Chapter 23: Injury

It all happened in a blink of an eye. Everything stopped.

The remaining conscious goblins aimed their guns at nothing in particular. As they each pulled the trigger, they became very surprised to find nothing coming out of the end. A few hopelessly foolish ones even attempted to peer inside the pistol in puzzlement. It was then that the rest of the officers started shooting. A good LEP officer never lost one's chance.

But nothing even came close to the utter mayhem that was taking place in a private room tucked away safely at the end of the building.

"What-" Spiro slammed the desk, his joy vaporizing as suddenly as it had came. "What happened? Why aren't the Demos working?"

No reply came. Keeth just stared straight ahead, his eyes blazing with an unknown emotion, and Opal chewed her lower lip without actually noticing it. To hide her anxiousness, she grinned her menacing smile as she always did when she was downright furious.

"It must be the power," Keeth said through clenched teeth.

"The power?" Spiro angrily stabbed a finger at the blinding light above him, glanced at the screen which was still functioning, then stared at Keeth, his eyes daring him to say 'It must be the power' again. Then he turned his gaze to the Barbie-doll fairy next to him.

"Opal," Spiro squatted down to Opal's level and lifted her chin with a single finger. "What is it? You alawys mentioned something about your fairy intuition ever since I met you. Well? What does it tell you now?"

"My intuition doesn't have a clue," Opal replied arrogantly, thrusting her chin away from Spiro's finger. "But if you must have an answer, I think the batteries have been used up."

"The batteries are supposed to last at least one thousand years," The glaring businessman retorted without moving. "Or at least I heard." He stood up, returning to his relatively short height, and added, "Don't mess with me, girl. Either you always put on an expression that seems to have dawned with realization, or you've sensed something peculiar."

"With women, it's all suspicion," Keeth put in, folding his arms.

"Hmmm," Spiro muttered meaningfully. "If I didn't know any better, I would say this was-" Spiro suddenly broke into an awful silence.

"It would be...who?" the genius goblin asked coolly, but deep down inside his mind was churning with anxiousness. Calm down, Keeth chided himself. He'll never know. Yet he already knew what name would be said by Spiro's thin lips. Because even he could feel another person's presence. As a matter of fact, this boy's identity could be detected easily anywhere.

"Listen to me," Spiro began again, eyeing the two fairies one by one. "Both of you presented two theories to me, both of which made very little sense. But what I'm about to suggest is equally ludicrous, yet I'm almost entirely sure that this is true." Spiro's eyes had put on a dangerous gleam. "There is a traitor in our mist."

There came an oddly familiar voice from somewhere behind him.

"Jon Spiro," it drawled. "So we meet again."

Spiro didn't have to turn. He knew who is was.


He shouldn't have been at all worried, really; as long as you had a Butler watching your back, nothng could go wrong. With an exception to one case. Artemis's mind was sent spiraling back to that one business meeting that went all wrong. And it had been with Jon Spiro.

The more the moment came closer, the more his apprehension seemed to agonize him. A tiny drop of sweat trickled down Artemis's neck, and he quickly brushed it away before Juliet could notice.

Listen kid, Spiro's voice echoed inside his head. I like you. In a couple of years, you could have been just like me. But did you ever put a gun to somebody's head and pull the trigger?

No? I didn't think so. Sometimes that's all it takes. Guts. And you don't have them.

You don't have them.

It was unbearable for the Irish teenager to think about what he lacked. In fact, it was so difficult for him that it caused Artemis to stop dead in his tracks.

"Hey," Juliet assured him soothingly. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to."

"No," Artemis heard himself saying.

"No?" Juliet smiled, and she seemed quite relieved. "Like I said, that would be okay."

"That's not what I meant," Artemis continued, his voice a bit sharp than his intention. "You know I must do this, Juliet. Don't try to deny the fact that this is not another one of my self-centered schemes. This isn't about me, nor is it about accumulating wealth. I've put the fairies at bay a few times too many, and I would be very much pleased if I could change that."

"But it's all over," Juliet retorted merely out of concern. "Just because you let them go doesn't mean the entire fairy race would magically disappear, if you'd pardon the pun. We've got everything under control. Frankly, I still don't understand what's got into you."

Artemis did not reply. What was he supposed to say? That he was trying to prove Spiro wrong, to prove something for himself? That he did have guts? That he could actually...kill somebody...without feeling guilt, as long as the person was amoral enough to deserve it?

"Juliet," Artemis decided to say instead of the words that were threatening to come up his throat. "If... If it wouldn't be that difficult of a problem, I'd very much like to go inside on my own."

Juliet whipped around to stare at the teenage boy as if he'd just sprouted an extra head. "What?" She almost looked as if she wanted to burst out laughing. "What?"

Slowly, Artemis repeated his words without the stutter at the beginning.

"Artemis," Juliet shook her head, then gripped Artemis's shoulders. "Artemis, Artemis. Have you gone mad? Have you gone absolutely insane!" She started shaking hhim violently.

Artemis shrugged the bodyguard's arms off his body, then looked straight ahead to meet her eyes. "Please," he said earnestly, a genuine request.

"No," Juliet replied, her decision already as firm as a brick wall. "No. Artemis, just when will you ever learn? That Spiro's a dangerous man. If you even dare to go in there by yourself, then it's only a matter of time before you get killed."

Artenus stared his piercing gaze, but Juliet didn't dare to avoid eye contact. Spoiled Artemis always had things his own way, but this time, she was about to make an exception. "Fine," he said finally. "But leave everything to me."

"That's the maximum I can promise," Juliet nodded. "But don't stop me when I spring out of nowhere to your rescue."

Artemis nodded back. I'll be needing it, he thought. Feeling a bit more confident, he stepped out into the silent room, lacking both voice and geniality.

"Jon Spiro," he said. "So we meet again."


Jon Spiro felt as if a 100-pound barbell was caught in his throat. Funny how the seemingly normal boy such as Fowl could give him the willies; except normal boys didn't steal precious technology from him. Nor did they just tell 2.8 billion U.S. dollars and make him bankrupt. In fact, no human was ever able to manage that. No human, that is...

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Arty." Spiro turned with a crooked smile on his face, wagging an innocent index finger. "Long time no see, isn't it? You sould have payed a visit in my comfy little cell."

"You're right," Artemis agreed. "I should have. It would have alleviated your shock from seeing me just now."

Spiro's lips curled in anger. "Now, now. No jumping to conclusions. Now why would I be surprised to see you? How do you know I wasn't just expecting you?"

"Is there any other explanation what 'There is a traitor in our mist,' could be about?"

"Ah, yes. You're right, once again." Spiro nodded as he walked up to Keeth, gripping his shoulder a bit too firmly as the goblin writhed. "You should have learned that your smart brain wouldn't get you anywhere cozy. But you are correct, this little fellow here forgot to mention that Artemis Fowl wasn't dead, but alive, right here in the Lower Elements."

Spiro smiled. "Didn't you, Keeth?"

"Let go of me," Keeth spat, and Spiro did. He brushed his shirt as if something had infected it.

"Keeth," Spiro asked, his dark eyes suddenly round and serious. "Did you betray me?"

"Yes," Keeth replied, almost proudly.

"Then I must ask only the obvious: Why?"

Keeth stared into Spiro's eyes, then at Artemis, then back again. To Spiro's utter astonishment, his unattractive face suddenly split into a crazy grin. "Why not?"

"That's a very laconic answer."

"And so I must elaborate," Keeth nodded. "But I merely gave you the obvious answer to the most obvious question, and it should have told you everything. Why not?"

Spiro glared, unaware that his body was starting to shake mildly.

"Just think, Jon. Use your head. What did I have against Artemis? Nothing. Truth be told, I actually like the guy. What did you have against Artemis? Everything. All I wanted was to pay back the LEP for what they did for me, and to my utter giddyness-" Keeth swallowed back a grin. "You did that all for me.

"You're nothing but a bastard, a hypocrite, Jon Spiro. You didn't realize the paradox in what you said. You claim you do not want to associate with such 'sordid crimes as murder.' You don't want want homicide to be on 'your long list of misdeeds.' Yet there you are, detonating the bio-bomb at the Fowl Manor, not only to kill your archenemy, but his innocent family. His happy little family, looking over the hills at the amazing landscape, all smiling and content with themselves.

"I commited quite a lot of misdemeanors as well, you know. Fraud, theft, shoplifting, you name it. But I couldn't tolerate the fact that you were killing a single civilian(no matter how rich they may be) family, especially the family of whom I was considerably fond of. So did your little girly pixie there-"

"Of course," Jon Spiro interrupted, unable to contain his anger. "The pixie was part of it as well."

"Exactly," Keeth nodded.

"You call me a bastard, a hypocrite, every single name you can think of. But you're the same as me, Keeth, accept it. You went along with the plan even if you knew I was doing something awful. Whether you liked it or not, you went with it. Just because you get a sudden burst of morals near the very end, it doesn't exactly make you a saint."

"That's where you're wrong, Spiro," Keeth shook his head. "That's where you're wrong. You and I are considerably different. I checked on the Fowl family not too long ago, and they're all alive. I called them. A bit torn at the loss of their son, but nevertheless alive."

Artemis's knees could have buckled in relief.

"Shut up," Spiro was shaking vigorously now.

"Just because someone tells you what you don't want to hear, you're asking me to shut up?" Keeth continued. "I hate to blow it to you, Jon, but you've lost everyth-"

"Shut- up!" Still shaking, Spiro fumbled around for his gun. "Don't talk about what I've lost. You don't even know what you're talking about. I haven't lost everything. Sure, I've lost pretty much, but not everything. In fact... I haven't lost enough to be unable to make you lose what you value most,Fowl." With that, the pistol in the American's hand wavered dangerously at Artemis.

The average adolescent wouldn't have dared to go this far; the typical adult would have been reduced to tears. But not Artemis. Pressing down the fear that was about to take over him completely, he voiced his opinion in his most convincing tones. "Jon Spiro," he pronounced clearly. "What is the ultimate purpose for doing this? And assuming that you have killed me, what will become of you after that? What will be gained? My death will not cause your lost income to spring back to your accounts; it will not bring you a clean record sooner than it will ever come. Just plain revenge? Is that what really matters?"

"I don't know what really matters anymore," Spiro replied in a hoarse voice that sounded inhuman to the people present in the room. "I don't care. What I do care is who lives or dies, and all I know is that I will be the one to live."

Bang. With a clutter, a bleeding Artemis fell to the ground, clutching somewhere on his body that to his horror, looked dangerously close to his heart. "Help," he rasped weakly, before his consciousness was plunged into night.


No, no, don't kill me. Don't kill me. Of course the wound is not fatal, and no, Artemis is not going to die. If he were to die, how would the story progress? And Artemis is my favorite character, I could never kill him. And don't overlook the fact that I'll get murdered by a bunch of Arty-fans.
All's well that ends well, right? Don't worry, this will end well. Ciao for now.