Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and related characters are not mine. They are
the works of and are copyrighted to Eoin Colfer.
Dedications: To Lisel, Helen, and Missy for being my kindred sprits, Doug
for always being there for me and being your usual self, to my dear
Oniichan for being such a good big brother, and to Anderson for being such
a good critique and reviewer
Scene Six: Artemis Fowl is on the case.Oh D'Arvit
Silence. Above, below, and all around quietness pervaded the outdoor scene. No nocturnal animal made a sound, the wind didn't dare whisper, nor did any twig threaten to crackle in the undergrowth. Stillness. Nothingness. The world seemed to hold its breath.
The irreverent shadows undulated and the serpentine silence stretched and intertwined. Within this unnatural stillness, Holly began to hear a song she had only heard once before in her dreams, a song whispered in the darkest recesses of the mind. It was faint, indistinct, but recognizable and it was within this silence, within the quietness that the manservant moved. All around his bulky form like a putrid stench on a week long dead corpse clung the song.
The song called to her. As small as it was, the song still called to her. Unconsciously, Holly drew back, fighting the horror rising from inside her.
The manservant lumbered to a stop, almost as if nervously sensing something waiting in the air. Sniff. The tall manservant sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring at its long indrawn breaths. In the dark, Holly felt her hands fist quietly, somehow unnerved by what the man was doing. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't place what it was. There was an utter sense of unnaturalness around him and this place that sent her skin crawling.
A sudden fierce gust of biting, icy winds blew through the carrying a wave of inky darkness so thick it almost seemed tangible, and Holly suddenly found it very difficult to breathe or even to see.
Faster than she thought possible, the man had dropped the body bag and tore to her hiding place. Reflexively, Holly swerved to the side and, in one fluid motion, charged her buzz baton. "Back off, Mud creature, or I'll fry you!" she threatened commandingly. The man paused, as if in momentary surprise, before uttering a loud howl and stampeding at Holly. Cursing mentally, Holly dodged to the side once more. This time, the manservant's momentum carried him flying past the elf. In half a second, Holly immediately saw an opening and raised her baton to deliver a swift, sound blow to the man's head. However, Lady Luck had other ideas. A well-timed klutz attack had Holly missing the man's head completely. The same klutz attack ensured that Holly stumbled and landed on her rump at her fall. For a moment, Holly sat, completely appalled at her lack of coordination. Her mind processed the facts but her body mistranslated somewhere in between. She couldn't believe it.
However, the manservant had no such momentary pauses and he dove for the fairy. Holly instantly rolled to the side but in the lightning fast exchange of moves, she left her buzz baton behind her. With many a D'Arvit in her head, Holly rolled up, with no weapon at her side, and eyeing the fallen man warily. The manservant stood up quickly, also eyeing her. In but the few moments left to Holly, she felt the hardness of the wall behind her. Praying her plan would work, the fairy deliberately waited the slightest fraction of a second longer as the manservant charged at her before quickly dropping to the left. The man ran right against the wall with a resounding thud before collapsing back on the floor. The elf quickly rolled away and gazed cautiously at the fallen Mud creature.
The darkness receded. Some light from faint stars filtered in. Her breaths came in freer now.
Abruptly, Holly heard Foaly's voice in her ear saying, "Ooh, that's gotta hurt in the morning. Very resourceful, Captain. Thank the goddess you're enemy was very stupid or else your clumsiness would have cost you."
Normally, Holly would have snapped back at the jibe. But she wasn't paying attention anymore. She had ears for something else. The song had stopped now. She could neither hear it nor feel it. Perhaps it hadn't even been there to begin with. Perhaps she'd just imagined it.
"Unconscious, Captain. Possible head trauma. Oh for Dana's sake, scratch the possible. Most definitely a head trauma," continued Foaly. But then the manservant did something that had Holly's heart skyrocketing once more. The manservant groaned, twitching. She thought she saw eyes flicker.
"Are you sure unconscious?" hissed Holly.
"Uhh." muttered Foaly.
In the dark, Holly began fumbling for her buzz baton. "Foaly!" growled Holly. "Buzz baton!"
"A little to your left, Captain, near the tree root," reported the centaur promptly. "It might do to hurry up."
"I know!" said Holly, fighting to keep her voice rising to a shriek. Inside, however, she couldn't help but add a fierce D'Arvit in her head. She finally located the seemingly harmless stick before flying over to where the manservant seemed to be stirring. The elf delivered a merciless blow to the back of the manservant's head, effectively knocking him out again. Holly sank beside the manservant, exhausted by her exertions, and took deep breaths. "What in Dana's name." she panted. That was when she felt something cold beside her. It twined around her arm, like a snake deceptively smooth and cool, crawling ever upwards. With a startled yelp, she jumped backwards, frantically trying to shake whatever it was loose. But when she looked, there was nothing.
"Holly?" asked Foaly, sounding a little unsure.
"Th-there was something that touched me just now!" explained the fairy immediately. "There was something there!"
There were clicking sounds over the COMset, and Holly knew Foaly was taking a sweep of the surrounding areas as best he could. "Nothing's showing up," dissented Foaly. "And unless that man was trying to feel you up."
"SHUT UP.!' fumed Holly. Her cheeks turned bright red at the mention, but she was grateful for the sudden comedy relief Foaly gave her. The sudden experience of having been attacked had unnerved her on several levels. On more ways than she'd care to admit even to herself.
"I'm taking some sample pictures right now, but it'll be a bit tedious with the earpieces. Meanwhile. shouldn't you be checking out the bag?" prompted Foaly. Holly grunted and hauled herself up. She shouldn't be feeling so tired. She really shouldn't. But. Holly bit her lip and hoped Foaly would be too busy watching the events instead of checking her vitals. She switched strobes, once more seeing with the aid of x-ray.
No doubt of it now. Although even more jumbled than before, those looked remarkably like bones in there. She gently unzipped the large body bag, and her breath caught in her throat. Bile rose in he throat and she heartily wished she hadn't seen anything. A mess of bones with bits of muscle still clinging stubbornly to the surface was stuffed inside the bag. The smell was atrocious, and the fairy forced herself not to step back. Foaly was rapidly taking pictures over his feed.
"What. why was he carrying this? What is this? Are they carrying children's heads in these freak school?"
"No.. no, Holly," denied Foaly. "Look closer. you see that little nub of bone sticking out, connected to the rib cage? That's an elf's skeleton. Those are fairies in there." And just like that, she was surrounded in darkness yet again. But this time, it was in her mind.
No, no, no..
No.. oh sweet goddess, they know
They know about the People
How much do they know?
How?
How did they know about us?
They're killing us
Why are they killing us?
As if in a dream, Holly heard the almost thunderous footsteps. Pound, pound, pound. Each footfall struck the earth and sounded like a bass drum, almost like a roaring river in flood. There was a flirtatious giggle followed by shushing sounds and muffled laughter.
Faster than thought, Holly melted away into the shadows.
"Oh, David, you're such a flirt," laughed a feminine voice. A curvaceous girl appeared in view, clothed in a long sleeping gown, apparently having sneaked out. She was hanging off the arm of a boy who was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and jogging pants. The boy struck Holly as oddly familiar, but it could just be a trick of the light. The girl once more circled her arms around the boy's neck, eyes shining in the dark. The boy, David, gave her a little smile in the dark, a little mocking but also inviting. So absorbed were they on one another that they didn't notice the body strewn across the path had the girl not nearly tripped over him.
With a gasp, she drew back with a horrified shriek, "Oh my god! Oh my God! There's a dead body in here! A dead body!" David clapped a hand over her mouth, but the girl's hurried words broke through the barrier, "Oh my God. He's dead; he's dead!"
"Stay back," gestured David to the girl. But the girl clung all the harder to David, unwilling to release her death grip on his arm.
"We have to get back! We have to get out of here!"
"But-"
"David, there's A DEAD BODY! WE NEED TO ALERT THE SCHOOL!" she screamed in his ear. She literally half dragged the protesting boy away, their departure marked by the girl's near hysteric pleas to get away. As soon as their footfalls faded, Holly stepped forward once more, thinking quickly. The manservant would awaken in a few hours and would tell the world that he was attacked, so it was no use hiding him anyway. However, the body bag with the fairy bones.
The elf dragged the weighty object some distance away, cursing herself for not being in full LEP uniform and being deprived of her Moonbelt. At this rate, the entire Mud cavalry could be raining on her head and she'd be leaving a clear trail. With a fresh surge of strength, the elf hoisted up the body bag and fled into the night.
A few hours earlier.
Artemis closed his laptop, mouth set in a serous, pensive line. His father was getting close. Too close. Just a little more, and he would be able to penetrate Artemis's little net of crime. He couldn't afford mistakes, especially not this far in his business dealings. He would soon have to devote more time to keeping his business ventures under wraps. He stood up slowly, mind turning over the various possibilities. Unbidden, an image of the boy Alexei popped in his mind. Artemis's pensive expression turned into a scowl. Him again.
The Irish teenager had done his best not to think about Alexei Forster ever since he had delivered the boy to the nurse's office. The Nurse had been quite adamant that Alexei had fainted from heat exhaustion, and that he would be fine in a few hours. Ridiculous diagnosis. One did not have seizures when one experienced heat exhaustion. But no matter his testimony to the nurse, who seemed quite flustered that she couldn't find anything wrong with Alexei nor did his medical records help any, had firmly rooted herself to the Heat Exhaustion hypothesis and had snapped at Artemis when he quite pointedly disagreed. On the risk of sounding like his fellow teenagers, whatever.
To be quite honest, none of it was his business and whatever lapse of neurons had been responsible for actually helping Forster when he looked like he was on the brink of death (don't think about it, Fowl, he warned himself despite the queasy twinge of his stomach), it was gone now. The raven-haired youth crossed the room and slipped into bed cleared of pesky thoughts. When he closed his eyes, he dreamed.
Artemis had an odd feeling as though he were walking on something soft. Carpet? No. carpet didn't feel cool or bend as supply as this. There was a rushing sound in his ears, like water, but yet not water. He half saw grass and felt the pleasant breeze of a meadow. Where was he? It was nighttime, and all around him it was dark. But it was not wholly dark. Moonlight spilled into the night, making the surroundings ethereal in its blessed light.
There was a step, the barest whisper of bending grass. The Irish youth looked up suddenly. In the sweet field he was in there also was another occupant. A mare stood upon the grass. She was tall, fine boned and elegant, but Artemis couldn't seem to quite put a name to her breed. She was similar to the Egyptian Arabian Desert horses, but filled with infinitely more grace. The boy squinted. was it the color of twilight?
Quietly, in explicably, Artemis felt drawn forward. As Artemis drew near, he realized the eyes of the mare, which had paused in its step to watch him, were the eyes of soft lavender. Captivated, the boy took another step forward, this time of his own volition. This mare was.
The elegant horse dropped her long beck and allowed the barest tip of her muzzle to touch the ground. From that point of contact, the ground swiftly changed. From pleasant fields the ground became something clear yet solid. Was it a mirror? But mirror didn't ripple as he took a step. Water then? It seemed to be the only logical conclusion. As logical as walking on water could be. Artemis didn't think he could feel ground underneath the water.
The mare had disappeared. But all around him was soft twilight reminiscent to her coat, shifting and going on forever before losing itself to a murky horizon of light that yet was also dark. He took another step and the water rippled outwards. Another and another step. Artemis moved down an invisible path. Was he moving in circles? Was he even going somewhere? Artemis didn't know.
Something drifted past his eye. A raindrop? Sure enough, multicolored raindrops gently fell from what lavender sky and fell down to the strange waters below. Artemis traced the path of a drop when he noticed something in the water. Something was moving right underneath him! But it wasn't his reflection. Rather, it moved as his reflection. Whichever step he took, the figure followed. They did not exactly mirror one another's action, but they were moving the same path.
Frowning, the Irish youth gazed more intently. The figure was a diminutive being, hardly three feet in height. It had a buzz cut short auburn hair. He might have mistaken it for a male and a child but the figure's form was most definitely petite, almost delicate with the proportions of a woman. But there was nothing fragile about her confident stance or the way she moved. There was a deceptive grace in her, almost catlike that rippled with surety and command. Impressive, for a figure so short. She was disturbingly, almost painfully, familiar. He couldn't quite make out the face. it was looking somewhere off in the distance, attentive. Artemis stared as well in the same direction.
There was a disturbance in the area ahead of them. Artemis thought he could detect ripples moving outwardly, caused by steady, even footfalls. But there was no cause for footfalls. Except for darkness. A mass of roiling darkness was within twenty meters of the diminutive woman. It moved with the slow deliberateness of a snake, ceaseless yet purposely coiling and undulating. It was an opaque darkness that his eye or his mind could not penetrate. But he needn't know the nature of this creature. Somehow, his instincts were warning him against this, and his instincts were usually correct.
With a start, Artemis made out a ring of hazy, indistinct darkness that ringed him on his side. With a start, the Irish boy realized that the darkness he had thought part of the horizon was actually a moving ring that surrounded him. More uneasy than before, the raven-haired youth frowned, trying to make it out. So intent was his observation of the ring of darkness that he had not realized that the figure below him had started charging forward directly at the mass of darkness.
Surprise lit in his features. Was she charging against the darkness? Or was she running to it? Definitely charging against it, the boy decided moments later. The creature had fought bravely, but, with a sinking feeling of realization, Artemis realized that her foe was beyond her. And he didn't want her to lose. His subconscious hadn't wanted the girl to lose. It was somehow important, too important, that she didn't. His body reacted without his mind's consent and his feet carried him to where the forceful struggle was taking place, right in the center of darkness.
The woman had fallen to the ground, and the darkness loomed over her. It hovered for a moment before suddenly surging around her figure. The darkness flooded her, seeping into every pore, and the woman began shaking. Artemis froze in horror, watching the woman drown in darkness. He fell to his knees and began pounding on the water barrier between them. Screams would have risen from his throat if he had been allowed sound. Please, he seemed to say, don't let anything happen to her! Don't! She can't die!
Blue light descended upon them. At first, Artemis didn't even realize it. In his hysteria, he had only eyes for the convulsing creature. But then the blue light broke through the darkness, and Artemis could only watch in stunned amazement. As abruptly as it attacked, the darkness retreated into the horizon once more, and the blue light retreated. The creature's convulsions abated. In the fiery battle between the darkness and blue light, the creature had been blown on her stomach, hair scattered all over.
The raven-haired Irish youth watched her anxiously, waiting to see wake up. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him that there was something new, something amiss with the creature, but he hadn't the patience to attend to it. The creature HAD to be okay.
There was a breath indicated by the abrupt heave of her chest. Artemis swallowed, hands subconsciously touching her hands where they lay prostrate. He couldn't see the expression on her face because her hair was in the way. The boy frowned. That was it. The hair. when once it had been close crop auburn, it had turned into ruby fire that cascaded silkily around her.
His thoughts were distracted when she opened her eyes. Artemis absently thought that her eyes were a rare color of hazel. Hazel, like wood, but with a golden ring circling the dark iris almost like amber. The eyes initially dim now brightened in amazement upon seeing him. A little hazily, Artemis saw a reflection of his face reflected in her eyes, almost as if he were suspended in drops of shining dark liquid. Her hair flew away from her face to reveal.
Artemis was knocked clean off the floor before crashing down once more. He gasped, stunned with pain, before the darkness on his side closed around him. Automatically, the raven-haired youth struggled, twisting, striking feebly with his fists but it was no use. Pain as he hadn't felt before flooded his senses, and he thought he was going to die. A forceful blow knocked him off his feet when he struggled to rise, and he couldn't help the choked gasp as his head banged against the water glass floor. He closed his smarting eyes, and when he opened them he realized that he was laying where the creature was or maybe she had come to him. In a position reminiscent to his minutes before, she was on her hands and knees banging quite forcefully on the barrier between them.
Hazel eyes connected with sapphire ones, and she seemed to say, "Let me help you." His hand moved to cover hers once more and once there, Artemis was startled to find that he could feel the warmth of her hand. There was nothing that stood between them. His equilibrium shattered at the sudden loss of gravity. He flailed around, but her hand caught his. His breath caught in his throat.
In a voice that Artemis did not recognize, nor did the creature seem to be speaking it, these words were spoken:
"One alone will not be enough.
Two together and one will die.
Death, either way.
Death.
You were fated to doom.
This is your destiny."
Artemis was knocked out bed, gasping for breath, by a piercing shriek that assailed his ears. Memories of the dark dream faded as sapphire eyes gleamed in the dark, surprised and wary. What the. There were voices outside his room in the hallway. From the annoying pitch, he guessed it was David, an obnoxious fellow. No doubt he'd been caught sneaking out with a girl again. The Irish youth rolled his eyes. But there was something different in David's voice this time. It didn't sound as if he were acting cutesy to get out of trouble. In fact, his voice sounded strained and perfectly serious. The high-pitched shrieking that so rudely interrupted probably everyone's sleep must be the girl he snuck out with this time. Artemis frowned, listening.
"No, we were by ourselves. What do you think a guy and a girl do when they're by themselves???" came the irritated voice of David.
"There was a dead body! We tripped over a dead body! A body!" screamed the girl.
That got Artemis's attention. Silently, he padded over to the door. He peeked outside using the peephole on his door. David's room was right across from his. Luckily, David, the girl, two menservants, and a nun were crowded around the front door. The girl, a blonde with perfect, porcelain complexion, was shaking and hugging David's arm with a viselike grip. David seemed to be taxed and irritated, an unusual expression for the class clown who would accept suspension with a large grin. He shook his arm uncomfortable (Artemis had a sneaking suspicion that the girl had cut off the circulation) and was gesticulating to the nun who seemed to find their story a pack of lies.
"A dead body, you say Miss Bonnie?" asked the nun, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, we saw a dead body!" wailed the girl, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"And why exactly were you sneaking up to David Jagger's room instead of coming to notify us?" asked the nun in a hard, disbelieving tone. The girl sniffled before bursting into tears. David looked discomfited.
"We were planning on tell you. but I had to get her to stop crying first." muttered the light brown haired boy.
"I see," said the nun with a curl of her lips. "Mr. Jagger, Ms. Kayley, please proceed to my office."
Bonnie grasped the nun's sleeve, "You believe us, don't you?" David just groaned.
The nun paid no attention to Bonnie and turned to the two menservants, "You two are dismissed."
Bonnie began to cry more hysterically than before as the two students were led away by the nun. The two huge menservants lumbered off down the hallway. Artemis stepped away from his door, mind processing the interesting bit of information he learned. A dead body? Out in the school grounds, no less. Utterly ludicrous. No doubt Bonnie Kayley had made it up on the spot to get them out of trouble. Which was what made it strange. If one followed that line of reasoning, one would realize that professing the revelation of a dead body would get them in further trouble and not save them. Bonnie could be stupid enough, Artemis contended. David on the other hand.
Artemis frowned, recollecting what he knew of his annoying classmate. David Jagger's had been a new student that joined this year. He was the son of a suddenly wealthy corporate president, but for all that David was no more fit the part to be a millionaire than Artemis was to be a priest. Facetious and never serious, David constantly went out of his way to pull pranks, skip class, and flirt with the girls whenever possible. Nothing seemed to affect him, from reprimands from the nuns to threats of expulsion and a letter home to his parents. He had bugged Artemis from day one, and was, by perverse chance, as immune to blatant iciness from Artemis's part as he was to verbal threats from the nuns. He was a fool.
Yes, the two of them must have just made the situation worse for them. Artemis made his way back to his bed, rearranging his thoughts. Though he had settled the reason why David and Bonnie had gotten caught, there was still something that bothered him. He had a feeling that it wasn't wholly because of David and Bonnie either.
The Irish teenager crossed over to his window, needing a breath of fresh air. The moon was dark tonight. It gave only the barest of light, enough to at least make sure you didn't run into anything. He frowned pensively, unconsciously troubled.
Artemis blinked. A figure was moving along the shadows near the tree line, indistinct and indiscernible. The raven-haired youth would not have spotted it had it not been for the odd glint of faint moonlight that seemed to cause a flare of ghostly burgundy fire. Then it was gone. Movement stilled. There was nothing moving. Artemis blinked again, mind moving rapidly. Very casually, he made a great show of yawning and slipping away from his window. Safely ensconced in the shadows of his own room, Artemis eased to a position next to the window where he knew he would not be seen but where he could see. There. movement again. What was that?
Whatever it was moved with great dexterity. It was extremely hard for Artemis to keep track of its progress, and the only thing he was able to see clearly was that it was headed for the Monastery. Sapphire eyes strained in the darkness, but human eyes were not meant to penetrate the night. Artemis lost sight of the figure. The boy returned to his bed thoroughly intrigued.
The figure was neither an employee nor a student. Although both could have reasons (legitimate or otherwise) for walking around the grounds at night, Artemis very much doubted any had the skill to pull of such a stealthy action. There was unmistakable grace and professionalism in the way the figure moved that bespoke intense training and experience. No, this was not an ordinary clandestine nighttime stroll. This was someone who definitely did or was going to do something, and whatever it was, it was clearly under the table. Did it have something to do with David and Bonnie's reports of a dead body?
For a moment, Artemis felt a familiar tingle of thrill in his chest. Well, business had been a little tedious of late. Looks like he found the well- needed distraction he needed.
Scene Six: Artemis Fowl is on the case.Oh D'Arvit
Silence. Above, below, and all around quietness pervaded the outdoor scene. No nocturnal animal made a sound, the wind didn't dare whisper, nor did any twig threaten to crackle in the undergrowth. Stillness. Nothingness. The world seemed to hold its breath.
The irreverent shadows undulated and the serpentine silence stretched and intertwined. Within this unnatural stillness, Holly began to hear a song she had only heard once before in her dreams, a song whispered in the darkest recesses of the mind. It was faint, indistinct, but recognizable and it was within this silence, within the quietness that the manservant moved. All around his bulky form like a putrid stench on a week long dead corpse clung the song.
The song called to her. As small as it was, the song still called to her. Unconsciously, Holly drew back, fighting the horror rising from inside her.
The manservant lumbered to a stop, almost as if nervously sensing something waiting in the air. Sniff. The tall manservant sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring at its long indrawn breaths. In the dark, Holly felt her hands fist quietly, somehow unnerved by what the man was doing. It reminded her of something, but she couldn't place what it was. There was an utter sense of unnaturalness around him and this place that sent her skin crawling.
A sudden fierce gust of biting, icy winds blew through the carrying a wave of inky darkness so thick it almost seemed tangible, and Holly suddenly found it very difficult to breathe or even to see.
Faster than she thought possible, the man had dropped the body bag and tore to her hiding place. Reflexively, Holly swerved to the side and, in one fluid motion, charged her buzz baton. "Back off, Mud creature, or I'll fry you!" she threatened commandingly. The man paused, as if in momentary surprise, before uttering a loud howl and stampeding at Holly. Cursing mentally, Holly dodged to the side once more. This time, the manservant's momentum carried him flying past the elf. In half a second, Holly immediately saw an opening and raised her baton to deliver a swift, sound blow to the man's head. However, Lady Luck had other ideas. A well-timed klutz attack had Holly missing the man's head completely. The same klutz attack ensured that Holly stumbled and landed on her rump at her fall. For a moment, Holly sat, completely appalled at her lack of coordination. Her mind processed the facts but her body mistranslated somewhere in between. She couldn't believe it.
However, the manservant had no such momentary pauses and he dove for the fairy. Holly instantly rolled to the side but in the lightning fast exchange of moves, she left her buzz baton behind her. With many a D'Arvit in her head, Holly rolled up, with no weapon at her side, and eyeing the fallen man warily. The manservant stood up quickly, also eyeing her. In but the few moments left to Holly, she felt the hardness of the wall behind her. Praying her plan would work, the fairy deliberately waited the slightest fraction of a second longer as the manservant charged at her before quickly dropping to the left. The man ran right against the wall with a resounding thud before collapsing back on the floor. The elf quickly rolled away and gazed cautiously at the fallen Mud creature.
The darkness receded. Some light from faint stars filtered in. Her breaths came in freer now.
Abruptly, Holly heard Foaly's voice in her ear saying, "Ooh, that's gotta hurt in the morning. Very resourceful, Captain. Thank the goddess you're enemy was very stupid or else your clumsiness would have cost you."
Normally, Holly would have snapped back at the jibe. But she wasn't paying attention anymore. She had ears for something else. The song had stopped now. She could neither hear it nor feel it. Perhaps it hadn't even been there to begin with. Perhaps she'd just imagined it.
"Unconscious, Captain. Possible head trauma. Oh for Dana's sake, scratch the possible. Most definitely a head trauma," continued Foaly. But then the manservant did something that had Holly's heart skyrocketing once more. The manservant groaned, twitching. She thought she saw eyes flicker.
"Are you sure unconscious?" hissed Holly.
"Uhh." muttered Foaly.
In the dark, Holly began fumbling for her buzz baton. "Foaly!" growled Holly. "Buzz baton!"
"A little to your left, Captain, near the tree root," reported the centaur promptly. "It might do to hurry up."
"I know!" said Holly, fighting to keep her voice rising to a shriek. Inside, however, she couldn't help but add a fierce D'Arvit in her head. She finally located the seemingly harmless stick before flying over to where the manservant seemed to be stirring. The elf delivered a merciless blow to the back of the manservant's head, effectively knocking him out again. Holly sank beside the manservant, exhausted by her exertions, and took deep breaths. "What in Dana's name." she panted. That was when she felt something cold beside her. It twined around her arm, like a snake deceptively smooth and cool, crawling ever upwards. With a startled yelp, she jumped backwards, frantically trying to shake whatever it was loose. But when she looked, there was nothing.
"Holly?" asked Foaly, sounding a little unsure.
"Th-there was something that touched me just now!" explained the fairy immediately. "There was something there!"
There were clicking sounds over the COMset, and Holly knew Foaly was taking a sweep of the surrounding areas as best he could. "Nothing's showing up," dissented Foaly. "And unless that man was trying to feel you up."
"SHUT UP.!' fumed Holly. Her cheeks turned bright red at the mention, but she was grateful for the sudden comedy relief Foaly gave her. The sudden experience of having been attacked had unnerved her on several levels. On more ways than she'd care to admit even to herself.
"I'm taking some sample pictures right now, but it'll be a bit tedious with the earpieces. Meanwhile. shouldn't you be checking out the bag?" prompted Foaly. Holly grunted and hauled herself up. She shouldn't be feeling so tired. She really shouldn't. But. Holly bit her lip and hoped Foaly would be too busy watching the events instead of checking her vitals. She switched strobes, once more seeing with the aid of x-ray.
No doubt of it now. Although even more jumbled than before, those looked remarkably like bones in there. She gently unzipped the large body bag, and her breath caught in her throat. Bile rose in he throat and she heartily wished she hadn't seen anything. A mess of bones with bits of muscle still clinging stubbornly to the surface was stuffed inside the bag. The smell was atrocious, and the fairy forced herself not to step back. Foaly was rapidly taking pictures over his feed.
"What. why was he carrying this? What is this? Are they carrying children's heads in these freak school?"
"No.. no, Holly," denied Foaly. "Look closer. you see that little nub of bone sticking out, connected to the rib cage? That's an elf's skeleton. Those are fairies in there." And just like that, she was surrounded in darkness yet again. But this time, it was in her mind.
No, no, no..
No.. oh sweet goddess, they know
They know about the People
How much do they know?
How?
How did they know about us?
They're killing us
Why are they killing us?
As if in a dream, Holly heard the almost thunderous footsteps. Pound, pound, pound. Each footfall struck the earth and sounded like a bass drum, almost like a roaring river in flood. There was a flirtatious giggle followed by shushing sounds and muffled laughter.
Faster than thought, Holly melted away into the shadows.
"Oh, David, you're such a flirt," laughed a feminine voice. A curvaceous girl appeared in view, clothed in a long sleeping gown, apparently having sneaked out. She was hanging off the arm of a boy who was dressed in an oversized t-shirt and jogging pants. The boy struck Holly as oddly familiar, but it could just be a trick of the light. The girl once more circled her arms around the boy's neck, eyes shining in the dark. The boy, David, gave her a little smile in the dark, a little mocking but also inviting. So absorbed were they on one another that they didn't notice the body strewn across the path had the girl not nearly tripped over him.
With a gasp, she drew back with a horrified shriek, "Oh my god! Oh my God! There's a dead body in here! A dead body!" David clapped a hand over her mouth, but the girl's hurried words broke through the barrier, "Oh my God. He's dead; he's dead!"
"Stay back," gestured David to the girl. But the girl clung all the harder to David, unwilling to release her death grip on his arm.
"We have to get back! We have to get out of here!"
"But-"
"David, there's A DEAD BODY! WE NEED TO ALERT THE SCHOOL!" she screamed in his ear. She literally half dragged the protesting boy away, their departure marked by the girl's near hysteric pleas to get away. As soon as their footfalls faded, Holly stepped forward once more, thinking quickly. The manservant would awaken in a few hours and would tell the world that he was attacked, so it was no use hiding him anyway. However, the body bag with the fairy bones.
The elf dragged the weighty object some distance away, cursing herself for not being in full LEP uniform and being deprived of her Moonbelt. At this rate, the entire Mud cavalry could be raining on her head and she'd be leaving a clear trail. With a fresh surge of strength, the elf hoisted up the body bag and fled into the night.
A few hours earlier.
Artemis closed his laptop, mouth set in a serous, pensive line. His father was getting close. Too close. Just a little more, and he would be able to penetrate Artemis's little net of crime. He couldn't afford mistakes, especially not this far in his business dealings. He would soon have to devote more time to keeping his business ventures under wraps. He stood up slowly, mind turning over the various possibilities. Unbidden, an image of the boy Alexei popped in his mind. Artemis's pensive expression turned into a scowl. Him again.
The Irish teenager had done his best not to think about Alexei Forster ever since he had delivered the boy to the nurse's office. The Nurse had been quite adamant that Alexei had fainted from heat exhaustion, and that he would be fine in a few hours. Ridiculous diagnosis. One did not have seizures when one experienced heat exhaustion. But no matter his testimony to the nurse, who seemed quite flustered that she couldn't find anything wrong with Alexei nor did his medical records help any, had firmly rooted herself to the Heat Exhaustion hypothesis and had snapped at Artemis when he quite pointedly disagreed. On the risk of sounding like his fellow teenagers, whatever.
To be quite honest, none of it was his business and whatever lapse of neurons had been responsible for actually helping Forster when he looked like he was on the brink of death (don't think about it, Fowl, he warned himself despite the queasy twinge of his stomach), it was gone now. The raven-haired youth crossed the room and slipped into bed cleared of pesky thoughts. When he closed his eyes, he dreamed.
Artemis had an odd feeling as though he were walking on something soft. Carpet? No. carpet didn't feel cool or bend as supply as this. There was a rushing sound in his ears, like water, but yet not water. He half saw grass and felt the pleasant breeze of a meadow. Where was he? It was nighttime, and all around him it was dark. But it was not wholly dark. Moonlight spilled into the night, making the surroundings ethereal in its blessed light.
There was a step, the barest whisper of bending grass. The Irish youth looked up suddenly. In the sweet field he was in there also was another occupant. A mare stood upon the grass. She was tall, fine boned and elegant, but Artemis couldn't seem to quite put a name to her breed. She was similar to the Egyptian Arabian Desert horses, but filled with infinitely more grace. The boy squinted. was it the color of twilight?
Quietly, in explicably, Artemis felt drawn forward. As Artemis drew near, he realized the eyes of the mare, which had paused in its step to watch him, were the eyes of soft lavender. Captivated, the boy took another step forward, this time of his own volition. This mare was.
The elegant horse dropped her long beck and allowed the barest tip of her muzzle to touch the ground. From that point of contact, the ground swiftly changed. From pleasant fields the ground became something clear yet solid. Was it a mirror? But mirror didn't ripple as he took a step. Water then? It seemed to be the only logical conclusion. As logical as walking on water could be. Artemis didn't think he could feel ground underneath the water.
The mare had disappeared. But all around him was soft twilight reminiscent to her coat, shifting and going on forever before losing itself to a murky horizon of light that yet was also dark. He took another step and the water rippled outwards. Another and another step. Artemis moved down an invisible path. Was he moving in circles? Was he even going somewhere? Artemis didn't know.
Something drifted past his eye. A raindrop? Sure enough, multicolored raindrops gently fell from what lavender sky and fell down to the strange waters below. Artemis traced the path of a drop when he noticed something in the water. Something was moving right underneath him! But it wasn't his reflection. Rather, it moved as his reflection. Whichever step he took, the figure followed. They did not exactly mirror one another's action, but they were moving the same path.
Frowning, the Irish youth gazed more intently. The figure was a diminutive being, hardly three feet in height. It had a buzz cut short auburn hair. He might have mistaken it for a male and a child but the figure's form was most definitely petite, almost delicate with the proportions of a woman. But there was nothing fragile about her confident stance or the way she moved. There was a deceptive grace in her, almost catlike that rippled with surety and command. Impressive, for a figure so short. She was disturbingly, almost painfully, familiar. He couldn't quite make out the face. it was looking somewhere off in the distance, attentive. Artemis stared as well in the same direction.
There was a disturbance in the area ahead of them. Artemis thought he could detect ripples moving outwardly, caused by steady, even footfalls. But there was no cause for footfalls. Except for darkness. A mass of roiling darkness was within twenty meters of the diminutive woman. It moved with the slow deliberateness of a snake, ceaseless yet purposely coiling and undulating. It was an opaque darkness that his eye or his mind could not penetrate. But he needn't know the nature of this creature. Somehow, his instincts were warning him against this, and his instincts were usually correct.
With a start, Artemis made out a ring of hazy, indistinct darkness that ringed him on his side. With a start, the Irish boy realized that the darkness he had thought part of the horizon was actually a moving ring that surrounded him. More uneasy than before, the raven-haired youth frowned, trying to make it out. So intent was his observation of the ring of darkness that he had not realized that the figure below him had started charging forward directly at the mass of darkness.
Surprise lit in his features. Was she charging against the darkness? Or was she running to it? Definitely charging against it, the boy decided moments later. The creature had fought bravely, but, with a sinking feeling of realization, Artemis realized that her foe was beyond her. And he didn't want her to lose. His subconscious hadn't wanted the girl to lose. It was somehow important, too important, that she didn't. His body reacted without his mind's consent and his feet carried him to where the forceful struggle was taking place, right in the center of darkness.
The woman had fallen to the ground, and the darkness loomed over her. It hovered for a moment before suddenly surging around her figure. The darkness flooded her, seeping into every pore, and the woman began shaking. Artemis froze in horror, watching the woman drown in darkness. He fell to his knees and began pounding on the water barrier between them. Screams would have risen from his throat if he had been allowed sound. Please, he seemed to say, don't let anything happen to her! Don't! She can't die!
Blue light descended upon them. At first, Artemis didn't even realize it. In his hysteria, he had only eyes for the convulsing creature. But then the blue light broke through the darkness, and Artemis could only watch in stunned amazement. As abruptly as it attacked, the darkness retreated into the horizon once more, and the blue light retreated. The creature's convulsions abated. In the fiery battle between the darkness and blue light, the creature had been blown on her stomach, hair scattered all over.
The raven-haired Irish youth watched her anxiously, waiting to see wake up. A nagging feeling in the back of his mind told him that there was something new, something amiss with the creature, but he hadn't the patience to attend to it. The creature HAD to be okay.
There was a breath indicated by the abrupt heave of her chest. Artemis swallowed, hands subconsciously touching her hands where they lay prostrate. He couldn't see the expression on her face because her hair was in the way. The boy frowned. That was it. The hair. when once it had been close crop auburn, it had turned into ruby fire that cascaded silkily around her.
His thoughts were distracted when she opened her eyes. Artemis absently thought that her eyes were a rare color of hazel. Hazel, like wood, but with a golden ring circling the dark iris almost like amber. The eyes initially dim now brightened in amazement upon seeing him. A little hazily, Artemis saw a reflection of his face reflected in her eyes, almost as if he were suspended in drops of shining dark liquid. Her hair flew away from her face to reveal.
Artemis was knocked clean off the floor before crashing down once more. He gasped, stunned with pain, before the darkness on his side closed around him. Automatically, the raven-haired youth struggled, twisting, striking feebly with his fists but it was no use. Pain as he hadn't felt before flooded his senses, and he thought he was going to die. A forceful blow knocked him off his feet when he struggled to rise, and he couldn't help the choked gasp as his head banged against the water glass floor. He closed his smarting eyes, and when he opened them he realized that he was laying where the creature was or maybe she had come to him. In a position reminiscent to his minutes before, she was on her hands and knees banging quite forcefully on the barrier between them.
Hazel eyes connected with sapphire ones, and she seemed to say, "Let me help you." His hand moved to cover hers once more and once there, Artemis was startled to find that he could feel the warmth of her hand. There was nothing that stood between them. His equilibrium shattered at the sudden loss of gravity. He flailed around, but her hand caught his. His breath caught in his throat.
In a voice that Artemis did not recognize, nor did the creature seem to be speaking it, these words were spoken:
"One alone will not be enough.
Two together and one will die.
Death, either way.
Death.
You were fated to doom.
This is your destiny."
Artemis was knocked out bed, gasping for breath, by a piercing shriek that assailed his ears. Memories of the dark dream faded as sapphire eyes gleamed in the dark, surprised and wary. What the. There were voices outside his room in the hallway. From the annoying pitch, he guessed it was David, an obnoxious fellow. No doubt he'd been caught sneaking out with a girl again. The Irish youth rolled his eyes. But there was something different in David's voice this time. It didn't sound as if he were acting cutesy to get out of trouble. In fact, his voice sounded strained and perfectly serious. The high-pitched shrieking that so rudely interrupted probably everyone's sleep must be the girl he snuck out with this time. Artemis frowned, listening.
"No, we were by ourselves. What do you think a guy and a girl do when they're by themselves???" came the irritated voice of David.
"There was a dead body! We tripped over a dead body! A body!" screamed the girl.
That got Artemis's attention. Silently, he padded over to the door. He peeked outside using the peephole on his door. David's room was right across from his. Luckily, David, the girl, two menservants, and a nun were crowded around the front door. The girl, a blonde with perfect, porcelain complexion, was shaking and hugging David's arm with a viselike grip. David seemed to be taxed and irritated, an unusual expression for the class clown who would accept suspension with a large grin. He shook his arm uncomfortable (Artemis had a sneaking suspicion that the girl had cut off the circulation) and was gesticulating to the nun who seemed to find their story a pack of lies.
"A dead body, you say Miss Bonnie?" asked the nun, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, we saw a dead body!" wailed the girl, tears leaking out of her eyes.
"And why exactly were you sneaking up to David Jagger's room instead of coming to notify us?" asked the nun in a hard, disbelieving tone. The girl sniffled before bursting into tears. David looked discomfited.
"We were planning on tell you. but I had to get her to stop crying first." muttered the light brown haired boy.
"I see," said the nun with a curl of her lips. "Mr. Jagger, Ms. Kayley, please proceed to my office."
Bonnie grasped the nun's sleeve, "You believe us, don't you?" David just groaned.
The nun paid no attention to Bonnie and turned to the two menservants, "You two are dismissed."
Bonnie began to cry more hysterically than before as the two students were led away by the nun. The two huge menservants lumbered off down the hallway. Artemis stepped away from his door, mind processing the interesting bit of information he learned. A dead body? Out in the school grounds, no less. Utterly ludicrous. No doubt Bonnie Kayley had made it up on the spot to get them out of trouble. Which was what made it strange. If one followed that line of reasoning, one would realize that professing the revelation of a dead body would get them in further trouble and not save them. Bonnie could be stupid enough, Artemis contended. David on the other hand.
Artemis frowned, recollecting what he knew of his annoying classmate. David Jagger's had been a new student that joined this year. He was the son of a suddenly wealthy corporate president, but for all that David was no more fit the part to be a millionaire than Artemis was to be a priest. Facetious and never serious, David constantly went out of his way to pull pranks, skip class, and flirt with the girls whenever possible. Nothing seemed to affect him, from reprimands from the nuns to threats of expulsion and a letter home to his parents. He had bugged Artemis from day one, and was, by perverse chance, as immune to blatant iciness from Artemis's part as he was to verbal threats from the nuns. He was a fool.
Yes, the two of them must have just made the situation worse for them. Artemis made his way back to his bed, rearranging his thoughts. Though he had settled the reason why David and Bonnie had gotten caught, there was still something that bothered him. He had a feeling that it wasn't wholly because of David and Bonnie either.
The Irish teenager crossed over to his window, needing a breath of fresh air. The moon was dark tonight. It gave only the barest of light, enough to at least make sure you didn't run into anything. He frowned pensively, unconsciously troubled.
Artemis blinked. A figure was moving along the shadows near the tree line, indistinct and indiscernible. The raven-haired youth would not have spotted it had it not been for the odd glint of faint moonlight that seemed to cause a flare of ghostly burgundy fire. Then it was gone. Movement stilled. There was nothing moving. Artemis blinked again, mind moving rapidly. Very casually, he made a great show of yawning and slipping away from his window. Safely ensconced in the shadows of his own room, Artemis eased to a position next to the window where he knew he would not be seen but where he could see. There. movement again. What was that?
Whatever it was moved with great dexterity. It was extremely hard for Artemis to keep track of its progress, and the only thing he was able to see clearly was that it was headed for the Monastery. Sapphire eyes strained in the darkness, but human eyes were not meant to penetrate the night. Artemis lost sight of the figure. The boy returned to his bed thoroughly intrigued.
The figure was neither an employee nor a student. Although both could have reasons (legitimate or otherwise) for walking around the grounds at night, Artemis very much doubted any had the skill to pull of such a stealthy action. There was unmistakable grace and professionalism in the way the figure moved that bespoke intense training and experience. No, this was not an ordinary clandestine nighttime stroll. This was someone who definitely did or was going to do something, and whatever it was, it was clearly under the table. Did it have something to do with David and Bonnie's reports of a dead body?
For a moment, Artemis felt a familiar tingle of thrill in his chest. Well, business had been a little tedious of late. Looks like he found the well- needed distraction he needed.