Ok, first of all, reviews:

Identity99: Ruth didn't snap at Artemis when she was trying to get her key out of the door, it was more of an offhanded 'no', but then she spoke to him properly when she had stood up. I don't think I've reviewed any of your fanfics (really sorry about that) but I read through one of them and really liked it, so I put you on the thing that tells you when you've updated! If that makes any sense! Can't remember which one it is though, I wont look now because otherwise I'll never get on with the fanfic!

Naigel: He has had time to trust Will and Tom, it didn't start from the start of the term, remember? Also, these two guys are the people who he spends most of his time with. Besides, I think they're really likeable anyway, hehe, don't you think? Artemis is considerably more perfect now, I'll admit, but don't worry, less perfect characteristics will show through soon enough.

You are my ONE and ONLY: I said in the last chapter, they are more spaced out, but they closed up when I uploaded it… I'm gonna space them out even more this chapter.

To all my other reviewers, thank you so much for your reviews! It's nice to know that this gets read.

I'm sorry It's taken a while to update, I haven't had anytime whatsoever what wth starting 6th form and everything. One last thing… Did anyone notice that I said early in the last chapter when Foaly was talking about the Neutrine 2001s that there had been no injuries yet, then when they were telling Holly she only had a month, I made them say that there had been three cases? I kinda contradicted myself there, and I'm sorry, if you noticed please ignore it, and if you didn't notice, pretend I never said anything! Thanks.

Artemis Fowl, Chapter 5

It was three days since the incident involving Ruth's head and a nail. In that time, the four students had grown closer still because the three guys spent the majority of their time together, and Ruth joined them as she hadn't really made any other friends.

It was 8:30 in the morning, and Ruth was in her Dorm room getting ready. Flicking through her wardrobe looking for something to wear, she glanced at her watch. She sped up. Her three friends were would be down any minute to walk to breakfast.

She picked out some jeans, and a black off the shoulder top. She had just put them on, when there was a knock on the door. It was Artemis, Will and Tom.

"I'll be out in a minute, I promise!" she said, beaming at them.

When she retreated back into her room, her two room mates had woken up, and were beginning to get dressed themselves. They were burning to say something to her as she finished getting ready, she could feel it. It wasn't good.

One of the girls, Louise, was in the middle of applying liberal amounts of mascara when she spoke.

"So. What did you do to get those guys to be your friends? How much did you have to pay them?" When Ruth didn't reply, she continued. "It must have been a lot, they're loaded, especially that Fowl, he's quite a catch. It's a pity you have to go to such measures."

Having heard enough, Ruth turned to face Louise. Keeping her voice cool and calm, she replied.

"Well it just goes to show that money isn't enough to win people's friendship. Will told me how you wont leave him alone in History."

Louise slapped her mascara down on the table and walked over to Ruth. She stood close, looking down at her, trying to intimidate her. Ruth stood there just as definitely, looking up up into her eyes fearlessly. At the same time, Michelle, the other girl in the dorm, walked up behind her. It was her time to speak.

"Oh he did, did he? I think you should watch your back, Ruthie, you may have managed, though I can't imagine how, to win over those three guys, but you haven't made any other friends here."

Ruth turned to face Michelle, who was more her height. "That's ok," she said, "I don't think I want to judging by the people I share a dorm with."

Before either of her room mates could reply, she had turned away from them and walked out of the door. Tom, Will and Artemis were talking outside, and turned to face her when she walked out. She paused outside the door, balled her hands into fists, screwed her eyes up and gritted her teeth while she disposed of the frustration her room mates gave her. After a second or two, she returned to herself, and walked over to her best friends with a smile on her face.

The three of them looked anxious. They saw her come out of her room and were worried about what happened. Tom was the first to say anything.

"Hey Ruth. Are you ok? You looked a bit… stressed when you came out of your room." He laid his hand on her shoulder, and watched her reaction.

She looked back at him and into his eyes, seeing genuine concern for her. She looked around at Will and Artemis, seeing the same. Only with Artemis, something was different. She saw… suspicion? She couldn't put her finger on it, she just could see something there, and she wanted to know what it was. Artemis' mind wasn't as easy to discern as Tom and Will's.

"I'm fine" She said eventually. When they still looked at her, she continued. "Oh come on, guys, you know I have a few problems with my room mates, if you're going to be concerned about it every time I walk out of my room, you'll never be thinking about anything else at all!"

Tom and Will looked somewhat satisfied, but Artemis still had the strange look in his eyes. He stared at her dorm room with the same look, as though he could see right through it. This made Ruth want to figure him out even more. She tried to forget about it as they walked off to breakfast.

Artemis didn't talk much on the way. He was still thinking about Ruth. He knew that she wasn't telling them everything. He knew that her room mates were giving her more trouble than she was letting on. While Ruth was unconscious in his arms three days ago, something had occurred to him. He was reminded of when Holly's power had run out on the Chemical Train. Ruth's head wound seemed to heal abnormally fast. Within a couple of hours it had fully healed. Then there was her size. She was over a meter tall, but was still very small. Was it possible that she were a fairy? No, he told himself. Fairies have pointy ears, and heal wounds through sparks.

As they sat down at their table for breakfast, he put it to the back of his mind. But not before making a mental note to check her records sometime later in the day.

"Pass me a carrot?"

"Huh?" Holly and Foaly were in the Ops Booth. It was a couple of hours since Holly had woken up, and neither of them had got any work done, despite how hard they tried. Holly was staring blankly at her paperwork, and was suddenly alerted back to reality by Foaly's whinny.

"The carrots. Can you pass one to me please?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Holly reached a carrot out of the bag next 2 her, and bit off the tip before handing it to Foaly.

Foaly looked at her chewing the mouthful of carrot slowly, and tried to discern the emotion he could see in her eyes. He hadn't seen it before. Where he usually saw a fierce determination, he saw helplessness and defeat. This wasn't the Holly he knew. It wasn't the Holly anyone knew.

"Holly. You're very quiet, are you feeling ok?"

Holly swallowed the mouthful of carrot, and stared at the papers in front of her for another moment before answering, her voice growing louder as she went on.

"A cold I could handle. A hit fairy, I could handle. Hell, I even handled being kidnapped by Artemis Fowl. But dying from something that I can't do anything about except to let it run its course? I can't handle that. I'd rather be shot and killed in action than this."

Foaly looked at her, at a loss for words. Holly didn't deserve this, she'd helped too many people, and worked too hard.

"Look Holly, I can't possibly imagine how you must be feeling. It's got to be so hard. But at least this way, you have time to spend time with the people you're closest to, and can say goodbye. And you never know, they might find a cure! They're working on it as we speak!"

"I know. I'm grateful for that. This just has to be one of the least respectable ways to 'go' though this line of work when you're only my age."

"It's not! That would be running away. Holly, you put your life on the life to save an innocent life, it just so happened that you were unlucky this time. It doesn't stop you from being one of the best officers the LEP has ever had though. You've got to be the best thing that has ever happened to the LEP, I feel so bad that this had to happen to you. "

Holly suddenly stood up, her face was flushed with anger. "Damn it Foaly, don't pity me! I'm ashamed enough as it is." She stormed round the desk and started to walk across the room to the door, but stopped half way, holding her hands out for balance, as her vision suddenly went blurry and dark.

"Whoa… Foaly?"

Foaly was running across to her she collapsed. Foaly got there half a second later, throwing himself on the floor next to her as he checked her vital signs. As soon as he was sure she was ok, he crossed shakily to the intercom.

"Commander, report to the Ops Booth immediately, and bring some medi warlocks with you. NOW!"

He crosses back over to Holly, gently picking her up and carrying her over to the horse sized sofa at the end of the booth. For the second time that day, he was fighting back tears. This had got to stop, if he went to pieces every time Holly blacked out, he wouldn't get anything done over the next month. He sighed, hoping that they would find a cure. Holly was his best friend, if he lost her, he wouldn't have anyone.