Chapter 1: Fairies Aren't Real, Artemis

Concordia res parvae crescent

'Work together to accomplish more'

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I've never been one for jokes, Rossy, and I'm being completely serious right now."

"Fairies aren't real, Artemis. What do you expect me to say to you right now?"

He sighed. "I suppose I was expecting this in a way. No matter. We're pulling in now. Meet us outside please."

I grabbed my travel bag and made my way back out the lounge towards the front door. Had little Arty gone crazy since I'd seen him last? Then again Butler was with him, and if he were spouting complete nonsense the bodyguard would have let me know. I can't doubt him. If he says it's true, it is. No question. Although, I would like to see these fairies for myself before I jump to any conclusions.

I opened the front door and the Bentley was just sitting there. Butler was in the driver's seat gripping the wheel. Something was definitely not right. In any normal circumstance he would not have stayed in the vehicle longer than necessary, and he most certainly wouldn't be simply looking straight forward the whole time.

I made my way over to the passenger side cautiously. I opened the door, poked my head in, and the first thing I noticed was Artemis asleep in the back seat. He wouldn't be sleeping at a time like this, and that simply assured me that something wasn't right. There were two possibilities I could see at the moment. One: they've both been drugged and it's naturally taking longer to affect Butler because of his size. Or two: they had a visitor in the car that was able to stun them. Both scenarios being highly unlikely, but at least the second matched up with Artemis having told me I'd be making new friends once I'd met up with them. Perhaps a friend wasn't the right term to use since Arty had been knocked unconscious by them.

My mind made up I moved into the car fully and closed the door behind me. Going off my deductions I asked conversationally, "So, who is our guest, Butler?" His eyes moved towards me, but he didn't answer. I returned my own gaze to the back just in time to see a small woman materialize from nowhere. She wasn't human though. Fairy, I presume. I noticed the silver jumpsuit and the matching helmet, but the feature that stuck out the most was the small gun pointed straight at me.

"I think the better question is who are you?" She had a commanding tone to her voice. A quality no doubt derived from giving orders. The nametag with rank stuck to her jumpsuit confirmed it. She was in some sort of military regime.

Best to play nicely then, or she may see fit to use that weapon, which was surely more imposing than it looked, against me next. I extended my hand to her politely. "My name is Rosalin Fowl. I'm Artemis' cousin."

She didn't take my hand, but I hadn't expected her to. Instead she mumbled, "Just what we need. Another Fowl."

"Oh, come now. You don't even know me yet." I smiled, letting my hand drop back to my side. "Why don't we talk for a while, then you can decide if you like me or not, Miss…?"

"Captain Holly Short." Captain, so that proves my military theory correct. "You've already got a strike against you, though, sharing blood with him."

I sighed. Arty had sure gotten himself in a bit of a mess. "What did he do this time? Judging by the grudge it was something pretty bad."

There was venom in her tone when she answered. "He kidnapped me and held me for ransom."

That explains it. It was a personal grudge for her. My eyes widened in shock as I looked at Arty. He takes after his father, that's for sure. Forgery and theft I understand, but those don't actually hurt anyone. We're not petty criminals! We don't do these kinds of things! What was he thinking? I thought back to when we were younger. There was never any malicious intent in any of his schemes. Then I thought to the predicament he's been in for the last two years. He was getting desperate, that was quite obvious, but he would have needed a way to continue funding all this. Oh, goodness Arty, there was far better ways to have gone about gathering money for your search efforts. "You should have told me sooner." I said turning back to Holly. "I would have gave him what had coming."

"Don't worry. I gave him something that'll make him think twice about ever doing something like that again." She flexed her fist and I could hear the smile in her voice at the memory.

I laughed at the thought of someone actually punching him. "Good for you." My smile dropped as quickly as it had appeared. "Seriously though, I apologize for him. He's a troubled young man, but I never thought he'd go that far. If there's anything I can do for you just let me know."

She finally holstered her gun. Did that mean she was starting to trust me? Probably not, but It's a start. "Actually, there might be something you can do. I'll let the commander fill you in. You're precious cousin may be involved in another plot to endanger us."

"It's not him," I answered instantly.

She mistook my assuredness as defensiveness. "He's not as innocent as you think," she growled.

"You misunderstand. It's not that he wouldn't do it. It's just he wouldn't do it right now. I hate to put it like this, but there are more important things to be worrying about right now."

"I doubt there's anything more important than money to him," she snorted, but didn't sound like she was fully convinced of that herself.

"Normally I'd almost agree with you, but this… This is different." I remembered the state he'd been in recently, and the pure joy in his voice on the phone. "He wouldn't be spending his time on anything other than this."

The captain stayed quiet for a while. "He's still our number one suspect and he could have been mixed up with this before this, whatever this is, came up."

I nodded. "I understand. I'll still do whatever I can to help."

"I appreciate that, human." The way she said human made me believe it was used primarily as an insult. It didn't sound like one right now though. Another good sign I hoped.

Once again don't fret! Our dear commander appears in the next segment ;)

Disclaimer (since I forgot this last chapter): I don't own any of the characters except for Rosalin. The rest belong to the genius Eoin Colfer.