Thanks for all the reviews, guys! It's very motivational. The last chapter was shorter than I generally like to do, but this one is almost 4 times as long. I'm hoping this will be the sort of standard length for chapters, give or take. Sorry there's no Artemis in this one; no one regrets more than I, but we should be getting back to him in the next chapter. In theory. Also, I'm looking for beta readers, so if anyone's interested, please please let me know.

Disclaimer: I don't own the backstory or the characters, except for Charlotte; don't sue, yada yada. Just in case, you know, Eoin Colfer is browsing through looking for plagiarists to make some money off of.

Tara, Ireland

Charlotte Paulson was not your average teenager. She did not, for example, spend her Friday nights talking on the phone or watching TV, and she didn't spend nearly as much time on her schoolwork as her parents would have liked. But there were more important things than homework. - like solving the great mysteries of the world, and revealing secrets the human race fully deserved to know. She was certain that there was a plethora of 'mythological' creatures stealthily inhabiting the planet, ignored and undetected by most humans: ghosts, aliens, witches, and all manner of monster, invisibly integrated into our society or hidden just beyond the shadows. It was her job to reveal the disguised imposters for their true selves, and shine the flashlight's scrutinizing glow into those elusive shadows.

Most people thought that paranormal studies were preposterous. Most people thought Charlotte was strange - maybe even a little crazy - for wasting her time with it. She was used to being laughed at and getting funny looks by peers and elders who didn't recognize or respect her superior intellect, or her expertise in engineering, computer programming and hacking, and various fields of scientific research. To them, she was just a dumb kid who never grew out of a childhood phase, too obsessed with fantasy and science fiction to live in the real world.

Perhaps part of the reason people treated her like a kid was that she had always been petite for her age. At 5 feet, half an inch, she was the shortest 16-year-old in her class, and she had been cursed with a childish voice that made her sound about twelve.

But now that she'd gotten her driver's license, she was free to cruise around Ireland at all hours of the night while her parents thought she was in her room in Waterford. And freedom like that could only mean one thing: nightly stakeout.

The Lia Fáil was the logical place to go on a full moon; tree-hugging hippie types were always claiming to see fairies and other manner of creatures at this supposedly magical site. Most people chalked it up to the reefer, but Charlotte knew better. She was going to capture a fairy. Then she'd get the recognition she deserved. Someday she'd be famous for revealing the existence of the subjects of her years of research. Then she'd show them all. And if she didn't get something on fairies tonight, well, then tomorrow she'd turn her efforts back towards aliens until the next full moon. There was a field near Easkey where crop circles had recently sprung up...

Charlotte checked her wristwatch, but in the darkness of the hill overlooking the Lia Fáil, where she was stationed, she couldn't read the numbers. The digital watch was equipped with a florescent light for just such a dilemma, as well as a voice-activated speaker she'd installed herself, to read the time on command; you never knew, she might someday have both her hands and eyes incapacitated, and need to know the time in order to formulate a plan. But in this case, she couldn't risk either. Even the smallest stimuli should be avoided in case it alerted any creatures in the area to her presence. But then, she already had the laptop out, so a tiny blue light would hardly make any difference. Still, she was a bit paranoid. She held the watch up to the computer and read '2:18' by the glow of computer screen.

Brushing a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, she leaned over her laptop and gazed at the projected image from a tiny webcam hidden on the opposite edge of the bushes. She'd taken the camera apart a few months ago and reassembled it with added features she'd designed herself, one of which allowed her to zoom in clearly from a distance of up to 600 yards. At first glance, the mystical site seemed devoid of lifeforms. But on closer inspection, the entire area seemed to be wriggling before her eyes, like a giant heat haze. But according to her thermometer, it was 18°C outside...so either something was generating a lot of heat, or what she was seeing was...something else. Like there was something corporeal there, only invisible...like the shimmer in the air was just a cloaking device.

Time to test the theory. Reaching into her equipment bag, Charlotte dug around until she found her M92F tranquilizer gun with silencer, laser sight, and auto aim. She'd gotten this baby relatively cheap off the e-black market and added the features herself. Having the right contacts was essential for someone in her line of work, and she had them. When she was on the Internet, she was a different person. The web was her world, where she was powerful and in control; a reputed and respected hacker and genius, and if anyone thought she was weird for chasing fairies, they certainly didn't say it to her face. They didn't know she was still in high school, that she was a running joke to her peers, or that her parents would ground her for life if they knew about half the illegal things she'd done. But most of the best hackers were nobodies in the physical world.

Glancing back at the computer screen, she saw them: three small people, the size of children, but with the proportions of adults, had seemed to materialize out of thin air. All three were female; no wings, but with definitely pointed ears. Other than that they looked human. Charlotte gaped for a full three seconds before her reflexes kicked in. She raised the gun, using the webcam footage to aim, but she wasn't fast enough. The three fairies flickered out of sight. Where they had stood there was just a shimmer in the air.

So it was a cloaking device. And it was everywhere, which meant the site must be absolutely crawling with fairies. She didn't even have to aim perfectly; a few shots into the haze should hit at least one. Her brain screamed 'I knew it!' like a mantra as she found four darts in her bag and loaded the first. Then she aimed at the thickest cloud of haze, held her breath, and pulled the trigger.

Corporal Grub Kelp was running on pure adrenaline. He was doing what he was born to do: police work. Sure, it was sometimes dangerous, life-threatening, and very scary, but it was worth it just to know he was protecting the safety of each and every ordinary citizen. There had been times when he'd considered giving up law-enforcement for the quiet life, but who knew what kind of chaos might erupt if he wasn't there to put a stop to it? Besides, his brother Trouble was a captain, and Mummy had made him promise to watch over Grub.

With a satisfying breath of aboveground night air, he puffed up his chest importantly and headed towards some law-breakers.

'Excuse me, ladies,' Grub said in his most authoritative voice, 'but you do realize that all fairies are required to shield while aboveground.'

The three pixies in question giggled softly under the mesmerizing effects of the full moon, and shimmered out of the visible spectrum. Grub could still see them, because of the anti-shield filter on his helmet. But shielded fairies appeared with a sort of light halo around their bodies through the shield filter. If a fairy was missing that halo, the officer knew they were plainly visible to any old Mud Man who happened to pass by.

'That's better. And if I see any of you again, I might have to give you a warning.' Another job well done. If only Mummy could see him now, patrolling Tara on the full moon.

Fairies always went crazy this time of month, clamoring by the dozens through illegal tunnels to dance in the fresh air under the moonlight. Not that the air was as clean as it used to be, with all the pollution the Mud People had pumped into it - but at least it wasn't the recycled underground air they circulated through Haven. So each moon cycle, every elf, pixie, and sprite in the Lower Elements would feel drawn to the surface. It was up to the LEP to patrol the key sites and, when necessary, break up riots and herd overly rambunctious fairies back underground. And Grub had finally become one of them. There was no telling, he thought with a small twinge of excitement and a slightly larger twinge of fear, what kind of cacophony might break out tonight.

Grub turned away from the pixies, pulled a roasted beatle chocolate bar out of his pocket, and bit into it. Assignments like this, he thought, savoring his favorite snack, were sweet.

A voice in his ear made him jump so unexpectedly that he dropped what he was holding. 'Grub! Goblins at 3:00,' came the voice of Chix Verbil, his partner in patrolling. Grub looked to his left: on the far outskirts of the crowd, half a dozen goblins squatted together, whispering conspiratorially with fireballs gathered on their fists. This was bad. Goblins could cause a lot of trouble when they wanted to. Oh Frond, where was Trubs when they needed him? He and Verbil couldn't handle all those goblins on their own if they decided to wreak havoc - and knowing goblins, it was a safe bet that they would.

'I'd better fly over there and make sure they don't start a party of their own,' said Chix with a machismo that he must have thought was very impressive.

'Right,' said Grub, 'I'll be right behind you, I'm just gonna...call for backup first.' He switched his helmet-radio's frequency to match that of Commander Root, back at Haven.

'Control!' said Grub shakily into his helmet mike. 'We need backup. We've got a bunch of suspicious acting goblins about to cause a riot.'

Commander Root was on the line. That was Grub Kelp for you: all macho attitude when they were at base, but fell to pieces if he was confronted with real danger. But Trouble was one of their best, and eventually his little brother might mature a little and live up to the family name. In the meantime, it was all harmless traffic and patrolling duty. 'Negative, Corporal,' he barked. 'You two've got a Neutrino and a badge each; if they cause any trouble, arrest them.'

'But what if they start chucking fireballs?' whimpered Kelp.

The color in Root's already pink face went up a shade as he growled, 'All right, I'll send someone up there. But it's going to be a few minutes; it's the full moon and we don't have people to spare on every potential episode. In the meantime, just make sure those goblins don't start anything.'

'R-roger,' Grub stammered. 'You can c-count on us, Commander, sir.'

'Good,' snapped Root, and cut the connection.

Grub took another deep breath, but this time to calm his nerves. He could see Chix now hovering over the goblins with his gun out. He seemed to have the situation under control for now. Grub leaned forward to pick up his beatle bar.

Just as he was bending down, something whizzed by where his head had just been, and knocked his helmet (which he had unstrapped because it made his chin itch) clean off his head. There must have been another goblin behind him, maybe one to take out the LEP officers before they started their fun. But that seemed too suspiciously premeditated for goblins, who weren't exactly known for their intelligence. Grub grabbed his Neutrino out of its holster and spun around, ready for an attack, but there wasn't a goblin in sight. In fact, he realized, there wasn't anyone in sight, because of course, he had lost his helmet and, therefore, his anti-shield filter.

Just then, the air was pierced by a scream, and an unconscious elf materialized on the ground. Before he could react, Grub was pushed backwards by a crowd of invisible fairies backing away from the fallen one.

Chix left the goblins' side to investigate the victim, but within seconds, a second fairy in the crowd had collapsed with a thud. From where he was standing, Grub could make out a small dart in the pixie's back. They were being shot at! And he couldn't even locate the source of the darts, so his weapon was useless.

The crowd went from anxious and frightened to hysterical and frenzied in a matter of seconds. Soon Grub was being knocked about by fairies running in every direction, and the air was thick with sprites, the only naturally winged fairies, fleeing to safety, or at least out of the line of fire.

Meanwhile, the gang of goblins, who are much more prone to violence than cleverness, watched the chaos curiously for a moment before apparently deciding to join the fun. Now there were fireballs slicing through the air along with poisoned darts.

Grub dropped to the ground and searched for his helmet, but it had been kicked aside by the invisible forest of stampeding legs around him. Completely panicked, he followed his first instinct: he rolled into a ball and covered his head. This was bad, so bad. He just wanted to go home to his safe, warm bed...he wasn't cut out for this sort of thing...why had they chosen him for a dangerous mission like this??

Southeast Ireland

Captain Holly Short clasped the acorn tightly in her hands and knelt on the soft grass beneath her. She almost expected to feel the faint rush of air that would accompany a shot speeding through the space above her head, and hear the voice of a Mud Boy who had recently had all his lessons in fairy commerce unlearned thanks to Foaly's mind-wipe. Even stranger, she found she was almost disappointed when she didn't.

Holly wasn't sure why she'd chosen to perform the Ritual at the same spot where she'd been kidnapped by the now infamous human Artemis Fowl almost two years ago; perhaps it was just for the sake of nostalgia. Or maybe part of her was just hoping for something exciting to happen. Things in Haven had been mind-numbingly dull for the last couple months, and while she knew she should be grateful for the peace and tranquility that she herself had helped to maintain, the captain had to confess that she never felt so alive as when she was risking her life in the heat of combat. Foaly would say that elves are just over-emotional, that they got bored if there wasn't some kind of drama to focus on. But Holly knew that fairies like her weren't meant to sit back and enjoy the benefits of a world made safe by others. She needed adventure; like the suspense of being in the middle of a mission where anything could go wrong, knowing that the security of the entire Lower Elements might well depend on her ability to think on her feet and execute a dangerous plan.

As she dug a small hole in the soil and tenderly buried the acorn in it, Holly realized with more than a little disconcertion that she missed the Mud Boy. He may have been arrogant, immoral, and at times infuriating, but one thing you could say about Artemis Fowl was that life around him was never boring. The next thing she felt was her powers surging into her through her hands. She closed her eyes and savored the sensation of the Earth's gift coursing through her veins.

Her thoughts were interrupted the next moment by Root's voice blaring in her ear. 'Short! I need you at Tara. We've got a potential situation with some goblins; Kelp and Verbil need backup.'

'I'm on my way,' said Holly, firing up her wings.

'And Short?'

'Yes, Commander?'

Root's voice was laced with threat. 'No funny business. I don't want an incident.'

Holly rolled her eyes and sighed. Root had been giving her a hard time ever since she'd first made Captain, and it didn't help that the sort of incidents he was talking about always seemed to happen around her. It wasn't that she went looking for trouble; it just tended to find her. And it didn't help that she wasn't exactly averse to disobeying orders she disagreed with.

'I heard that,' said Root, before switching off her frequency with a click.

Holly shielded, rose into the air, and headed North,towards Tara. Finally, something interesting. Maybe tonight wouldn't be disappointing after all.

Tara, Ireland

Charlotte fired the three remaining darts and watched the haze change shape as fairies ran, and apparently flew, in every direction. After a few moments, she saw something she didn't expect: when she zoomed in, she could see bright orange balls flying through the air...they looked like balls of fire, but where were they coming from? Perhaps a weapon? Maybe they were trying to retaliate. She smiled indulgently as she thought about what she could do with technology like that.

With that thought, she took out three more darts and fired each one. Then she quickly packed her equipment into her bag and carried it back to the car. She'd never been this close before. Nothing was going to stop her from capturing a real fairy this time. Tonight's the night, she reassured herself. Tonight's the night.

As soon as Holly could see the anarchy at Tara from the distance, she knew something was very wrong. Flying closer, she could make out a panicking crowd, several disgruntled goblins, and a few unconscious fairies. She tuned her radio into Root's frequency. 'Commander, we've got a goblin riot at Tara, hysterical crowd, some possibly injured, I need a full Retrieval squad, pronto.' Normally, giving orders to the commander and using words like 'pronto' were unheard of, but this was no time for full sentences and formalities. Root grumbled something argumentative, but Holly was sure he would recognize an emergency situation and send the Retrieval team.

Hovering over the scene, she spotted Chix Verbil in the air, aiming his Neutrino at one of the goblins but apparently afraid to shoot because of all the panicked fairies running through his path. She flew over to his side.

'Captain!' said Chix, sounding relieved but still alarmed. 'I can't get a clear shot!'

'Leave it to me. You make sure those people are ok,' she ordered, nodding at the injured fairies. 'Backup is on the way.'

With that she flew towards the nearest goblin. There she went, giving orders again. But people's lives were more important than being polite.

Procedure specifically stated that belligerent goblins were not to be approached under any circumstances, but rather stunned from a distance. Root's voice echoed in her head: No funny business. I don't want an incident. But there was no way to get a clear shot unless she got close. Besides, having just performed the Ritual, she had maximum strength and healing power, so she could afford to get hurt.

Dodging a fireball, she circled halfway around the goblin and aimed her Neutrino: perfect shot. Another goblin to her right looked over when he saw his comrade fall, but since Holly was shielded, he couldn't see how it had happened. Holly took advantage of his confusion and aimed a second shot at his chest. Another bullseye; two down, four to go.

The crowd had started to thin, partly because of how many fairies had run for cover, and partly because of the handful that had fallen at the to goblinfire. Holly spotted another goblin and, seeing a clear shot, fired. But luck was on the his side; he stepped to the side just before the charge hit him.

'D'Arvit!' she swore. She waited for a gap in the crowd between them, then fired again, and this time her aim was true. Goblin number three went down.

But two of the remaining goblins were now looking in her direction. Apparently they'd figured out that someone was shooting at them, and were looking towards where the shots were coming from. Their looks were quickly followed by four streams of fireballs, two from each direction. Holly pulled the throttle on her wings and shot upwards just in time to avoid a fiery collision.

She circled overhead, trying to keep moving, and aimed her weapon carefully at one of the two livid goblins from over his head. If she shot one, the other would fire at her from below. She had to get both of them within a second of each other, before the other could retaliate. She bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit she'd always had, and fired the first shot. Without taking a second breath, she turned the gun a few degrees and fired again.

But before she could see it hit its target, she felt an impact and a sharp pain in her left shoulder. She turned left just in time to see another fireball inches from her. It collided with her mechanical wings, and Holly immediately felt herself losing altitude.

She crashed to the ground hard and watched the darkness shrink her field of vision until everything was black. The last conscious thought she had was of a searing pain in her arm before she passed out.

Ooooo, sorry to leave ya hanging there! Let me know what y'all think.