pale on her pallet. Holly flinched slightly as she felt Juliet's footsteps through the concrete floor. Juliet stopped and took off her boots and quietly walked up to the little form. Despite the jacket, Holly still shivered. Juliet softly whispered to the little elf,
"Hey, Holly. It's me, Juliet. Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I brought you a pillow and a blanket." The little elf shifted slightly and moaned softly in pain. Juliet spread the mattress in the corner where the little pallet had been. She draped half of the large blanket over it to hold it down, placed the soft pillow at an end. She carefully lifted Holly's battered body into her arms. Even though Holly was a strong and trim elf, she was unusually light from her lack of food and water. She laid Holly's limp body on the new bed and covered her with the blanket.
Gradually, as Juliet knelt beside her, Holly woke up. She still had a horrible head ache, and as she drifted back to consciousness, the pain seemed to worsen. She weakly opened her eyes and saw Juliet kneeling beside her, worry on her face. Holly moaned softly. Juliet spoke gently to her, seeing the despair return to her eyes with the memory of what Artemis had told her.
"Holly, are you listening?" Holly kept watching. Her face said yes. "Artemis told me to tell you that he lied about the truth shot thing. You haven't betrayed your people. I'm not allowed to tell you how he found out the secrets of your people, but it wasn't from you. You have done nothing wrong, and I wish he wouldn't do this stuff to you. He's after money, yes, and I wish he wouldn't hurt you for it." She broke off, running out of things to say to the little injured elf.
Holly's hope returned in a rush. Her eyes brightened, and she almost smiled at Juliet. Juliet was relieved, realizing that Holly could still hear and understand her. Holly didn't move. She was drifting into a pained sleep. Her eyes closed, and her bruised body slowly relaxed. With a last gentle touch on Holly's arm, Juliet left, taking her jacket and boots with her.
Artemis had again been watching from his study. He stayed at the screen a moment longer, watching Holly. She didn't move or make any sign of life. He wondered how long it had been since she'd had food or water. He counted up the days on his fingers. Three days without a drop of water or a crumb of food. No wonder she had swayed at the lowest blast. He was about to get up and ask Juliet if she would care for the elf while she recovered, but a knock on the door revealed Juliet asking the same.
"I don't think she's had anything to eat or drink for a long time. She looks pretty dehydrated and she's very skinny." Juliet was concerned. She knew that the elf might not survive if she couldn't move to get anything to eat or drink. Not that there was anything in her prison anyway.
"Yes, if you would, you can give her fluids until she wakes up again, then ask her what fairies eat. The book didn't go into that much detail." He said.
Juliet nodded and left for one of the storage closets. In a refrigerator, she found a bag of vital fluids, and not knowing what an elf would need, she chose a small one. One for a child, although she was sure that Holly was a fully grown elf. Again she took off her boots before approaching Holly. The small elf was in a deep sleep and didn't move at all as Juliet carefully inserted the needle into a vein in Holly's wrist and taped it there. She hung the bag securely on a ridged snag in the concrete wall.
Later, Holly woke up again, her pain reduced. She was still unable to move, but she looked around. She saw her left arm lying beside her body, palm up. A needle was taped in her arm. Suddenly terrified that the horrid human was doing something awful to her, she stiffened. With her eyes she followed the hollow tube to the bag of fluids hanging on the wall. She relaxed slightly. She was alone. It was near midnight, and Juliet had gone to bed. Holly, suddenly weary and overcome by the past events, drifted to sleep again.
Artemis spent an increased amount of time watching the elf's monitor. Despite himself, he was worried about the little creature, and not all for the money that could be gotten for her. She could look so human sometimes. Especially when she was hurt. Even though her features were definitely not human, when one looked deeply into her eyes, there was the same pain and worry. Especially the pain. He spent a lot of his time watching Holly's face. The despair had reduced drastically since Juliet had told her what really happened, but there was still a lot of pain as her small body strove to get over the strong blast, weakened by no food and only a few fluids given just in time by Juliet.
Juliet too spent a lot of time with the elf. As Holly gradually regained her strength, she was able to whisper softly. She still spent a lot of her time asleep or unconscious. She thanked Juliet for helping her when she could manage to speak. Juliet was happy to help Holly recover from her severe injuries at Artemis's hands. To be honest, she didn't think much of his underhanded dealings. Especially when it came to hurting people.
With the good food and extensive care from Juliet, Holly got slightly better. Without her magic, she could not heal herself, so the pain was often intense. She would sometimes cry out in her sleep. Juliet was often by her side, comforting her. When she had first met Holly, awakening in pain from Butler's dart, she had though her rude and unpleasant. Of course, that was because Holly had been very stressed, confused, scared, and in agony. Holly was really a nice elf, but still didn't quite trust her completely, and she certainly didn't trust Artemis. Once he had walked to the barred door and looked in on her. She had met his gaze with an icy stare, full of pain, and as he frowned, she looked away toward the wall. She had then been able to move her head slightly, but she was still unable to sit up or roll over on her own.
Holly was in pain most of the time, unless she was sleeping. It wasn't good for her weakened mind to be in agony constantly. The pain was not lessening much, and it would not go away for a long time unless she got her healing magic back. She sighed in near despair. She had heard gunshots outside. Chances were, somehow the other LEPrecon officers had tracked Artemis and found this place. She fervently hoped that they wouldn't set off a bio bomb. That was a bad way to end things for her. She shifted slightly. The movement caused her great pain. She winced, closed her eyes, and let unconsciousness fall over her.
She was reawakened by a touch on her arm. She started up in fear, not knowing whether it was Artemis back to torture her, another elf seeing if she was still alive, or Juliet bringing food or water. It turned out to be Juliet, she saw through a red haze of pain.
"I'm sorry, Holly. I didn't mean to startle you." She said softly. "I brought some food and water for you. You need to get your strength up. Do you know what the ray did to you?"
"It…it made…me hurt…all over…like I'd been…burned." Holly said weakly. She became dizzy after she finished. The world around her blurred and went dark.
Artemis had been watching, and listening too, as the camera had audio. The elf went limp after she finished the small handful of words. Juliet gasped in fear and checked the little creature's pulse. She searched for a while, then she sat back, numb, motionless. She checked again, and for breathing. This time, she found them both.
"Good. She's still alive. But how long can she last trapped hopelessly in here?" She said half to herself, half to Artemis if he should be listening in. He was, and he was worried too. He looked over at the pale elf lying unconscious on the bed Juliet had prepared for her. She could look so human sometimes. Especially now. If one didn't look at her pointed ears, she could have passed for a small human. A small human who should have been in a hospital, not being cared for in a concrete prison by Juliet. He knew he couldn't let her out. She would, even in her critically injured state, manage to mesmerize the staff and escape, no matter how badly injured.
Juliet set the food down and spoke soothingly into Holly's ear until she woke up. Then Juliet helped the elf eat her food and her drink.
"I'm sorry, Holly, but you're too weak to drink all the water you need. I know you hate this, but I'm going to have to give you more fluids." Holly frowned, then whispered,
"Okay." It was barely audible, and it didn't hurt her as much as speaking had before. Juliet carefully swabbed the area on Holly's arm with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol. She slipped the IV needle in. Holly flinched and a tear of pain slid down her cheek. Juliet hung the bag on the wall and wiped the tears off of Holly's face. The entrance of the fluids always made Holly drowsy. That combined with the general pain, made her dizzy. She didn't like the feeling. It scared her not being in control of her surroundings and her situation. Juliet guessed this much and held the little elf's hand and rested her other hand on Holly's forehead.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whispered softly into Holly's ear. As much as Holly occasionally resented the attention of this human, she had to admit that it was very comforting when she felt weak and helpless. She soon stopped shaking and lay still, asleep and freed of pain for as long as she stayed asleep.
Artemis bit his lip. He wondered if the little elf would die from her injuries. He knew that without her magic she was unable to heal herself as her kind usually did, so she healed without it very slowly. He was so preoccupied with her dangerous condition, he didn't pay much attention to the siege of the other fairies. He assumed that Butler would take care of it. He realized too late that they had sent in a troll. Artemis was cornered and nearly hit and killed by the huge beast, and he was forced to let the fairies come in and fix the situation.
Holly was usually in a half conscious state, lying motionless in her cell. She heard a commotion in the hallway, but was too weak to look around to see what it was. Daily she could feel life slipping away from her. Suddenly the door opened and she heard boots approaching. She closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate, at the hands of Artemis Fowl. They were not heavy footsteps like those of Butler would have been, and Juliet took off her boots before she came in so she wouldn't disturb Holly, so she concluded with a numb finality that this was Artemis come to destroy her once and for all.
When the boots stopped beside her head she didn't open her eyes. She just waited motionless and barely breathing for the sonic boom of her own gun on power 5 again. Instead, she heard whoever it was kneel down beside her and touch her neck to find a pulse. It was a small, rough hand, like that of a LEP officer. Her eyes flickered open weakly to find Commander Root's looking down at her with something like concern etched on his rough features. It didn't fade as she half expected. He took back his hand, turned to the side, and muttered something urgently into his headset.
"Easy, Short. We'll get you out of here." He said to her. It was the most scared she had ever seen him. He stood back up. She looked past him, to where another officer had Juliet mesmerized and was questioning her. Holly was fading fast, but she could hear Juliet's voice saying,
"Artemis shot her with her own gun on power one, then on five. She's had very little food, and I gave her fluid. She was captured by Artemis and Butler. I guess Butler shot her in the shoulder with his dart gun. They carried her back in a bag. She hasn't moved from that spot for three days, when I first fixed it for her. She has no magic to heal herself, and she can barely wake up now." Juliet finished.
Holly closed her eyes, but did not lose consciousness. This was too interesting for her to miss. She heard walking footsteps.
"Here's the stretcher, Commander Root." She heard a voice say, then "Oh. Oh my." Clearly whoever it was had noticed her lying in the corner, too weak to open her eyes. She heard a thump as the stretcher was laid beside her bed. She was lifted by her arms and legs by two elves and carefully laid on the stretcher. They tied her onto it with the straps on its sides. Two elves lifted the stretcher and started moving off. The movement made her slightly dizzy. She moaned softly. The familiar pain returned in force.
Root looked at her. He didn't like what he saw. The shoulder of her uniform was torn where the dart had pierced her. Her arms and legs were heavily bruised, as he assumed the rest of her body was. She was very skinny, almost emaciated. Her face was pale and it had pain etched all over it, before the bearers stumbled. Then her entire body went limp and her face was blank. He ordered them to halt. He took her pulse again. It was almost undetectable it was so slow and faint.
"She's almost gone. Hurry up, but don't jolt her." He gasped.
They feared for her life, which was quickly slipping away. Another elf ran up, saying Artemis had given Holly a direct release.
Runners had gone ahead to the field doctors, telling them what was happening. They had set up a table in the courtyard. They laid the stretcher on this. Foaly cantered up. The centaur had few friends, and Holly was one of them. He had to stand back, but he watched Holly carefully for any signs of life he could find. Aside from a very slight raising and lowering of her chest as she breathed shallowly, there were no signs of life.
"She needs to do the ritual, or it'll take a decade for her to get better. If she makes it back." A doctor said. Almost as if that was a signal, Holly stirred and opened her eyes weakly. She reached into the side pocket of her uniform and fumbled an acorn from its depths.
"Impossible!" Root gasped. The doctors carefully lowered the stretcher to the ground and released the straps that bound her. Foaly scraped a shallow hole for her with his hoof. He knelt, took her hand by the wrist and guided her hand to drop the acorn in. Her lips moved weakly, soundlessly, then she went limp and stopped breathing. For a few seconds nothing happened. Everyone waited in a breathless silence. Suddenly, Holly's eyes snapped open. Her entire body stiffened and seemed to be electrified for a moment, then she was wide awake and immediately better. She was still very weak and couldn't move, but she could talk.
"Hey Foaly." Was the first thing she said. Her voice was soft and weak, but fully audible. He gasped, frozen to the spot with amazement, then delight as his only friend regained strength rapidly.
"Don't talk, Short. We'll deal with the formalities later." Root growled huskily. The doctors strapped Holly back in. They took her through the express route out of the time stop and straight to head quarters, and from there, straight to the hospital. They examined her, and decided that all she needed was good food and rest. They fed her a good meal, and on the ensuing energy, she managed to make it to her private quarters. She rested a moment, ate some more, crawled onto her own bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.
She was awakened with a start, and as she started up, she readied herself for the familiar pain she knew was coming. She was confused when it didn't come. She looked around, and found herself in her room. The telephone was ringing by her head. She sleepily stuck a hand out and picked it up.
"Yes?" She muttered sleepily.
"Short?" A gritty voice ground in her ear.
"Commander Root? Er, sir?" She answered, stifling a yawn. "Need something?" Her voice was sleep-laden.
"Sorry to wake you, Short. I know you need your rest after that ordeal, but can you answer a few questions?" He asked.
"Sure." She said, turning on a light.
"Okay. Could you tell me what the humans did to you in as much detail as you can get?"
"All right. I was bending down to pick up an acorn under the tree for the ritual when something buzzed over my head. I know I took off my helmet. That was my bad, but besides that, I tried to get under cover, but apparently the blind the humans hid in was near where I hid. There was the boy, Artemis, and a giant man. The big one grabbed me and threw my back against the tree. I tried to mesmerize them, but they had on reflective glasses. The big one shot me at a foot's range with another dart. It pierced my uniform and hit my shoulder. Everything blurred and I fell."
"I woke up with the female human, Juliet trying to talk to me. I had a horrible head ache and I could barely talk back, but I realized that they had taken all my equipment, including my tracker. I don't know what they did with it, but it was gone. I found myself in a square concrete cell. They didn't give me food or water, but they monitored me with a video camera. They had a rug in the corner of it for me to sleep on, but nothing else. I discovered that the acorn I had picked up before I fell was in my boot. Fowl interrogated me for a while. He said he gave me a truth telling serum which was why he knew all of our secrets. I lost hope since if he didn't kill me first, I'd get the death penalty here for being a traitor."
"I was getting weak from not having food or water, and I knew I'd slip up if he tried tricking me into saying something, so I didn't reply to anything he said. He got tired of it, and took my gun and shot me with a level one ray. Then he shot me with the level five. It knocked me out at impact, but I guess I hit the wall too. The next thing I knew, I was on my back at the base of the wall. I felt like I'd been seriously burned from head to foot all around. All I could do was breathe, and barely that. Everything I could see was tinged a hazy red. Juliet was seeing if I was alive or not. She apparently convinced Artemis to get a better bed and some food and water for me. She made one from a foam mattress, blanket, and a pillow."
"I could barely breathe. I couldn't eat or drink, so she stuck a needle in my arm and gave me fluids. Over the next few days I couldn't eat very much. She did tell me that Artemis really hadn't given me a truth shot thing, but if I moved, I passed out. When I heard your footsteps I though it was Fowl come back to kill me. I almost gave up there, but it wasn't him. When I realized we were outside, I took the acorn out of my pocket and finished the ritual. I guess the healing magic doesn't cover starvation and dehydration." She finished with another yawn.
"Thank you, Short. That's good. Take the rest of the week off to rest up. When you're better, come to my office."
"Thank you, sir." She said, as she heard the click on the other end. She hung up the phone and again drifted into a deep sleep. She woke up to eat about 9 hours later. She took a hot shower. It was well deserved, as she hadn't had one for nearly a week. She tried to repair the tattered shoulder on her uniform. She did a suitable job, but probably not good enough for Root. Maybe she'd be issued a new one. She slept and ate most of the time for the next two days, regaining her strength. The next day, she felt ready to get back on the job. She left early so she could take it easy on the way.