Thanks again for all the reivews, guys! I can't even express how much I appreciate it. Oh yeah, so for those of you who were wondering:

-Charlotte is smart, but that's only so that she's a challenging adversary. She is, of course, no match for Arty. I actually think I gave her too much stage time originally, and if I hadn't already posted this and gotten readers, I'd probably go back and rewrite the beginning a little and take away most of her povs. It's mostly just plotting and technobabble and her monologues are starting to get on my nerves. So I'm revising my plans for the later chapters just as bit, so that I can spend more time writing characters I actually like, which is why it's taken me so long to update. At least this one is nice and long ;-). I actually don't have this entire story planned out yet, so the occasional writer's block is inevitable. But if you get really impatient, a well-placed comment lighting a fire under my ego is the best way to motivate a centaur. I mean, human.

-I probably should specify, before I waste any more shippers' time, that the 'romance' part of the story is Arty/Holly. (I mean, come on, what else is there?? Arty and Juliet? Pft.) On that same note, I have to confess that I can be a sucker for romance. But I also recognize that it's really hard to write it without succumbing to cheesy & unrealistic clichés, and that kind of thing can just ruin a romantic scene or story for me. So I would really appreciate it if you guys could just let me know if you think any part of this gets too sappy or ridiculous or hard to believe, so that I can try to make it more realistic.

-If you didn't already know, a numismatist is a person who studies coins, paper money, tokens, and medals. A cracker is an old-fashioned insulting term for an (often amateur) hacker who wastes their abilities installing viruses into strangers' computers and messing up people's websites instead of doing something useful with their skills.

Disclaimer: If i said that this was all mine, would anyone really believe me?


LEP Headquarters, Haven City, Lower Elements

When Holly opened her eyes, she recognized her surroundings as the operations booth at the LEP base headquarters. For a moment she felt disoriented to wake up somewhere other than her own bed. Then she remembered the goblins....how had it ended? The last thing she remembered was getting stung with two fireballs by the last remaining goblin. The second hit to her mechanical wings must have been what made her fall...Suddenly, she sat up straight.

'Captain, you're awake,' came the voice of Trouble Kelp.

'What happened? There was another goblin-'

'It's ok, Chix had already taken care of him by the time my team got up there.'

'What about the injured-'

'Relax, Captain, we got 'em. You did your job. We were just getting a play by play of what happened.'

Holly suddenly noticed how many people were in the room. Foaly was looking very preoccupied at his computer, and Grub was pouting in a chair in the corner. Then she looked past Trouble and saw that Chix Verbil was chattering away to Commander Root, and anyone else who would listen.

'...so naturally, with the captain injured, I did what any gentleman would do, and I protected the lady and took care of the rest of the goblins.'

'Like hell you did!' Holly blurted out.

Chix looked at Holly as though noticing her for the first time.

'Come on, I save both your asses,' she said, nodding towards Grub, 'yours for the second time in less than a year,' this time she looked significantly at Verbil, 'and all you can do is try and take all the credit?'

Chix looked guiltily at the ground. Grub was just whimpering about having lost his helmet.

'Short!' barked Root ominously. 'Did you, or did you not, intentionally initiate close proximity to a belligerent goblin?' the look he gave Holly was his most infamous; the one that had earned him the nickname 'Beetroot.'

'Commander, I didn't have a choice, I couldn't get a clear-'

'THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR RETRIEVAL!' Root's faced looked about to explode. 'You know the rules, Short, and I'm tired of repeating them to you!'

'But sir, there were injured civilians! I had to do something.'

'And instead of getting yourself injured when I needed you there for backup, that something should have been helping Private Verbil with debilitating the other five goblins in a manner in accordance with procedure!'

'I was the one who took out the other five goblins!' Holly wasn't usually so defensive. Normally she just accepted the Commander's criticisms and took them with a grain of salt. But she had just saved who knew how many people; she'd diffused an out-of-control goblin riot when both officers on duty were unable to; and not only was she in trouble, not only was she being chewed out in front of her colleagues, but to add insult to injury, not a single person had simply patted her on the shoulder and said 'Well done, Captain.' It wasn't that she needed to hear it, but some recognition once in a while would have been nice.

Root's voice was calmer, which was an unusual phenomenon. 'Captain, we have had this conversation too many times. If you don't follow procedure, then I'm going to have to take disciplinary action. I'll let this one slide because we've got bigger problems to deal with, but if something like this happens again, you're on probation.'

Part of Holly wanted to scream at the injustice of it all, but the other part of what Root had said had piqued her curiosity. She took a deep breath and willed herself to control her temper. 'What do you mean, bigger problems?'

This time it was Grub that was the recipient of Root's hostile glare. 'It seems that Corporal Kelp has lost his helmet on the surface.'

'So we'll go back up and find it. What's the problem?'

Foaly finally spoke. 'It's not that simple. It turns out there was a human lurking around about 400 meters from Tara. From that hill just to the west, so he'd have a perfect view.'

'But as long as everyone was shielded...' then Holly realized what Foaly meant. A fairy has to be fully awake to shield. And when she'd arrived, there had been several unconscious fairies on the ground, perfectly visible from 400 meters to anyone with a pair of binoculars. Not to mention that you couldn't make flying fireballs invisible.

'He's gone now, of course,' Foaly continued, 'But I'd bet anything that this was the guy shooting the tranquilizer darts.'

'Tranquilizer darts?' echoed Holly, alarms going off in her head.

'That is apparently how the riot started,' explained the Commander. 'An unseen sniper caused something of a panic, and all the chaos set the goblins off. What I would like to know, is how a Mud Man got past your locators, Foaly!'

'There's nothing wrong with the locators!' said Foaly defensively. 'But if you don't check them regularly, anyone can sneak into range without being detected.'

'Oh really?' Root was practically baring his teeth at Chix and Grub. Foaly winked at Holly and she smiled back gratefully.

'While Retrieval was collecting all the injured,' Foaly went on, 'the Mud Man left his hiding place and approached the site. Of course, by then, we'd checked the locators, and they were able to get out of there in time. But they didn't have time to look for the helmet. The human, however, did. According to the locator, it looks like he took the helmet to Dublin airport and got on a plane. It's moving south at we speak.'

'Fine,' said Root, 'Trouble, I'm sending you to retrieve the helmet and wipe the Mud Man's memory.'

'Wait a minute,' interrupted Holly. 'Doesn't this strike anyone else as being a little too familiar?' Several faces turned towards her, but nobody spoke. She sighed with exasperation. 'This whole thing reeks of Artemis Fowl.'

'Nonsense, Captain. Fowl has had his memories wiped,' said Root confidently.

'He found us once, sir, he could do it again.'

'Short, you checked up on him yourself not three weeks ago, and no restored memories. There's no way he could have regained them and concocted this kind of attack in just three weeks.'

'But we could be walking right into another trap!'

'I have to go ahead and agree with Holly on this one, Julius,' confessed Foaly. 'If it is Fowl, he'll be two steps ahead of us already. I say we send someone to check up on him; he's almost due for his monthly inspection anyway. Then we know for sure.'

'First of all, pony boy, don't call me Julius. Second of all, it's not up to you to make executive decisions. That's my job. And I say we're sending someone after the helmet. Whoever took it is on that plane, not at Fowl Manor.'

Holly persisted, 'But if this is anything like the first time-'

'This is nothing like the first time, Short, because we're going after fairy equipment, not trying to save a hostage. This Mud Man, whoever he is, has got nothing to blackmail us with. Foaly, set Trouble and his team up with whatever equipment they'll need. The rest of you are dismissed. We'll discuss the incident at Tara after we've got this situation resolved.'

Holly wanted to argue but her instincts made her hold her tongue. Once old Beetroot had made up his mind, he was obstinate. Still fuming, she turned and left the room, slamming the door just hard enough to make an impression.

Fowl Manor, Ireland

Artemis was reading through the Book on his computer for the third time over. Overkill, perhaps, but he wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything.

The contents of the Book would have been quite compelling on their own, but Artemis had barely had time to take note of how familiar it already seemed when he'd started having flashbacks. The LEP...trolls...Mulch Diggums...time stops...Holly...At first they were just words floating in his head with no real meaning. All except for this Holly, whom he could see quite clearly. Short auburn hair and nut brown skin, hazel eyes that burned with mischief and vitality, and long, slender hands that could heal wounds almost instantly, fire weapons with impressive accuracy, and, he remembered with a wince, punch with surprising strength.

He'd torn his eyes from the screen at that point and buried them in his hands as the memories trickled back to him. An elf, a fairy...Captain Holly Short, LEP Recon officer...in a cement-lined room - a cell, more accurately - staring at him, speechless, with contemptuous disbelief and unrestrained hatred...Holly, lying in the snow while Artemis clutched her shoulders fearfully, asking whether she was ok...a small gold coin with a hole through the middle, still warm in his hands, and Holly's voice: 'To remind you that deep beneath the layers of deviousness, you have a spark of decency. Perhaps you could blow on that spark occasionally.'

Artemis slowly reached for the leather cord around his neck and pulled the gold coin into his hands. He had found it in his own desk drawer shortly after the contact lens had been discovered, and felt almost certain that the two were related. But he'd shown it to every numismatist he could find, and none had ever seen anything like it, though they all confirmed that it was pure gold. Though he didn't know where it had come from or how it came to be in his possession, and was somewhat alarmed by his apparent sentimental attachment to such an alien object, Artemis had taken to wearing the medallion around his neck like a talisman, as though it had been a habit he was somewhat reluctant to break.

Still running his fingers along the raised images and Gnommish letters on the face of the coin, Artemis closed his eyes again as more memories returned to him: his mother coming down the stairs with a warm maternal smile on her face, breathing in her perfume as she hugged him close; his father's face, pale and gaunt and stung with cold by the icy Arctic waters, as Holly pressed her hands to his chest and released healing blue sparks into his body; Butler lying on top of a desert tray in a seafood restaurant, blood seeping through a fatal wound in his chest as he told a sobbing Artemis to call him 'Domovoi...'

Perhaps it was the exhaustion of being up all night finally catching up to him, or maybe the intensity of his returning memories was too much for even his brain, but mere minutes after Artemis closed his eyes to concentrate better, his head fell forward and he drifted to sleep right there on his desk. As he slept, his mind replayed the recaptured events of the last 18 months, constructing realistic but convoluted dreams of his adventures with the People.

Mrs. Fowl knocked on Artemis's door around noon to see if he was hungry, but, upon seeing him asleep, began revisiting her frequent worries about her son's reclusiveness ever since he had returned from school for the summer. She had hoped that her husband's homecoming from the hospital would have more of a positive effect on the boy, especially with Timmy's newfound ambition to put his family first, and their mutual hope for their son to reclaim his lost youth. Instead, he had seemed even more distant the last couple months.

Artemis Senior had been troubled and disappointed at this turnaround, saying that Arty had been much more receptive to his attempts at bonding when he was in Helsinki. Angeline only hoped that he didn't resent them for sending him back to boarding school; but what else could they do? Just give in and let him spend the rest of his life in his study, isolated from the rest of the world, conducting all his affairs and business ventures from his computer?

With a sad sigh, Angeline brushed a strand of her son's raven hair behind his ear, and kissed him softly on his cheek. He stirred slightly, then relaxed again, though the lines etched deeply around his eyes remained, and his eyelids twitched as he dreamed. His mother gently covered his sleeping form with a blanket before she left the room.

Artemis awoke slouched over his desk with his head on one arm and the medallion clasped in his other hand. His dreams were still fresh in his mind, and as he recalled them, he realized that he wouldn't forget them, because they weren't just dreams - they were memories.

And there were so many of them...he hadn't realized, when he'd searched the house for hidden copies of the Book, that there would be so much he had been made to forget. More than two years of memories, if you included the research he'd done on the fairies before his initial contact with them. And not just of ordinary events, but of situations he could not have possibly gone through, he realized, without having to examine and rethink his life several times over. He could not have experienced all these things and come out of it the same person he'd been before. But then...who did that make him now? Was he still the person he'd always been? The self-serving, cold-hearted criminal mastermind who cared only for his own obtainment of wealth without a thought to spare for the suffering of others? Would he ever again be the Artemis Fowl that the fairies must have known, when he himself had never known such a person? Did he even want to?

Artemis pushed these questions to the back of his mind. First things first: he wanted total recall. The recollections he had were scattered and out of order. Ideally, he would have liked to be able to read a diary of the events, preferably one he'd written himself. In fact, he was almost certain that he'd kept one, though undoubtedly the fairies had confiscated it when they'd wiped his mind. So he settled for the next best thing, his best remaining link to the fairies: their Book. As he read through it, more memories returned to him, slowly sorting themselves into chronological order as he took notes on the events and their most likely sequence. Then he'd read through it a second time, and, as he expected, more detailed memories returned to him.

Now he was just making sure there was nothing left that he'd missed. The flow of information had long since ceased, but the notes he'd taken were still insufficient. It was one thing to experience these events; it was quite another to try and put previously erased memories back together without a frame of reference. He needed his diary, there was nothing else for it. But this would have to do for now.

Artemis was just starting to acknowledge the growling in his stomach when a warning sign flashed onto his computer. His security system had detected an intruder in his system. A hacker. He reacted immediately, executing a program of his own design, which would immediately stop any current downloads from or uploads to his hard drive, and prevent any more until he deactivated the program. Then he traced the IP address of the intruder. The server was secure, so he couldn't get an address; but he could still send a message.

'Well well well. If it isn't a good old-fashioned cracker. I didn't know they still made you.'

A moment later, the intruder answered.

'An easy mistake to make. I'm sure it's been a while since the great Artemis Fowl the Second has dealt with a hacker more skilled than himself.'

Artemis chuckled at the presumption. 'And I suppose you think you're going to break that record.'

'I already have. You may have severed my connection, but you can't take back what I've already downloaded. And don't bother trying to hack into my system and delete it, because I've already saved it to a disk.

Artemis had already started writing a new program, a virus which would wipe out any information downloaded to the recipient's computer in the last 24 hours. He now added a feature to make hacker's system crash the next time a foreign object, such as a floopy disk or CD-ROM, was inserted, and then wipe all information from said disk so it couldn't be used on another computer. A bit vindictive, it was true, but he couldn't let people get away with trying to outsmart Artemis Fowl II. He could only hope that this hacker tried to view the disk in his own computer before deciding to opt for a more secure system.

'Oh my, I guess you're too smart for me,' he wrote back, hoping the sarcasm came through to this recklessly arrogant rival.

'You're about to find out just how much smarter,' the hacker wrote back. 'But first, a business proposition.'

'And why would I want to do business with someone who's just broken past my firewalls?'

'Because I've just broken past your firewalls. How many people do you know who have done that?'

It was true. There hadn't been many. All the more reason to be wary.

'And, of course, because I've now got some information I don't think you want me to share with the rest of the world.'

'And might I have the courtesy of knowing by whom I'm being threatened?'

'If you want to know that, you'll have to wait until we've arranged a meeting. Does the Lord Edward work for you? The restaurant, of course, since you'll be too young to drink at the pub.'

Ouch. Artemis would never admit it, but one of the best ways to make him angry was with a jibe about his age. This foolish opponent was just asking to be taught a lesson. With renewed incentive, he finished the virus he'd been programming and sent it to his adversary.

'Call me ungrateful, but I think I'll pass on your offer of...what was it? Oh yes, blackmail, and take my chances with your alleged disk full of confidential information.'

'Perhaps you'll change your mind when I tell you exactly what's on that disk.'

'I doubt it, but gloat if you must.'

'Your translation of the Book.'

Artemis' heart caught in his throat. Was it possible?

'And of what book might you be speaking?'

'The book of the fairies, of course. How else would I know you had it?'

The wheels in Artemis' mind churned furiously. If this person had found the Book that quickly, it could only mean that he'd come in looking for it. So he'd obviously suspected that Artemis had it before he'd hacked through the system. Still, this person couldn't do anything harmful without the actual book, and the virus he'd constructed would take care of that. So no sense in incriminating himself.

'Fairies, eh? I see. Well, I'd love to further pursue our palaver, but I like to avoid contact with the psychologically disturbed, as they can be prone to violence when agitated.'

'Yes, of course, Artemis Fowl and his infamous mind games. Perhaps I should have started by telling you about the monetary reward you will get for assisting me. All I want from you is information, and in return, you can name your price, because I'll be making enough money for both of us to retire now and live out the rest of our days as millionaires.'

For a moment, Artemis was tempted. Then he felt a resolve he hadn't expected.

'I'm already a millionaire, and even if I had the information you're seeking, pardon me if I don't believe your promises of unlimited riches. I make quite enough working on my own without having to worry about a business partner stabbing me in the back and keeping the spoils for himself.'

'All I want is a meeting. I know you know about the fairies. I'm probably the only other person in the world with proof of their existence. Just think of what we could accomplish if we joined forces.'

'Thanks, not interested,' Artemis continued. 'But I want you to know, my unworthy opponent, that I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help me test out my system's security. Obviously some updates are required, so I'd better get to work on them. Oh, and good luck with your fairy hunting. I'm sure you'll soon find the white padded room at the end of the rainbow.'

He severed the connection before his opponent could respond. But he didn't return to his rereading of the Book; instead, he sat quite still, his heavily lined eyes unfocused, and thought about what this new development might mean.


Operations Booth, LEP Headquarters, Haven City

Foaly had a strong affection for his friend Holly, and he truly enjoyed the time they spent chatting about work and bonding over their mutual exasperation with their boss, Commander Root. But sometimes, the elf could get a tad too emotional for her own good...or Foaly's own sanity.

'I really think you're getting too stressed out about all this,' he said as sympathetically as he could, so as not to turn the livid fairy's anger on himself.

'Too stressed out?? He's threatening to put me on probation for Frond's sake! And meanwhile if it hadn't been for me, there still would have been six rioting goblins when that sniper showed up to investigate. But does anybody care what I do? No. Not unless it involves "going against procedure," and then I get threatened with "disciplinary action."'

'Julius won't put you on probation, he's just trying to scare you into following orders,' Foaly insisted, munching boredly on a carrot.

'Easy for you to say, you're irreplaceable. I get yelled at if I come in five minutes late.'

'You know Julius, he yells at everyone he likes. He knows you're the best Recon officer he's got; you should take it as a compliment.'

'Hey, I thought you were on my side!'

'I am! I just think you're getting too worked up over this. If you want to worry, worry about whether that Fowl kid has got any new tricks up his sleeve.'

'So you think it's him, then?' asked Holly, calming down a bit at the change of subject.

'It could be. Not quite up to his usual standard; all he got was a helmet. But who knows, he could have a plan we haven't anticipated, especially if he's got his memories back.'

Holly wouldn't have admitted it, but she was almost hoping that was the case. Fowl might have been classified as a threat to the People, but that didn't change the fact that the memories of the time they'd spent on their various intrigues usually left her with a satisfied smile on her face. Not that she would ever admit to enjoying herself in the presence of the Mud Boy known as public enemy number one to all her colleagues.

'True,' she said instead. Then she voiced something that had been bothering her for a while. 'But last time I saw him, he was back to his old, amoral self, just like he predicted. So if he's after more fairy gold, we can't be sure how far he'll go to get it.' She put a hand to the crook of her rightelbow, where she'd been injected with sodium pentathol when Artemis had first captured her.

But wait a minute...he'd said they'd had her on a drip for three days, yet she'd been told after her release that the time-stop had been put in place the same night she was kidnapped. And they'd found out, too, that his source of information had been the Book all along, which meant he wouldn't have needed her to tell him anything. So Artemis had lied about how long she'd been there, and probably about the truth serum, as well.

As much as the thought of their first meeting made her shudder, the realization that, even then, the miscreant had been more comfortable using mind games than risking physical harm to his captive, was somehow comforting. Maybe he wasn't quite as evil as he came off.

Before Foaly could respond, Commander Root's face appeared on the intercom. 'Foaly, we have a problem. Is Short in there?'

'Right here, sir,' Holly replied, stepping into view of the monitor.

'Trouble's team just returned from South Africa. The locator must have been detached from the helmet. It was tucked into a luggage tag on some Mud Man's suitcase.'

'And the Mud Man?' inquired Foaly.

'He was questioned under the mesmer. No knowledge whatsoever of fairy affairs or the incident at Tara. It must have been planted there as a diversion.'

Foaly and Holly couldn't help exchanging superior glances.

'What's that supposed to mean?' ejaculated Root furiously.

Foaly was the one to answer him. 'Only that we told you it was probably a trick. I still say we should send someone to check up on Fowl. But, of course, it's your decision, Julius, not mine.'

'Well it just so happens, donkey, that I've already made a decision. And I've decided that Captain Short should make Fowl's monthly checkup a few days early.' He turned to Holly. 'You've dealt with the Mud Boy more than anyone else, so I expect you'd be better at dealing with him if he's got his memories back than someone unfamiliar with his...tactics. Besides, you're the only one with an invitation to enter Fowl Manor, and he should be home for the summer by now.'

'Yes, sir, I'm on my way,' said Holly, trying to sound more resigned than excited.

'I don't want you unshielding or making any contact unless absolutely necessary, Captain. Just find out whether he's behind all this and report to Foaly on your headset. And remember, you break the rules one more time and it's probation. Understood?'

'Yes, sir,' she sighed, not having to fake emotion this time.

'Good. Now get going.' The screen went black as Root cut the connection.

'Looks like you're taking another trip to the surface,' said Foaly encouragingly. 'Excited?'

Holly scoffed. 'To see Fowl? Yeah, right.'

She averted her eyes then, so she didn't catch Foaly's responsive smirk.