AN: If you didn't read the revised edition of Chapter 2 (Midnight in Barcelona) go back and read it. I decided to expand it a bit, and some *fairly* important action takes place in the new additions.

***

"Commander, this is an emergency."

"Incase you haven't noticed, Foaly, we already have an emergency here. Forgive me, but I have better things to do than listen to your bizarre theories right now."

"Julius, I'm serious," the centaur brayed into his mike system. "You should really see this."

"For the last time, don't call me Julius! Later, Foaly."

"Commander, Captain Short and Mulch Diggums have been abducted," Foaly practically shouted. There was no need to mention Artemis Fowl or Opal Koboi yet – he just needed to get Root's attention. There was a pronounced pause on the other end of the line.

"Are you positive?" asked Root slowly. Foaly sighed.

"Yes, Commander, I'm positive."

"Fine. I'll be over there in a minute. And this had better be good, or I'll have your hide."

***

Artemis woke up with his face in the ground, the stale smell of dust strong in his nostrils. He let out a muffled groan, and rolled onto his back.

He opened his eyes, and nothing happened. Everything around him was still pitch black. He blinked furiously, until he wasn't sure whether his eyes were opened or closed. It was a strange sensation.

"Is that you, Fowl?" someone asked. Artemis tried to answer, but all that came out was a strange sort of gurgling noise. The person snorted in amusement. "I'll take that as a yes."

Artemis tried to think. Who was this person? Where was he? What had happened? He propped himself up on his knees, and then slowly stood. He stretched his arms out around him, trying to orient himself. Suddenly, without any warning, the memory of the previous night hit him like a ton of bricks on the head. The revelation was immense, and Artemis staggered backward, bumping up against a wall.

As his mind began to clear, he realized the voice that had spoken to him a few moments ago belonged to Holly. Shaking the cobwebs from his head, he asked, "Where are we?"

"I wish I knew," Holly replied, sounding glum. "All my equipment is gone – no weapons, no locater, nothing."

"Obviously. Our abductor would have to be immensely unintelligent not to confiscate your equipment. Where are you?"

"Over here," Holly replied.

"And where might 'here' be?"

"How should I know? Even fairies can't see in pitch black." Artemis began walking, arms outstretched, and tripped on something very large. No, he corrected himself. It wasn't something... it was someone. He poked the person.

"Is this you, Captain?"

"What?" she said, startled. Her voice definitely wasn't coming from the person he had tripped over.

"Apparently not," said Artemis. "There's someone else here, Captain Short. It must be Mulch."

"The more the merrier," Holly quipped. Artemis ran his fingers along the wall.

"Could Mulch tunnel out of here? When he regains consciousness, of course."

"I doubt it," Holly answered. "I'm willing to bet that we're surrounded by limestone here. Plus, this is asphalt. No dwarf can last very long in asphalt."

"It doesn't matter," Artemis said. "The LEP will come for us - or you, rather."

"I take it you didn't make it into a human dwelling last night," Holly said after a pause.

"Your powers of deduction are truly incredible," Artemis snapped.

"Oh, but they're nothing compared to yours, are they?" said Holly sweetly. Before Artemis could respond, she broke in. "Do you know who's holding us?" There was something about her tone that gave him the impression that she already knew the answer, and was asking him this as a sort of test. Artemis thought about it for a minute, and realized it wasn't a hard question. It was a fairy, most likely a female judging by the voice he had heard, and one who had a reason to hate Holly, Mulch, or himself – or all three. And he thought the giggle he had heard when he fell last night sounded very familiar.

"Opal Koboi."

"Yes," answered Holly. "She escaped from Howler's Peak yesterday. Or today. Or who knows, maybe a week ago." Both of them were silent for a long time, sitting in the darkness and thinking about their predicament. It was Captain Short who broke the silence.

"I was just thinking that most people," she mused quietly. "Manage to go about living their whole lives without ever getting kidnapped. I wonder how they do it."

"A touching sentiment," said Artemis coldly – yet at the same time, the words seemed very profound to him, and he wondered for a moment what it would be like to live a regular life without ever worrying about the possibility of imminent capture or death. He decided it must be boring. Then they both heard a noise in a corner, and turned. Mulch was awake.

"Owww..." he groaned, sitting up. "Who's there?"

"Morning, Mulch," said Holly brightly. "Have a good sleep?"

Mulch took a moment to orient himself. "Where under the world are we?" he asked groggily.

"We're not really sure," said Holly cheerfully. "But as far as educated guesses go, Opal Koboi's cellar."

"Why?"

"She kidnapped us," Holly informed him.

"Oh, that's just dandy." He shuffled to his feet. "Is the Mud Boy here?"

"Most regrettably, I am," sighed Artemis.

"Yes, most regrettably," Holly agreed, clearly implying that they would be better off without him. Artemis had to admit he was hurt; he'd thought Holly had forgiven him. If he had been a physical person, and if he could have found her in the dark, he would have slapped her. As it was, he just glared, which didn't do much good since nobody could see.

***

Approx. 6 a.m.

As usual, Foaly was in the Op Room. He was madly typing away on a keyboard when the door flung open and Commander Root came in.

"All right Foaly, what have you got?"

Foaly gestured at the main screen. "We lost Captain Short earlier tonight."

"Big deal," said Root. "It's probably an equipment malfunction. Besides, Short's Recon, and a captain. We don't have to worry about her even if something did happen."

"Just hear me out, Commander," said Foaly through gritted teeth. "I guarantee you we have a situation here." The click of the keyboard punctuated the conversation. "This is Captain Short's visual from this evening. I wasn't watching her helmet feed at the time – I was busy with downtown Haven. So here she is following Mulch, she waits till they get to a deserted street, it looks like she's about to knock him out and bring him home here – but then the street's not deserted. I'm turning up the audio now."

"Took you long enough," said a cold, petulant voice. Foaly turned to Root.

"Recognize that voice?" Root did, of course, but he couldn't believe it.

"Fowl? Why would Mulch meet up with Fowl?"

"Good question. But keep watching. Holly grabs Mulch by the collar and unshields, they keep a running commentary going for a while, yadda yadda..."

"This is a very moving little reunion, Foaly, but it's wasting my time."

"Oh, the reunion's not over yet. There, right there – Mulch goes slack. Short notices something is wrong, and – I'll slow it down – see that shimmer? Holly doesn't have her anti-shield filters turned on. Why would she? She's the only fairy authorized to be aboveground right now."

Root's face took on a burgundy hue. "Another fairy. I don't like this."

"I didn't think you would. So Short picks up on what's going on, draws her weapon... but it's too late. She tilts her head, gives us a nice view of a hypodermic dart stuck in her ankle." Root groaned loudly. "She gives her helmet to Fowl – "

"She gave Fowl a piece of LEP equipment?" rumbled Root.

"It's not as if he doesn't already have a collection. And there wasn't anything else she could have done."

"Fine, whatever. Is that it?"

"Almost. Now listen up." Opal Koboi's voice, melodic and soothing, echoed through the speakers. Of course, Foaly and Root couldn't tell it was Opal; not until her tell-tale eruption of giggles.

"Koboi!" roared Root. "How did she get aboveground?"

"There's illegal chutes all over the place, Julius. You know that."

"Don't call me Julius!" the commander roared, shoving his maroon face in front of Foaly.

"Ok, ok, calm down Ju – Commander. So that's about it. Fowl goes down, and Opal sabotages the camera."

Root's color faded until he looked relatively pale. He stood still for a moment, his face grim, and then looked at the centaur. "Foaly – Opal Koboi tried to kill once already. To kill, not capture. This probably isn't a kidnapping. It's probably murder. The captives – they're almost certainly already dead." Foaly nodded numbly. The silence that followed was so heavy he almost felt it would crush him.

Root broke the silence, his voice steely with grim determination. "We'll find Opal Koboi. I'll put our very best on her trail."

"Captain Vein?"

"And Captain Kelp too. We'll find her." Root left the room slowly, repeating those words under his breath.

"We'll find her..."

AN: I know, short chapter, I have a hectic life right now. I have the next one written, but I'm still de-wrinkling it. It is about, quote, "Holly's mysterious past!" end of quote. This is possibly because I recently read Silence of the Lambs and found a lot of parallels between Holly and Clarice Starling. When I read Silence is EC's favorite movie, that settled my opinion that Holly is somewhat inspired from Starling. So I think I'm safe in saying that, like Clarice, Holly has an interesting and complicated past, and I took the liberty of beginning to divulge it... Ok, enough rambling. I'll shut up now.