Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up (when I die, I'm going to
find the soul that invented school and kill him again in the most inhumane
way possible). THANK YOU ALL REVIEWERS! YOU MAKE MY DAY! (eats a chocolate
chip cookie) And thank you for the cookies. Mmmm, good!
BTW: severe gore in this chapter! You have been warned. (shakes head) Too much LotR. I'm become immune.
*
Chapter Two: Discussions
Jennie leaned further into the kitchen, striving to hear the faint words her mother was mumbling. Her eyes were wide with hope. Both cousins had heard the phrase "Ireland cruise" and were almost mad with anticipation.
"It can't be true," Tessa hissed. "We would KNOW if we were going to Ireland for our summer vacation."
"Would we?" Jennie pointed out. "Until five seconds ago, we were both locked outside, while our mother 'cleaned carpets.' Though this doesn't sound like carpet cleaning."
"No really. Unless your mother secretly opened a carpet cleaning business in Ireland. . ."
"Tessa, shut up, I'm trying to hear the conversation."
Inside the kitchen, Kristin munched a cookie as she talked. "There would be no free passports for Tessa and I as we receive when we go to Florida every fall, Leah. That would upper the price a lot."
"But this year we told the girls we would take them to Disneyworld when we went to Florida, and you got that phone call yesterday about the extensive remodeling. We can't go now. And I've heard the girls talking about Ireland a lot lately. It would be a good alternative for a summer vacation."
"No KIDDING," Tessa whispered to Jennie. "Artemis Fowl instead of walking around looking at cartoon mice? I am SO in!"
"Tessa. . ." he cousin warned, though she privately agreed.
Leah began her cleaning again. Obviously the conversation had ended while the cousins had been talking; they had missed the verdict! Furious, Jennie turned on Tessa, closing the door as she readied herself to tell the other off.
"Why did you have to talk at that exact critical moment?!"
"I was just-"
"My God, Tessa, sometimes I could-"
"But Jennie, they-"
"I mean, every single time, it's always YOU who-"
"Jennie, they'll te-"
"Don't give me that, you know it's true-"
"JENNIE!"
Her cousin shut up mid-sentence. "What?"
"They'll tell us if we're going to Ireland."
There was silence for a minute. Jennie scowled. "Still-"
Almost on cue, the back door swung open. The cousins whirled simultaneously, huge smiles lighting up their faces, as Kristin stepped out onto the back porch. "Girls?"
They waited blissfully for the words. Any moment now she would tell them that they were going to-
"Yes?" Jennie asked finally.
"Lunchtime."
*
"I can't BELIEVE they won't tell us if we're going to Ireland or not," Jennie grumbled minutes later, barely indistinguishable through a mouthful of pickle. Beneath them were spread pink and orange towels, to prevent their feet from sullying the newly cleaned floor. It rather felt as though they were both contagiously sick. "Can you BELIEVE them, Tessa?"
The other helped herself to a chocolate chip cookie. "Yeah?" she said, not listening.
Jennie was about to tell her off when something caught her eye. As she stretched across the table, Tessa's vial swung into view, a cylinder of glowing crimson blood suspended from a silver chain.
The complaint died in her throat. Jennie ponderously ate another pickle as she watched the blood swing.
"Tessa?"
"Yeah?" Tessa repeated, taking a bite of her cookie.
"I miss him."
"I know." The cookie was disappearing rapidly despite Tessa's tragic face. "It really sucks, doesn't it? And I can't BELIEVE they won't tell us if we're going to Ireland or not."
Jennie dryly pointed out that she had said exactly that a few moments before.
Tessa responded with a few colorful adjectives.
Jennie voiced a vicious verb and two ear-splitting nouns.
Grinning smugly, Tessa murmured a certain pronoun coupled with two random cusses with a good deal of scorn thrown in.
Her cousin's ears rang with the pain, but she fought back anyway.
And the matter of vacation was forgotten. . .
*
Deep underground, Holly Short stalked towards the Operations Booth with a barely concealed threat in her stiff posture. Eyes narrowed, she strode convincingly past a group of pixies (as convincingly as a three-foot-high elf can stride, anyway), and marched vindictively through the open doors.
Foaly knew aggressive elves when he saw them - it was the working with Julius that had done it - and Holly did not look happy. Pasting on his blandest, most innocent smile, everyone's favorite centaur stood to greet her. "Holly, hello, I haven't seen you in ages-"
"No crap today, pony," the captain snarled. "Instead you can explain how OPAL KABOI got past your security."
"Did she?"
"Dammit, Foaly!" The captain then proceeded to verbalize a few phrases that would have rivaled any of the cousins'. When she had composed herself, she continued: "The most deranged enemy of the people is loose and you have the nerve to play up your normal jokes."
"You sound exactly like Artemis Fowl did when I contacted him," Foaly informed her.
"Artemis Fowl was right!"
"Artemis Fowl used to be the most deranged enemy of the people."
"That was three years ago, you gutless, mewling little grudge holder. . ."
Foaly lifted his eyebrows. "I thought you would never forgive him for what he put you through."
"I haven't. But I've swallowed most of my pride; he's helped us since. And. . . it's been a long three years."
The centaur turned and trotted over to a plasma screen. "Back to Opal Kaboi- "
"FOALY! You have a lead and you haven't contacted Root?" Incredulous, the captain followed. "He's a commander!"
"He's not as composed as you are." Foaly took one look at her slowly darkening face and blanched. "Scratch that. You'd better be careful; you'll end up as Shouting Tomato Number Two."
Holly's eyes narrowed. Again, Foaly blanched. "Sometimes you remind me of him so much, it's not even funny."
"Foalyyyyyyyyyyy. . ."
"I'm going, I'm going." Foaly flicked the power switch, turning on the screen. "This is live feed from the mole cameras in Howler's Peak-"
Holly immediately turned and began walking away. "I'm not watching this without Commander Root."
The centaur snarled in exasperation and grabbed her shoulders. "Listen to me. Commander Root is out with the Retrieval One, chasing down a troll. Our first since yours, he wanted to monitor the procedure himself. He doesn't KNOW that Opal is gone."
"We should still wait!"
"We should, but if we do, Opal might get even farther away from us. You're the commander now, Holly. We CAN'T WAIT!" he snapped, seeing her indecision. "Lives depend on someone acting fast after a crisis!"
She wavered.
Foaly sighed, irritated. "Fine. Don't listen to me. But when you go, remember that Kaboi's defeat two years ago was due to Artemis Fowl. Don't you think that he'll be the first she wants revenge from?"
That struck home. The captain sat down in an office chair. "Hurry up. This had better be good. And if Root takes my badge and throws me on drain duty because I took his position, nothing is going to save your little horsey ass."
Foaly ignored the profanity and pressed play. "Watch closely-"
Holly's eyes slitted at the order. She knew what to do! After all, she was a captain.
As she examined the screen, two things became obvious extremely clearly. It was very, very dark. In Howler's Peak, things were never this dark. There were always Foaly-designed lights hanging bulbously from the ceiling, or the occasional goblin-generated fireball. But the screen portrayed it as almost completely pitch black.
The camera angled itself. Sweating, Holly recognized the area with a sharp, frightened jolt; it was the higher, northern, abandoned wing of Howler's Peak.
"The Arctic pinnacle," she whispered.
Smiling grimly, Foaly motioned her to be quiet. "Here comes the good part."
An Arctic guard came down the ramp, shivering, as he fumbled with two bronze keys. Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was around, he put one to the lock.
Holly gasped. She could barely make out the features, but if it was who she thought it was. . .
"Cudgeon's DEAD," she whispered.
The centaur snickered. "Yes, he is. That's his only living relative, his nephew Kuro Trucehart. Who, may I add, should be with his Retrieval team right now. NOT serving Arctic duty."
It was Holly's turn to blanch. "You mean. . ."
"I know what I see, sweetheart."
On the screen, Kuro was still fumbling with the key. He swore loudly and applied the other one. When it turned in the lock, he turned and called to a couple of apprentices who were standing up the ramp. They came forward, carrying a tray of standard prisoner dinner.
"He picked the greenest, youngest apprentices on the list," Foaly's voice said in Holly's ear. "They didn't know that the door should NEVER be unlocked, and that there is a flap on every door - a one way revolver - that the food should be inserted on."
The captain was still in shock. "Did Kuro know?"
"Yes. He did. And didn't care, I might add."
Breathless, Holly watched Kuro fire up his buzz baton.
"Obviously he knew about the vindictive pixie nature and didn't want to be the first blasted."
"Yeah."
As they watched, a vague shape barreled out of the dungeon. The captain had a brief glimpse of insane, vicious eyes glittering in rimmed sockets before Opal Kaboi - for it was she - struck Kuro head on.
He screamed and thrust her away with his free hand, notching his buzz baton to a higher level. Muttering something that the two observers couldn't hear, he drew a palm dagger, obviously warning Kaboi.
The maddened pixie shrieked and looked around for something else to vent her rage on. While Holly was shivering, she could understand the other female's vindictiveness; three years of imprisonment in the Arctic pinnacle could destroy any sane mind. Opal Kaboi was insane, and free. It couldn't get much worse.
Foaly read her expression and smiled grimly. "Can't it? Watch."
The pixie had seen the two apprentices. Almost eagerly, she sprinted down the prison hall to where they were making good their escape. Stricken, Holly watched as she snapped their necks with fingers strengthened by pure rage. One's head she smashed against the wall, cackling at the sound of splintering bone; blood poured in red rivers from his grossly mutilated skull.
The other was only paralyzed from the neck down. Opal noticed and bared her teeth in a malicious grin. Bending over, she relieved him of his Starblink 400 gun, tilted his head up with her foot, and let him have it through the eyes.
Holly retched as blood spattered the camera. "Tell me that this is special effects, Foaly."
"Not a chance," Foaly whispered, draping an arm about her shoulders as she convulsed with disgust and shock.
Onscreen, Kuro was beginning to realize that the prisoner he had loosed was insane. As she whirled and approached him again, bloodied nails outstretched as though groping for something to rip, he shouted a warning and hurled his buzz baton at her. Opal jumped neatly aside, snatched the handle seconds after it clattered to the floor, and paused, as though considering something.
Kuro Trucehart threw the palm dagger.
It hit the baton with deadly accuracy. Opal Kaboi screamed with rage and dropped it a second before the charged electric particles exploded. Smoke filled the air, stifling, black as pitch. When it cleared, Holly blanched yet again as the dead bodies of apprentices were revealed to being eaten by flame.
Of Kaboi and Kuro, there was no trace. A shimmer further down the corridor hinted at a shield before the spent camera blacked, its durance spent.
The captain rubbed her eyes, thoroughly scared by what she had seen. "I don't understand. If Kaboi and Kuro were allies. . ."
"Don't come crying to me, sweetheart," Foaly said, his eyes hooded and wary, "I don't understand either."
*
Well, I warned you.
BTW: severe gore in this chapter! You have been warned. (shakes head) Too much LotR. I'm become immune.
*
Chapter Two: Discussions
Jennie leaned further into the kitchen, striving to hear the faint words her mother was mumbling. Her eyes were wide with hope. Both cousins had heard the phrase "Ireland cruise" and were almost mad with anticipation.
"It can't be true," Tessa hissed. "We would KNOW if we were going to Ireland for our summer vacation."
"Would we?" Jennie pointed out. "Until five seconds ago, we were both locked outside, while our mother 'cleaned carpets.' Though this doesn't sound like carpet cleaning."
"No really. Unless your mother secretly opened a carpet cleaning business in Ireland. . ."
"Tessa, shut up, I'm trying to hear the conversation."
Inside the kitchen, Kristin munched a cookie as she talked. "There would be no free passports for Tessa and I as we receive when we go to Florida every fall, Leah. That would upper the price a lot."
"But this year we told the girls we would take them to Disneyworld when we went to Florida, and you got that phone call yesterday about the extensive remodeling. We can't go now. And I've heard the girls talking about Ireland a lot lately. It would be a good alternative for a summer vacation."
"No KIDDING," Tessa whispered to Jennie. "Artemis Fowl instead of walking around looking at cartoon mice? I am SO in!"
"Tessa. . ." he cousin warned, though she privately agreed.
Leah began her cleaning again. Obviously the conversation had ended while the cousins had been talking; they had missed the verdict! Furious, Jennie turned on Tessa, closing the door as she readied herself to tell the other off.
"Why did you have to talk at that exact critical moment?!"
"I was just-"
"My God, Tessa, sometimes I could-"
"But Jennie, they-"
"I mean, every single time, it's always YOU who-"
"Jennie, they'll te-"
"Don't give me that, you know it's true-"
"JENNIE!"
Her cousin shut up mid-sentence. "What?"
"They'll tell us if we're going to Ireland."
There was silence for a minute. Jennie scowled. "Still-"
Almost on cue, the back door swung open. The cousins whirled simultaneously, huge smiles lighting up their faces, as Kristin stepped out onto the back porch. "Girls?"
They waited blissfully for the words. Any moment now she would tell them that they were going to-
"Yes?" Jennie asked finally.
"Lunchtime."
*
"I can't BELIEVE they won't tell us if we're going to Ireland or not," Jennie grumbled minutes later, barely indistinguishable through a mouthful of pickle. Beneath them were spread pink and orange towels, to prevent their feet from sullying the newly cleaned floor. It rather felt as though they were both contagiously sick. "Can you BELIEVE them, Tessa?"
The other helped herself to a chocolate chip cookie. "Yeah?" she said, not listening.
Jennie was about to tell her off when something caught her eye. As she stretched across the table, Tessa's vial swung into view, a cylinder of glowing crimson blood suspended from a silver chain.
The complaint died in her throat. Jennie ponderously ate another pickle as she watched the blood swing.
"Tessa?"
"Yeah?" Tessa repeated, taking a bite of her cookie.
"I miss him."
"I know." The cookie was disappearing rapidly despite Tessa's tragic face. "It really sucks, doesn't it? And I can't BELIEVE they won't tell us if we're going to Ireland or not."
Jennie dryly pointed out that she had said exactly that a few moments before.
Tessa responded with a few colorful adjectives.
Jennie voiced a vicious verb and two ear-splitting nouns.
Grinning smugly, Tessa murmured a certain pronoun coupled with two random cusses with a good deal of scorn thrown in.
Her cousin's ears rang with the pain, but she fought back anyway.
And the matter of vacation was forgotten. . .
*
Deep underground, Holly Short stalked towards the Operations Booth with a barely concealed threat in her stiff posture. Eyes narrowed, she strode convincingly past a group of pixies (as convincingly as a three-foot-high elf can stride, anyway), and marched vindictively through the open doors.
Foaly knew aggressive elves when he saw them - it was the working with Julius that had done it - and Holly did not look happy. Pasting on his blandest, most innocent smile, everyone's favorite centaur stood to greet her. "Holly, hello, I haven't seen you in ages-"
"No crap today, pony," the captain snarled. "Instead you can explain how OPAL KABOI got past your security."
"Did she?"
"Dammit, Foaly!" The captain then proceeded to verbalize a few phrases that would have rivaled any of the cousins'. When she had composed herself, she continued: "The most deranged enemy of the people is loose and you have the nerve to play up your normal jokes."
"You sound exactly like Artemis Fowl did when I contacted him," Foaly informed her.
"Artemis Fowl was right!"
"Artemis Fowl used to be the most deranged enemy of the people."
"That was three years ago, you gutless, mewling little grudge holder. . ."
Foaly lifted his eyebrows. "I thought you would never forgive him for what he put you through."
"I haven't. But I've swallowed most of my pride; he's helped us since. And. . . it's been a long three years."
The centaur turned and trotted over to a plasma screen. "Back to Opal Kaboi- "
"FOALY! You have a lead and you haven't contacted Root?" Incredulous, the captain followed. "He's a commander!"
"He's not as composed as you are." Foaly took one look at her slowly darkening face and blanched. "Scratch that. You'd better be careful; you'll end up as Shouting Tomato Number Two."
Holly's eyes narrowed. Again, Foaly blanched. "Sometimes you remind me of him so much, it's not even funny."
"Foalyyyyyyyyyyy. . ."
"I'm going, I'm going." Foaly flicked the power switch, turning on the screen. "This is live feed from the mole cameras in Howler's Peak-"
Holly immediately turned and began walking away. "I'm not watching this without Commander Root."
The centaur snarled in exasperation and grabbed her shoulders. "Listen to me. Commander Root is out with the Retrieval One, chasing down a troll. Our first since yours, he wanted to monitor the procedure himself. He doesn't KNOW that Opal is gone."
"We should still wait!"
"We should, but if we do, Opal might get even farther away from us. You're the commander now, Holly. We CAN'T WAIT!" he snapped, seeing her indecision. "Lives depend on someone acting fast after a crisis!"
She wavered.
Foaly sighed, irritated. "Fine. Don't listen to me. But when you go, remember that Kaboi's defeat two years ago was due to Artemis Fowl. Don't you think that he'll be the first she wants revenge from?"
That struck home. The captain sat down in an office chair. "Hurry up. This had better be good. And if Root takes my badge and throws me on drain duty because I took his position, nothing is going to save your little horsey ass."
Foaly ignored the profanity and pressed play. "Watch closely-"
Holly's eyes slitted at the order. She knew what to do! After all, she was a captain.
As she examined the screen, two things became obvious extremely clearly. It was very, very dark. In Howler's Peak, things were never this dark. There were always Foaly-designed lights hanging bulbously from the ceiling, or the occasional goblin-generated fireball. But the screen portrayed it as almost completely pitch black.
The camera angled itself. Sweating, Holly recognized the area with a sharp, frightened jolt; it was the higher, northern, abandoned wing of Howler's Peak.
"The Arctic pinnacle," she whispered.
Smiling grimly, Foaly motioned her to be quiet. "Here comes the good part."
An Arctic guard came down the ramp, shivering, as he fumbled with two bronze keys. Quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was around, he put one to the lock.
Holly gasped. She could barely make out the features, but if it was who she thought it was. . .
"Cudgeon's DEAD," she whispered.
The centaur snickered. "Yes, he is. That's his only living relative, his nephew Kuro Trucehart. Who, may I add, should be with his Retrieval team right now. NOT serving Arctic duty."
It was Holly's turn to blanch. "You mean. . ."
"I know what I see, sweetheart."
On the screen, Kuro was still fumbling with the key. He swore loudly and applied the other one. When it turned in the lock, he turned and called to a couple of apprentices who were standing up the ramp. They came forward, carrying a tray of standard prisoner dinner.
"He picked the greenest, youngest apprentices on the list," Foaly's voice said in Holly's ear. "They didn't know that the door should NEVER be unlocked, and that there is a flap on every door - a one way revolver - that the food should be inserted on."
The captain was still in shock. "Did Kuro know?"
"Yes. He did. And didn't care, I might add."
Breathless, Holly watched Kuro fire up his buzz baton.
"Obviously he knew about the vindictive pixie nature and didn't want to be the first blasted."
"Yeah."
As they watched, a vague shape barreled out of the dungeon. The captain had a brief glimpse of insane, vicious eyes glittering in rimmed sockets before Opal Kaboi - for it was she - struck Kuro head on.
He screamed and thrust her away with his free hand, notching his buzz baton to a higher level. Muttering something that the two observers couldn't hear, he drew a palm dagger, obviously warning Kaboi.
The maddened pixie shrieked and looked around for something else to vent her rage on. While Holly was shivering, she could understand the other female's vindictiveness; three years of imprisonment in the Arctic pinnacle could destroy any sane mind. Opal Kaboi was insane, and free. It couldn't get much worse.
Foaly read her expression and smiled grimly. "Can't it? Watch."
The pixie had seen the two apprentices. Almost eagerly, she sprinted down the prison hall to where they were making good their escape. Stricken, Holly watched as she snapped their necks with fingers strengthened by pure rage. One's head she smashed against the wall, cackling at the sound of splintering bone; blood poured in red rivers from his grossly mutilated skull.
The other was only paralyzed from the neck down. Opal noticed and bared her teeth in a malicious grin. Bending over, she relieved him of his Starblink 400 gun, tilted his head up with her foot, and let him have it through the eyes.
Holly retched as blood spattered the camera. "Tell me that this is special effects, Foaly."
"Not a chance," Foaly whispered, draping an arm about her shoulders as she convulsed with disgust and shock.
Onscreen, Kuro was beginning to realize that the prisoner he had loosed was insane. As she whirled and approached him again, bloodied nails outstretched as though groping for something to rip, he shouted a warning and hurled his buzz baton at her. Opal jumped neatly aside, snatched the handle seconds after it clattered to the floor, and paused, as though considering something.
Kuro Trucehart threw the palm dagger.
It hit the baton with deadly accuracy. Opal Kaboi screamed with rage and dropped it a second before the charged electric particles exploded. Smoke filled the air, stifling, black as pitch. When it cleared, Holly blanched yet again as the dead bodies of apprentices were revealed to being eaten by flame.
Of Kaboi and Kuro, there was no trace. A shimmer further down the corridor hinted at a shield before the spent camera blacked, its durance spent.
The captain rubbed her eyes, thoroughly scared by what she had seen. "I don't understand. If Kaboi and Kuro were allies. . ."
"Don't come crying to me, sweetheart," Foaly said, his eyes hooded and wary, "I don't understand either."
*
Well, I warned you.