London, England
2:10 PM

Duncan Cain couldn't say that he always dreamed of being a taxi driver. In fact, he never thought that's where his path in life would leave him. However, it paid the bills when he needed it. In reality, he was a journalist. Of course, he wasn't taken seriously by the rest of the journalism world. That's what happens, when you're investigations were generally about aliens and the paranormal. He could only come up with one article every month or so, when he had enough "fact" to back up his claim.

It wasn't that his line of journalism didn't pay well. Every time one of his stories would come out, people worldwide would be flocking to purchase it. It was the fact that his editor/publisher would take about fifty percent of the money, and the rest would go to people from his past he owed money too.

It wasn't as if he hated driving taxis, however. It was actually kind of fun. He met all sorts of interesting people, and heard stories he couldn't make up even if he tried. In fact, some of his best selling articles had come from things he originally heard from people in his taxi. The fact he got to drive faster than other people could get away with, had its perks too.

However, he had learned some things in his experience. He would occasionally get some shady characters in his cab. Kidnappers, rapists, murderers, you name it, he's had it in his cab. Not that he knew it at the time. It was always when the police came to his door late at night, with the picture of his passenger in their hands going "Have you seen this person."

That being said, he could usually tell when he had a person who might not be a saint in his car. With many of the cases, he had a bad feeling in his stomach about the guy. Unfortunately, you can't call the police in, or deny him a ride, because of a "gut feeling".

That was exactly the case with the man that currently was in his cab. Tan skin, curly dark brown hair, and a pair of thin glasses. He was a slim man, with not a lot of muscle on him, He seemed oddly relaxed, despite the fact e had little cuts all over his face and hands. His uniform, a business uniform, was also slightly raggedy.

"What happened to you, buddy?" He asked, smiling. He always tried to keep a positive spirit when he felt he had a "bad guy" in his cab. The last thing he wanted was anger a possible murderer.

"Car accident," he stated, plainly. He had a faint Indian accent in his speech. Duncan nodded his head.

"Ouch," he commented. The man actually smirked at him, something Duncan hoped was a good sign.

"So, Mr…um…"

"Bhaskar," The man finished for him.

"Alright, Mr. Bhaskar, where too?"

The man gave out a small smile, that gave chills down Duncan Cain's spine.

2:45 PM

Butler had never been so relieved, than he had been when he saw that the boys were perfectly fine, and were listening as Beckett went on about something funny that would happen in the future, apparently involving something funny that somebody named Sophie would do in the future. Artemis was trying to look interested, and was failing miserably. However, Beckett didn't even seem to notice.

However, Butler still knew something was wrong at Fowl Manner, and not wanted to take any chances, he had gathered up the four boys, three, if you only counted Beckett once, and before any of them had time to process what was going on, had rounded them up on the Fowl's private jet and were on their way to England. Butler figured that was the shortest distance they could fly, without raising too much suspicion.

Now, they were seated at some café. It was a very high end place, which is why Butler chose it. They blended in. Artemis gave Holly the call to meet them at the new location, and now they were just waiting for the fairies to arrive.

"So, is Holly still angry with me?" Becket asked, suddenly. Everybody gave him an odd look.

"Holly's angry with you?" Artemis asked. Beckett had a blank stare for about a minute, than snapped his fingers together.

"Right! Since this is in the past, you don't know about that yet!" He exclaimed, "Man, I've got to get used to the fact I'm in the past. Sorry."

"Might I ask, what you did to Holly to make her angry?" Butler asked. Beckett gave him a impish smiled.

"All I can say is that it was a accident, and Holly is a bit oversensitive about some things," he looked to Artemis, "Hey, Artemis, do fairies also have 'that time of the month'?"

Artemis' face paled at the question. He didn't know what was worse. The fact he asked that, or the fact he asked that rather loudly. The two toddlers started to laugh hysterically, sensing their older brother's embarrassment.

"Well…" he paused. Why was he even answering his brother's idiotic question. Beckett could have asked him about anything. Math, science, even the stupid "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood" question. But no, his brother asked him that. It was the second time that day he wished Orion could be their instead of him, let him deal with his younger brothers.

"The chocolate filled crescents sound good, don't they?" Butler asked, in a attempted to get Artemis out of answering a question such as that. It worked, as Beckett's mind was instantly on the food, as opposed tohis question.

"That sounds fantastic!" He exclaimed, "hey, if they come, would you order me a few? I think I'm going to wash up before we eat."

He hopped out of his chair, and happily walked to the restrooms. Artemis took in a deep breath. He looked over to the toddler Beckett, who was happily kicking his legs on his booster seat.

"So, that's what I get to look forward to, huh?"

Beckett let out a mischievous giggle, and started to kick his legs even harder. Myles had a content look on his face, and looked over to a waiter a few tables over.

"Ichi Garcon."

2:51

Beckett walked into the bathroom, and stared at himself in the mirror. He gently touched where the bandage on his head was, and let out a laugh.

"Looks like you're right, Myles. I do have a special skill for getting injured."

He turned on the faucet, his eyes not moving from the mirror. He cupped his hands, and placed them under the sinking. He let out a pleasant sigh, and the cold water touched his hands. He rubbed some of the cold water on the parts of his face that wasn't covered in the bandage. It felt wonderful. Cold water always felt wonderful when he injured himself.

That was all he wanted to do. Just have a little bit of cold water over his body. Maybe when he went back, Holly would be there. Of course, she would be using the shimmer, so it would be a bit hard to tell if she was there or not.

He happily walked out of the bathroom, and nearly bumped into a man.

"Sorry!" he called out, and continued on his way.

It was after the man nodded his head and passed him, Beckett realized something. He had seen that man before, somewhere.

Before he could process the thought further, a strong arm grabbed his waist, and a hand covered his mouth.

3:03 PM

Holly Short could honestly say, that Artemis Fowl was not her favorite person at that moment. What the hell was he thinking, changing the meeting location at the last minute.

"Sorry Holly, change of plan," he had said, ever so casually, "We're going to meet up at a small café here in London. Tisdale's, I believe is the name."

Before Holly even had a change to protest, or even get the reasoning out of the boy, he had quickly said "It's a long story. I'll explain when you and N1 get here. I'll see you then!"

With that note, he had hung up, leaving a very confused and irritated Holly. It wasn't helped at all by N1, who, listening to the entire conversation, had piped in with a "London? I've never been to London before. Will we get to meet the king?"

So now, Holly and N1 were traveling down the streets of London, looking for this "Tisdale's". Holly, of course, was using her shimmer, and was irritated at the fact she was wasting magic. Of course, she wasn't wasting as much magic as she would have, had she not been sick. That was a benefit of crym disease. Even though it didn't allow you to heal yourself, it made other areas of magic use stronger, for whatever strange reason. She was only using about half the magic she otherwise would have used to make the shimmer work. Did that make her feel any better, no. Crym's counter to its only benefit, was how gross you felt when using magic. Holly felt like she was flying in boiled troll snot.

N1, on the other hand, couldn't be happier. He had transformed himself to look like a seven year old human. Skin as white as snow, soft, jet black hair, and bright green eyes. He looked like somebody described in a fantasy book. What didn't help the matter, was the fact his clothes consisted of a tuxedo and a large top hat, that had a giant pink bow wrapped around it. He was even holding a small cane, with a diamond top. Holly was sure the two of them would have attracted less attention if they had just walked normally down the streets as their fairy selves. She made a mental note to talk to N1 about "blending in".

What made it even worse, was the fact that N1 was singing the human song "Singing in the Rain" as loud as he possibly could, which was even more inappropriate for the moment, as it was the sunniest day Holly had seen above ground for a long time. He was swinging his arms wildly while singing, and Holly was almost whacked more times then she could count. Some human pedestrians that crossed their path weren't so lucky.

Artemis had better have a good reason for putting her through this.

She let out a loud sneeze, and sniffled. However, she let out a sigh of relief as she finally saw the sign.

TISDALE'S

"It's about time," she muttered. Now they just had to make the last block to the café.

However, before they even had a chance, there was a loud "boom". Glass shattered, and a large fireball came roaring out the café window.

Pandemonium instantly followed, and the humans started to scream, and run away from the sight.

"D'Arvit," Holly muttered

Holly had a sinking feeling in her gut.

'Artemis!'

She flew quicker then she had before to the sight of the explosion, leaving N1 standing there, gaping at the scene.

I would have posted this sooner, but I got into a fight with my mom over my grades. I have four A's, a B, and a C+ in Composition. What I've never gotten, is I know that C+ isn't as good as a A or B. Is it really necessary to lecture me about it? You would think my other grades are showing I'm not slacking off. I mean, it's not even a C, for gods sake. It's a C+. We fought, I went in my room and cried, and then I started to write furiously. The good news is, I got a lot of the next chapter done, and got a lot of my original fiction done. I may post it on FictionPress.

Anyways, thank you for the reviews. Especially the ones that had some critiques in them. They are appreciated. I will admit that with this chapter, I didn't re-read it as much as I should of, because I wasn't in the mood. If I make a incredibly stupid (or not so stupid) error, please tell me.

Hope you all have a lovely rest of the day.

Jeanne