A/N: Hey! Yes, it's been five months again...(I thought it was six at first for some reason, but then I redid my math again, and I guess it's a little better than I thought.) A part of me was actually considering posting this one fairly quickly after the last (like maybe two or three months) and saying it was to make up for going so long between nine and ten, and apologizing for all the errors and for how rough it was...but somehow, the time just slipped by, and there were things I still really wanted to fix before I let anyone see it.
As it is, it's still a bit rough, and it wouldn't surprise me if I come back and edit this again a year from now, but for now, I thought it was better I just go ahead and move forward. I'm working on trying to balance quality with maintaining somewhat reasonable intervals between posts.
So, this is a bit of an action chapter, and I worked hard to try to get the flow right, but I don't write action all that much and it might still be a bit stilted. So I apologize for that in advance. (I've been working on trying to make my work faster paced and more efficient in general, but it's been a hard road trying to balance that with continuity.)
Anyway, all that being said, for various reasons this has always been one of my favorite chapters to work on, and hope you'll enjoy it. :J See you at the end!
Chapter 11: Into Madness
"No."
Juliet looked her big brother in the eye and put up a hand, fingers splayed. "Five minutes. Then you can get back to the endless security sweeps. Honestly, bro, I'd think the state-of-the-art defense system would let you relax once in a while."
The Fowls were, at the moment, congregated in the Manor entertainment center, just down the hall from the conference room. All the servants had left that afternoon for a weekend holiday, but not before stocking the salad bar with the manor's year-round supply of homegrown fruits and vegetables. Angeline had been so excited at Artemis's return that she had eaten very little of the dinner Juliet and Butler had prepared, seared swordfish and a variety of Artemis's favorite cultured and expensive side dishes, and was now spearing bits of lettuce and organic tomato onto a china dish, as she chattered happily to Artemis Senior. Beckett, who had immediately devoured all the snacks his mother had prepared for him, had joined Juliet in front of the television, a game controller in his pudgy fingers, while Myles was occupying himself building a scientifically exact replica of the Casa Milà from Popsicle sticks nearby.
The only person who wasn't there was the guest of honor. Artemis had seen Minerva to the door, then reappeared briefly at his mother's insistent beckoning before immediately disappearing again, saying something about a project that needed his attention, and that he would return shortly.
Butler had spent most of the afternoon checking and rechecking the security monitors in the control room to make sure no enemies were intent on taking advantage of Artemis's new vulnerability, and doing rounds. Juliet, on the other hand, had been prodding him to take a break and join in the festivities at least for a bit.
Frowning, Butler answered his sister in a low voice. "Five minutes is plenty of time for people who know what they're doing. And now that Artemis is back here, there's someone we both know of who might like to take advantage of it."
Juliet rolled her eyes, so that her green eyeshadow glittered in the light of the fireplace. "And yet, somehow I doubt our mad pixie is going to sneak in here and off your charge in the next few seconds."
Butler shot an involuntary glance back in the direction of Mr. Fowl over by the salad bar, but he seemed wholly engrossed in the conversation with his wife, and hadn't heard. Myles, however, pricked up from his Popsicle sculpture and surveyed them curiously, and Beckett was looking around at them.
"Pixies like worms?" the boy interjected when he caught Butler's eye.
"Pixies don't exist," Myles said contemptuously. "Obviously Juliet means pixie in the derisive sense."
Butler gave Juliet a look. No one who didn't already know about the People was supposed to be told anything, yet whenever they returned to the manor, Juliet proved predisposed to drop careless comments at every opportunity. Butler worried the twins, sharp as they were, would realize there was a secret to be uncovered, and if that happened, the entire LEP wouldn't be enough to stop them finding it out.
"Come on, bro," Juliet pleaded, clasping her hands together. "Your life just wouldn't be complete if you didn't play at least one round of the latest version of SmackDown vs. Raw. This is supposed to be a party we're having, so you might as well act like it."
"Not without Artemis," Butler pointed out. "And at the moment, he's MIA."
Juliet waved a hand dismissively. "He was here all afternoon, wasn't he? Now maybe we should just let him be for a bit. I mean, he's practically been in prison for six months."
Butler hesitated. That was indeed the very reason he hadn't been shadowing Artemis's every step all afternoon, in spite of his anxiety at being so exposed. However, he couldn't entirely push away the sense that it wasn't a bodyguard's job to be sensitive to the Principal's feelings, but to stop bullets. Juliet was probably right, the manor was about the safest place Artemis could be if he had to be on the surface, but a bodyguard ever satisfied with a probably often wound up out of a job.
"Just five minutes," Juliet insisted, waving the controller in his face. "If something happens, you can blame me."
Butler glanced at the large screen television on which two figures with ridiculously bulging muscles were paused in mid-motion. It occurred to him that this conversation was probably taking more time than just giving in and playing a round, as was no doubt his sister's strategy all along.
Butler sighed deeply. "Just let me find Artemis and check the monitors one more time."
Juliet grinned. "Knew you'd cave."
Frowning, Butler made an indistinct noise at the back of his throat. However, just as he started to turn toward the door, he froze.
Butler had spent years training under Madame Ko, and had learned a diverse range of martial arts and other skills which would prove invaluable in his field. However, as Madame Ko had often said, all the knowledge in the world couldn't replace the right instincts—that sixth sense which could alert a bodyguard to danger, even before his mind could begin to guess at why. Butler, even before his extensive training, had been born with that innate sense, and he had always believed that it was a significant part of the reason he had been able to graduate with his blue diamond tattoo so young. He had that inexplicable instinct that told him when things were about to turn ugly.
Butler turned where he was, and his gaze came to settle on the ornate stone fireplace set into the west wall, one of the relics that had not been revamped or removed in the room's recent remodeling. He himself had lit the fire earlier that day, to battle the austere February chill outside, and now he squinted into it.
Amidst the flames, he could just make out a familiar telltale shimmer. A fairy.
Before he had even consciously given his body the order, Butler's hand plunged into his suit jacket, and in a moment the barrel of his Sig Sauer was aimed directly at the fireplace.
Butler felt a bead of sweat break out on his forehead, and an image of Opal the younger flashed through his mind. According to the LEP, supposedly she had been sent back to the past, and supposedly Opal the elder was still in prison. But the mad pixie had never been far from any of their minds.
Both Angeline and Artemis Senior turned to stare at him.
"What is it, Butler?" Artemis Senior asked sharply. "What's wrong?"
Instead of answering, Butler said in a clear, calm voice, "Don't move. That's right, I can see you. Now, I want you to let down that shield, and step out. Nice and slowly."
The room was silent. Quite possibly Artemis Senior was beginning to wonder if his oldest son's bodyguard had completely lost his mind, but he asked no more questions, and he and Angeline stood where they were, tense. The twins had both stopped moving to watch the scene. Neither Artemis Senior nor the twins were supposed to know about all this, but they would have to deal with that later.
Butler's finger tightened around the trigger of the pistol. He hated to shoot a fairy, especially when he couldn't see who that fairy was, but keeping the Fowls safe came first.
However, a second before he let the bullet fly, the haze shimmered, and the invisible figure crouching in the flames solidified. Climbing to its feet, the fairy stepped out of the fire onto the stone hearth. Cool yellow eyes turned to meet Butler's.
Butler let out the barest breath of relief. The mysterious intruder was not Opal. Butler had enough close-up experience with the B'wa Kell to recognize a goblin when he saw one.
"Oh," Angeline breathed in shock, and the salad dish in her hand crashed to the floor.
"What is that?" Artemis Senior demanded, eyes narrowed, mouth tight.
All Butler's focus was now locked on the intruder, and he didn't reply. Already his relief was giving way to questions and anxiety. What was a goblin doing here? And how had it gotten through the manor security?
"Good," Butler intoned. "Now, both hands in the air."
Butler mentally ran through what he knew of goblins from previous encounters. They had a gift with fire, which could prove dangerous in an enclosed space like this. However, they were not typically the bravest or brightest lot. They often failed to put advantages to proper use, and more often than not a few well-placed threats were enough to make them lay down and feign incapacitation. In vast numbers, goblins could be a force to be reckoned with, but catch one alone, and he was generally easy enough to subdue.
The goblin's clawed hands moved, but not to raise them above its head. Too late, Butler saw the creature was already holding a weapon, and in a second a black barrel was leveled at his chest, its tip a deadly red.
Butler got off one shot, but the creature moved like lightning, ducking down just far enough that the bullet went whizzing inches above its head. Before Butler could get in another, the goblin's finger had closed around the trigger of its own weapon, and fired.
Holly threw open the door and in an instant she took in the scene, the Fowls gaping in shock, Butler with his gun out and leveled at the unwelcome visitor.
"Now, both hands in the air," Butler was saying, his voice cool and even.
Holly felt her heart stop a moment, then begin again at double-speed. From Butler's angle, evidently he couldn't see that the goblin was already holding a weapon, out and at the ready.
The goblin could have dropped the gun and stood down, as most goblins facing Butler probably would have done, but among goblin criminals there were always those few with an idiotic defiant streak, and the goblin chose to press its momentary advantage, bringing its weapon around. A bullet exploded from the end of Butler's Sig Sauer, but the creature was ready for it and dropped its head. Its own gun was aimed directly at Butler's broad chest.
The goblin's handgun was a strange one. Over her years of working for the LEP, Holly had come to know many of the most common weapons on the market, both legal and illegal. However, this one looked completely different from anything she had ever seen. It gleamed a sleek black in the firelight from the hearth, and Holly could see a series of complicated settings on its side. Holly could just make out a crystal winking in the barrel, and knew it was a laser gun, not unlike a Neutrino. It was not some piece of junk cobbled together in someone's garage, that was for sure.
Holly had less than a second to process all this. She saw Butler, the goblin, and the gun a split second away from being fired, and putting an end to the life of Artemis's faithful bodyguard.
Not this time.
Letting down her shield for accuracy, Holly quickly took aim and fired off a shot from her Neutrino.
Just as the goblin's claw closed around the trigger, the charge struck him in the arm, causing the blast from the gun to veer off wildly, carving a smoking line through a nearby tapestry.
Holly fired again, but the goblin ducked low in a blur of motion and leaped back out of range as the two Butlers moved to converge on him.
Three on one, Holly thought. I'll take those odds.
Holly charged forward, taking aim for another shot as she went.
The goblin bent low, and blew a stream of fire from its nostrils, setting the carpet ablaze. Smoke billowed, and the flames rose toward the ceiling like a wall, blocking the Butlers from getting any closer.
Holly and Butler both had their weapons at the ready, but the goblin was impossible to make out amidst the crackling flames and pillars of smoke.
Holly switched the filter on her helmet to holographic infrared, one of Foaly's newfangled features, and immediately the goblin's form appeared in front of her in lurid tones of purple and orange. Holly pointed the gun, then squeezed off a burst.
The shot appeared to go right through the goblin's side, but the goblin kept moving without slowing down. Holly mentally cursed. The holographic infrared filter worked on a camera system that sent out lasers, which went right through even the thickest flames to hit solid objects and send back images. Unfortunately, while the system was able to process those images relatively quickly, it was probably a second or so behind real time. Not a problem, if an officer was trying to find injured fairies in a burning building, but less handy for dealing with a lightning-fast goblin trying to avoid getting hit with laser fire.
Fine then.
Holly expertly flipped the setting on her Neutrino, switching to wide-bore concussive. The less concentrated burst shot from the barrel, expanding outward in a broad cone shape, covering at least six square feet of space. Almost impossible to dodge in this limited area.
However, a second after the fact, the goblin seemed to touch something on its wrist, and Holly watched, stunned, as the shot from her Neutrino seemed to hit an invisible wall, and flowed around him, as harmless as a beam from a flashlight.
Safetynet? You've got to be kidding me.
Holly could see only one option here. She pulled a clip of darts from her belt and slotted them into her Neutrino, then switched the filter on her helmet back to normal. She would have to go through the flames, and try to fight the goblin on that side. Her suit and helmet were designed with a fire-resistant polymer, and should protect her.
However, as Holly tensed her muscles and prepared to propel herself through, she gasped in shock as the goblin suddenly appeared through the flames, right in front of her.
Before Holly could react, the goblin struck her gun hand hard from below, forcing her arm around in a wide arc so she couldn't get in a shot. For just a second Holly couldn't feel her fingers, and out of the corner of her eye she watched helplessly as her weapon spiraled off into the gloom.
Holly reacted instantly, raising her other arm with rigid fingers extended and jabbed the goblin hard in the nerve cluster in his forearm, forcing him to release his own gun. It fell to the smoking carpet beside them with a soft thump.
Holly's hand shot for her buzz baton, but before her fingers brushed the handle, the goblin tackled her with the force of a ten-ton truck. Holly's back hit the ground hard, knocking the air from her lungs, and she felt something crack beneath her. Her wingrig. The next moment her senses were assaulted by the smell of acrid smoke and a blast of hot air on her face, and she realized her helmet had been torn from her head.
The goblin was big for his kind, with a long snarling snout and burning yellow eyes, just like the mugshots all the officers on Evergreen's team had downloaded to their helmets. But Holly hadn't been expecting combat prowess of this level. He had fast reflexes, but it was more than that—every movement had the disciplined efficiency of a trained soldier, something that, in all her years at the LEP, she'd never before seen in a goblin thug.
Holly dimly heard Butler shouting above the chaos. "Get the twins out of here!"
"No, I can help," Juliet's insistent voice came back. "Don't worry, bro, I'll get him."
Holly coughed. Already the stifling smoke was making its way inside her lungs, and her eyes burned. She could barely see anything through the haze.
The goblin leaned down, so that its snout was barely an inch from her face. "Stand down, elf," the creature hissed. "Give up now, and I won't have to kill you."
Strange, Holly thought vaguely through the fog that was slowly seeping into her brain. Giving me the chance to live. Not very smart. Now he's acting like a goblin.
Holly felt her instincts take control, and her hand shot out, reaching for the black gun which lay forgotten not a foot away.
The goblin's sharp yellow eyes flickered, and he saw what she was doing, but made no move to stop her as her fingers closed around the handle.
Holly's eyes watered and her vision blurred as the smoke billowed around her. She could hear the distant shouts of Angeline and Artemis Fowl Senior, and even the higher voices of Beckett and Myles. Her thoughts were muddled, but one seemed to penetrate the haze.
Artemis wasn't here. He would be counting on her to protect his family, and the Butlers. She had to protect them.
Holly didn't think. She aimed the black gun with its glowing red tip straight up at the creature's chest, and fired.
With almost unreal speed, the goblin leaped back, out of the path of the deadly laser burst, and the beam shot up through the thick, blinding smoke.
A piercing scream cut through the fog, and Holly felt her blood run cold. She stared, up through the gloom, and suddenly she made out a form there, hovering over her. Juliet's face sharpened into focus, white as a sheet and her eyes wide with shock and pain. Then with a groan, she sank to the floor.
Holly rolled to her side and raced to Juliet's fallen body, her heart hammering in her throat. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Juliet was still breathing. The shot had burned a hole clear through her shoulder, but it probably wouldn't kill her if it was treated right away.
Holly stared down at the black gun in her hand. I shot her, Holly thought numbly. She dropped the gun like it was a poisonous snake.
Suddenly remembering the goblin, Holly spun. She looked all around, squinting, trying to see through the smoke. It was eerily quiet, but for the crackling of flames.
"He's gone," Butler said evenly, though Holly could hear the underlying agitation in his voice as he went to Juliet's side to check her vitals, then immediately went to retrieve a fire extinguisher from the side wall. "Into that hallway over there."
"Right," Holly said. "Well, at least he's unarmed now." She shot an unwilling glance back at the black gun still laying on the carpet.
Butler's face was unemotional. "I think he picked up your gun on the way out."
Great, Holly thought. However, the goblin would have to wait.
Holly went quickly to kneel at Juliet's side. She forced her trembling hands to be steady as she stretched out her fingers for the healing.
Juliet coughed, then forced a grin. "Just a flesh wound. You gotta get Mr. Scaly."
"I will," Holly said. "Right after I heal you."
Juliet shook her head. Her face was covered in sweat, but again she forced herself to smile. "You gotta make sure mental patient number one is okay. You can tell bro he was right—a lot can happen in five minutes."
It occurred to Holly that Artemis had said he was going to the conference center, which was indeed on the same side of the house toward which the goblin had just fled, and on this floor. The chances that the goblin would actually run into Artemis among the manor's many rooms was slim, but Holly had enough experience with Artemis's luck not to take anything for granted.
"I'll be back in a minute then," she told Juliet. She glanced at Butler, who had already finished putting out the flames, and was now coming back to Juliet, probably intending to take them all to another room. Even with the flames out, it was hard to breathe.
Holly got to her feet. She paused a moment, turning back to Butler, but didn't quite meet his eyes. "Let's meet in the front hall. Don't worry, I'll take care of her."
Butler nodded once, his expression impossible to read. "I know you will."
Holly took a shallow breath in the stifling air, then turned and took off into the hall in the direction of the conference center.
Holly raced down the hallway. Her eyes still burned from the smoke, and she could feel her wing rig throwing out sparks against her exposed neck. She was certain now that it had been damaged beyond use when the goblin had knocked her to the ground.
He was tough for a goblin, that was for sure, and apparently a fighter of military caliber. They had been told he had trained at the LEP Academy for a short time, but that hadn't prepared her for this. She would have to be careful the next time she squared off against him.
Holly cast her eyes ahead, and saw as the black door to the Fowl conference center came into view. She had been to that room only once before, when Artemis had called her to the manor to help him save his mother the previous year. However, she remembered the way like it was yesterday.
Holly felt her heartrate speed up. What if the goblin was there? Apparently this goblin's objective was to kill as many humans as it could, so on the miniscule chance it happened to try to make its escape through the conference center, then—
Holly found the door already ajar, and shoved it inward. At first Holly could see nothing. The room was dark, but for a bit of moonlight filtering in through a high window. Holly felt a flood of relief—there was no one here. Perhaps the laptop had not been here after all, and Artemis had gone upstairs to his study to look for it.
"What?" said a rasping voice. "Why are you—"
Holly froze, and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the scene sharpened into focus. The big goblin, crouching on the glass surface of the conference table, her own Neutrino clutched in its claws, the setting slid up to maximum. And the slim figure facing it, with his back pressed up against a wall.
Holly couldn't think. She saw what was about to happen, but could do nothing to stop it.
However, the goblin didn't immediately blow Artemis's brains out. Instead, it just stood there, staring.
"I don't..." the goblin began, in a tone of something like disbelief.
Holly's brain kicked back into gear, and she saw her opportunity. She propelled herself into the room, sprinting for the goblin with everything she had, drawing her buzz baton out on the way.
The goblin must have heard her, because the creature jerked and spun to face her, just as Holly, charged with adrenaline, launched herself up onto the opposite side of the circular table.
The goblin regained its composure, and stared at her with cool eyes. "You," it said calmly.
"Me," Holly agreed. Then she struck.
The goblin barely had time to react as Holly closed the distance in less than a second and, knocking the Neutrino from his loose grip and sending it flying back off the table, ducked inside his guard and brought the buzz baton around to strike the goblin behind the knee. One of the first lessons in LEP combat—when going up against a bigger opponent, first take out his mobility.
However, the goblin seemed to have anticipated her, and with surprisingly easy grace, jumped backward off the table and out of her range, long tail whipping around and slicing her on the cheek as it passed.
Holly charged forward, ready to jump off after him, but stopped, her instincts buzzing. She squinted through the darkness, and realized she couldn't make out where the goblin had gone. Shielding again? Or...
Holly focused her considerable elfin hearing, and realized she could hear a heartbeat just below her. The moment the goblin had gotten off the tabletop, in the split second she lost sight of him, he had pulled back underneath it. Had she recklessly hurled herself off after him, she would have found herself attacked from behind, and in an instant it would have been all over.
Is this really a goblin I'm fighting? Holly wondered. A goblin shouldn't be capable of such quick and clever thinking, it just wasn't in their makeup. However, all kinds of illegal drugs for enhancing intelligence had been circulating on the black market for years. Briar Cudgeon, the infamous disgraced officer and later traitor, had made a few of them famous when the drugs had reacted badly with a tranquilizer Commander Root had used on him. Could Opal have developed some kind of formula to work on goblins? How many more elite goblin soldiers had she created already?
There was no time to pursue that thought now. Holly reached into one of the many pouches on her belt and withdrew a small silver sphere roughly the size of a walnut.
Let's see how you like this. Holly arched her arm over her head, and hurled the stun grenade so it curled around and landed underneath the table.
The goblin had no choice. It dashed away at full tilt, running back toward the opposite side as it scrambled to get out of range. Anything living that was hit with the charge when grenade went off would be out like a light for hours. Of course, Holly had had no choice but to use a bomb set with a small radius, or else risk falling victim to her own weapon. However, she wasn't counting on the grenade itself.
A rookie might have panicked and run out from under the table right away, exposing himself to attack, but to his credit, the goblin kept cover as long as he could. However, as large as the conference table was, it was only so large.
Holly raced to the opposite end of the table, smashing crystal ashtrays as she went. There she stood, waiting to strike. She wasn't disappointed; a moment later the goblin blew out from underneath, tailing whipping every which way to increase his speed. The instant the goblin was exposed, he started to spin around to face her, anticipating her trap.
However, the goblin wasn't fast enough, and in a moment Holly was already on him. He had nearly a foot on her and was decidedly more massive, but the momentum of her jump was enough to drive him to the ground.
Holly didn't waste a second. Before the goblin even had time to lick his lidless yellow eyeballs, she had rolled off him and in a blur of motion brought her buzz baton around and slammed the end into his chest.
The goblin jerked and spasmed as a thousand volts flooded his system, then his eyes rolled back and he laid still.
Holly was panting slightly. She checked the goblin's vitals to make sure the creature was still alive, then slowly got to her feet.
Artemis was still standing where she had last seen him underneath the high window. Holly forced a weak smile. "Well, at least it's never boring."
Artemis stared at her for a long minute through the gloom, his expression unreadable. He bent to retrieve her fallen Neutrino, and he held it gingerly in his long fingers, gazing down at it.
At last Artemis lifted his eyes back to hers and smiled slightly. "I suppose not."
Holly nodded. "Well, now that we're past that crisis, we need to get back. Juliet's hurt, I need to heal her." Holly extended her hand for the gun.
Artemis didn't move. His gaze flickered down to the weapon in his hands. "You go," he said carefully. "I will stay here and keep an eye on our friend." He paused, then said slowly, "Juliet's injured?"
Holly didn't care much for this plan. After seeing Artemis a second away from having his head blown off, she wasn't keen to leave him alone with a murderous criminal, conscious or not. Her face was calm, but she could feel her insides shaking at the thought of what almost happened.
"Yes," she said. "She needs our help. Don't worry about the goblin, he isn't going anywhere."
Artemis had been fingering the gun. Almost imperceptibly, his fingers tightened around the grip.
"Juliet is injured," he said again. "How?"
Holly hesitated. "She just is. Come on, Artemis, we need to go."
Artemis regarded her for a long moment. At last he closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. Then he turned the Neutrino around and offered her the handle. "Very well. You are right, of course. We had better go quickly."
Holly studied Artemis carefully as she gingerly accepted the weapon and replaced it in its holster. There was definitely something off about the way Artemis was acting. However, she had no time to riddle it out now. Juliet needed healing, and fast.
Holly grabbed Artemis by the wrist and they ran down the hall. The smell of smoke filled her nostrils as they passed the drawing room, and she turned in the direction of the entrance hall.
Holly threw open the side door and several heads swiveled in their direction.
His expression deceptively calm, Butler said evenly,"Run into trouble?"
"Just a snag," Holly answered brusquely as she went to kneel by Juliet's side. Juliet had been laid out on a pile of blankets on Artemis's prized Tunisian carpet. "That goblin was there. But I got him."
Butler didn't answer, only nodded.
The Fowls were there too, standing close by. Myles and Beckett were staying close to their mother, but apparently were not quite as traumatized by the events as normal four-year-olds might have been. Beckett was squirming against his mother's grip as though eager to investigate the unusual happenings, and Myles looked straight at Holly with unabashed suspicion and curiosity.
Angeline drew both her sons closer to her and directed her eyes up at her eldest son, who was still hanging back just in the doorway. "Come here, Arty," she said. "Tell us what's happened." She paused, then said with a touch of concern, "Arty? What's wrong?"
Angeline's voice had just enough urgency that Holly hesitated and turned to look.
Artemis was standing stock-still, his face white as he stared at Juliet and the ghastly hole burned through her shoulder.
Artemis Senior stepped forward. "Can you tell us what's going on here, son?" he said, tone not unkind, but firm, ready to take authority of the situation. "What was that creature? Do you know this..." He glanced in Holly's direction.
Holly opened her mouth to say something, but Artemis got there first.
"Don't worry, Father, we have everything perfectly under control here. We will explain all later. For now, please take mother and the twins upstairs—immediately."
Artemis sounded as though he had regained his composure, but Holly felt her heart sink. She recognized that stilted way of speaking, and it never bode well.
Artemis Senior gazed at his son for a long minute, then at last nodded once. "Okay then, Arty. We trust you."
Angeline took her husband's hand and looked at Artemis again, forcing an encouraging smile. "We'll be waiting for you upstairs."
Artemis's eyes quickly scanned the room. "Wait," he blurted suddenly. "One of you should remain here for the procedure. You, Father, please stay here."
Artemis Senior didn't seem to know what to make of this. "Arty?"
Artemis seemed to battle with himself a moment. He was tapping his breast pocket with agitation, his eyes darting about the room.
"We need one more person," he said at last. "Otherwise the procedure may not—it may not go well."
Holly met Butler's eye. They needed to get Artemis out of here. Just as Dr. Argon had predicted, the stress of the events was causing his symptoms to resurface all at once, in spite of the months of therapy and drug treatments. It was a bitter pill to swallow in light of all the progress he had made, but there was nothing they could do.
Butler stepped forward and put a calming hand on Artemis's shoulder. "Let's go, Artemis. Let Holly take care of Juliet."
Artemis hesitated. "Holly and Juliet makes two. And two is the square root of—"
"Juliet will be fine, Artemis," Butler reassured him gently. "You know Holly. Remember how she took care of me?" He pointed at his own chest.
Artemis's eyes dropped briefly to Butler's chest, then he turned to look at Holly. The expression he had worn in the conference center had returned, that look in his eyes Holly couldn't quite identify. A conflict seemed to be going on below the surface.
"Over here, Artemis," Butler urged again gently, gesturing toward the Fowls. "Come on, let's go upstairs."
Artemis hesitated a moment longer. At last, he reluctantly nodded once.
Holly let out a silent breath of relief, then turned her eyes back to Juliet. She stretched out her hand and felt the magic build at her fingertips. "Go with Butler, Artemis," she encouraged absently.
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the wisest thing to say. Go with Butler, Artemis. Four words.
Holly heard Butler's gasp of warning a second before she felt something slam into her hand, sending her entire arm flying away from Juliet's wound. Stray magical sparks sunk into the Tunisian carpet nearby.
Holly turned to find Artemis's face an inch from her own, his normally cool, collected features white with rage.
"So," he said softly, and he was apparently beyond counting words now. "So this is how it is, Captain. I knew it. I knew it from the first moment I saw you here."
Holly stared back into his face. She knew the symptoms of the Atlantis Complex too well to be entirely taken off guard, but all the same, for a moment she couldn't respond. Artemis was always calm, always in perfect control of his emotions. Anything more than a cold look or a touch of irritation was rare. Looking into Artemis's face now, contorted with a ferocity she had never seen, was unnerving.
Artemis continued, the words pouring from his mouth like water from a broken dam. "It's so obvious. I should have known from the beginning. All along, you have been the real enemy. Plotting against me, trying to ensnare me in your traps. You led that creature here to destroy me—that is the only explanation for why you both arrived here almost simultaneously."
Holly tried to make her voice as calm as possible. "Artemis, listen to me. I know the Atlantis thing is trying to take over your brain, but you've got to fight it. You've got to fight it, and you've got to let me heal Juliet right now, or I might not be able to. She could die."
If anything, this only seemed to further fuel his hysteria. His eyes grew wide, and a vein pulsed in his temple. He seized her by the wrist and wrenched her hand further away from Juliet's wound.
"No," he spat. "No, I know your ways, Captain Short. All along, this has been your plan. Your revenge. After the kidnapping, you saved my mother, my father, Butler—but when you did so you turned them against me. I won't allow you to take Juliet, too."
"Artemis—" Holly tried to say, but Artemis talked over her.
"Everything that has happened has been a part of your schemes," he said in a high, ringing voice. "Hybras, the time tunnel, even the Atlantis Complex itself—I've been a fool not to see it before. You, Captain Short—you are my enemy, as you have been from the beginning."
Holly sat where she was for a moment, frozen, unable to respond. A memory flashed across her mind, an image of Artemis sitting in a high-backed armchair next to his mother's sickly form, staring at her with cold, accusing eyes. You have already interfered, Holly.
Holly felt the same old emotions churning in her stomach, pounding in her head, as though she were reliving that terrible scene all over again. The accusations were baseless, no more than the typical paranoia brought on by the Atlantis Complex. But in this moment, the pain was real.
Holly blinked, forcing the memory back, forcing herself to focus in spite of the tightness in her throat.
Artemis had stopped talking. His mouth was pressed in a thin line, his entire body quivering, as though pressed to keep speaking, but battling with all he was to hold it in. He stared at her with wide, haunted eyes like those of a trapped beast, like he didn't know whether he wanted to lash out and attack her, or plead desperately for her help—
Holly turned away from Juliet. Pulling her arm free from his limp grasp, she locked both hands on either side of his face, and forced him to look down, right into her eyes that were ever a mirror image of his own.
Another memory stirred at the back of her mind then. Artemis, laying on his back on a thick carpet of deep green grass, looking up at her with eyes very different from what they were now.
Holly, you saved me again.
Somewhere inside her, Holly felt a flicker of pain. Because she knew that this time was different. This time, she couldn't save him.
"Artemis," she said gently, layering her voice with magic.
Artemis frowned, and his eyes dropped away from hers. However, the spell was already worming its way inside his mind, taking over. His eyes returned to hers a moment later, glassy and unfocused.
"You're tired, aren't you, Artemis," she continued soothingly. "You need to sleep. So sleep."
Immediately Artemis's eyelids drooped. However, he still had a grain of fight left in him. "I shouldn't," he mumbled. "I have so many enemies. They're coming for me. And even my friends. They're coming, too. They're going to take away my memories."
Holly jerked, startled. However, she instantly quelled it. Injecting another layer into the spell, she continued, "No, Artemis. You're safe. You're safe because I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you."
Artemis looked down at her for another long moment, then at last his eyes slid closed. He slumped backward, and Butler deftly caught him, hoisting him up in his arms as easily as a mother lion taking up a cub. Butler nodded once at Holly, looking apologetic, then turned for the grand staircase to take him up.
Holly could feel the eyes of the other Fowls on her as they reluctantly made to follow. She had to wonder especially what Artemis Fowl Senior was thinking now. A strange creature appearing out of nowhere apparently to save them from another strange creature. Then seeing that same creature being accused of plotting against the family by a son whose judgment he trusted.
Holly couldn't afford to worry about that right now. As Butler herded everyone upstairs, Holly stared down at the injured Juliet.
Juliet forced a smile. "Scary," she whispered. "Never...never seen him like that. He could, like...make a great wrestling coach."
"Shh," Holly said softly. "Let's talk about it after I heal you."
Juliet was still smiling, despite the sheet of shining sweat on her skin, and the pained tightness of her face.
"Go for it, fairy girl," she whispered.
Holly let the arcs of amber sparks leap from her fingers, engulfing the girl in a bright warm glow. As she did, she concentrated on the magic, trying to shut out the images from the last hour. Memories of Minerva, the deadly beam of light from the black gun as it pierced through Juliet's shoulder—and Artemis's cold, furious eyes, as he plunged back into madness.
A/N: Well, we made it. We're finally past the opening ten chapters. (If this were a real published work, it definitely wouldn't be acceptable to spend this much time on setup, but...I'm counting on a supreme love of the AF series to engender forgiveness for my inexperience and inefficiency.) Of course, I am me, so we're still not going to be moving all that fast, but. We are getting somewhere, finally.
Thank you all so much for reading and for your wonderful encouragement, it means a lot. If you have time, take a minute and let me know what you thought! :J
Posted 10/31/15