Even after the trip to the surface, Artemis was still asleep. He had stirred a few times, but had never really woken up as the shuttle sped through the chute towards Tara. When they emerged from the shuttle port into the dark of the very early morning, the surrounding countryside still mostly dark, Holly had to immediately shield (No1 had given her a "re-fill" of magic before she had left Haven again). Both she and Butler had agreed that hooking Artemis to a moon belt and flying him back to Fowl Manor might not be the best thing for someone recovering from the brink of death, so as soon as Butler had cell reception, he had called for a taxi to meet them a safe distance from the Tara entrance. Butler would, of course, be giving the driver a very generous tip to refrain from mentioning to anyone else the worse-for-wear appearance of his young charge.
As Holly flew over the rolling hills, she was filled with a confusing mixture of emotions: relief that Artemis had survived; giddiness that she and Artemis had finally been open about their feelings for each other; exhaustion from the ordeal through which they had passed today; and dread at what Mrs Fowl would say when she saw the condition of her son.
She arrived at Fowl Manor about fifteen minutes before the taxi. Shielded, she watched as Butler carried Artemis out of the car and up the front steps to Fowl Manor. She slipped in the house behind Butler and waited until the door was closed before she unshielded. Butler continued to carry the comatose Artemis up the stairs, and headed down the hallway towards his bedroom, Holly following him all the way.
Holly's fears came true when Mrs Fowl, hearing the movement in the hallway, came out of her room in a terry cloth robe, clearly having been awoken by the trio's arrival, to investigate just as Butler was passing with Artemis. Holly cringed as Angeline's eyes widened with shock and her face went as pale as a ghost. "What happened?" Angeline gasped, and she hurried after Butler as he continued on his way to Artemis's room.
Butler remained silent—Holly knew it filled him with shame to be bringing Artemis home in this state—so Holly thought it best if she jumped in. "Mrs Fowl, Artemis is fine—he's been completely healed. He's just sleeping it off now."
Angeline turned to Holly "But what happened?" Butler had now closed the bedroom door, leaving the two women outside. Holly assumed this was to allow Butler to get Artemis out of his torn and bloody Armani suit.
Holly hesitated. She didn't want to cause the poor woman to faint, so she decided to focus on the positive. "Artemis just helped us save an entire school full of fairy children. He did an amazing job. Things just didn't go quite according to plan." She knew it sounded lame, especially when they had both seen the state of Artemis's clothes. While there may not have been physical wounds left, the amount of blood indicated that it hadn't been minor scrapes he had suffered.
Angeline groaned. "Why does trouble follow Artemis everywhere he goes?"
Holly felt like telling her the truth—it seemed more like Artemis was the one following trouble. But instead, she chose to try to reassure Angeline. "Mrs Fowl, like I said, he's been healed up and given the all-clear by our…uh…doctors. He just needs to sleep for awhile for his body to fully recover from the energy it took to heal so quickly." She paused. "Mrs Fowl—would it be okay…would it be okay if I stick around until he wakes up? He was starting to get restless towards the end of the shuttle ride, so it shouldn't be long now."
Angeline seemed momentarily taken aback. She must have sensed that change in Holly's tone that was happening so often now. "Yes, of course, dear. Stay as long as you like," she replied.
The door opened and Holly let Angeline be the first to rush into Artemis's room. When Holly entered, she saw that Butler had indeed changed Artemis into a pair of blue silk pyjamas. With the bloody suit presumably stashed somewhere out of the sight of Angeline, Artemis no longer looked as if he had been put in a tiger's cage—he simply looked asleep.
As the three waited for Artemis to re-awaken, Holly, sitting at the foot of Artemis's bed, told the story of what had happened—highly edited, of course. She didn't think it necessary to dwell on the parts where Artemis got hurt (for poor Mrs Fowl's sake), and she obviously wasn't going to tell anyone about the little 'chat' she and Artemis had had (for her own sake).
"Mrs Fowl," she said. "I promise you that Butler was very against Artemis going to the ransom drop-off without him. But it would have compromised the entire mission if Butler had come—so he was forced to stay behind. And in the end, even if he had been there, Artemis would most likely still have been injured. So please don't blame Butler for any of this." Holly glanced quickly at Butler. He seemed a bit mollified.
"I'll still be giving him an earful when he wakes up," Butler growled.
As if he could hear Butler's remark, Artemis stirred. His eyes opened slowly, blinked a few times, and then, noticing the small group watching him, he seemed to be almost jolted back to reality. Sitting up quickly, he closed his eyes and groaned at what must have been quite the head rush.
When he had recovered, he looked at Holly. "Are you all right?"
Nodding, she replied, "Yeah. How do you feel?"
"A bit like I've been grappling with a troll." He paused, then gave a wry smile. "Though it wouldn't be the first time, I suppose." Turning to Butler, he said, "I expect you are upset with me for yet again putting myself outside of your protection by going to the drop-off site without you. Can you ever forgive me, old friend?"
Butler stood silently for a moment before giving a grunt, and saying "Yes, Artemis—but next time you do a mission without me, at least let me sweep the location for explosives first."
Artemis gave a short laugh. "Yes, I think I can agree to that condition." Turning next to his mother, his face turned sheepish. "I am very sorry for returning home in this state, Mother. I know your mind still assumes the worst after all I have put you through. I can assure you, I am not trying to get myself killed."
Angeline sighed. "I can't be too mad at you when you've done such a good thing, Arty." At this, Holly gave Artemis a pointed look, trying to say, See, she thinks you're a good person, too. To Holly's surprise, he answered her glance with a momentary frown before looking back at his mother.
"But dear," Angeline continued, "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't get involved in such dangerous activities. Most mothers worry about their 23-year-old sons going skydiving or bungee jumping. I have to worry about you chasing after terrorists underground and nearly getting yourself blown up!" She shook her head, exasperated—but even so, she had almost a smile on her face as she said, "Just please, try to be more careful, Arty!"
"I will, Mother. I promise," Artemis replied, trying to hold back a smile of his own. Then, he turned his blue eyes on Holly, and he suddenly grew serious again. Looking back at Butler and his mother, he cleared his throat and said, politely, "Would the two of you be so kind as to give Holly and I a moment alone?"
Butler and Angeline both appeared surprised at Artemis's request. Angeline looked at Holly, then back at Artemis. "Of course, dear. I'll just be in my room down the hall. Call me if you need anything." And she and Butler stepped out, Holly and Artemis watching them go.
When the door had closed behind them, Holly and Artemis both turned to look at each other again. "So," Holly said simply.
"Yes," Artemis replied, equally shortly, hesitating as if he didn't know how to continue. Eventually he seemed to find his words, however, and he went on. "Obviously, we both now know our respective…er…opinions of each other. And I must confess, I had never felt quite so happy about anything in my life as I did in that moment."
Holly smiled. "I felt pretty happy,too."
To Holly's surprise, Artemis furrowed his brow and appeared troubled. "On the other hand, I just don't think we can realistically be together."
Holly was taken aback. This was a complete one-eighty. "What do you mean?"
Artemis's brow was still furrowed and he was frowning at his duvet. "When you were crawling through the tunnel, and then as I came after—before the collapse, of course—I thought more about what had happened between us. And my reflections led me to the realization that if we got together, it would be one more instance of Artemis Fowl hurting someone else to make himself happy. It would be incredibly selfish."
"How do you figure?" Holly asked, incredulous, and a little annoyed. He gets a conscience now? she thought.
He exhaled quickly. "There are clear obstacles to this relationship, Holly. You must see that. You are an elf. I am a human. I am going to become an old man and die before you've even reached middle age. If things ever progressed to the point where we wanted to have children together, there's no guarantee that would be possible—I haven't yet had the opportunity to fully study the relationship between human and elf DNA. And there is a reason why fairies call humans 'Mud People'. They are not particularly fond of us as a species. I can't help but think that you would face a great stigma associating yourself with me in such a way. I cannot do that to you. I must cease this kind of destructive behaviour."
Holly closed her eyes to think for a moment. What had the Artemis of the future said to her? "Just be patient with me when you arrive back in the past. That Artemis cares for you deeply, but has not yet allowed himself to see past the apparent impediments to any relationship with you…If you can give him a few reasons to hope otherwise, the rest of his resistance will crumble."
Though she had experienced doubt as Artemis had seemingly faced certain death in the cave-in, after Artemis's miraculous recovery, she was confident that things would end up as she had seen them in her future. Now she needed to impart some of that confidence to Artemis.
So, she said, simply, "Arty, we're going to figure all of that out."
His short, bitter laugh came out almost like a bark.
"No," she continued, voice firm and unshakeable. "We will. You and Foaly are two of the smartest beings to have ever lived—don't tell him I said that, though—and if you work together, you'll figure out the aging thing. I'll haul you over to No1 for a magical transfusion every day if I have to. As for kids, I'm willing to take that risk—lots of couples can't have kids for one reason or another, but that doesn't mean they can't be together. And the stigma? Believe me, as the only female LEP officer in history, I can deal with stigma and stupid remarks from stupid people. I've had to deal with that old boys' club for years. Besides, you aren't any ordinary Mud Man. I think you'd find that most of the People have a great respect for you. Look at what you did for them today—you saved their children. Not many fairies are going to complain about having you on our side. So, I repeat—we will figure this out. But we can't if you don't give it a chance."
Artemis surveyed her through narrowed, almost suspicious eyes. "How can you be so confident? You said in the cave that you, too, had been hopeless of anything ever happening between us. What changed?"
She looked him straight in the eyes, and cradled his face in her hands, bringing it to hers. He gave no resistance, which gave Holly hope. It was much nicer kissing Artemis here than in a dingy, rubble-filled cave.
When she pulled away, she asked, almost in a whisper, "How do you feel?"
Artemis was looking right back into Holly's eyes, and his voice sounded a bit dazed as he replied, "As if anything was possible."
He had got the message. Holly responded, "And so it is. At least with you—as you've proven time and time again."
Artemis smiled and gave another short laugh. "Well, I suppose that if I can find a way to come back from the death, simply slowing my aging and extending my lifespan shouldn't prove too difficult. In fact, I might have a few theories of why fairies live so—"
Holly had seen his face change from an expression of affection to one of planning and scheming, so she had taken the liberty of cutting him off with a kiss. It wasn't that she didn't want him to develop those theories—she just thought he could save those for another day.
