Chapter 8: New Technology

It was hours after interrogating Althuna when the communicator in Artemis' pocket began to ring. Artemis was startled out of his thoughts as he pulled it from his pocket and flipped it open. Foaly's face appeared on the screen, from the background, it looked as I he was outside.

'Hey, Fowl, could you come and pick me up? I'm at Tara.'

'Yes of course. Myself, Butler and Holly shall be there in a while to pick you up. For the time being, I would hide in the terminal so you don't get seen.'

'I had thought of that you know, just hurry up please.' Foaly then cut the connection as Artemis made his way down from his study. He quickly found Holly and Butler and they soon left the house, heading towards Tara. Butler drove the Bentley with Artemis in the front next to him and Holly in the back. They rode in silence, Butler keeping his eyes on the road, Artemis typing on his laptop, which he had insisted on bringing and Holly gazing absently out of the window at the countryside. They soon arrived at Tara and they all got out to greet Foaly. They could seen a pair of eyes watching them from the shadows and soon the torso of a man could be seen, followed by a horses body. The centaur flicked his tail as he came out of the shadows. He held out his hand to Artemis, who shook it warmly.

'Hey, Foaly,' said Holly as she gave him a hug.

'Holly, how are you?'

'Good. Did you bring what you need?'

'No, I came all this way to bind this girls powers but forgot what I need to do it with,' Foaly said with the usual sarcasm, lifting up a bag so that they could see it. Artemis gave a small smirk at this but made no comment.

Butler broke the silence. 'We had better go before some one sees us.' They all nodded and Butler held the back door open for Holly and Foaly who both climbed inside. Moments later, they were on their way back to Fowl Manor, nobody spoke as the car made its way down the lanes and roads. In a matter of minutes, the car passed through the gates to Fowl Manor and the car pulled up in front of the double doors. They all got out and entered the Manor, but Foaly stopped them with a comment.

'Artemis, what about your parents?'

'Don't worry about that, they're away at the moment.'

'Ah, OK.' They continued on their way. Artemis led them all up to his study where they could speak privately.

'Foaly, what did you bring and what can we do to help?' Holly said as soon as they were all comfortable in the study.

Just some bits and pieces. A demon warlock's book and some technology that should help,' he said as he pulled out the objects from the bag. Last he pulled out what looked like a pair of handcuffs but different than the ones the LEP use. They looked like they were made of metal and had a keypad on them so that the wearer couldn't reach it. Artemis took them from Foaly and inspected them.

'Foaly, what metal is this made form?' asked Artemis.

Foaly shook his head. 'They're not made of metal. They're made of a substance that can change shape and design depending on what you want to disguise them as. I call them Chameleon Cuffs, C Cuffs for short. There are also unbreakable, no matter what you do to them. You can melt them, freeze them, crush them, whatever you want and they will not break. Also, the keypad has a ten-digit code instead of three so it's harder to crack. They stop burst of magical power as well so if you try to use magic, it contains it so the wearer can't hurt themselves or anyone else.' Artemis looked impressed but the look quickly vanished. 'I brought them so that we can stop the girl from hurting us.'

Artemis nodded. 'OK, we best get this over with before Miss Thomson wakes up. What do we have to do?'

'We put the cuffs on her and then four magical beings surround the girl…' Foaly was cut off by Butler.

'But there are only two magical beings,' he said. 'You and Holly.'

'No, you two are magical as well. Mud Men used to know magic but they forgot how to aeons ago but you still have the power buried deep inside your brain. It should be enough to make it work. As I was saying, we chant the words from the book and that's it.'

'That's it? Nothing else?' Artemis raised an eyebrow sceptically.

'Yeah, that's what the book says.'

'OK, let's go then.' Artemis walked out of the room, closely followed by Holly, Butler and Foaly. They followed the corridors and descended numerous staircases until they reached the cellar where Althuna had been kept. Butler entered first to check that the coast was clear. He switched on the light switch and quickly glanced around. Althuna was still lying on the floor in a heap and it looked as if nothing had been disturbed. He made his way over to Althuna and crouched down next to her as Artemis, Holly and Foaly entered the room. Next thing they knew though, Althuna had jumped to her feet, knocking Butler over and was glaring at the other three people in the room. She took a step towards them as sparks began to creep along her fingers and she smiled. A cruel triumphant smile.

A/N: Hello people. Sorry to leave it hanging there but I love cliffies so you'll have to wait until I next update to find out what happens next. Hope you liked that chapter anyway. Oh and please REVIEW! Bye!