Chapter 2
Over the communing months, Holly found herself feeling rather depressed. Artemis now had a fairly large control over her life. Thankfully, Artemis seemed content to leave her be for the most part. He had only set a few rules to which she had to follow, outside that she was free to do as she pleased. Problem was the only thing she wanted to do, leave and head back to Haven city was impossible.
Fairy's had several rules about houses and those in them. One you had to be invited in, two if an order was given while the one who made the order maintain eye contact you had to follow it, and finally if you broke either of those rules you lost your magic. Worse still this rule only seemed to apply to the human kind's houses and buildings, not to fairies at all. It was one of the worse rules in the book and problem was they had to follow them.
At least the rules she had been given this time were simple enough to follow. One she was not allowed to leave the property. Two she was not allowed to harm anyone in the house, unless it was to save them. Three she was not allowed to destroy anything in the house, unless she again had to save someone. And four, she could not use her magic to control anyone else's actions while she was under Artemis's, or his brother's employment.
Holly grudgingly followed the rules, she had to. If she lost her magic, even if she did escape, the LEP would never allow her back onto the force. And as she was a female, her range in job options rapidly grew smaller. Worse still, she could never have a family as it took a fair bit of magic for a fairy to have a child. And it these reasons that mostly kept her at Fowl Manor.
Artemis had her also do two other things. First was her room was moved to better location where she could spend her time, away from Artemis and the others if she wished. And her gear that she had taken was replaced with untampered gear. Mostly so she could use it fully without risk of damage to herself.
By the time summer came, and Butler had gone to pick up Artemis's adopted brother, one Harry Potter; Holly had settled into life at the manor. True she was not happy, and it could be seen very clearly in her baring and eyes. But she was at least still alive and well, which was more than she had expected when her command said the ransom would not be paid.
She did not see Harry arrive, when Butler arrived home. However, she did see him not long later when Artemis explained what he had been up to over the year. After all, once Artemis was done explaining everything, she would be introduced to Harry. The conversation though did not go as Artemis had planned, much to Holly's joy. She was happily able to watch the whole thing shielded.
"Hello brother," Artemis said, smiling a little bit at Harry.
"Hello Arty," Harry said, smiling back before asking, "Why did you drag me up into the study?"
"I have something I need to tell you," Artemis explained.
"Oh please don't tell me you have another one of your crazy ideas about stealing money," Harry said, sounding very exasperated.
"No, the idea fell through," Artemis answered.
"Which one," Harry asked, though he sounded weirdly amused.
"The one with the fairy foke," Artemis answered.
"I could have told you that one," Harry said rolling his eyes, "Magic might be real. But not like you seemed to believe."
"Yes, so you have told me. Yet the facts said otherwise, and I found the proof I wanted. A pixie who with a little persuasion, let me photograph her copy of the book. Once that was done, I cured her of her dependency to alcohol, and we returned here. It took me several hours to figure out how to read the fairy language once that was done, I began to plan," Artemis explained.
"So, as they are not a part of our world in the normal sense, where have they been hiding," Harry asked.
"Deep underground, as they technology is more advance than our own, they used it to cold parts of the inner most edge of the crust along the outer mantel and built their own city. Highly shielded against the planets own natural radiation this is where they have hidden for hundreds of years," Artemis explained.
"And the rock has acted like a secondary shield against any communitcation we might pick up," Harry commented.
"Yes, now the fairy is a general term. As like on your side the hidden societies, they are a number of creatures that share similar names yet different then what you or I know form your own world. Elf, goblin, pixie, troll, and centaur, just to name a few. Now with this information my plan was rather simple. Kidnap a fairy, hold for ransomed." Artemis explained.
"Seems harder than that," Harry commented dryly.
"Yes, most fairies can use magic, and as such in order to keep using this magic must preform a ritual of sorts. Take an acorn form an ancient oak that has grown up beside a stream, and then plant it elsewhere. It took three tries, but we caught an elf and brought her back to the mansion, while giving her commanding officers a bit of a scare." Artemis commented, as if he was talking about the weather.
"Really, you decided to pick a fight with a group that has more technology and magic than you do," Harry said shaking his head, "But continue."
"Yes, but I was smarter and better prepared," Artemis said with a chuckle, "Using the book, I was able to find rules all fairy kind must follow unless they wish to lose their magic. With this I was able to keep the elf locked in a room, while the rest of her comrades showed up. After Butler showed them we were not to be taken lightly, the commander and myself talked. My offer, one ton of gold in return for elf, and not revealing them to the world."
"So, when did it start going wrong?" Harry asked.
"Not long after the meeting. A centaur named Folly looped my cameras which allowed a dwarf to sneak in and escape with a secondary copy of the book I had made. The elf was also able to escape her room by completing the ritual. When she came up to regain her things, a troll was sent in to secure an invite into the manor as Fairy kind cannot enter unless they wish to give up their magic," Artemis explained.
"Did Butler handle the troll well?" Harry asked.
"Yes and no, he was nearly killed. But the elf healed him, and he was able to fight off the beast, thus saving everyone's life," Artemis explained, then sighed, "Then it got worse. Even though we defeated the troll, and it was clear I held all the cards, even leaving them an opening into which they might take back the gold. They turned down the offer."
"How did you force them to leave?" Harry asked.
"By their own law book, they have one shot to take back what was taken, should they fail they cannot take a second shot at it. Weird law to say the least, but because of this, I ended up with the elf, and no money," Artemis finished.
Harry glared a little at Artemis all too aware that the table kept him from reaching over and slapping his brother. He was also well aware that this story was highly edited, but it did make him wonder one thing. Where was the elf now and what was, Artemis doing to her?
"So, why are you telling me this," Harry asked.
"As the elf, Captain Holly Short, now lives with us on the lower floors by your room. She will be working as your bodyguard till things change," Artemis said.
Artemis Fowl learned one thing that day after speaking with Harry. First and foremost was never to anger Harry. He might have been across the table, but Harry was in many ways like Artemis Fowl. He surprised everyone by doing things that should not have been possible. In this case he used magic without any aid what so ever.
Artemis was one second staring at Harry, the next he was knocked sideways and out of his chair by the force of the blow. His was fell out of the chair and fell flat on the floor. His cheek was red, and harry was glaring at him with obvious dislike.
"Dear brother of mine, tell me why you decided to turn one of them into a slave, when you could have released them, and then just revealed their world as you threaten?" Harry asked.
"Because I still need her, or the money. Father is alive, and most likely stuck somewhere in Russia. The gold could have been used for a ransom fund, and Holly's skills could help save him if I don't have the gold," Artemis answered, the calm he had held so long gone.
The talk had continued for nearly an hour after that as Artemis began explaining everything. And Holly saw a side of Artemis she had never expected to exist or even knew about. The kid who just wanted his family back. Finally, she was introduced to Harry. Holly was a little worried as looked at her, but he only nodded and asked her to follow.
That had been a week ago, now. For the first week back Harry did not talk too much to Holly, but that was because Holly had chosen to be quiet around Harry. For obvious reasons, she was rather weary around him. He was an unknown, even more so than the others in the house. Artemis was a great planner and wanted two things, money and family. Butler worked to protect said family. Juliet, loved wrestling.
Harry on the other hand never revealed what he really wanted or liked. He studied hard, and seemed to only interact a little bit with those in the house. And his powers, where a great unknown to Holly who never had heard of a human who had magic. For that matter, it was believed that only fairy kind could even have let alone use magic. It was on the Monday of the second week, when Harry finally really spoke to her.
"Holly," Harry said, as he walked by her, carrying of all things a very strange looking broom.
"Yes, Harry," Holly answered.
"Grab you wings and follow me, I want a race," Harry said, a small grin on his face.
Holly watched completely perplexed as Harry walked away. She was sure she had miss heard him, yet, she decided to follow the orders as asked. Grabbing her wings, and a helmet she soon found Harry waiting for her by the front door. And he was sitting on the broom as it floated several feet above the ground. Holly could only stare at him for several moments as before he finally noticed her.
"Artemis did tell you I was a wizard right?" Harry asked.
"Well no, he did not tell me anything about you," Holly said, still slightly stunned.
"Well, come on, let's have some fun, then I would like to talk with you about some things," Harry said, "Now get those wings on, you are going to be hard pressed to catch me."
Holly nodded, though she now looked determined. After all, she was an Ace pilot, both with the fairy wing packs, that granted them the ability to fly. And the pods that road hot pressure flares from the cities up to upper edge of the crust. And she was not about to let Harry out flier her.
"The track is simple enough, inside edge of the manor's outer wall. Thirty feet wide track, and we follow the road to the wall and back. Three laps, first one back is the winner," Harry explained, bring his broom down and leaning forward opening the front doors wide.
"You think you can keep up on that twig?" Holly asked.
"Holly, with all due respect, I think you will be harder pressed than you think," Harry said grinning, "Now. Three, two, one, GO!"
With that the pair shot out of the manor and raced off around the edge of estate. Holly grinned as she took a quick lead banking hard as she reached the wall and began going around the edge. However, she was surprised when a few moments later she noticed Harry pulling up alongside her. He gave her a grin, and pushed the broom speed up by leaning down closer to it.
Holly growled into her helmet, and accelerated to keep pace with Harry. But this low to the ground, they had dodge around trees and several sheds that dotted the ground. As such neither Holly nor Harry could reach their top speed. Harry, Holly quickly noticed, had the advantage with his body able to lay down close to the broom he could corner with less strain or loss of speed.
As they pulled away from the trees and rounded the area with the main gate, Harry pulled ahead. Holly opened up the throttle completely allowing her to match his speed then begin passing him again. Harry, Holly noticed as she focused on the path ahead was grinning happily, not even worried she was beating him. Then they were in among the trees again and having to dodge and corner hard to avoid crashing.
Harry was already pulling ahead again, rolling about in the air as he wove through the trees. Holly groaned as she began falling behind again. Finally they were out in the opening, again and racing towards the last bend. Harry was ahead of Holly by a second or so. She opened up the throttle wide, and sped up rapidly catching Harry right as he made the corner. She looped him as he took the corner much harder than she had thought possible, and curved about to avoid a crash. But the move caused her to lose any ground she had gained.
Cranking the wings to their max, she sped off, closing the distance between them rapidly again. Harry was lying flat against his broom, and passed through the entrance a mere moment before Holly did. He then curved up hard in the wide hall, breaking hard before coming to a stop just inside the door again. Holly had a harder time but was able to come to a stop without crashing into anything.
"Not bad Holly," Harry said as Holly came back over to him.
"Thanks," Holly said, rather happy at the moment in spite of losing, she had not flown like that in quite a while.
"I believe we will call that one a tie, it was too close for me to call otherwise," Harry said, before smiling and nodding out the door, "Follow me, I would like to talk with you in a place not watched by my brother or the Butlers."
Holly confused nodded and followed Harry as he took out across the grounds towards the rear of the manor. He passed the wall and continued on till they came to a large stone tower, with an opening for a door about ten feet above the ground. Harry entered into it, and landed on an old wood floor, Holly soon settling down besides him.
"This land is still owned by the Fowl family," Harry said, "However unlike the rest of the grounds it is unkempt, left wild for reason that have been forgotten. I liked exploring here for the first few years after I first came to Fowl manor."
Holly nodded, looking around. The place was rather messy, with leaves and dust covering most of the area. It was about twenty feet across, and there was an opening in the floor near the rear, as well as the roof above their heads. Harry got off his broom and walked towards the hole in the floor, before pulling from it a long latter. He hoisted it into place so they could access the top floor and began climbing it.
"Follow me," Harry said with a chuckle.
Holly did so, and they soon reached the upper two rooms of the tower. On this lower floor was several items that would not have looked out of place from some old fashion witch or wizards home design from the movies. Robes hung in one area, a trunk and cauldron on another side of the room along with a small kitchen. Harry then pointed to a set of wood stairs and they moved up it.
Above this was a smaller room with two large windows. One side had a large bed, another a desk and dresser. And then sitting in a massive perch by a window was a large snowy owl, currently fast asleep. Holly walked around the place in shock, her mind not quite believing what she was seeing.
"When I first found this, Butler was with me. Angeline when she found out decided to make it into a club house of sorts for me and Artemis. He never used it but I often would come and visit here when he became to annoying," Harry explained.
"This is quite the place," Holly commented.
"Yes, the first floor is kept open and unmaintained to keep the towers broken down appearance up. The toilet is in the basement along with the shower, hooked up two a separate well and a small set of solar panels out by the edge of the property keep this place supplied with power," Harry explained, "The Owl is my friend and pet Hedwig, don't annoy her, she tends to bite those that do."
Holly just nodded, sitting down in the desks chair, before asking, "why are you showing me this?"
"Well, this is where I am going to spend a lot of time studying and practicing magic till I head back to school. Also, if you ever need to get away from my 'Charming' brother for a few hours this would be the best place to go," Harry explained, catching Holly again by surprise.
"Why?" Holly asked again.
"Because though you might not believe it. I know a lot better than most what you are going through. And a place to just be alone where you don't have to deal with anyone is very nice," Harry said, and Holly for the briefest of moments saw a darkness and loneliness in Harry eyes so profound it left her feeling sad.
However, the look quickly faded and he pulled off the desk beside her a thin stick of wood, nodding back towards the stairs, Harry said, "Come on, let me show you what a fledging wizard can really do."
