And after Artemis Fowl had suitably eliminated her he could come out and steal the stone. IT was all so perfect.
Mulch ordered another glass of Saharan mud clots.
***
Kitty paced back and forth behind the rocky outcrop. Fairies. When they were invovled things were likely to get very complicated very fast. She wanted to where she was all of a sudden.
In the FBI information was only given to those who needed it when they needed it. Kitty had no clue where they were. She frowned. Something about this place was odd. There was a tingly feeling on the back of her neck.
"Kitty!" Scheele declared, "Wanna stop pacing and try to sleep any time soon?" Kitty was brought back to reality by her close friend. "Oh..." she replied absently, as though she were concentrating on an obscure pimple perched atop his nose. "I guess."
She quietly rinsed in her portable washbasin and climbed into the thick sleeping back spread out next to Bryan's. "So," he began awkwardly, trying to start a late-night-about-to-fall-asleep conversation, "Are you ready to tell about your past yet?"
Kitty smiled grimly up at the brilliantly starlit but gradually fading night sky. "I have a feeling you'll find out plenty about my past quite soon."
***
"Kashka, my dear, this simply will not work."
"Boss, Fowl does not know any better. For all his genius ideas he is still a child."
"Yet I do question how you plan to kidnap this Butler person."
"It is quite simple. After Fowl returns to his manor we lure him away with promise of a black opal for his triumphs. We tell him to come alone. And then...we strike!"
"From what I have heard this Butler is quite large..."
"Yes; this is what we shall use the fairy gun for."
"Fairy gun?"
"I hired a theif to get us one. His name is Cavar. Sucio Cavar."
***
The bright Mediterranean sun slid gently up the horizon, sending a dozen fuzzy rays in every direction. The sky turned that bubble-gum-cotton-candy-salmon pink it always is at sunrise, highlighted by fluffy sausage-shaped golden clouds. "Well, my children," the bright magenta orb smiled, "Something is about to happen."
Kitty opened her eyes to the serene sunrise and crawled toward her rucksack. Inside hid a tiny red laptop; she pulled it out and began to type. The laptop's built-in satellite chip allowed its user to always get online and trace her location.
THIS FUNCION HAS BEEN--
Before the computer could complete writing "blocked", Kitty reenabled the tracer and activated it. A map of the world was slowly narrowed down to a map of a tiny island off the coast of Sicily.
If they were near Sicily than the nearest FBI station would be in Palermo.
And so would the nearest fairy chute. So that's how they'd gotten here. Fairies. Oh, how she longed to be amongst them. How she longed to be below ground in perfectly crafted tunnels with a sleek silver neutrino in her hand. What sheer joy, feeling magic sizzle up her arm in cyan jolts.
Kitty suddenly shook Scheele awake. "Bryan," she urged, "wake up!"
"What now Kitten? We're supposed to be keeping a low profile here. What's more low than sleeping?"
"I want to explore this island. And I want you to watch over out stuff. Got it?"
Scheele grunted what could barely, possibly, be interpreted as "Fine."
"Right. Don't drift off!" Kitty reminded Bryan as she laced up her hiking boots and trekked off.
And he promptly fell asleep.
***
Artemis hoped dilated poison arrow frog venom was as paralyzing to fairies as it was to humans. But not lethal. He didn't want the People after him for murder. He carefully put a droplet in Trouble's canteen and unrolled the sleeping bag Butler had brought him. Might as well catch a few winks before April finally found him.
***
April felt her fingers subconsciously float to the locket around her neck. So, she thought to herself, are you really ready to do this? Because you know of course that when it happens things will drastically change. She's with the fairies.
Wait wait wait, your jumping to conclusions. Who says she's with the fairies? She's human like you are.
Because you are.
April ran a finger through her curly brown hair. The bleach has just about worn off, she thought, and after a single shower that straightener never existed.
So who said she was with the fairies? She might have been working with them the last time she checked, but still...No, not with them. Close to them. She was an expert. Well of course she was an expert. But how long before her knowledge becomes obsolete? Maybe it's already obsolete. Fairy technology progresses just as fast, if not faster, than human technology....wait you're getting off topic.
No more excuses. April opened the door she stood in front of and stepped outside. Squinting slightly at the rising sun, she began to hike.
It wasn't long before a moving, brown, curly head could be seen. It was, after all, quite a small island. She moved closer to her target.
April nearly smiled. She looks more surprised to see you than the other way around, she thought when Kitty finally spotted her.
April took a deep, hitching breath.
"Hello Mother."
-----
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the slowness in updating!! I wanted to make this chapter good so I wasted a long time trying to think. New strategy; don't think, just write. The thoughts will come! Anyway, same as last time. No updating until 45 reviews or more, and lucky 45 gets a preview of then next chapter. So review, my beloveds!! Next chapter will be called "Confrontation".