This chapter's a bit different as it's made up of sort of shorter sections, but I didn't want to put in too much boring stuff :)

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl


Chapter 4: An unexpected culprit

Fowl Manor: Ireland

Artemis was sat in front of one of the computers in the library, concentrating fixedly on his task. The blue glow of the monitor bleached the last of the colour from his face, leaving him looking almost ill. Foaly leaned over his shoulder and stared intently at the readouts on the screen; the jumbled Gnommish it displayed made perfect sense to the both of them.

"So it obviously can't be Opal behind this, as she is here with us. And the other Opal is still locked up, right?"

Artemis clicked a couple of times, bringing up the prisoner records for the Deeps. "Yes, she's still in there. All prisoners are accounted for. Whoever is behind this, they are not known to be a criminal."

Foaly sighed. "Well, that still leaves us the rest of Haven, Atlantis and any other smaller fairy civilization you care to mention. We still aren't any closer to finding out the culprit."

"We need to look at this from a different angle Foaly. What was the first sign of trouble below ground?"

The centaur considered this for a moment. "Probably… Cahartez ordering Trouble to arrest you for no reason."

Artemis nodded. "I suggest we find out what he's been up to in the last few days, even weeks. If we can see who he's contacted, it could give us more of an insight."

"But we don't know if he is even remotely involved. The council all made the decision to arrest you, not Cahartez alone."

"Yes, but he is the chairman. Whoever mesmerized the council will have probably gone through him first. He has the most power."

Foaly sighed. "Alright. It's a long shot, but I suppose we could get lucky."

Artemis turned back to the screen but before he could begin his search through the fairy databases, he was interrupted by a loud wailing.

He spun round in his chair. "What was that?"

"It's the proximity detector. Someone's approaching the Manor. Bring up the security feeds outside the force field."

Artemis did as he was told. "I'm not seeing anyone, hold on. It's probably a fairy." he switched on the shield filters and immediately, four black-suited figured popped into existence.

"The question is, are they on our side?" muttered Foaly beside him.

"It could be Birch and Chix back with Trouble and Holly. I told you they'd survive the explosion."

They had lost contact with the shuttle a few hours previously, when a group of the mesmerised fairies had shot some sort of missile at it. There had been no word from any of the four since, and when Foaly had finally managed to trace the vehicle by satellite, al that had been left was a smouldering wreck. Foaly had been devastated at the thought that they were dead, but Artemis had been adamant that they were alive.

"After all," he had said, "they've survived worse."

"It could be them." conceded Foaly. "However, it could also be a trap. We cannot let them in unless we know for sure."

"Alright." They made their way outside to the edge of the force field, where a small crowd of LEP officers were beginning to gather.

Butler brought out the metal frame. "Should I let them in?"

Through the blue distortion of the force field, Artemis could just make out the four figures standing before them.

All of a sudden, Foaly's communicator began to beep. He picked it up and flipped it open, revealing the soot-blackened face of Trouble Kelp.

"Well Foaly? Aren't you going to let us in?"

As he watched Butler open the force field and let the four fairies inside, Artemis let a small sigh of relief escape his lips. They had made it.


Holly was the last one inside. Behind her, Butler removed the metal frame and the blue sphere became whole once more. She looked around in relief. Never had she been so happy to see Fowl Manor.

Foaly hurried over, pulling her into a tight one-armed hug. "I thought you were all dead."

Holly laughed. "No chance. It would take more than an exploding shuttle to kill me." Foaly smiled and released her from his grip.

Beside her, Trouble immediately strode off towards the manor, beckoning for the rest of them to follow. He needed to see what the others had achieved in his absence. One by one, the officers began to head after him.

As the crowd filtered away, Holly became aware that Artemis was watching her. She turned to face him and he gave a small smile. Though he did not voice it, she could see the relief in his eyes at her return. He had been worried.


"We know it cannot possibly be Opal, though if she was not locked up, it would be my first guess. Who else would ever find a way to mesmerize every fairy underground?"

They were sitting in Artemis's lab and Foaly was filling in Holly and Trouble on their progress.

"Apart from that, the security on the manor has been upgraded. Nothing, not even an invisible dwarfis getting in here undetected. If someone even scratches their nose within a two-mile radius I'll know about it."

"Good." Trouble stood up and began to pace the room, weaving between various half-completed experiments and creations as he did so. "We need to get this problem sorted as soon as possible. We can't risk exposing our species to the human race. They're bloodthirsty enough that they'll obliterate us within days." He glared at Artemis as though blaming him for the faults of his entire species.


Artemis narrowed his eyes as he watched the feed. "Foaly… come here."

The centaur looked up from his screen. "What is it mud boy? Found something?"

"I believe so." He rewound the tape and motioned for Foaly to watch. He came over and looked on sceptically.

"Oh my gods Artemis! A door! What an amazing discovery!"

Artemis scowled. "Please rein in any other sarcastic remarks and just watch the footage?"

The screen was showing the door to the council meeting room. As they watched, Cahartez came into view, bumbling down the corridor and humming tunelessly. Reaching the door, he pulled out a keycard and with a swipe of his fist, the door hissed open. The next second, he disappeared from view as it slid shut behind him.

Foaly snorted, unimpressed. "He does the same thing every day mud boy. I hardly think that the chairman of the fairy council entering the council meeting room is anything to start up a fuss about."

"I told you not to interrupt."

"No, you said no sarcastic remarks. That was not sarcastic."

"Yes it was."

"No it wasn't."

Artemis sighed. "Will you please just watch the tape?"

The video feed was now showing a second figure approaching the door. This one was a good deal taller than the average fairy, and was instantly recognisable, even to Artemis who did not know that many of the people.

Foaly leaned in closer. "Is that… Qweffor?"

It was. There was no mistaking the curved horns and formidable size of the demon warlock. He was currently housed in the ex-pride leader Leon Abbot's body. As they watched, he rapped smartly on the door. A couple of seconds later, it opened and the warlock entered.

Foaly looked puzzled. "What's he doing in police plaza? This footage is from the morning of your kidnapping. He should be in Section 8 with No1 and Qwan."

"Exactly. That's what I thought. But look." He fast-forwarded the video and then pressed play once more. The door slid open once more and Cahartez left, looking a little dazed. As he wandered back down the corridor, he stumbled a couple of times, looking a little punch-drunk.

Artemis switched camera feeds and they found themselves looking down at the main entrance hall of police plaza. Cahartez appeared from a side corridor and began meandering his way through the crowds, knocking into several annoyed LEP officers on the way and very nearly trampling a pixie underfoot. When he reached the door, he appeared to have some trouble with the handle, making several attempts to push it open. Eventually, a blonde-haired fairy came over and pulled it open for him. Cahartez nodded his thanks and ambled off into the throng of civilians outside.

Foaly sighed heavily. "Trust Lily Frond not to realise something was wrong."

"Cahartez has been mesmerised." Artemis said somewhat unnecessarily. "And it appears that the main suspect is Qweffor, which really makes no sense whatsoever.

"Do we have any footage of the inside of the meeting room?"

Artemis shook his head. "I tried to access the camera but it seems to have been covered up by something."

"Great. So now our main suspect is a demon warlock. How are we supposed to go up against that?"

"You're forgetting we have Qwan and No1. But that's not important. First, we need to find out what exactly has happened below ground. For now, lets just assume that Qweffor has gone in there and mesmerized Cahartez. What would he have done next?"

"Mesmerized the rest of the people."

"Right. But how would he do that? How could he mesmerize roughly twenty thousand fairies all at once?"

"I don't know. Does the video show Qweffor leaving the room?"

Artemis nodded. "But it's not very interesting. He just leaves and makes his way to Section 8."

"All right. Lets get Trouble, No1 and Qwan in here."


"Qweffor!" Three dumbstruck faces looked back at Foaly as he broke the news.

"How is that even possible? Qweffor's nice! He's my friend!" cried No1. in his anguish, the apprentice warlock accidentally caused blue sparks to jump from his fingertips, igniting the carpet. He hurriedly stamped them out and looked at the others forlornly.

Qwan sighed at his apprentice's outburst. "Everyone is your friend No1." He seemed to be taking this better than the other two. Then again, Qwan was no stranger to betrayal. The last time, he had been turned to stone for a few thousand years.

Trouble was frowning at the screen, where the image of Qweffor leaving the meeting room was frozen. He had just watched through the recording and seemed to be having doubts. "This could all be a set-up you know. Qweffor might have just been in there when the real person behind this mesmerized Cahartez."

"It's doubtful, but possible." Said Foaly. "In any case, I think the first step towards sorting out this situation is to speak with Qweffor. If he's innocent, then he might be able to tell us the name of the real perpetrator."

"And if he's guilty," continued Trouble, "then we'll be able to put him behind bars and fix everyone."

"Exactly. It's a win-win scenario."

"You're forgetting something." Came a voice from behind them. The four spun round in fright. Artemis was sitting quietly in a chair in the corner of the room, face shrouded in shadow. As they watched, he leaned forwards into the light and crossed his arms. "You still don't know how he mesmerized all those fairies. If you manage to get underground, how will you stop him from doing the same to you?"

Trouble thought about this for a moment. "We'll take a demon with us. Either Qwan or No1. Their magic is too powerful to bend under the mesmer." He paused for a moment, thinking. "We shall also take the minimum number of officers possible. Then, if anything does go wrong, there will still be someone to help."

"That's all very well commander. But how exactly do you plan to get to Haven? I'm sure you remember what happened when you attempted to get through a shuttle port?"

"I don't know yet mud boy! I need to plan!" the elf snapped back. "Now will everyone except Foaly please get out of here so I can do just that?"


Holly Short was suiting up. It had been decided less than an hour ago. Only four of them would be travelling by shuttle to Haven. Her, Qwan, Mulch and Birch. Trouble was not happy with this plan, as it did not involve him getting in on the action. Unfortunately, as Foal had pointed out, he was more useful above ground where he wouldn't die.

The reason that Mulch was coming was that he knew almost every secret smuggler's entrance to Haven like the back of his hand. He would be able to direct them to an unguarded route. Not that he was very willing to put himself in harm's way.

"You owe me ten times more than usual, Commander. Not only am I risking life and limb to save the world yet again, but there is also the chance that I'll get turned into a brainwashed zombie!"

"Mulch," Foaly sighed for the fiftieth time. "You are going whether you like it or not. Look at it this way. At least if you go, you'll be underground rather than stuck out in the sun."

The dwarf paused mid rant, considering this. "Good point. And it does sound as though you'd be lost without me, as usual. Honestly. I don't know how you get anything done when I am not there." he spat into a hairy hand and held it out to the commander. "All right I'll do it."


(I didn't know how many fairies there would be altogether, but Haven has less than ten thousand inhabitants so I guessed… roughly)

My next chapter's almost finished, so it will be up soon. And we're finally getting to the bit I've been dead psyched about writing! Yaay!

Please review? How is the story going? What do you think about the Qweffor thing? :)

Katy x