The roof creaked and a cold north wind blew through the gaping hole in the wall. All was quiet in what remained of Artemis's study, except for the hoarse breaths of the unconscious figure in the doorway. There was a gasp, then the figure coughed, her eyes fluttered open uncertainly. She gazed around the room, then sat up quickly, instantly regretting her action as intense pounding filled her head. Minerva let out a small groan and held her head in her hands. She could hardly think straight, which was unusual for a genius like her. Her whole body was covered in a cold layer of sweat, and her clothing was stiff and cold from it. Her head throbbed painfully in her hands, she was breathing very rapidly, taking shallow breaths, shaking from the horrors she had just awoken from. "Beau…" she muttered shakily. When the pounding subsided, she examined her surroundings, noting the time of night and how many hours she had been unconscious, if not days. The gaping hole in the wall seemed to glare at her, questioning her on her conduct, how she let Butler down, he could be dead. She braced herself against the wall and slowly, painfully raised herself into a standing position, wincing at the soreness of her body. She leant against the wall, breathing heavily, eyes closed. "Holly…" she muttered, "where are you?"
Minerva had no idea whether Holly had actually come or not, her last memories were just images in her mind that she couldn't make sense of. The last thing she remembered was the green-haired pixie… crashing a hole through the wall…Holly's voice. Holly had darted in just before she fell, hadn't she? …These hallucination darts are the type that feed on your worst fears. You will scream like you never have before. You will feel the worst agony possible. And don't even think of trying to pull it out. All of the drug administers in the first few milliseconds. Once I pull the trigger, you don't stand a chance…
"If what Jade said is true," Minerva thought to herself, "then I should still be unconscious at this moment. Which means…Holly must've come!"She picked up the discarded communicator in haste and quickly messaged Holly. All she could do now was wait, and hope that Holly's communicator still worked. Most of all, hope that Holly had Butler safe.

The wind whistled as Minerva stared into the distance, trying to figure out her next course of action. My best course of plan would be to wait here, and wait I should, if I had any common sense tonight. But what if the others need help? Butler's gone, Artemis is missing, Holly doesn't seem to be present, even if she did come in response to my call. There isn't much that I can do…

"Holly…please come. I need your help. Where are you?" Minerva whispered into the night sky. Her aches and pains pounded at her brain, and she was slowly losing consciousness. Her head drooped. "Where…are…you?"
A small breeze drifted into the room, and there was a soft thump as something landed. "I'm here," said Holly. "Heal."
Blue sparks flowed into Minerva, making her lift her head tiredly. "You came back…" she whispered, before closing her eyes.
"Yes, I did… but with a great cost," Holly whispered, the recent events still fresh on her mind.

Juliet was dying. Sweat poured off her forehead, and her breathing was ragged, her pupils dilated. She grasped Butler's hand like there was no tomorrow. And for her, there wasn't.
"Domovoi," she rasped. "Promise me."
Tears streamed down Butler's face, sizzling to nothing on the ground below. He had never cried this much since his first years of his life, yet they were running freely now. "Juliet, no, you can't make me do this. Juliet! Don't leave me!"
Juliet's eyelids fluttered, her face covered in blood that ran in the creases of her face and made her look like an apparition from another planet. Her face seemed to relax for a moment and Butler thought he had lost her forever, then it contorted into an expression of rage, hatred and revenge. "Promise me," she muttered through clenched teeth. "Promise you'll get revenge. Revenge on the person who was responsible for this. This disaster. My death. Promise me, you'll get revenge, on Artemis Fowl. Promise me." Juliet's hand sprang up and clutched at Butler's arm, clinging onto it tightly, her eyes wide and demonic that seemed to look right through Butler. "Promise…" Her voice was hoarse, only a whisper now.
Butler felt a shiver run down his spine. "I-I…promise."
Juliet continued to stare at him intensely. Then, with an almost unnoticeable nod of her head, she fell backwards onto the floor, drawing one last breath and was still.
Butler gently closed his sister's eyes then stood up, his dear sister dead. He took the chance and howled in the night, not unlike a lone wolf, mourning at the moon. Composing himself, he walked to a nearby bush and plucked a rose from it, resting it on Juliet's chest. "Rest in peace, dear sister," he whispered. "However long it takes, whatever I have to do, I will find that traitor for you, dear, find him, and do to him what he did to you, I swear my life on it."
With that, he stood up again, and walked away with revenge on his mind, Sig Sauer clutched tightly in his hand.

Fowl Manor, 2 years ago:

"This puzzles me, Butler, I must go figure it out. What do you think of all this?" Artemis questioned.
Butler stood stoically beside Artemis while Artemis examined what seemed to be an old map of some place. "It's fairy, I know from the markings at the side, but the question is, where is this place? And why was it built? Butler glanced over Artemis's shoulder. Artemis was looking at a very strange map. It depicted a luxury dwelling of some sort, that much was certain, but there were a few strange things about it. On the floor plan, the house was strangely geometric; the house was completely round and split exactly into specified segments. You probably couldn't tell when in the house, but when looking at the floor plan, you could see it was deliberately shaped so that all the rooms formed a symbol. Artemis couldn't tell what it meant, but he could just decipher the Gnommish in the corner of the map. It read: 'Burn after reading. This is the only copy of my house, which I leave to you young Jeimur, and I hope that you will use it wisely. Be careful. My house is not what it seems. Papa.
"What about it?" Butler asked, eventually.
"What about it?" Artemis repeated, eyebrows raised. "If you notice," he pointed to the map, "this map was created just before one of the major elfin wars, famous to elfin history. Now why would that be?"
Butler just stared at Artemis uncomprehendingly. Artemis continued. "The reason is that this Jeimur, whoever he was, used this house unwisely. Now, I don't know what this house does, but it was not built in this design for no reason. It goes without saying that Jeimur did in fact, not burn this map, probably to see the house layout again and again. Obviously, this house holds some sort of built-in power, which Jeimur used to his advantage, and possibly started this war. What I'd like to know though, is how this valuable fairy map ended up in the antique shop down the road?"
Butler contemplated these facts. "It's unlikely that the house is still standing, given the date of this war. It depends. Why do you really need to know anyway?"
Artemis put his head in his hands. "The thing is, Butler, I really don't know. It just stands out to me that I must find this house. Forgive me for being unrealistic, but it's as if the map…calls to me."
Butler just raised an eyebrow.
Artemis sighed wearily. "Yes, I know. But do you think it's worth asking Holly about?"
Butler pondered this option. "I suppose you could, but forgive me for giving my opinion, but I don't think it's worth it. The house is probably long gone anyway. And I thought you had that business deal to work with? Maybe another time, Artemis."
Artemis sat up straight in his seat as he listened to Butler's words, then slumped again. "Well, I suppose so, now you mention it. I am a bit busy at the moment, but…Promise me that when the time comes, we'll check this out in full detail?"
Butler considered this for a moment before nodding. "Alright. I suppose there's no harm in this. As long as it doesn't end up as one of your run-of-the-mill adventures that you always seem to be having nowadays.
Artemis smiled. "I'm sure it won't be like that Butler. It'll all be fine."

Iris Koboi's Lab, Now:

"So, Artemis, tell me all you know about this map." Iris intoned, mesmerlayering her voice. Artemis had woken to a high-pitched noise. At first he had thought it was the fours coming back to annoy him again, then he remembered that he was not in his imaginary 'study' as he was before. This was real.

His eyes fluttered uncertainly as he tried to fight the mesmer. A pretty hard, no, impossible feat, seeing as he was strapped down to a chair, eyelids propped open and head strapped to the headrest. Iris was taking no chances, not after what happened last time. A vein stood out in Artemis's forehead. "I…shall…not…tell…you…" he muttered.
Iris laughed. "Oh, come on, I know you know something. Knowing you, you'd have investigated a bit about it. But the big question is, where is the map? I'll not rest until you tell me exactly where it is."
Iris stared deeply into Artemis's eyes. "Look at me," she commanded. Artemis, against his will, stopped looking around and focused on Iris.
"Where is the map?"
Artemis was silent for a moment, then answered in a monotone, "I don't know."
Iris stared at him incredulously. "What do you mean you don't know?" she half-shrieked, "I know you found the map! Where is the map?"
Artemis shook his head slowly, eyes now glazed. "As I said, I don't know."
"What happened to it after you found it?"
"Butler took it."
"Why?"
"He wanted to make sure I didn't go after whatever was contained inside the map, not until I finished some business of mine, so he hid it away from me. You'll never find it. I know I haven't." Even in his mesmered state, Artemis still managed his trademark vampire smile.
Iris recoiled slightly. "You will find it for me," she stated, though it wavered.
"No," said Artemis, defiance in his eyes.
"You will find it for me," Iris snarled. "Find it, if it's the last thing you do. When you find it, bring it back to me. You will know where it is. You will remember nothing of this conversation."
Artemis nodded. "I will find the map for you," he said in a monotone. "I will remember nothing of this conversation."
Iris nodded gleefully. "Excellent." She pressed a button, and once again, Artemis was out for the count.

A/N: Well, I feel obliged to leave an A/N though I suppose you are all sick of me by now :P Hope you liked that! More coming soon-ish. :) School starts again tomorrow, ugh. I have no idea when the next update will come, but stay tuned! Review? Please?