Chapter Three:

"Red stone, Blue stone, Yellow stone,

Shine!

All together, sing in time!"

A Fairy-child nursery rhyme.

Holly wanted to open her eyes, but she felt so content just laying there – on the soft mattress, her eyes closed, listening to the soft murmur of sounds above her – that she didn't. Just as her ears began to adapt to undulating rhythm of the sounds, they sharpened into actual speech.

'– bone and lung fibres are holding up to the pressure, even this close to the core. But her magic…'

Holly moaned softly, involuntarily. The voice speaking – female, Holly guessed by the pitch – suddenly cut off. A cool hand was pressed to her forehead, and she felt something forcing her eyes open. A blinding light occupied her vision for a moment, then another. Holly realised they must be checking her response signs.

'Holly? Are you awake?' She recognised Foaly's horsey tone right away. She tried to smile, despite the fact her body seemed reluctant to move even a little bit.

'Mmm-hmm…' Now that sounded helpless. Holly mentally chastised herself, and opened her eyes to meet Foaly's grin. She rolled her eyes a little at his expression, before panic thrilled through her spine. 'Where is it?'

'Where's what?' Foaly raised one eyebrow. 'Your sanity? I'm sorry, you lost that long before you came in here.'

She didn't bother answering. She thrashed for a moment, before she realised she was clenching her fingers tightly into a ball. Her fingers seemed frozen in position, cramped and stiff. After rubbing her fist furiously with her other hand, Holly managed to pry her fingers away.

At first she wandered if she was seeing things. It didn't feel as if the stone was in her hand; there wasn't even the tiniest pressure or weight. It was as if the gem had melded to her skin, and Holly had the bizarre notion that if she was to tip her hand, it would stick to her palm like hot wax. But then, as she wriggled her fingers, the strange melted sensation dissipated and the stone tipped sideward a little. She closed her hand over it for a moment – ridiculously content and relieved by the fact it was there – before she held it out for Foaly to examine. As she watched it, it glinted in dim candlelight.

Candles? It seemed strange to Holly, that there were no lights, but Foaly's next statement made her hold any questions.

'I already know.'

Holly blinked, wondering if she'd heard wrong. 'What? What do you already know?'

'I know…' he paused. 'A lot has happened since you fainted.'

Holly was about to protest that she hadn't fainted (she wasn't helpless!), when Foaly told her just how much things had changed.

-

Holly crouched on one of Foaly's chairs, her eyes taking in the scattering of papers over the desk. One showed the stone engraving of Haven, and another a gem identical to Holly's – complete with arcane magic. Her stone lay next to them, threaded on a thick gold chain.

Artemis was standing over them. He had openly stared at each of them during his recount of events on the surface, but now his gazes were less frequent and more inquisitive. As if he couldn't make sense of something. Probably a stray memory from his unorthodox recall…

'So. What do you want for this, Fowl?' Holly noticed her commander's voice was resigned.

'Can't I just do this for the sake of old friends?' Holly looked up, expecting to see a smirk hovering over his face, but instead met a perfectly neutral gaze.

'Just tell us so you can be on your way.'

'On my way?' His voice was quite deadpan and he had looked almost anguished, but now his smirk betrayed his amusement. 'I am going to help you to … retrieve … the stone.'

'You can't keep it, Fowl. The Council would never allow it.' Root practically spat the words. Holly had the feeling that even if the stone hadn't been causing such power surges (even if it had no power at all) Root wouldn't have wanted Fowl anywhere near it anyway.

'I do not intend on retaining the possession of the stone.'

'What do you intend on then?' Holly tapped her fingers pointedly on the table. She stopped herself from snapping the words, but only just. She felt ashamed of losing her temper, but then, she was tired – and she had no magic to give her a shot of energy.

'I do intent on a small commission. Captain.' It took Holly a moment to realise he was answering her, and made an attempt to look alert. 'A finder's fee, if you will.'

'You haven't found anything!' This sentence was punctuated with a puff of green smoke in the Mud-boy's direction. Artemis calmly waved his hand to clear the air.

'But I will. You will need my assistance on-site at Jarven's museum, seeing as that is where he is holding the diamond. Evading alarms and such like.'

Foaly snorted. 'I can deactivate any Mud-man alarm.'

'Not from the Ops Booth you can't.'

'Say what?' Foaly made a curious motion with his hands, as if he suddenly didn't know what to do with them. 'Why?'

'Jarven's museum is on a closed circuit. No broadcasting outside of the building – signal insulation inside the wall panels.'

This shocked Foaly – Holly could tell from the sudden tightness in his stance, even if his tone remained arrogantly unconcerned. 'So how exactly are you going to break through then?'

'I will bring my portable platform. The signal will be inside the same room as the alarm device, an as such, will not be absorbed by the insulator.'

Holly glanced at Foaly. He, in turn, looked to Root. 'We will need him after all.'

Holly stood up, carefully not stepping forward or back. She'd already knocked over the table once. 'If you can do this yourself, then why did you come down here?'

Artemis shrugged, turning to face her. 'I had guessed that the diamond was of fairy origin. I decided I would get more gold from the Council than from the free market. Especially considering its …' Holly fought to control her temper as his eyes slid from her face to her boots and back again. '.. magical aspects. Besides, I never said I wouldn't need your help.'

'What do you need from us then, if you're so smart?'

'A time-stop.'

The whole room stopped then, all thought suspended. Holly (although she had been caught silently berating herself for making such a childish remark) was the first to recover, wrestling with her tone to keep it under control. Recon officers don't shriek.

'A time-stop?'

Artemis nodded impatiently. 'Jarven's security case incorporates a series of filaments that alert him to exactly when an artefact is removed from its casing.'

'So?' Holly doubted this minor detail was why he needed their help. 'Just, I don't know, over-ride it…that is what you do isn't it?'

'Those filaments are much more complicated than the alarm system itself, although it doesn't sound as if it would be true.' He paused, as if wondering to go on. 'Furthermore, I need an alibi. A very solid alibi. That would be impossible should I over-ride the filament – except myself, no one in Europe has the skill to disconnect the device manually.' Artemis moved his eyes around the room before amending the statement. 'Except perhaps Foaly.'

Holly made a face at the alibi comment – somewhere between a sneer and a smirk. 'You mean you've harassed this guy already?'

'I negotiated. With poor results.' Holly was surprised to find that Artemis was giving her his vampire grin. She almost stepped back. But didn't.

'You,' Holly said, grinning back, 'don't negotiate. You harass.'

Root seemed to feel very left out of the conversation. 'Do we have any idea what power this other Stone has?'

'Well…' Foaly looked reluctant to leave the current topic of alarms and technologies. Holly knew why; when Artemis had been mind wiped, Foaly had complained almost non-stop that no one else understood him. Now that he was back, she knew her friend would be wringing the genius for all his worth, just in case the Council decided to mind wipe him again. She tuned her attention into the centaur's words as he continued. 'Judging by the fact a sketch of Haven was found near by, it seems to me it provides visions – of the present at least.'

Holly wondered if anyone was going to tell Artemis about the third power source – the last blank in the triad of circles appearing on the power-chart. No one did, and she didn't enlighten him.

Root finally took charge of the situation. 'OK. Well, I suppose I'll send Fowl back to his castle, then, and get you to work on Recon, Short.'

'Actually,' Artemis interrupted, 'I will need someone from the underground to come back with to Fowl Manor to return Juliet and Butler their memories. I'm assuming a familiar face would aid the process?'

'You mean you haven't given them their memories yet?' Root jabbed a sausage-like finger at the Mud-teen.

'My experience was a little painful. I didn't want to put them through two days of fever and nausea when they might be needed for the approaching venture. Is there a less intrusive way that Holly could re-awaken them?'

Root frowned. 'You do realise that it will take a while to train her, if I allow her to help you at all.' Holly herself was aware that her opinion hadn't been asked at any stage in these proceedings. 'A memory-release isn't a job for amateurs.'

'I managed it…' Holly heard Artemis mutter under his breath. She spoke to cover it.

'Actually, sir, I'm already qualified.'

She watched as Root began to splutter. He'd even gone a little white. It was slightly scary to see him deviate from his usual crimson routine. She noticed Artemis was staring at her, as if she was the one going deathly pale and not her commander.

Eventually, Root began to form coherent words again. 'You mean, you – you knew this would happen?'

She had, actually, but she wasn't about to tell them that. She widened her mouth into her sweetest smile. She'd practiced this look in the mirror, and – despite the sickening fact she felt a little like Lily Frond – she knew it was effective.

'I was on the team that tested the process. As a precaution, of course.'

'In that case,' appended Foaly (who, Holly noted, hadn't been involved in the conversation to begin with, but had still found an odd place to enter), 'you can go top-side and catch-up the Butlers–'

'– and then come back here and organise Recon.' Holly finished. Foaly took a second before nodding. She tried hard to ignore the clenching of her instincts beneath her stomach. Remembering the promise she made in the cave site, she re-assured herself that this was Foaly they were talking about, not some potentially zombie-ridden cave.

Holly turned to walk through the doorway. She turned her head to look back, and her eyes locked with Artemis's. She resisted the urge to pull her gaze away. After holding his stare for a few seconds in defiance, Holly realised what she must look like – a half-wit troll, her mind supplied – standing part-way in the corridor, looking over her shoulder. Her mind raced to come up with something to say.

'Where's the coin? Does Mulch still have it?'

'Yes. I mean to contact him and retrieve it.'

Holly tried to nod firmly. It probably looked more like she was bobbing her head.

'I'll find the convict,' Root said gruffly. 'He owes me.'

Foaly nodded too. He really did look like a horse bobbing its head, Holly noticed with a genuine smile. The centaur was unfazed.

'If we can dig in as far as we can go before hitting solid steel, then we could bypass some of the alarm systems.' After a slight pause, he seemed to realise something. 'How, exactly, is Mulch indebted to the LEP?'

Root's mouth recreated Holly's sneer/smirk hybrid. 'You didn't notice that I never sent any officers after him?'

Holly had noticed, but had said nothing despite her curiosity. Now seemed like a good time to assuage it.

'Why?' Her question joined Foaly's at the precise moment he asked it.

'Probably the same reason you brushed up on mind-release two weeks after Fowl got wiped.' Root looked pointedly at Artemis. 'I knew he'd be back. And every time we deal with him, we always have to deal with Mulch.' On the emphasis, Root's gaze shifted to the ground beneath their feet as if he expected the convict to appear from underneath it.

Holly caught Foaly's eye with a sideward glance, and resisted the urge to laugh, both at the fact that Root had echoed one of her more previous sediments, and at his apparent 'foresight'. Holly thought it was more likely that he'd forgotten to send officers after Mulch and was weaving an elaborate excuse.

'That's Julius!' crowed Foaly, his hands tapping his superior's shoulder admirably. 'Always thinking ahead! Like with his collection of ladies' lingerie – those frilly panties could come in useful one day! '

Holly decided she needed to get out of the Ops Booth before she got demoted by association or conspiracy or suchlike. And so, she finally completed what she had began five minutes ago – the demanding ordeal of walking out the door.

-

As Holly settled into the undersized shuttle seat, she tried not to remember why it felt so tight. Her commonsense told her that she couldn't keep putting off facing the fact that she was human (or, at least, humanoid). She also knew that the denial she had put into place couldn't last long. In fact, Holly felt that it was already closing in on her. Maybe once she got to the surface she could attempt the change back. Hopefully, she didn't knock herself out again.

She pushed all thoughts of her transformation aside, and concentrated on getting the shuttle safely out of the landing port. She timed it well – the passing flare left in its wake enough thermal to allow her to coast on her laurels for a while. Although it was something that didn't suit her personality very well, it complimented her shuttle skills just fine.

The unfortunate thing about this was that it gave her time to think. Absently, she ran her fingers along her collarbone, and around her necklace. She wondered how quickly she'd become accustomed to its weight – she even seemed to develop a headache when she ventured too far from the gem itself.

Her regard followed her left hand to the gear stick, hovering there with lingering inattention until her gaze slipped sideward to the passenger seat. There, looking at ease despite the tiny chair, Artemis sat reclined, his eyes shut. She wondered if he was asleep. Only humans – thought Holly with a wry smile – could sleep when one of these old shuttles gets moving. With that cargo bay on the back, this thing rattles like a scared snake.

As soon as she had finished thinking the thought, the mini-plasma above the control panel decided it was far enough away from the flare to starting working again. Foaly's face flashed onto the screen, swam in a haze of green for a moment, and then settled again.

'Does the Mud-boy snore?'

Holly frowned slightly. The camera's field of vision didn't encompass the passenger's seat. 'How did you know he'd be asleep?'

Foaly laughed. 'Non-mesmerized recall is gradual – it takes any where from twelve to forty eight hours. It's hard for memories to move between conscious and subconscious lobes without the mind being awake, but unless the mind is relaxed it won't happen it all.'

Holly thought she might have actually understood that. 'And since the mind is most relaxed when or just before you're sleeping, then that's the stage the brain tries to reach, right? Which means that Fowl wouldn't have slept at all last night?'

'Not much.' Foaly nodded, looking impressed. 'Maybe Mud-boy's not the only one who understand my lectures! Maybe I don't have to put up with the cocky comments after all!'

Holly widened her eyes in mock horror. 'You mean you didn't enjoy Artemis's presence in the Ops Booth? Near your precious computers?'

'I am right here, you realise.' Holly looked sharply at the reclining figure beside her. His eyes were closed, and for a second he almost reminded her of when she'd mind-wiped him. Except the expression on his face.

'You think I can forget? You stink, Mud-boy. Like human sweat.' She punched him in the arm.

'It's no fault of mine that the LEP doesn't receive enough funding to install air conditioners in their shuttles.' He opened one eye and looked sidelong at her.

Holly felt her cheeks heat up in indignation. 'Just because you've got cash to stuff you pillow with doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't have to deal with budget cuts!'

'I could not stuff my pillows with notes, as my fortune is in gold bars.' He smirked. She wanted to wipe the smile right of his cocky face. 'They would be most uncomfortable to sleep on.'

'Well, it might do you head some good to know what sleeping on the floor of an apartment is like! They're probably paying you more for this one mission than I get in a whole decade!' She felt the shuttle pull at little to the left. Holly glanced down to see her knuckles whitening where she was clutching the control stick. It was enough to make her realise she had to calm down.

Foaly must have pressed a button down in the Ops Booth, because at that moment a flashing siren descended from the ceiling with a small whoop.

'Note to self–' Holly heard Foaly mutter, '–take all sharp objects out of shuttles before sending Short and Fowl anywhere.'

'Have you figured out what entrance I'm taking?' asked Holly.

'Tara,' replied Foaly, and his voice told her he knew that his comment was being ignored.

She saw Artemis smirk in her peripheral vision. She arched an eyebrow. 'Go back to sleep, Mud-boy. Don't you think I've forgotten.'

It took Holly a moment to remember that her mesmer wasn't working, but Artemis closed his eyes obligingly. Holly guessed he really must have been tired because a few minutes later, she noticed – courtesy of sharp elfin hearing which had remained despite her transformation – that his breathing had deepened into the slow, steady rhythm of sleep.

As the thermals faded, Holly felt the pressure on the shuttle's engine to keep the current speed, and flicked over to three-quarter power. As they rose swiftly to the surface, Holly wondered what exactly she was getting into. Her memory responded automatically with a comment of its own – a wild plot, a seat-of-the-pants adventure. And more biting exchanges with Artemis, she added silently.

After pulling the shuttle into landing gear, Holly followed the memory to its conclusion.

Had she missed him?

She didn't need to think about it. Or even move to deny it. She had. There was no use trying to prove it otherwise, especially to herself. But there was no way in this life (or any other) she was telling him that!

-

Somewhere, between Fowl Manor and the edge of the Fowl's extensive grounds, Holly looked up at the starry sky, her mind in turmoil. She held an acorn loosely in her hand.

Her magic had returned to her – sometime between the last healing and her trying to preform the Ritual – but she couldn't use it. She could feel it, just beneath the surface. Drawing energy from the ground was like trying to fit more water into a glass that was already overflowing. Yet, she still didn't seem to be able to mesmerize a leaf into falling from an oak tree, let alone a human into remembering what they'd been forced to forget.

It was impossible that her transformation had caused her magic to become blocked – keeping the metamorphosis going had to use magic, so it wasn't that she couldn't use it…more that she couldn't feel where it was. Couldn't reach it. She twined the necklace around her fingers, and let her mind sink down to the base existence – the blood in her veins, her breathing rhythms and the magic fields weaving their power all around her.

Holly expanded her awareness outward, until she could feel the power of the Ritual site. It shied away from her, not by choice but by instinct. Having too much magic at any one time could be fatal – it had been why the Ancient Peoples had created methods of pulling magic from the earth into their charka before releasing it to their body in its entirety. Of course, back when those methods were in use, magic could be accessed from any where – not just restricted Ritual locations. At any rate, modern magic access points barely contained enough magic to fill one fairy's physical being, let alone their endless spiritual charkas.

Holly tried to get her bearings. Space was different dimension when seen purely through the higher sight – not measured in inches or meters, only brightness and depth.

Holly could feel the existence of every spark of magic, even the untouchable well just outside her reach. Everything shone, but not everything shone the same. Some magic charkas were so small that they were ineffective. The Ritual site was bright and deep, glowing around her as if she sat on the hearth of a fire – but any human would have seemed miles away, even if they were sitting right beside her.

The Stone shone, an ember within a fire. She reached out her awareness until it brushed against the face of the diamond. The golden shine enveloped her own.

Something stirred in her Sight. Spider webs of blue-black lines criss-crossed her vision, seemingly dark, but shining brighter than even the Ritual site. As if opening her eyes, Holly saw the same power inside her charka. It seemed to be both more surreal and more potent than the veil of gold that covered everything else.

She reached out her awareness to brush against the matrix of lines, and froze in shock. Wherever her consciousness touched, magic dissipated into her. She felt it breach the invisible barrier that had kept it contained, and flood her body from her charka outward – extending, pulling, stretching, forcing – until she thought her skin would tear apart.

It rushed through her as an unvanquishable torrent, never-ending, until Holly realised (with a start that shook her out of her stupor) that the purpose of the barrier that had separated from her magic had been to keep her alive. She pulled her mind away from the joining, and almost fainted.

As it was, the world collapsed around her in a spiral of colour, sending her sprawling onto her back. As her sight cleared, Holly thought for a second that the shock of having millennia old magic run straight into her heart had killed her – complete with the approaching globe of white, the divine portal to reincarnation.

It took her a few seconds to realise it was the moon.

She tried to get to her feet, and managed – but just barely. Her legs were shaking as hard as her hands were. She eventually gave up trying to hook the necklace back around her neck and started the trek back to Fowl Manor.

Always trust the magic. Wasn't that what that old mage was always telling you in Cadets, Holly? Why not remember it sooner? Obviously a thousand or so watts of the stuff had been enough to jog her memory.

Holly smiled. At least now she could go and give the Butlers back theirs.

A/N: This hasn't been updated in ages! I kind of lapsed into denial for months, because of school and life, and circumstance ...

But! It will be back on track now so I will be updating (at least once a week, probably more.)

Kim.