**I have to admit, this will be a little shorter than what I wanted
and the last chapter. I am trying my HARDEST to make it seem like a book
…. Plz review!**
**Kree**
"D'ARVIT!" Root slammed his fist against his desk. "Who did Fowl kidnap now?"
"The funny thing is …" Foaly stepped in from Root's office door. "Fowl didn't kidnap anyone. Fowl /is/ kidnapped."
"Ha ha, very funny. The GREAT Fowl? Mr. Artemis Fowl the Second? Artemis Fowl Junior?" Root questioned.
"Who did you think?" Holly snapped. "Look what the note says:" She handed her commander the note and he grabbed it aggressively, straightening out the edges so he could read the crisp human language:
**Did you think your problems were all gone?**
**Did you think you could rest on the job?**
**We have a little message for you**
**That may make little Short sob**
**We kidnapped Mud Boy, Artemis Fowl**
**There's nothing you can do**
**Sit back, and then you'll see*
**What we'll do to the world and you**
"D'arvit!" Root slammed his fist again against his desk. "Who the hell are they?"
Chix stormed in, a little upset that Holly had left him all alone and she took off so quickly. "What's going on?" Chix questioned.
"Chix, stay out of this. This is important LEP business!" Root ordered.
"Oh, and who do you think I am? A non LEP agent?" Chix retorted.
"With that attitude, you might be!"
"Commander! Chix!" Holly shouted. "Are we going to settle this professionally?" She turned to Chix. "Chix, this mission is too dangerous. It's too complicated. We have our standards for these missions." Holly explained firmly.
"Oh yeah?" Chix sneered, looking a bit insulted. "And what is the mission?"
"Short! This isn't a mission yet! It is not assigned and the Council has not approved!" Root yelled.
"The Council won't go for this. I'm going on it on my own." Holly turned around and started to walk to Root's door.
"On your own? Short, are you crazy? Even though you're the expert on the Fowl cases, you can't go alone!"
"Fowl cases?" Chix repeated. "This is about that Mud Boy Fowl?"
"He ain't a Mud Boy anymore. He's eighteen." She said to Chix. "Commander. I need to go. He helped us, and now he needs our help." And then Holly thought of another reason. "Why would anyone kidnap Artemis Fowl and tell us? It holds some importance. What if this starts a cross species war? This is important not only to us, but the whole existence of the People!"
Root sighed. "Foaly?"
"I think she's right, sir." Foaly nodded. "We have to stop this, as well as put Fowl back in the safety of his own household and our services." He started. "I'll go with Holly." He went on her side, this time he knew Root's glare wasn't on him, but it was Chix's. He didn't want to lose the few friends he had.
"Wait a minute… They're /saving/ Fowl? Why should we save him? He's just a Mud Man! He took our gold! He could have killed Holly!" Chix exclaimed.
"He also saved my life." Holly grabbed his LEP uniform. "We're not only saving his lives, but maybe even more. Nothing can stop me from going, not even the damn Council."
"I'll do it. I'll go to the Council right now." Root replied. "Foaly, where's the note?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Root walked out of the Council building wearily while Holly, Chix, and Foaly waited impatiently. Immediately, Holly ran up to Root. She saw almost a disappointed look in Root's face, but it was hard to tell. He looked serious, but with a slight bit of triumph, but a whole lot of disappointment.
"Commander, what happened?" Holly demanded.
"They approved of the mission … but …"
"What?"
"They said that I didn't have control on who comes with me. Only the LEP agents who want to come may come. None of them accepted the mission." Root sighed.
"Commander." Holly said firmly. "I am going."
"I am on the mission." Foaly said.
"Holly, you aren't going on the mission with just Foaly. I am going with you." Root replied.
"We have three, Commander. That's enough. Remember the B'wa Kell incident? We had a lack of agents as well and we won." Holly assured him.
"Make that four." Said a voice behind them.
Holly, Root, Foaly, and Chix turned around and saw a figure step out of the doorway of the Council building. He was a familiar figure with light brown hair with hazel eyes. He was tall with his full LEP uniform decorated with many badges. Holly finally recognized him.
"Captain Kelp!" She smiled.
"Captain Short, count me in." He gave back a warm smile. He turned to the Commander. "Commander, Captain Trouble Kelp, reporting for duty, requesting mission." He saluted.
"Request accepted." Root saluted back. "It's good to have you with us, Kelp." Root shook his hand. "If only Corporal Grub were here …"
"Yeah." Trouble swallowed, and looked away. "If only …"
"I'm sorry about Grub, Trouble. That accident last year …" Foaly looked sincere, and decided to shut up his normal self for awhile.
"Trub," Holly took his hand. "It's not your fault, and he's with you always. He's always your little brother who's tagging along with you." She gave him a reassuring smile. Captain Kelp could only smile back, and didn't seem to mind when Holly called him Grub's pet name for him, the name he was annoyed with the must.
"Are we going to waste mushy talk now? We have a Mud Boy to steal back!" Foaly smirked.
"The centaur is right … for once." Root eyed Foaly carefully, making sure that Foaly wasn't taping him like he did nine years ago, and every now and then. "We have business to finish. Let's move out and get a ship."
The four, Holly, Root, Foaly, and Trouble turned around and started walking to the LEP aeronautics building. Holly turned back once and looked at Chix who was just standing there. She began to turn back again, but then the green sprite started walking toward her. She eyed him carefully, standing there for a moment, as Chix looked down, and his lips quavered to speak.
"Well Chix? You going?" Holly asked.
Chix sighed. "I'll go."
Holly grinned. "Your first mission, Chix. This one is going to be quite an interesting start."
"Should I tie my first two hooves?" Foaly shouted to them. "Maybe you could keep up if I'm only walking on two."
Root groaned. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to your smart mouth in person for the entire mission."
"In person?" Foaly was flabbergasted. "What do you mean, in person? I'm going with you? I can't! I have to stay in the Operations Booth! That's my job!"
Root gave Foaly a grin that made Foaly begin to think that he should have listened to his mother and shut up his smart mouth years and years ago. "I already found a replacement for this mission …"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The five stepped into Operations Booth and looked around in Foaly's work area. There, in fact, was Foaly's replacement for this mission, was sitting in his chair, booting up the systems and working the controls. Foaly was aghast. How could anyone learn his system so quickly? It took him years to build it and it took years for anyone to learn it. He glanced over to Root, who still had a smug expression on his face. Had Root gotten ready for a replacement in advance if a situation like this came up?
All of a sudden, Foaly realized who was the only one who could work his system on short notice. He prayed that his suspicions were incorrect though.
He stormed up to /his/ nice, soft, black leather swivel chair and spun it around. He groaned. His suspicions were correct, as always and now he began to think that it could be a curse.
It was a girl pixie, and the only girl pixie Foaly knew well, as well as Root, Holly, Trouble, and Chix (if you count out Vinyaya.). It was Opal Koboi.
"NO COMMANDER!" Foaly yelled. "NO! NO! NO!"
"I thought that you might feel a bit more comfortable with a person you were familiar with controlling the systems." Root smirked, knowing that he had the last laugh now.
Foaly groaned as Opal winked at him and gave him a smug grin. "Commander! We can't trust her!!!!!!! Remember what she did before???? She spent all her years since then in prison!! WE CANNOT TRUST HER! SHE WILL BACKSTAB US JUST LIKE CUDGEON!" Foaly yelled.
"Foaly, calm down. She knows the system perfectly, and is there no better candidate?" Root smugly snickered.
"YES!"
"Foaly, you can't argue with me. I /am/ commander."
"Don't remind me …" Foaly murmured.
"Foaly, if she does anything of the sort like she did years ago …" Root began. "She goes on a life sentence to Howler's Peak."
"That she could probably escape from." Foaly muttered under his breath.
"That's why you get to set the security."
"Oh don't worry, Foaly," Opal sniggered. "Your systems won't start exploding on you until after a few centuries, after you least expect it."
Foaly was just itching to make a comment back to her, just so he could annoy her at least a little bit. "Yes, but I don't keep my science medal from the university years ago in the Operations Booth."
Opal looked furious and turned the swivel chair away from them. "Julius, everything will be fine. You can completely trust me."
"We'll see about that." Root said.
"We should get moving, Commander. I don't have much of a gift of patience, and neither will Fowl at this rate." Holly motioned with Captain Kelp nodding in agreement, Foaly getting ready to trample over Opal, and Chix just looking away.
"Foaly," Root turned to the centaur. "Got any last things you want to tell Miss Koboi?"
Holly sniggered. She knew that Foaly would want to tell her every last little detail of his baby. Foaly had built all these systems from scrap, and he was very overprotective of them and he put a lot of hard work and built a huge security system just for it. But Foaly didn't have time. He would have to make it quick and snappy.
Foaly walked over to Opal, and though he looked huge and monstrous, not a bit of fear lingered in her eyes. "See those speakers?" Foaly pointed to several speakers that were side by side on the left of her. "Never turn these off. Never EVER turn these off. These are our communications to you, and your communications to us. Always listen for a transmission."
"Uh huh." Opal nodded, in a not caring tone.
"Watch these screens for intruders." Foaly pointed out to her on top. "The security system /should/ keep them out, but we have any /bugs/ that was planted … well, keep guard."
"And if they /do/ make it to this room?" Opal questioned.
"Well, Opal. I hope you have top class shooting skills …. Wait… I hope you have a gun." Foaly grinned.
"How very reassuring."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's time to go above ground." Trouble grinned.
"We'll take the E1." Root ordered. "The closest one to the Fowl Manor."
"We're going ABOVE ground?" Chix squeaked. "Where the Mud Men live?"
"Where do you think we're going? To the equator? Of course we're going above ground! How else do you think we're going to save Artemis Fowl?" Holly retorted.
"Well … it's just that …" Chix began.
"What?"
"I've never been above ground."
A grin formed on Captain Short's face. "Some mission, eh Private Chix? You get to work on a Fowl case for the first time, shoot a gun for the first time, AND ride the E1 above ground! Won't you have an exciting time up the elevator …"
The elevator doors clang open. Root stepped in first and strapped in. Trouble Kelp came in second, comfortably sitting down and strapping himself in. There was nothing more in the world that he would rather ride than the pressurized elevators themselves. Holly came in quite comfortably too, and helped Chix strap in. Foaly looked around worriedly, wondering how he would strap himself in. Holly saw some straps with no seats against a wall, and helped Foaly strap in there.
"Nice thinking, Holly." Trouble grinned. Holly returned the grin, and strapped herself in, leaning back. "Just like old times, right Holly?"
"Yup. I haven't been on the E1 since the first Fowl case." Holly nodded.
"Sit back and relax, Chix. You are going to have the ride of your life." Kelp said.
Chix gulped as the elevator began to rise …
The elevator started out slow … but only for a millisecond. Right after that, the old metal made ride went up lightening speed. Light itself would not have a chance against it, if both raced. The seconds seem to pass by like hours of waiting in a doctor's office, for Chix that is. He was shaking violently and vigorously, and he could feel his stomach rearrange. His head bumped against the wall behind him every half second, and strange memories began to pour through his mind. His heart was beating quicker than a rabbits, and it seemed like it was ready to explode. Foaly was calm, he was shaking a little, but not a lot, but he wasn't enjoying the ride either. On the other hand, Root, Trouble, and Holly enjoyed the ride. She and Trouble took quick glances at each other, and then to Chix, and grinned. And then Holly began to giggle watching Chix, something she had never done in all her years at LEP.
The elevator landed. Chix was gasping with relief. Root, Trouble, and Holly got out, while Chix sat there, trying to catch his breath. Holly helped Chix out, as Trouble and Root helped Foaly out. Holly took his hand trying to guide Chix, because he was dizzy from the "ride" and was nearly falling down with every step he took.
"Good job, Private Verbil." Root tried to hide a laugh. "You did a better job than most …. Except for Holly. She was our best one yet."
"Nooooo…. Didn't you see me……I was great……" Chix was nearly falling.
Holly rolled her eyes. Sprites: they're always so full of themselves, no matter what the situation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The Fowl Mansion …" Trouble looked around. "I remember the last time I was here …. One dart was all that brought me down then …"
"Hey, but the most gung-ho agent in LEP don't fall down so easily now, right Trub?" Holly grinned.
The five walked up to the Fowl's door, taking a deep breath. Holly was the only one who dared to knock on the door. Plus, she was the only one who could enter anyway. They had to be invited in, and she was /invited/ even if kidnapping isn't technically kidnapping. The door slowly opened, and Juliet answered. She saw Holly, but she couldn't recognize her. Then she saw Root and Trouble, and out of process of elimination, she guessed that she was Holly.
"Holly! It's good to see you again." She said.
"Hi Juliet. Guess you kind of know why we're here." Holly weakly grinned.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Come with me, I'll take you to the Fowls."
"Wait, we have to be invited in first." Root cut in.
"Okay …" Juliet said, remembering him well. "You can all come in."
She led the way inside as they followed. Root and Holly remembered the manor very well, and recognized the room they were going in as the parlor. Two adults sat in two armchairs, one a very beautiful lady, but who was in tears. She wore a blue satin dress that touched the ground. A man sat beside her, who was a bit scarred and had an artificial leg, and wore long black pants and a embroidered shirt.
"Juliet …" The lady began. "Who are these people? You know that we don't want visitors." She sniffed.
"Mistress Fowl." Juliet started and she motioned to Holly. "This is Holly Short, a close acquaintance of Artemis. She has come to help find Artemis."
The man stood up. "How does Artemis know her?" He looked at the visitors' strange appearances. "Artemis has never been anywhere else except Saint Bartleby's and that's an all boy school."
"Mr. Fowl. I am a fairy." Holly swallowed, trying to get the right words out. "And … I'm a friend of Artemis."
It took awhile, but she, Root, and Foaly explained how they met, the story of what had happened with the gold, the B'wa Kell incident, and Holly shared a secret with them. She and he had been keeping touch with messages in email and on cell phone text messages. They reassured the Fowls that they would find Artemis at all costs.
"There was a message that was emailed to us yesterday from Arty." Angeline Fowl commented. "Perhaps you would like to see it."
"Yes, it would help a lot." Trouble replied.
Angeline pulled out a printed out email from a drawer. She handed it to Holly and Root and they read it.
IAUAK, 2 PM, JNE 19. MTING THR. FND INFRMTIN. IT WLL HLP.
ARTMS FWL
"I have no clue what the first word means, but the rest says " 2 PM, Jun 19th, Meeting there. Find information. It will help. Artemis Fowl." Holly shrugged.
"I know what the first word is." Trouble started. "It's "Kauai" backwards. Kauai is an island in Hawaii."
"And how did you know that?" Chix snickered.
"First in geometry class of the Mud People World." He grinned.
"Pack your bags, we're going to Hawaii." Holly murmured.
"I'm going." Juliet shouted.
"I am going as well." Mr. Fowl stood up.
Root and Holly looked at each other. Root just gave her look that said "Holly, don't say anything. Anyway, the more people we have, the better, right?"
**Wow, I can't believe I just wrote more than the other chapter. … and I don't even like this chapter ….**
**plz review**
**Kree**
**Kree**
"D'ARVIT!" Root slammed his fist against his desk. "Who did Fowl kidnap now?"
"The funny thing is …" Foaly stepped in from Root's office door. "Fowl didn't kidnap anyone. Fowl /is/ kidnapped."
"Ha ha, very funny. The GREAT Fowl? Mr. Artemis Fowl the Second? Artemis Fowl Junior?" Root questioned.
"Who did you think?" Holly snapped. "Look what the note says:" She handed her commander the note and he grabbed it aggressively, straightening out the edges so he could read the crisp human language:
**Did you think your problems were all gone?**
**Did you think you could rest on the job?**
**We have a little message for you**
**That may make little Short sob**
**We kidnapped Mud Boy, Artemis Fowl**
**There's nothing you can do**
**Sit back, and then you'll see*
**What we'll do to the world and you**
"D'arvit!" Root slammed his fist again against his desk. "Who the hell are they?"
Chix stormed in, a little upset that Holly had left him all alone and she took off so quickly. "What's going on?" Chix questioned.
"Chix, stay out of this. This is important LEP business!" Root ordered.
"Oh, and who do you think I am? A non LEP agent?" Chix retorted.
"With that attitude, you might be!"
"Commander! Chix!" Holly shouted. "Are we going to settle this professionally?" She turned to Chix. "Chix, this mission is too dangerous. It's too complicated. We have our standards for these missions." Holly explained firmly.
"Oh yeah?" Chix sneered, looking a bit insulted. "And what is the mission?"
"Short! This isn't a mission yet! It is not assigned and the Council has not approved!" Root yelled.
"The Council won't go for this. I'm going on it on my own." Holly turned around and started to walk to Root's door.
"On your own? Short, are you crazy? Even though you're the expert on the Fowl cases, you can't go alone!"
"Fowl cases?" Chix repeated. "This is about that Mud Boy Fowl?"
"He ain't a Mud Boy anymore. He's eighteen." She said to Chix. "Commander. I need to go. He helped us, and now he needs our help." And then Holly thought of another reason. "Why would anyone kidnap Artemis Fowl and tell us? It holds some importance. What if this starts a cross species war? This is important not only to us, but the whole existence of the People!"
Root sighed. "Foaly?"
"I think she's right, sir." Foaly nodded. "We have to stop this, as well as put Fowl back in the safety of his own household and our services." He started. "I'll go with Holly." He went on her side, this time he knew Root's glare wasn't on him, but it was Chix's. He didn't want to lose the few friends he had.
"Wait a minute… They're /saving/ Fowl? Why should we save him? He's just a Mud Man! He took our gold! He could have killed Holly!" Chix exclaimed.
"He also saved my life." Holly grabbed his LEP uniform. "We're not only saving his lives, but maybe even more. Nothing can stop me from going, not even the damn Council."
"I'll do it. I'll go to the Council right now." Root replied. "Foaly, where's the note?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Root walked out of the Council building wearily while Holly, Chix, and Foaly waited impatiently. Immediately, Holly ran up to Root. She saw almost a disappointed look in Root's face, but it was hard to tell. He looked serious, but with a slight bit of triumph, but a whole lot of disappointment.
"Commander, what happened?" Holly demanded.
"They approved of the mission … but …"
"What?"
"They said that I didn't have control on who comes with me. Only the LEP agents who want to come may come. None of them accepted the mission." Root sighed.
"Commander." Holly said firmly. "I am going."
"I am on the mission." Foaly said.
"Holly, you aren't going on the mission with just Foaly. I am going with you." Root replied.
"We have three, Commander. That's enough. Remember the B'wa Kell incident? We had a lack of agents as well and we won." Holly assured him.
"Make that four." Said a voice behind them.
Holly, Root, Foaly, and Chix turned around and saw a figure step out of the doorway of the Council building. He was a familiar figure with light brown hair with hazel eyes. He was tall with his full LEP uniform decorated with many badges. Holly finally recognized him.
"Captain Kelp!" She smiled.
"Captain Short, count me in." He gave back a warm smile. He turned to the Commander. "Commander, Captain Trouble Kelp, reporting for duty, requesting mission." He saluted.
"Request accepted." Root saluted back. "It's good to have you with us, Kelp." Root shook his hand. "If only Corporal Grub were here …"
"Yeah." Trouble swallowed, and looked away. "If only …"
"I'm sorry about Grub, Trouble. That accident last year …" Foaly looked sincere, and decided to shut up his normal self for awhile.
"Trub," Holly took his hand. "It's not your fault, and he's with you always. He's always your little brother who's tagging along with you." She gave him a reassuring smile. Captain Kelp could only smile back, and didn't seem to mind when Holly called him Grub's pet name for him, the name he was annoyed with the must.
"Are we going to waste mushy talk now? We have a Mud Boy to steal back!" Foaly smirked.
"The centaur is right … for once." Root eyed Foaly carefully, making sure that Foaly wasn't taping him like he did nine years ago, and every now and then. "We have business to finish. Let's move out and get a ship."
The four, Holly, Root, Foaly, and Trouble turned around and started walking to the LEP aeronautics building. Holly turned back once and looked at Chix who was just standing there. She began to turn back again, but then the green sprite started walking toward her. She eyed him carefully, standing there for a moment, as Chix looked down, and his lips quavered to speak.
"Well Chix? You going?" Holly asked.
Chix sighed. "I'll go."
Holly grinned. "Your first mission, Chix. This one is going to be quite an interesting start."
"Should I tie my first two hooves?" Foaly shouted to them. "Maybe you could keep up if I'm only walking on two."
Root groaned. "I guess I'm going to have to get used to your smart mouth in person for the entire mission."
"In person?" Foaly was flabbergasted. "What do you mean, in person? I'm going with you? I can't! I have to stay in the Operations Booth! That's my job!"
Root gave Foaly a grin that made Foaly begin to think that he should have listened to his mother and shut up his smart mouth years and years ago. "I already found a replacement for this mission …"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The five stepped into Operations Booth and looked around in Foaly's work area. There, in fact, was Foaly's replacement for this mission, was sitting in his chair, booting up the systems and working the controls. Foaly was aghast. How could anyone learn his system so quickly? It took him years to build it and it took years for anyone to learn it. He glanced over to Root, who still had a smug expression on his face. Had Root gotten ready for a replacement in advance if a situation like this came up?
All of a sudden, Foaly realized who was the only one who could work his system on short notice. He prayed that his suspicions were incorrect though.
He stormed up to /his/ nice, soft, black leather swivel chair and spun it around. He groaned. His suspicions were correct, as always and now he began to think that it could be a curse.
It was a girl pixie, and the only girl pixie Foaly knew well, as well as Root, Holly, Trouble, and Chix (if you count out Vinyaya.). It was Opal Koboi.
"NO COMMANDER!" Foaly yelled. "NO! NO! NO!"
"I thought that you might feel a bit more comfortable with a person you were familiar with controlling the systems." Root smirked, knowing that he had the last laugh now.
Foaly groaned as Opal winked at him and gave him a smug grin. "Commander! We can't trust her!!!!!!! Remember what she did before???? She spent all her years since then in prison!! WE CANNOT TRUST HER! SHE WILL BACKSTAB US JUST LIKE CUDGEON!" Foaly yelled.
"Foaly, calm down. She knows the system perfectly, and is there no better candidate?" Root smugly snickered.
"YES!"
"Foaly, you can't argue with me. I /am/ commander."
"Don't remind me …" Foaly murmured.
"Foaly, if she does anything of the sort like she did years ago …" Root began. "She goes on a life sentence to Howler's Peak."
"That she could probably escape from." Foaly muttered under his breath.
"That's why you get to set the security."
"Oh don't worry, Foaly," Opal sniggered. "Your systems won't start exploding on you until after a few centuries, after you least expect it."
Foaly was just itching to make a comment back to her, just so he could annoy her at least a little bit. "Yes, but I don't keep my science medal from the university years ago in the Operations Booth."
Opal looked furious and turned the swivel chair away from them. "Julius, everything will be fine. You can completely trust me."
"We'll see about that." Root said.
"We should get moving, Commander. I don't have much of a gift of patience, and neither will Fowl at this rate." Holly motioned with Captain Kelp nodding in agreement, Foaly getting ready to trample over Opal, and Chix just looking away.
"Foaly," Root turned to the centaur. "Got any last things you want to tell Miss Koboi?"
Holly sniggered. She knew that Foaly would want to tell her every last little detail of his baby. Foaly had built all these systems from scrap, and he was very overprotective of them and he put a lot of hard work and built a huge security system just for it. But Foaly didn't have time. He would have to make it quick and snappy.
Foaly walked over to Opal, and though he looked huge and monstrous, not a bit of fear lingered in her eyes. "See those speakers?" Foaly pointed to several speakers that were side by side on the left of her. "Never turn these off. Never EVER turn these off. These are our communications to you, and your communications to us. Always listen for a transmission."
"Uh huh." Opal nodded, in a not caring tone.
"Watch these screens for intruders." Foaly pointed out to her on top. "The security system /should/ keep them out, but we have any /bugs/ that was planted … well, keep guard."
"And if they /do/ make it to this room?" Opal questioned.
"Well, Opal. I hope you have top class shooting skills …. Wait… I hope you have a gun." Foaly grinned.
"How very reassuring."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"It's time to go above ground." Trouble grinned.
"We'll take the E1." Root ordered. "The closest one to the Fowl Manor."
"We're going ABOVE ground?" Chix squeaked. "Where the Mud Men live?"
"Where do you think we're going? To the equator? Of course we're going above ground! How else do you think we're going to save Artemis Fowl?" Holly retorted.
"Well … it's just that …" Chix began.
"What?"
"I've never been above ground."
A grin formed on Captain Short's face. "Some mission, eh Private Chix? You get to work on a Fowl case for the first time, shoot a gun for the first time, AND ride the E1 above ground! Won't you have an exciting time up the elevator …"
The elevator doors clang open. Root stepped in first and strapped in. Trouble Kelp came in second, comfortably sitting down and strapping himself in. There was nothing more in the world that he would rather ride than the pressurized elevators themselves. Holly came in quite comfortably too, and helped Chix strap in. Foaly looked around worriedly, wondering how he would strap himself in. Holly saw some straps with no seats against a wall, and helped Foaly strap in there.
"Nice thinking, Holly." Trouble grinned. Holly returned the grin, and strapped herself in, leaning back. "Just like old times, right Holly?"
"Yup. I haven't been on the E1 since the first Fowl case." Holly nodded.
"Sit back and relax, Chix. You are going to have the ride of your life." Kelp said.
Chix gulped as the elevator began to rise …
The elevator started out slow … but only for a millisecond. Right after that, the old metal made ride went up lightening speed. Light itself would not have a chance against it, if both raced. The seconds seem to pass by like hours of waiting in a doctor's office, for Chix that is. He was shaking violently and vigorously, and he could feel his stomach rearrange. His head bumped against the wall behind him every half second, and strange memories began to pour through his mind. His heart was beating quicker than a rabbits, and it seemed like it was ready to explode. Foaly was calm, he was shaking a little, but not a lot, but he wasn't enjoying the ride either. On the other hand, Root, Trouble, and Holly enjoyed the ride. She and Trouble took quick glances at each other, and then to Chix, and grinned. And then Holly began to giggle watching Chix, something she had never done in all her years at LEP.
The elevator landed. Chix was gasping with relief. Root, Trouble, and Holly got out, while Chix sat there, trying to catch his breath. Holly helped Chix out, as Trouble and Root helped Foaly out. Holly took his hand trying to guide Chix, because he was dizzy from the "ride" and was nearly falling down with every step he took.
"Good job, Private Verbil." Root tried to hide a laugh. "You did a better job than most …. Except for Holly. She was our best one yet."
"Nooooo…. Didn't you see me……I was great……" Chix was nearly falling.
Holly rolled her eyes. Sprites: they're always so full of themselves, no matter what the situation.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"The Fowl Mansion …" Trouble looked around. "I remember the last time I was here …. One dart was all that brought me down then …"
"Hey, but the most gung-ho agent in LEP don't fall down so easily now, right Trub?" Holly grinned.
The five walked up to the Fowl's door, taking a deep breath. Holly was the only one who dared to knock on the door. Plus, she was the only one who could enter anyway. They had to be invited in, and she was /invited/ even if kidnapping isn't technically kidnapping. The door slowly opened, and Juliet answered. She saw Holly, but she couldn't recognize her. Then she saw Root and Trouble, and out of process of elimination, she guessed that she was Holly.
"Holly! It's good to see you again." She said.
"Hi Juliet. Guess you kind of know why we're here." Holly weakly grinned.
"Yeah." She nodded. "Come with me, I'll take you to the Fowls."
"Wait, we have to be invited in first." Root cut in.
"Okay …" Juliet said, remembering him well. "You can all come in."
She led the way inside as they followed. Root and Holly remembered the manor very well, and recognized the room they were going in as the parlor. Two adults sat in two armchairs, one a very beautiful lady, but who was in tears. She wore a blue satin dress that touched the ground. A man sat beside her, who was a bit scarred and had an artificial leg, and wore long black pants and a embroidered shirt.
"Juliet …" The lady began. "Who are these people? You know that we don't want visitors." She sniffed.
"Mistress Fowl." Juliet started and she motioned to Holly. "This is Holly Short, a close acquaintance of Artemis. She has come to help find Artemis."
The man stood up. "How does Artemis know her?" He looked at the visitors' strange appearances. "Artemis has never been anywhere else except Saint Bartleby's and that's an all boy school."
"Mr. Fowl. I am a fairy." Holly swallowed, trying to get the right words out. "And … I'm a friend of Artemis."
It took awhile, but she, Root, and Foaly explained how they met, the story of what had happened with the gold, the B'wa Kell incident, and Holly shared a secret with them. She and he had been keeping touch with messages in email and on cell phone text messages. They reassured the Fowls that they would find Artemis at all costs.
"There was a message that was emailed to us yesterday from Arty." Angeline Fowl commented. "Perhaps you would like to see it."
"Yes, it would help a lot." Trouble replied.
Angeline pulled out a printed out email from a drawer. She handed it to Holly and Root and they read it.
IAUAK, 2 PM, JNE 19. MTING THR. FND INFRMTIN. IT WLL HLP.
ARTMS FWL
"I have no clue what the first word means, but the rest says " 2 PM, Jun 19th, Meeting there. Find information. It will help. Artemis Fowl." Holly shrugged.
"I know what the first word is." Trouble started. "It's "Kauai" backwards. Kauai is an island in Hawaii."
"And how did you know that?" Chix snickered.
"First in geometry class of the Mud People World." He grinned.
"Pack your bags, we're going to Hawaii." Holly murmured.
"I'm going." Juliet shouted.
"I am going as well." Mr. Fowl stood up.
Root and Holly looked at each other. Root just gave her look that said "Holly, don't say anything. Anyway, the more people we have, the better, right?"
**Wow, I can't believe I just wrote more than the other chapter. … and I don't even like this chapter ….**
**plz review**
**Kree**