Chapter 6: Powers Unknown

Artemis found Butler in the kitchen when he came downstairs after speaking with Holly. Artemis entered the room and butler looked up from the magazine he was reading. As he saw the title, which was 'Guns and Ammo', a small smile flickered across the youth's lips. Butler was always reading one of those magazines and he must have read that one about five times already.

'What did Holly say?' he asked when he saw Artemis enter the room.

'She can't come until tomorrow so we'll have to look after our… guest until then.'

'You know, Artemis, I really don't like this idea. That girl is dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt.'

'Since when are girls not dangerous?' the boy joked as he recounted his experiences with Holly and Juliet. Mainly when they had hit him.

Butler scowled. 'Since when did you make jokes about situations like this?'

The grin vanished from Artemis' face and he composed himself. Butler was right, this was no time to joke. 'I'm going to go and check on our guest.' Butler stood up to come but Artemis stopped him. 'I'm not going in there, I'm going to check on her from the security room.' Butler nodded and left Artemis to do what he wanted.

Artemis took the stairs up to the security room. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard a noise. There was a thump and the sound of quite swearing. It sounded like 'D'Arvit!' Artemis could tell that the voice was female. Considering only fairies and himself knew the word that had been said and only one fairy had been invited into the Manor, the boy thought he knew who it was. He opened the door quietly and found that the room was empty, apart from a small haze above the chair. On the ground lay the walkie-talkie Artemis had used earlier.

Artemis cleared his throat and said, 'Holly, please stop hovering and come into the visual spectrum.'

The haze seemed to settle into the chair and then became a solid figure. The chair turned to reveal a short girl with pointed ears, short auburn hair and glistening hazel eyes. She smiled. 'Hello, Artemis. Miss me?' She gave his a mischievous smirk as he came over to her and gave her a hug.

'Yes I did, but what are you doing here? I thought you could only come tomorrow?'

'So did I but Foaly pulled a few strings. You know how he is but he was able to get me a visa quicker and now I'm here.' She gave him a smile and he smiled back. Not his usual vampire smile but a real one filled with warmth.

'OK, where's Butler. You should probably tell him I'm here.'

'Yes. I'll tell him to come up now,' Artemis said as he bent down to pick up the walkie-talkie that was lying on the floor.

He was stopped by Holly as she tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at one of the screens. As Artemis looked at the screen she was pointing at, he felt his blood run cold. The screen showed Althuna Cutriana and she did not look happy. She had completely recovered from the sedative that had been injected into her and she was now in the process of using her powers. They watched as the girl stood up and closed her eyes. Red sparks began to dance along her fingers and as she opened her eyes, they had turned to red slits like usual. Holly and Artemis stared at the screen with their mouths hanging open as they watched Althuna shoot sparks at the camera. In the control room, the sparks had travelled up the wire on the camera and into the control room. This resulted in the sparks hitting the screens that Artemis and Holly were watching from and making them all go blank. There was nothing but black on all the screens.

'Uh… That's not good.' After saying that, Holly dashed out of the room, followed closely by Artemis. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Holly was quickly in front of Artemis, her legs carrying her easily but Artemis was already panting heavily. He had started to take up jogging but he had never run full blast for such a long time before since Fowl manor was very large. Soon they were at the staircase, running towards the kitchen where they had seen Butler. They entered out of breath and Butler was startled as they hurtled into the room.

'Butler – Miss Thomson – used her powers – cameras down. Need to go check – on her,' Artemis said as he tried to catch his breath. But soon the three of them were running towards Althuna's cell. They stopped as they reached the door, which was glowing red and there was a heat haze surrounding it. Butler acted immediately. He pulled Artemis and Holly away from the door and out into the corridor where he pulled them around a corner. He did it just in time. If the trio had stayed there for a moment longer, the molten metal of the door would have crushed them. The door crumpled and fell to the floor, revealing Althuna standing in the doorway with glistening red eyes. Butler charged at the girl, only to be hit in the shoulder by the sparks. He kept going though as the sparks didn't have enough power to kill him at that moment. He rammed into her and knocked her to the floor. He pinched the nerve cluster at the base of her neck and she fell unconscious instantly. Once the coast was clear, Holly and Artemis dashed forward. Holly quickly breathed, 'Heal,' and blue sparks left her fingers to target the wound on Butler's shoulder. Meanwhile, Artemis was gazing curiously at Althuna. At that very moment, he realised how pretty she actually was. Her long dirty blonde framed her face and her usual makeup had come off, showing her features underneath. When Artemis realised what he was thinking he shook his head. Damned puberty, he thought bitterly. This was no time to think of someone trying to kill him like that. Butler seemed to know exactly what was going through his young charges mind and laid a consoling hand on his shoulder. Artemis looked up and nodded to the hulking figure beside him.

Artemis turned to Holly. 'Have you ever seen these powers before?'

'No, I'll have to talk to Foaly about this. Where should we put her? She can't go back in there.'

'I really have no idea. I guess we'll have to sedate her for the time being. Butler, can you keep an eye on her while we speak to Foaly?' Butler nodded and then picked the girl up. Let's go and see what Foaly makes of this, Artemis thought, cause I have no idea.

A/N: Just so you know, this story is not romance. I just put the puberty part in because it's part of growing up. Anyway, hope ya liked that chapter. Bye!