Artemis Fowl: The Book of Ages
Stockholm
"You know, Jon Spiro once told me that I didn't have the guts to kill someone- that if I did, I'd end up like him in a few years." Artemis Fowl laughed bitterly. "I guess he was right about everything but guts."
"Would you stop saying stuff like that already!?" cried Holly, "Look, I get it, the Artemis of this world is a power-hungry psychopath, but then in this world I'm the one who nearly got us killed. You were just telling me today that we're not the same person, so would you please just get it through your skull that what people in this world do have nothing to do with who we are."
Artemis gave her a fleeting and hollow glance. He was glad the others were gone for now, but that did little to make him feel any better about what was going on.
"You don't get it," he said softly. "The Lieutenant went mad because of the stresses of war and prison. Artemis Fowl," he cringed almost imperceptibly when he said his own name, but continued emphatically "is just me back when I first kidnapped you, given a few more years, and given a reason to kill. There was no outside influence, that's the way I naturally am."
Holly felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine at his words. It was actually the first time he had ever referred to their meeting as a 'kidnapping,' and though she knew it already, the image he brought up was indeed one of a scary man.
Neither elf nor human spoke as Artemis' words seemed to hang silently in the air.
"Arty…" said Holly finally.
"Yes?" he answered in a voice that showed none of his usual confidence. He didn't move though, not even to change his unrelenting stare at the space in front of him.
"I… I don't care. I don't care about how you were 'supposed' to be!" Holly said, her voice shifting from quiet to forceful. She seemed to calm down a bit when the boy finally looked at her, softening her tone, but still carrying the same intensity in it. "If it took a kidnapping to stop you from becoming like him, then so be it! I'd be… I'm glad it happened if this is the result."
Artemis regarded her with open surprise on his face. Of course, he had long realized that without the influence of the People, he could have very well turned out to be a different, and possibly worse, person than he was. But to hear things put before him in such plain terms… it was something he had never expected to experience.
"I think Foaly's wrong," continued the elf, "we will find a way to change things back…"
Two Hours Ago
Artemis Fowl had yet to formulate a proper response to Foaly's new revelation. After all, what could he say? The centaur and the commander had known him for just a few days, but now had years worth of records on the plans and activities of the older Fowl. The evidence was against him, to say the least. Foaly had explained the situation in a bit more detail over the last five minutes and Artemis' expression seemed to have gradually changed from dismay to an almost catatonic state. The only time he seemed to actually be paying attention was when Foaly had mentioned his counterpart's association with a certain raven-haired woman.
That was when his expression turned to one of disgust.
"I don't know what you may have or have not done in your time, Fowl, but in light of this new information, we can't continue like this," said the centaur emotionlessly on the video screen.
"What are you proposing?" asked Trouble cautiously.
Foaly shrugged.
"Mind wipe," he replied simply.
"No!" cried Holly and Trouble simultaneously. For his part, Artemis hadn't said a word.
"He is a security risk of the highest order!" Julius said through gritted teeth, throwing an unreadable expression at the human.
"You're saying I'll betray you," whispered Artemis, "that I'm like him."
"Trolls don't run too far from the pack," said Foaly, "and Mister Fowl seems to have thrown in his lot with Opal Zito." He spat out the last word with a vehemence that seemed uncharacteristic of him. But then again, the pixie- now human- was perhaps the greatest traitor the People had ever known. Maybe the tone was justified.
"He's not like that at all!" yelled Holly, suddenly infuriated at the accusation.
"I'm sorry Holly," said Root next to her, looking genuinely apologetic, "but all we have is your word against… well, against history."
The female elf clenched her jaw together hard and looked at her Commander with a hot determination. Then she suddenly seemed to calm down. She took a breath and looked Root squarely in the eye.
"Julius…" she said, completely ignoring protocol now, "I was killed on Hybras years ago. That was history. If it weren't for Artemis, I would have been rotting away for an eternity on that piece of rock. He brought me back."
All eyes were now on Holly, three pairs in shock, one pair- Fowl's- in slight puzzlement and accompanied by a pair of lips that were pressed firmly against one another.
"What did you say?" asked Root slowly, brow furrowing sharply. It looked almost like he was now trying to decide Holly's sanity as well.
"I died," said Holly carefully, but bluntly, "but Artemis took advantage of an instability in time to bring me back. That's who he is, not the guy you're describing." She seemed not to show any emotion about what she was saying.
A short silence followed, broken only by Trouble Kelp.
"And you never reported this?" he asked, incredulous.
Commander Root shifted a shocked look from Holly to Trouble now.
"You mean you believe her!?" he exclaimed.
"I have no reason not to," replied the elf easily, though even as he said it, he still looked skeptical, which was quite understandable.
"Look," said Foaly suddenly, "it really doesn't matter whether that was true or not. It proves nothing."
"Then I'll leave," said Artemis softly.
All eyes jerked over to look at the boy, who in turn looked straight at Commander Root.
"I'll leave Haven and go aboveground. You can put me under surveillance," he continued, "But give me two weeks. If I don't find any leads on the Book of Ages, you can ignore the fact that my companions and I clearly are not of this timeline and proceed with wiping my memories."
Holly opened her mouth to object, but was silenced by a quick look and a shake of the head from Artemis.
Commander Root regarded the boy carefully. His tone was resigned, but what he said was clearly a challenge. And more than one part of Root wanted him to be right.
The old commander turned to Foaly.
"Get a transport ready for tomorrow morning," he ordered, "Paradizo's still on sabbatical, we can have her run security for us. She's a smart girl." He left out the important part of the comment, but was sure Foaly understood it: Minerva would be able to stop the boy if he was indeed a traitor.
Present Time
"I certainly do hope you're right…" breathed Artemis.
"Please find something soon," implored Holly. They both knew what would happen if he didn't.
"I wouldn't worry about that too much," the boy gave her a weak smile, "Besides, I might be able to convince to convince Minerva to help us."
Holly was not particularly assured by that. She never did trust the girl much in her own time- however redeemed she may have appeared.
'I guess everyone's being suspicious nowadays…' she thought morosely.
"Why don't you go to sleep Holly?" said Artemis, "It's getting late."
"What about you?" asked the elf.
Artemis glanced over at the open Book on Holly's table.
"I think I'm going to start looking for clues," he said as he stepped closer to examine the pages, "you never did get a chance to tell me what changed."
"Well unlike last time," responded Holly, "these instructions seem pretty clear to me."
The boy looked hard at the gleaming symbols and muttered the words on the page in a flowing, accented Gnommish.
Find my map and find my key,
Without these, you'll forever be,
Lost in time and lost in space,
Never seeing the Hidden Place.
Seek now my key upon tallest stone,
Where bravest of dwarves did carve alone,
The grand old halls of ancient city,
'Neath ice and wind that know no pity.
Seek ye my map in the wat'ry deep,
Near light in darkness that doth keep,
Its dwellers safe from crushing power,
Find my place, here, in this tower.
Artemis considered the words only briefly.
"Sounds like Shambhala and Atlantis to me," he said, giving Holly a questioning look.
Holly nodded, no longer surprised at the boy's knowledge of fairy history.
"My thoughts exactly." Suddenly, the elf's expression brightened considerably. She gave a short laugh.
"What's funny?" asked Artemis, raising an eyebrow.
"Well," said Holly, "if you really can't find anything in two weeks… we'll just tell Julius you found this." She pointed at the Book. "Until then, we'll just keep quiet about it."
"And withhold information from the Commander?" asked the boy wryly. It seemed a bit subdued, though, compared to his usual behavior.
"I think you're rubbing off on me," noted Holly with a small smile.
"Is that a good thing?" questioned the boy, turning serious.
"Probably not," answered Holly jokingly.
Artemis abruptly frowned, apparently missing any new attempt at levity in the situation. This did not go unnoticed by Holly.
"I'm joking, Arty," assured the elf quickly, "We both know you're not a bad person."
"I guess…" muttered Artemis, sounding unconvinced.
Holly suddenly let out a long yawn, barely covered with a hand.
"If that's all, you might want to get some sleep. After all, you have a trip to the jolly old Paradizo residence bright and early tomorrow," she said with more than a little hint of sarcasm.
Artemis furrowed his brow. He was confused at the elf's tone, but decided not to pursue it, chalking it up as one of those things about women he could not hope to understand.
"Good idea," he said instead, unfolding the sheets on the floor a bit awkwardly until Holly helped him on the other side. When they were done, both stood up in unison.
"Well," said Fowl after a moment's silence, "good night then, Holly."
"You too," responded the elf, walking towards her own room while stifling another yawn. "Try not to think too much," she advised.
Artemis watched her retreating form in the dim lighting, still stretching her civilian clothes towards their limit with her new size. Somewhere in the back of his head, he remembered that it wasn't polite to stare, but that part was conveniently ignored for now.
"Oh, and Holly," he called out, just as her hand touched the door to her room. She turned around to look at him.
"Um… thanks," he said hesitantly, "thanks for changing me so I didn't end up like him."
Holly sent him a tired, but clearly happy smile.
"I'm glad I did."
"So basically, Commander, you're asking me to babysit?"
Commander Root quickly turned red as he heard Minerva's laughing tone through the voice connection. He was sitting in his makeshift office in the shuttle repair facility. All the other officers had already gone home hours ago and he- being Commander and all- was left to close up shop. That- and he had to make some arrangements.
"No, Paradizo," he growled, "I'm asking you to make sure he doesn't let out any information about Haven but let him do a bit of his own research."
"Just who is he?" asked the woman, "This isn't exactly a normal assignment, especially after that thing at the prison."
"He's the guy you got out of there- the human, I mean."
"Is he actually a criminal then?" questioned Minerva with genuine curiosity, but without any fear.
"We're…" Root hesitated, "we're not sure."
"You obviously don't know much about him," noted the woman, "Ah… I see," she chuckled, "You want me to get inside his head."
"In a manner of speaking," muttered Root, "You think you can handle that?"
"Moi?" asked Minerva in mock shock, "Me, making sure a grown man doesn't die from starvation in my own house and then making small talk with him? Maybe if I tried very, very, hard Commander."
"You're place in the Pennines is okay, right?" asked the Commander, ignoring her sarcasm.
"Sure," she responded easily, "the place is so empty these days I swear I hear an echo in here half the time."
"Tomorrow morning then," said Root, "the usual place in the mountains."
Dark Peak, Morning
Holly watched silently as Artemis appraised the woman as if he had never met her before. It was actually appropriate on several levels, but somehow, it made her slightly uncomfortable. Despite his attentiveness, Artemis looked tired, and acted like it all through the ride up. Holly had suspicions that he might have been working later than he was supposed to be last night, despite his promise to rest.
For her part, Minerva just looked surprised- probably at the fact that Artemis was still dressed in bright orange.
"Miss Paradizo," greeted the boy with his usual stiff handshake, "uh, please excuse my attire, I haven't had the opportunity to get new clothes."
"Sean, is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly, "Is this how you always greet women?"
Artemis' face turned a peculiar shade of pink, and he opened his mouth, but remained silent. Holly had only seen this happen a few times before, but that was back in their own world when Foaly had been making girlfriends jokes about, well, about the present company. Apparently, Artemis still had not learned any comebacks to this kind of thing.
Minerva laughed jovially at Artemis' expression.
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm fairly sure my brother wouldn't mind if you borrowed some of his clothes from the summer home. You look about his build- he's quite tall for his age."
She walked over and opened the driver's side door, stepping inside and waving Artemis over to the other side. The boy turned back, and with a final wave, he pointed at the communicator-ring on his finger and nodded to Holly. It was probably the closest he had ever gotten to saying the words, 'I'll call you.' With that, he disappeared inside the simple beige sedan, which rolled off seconds later.
Holly turned to see Lili, in her captain's uniform, giving her a strange look.
"Well, that was fun," she said sarcastically, "I still don't know why you would insist on coming up here this early in the morning." She gave a theatrical yawn, and for a moment, Holly was tempted to use that as an excuse to take over driving the shuttle on the way back. "Shall we go back and see Nº1 now?"
"Yes," responded Holly, giving the quickly-receding vehicle a last look before following the other elf towards the holographic rock that hid the shuttleport, "let's go see Nº1."
San D'Klass Memorial Hospital, Haven City
Lieutenant Colonel Holly Short woke up with a start. Her head jerked left and right as she realized that she was sitting halfway up in a medical bed of some sort. A pulse monitor was strapped onto her index finger and a blanket was covering her up to her chest. Her throat felt dry, but that wasn't a concern right now.
"Foaly!" she croaked as soon as she saw the centaur bent over reading one of the monitors on the wall of the room.
"Hey," greeted the centaur excitedly, turning and grinning widely, "welcome back Holly! I was wondering when you'd be up."
"What's going-"
"Relax," said Foaly, "you're in Haven. The Mud Men are far away. You can have some real carrots and some beetle juice later if you want. No more of that processed stuff from aboveground."
Holly stared at him for a good few seconds, as if trying to orient herself even while letting his words sink in. Memories started coming back. Her friend was right, her last months had been spent in a solitary cell in an aboveground prison- and the food really did taste fake.
But then the more important things came back.
A fairy, and a Mud Man had opened her cell- an elf at that.
And then there was-
"Trouble!" she cried suddenly, her eyes widening and looking frantically at the centaur, "Foaly, I saw Trouble!"
Foaly glanced briefly at the shuttered window in the nearby door, and then looked back at the elf. He shifted from hoof to hoof as he answered.
"Yes… you did…" he responded haltingly, "But he's not who you think he is."