Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Eoin Colfer. No copyright infringement is intended In the slightest.

Haven. In the morning. Not the easiest city to get through, and Holly was lucky to be only four minutes late. Although Commander Trouble Kelp would probably say that she was 'a whole four minutes late'. Almost as soon as she got to her office, a message came through.

"Captain Short," said Commander Kelp, "We need you to come down to ops. Immediately."

"Coming, Commander." She said, and rushed out of her office toward the operations booth. If the commander wanted her there, then things must be pretty serious. Indeed, when she got there, the Commander and Foaly were huddled together speaking quietly in hushed tones. That can't be good. The Commander and Foaly didn't normally get along very well. Even though Foaly claimed that marriage had mellowed him.

"What's wrong?" she asked the two of them.

"The Pony Boy's sensors have caught an... anomaly. A very serious anomaly."

"OK,I'm still confused."

"Do you know about the mag sensors?" asked the Commander.

Holly did know. The mag sensors could sense the amount of magic in a living being or place. This was handy to find runners, magical hot-spots, and, more importantly, it could detect whether any humans had been mesmerized. Could be useful in the field. It operated on the colors of the spectrum, like one of those human weather satellites. Black was no magic, and violet was a lot of magic.

"Yes sir, I do. So, what happened?"

"Well, this happened," said Foaly, pulling up a screen.

"I'm not sure what I'm looking at. I didn't know what white was in this spectrum."

"That's because it normally isn't. White is well... more than a lot of magic. The only white we ever get is around extremely magical sites. Whoever this is, they're so magical that their magic is whiting out everything else within a fifty mile radius. The readings are fuzzy until 100 miles out."

Holly blew out a breath. "That is one magical fairy." She said.

"No," said Foaly, "that magical source is above ground. And has been all it's life. Any fairy with that kind of magic would have been singled out at school quite quickly. It would have shown up on records. Trust me, this particular being has never set foot in Haven or Atlantis. And is a threat to the people. It is just possible that the humans have already noticed something odd about whoever this being is."

"Isn't it possible that this creature is an animal? Not humanoid at all?" asked Holly.

"Afraid not, Captain," said Commander Kelp. "This being, whoever it is, has moved across oceans. Plus, the scopes that Foaly trained on this spot come up with only one similarity. The perp is humanoid, but that is almost worse. It could be a mud person. Currently, it is in the Chicago area, but moving up toward Wisconsin."

"It's in America then? Why are we worried about it? And why didn't it show up as soon as you created these sensors?" Holly asked, trying to find any clues about this mysterious creature. Since she had been called to this meeting, she supposed that she would be the one sent to find this magical source.

"Well, It's not always there. At first I thought that it might be a computer glitch, but it's not. This creature, whatever it is, is in a different country after each blank." Said Foaly with a shrug and worried look.

"So why me?" asked Holly.

"If you are doing something like this, you may need some human assistance." said Commander Kelp, not looking happy.

Holly could guess why the Commander didn't look happy. "Artemis Fowl?" she asked.

"Yes, Captain Short. Artemis Fowl." Said the Commander, definitely not happy about it. "The Pony Boy here will get you kitted out, and you should definitely take wings and a weapon." The Commander left, and Holly was left with Foaly.

"Okay, I think that you should take an iris cam on this one, Captain. Just in case. You can't be too careful with something like this. We know virtually nothing about the whole thing.

Ten minutes later, Holly was in a pod destined for Ireland, getting ready to go on one of the most confusing missions of her life.