Disclaimer: Yet again, I own nothing.
A/N: Even if you have decided you don't like my fic, please review!!!
Note: The idea of the tracer implanted into the wrist is NOT mine!!! It belongs to becca8 and you can read more about it in her story Suspicions, which I highly recommend.
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Holly woke up in the huge bed more than a little disoriented. She sat up, confused, then fell back on the bed, remembering what had happened and where she was. Why was it again that she had come here?
"To survive," the voice reminded her. "If you had stayed out, then you would've been seen since you known you don't have enough magic to use your shield."
"Ah, yes," Holly thought to herself as she climbed beneath the covers, pulling them up to her chin and snuggling beneath them. She felt more than a little dwarfed by the huge proportions of everything, but found it oddly comforting.
"And you know why that is?" the voice asked. "It's because you're being taken care of and it's high time you let somebody else take over."
"True, true," Holly agreed, too tired to argue.
"You really shouldn't be sleeping," the voice warned her. "What if you miss the full moon?"
"Then I'll do it next month," she mumbled out loud and fell back asleep.
*
Root walked into the Ops booth at exactly nine o'clock after sitting in his office for the past two hours eating Foaly's carrots and thinking.
"Alright, Foaly. You've had your twenty-four hours. It's high time we started looking for her," Root snapped upon entering the Ops booth.
"Good thing she was one of the ones who had the tracer put in," Foaly said and began typing a number into his database. He was referring to a microchip tracer that he had recently invented. Fairies participating in the test case had had the chip inserted into their wrists. It was much less of a hassle than the old, clunky wrist watches and it couldn't be stolen.
Root leaned over Foaly's shoulder. "Is it working?" he asked impatiently.
Foaly stared at the screen curiously. "Well, that depends on what you mean by working. If you mean is it omitting a signal, then yes, it's working. If you mean does the signal make any sense, then you're out of luck."
"Where's it coming from?" Root asked impatiently.
"Ireland," Foaly said. "Fowl Manor."
"Impossible," Root replied. "Fowl wouldn't have dared kidnapped her again. And there's no way she would've gone on her own."
"I dunno," Foaly said. "This isn't wrong. She must've gotten stuck in Ireland somehow and needed shelter."
"Holly wouldn't have done that," Root snapped.
Foaly turned around so he was looking Root directly in the eyes. "You don't know her, Julius. Just because she stayed with you for a couple of days doesn't mean you know everything about her. For instance, what's her favourite colour?"
"I don't have any idea, but-"
"It's dark green," Foaly replied and returned to looking at the computer screen. "I'm going to try to establish a link."
"Oh no you're not," Root snapped. "You're going to check to see if the equipment is working first."
"I already know this end is working fine. The only way to see if Holly's locator is working is to call Fowl Manor," Foaly replied angrily, quickly getting fed up with Root. "I'm not stupid, you know."
Root mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but didn't say anything.
"Do I have his majesty's permission to call?" Foaly snapped.
Root grunted.
"I'll take that as a yes," Foaly said and dialled the number.
*
Artemis was in his study working when a large image of Foaly, the Ops booth and a very angry Commander Root popped up on the screen.
"Fowl? Are you there?" Foaly asked.
"Yes, I'm here," Artemis replied, leaning back in his chair. This would be interesting.
Holly chose that moment to knock on the door of Artemis' study. "Fowl? Are you in here?"
"One moment gentlemen," Artemis said and got up, opening the door. "Holly, I'm not sure if you want to come in. Foaly and your commander just established a contact with my computers." Artemis could tell that she had just woken up by the way she tried to process the information and figure out what to do.
"Oh. I . . . umm . . ." she started and cursed herself again loosing the ability to formulate sentences.
"Short? Are you there?" she heard Root's voice yell at her.
Holly rolled her eyes. "I guess I better go talk to them," she told Artemis and went over to the computers.
"Would you like me to stay?" Artemis asked.
"I don't really care," she told Artemis, trying to have a normal conversation with him over Root's yells.
"Then I'll leave. When you finish, hit the Escape key," Artemis said and left, closing the door behind him.
Holly climbed into his giant chair and rolled her eyes again at Foaly, who smiled back at her. Root hadn't stopped swearing at her since she had come in.
"Would you like me to tell you what happened?" she finally interrupted.
Root almost looked surprised, as if he had forgotten she was there. Foaly snickered. Root turned around and glared at him before addressing Holly. "Yes, Captain. I'd *love* to hear why you're in Fowl Manor."
"I needed shelter," she told him, remembering what the voice had told her when she had first woken up. "If I hadn't come here, some human would've spotted me."
"What about your shield?" Root barked.
Holly felt herself begin to shrink in the chair. "I don't have enough magic," she confessed softly, bracing herself for the lecture Root would surely give her.
"I take it that's why you're in Ireland?" Root asked dangerously.
Holly nodded. "I'm going to complete the Ritual as soon as we finish our conversation."
Foaly looked at her. "Fowl's been rubbing off on you. You're starting to sound like him."
Holly felt herself blush slightly. "I guess," she said.
"Short, I want you to go do the Ritual and come back below ground *immediately*. Then you can tell me how you went above ground without Foaly knowing."
"Yessir," Holly mumbled.
"You can also tell me why you didn't wait until tonight to go up since you know when the full moons are," Root added.
"Yessir," she repeated.
"And then you can tell the Counsel why after this you *still* fell like you deserve a promotion," Root finished up.
Holly cringed. "Wasn't it you that suggest me?" she asked tentatively.
"What?" Root snapped.
Holly gained strength as she spoke. "Well, I didn't know you considered promoting me until you told me in the hospital. So *you're* the one who should tell the Counsel why you think I still should get a promotion."
There were a couple of minutes of silence, Root having been momentarily shocked into silence. Eventually, he spat, "Then you can tell the Counsel why you deserve to stay in Recon at all."
"Do you have any leads?" Holly asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Short, that has nothing to do with-"
"Yes it does," she interrupted. "If you *still* haven't done anything about the terrorists, then maybe you should also tell them why you should keep your job. Even if you don't have any ideas, you could at least check out Frond like I asked you to."
Foaly stared clapping. "Nicely done, Holly. Ten out of ten."
Root spared a moment to shoot Foaly a withering glance before returning his gaze to Holly. "I don't know why you're still here," he yelled. "You have little or no respect for me or for the rules, you go around staying in the houses of mudmen that you *know* are dangerous-"
"You want to know why?" Holly yelled at him, finally loosing her patients. "I'm still here because I'm one of the best officers in Recon, remember? You told me that! Or have you gotten so old that your memory is that bad?"
"That's it, Short! I'm pulling you down to Traffic right now!" Root roared at her, his facing turning more purple than had ever been seen before. He grabbed a small notepad from his pocked and a pen and began making it official.
"Who're you going to bring up? Frond?" Holly challenged, knowing that she didn't have anything to loose. "The number one suspect?"
"She is not a suspect!" Root yelled at Holly.
"Yes she is!" Holly screamed and hit the Escape button as hard as she could. She sat fuming in Artemis' chair for a couple of minutes before finally getting up and leaving the study. She walked back into her own room, grabbed the Dragonflies she had "rented" from the illegal shuttle port and flew to the front door where she thought Butler would be. She was right. "I'm going to go do the Ritual," she told him.
"Will you come back before you go home?" Butler asked.
Holly nodded. "But if anybody from the Lower Elements asks, no."
Butler was about to question her, but decided against it. Holly did not seem one to cross at the moment. "I'll tell Artemis," he said and left.
Holly quickly flew out of the manor, breathing the cold air in huge gulps. She was soon calmed down enough to consider her situation. She had no idea where the nearest hotspot was and she wasn't about to call Foaly to ask. Eventually she flew as high as she could and spotted a river slightly north. She flew to it and scanned for an ancient oak. Right before she was about to give up, she spotted one and quickly flew down to it. Holly dropped to her knee and began searching the ground for an acorn. It wasn't difficult. She jogged over a couple of meters and planted the seed. She waited. The magic then started flowing through her arm, bringing with it the seriousness of what she had just done.
"D'Arvit," she swore under her breath and quickly flew up again. She went back to Fowl Manor as fast as she could and knocked on the door.
Butler answered. "Artemis is in his study if you want to talk to him."
"Thanks," she said and went to the guest room she had been staying in, looking for anything that she might have brought with her. It wouldn't do to forget something important. But there wasn't anything so, still flying, she went to Artemis' study.
"I take it you're leaving?" Artemis asked.
Holly nodded. "Thanks for letting me stay," she said.
Artemis nodded. "You're very welcome, Captain Short."
"Goodb-"
Holly was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the front door of Fowl Manor. She had left the door to the study open thinking she would be leaving immediately, but now it proved useful for another reason. She and Artemis could hear exactly what was going on in the main hall.
"-need to see her!"
"D'Arvit," Holly swore under her breath. She would recognize that voice anywhere.
"I'm afraid Captain Short has already left," Holly heard Butler tell Root.
Holly sighed. "I oughta go. Goodbye, Artemis," Holly said and left, flying a few inches above the ground.
"Goodbye, Captain," Artemis told the door of the study that Holly had closed on her way out.
"I'm here, I'm here," Holly said upon entering the hall.
Root opened his mouth to start yelling at Holly, but Butler interrupted.
"If you two are going to duke it out as loud as you can, you have to leave," Butler said. "Master Fowl doesn't want to be disturbed."
"Fine," Root snapped and grabbed Holly by the arm, pulling her out of the house. Once they were outside and Root still hadn't said anything or let go of her arm, Holly started to get worried. She had already known that she was getting kicked out of Recon, but if Root wasn't yelling at her, or saying anything, something was seriously wrong.
"Sir?" Holly said tentatively.
"Shut up," Root snapped at her.
Holly complied instantly. This was not the time to get him any angrier than he already was. She tried to shake her arm loose, but Root only tightened his grip. She considered telling him that he could let go of her, that she wasn't planning on going anywhere, but decided against it since that would be disobeying the "shut up" order. Root continued to hold onto her arm until they got to the shuttle port roughly fifteen minutes later and dragged her into a shuttle. She sat down on the seat across from him and countered his mud brown gaze with her own hazel one. She would've backed down immediately if she had seen anger, but instead she saw something she couldn't quite place. So she watched him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
"Commander, I-"
"I don't care," Root said in an eerily calm voice. "We can talk about it back in headquarters. In my office."
Holly nodded and settled back in her seat, wondering if this was how Mulch Diggums felt every time he was arrested. She searched for the voice in her head for some sort of comfort, but it wasn't there.
"Maybe that's what I forgot at Fowl Manor," she asked herself, expecting an answer. There was none.
They sat in silence for the short ride to the Lower Elements and the shorter walk to Root's office. Once inside and Root was seated behind his desk and Holly was in front, he asked, "Well?"
"I needed to do the Ritual-"
"So you went above ground on the night before the full moon," Root said, still sounding too calm. "Why?"
"Well, sir, I wasn't actually planning on doing the Ritual. It occurred to me on the way up," Holly confessed. It would be easier not to lie. But if he didn't ask about something, like how she went up, then there was no point in bringing it up.
"Then what were you planning on doing?"
Holly took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. "I was planning on staying above ground until the terrorist was caught."
"How were you going to find out when the fairy was caught?" Root asked. "You couldn't possibly find out above ground."
"That's when I decided to do the Ritual," Holly explained. "I was going to stay up for one night, get my magic back and then come down."
"So you decided to stay at Fowl Manor during that one night," Root said.
Holly nodded. "I didn't have a choice."
"And how did you get to the Upper Elements without Foaly or Customs knowing about it?" Root asked.
This was the question Holly had been dreading. "I took an illegal pod form an illegal shuttle port," she told him, looking down at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. "That's also where the wings came from."
"Short, look at me."
Holly complied, slowly lifting her head until she was again staring directly into Root's eyes.
"Why?"
Holly almost smiled. She could answer this one. "I was afraid that somebody would get hurt because of me," she said. "But mostly I was afraid of getting hurt myself. I know it's selfish, but it's the truth. I ran away, sir."
Root stared into Holly's eyes and Holly thought momentarily that Foaly had said she sounded like Fowl. "Maybe," she thought. "But Root seems to had gotten Fowl's power of reading minds."
Nobody said anything for the next minute. The single minute turned into two, which turned into five, which turned into ten. After almost fifteen minutes of silence, Root finally spoke.
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Well, there it is! Evil cliffy, I know, but that's ok! The important part is I finished it!
A/N: Even if you have decided you don't like my fic, please review!!!
Note: The idea of the tracer implanted into the wrist is NOT mine!!! It belongs to becca8 and you can read more about it in her story Suspicions, which I highly recommend.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Holly woke up in the huge bed more than a little disoriented. She sat up, confused, then fell back on the bed, remembering what had happened and where she was. Why was it again that she had come here?
"To survive," the voice reminded her. "If you had stayed out, then you would've been seen since you known you don't have enough magic to use your shield."
"Ah, yes," Holly thought to herself as she climbed beneath the covers, pulling them up to her chin and snuggling beneath them. She felt more than a little dwarfed by the huge proportions of everything, but found it oddly comforting.
"And you know why that is?" the voice asked. "It's because you're being taken care of and it's high time you let somebody else take over."
"True, true," Holly agreed, too tired to argue.
"You really shouldn't be sleeping," the voice warned her. "What if you miss the full moon?"
"Then I'll do it next month," she mumbled out loud and fell back asleep.
*
Root walked into the Ops booth at exactly nine o'clock after sitting in his office for the past two hours eating Foaly's carrots and thinking.
"Alright, Foaly. You've had your twenty-four hours. It's high time we started looking for her," Root snapped upon entering the Ops booth.
"Good thing she was one of the ones who had the tracer put in," Foaly said and began typing a number into his database. He was referring to a microchip tracer that he had recently invented. Fairies participating in the test case had had the chip inserted into their wrists. It was much less of a hassle than the old, clunky wrist watches and it couldn't be stolen.
Root leaned over Foaly's shoulder. "Is it working?" he asked impatiently.
Foaly stared at the screen curiously. "Well, that depends on what you mean by working. If you mean is it omitting a signal, then yes, it's working. If you mean does the signal make any sense, then you're out of luck."
"Where's it coming from?" Root asked impatiently.
"Ireland," Foaly said. "Fowl Manor."
"Impossible," Root replied. "Fowl wouldn't have dared kidnapped her again. And there's no way she would've gone on her own."
"I dunno," Foaly said. "This isn't wrong. She must've gotten stuck in Ireland somehow and needed shelter."
"Holly wouldn't have done that," Root snapped.
Foaly turned around so he was looking Root directly in the eyes. "You don't know her, Julius. Just because she stayed with you for a couple of days doesn't mean you know everything about her. For instance, what's her favourite colour?"
"I don't have any idea, but-"
"It's dark green," Foaly replied and returned to looking at the computer screen. "I'm going to try to establish a link."
"Oh no you're not," Root snapped. "You're going to check to see if the equipment is working first."
"I already know this end is working fine. The only way to see if Holly's locator is working is to call Fowl Manor," Foaly replied angrily, quickly getting fed up with Root. "I'm not stupid, you know."
Root mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but didn't say anything.
"Do I have his majesty's permission to call?" Foaly snapped.
Root grunted.
"I'll take that as a yes," Foaly said and dialled the number.
*
Artemis was in his study working when a large image of Foaly, the Ops booth and a very angry Commander Root popped up on the screen.
"Fowl? Are you there?" Foaly asked.
"Yes, I'm here," Artemis replied, leaning back in his chair. This would be interesting.
Holly chose that moment to knock on the door of Artemis' study. "Fowl? Are you in here?"
"One moment gentlemen," Artemis said and got up, opening the door. "Holly, I'm not sure if you want to come in. Foaly and your commander just established a contact with my computers." Artemis could tell that she had just woken up by the way she tried to process the information and figure out what to do.
"Oh. I . . . umm . . ." she started and cursed herself again loosing the ability to formulate sentences.
"Short? Are you there?" she heard Root's voice yell at her.
Holly rolled her eyes. "I guess I better go talk to them," she told Artemis and went over to the computers.
"Would you like me to stay?" Artemis asked.
"I don't really care," she told Artemis, trying to have a normal conversation with him over Root's yells.
"Then I'll leave. When you finish, hit the Escape key," Artemis said and left, closing the door behind him.
Holly climbed into his giant chair and rolled her eyes again at Foaly, who smiled back at her. Root hadn't stopped swearing at her since she had come in.
"Would you like me to tell you what happened?" she finally interrupted.
Root almost looked surprised, as if he had forgotten she was there. Foaly snickered. Root turned around and glared at him before addressing Holly. "Yes, Captain. I'd *love* to hear why you're in Fowl Manor."
"I needed shelter," she told him, remembering what the voice had told her when she had first woken up. "If I hadn't come here, some human would've spotted me."
"What about your shield?" Root barked.
Holly felt herself begin to shrink in the chair. "I don't have enough magic," she confessed softly, bracing herself for the lecture Root would surely give her.
"I take it that's why you're in Ireland?" Root asked dangerously.
Holly nodded. "I'm going to complete the Ritual as soon as we finish our conversation."
Foaly looked at her. "Fowl's been rubbing off on you. You're starting to sound like him."
Holly felt herself blush slightly. "I guess," she said.
"Short, I want you to go do the Ritual and come back below ground *immediately*. Then you can tell me how you went above ground without Foaly knowing."
"Yessir," Holly mumbled.
"You can also tell me why you didn't wait until tonight to go up since you know when the full moons are," Root added.
"Yessir," she repeated.
"And then you can tell the Counsel why after this you *still* fell like you deserve a promotion," Root finished up.
Holly cringed. "Wasn't it you that suggest me?" she asked tentatively.
"What?" Root snapped.
Holly gained strength as she spoke. "Well, I didn't know you considered promoting me until you told me in the hospital. So *you're* the one who should tell the Counsel why you think I still should get a promotion."
There were a couple of minutes of silence, Root having been momentarily shocked into silence. Eventually, he spat, "Then you can tell the Counsel why you deserve to stay in Recon at all."
"Do you have any leads?" Holly asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"Short, that has nothing to do with-"
"Yes it does," she interrupted. "If you *still* haven't done anything about the terrorists, then maybe you should also tell them why you should keep your job. Even if you don't have any ideas, you could at least check out Frond like I asked you to."
Foaly stared clapping. "Nicely done, Holly. Ten out of ten."
Root spared a moment to shoot Foaly a withering glance before returning his gaze to Holly. "I don't know why you're still here," he yelled. "You have little or no respect for me or for the rules, you go around staying in the houses of mudmen that you *know* are dangerous-"
"You want to know why?" Holly yelled at him, finally loosing her patients. "I'm still here because I'm one of the best officers in Recon, remember? You told me that! Or have you gotten so old that your memory is that bad?"
"That's it, Short! I'm pulling you down to Traffic right now!" Root roared at her, his facing turning more purple than had ever been seen before. He grabbed a small notepad from his pocked and a pen and began making it official.
"Who're you going to bring up? Frond?" Holly challenged, knowing that she didn't have anything to loose. "The number one suspect?"
"She is not a suspect!" Root yelled at Holly.
"Yes she is!" Holly screamed and hit the Escape button as hard as she could. She sat fuming in Artemis' chair for a couple of minutes before finally getting up and leaving the study. She walked back into her own room, grabbed the Dragonflies she had "rented" from the illegal shuttle port and flew to the front door where she thought Butler would be. She was right. "I'm going to go do the Ritual," she told him.
"Will you come back before you go home?" Butler asked.
Holly nodded. "But if anybody from the Lower Elements asks, no."
Butler was about to question her, but decided against it. Holly did not seem one to cross at the moment. "I'll tell Artemis," he said and left.
Holly quickly flew out of the manor, breathing the cold air in huge gulps. She was soon calmed down enough to consider her situation. She had no idea where the nearest hotspot was and she wasn't about to call Foaly to ask. Eventually she flew as high as she could and spotted a river slightly north. She flew to it and scanned for an ancient oak. Right before she was about to give up, she spotted one and quickly flew down to it. Holly dropped to her knee and began searching the ground for an acorn. It wasn't difficult. She jogged over a couple of meters and planted the seed. She waited. The magic then started flowing through her arm, bringing with it the seriousness of what she had just done.
"D'Arvit," she swore under her breath and quickly flew up again. She went back to Fowl Manor as fast as she could and knocked on the door.
Butler answered. "Artemis is in his study if you want to talk to him."
"Thanks," she said and went to the guest room she had been staying in, looking for anything that she might have brought with her. It wouldn't do to forget something important. But there wasn't anything so, still flying, she went to Artemis' study.
"I take it you're leaving?" Artemis asked.
Holly nodded. "Thanks for letting me stay," she said.
Artemis nodded. "You're very welcome, Captain Short."
"Goodb-"
Holly was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the front door of Fowl Manor. She had left the door to the study open thinking she would be leaving immediately, but now it proved useful for another reason. She and Artemis could hear exactly what was going on in the main hall.
"-need to see her!"
"D'Arvit," Holly swore under her breath. She would recognize that voice anywhere.
"I'm afraid Captain Short has already left," Holly heard Butler tell Root.
Holly sighed. "I oughta go. Goodbye, Artemis," Holly said and left, flying a few inches above the ground.
"Goodbye, Captain," Artemis told the door of the study that Holly had closed on her way out.
"I'm here, I'm here," Holly said upon entering the hall.
Root opened his mouth to start yelling at Holly, but Butler interrupted.
"If you two are going to duke it out as loud as you can, you have to leave," Butler said. "Master Fowl doesn't want to be disturbed."
"Fine," Root snapped and grabbed Holly by the arm, pulling her out of the house. Once they were outside and Root still hadn't said anything or let go of her arm, Holly started to get worried. She had already known that she was getting kicked out of Recon, but if Root wasn't yelling at her, or saying anything, something was seriously wrong.
"Sir?" Holly said tentatively.
"Shut up," Root snapped at her.
Holly complied instantly. This was not the time to get him any angrier than he already was. She tried to shake her arm loose, but Root only tightened his grip. She considered telling him that he could let go of her, that she wasn't planning on going anywhere, but decided against it since that would be disobeying the "shut up" order. Root continued to hold onto her arm until they got to the shuttle port roughly fifteen minutes later and dragged her into a shuttle. She sat down on the seat across from him and countered his mud brown gaze with her own hazel one. She would've backed down immediately if she had seen anger, but instead she saw something she couldn't quite place. So she watched him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
"Commander, I-"
"I don't care," Root said in an eerily calm voice. "We can talk about it back in headquarters. In my office."
Holly nodded and settled back in her seat, wondering if this was how Mulch Diggums felt every time he was arrested. She searched for the voice in her head for some sort of comfort, but it wasn't there.
"Maybe that's what I forgot at Fowl Manor," she asked herself, expecting an answer. There was none.
They sat in silence for the short ride to the Lower Elements and the shorter walk to Root's office. Once inside and Root was seated behind his desk and Holly was in front, he asked, "Well?"
"I needed to do the Ritual-"
"So you went above ground on the night before the full moon," Root said, still sounding too calm. "Why?"
"Well, sir, I wasn't actually planning on doing the Ritual. It occurred to me on the way up," Holly confessed. It would be easier not to lie. But if he didn't ask about something, like how she went up, then there was no point in bringing it up.
"Then what were you planning on doing?"
Holly took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy. "I was planning on staying above ground until the terrorist was caught."
"How were you going to find out when the fairy was caught?" Root asked. "You couldn't possibly find out above ground."
"That's when I decided to do the Ritual," Holly explained. "I was going to stay up for one night, get my magic back and then come down."
"So you decided to stay at Fowl Manor during that one night," Root said.
Holly nodded. "I didn't have a choice."
"And how did you get to the Upper Elements without Foaly or Customs knowing about it?" Root asked.
This was the question Holly had been dreading. "I took an illegal pod form an illegal shuttle port," she told him, looking down at her hands which were folded neatly in her lap. "That's also where the wings came from."
"Short, look at me."
Holly complied, slowly lifting her head until she was again staring directly into Root's eyes.
"Why?"
Holly almost smiled. She could answer this one. "I was afraid that somebody would get hurt because of me," she said. "But mostly I was afraid of getting hurt myself. I know it's selfish, but it's the truth. I ran away, sir."
Root stared into Holly's eyes and Holly thought momentarily that Foaly had said she sounded like Fowl. "Maybe," she thought. "But Root seems to had gotten Fowl's power of reading minds."
Nobody said anything for the next minute. The single minute turned into two, which turned into five, which turned into ten. After almost fifteen minutes of silence, Root finally spoke.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, there it is! Evil cliffy, I know, but that's ok! The important part is I finished it!