A/N: * Edited to include the changes recommended by Liris who was kind enough to Beta this, thanks! :) *

I should probably clarify before I go any further that I have never personally visited Spirit Island (or indeed Canada full stop, a crying shame which I fully intend to rectify this summer) although it does have sentimental significance for me, if my second-hand description falls utterly short then I can only apologise to any Canadian readers (apparently there are quite a lot of you!).

As the vast majority of readers seem to be from either the US, UK or Canada I'm thinking of setting a chapter in each country, there will obviously be a chapter in London (indisputably the most amazing city in the world, sorry New Yorkers ;) ) and this chapter is set in Canada so if anyone has any suggestions for where to set a chapter in the US then please feel free to share them with me. I'm currently toying with Mt Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Disney, Boston or Washington DC but other suggestions are more than welcome :)

Having said that, I really hope that you all enjoy the next chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (I had this scene in mind from the beginning and really wanted to get to it earlier) and as always, please read and review! I will reply to all reviews at the end of each subsequent chapter as I think this is quite a nice way of doing it – believe me I really do appreciate them and will try to act on any feedback. It's thanks to you guys that I'm still persevering with this so please keep them coming! Really sorry that it's taken so long to get up but yeah...exams :\

Spirit Island

As he inspected their surroundings Artemis decided that he had to hand it to Holly, she had certainly managed to choose one of the most spectacular locations on the planet for their hideout. Nestled amongst the pristine snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies and surrounded by a dense forest of majestic pine trees there could be no denying the enchanting natural beauty of Lake Maligne. A small island stood out amongst the turquoise waters of the glacial lake which lapped serenely against the shore, stopping only inches short of Artemis' loafers as he reclined against a pine tree and contemplated the events of the past twenty four hours.

Considering that less than twelve hours ago he had been held in fairy custody awaiting a mind wipe for the crime of organising the attempted assassination of his best friend, Artemis was forced to admit that on measure he should probably be glad to only be a fugitive from the most technologically advanced police force on the planet, although camping would certainly take some getting used to.

Much remained unclear regarding the events which had resulted in their current predicament and Artemis certainly did not appreciate being made to feel like a pawn in someone else's game, that was a situation which would have to change and soon...At least some satisfaction could be taken from the conclusion that Holly's survival and his own continued liberty had almost certainly confounded their elusive adversary's plans to some extent.

Unfortunately further planning would have to wait until more basic needs had been fulfilled, limited though his bush craft may be even Artemis was able to notice the drop in the temperature and subtle lengthening of the shadows. Night would soon be upon them and even at this time of year it would be preferable to have some shelter before the sun disappeared entirely. Hopefully Holly would return from ensuring that the shuttle was properly hidden soon and between them they could try to find somewhere to sleep.

As his thoughts turned back to Holly, Artemis couldn't help but feel a tinge of concern for her. Holly had been unusually subdued since their arrival at the disused North American shuttle port earlier that afternoon (to Artemis' mind 'crashed' would be a more accurate description than 'arrived' but he had decided against sharing that opinion with Holly). Admittedly most psychologists would probably agree that this could be considered to be a perfectly normal response to a near death experience and effective social exile but Holly had been through far worse before and not reacted in this way. Artemis also tended to disagree with most psychologists on most things.

As if on cue; his erstwhile rescuer emerged from the clump of trees behind him. The inherent tension in her body language as she approached him confirmed Artemis' suspicions that something was wrong, curious and more than a little concerned he determined to discover the cause of her disquiet.

"D'Arvit what I wouldn't give for a set of Double Dex wings and a shimmer suit right now…." Holly complained loudly as she attempted to negotiate the somewhat slippery beach in her civilian shoes; which were flat and had almost certainly not been designed with trekking in mind. Artemis knew Holly too well to buy the act however, she was faking irritation at the lack of equipment to cover her real emotions. Why was this place affecting her so much?

"Personally I would be happy with a pot of Earl Grey but I suppose that under the circumstances that isn't particularly likely either" Artemis attempted a half-hearted smile in the hope that Holly might respond in kind; when this failed he tried sarcasm instead "you still haven't explained why we came here of all places Holly. I hate to point it out, but this national park is a massive tourist attraction and come tomorrow morning we certainly won't be the only ones here. Unless your plan for avoiding detection by the LEP includes being detained for trespassing…?"

Holly's glare was enough to make Artemis instantly regret the sarcastic remark. Before he could apologise she had disappeared into the dense foliage at the centre of the small island. Her reaction caught Artemis completely off-guard, he had certainly hoped to coax a reaction of some sort out of her but it certainly wasn't this. In all the years that he had known her Artemis had no recollection of Holly running from anything, least of all a confrontation with him! With daylight rapidly running out as the sun edged ever closer towards the horizon, casting an ominously beautiful amber glow across the lake as it did so, there was only really one course of action available.

"Holly!" Artemis called out as he struggled through the trees in pursuit, his loafers crushing the pine needles which seemed to blanket the forest floor as he pushed deeper into the now imposingly dark forest, quickly losing sight of the shore. He didn't really hold out much hope of catching Holly; Artemis was well aware that even if she didn't have enough magic left to shield the tiny elf was more than capable of outrunning him and could probably hide in a bush more effectively than he could in a sheet of cam foil.

Much to Artemis' irritation he was again proven correct when after several minutes of searching he had been unable to locate any sign of Holly and worse still, now had an excruciatingly painful stitch. Butler I swear that if I am ever able to return to Fowl Manor then I will dedicate at least one hour a week to physical exercise!

Distracted as he was by the pain in his abdomen, Artemis almost missed the slight rustling at the edge of the clearing he had stopped to rest in.

"Holly?" he called out again, hoping that the movement he had noticed had been caused by Holly and not some large carnivorous animal or team of LEP commandos. His concerns were confirmed however when he heard a low growl emanate from the far side of the clearing, Holly may be angry with him but he had never heard her growl before. Artemis began to edge tentatively backwards towards the cover of the trees but stopped dead when he saw the creature that emerged less than twenty metres in front of him.

The grizzly bear that now stood casually sniffing the air in front of him was truly an impressive specimen, even on all fours it stood easily four and a half feet tall and Artemis had no doubt that it was more than capable of killing him with about as much effort as it would take him to hack an unencrypted hard drive.

Ok, grizzlies rarely predate on humans so as long as I stay calm I should be fine….In theory.

Of course staying calm is considerably easier said than done when an adult grizzly bear decides to charge at you and that was precisely the situation that Artemis now found himself in. If this bear doesn't kill me then Butler will probably never let me leave the Manor again he thought sardonically whilst trying to remain still and look as threatening as possible.

To his credit Artemis managed not to run in terror as the 300kg predator rapidly closed the distance between them and when he looked back on the situation afterwards the young genius would conclude that he took the best course of available and that even had he known that this particular grizzly had developed a taste for humans he could never have hoped to outrun it; he would however concede that he did do a pretty poor job of appearing threatening. Fortunately for Artemis, in the second before the fatal swipe would have connected with his head a tiny hand grabbed his belt from behind and pulled him backwards, sending him sprawling into the bushes – undignified but alive.

I really should stop relying on Holly to rescue me from imminent death Artemis thought as he watched the scene play out in front of him from his position sprawled amongst the ferns. Having pulled him to safety Holly had surged up from where she had been concealed within the bushes and dived towards the massive grizzly.

The grizzly was surprised to say the least, it wasn't particularly used to prey fighting back and it had certainly never before been struck on the nose by a full charge from a LEP issue buzz baton. As he pushed himself to his feet and began the impossible task of readjusting his ruined suit Artemis couldn't help but be amazed by the sight before him, the grizzly bear was barely conscious on the floor in front of him and looking extremely sorry for itself while Holly was crouching by its head and lecturing the bear on the many good reasons for staying as far away from people as possible.

The bear certainly did seem to look remorseful as Holly informed it in no uncertain terms that if it tried to attack Mud Men again then it would probably be hunted down and shot, but Artemis found it strange that she was lecturing the bear in English when he knew that thanks to the gift of tongues Holly could speak any language fluently, including grizzly bear. Maybe she was so magically depleted that even her gift of tongues had failed he reasoned, there was of course another possible explanation but it seemed extraordinarily unlikely. Still Artemis thought with a slight smile despite the gravity of the near death experience (it was hardly his first after all), there was only one way to find out for certain although he would have to wait to test that particular hypothesis.

As Holly finished with the semi-conscious bear and turned back to face him Artemis found himself caught off-guard and not for the first time by the otherworldly beauty of his friend. The last rays of amber sunlight reflected enchantingly from her shoulder length auburn hair as she glanced up at him, transfixing him with her gaze. He had thought of her as 'black widow beautiful' once and there was certainly still a sharp edge to both her looks and character but in the years since he had first thought of her in that way he had come to know her far better, to see the softness contained within the hard shell that she presented to the rest of the world. He also knew that he was one of very few beings that Holly had allowed inside that tough exterior. And how did you repay her trust? By lying to her and manipulating her. Holly deserves better, it's for the best that she doesn't know how I feel, it would only poison our friendship further. After all, she is hardly likely to reciprocate!

"Artemis…When you're through staring into space maybe we can get out of here?"

Still annoyed then, at least she's talking to me now I suppose. Artemis sighed (although he made sure he did so too quietly for Holly to notice, he wasn't sure he could survive her running off again…) and did his best to follow Holly as she moved back through the trees towards the shore.

XXXX

In the time that it took them to walk to the small island that Artemis had observed earlier from the shore (which wasn't technically an island as at this time of year it was still connected to the mainland by a thin land-bridge) Holly had calmed considerably, she still felt more emotional than normal but she couldn't really blame Artemis for that, just being in this place was causing her to relive a lot of bittersweet memories.

She wanted to blame him for somehow stumbling into the only actively aggressive grizzly in the national park but even that wasn't really working, in fact she was probably more annoyed at herself for running off like a teenager, throwing a tantrum and leaving him on his own in the first place given his uncanny ability to find danger in almost any possible situation.

Of course Artemis had been less than impressed when he discovered the basic nature of their camp which currently consisted of a tent barely large enough for two small fairies (that was going to be interesting…) and a circular ring of devices the size of golf balls which marked the boundary of the site, his displeasure at their accommodation went some way to making her feel better.

Artemis was probably expecting room service and an en suite Holly thought with more than a little amusement, personally she couldn't imagine anywhere that she would prefer to sleep than under the stars. No amount of time on the surface could lessen the unadulterated joy that breathing fresh air brought her (even if it was full of pollutants thanks to the Mud Men).

Holly was distracted from staring at the stars by an incessant scraping sound to her right. She watched with poorly concealed amusement as the source of the sound became clear, Artemis had collected some firewood and was rubbing two sticks together in a predictably futile attempt to create a fire. Finally deciding that the warmth and comfort of a fire outweighed the sheer hilarity of watching Artemis attempt to create one Holly shoved him out of the way and took over.

"It's like watching Early Man try to discover fire all over again" Holly said playfully as she took the sticks from his hands and began expertly manipulating them with far greater speed and dexterity than Artemis had achieved; in seconds she had produced a spark and began blowing on it to encourage it.

"That's hardly a fair comparison Holly, Homo erectus was adapted to handle physical tasks, as you may have noticed. I am not." As if to emphasise this point Artemis sat down next to Holly and began modifying the fairy communicator that Holly had taken from Chix Verbil during their escape.

"You're sure that Foaly can't track us through that thing?" Holly eyed Artemis sceptically over the newly kindled fire, squinting slightly as the wood smoke stung her sensitive eyes.

Artemis didn't look up from the communicator as he replied. "Please Holly…I deactivated the transponder before we left Haven and am currently routing the signal through no less than twenty different proxy servers, given time I concede that it is possible that Foaly could isolate the signal but I doubt he will even try, the LEP seem to have their hands full without worrying about us at the moment."

"They have their hands full? What do you mean?" Holly could feel her anxiety increasing, Artemis of course looked as calm as he always did but she could tell that he was deep in thought. He had his planning face on and that could only mean trouble – although on measure she was hard pressed to think of any interaction with Artemis that had in fact ever not involved trouble in one way or another.

"You're talking to me again then? I assume this means that I am forgiven?" Artemis glanced up temporarily from the communicator, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. As she met his gaze Holly felt her breath catch in her throat. Accentuated by the gentle orange glow of the fire, the chiselled contours of his face contrasted starkly with the inky darkness of the night making him appear older and, she had to admit, striking.

The man sat opposite and waiting for her to reply still looked like the boy that she had hated, feared, respected and eventually come to count as her closest friend but he had undeniably changed during the last year. He certainly didn't look like a boy anymore and that was causing Holly to feel more than a little uncomfortable in ways that she really didn't want to think about right now.

Realising that she still hadn't replied she dropped her gaze to stare instead at the fire, blushing despite her best efforts not to do so and sincerely hoping that he hadn't noticed. They still hadn't addressed the 'moment' that had occurred in the interrogation room before Mulch interrupted them and Holly had no intention of opening that particular Pandora's Box before she had to.

"Don't take it for granted Mud Boy" she tried to sound annoyed but her heart wasn't really in it, he already knew that she wasn't really angry with him.

"I will never take your friendship for granted again, it is far too valuable to me Holly." When he spoke Artemis' voice was quiet, sincere even. Whatever Holly had been expecting him to say, it wasn't that. Holly looked up as Artemis finished speaking but he had already returned his attention to the communicator, his dark hair obscured his face and made it impossible to read his expression.

Before Holly could form any sort of coherent reply Artemis had continued talking. "Regarding the LEP, it would appear that my supposed involvement in the recent terrorist attack has inflamed 'anti-Mud' tensions within certain elements of the People resulting in a degree of social unrest – riots are hardly the biggest problem currently facing the LEP however."

Holly had to fight to suppress her irritation as Artemis paused to type something else into the communicator, she knew he would reveal everything eventually but he could be so frustrating when he wanted to be.

"There are reports from London of a large animal stalking and killing people at night, although they are as yet unsubstantiated it would appear that Foaly shares my view that the creature responsible is not the simple big-cat that the human authorities suspect but rather that it is in some way related to The People."

Holly groaned, placing her head in her hands for what felt like the hundredth time that day, somehow the two of them had ended up neck deep in another 'save the world against all the odds' drama and she wasn't sure how many more of those she could handle. Their luck had to run out eventually, didn't it?

"How do you know that Foaly shares your opinion?" Holly asked, certain that she wasn't going to like the answer.

The smug grin on Artemis' face was all the confirmation that she needed, this was definitely going to end with trouble. "I know because I used this little communicator to hack Foaly's system, apparently he has been following the events in London very closely indeed. He has also been keeping tabs, without any authorisation I should add, on a recent scientific expedition to the Antarctic."

Artemis paused again as he finally deactivated the communicator and placed it down on the ground beside him, giving Holly a chance to digest what he had said so far before continuing. Anti-human riots in Haven were hardly a surprise, that particularly lobby had been growing in influence massively recently and given the aggressive nature of their views it wasn't hard to imagine their supporters rioting in response to a perceived attack by a human. More concerning was the news of a 'creature' on the loose on the surface, it certainly didn't sound like a troll, far too subtle, which left very few possibilities and none of them attractive…Hoping to find some flaw in his reasoning which would lessen the seriousness of the news Holly latched on to what she saw as the weak point in the theory.

"I don't see what the Antarctic has to do with any of this Artemis?"

"I'm glad you asked because that is the truly intriguing part." Artemis had moved to sit beside her now and Holly was acutely aware of their proximity as he held the communicators' display screen up for her to see. "This is the cargo manifesto of a research vessel recently returned from an Antarctic expedition. The publicly stated objective for this expedition was to collect ice core samples to improve current models of previous global warming. Do you see anything odd?"

Holly stared intently at the list of equipment and cargo carried by the ship before hesitantly replying "They seem to have a lot of pretty advanced medical tech on this list, I mean what would they need a bypass machine for?"

"Precisely" Artemis agreed "that isn't the only discrepancy however, the drill that they acquired is not in fact even capable of drilling ice samples and perhaps the best clue to their purpose – the ship was very recently refitted to incorporate an extremely sophisticated cage and by extremely sophisticated I mean that you would probably invest in a similar design if you wanted to keep a T-Rex for a pet. If that isn't suspicious enough then the ship docked in the port of Greenwich on the same day that the first attack was reported."

"Ok, if I'm following this correctly then you're saying that the people that chartered this boat, somehow extracted some kind of Abominable Snowman from the Antarctic and released it in London….Even if that was plausible Arty I don't see a motive or any reason for this to involve the LEP?"

"What if this creature is somehow related to the People? Something that if found by humanity would expose your existence? Perhaps the motive is simply to kill humans but I suspect that there is more to it than that, too much effort has been invested in recovering this animal for it to be that simple." Holly shivered slightly at the dark tone of Artemis' statement and the very worrying possibility that he could be right.

"Fine, let's assume that you and Foaly aren't both just being ridiculously suspicious of everything and jumping at shadows…What are we going to do about this? Right now we need to focus on clearing your name before the LEP catches up to us and I'm not even sure where to start with that, let alone anything else."

"Which is precisely why we need to go to London, tomorrow. There are no true coincidences Holly. I'm not sure how just yet but somehow the attack in Haven, implicating me, the riots and this creature attacking people in London is all related."

So much for hiding in the wilderness and keeping a low profile Holly thought despairingly.

"London…brilliant. You realise that this plan means the two of us somehow passing through two international airports without alerting the LEP and then tracking down some elusive terrorist mastermind in one of the busiest cities in the world with nothing but a modified communicator, buzz baton and a Neutrino 2000 that Mulch claims fell off the back of a shuttle, right?" If Holly sounded less than enthusiastic about the plan then that's because she was, thank Frond Mulch had managed to find an old Neutrino for her when he had swiped the starter chip for the recently impounded illegal shuttle in which they had made their escape.

"I concede that it isn't the best plan that I've ever created but we have faced considerably worse odds and prevailed in the past Holly." Artemis was facing her again and close enough that she could feel his shoulder against her own, Holly made the tactical decision to retreat to the tent before she said or did something which might jeopardise the mission, their friendship and her career – although she conceded that she probably couldn't really jeopardise her career much further right now if she tried.

"Call me a pessimist but I'm still not convinced Arty…I'm going to get some sleep anyway, it sounds like tomorrow is going to be a long day." Holly pushed herself to her feet and was momentarily irritated that even stood upright she was no longer taller than Artemis sat down, she had almost reached the tent flap when she heard Artemis call from behind her.

"What, no bivouac for the fair princess?"

Holly stopped dead in her tracks, was Artemis Fowl making a joke at his own expense?! For a terrible moment she was afraid that his Atlantis Complex might have returned but as she looked back she saw to her relief that he was smiling at her as he prodded the dying embers of their fire back to life.

"You know I think I'd rather kiss a stinkworm than hear you call me a fair princess ever again Arty."

"Don't worry, vexatious though he may be Orion is unlikely to make an appearance any time soon, hopefully ever. I was hoping to lighten the mood. I can tell that something about this place is bothering you Holly, you don't have to talk about it but it might help?" Holly wanted to refuse, to tell him that it was none of his business and shut herself away in the tent but the sincerity in his voice made her reconsider. So much for the tactical retreat…

"It's silly really" she sighed as she sat back beside him in front of the fire, "my mum used to use this place as a field base for conservation research, she used to bring me here, illegally of course, every summer when I was young. She installed the proximity shield here when tourists started becoming a problem, the beacons around this camp actually project an image of a pond to anyone outside the perimeter. As far as the LEP is concerned this place no longer exists so it seemed an obvious choice for a hideout. This is the first time that I've been back here since she died. It's just…it's still tough, you know?" As she had been speaking Artemis seemed to have drifted closer to her until they were all but touching and then before she realised what he was doing his arm was round her shoulder.

The embrace was tentative and uncertain but gentle, Holly tensed for a second before deciding what the hell? and relaxing into the embrace, her head resting comfortingly against his shoulder. Artemis was quiet for a while, thinking about her explanation and when he spoke his voice was far more tender than the arrogant, sarcastic tone that she was used to hearing from him.

"I'm sorry Holly, you have every right to hate humanity after what happened to your mother and yet here you stand having saved our world more than once." It wasn't really a question and yet she felt that it deserved an answer.

"I did hate humanity passionately for a long time afterwards but that isn't what she would have wanted from me and eventually I realised that it wasn't fair either, for all the evil of humanity there is just as much good. Now look at me, on the run from the LEP with the most infamous Mud Boy in the Lower Elements!" She shoved against him playfully at the last remark to show that she was only teasing but Artemis seemed to be deep in thought and didn't react to the gesture.

"Did your mother ever tell you the mythology surrounding this island" he asked her suddenly.

"I don't think so, there was something about it being haunted but that was about it, why?"

"It isn't the happiest of stories I'm afraid but it does have a certain poignancy to it. The Native people of this area of the Rockies call this place Manitou which translates as Spirit Island. Legend has it that a young man and young woman from warring tribes fell in love and met here in secret. Eventually of course the girl's family found about their relationship, and her tribe forbade her from ever seeing the boy again. Despite this the boy never gave up hope that one day they would be together again. If the legend is true then he continued to visit the island every day until he died and his spirit lingers on here to this day, waiting to be reunited with his lost lover."

As Artemis recited the story Holly couldn't help but think that any relationship between the two of them would be just as tragic. If Trouble was any indicator then the reaction of the People to any union would be to reject it utterly, and that was without even considering the fact that in a few short decades he would grow old and die while she would linger on for centuries like the spirit of the boy, doomed to a lonely existence of exile and empty hope.

"Why did they do it do you think? They must have known that their relationship would end badly." Holly's voice was constrained as she lifted her head slightly from Artemis' shoulder to look up at his face, they both knew that the question was about far more than the motives of two long-dead lovers.

"Perhaps they thought it was worth the consequences? Or perhaps they simply acted with their heart rather than their heads, is it hard to imagine that two people might fall so deeply for each other that they cease to care about the consequences?"

The question hung in the air between them, heavy with uncertainty and hope.

"No Artemis, I don't find that hard to imagine at all." Holly felt her breath catch as Artemis turned to capture her gaze with his piercing, mismatched eyes, the mirror of her own. Frond help me she thought as she felt her self-control melt.

Artemis was plainly nervous as he spoke again "Holly I have to know, when you said that my elf kissing days are over, is there any chance that may change because I don't think I can bare-"

Holly didn't let him finish but placed her hand on his cheek and answered his question with her lips. She had no idea what the future might hold or what the consequences might be but she did know that she had fallen utterly and irrevocably for the Mud Boy long before this night. Tomorrow would come and she would face it when it did but right now in the warm glow of the fire and beneath the stars she knew that she had never felt as comfortable as she did in his arms. Pandora's box had been opened and the future would be far from simple but as long as they took the journey together, she could handle that.

XXXX

Commander Trouble Kelp paused from pacing the length of his office to take a deep swig of sim coffee, wishing for the thousandth time that day that it was something stronger. Somehow in the space of twenty four hours Haven had experienced the worst single loss of life since the Koboi crisis (as the events of last summer were now being referred to), he had at least three homicidal dwarves on the loose and his best officer had disobeyed a direct order and broken the chief suspect for the attack out of LEP custody before absconding to the surface with him. You couldn't write stuff like that.

To make matters even worse the news that the LEP were holding a human in relation to the attack had been leaked (someone would be losing their job over that…) and the response had been predictable if extreme – some mysterious troublemaker that no one seemed to be able to identify had whipped the crowds up into a frenzy of anti-human fervour.

The 'Anti-Mud' lobby as they styled themselves had been a significant force within the Lower Elements for as long as anyone could remember but the LEPs cooperation with Artemis Fowl, the return of the demons (many of whom still believed that the sole purpose of their existence was to exterminate humans) and the assistance of a certain LEP captain in closing the Berserker Gate and therefore preventing the destruction of the human race had brought tensions to an unprecedented high.

The news that the same human that the LEP had so famously and controversially cooperated with was believed to be responsible for the attack in Haven's Central Park had been the spark that was needed to ignite the growing anger and turn peaceful discontent into full-blown rioting on the streets of Haven.

Just as he had decided that the situation could in fact get no worse unless Opal Koboi was somehow resurrected to personally lead the rioters, the computer on his desk began beeping incessantly. By Frond, please let this be good news Trouble thought as he reached over and activated the screen. The display was instantly filled by an image of Foaly's face. Groaning inwardly Trouble considered simply deactivating the computer and delaying the inevitably bad news that Foaly was clearly dying to share with him but gave up the notion when he realised that the centaur was unlikely to give up that easily.

"Alright Foaly" Trouble sighed resignedly "what is it now? More good news no doubt?" The look on the centaur's face left Trouble in little doubt that good news was unlikely to be forthcoming.

"Ermm, not exactly Troub-err, Commander…Would you prefer me to start with the bad news or just cut straight to the potentially world-endingly awful news?"

"There's a point to this conversation Foaly, you need to get to it, quickly." D'Arvittting Centaur! Trouble swore internally as his grip intensified around the mug of sim coffee, he would have preferred it to be Artemis Fowl's neck but that could wait.

"Well the bad news is that we no longer have a suspect in custody for the Central Park massacre, the dwarf we were holding is dead, we-" Trouble interrupted Foaly before he could explain further, splattering the screen with sim coffee in the process.

"Dead? Our suspect is dead?! What do you mean the D'Arvitting suspect is dead?!"

"Well, his pulse has disappeared, all detectable brain function has ceased, spontaneous circulation is no longer occurring and he is for all intents and purposes deceased, dead, pushing up daisies..."

"So help me Frond Foaly; I am one more wisecrack away from reallocating your entire budget to Traffic! I know what dead means damn it, what I want to know is precisely how he bloody well died whilst in our custody?!" Trouble allowed himself a fraction of a second of amusement at the nervous whinny that accompanied the budget threat before focusing on the monitor again as Foaly replied.

"But Commander I need that budget, you should see the new omni-tools that I'm developing…" Foaly stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the Commander's expression "Right, point, getting to it….Our suspect was perfectly healthy when we woke him up and started interrogating him, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that the retimager showed that he had seen Artemis before and he admitted as much when Major Darkleaf interrogated him. The trouble, no pun intended Commander, was that his story didn't quite add up and I thought something was off with the retimager result, though I still can't work out what exactly. Anyway when we asked him about that he literally just died."

"He just died?" Trouble repeated the words slowly, emphasising each syllable. He wasn't even entirely sure that there was an adjective sufficiently strong to describe his current emotional state, furious certainly didn't cut it.

"Pretty much" Foaly confirmed matter-of-factly "we found evidence that a small incendiary device had been detonated at the base of his skull, this device must have been surgically implanted and presumably remote-detonated."

"So Fowl is guilty of another murder then?" More evidence against the Mud Whelp, maybe there is hope for today yet.

"I don't think so Commander, a device like this is far beyond current human capabilities and it wouldn't be like Artemi-"

"Forgive me for not taking your word for it Foaly but we've underestimated the Mud Whelp before and I'm not about to make the same mistake again. He's as guilty as sin, that's all there is to it. Now, what was the other bad news? Some nonsense about the end of the world wasn't it?" He must have been joking thought Trouble, nothing could make today any worse. A dead suspect he could handle, the dwarf might not be able to testify now but he had already incriminated Fowl quite nicely.

"You're the boss Troub-Commander but you should know that I reviewed the blood sample we took from Artemis while he was unconscious and well…I think you should take a look. It pains me to say it but I'm not even sure what these results mean right now, they don't make any sense for a human but…"

"I'll worry about Mud Boy's anaemia when half of Haven isn't at risk of being burned down by angry rioters Foaly, now if there's nothing else…?"

"There's definitely more I'm afraid and you're not going to like the next bit." Trouble felt his brow furrow and his ears prick up, he wasn't going to like the next bit? As if he had liked anything that he had heard in the last twenty four hours?! Foaly took the lack of verbal response as a cue to continue.

"I have several reports of a wild animal killing humans in central London, attacks have been reported in Hyde Park, St James's and Green Park so far, no bodies have been recovered yet and the human police believe that there is some sort of escaped wild cat on the loose although there has only been one grainy photo captured so far..."

"Ok, explain to me why this is our problem Foaly? Because in case you hadn't noticed we have more than enough of our own problems right now without playing save the Mud Morons."

"…It's our problem because I ran that photo through a program designed to identify creatures from anatomical details and it isn't a big cat, the Mud Men don't have a clue what they're dealing with but it is definitely our problem. I'm sending the file over to you now."

Trouble felt the feeling drain from his legs as he stared at the screen before him. Displayed upon the screen was a poor quality image of what could at first observation reasonably be assumed to be a large cat but Trouble didn't need the analysis report to identify the creature on the screen, a creature which had haunted fairy nightmares for millennia.

Trouble slumped involuntarily in his chair as the full implications of what he was seeing hit him, Foaly was right, this was certainly their problem and it was potentially 'world-endingly bad'.

A/N: First of all, thanks for reading this far and I hope you are all still enjoying the story? Of course I won't know whether you are or not unless you review, so please review! :P The next chapter may be some time coming (sorry, blame my university!) but it will contain the first detailed POV from the main antagonist...

Did you all pick up on the hints about the Antarctic?

What is up with Artemis' blood?

What sort of creature could The People be so afraid of?

Will Holly and Artemis make it work?

Will Trouble burst an aneurysm?

Am I going to pass my end of year exams?!

Let me know your theories ;)

Response to reviews:

Ozymandiasmusic: Thanks! Sorry it's taken so long to update, I'm afraid that the next chapter may take at least as long too :\

Shaddia: Is it duplicated? It's fine for me :-s Yes, yes I would ;) I was actually quite worried about attempting Mulch because he's such a cool and unique character (and I think a lot more complicated than he initially appears) so I'm really glad you liked him!

Ilovebks: Thanks :) I know it is a bit fluffy but in my defence, I did put romance as a genre and there is a warning in the description ;) If it makes you feel any better then know that whilst there will be more fluff I intend to make it as realistically impractical for them as possible, this isn't going to be a fairytale romance.

fowlsprincess6138: Thank you! Characterisation was my big concern so it's really nice to hear that you thought it was pretty good, I took your advice about the paragraphs and I hope this chapter is better, let me know?

Guest1: Thanks :) You're right of course and I did refer to him as a pixie the first time but called him by a sprite by accident the second time I mentioned him, I have now changed both to pixie.

Ru-Doragon: Woooo :D thanks! I'm definitely feeling the pressure now ;) Hope you like this chapter too. I'm sorry that they didn't go back to the place that they met but I wanted to throw in an original location (which I think is really magical in it's own right and has a personal connection for me) and I hope you liked it :\ rest assured that there is plenty of story still to come and there is every chance that a certain bend in a river near Dublin will feature at some point ;)

Guest2: Thanks! Sorry that you've had to 'eagerly anticipate' for so long and I hope it was worth the wait :)