Chapter 2

Artemis Fowl was staring into space. There wasn't much unusual in that, he found very little that happened around the manor to be of much interest to him, especially now that his parents had taken the twins to America to see Juliet a.k.a. the Jade Princess, wrestling superstar. But the look on his face was abstract, even for him.

Butler, observing his young master from the doorway thought he knew what the boy was daydreaming about. Or, more accurately, who. Just the previous night, he had been walking past Artemis's room when he'd heard the boy call out the name of a certain female LEP officer. When he'd checked, Artemis had been asleep, with a goofy smile on his normally composed face.

Butler chuckled at the memory. The sound roused Artemis from his trance, and he looked around, suddenly disoriented.

"Butler? Is something the matter?"

"No, sir."

"Then why are you watching me like that? Surely, I cannot be that interesting."

Butler decided to face the issue head-on.

"Have you spoken to Holly recently?"

Well, almost head-on.

Artemis blushed a little, before composing himself and responding as normally as he could. "No, why?"

"No reason. I just haven't seen her in a long time, and I never got around to thanking her for saving you again."

Artemis nodded, not quite believing his manservant, but not wanting to push the issue either. It was entirely too personal, and far too close to what he had just been thinking about. Butler sighed, and gave up on subtlety.

"Perhaps you should call her? You must miss her, a little."

"I do not miss her, Butler. Whatever makes you think such a thing?"

Butler smirked, and left Artemis to his self-delusion. The boy watched him go, then turned to his computer. He beat the machine at chess three times in quick sucession, then sighed and closed down the programme.

I do want to see her again, he thought. Of course I do.

He opened his email account and began to type.

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Holly straightened, feeling the rush as her magic was replenished. The blue glow around her faded, and she grinned. Gods, she loved that feeling - there was nothing like running hot after running on empty. She jumped off the small cliff she was on and plummeted towards the still waters below. She engaged her wings at the last minute, gliding out over the serene Irish sea. She had grabbed the first flare to Tara, and completed the Ritual at the usual spot, the place that evoked the most memories in her. Some good, some bad. All involving Artemis. She grinned, stopping in midair so suddenly that she fell a few feet before the wings adjusted to the hover setting. Speak of the devil. The Irish Mud Boy was emailing her. It was labelled social, but read simply 'Important'. She frowned. If it was important, why wasn't it under the emergency labelling? How important was it?

She shrugged, and set off for Fowl Manor. She had the next twenty-four hours off anyway, she may as well spend them above ground. It had been a while since she'd seen Artemis. She flushed as she remembered their last encounter. They'd both almost died, Opal Koboi had escaped from the past into the present, and she'd kissed him! It was the last item on her mental list that shocked her the most. She almost died every time she got into an adventure with Artemis, and it was almost a given that Opal would complicate their lives again at some point in the future (though security around her cell in Atlantis had been trebled, just in case). But she had kissed the Mud Boy! True, she had been a teenager at that point, but she didn't think it had just been hormones. Could it be that she actually had feelings for him?

Holly shook herself. Get a grip, girl. You don't have to worry about this.

For the rest of the flight, she gave the scenery her complete attention.

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Artemis glanced at the clock. Midnight. He should probably go to bed. After all, he couldn't expect Holly to respond to the email straight away, especially as it was only a social call. Perhaps he shouldn't have sent it, or perhaps he should have worded it differently. After all, 'important' may give her the wrong impression. He just wanted to talk to her, after all, it wasn't that urgent…

He was jolted out of his reverie by a knock at the window. Holly was outside, waving at him to let her in. For a few seconds he just stared - he had only sent the email half an hour ago - then he came to his senses and opened the window for her. She must have been completing the Ritual. She smiled and hugged him, and he reciprocated, muttering into her ear.

"Haven't you ever heard of using the front door?"

She pulled back and punched his shoulder gently.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Artemis shook his head, smiling and rubbing his shoulder. She looked at him, head tilted to one side.

"What was so urgent?"

His smile slipped.

"Oh, well, I just wanted to see you, that's all. It's been a while, and you said yourself that we never get to 'hang out'. Why, did I call at a bad time?"

"No, actually your timing was perfect. I've got a free weekend, so I'm all yours for a few hours."

"Not strictly true." came a whinny from the direction of the computer. Both Holly and Artemis whirled to face the centaur on the screen. Foaly grinned at them.

"You didn't even notice me, did you?"

"Did we notice a computer programme opening silently on a screen not in our line of sight? No Foaly, quite astonishingly, we didn't." Artemis replied dryly. He followed it up with "How did you hack my system?"

The centaur shrugged. "Everyone needs a hobby."

Holly interceded before either genius could damage the others ego too much.

"Did you interrupt for a reason, Foaly?"

The centaur sobered up at once.

"Yes, actually. Earlier, whist you were being shot at, Opal broke herself out of prison."

Holly swore loudly. "It was a distraction."

Foaly nodded. "And it worked. Commander Kelp wants you back below ground Holly, now if not sooner. And he also asked for you, Fowl. He said, and I'm quoting here, 'We'll need the Mud Genius to combat the both of them, or were sunk.' Not to inflate your ego, or anything."

"Most persuasive, Foaly." Artemis muttered, but he stored the compliment away for future use. "I presume you want Butler's aid on this also?"

Holly grinned. "When don't we need him?"

"Bring the two of them down Holly, but be careful. We don't know where the Opal's are, and they'll be after the two of you for sure."

Holly nodded, and Foaly closed the link. The elf turned to Artemis.

"Where is Butler?"

"He'll probably be in the dojo."

The pair headed for the door, but it crashed open before they could reach it. Holly reached for the neutrino that she knew wouldn't be there, swore, and dived into Artemis, knocking him to the ground. Unfortunately, this meant that she took the first blast of the enemy's gun. The shot hit her in the chest, spinning her round, and she collapsed across Artemis's legs. Pinned to the ground by Holly's unconscious form, all he could do was watch as two females entered his office. Opal of the present, with her rounded ears, was more than a foot taller than her counterpart from the past, but both had identical evil grins on their faces.

"You were right," exclaimed past Opal, "This is fun!"

Artemis groaned as the next shot from her stolen neutrino hit him. He felt distantly the weight move off his legs, but he didn't have the energy to move. His own shoulders lifted off the ground, he heard muttering - 'he's still awake!' - then a swift punch from one of the Opal's sent him tumbling into blackness.