7

"Somnus Fowl. From now on, you have to refrain from calling me by my first name. Just call me Butler. Nothing but Butler."

I nodded dumbly. We were in a holding cell, ever since the interrogation. Icy shards seemed to surround my mind, freezing it, making it work agonizingly slow. Part of me knew it had something to do with losing my mother, nearly getting killed, and then arrested, all in rapid succession, but a larger part of me was already frozen and too numb to care. Aunt Julie- No, Butler, as she insists- had told me all about my father's involvement with fairies.

Apparently, he discovered them at the tender age of twelve, and kidnapped a fairy officer. He met my mother through an incident with the Eighth family, demons, and had a mental illness a few years later- which he had hidden from Mother. Initially, he had went through the chute to Tara… Until Fowl Manor, the mansion he had inherited from my grandfather, was bio-bombed. He then moved us to Melbourne, hoping that if we kept a low profile, whoever targeting our family wouldn't find us. His regular trips across the Tasman Ocean was to reach the nearest chute, which was in Tasmania, to get treatments for his condition. Mother knew about fairies, and thought he was going to meet the officer he had kidnapped twenty years ago, Major Holly Short.

Normally, I would have been sceptical. Not today. Not after everything that happened today.

Today, I just bury the information beneath the ice.

I remember the detective's face as we said we were innocent. The words, "Yeah, right." were written all over it.

Butler beckoned me. "There's people out there who will help us."

The ice won't let any excitement through. I nod again, emotionless.

The hours pass in silence. I felt nothing at all, while seeing and hearing everything.

I had dozed off fitfully when I felt myself being moved. I crack open an eyelid and see that it's Juliet. No, Butler.

"They've come. I knew they would."

I note that the outside wall of our cell has been torn down, and that there was some kind of vehicle outside. It seemed like a spaceship. Butler tells me to follow her into the shuttle, and I do. A bit of the ice is melting, allowing me to feel some curiosity despite myself.

The minute we stepped on board, the door closes and the shuttle takes off at a dizzying speed. A girl with auburn hair was piloting the ship, and a strange looking thing was in a corner, nervously chewing on its claws/nails. The girl began to speak.

"Juliet. Nice to see you again. Don't I get a thanks? I just broke you our of prison, after all. Also, I'm supposing the blue rinse isn't your doing. Also, Artemis is alive, it seems."

"Artemis is alive? Where'd you get that piece of news? You must be growing old, Holly. There's no way he can be alive."

Before Holly can respond to Aunt Juliet's words, I butted in on the conversation.

"Holly. So you're the on whom my father kidnapped, over twenty years ago."

She flicks a switch, and spins around, studying my features.

"You must be Somnus," Holly says. "Yes. He kidnapped me. Anything else you care to ask?" She spins back around to pilot to shuttle again.