Chapter 7: Drunken Sprite
Artemis was standing in the front entryway of Fowl Manor waiting for Minerva and Juliet to meet him. He wasn't going to wait for Holly. If she wasn't there by the time they left, he was leaving her behind.
Juliet and Minerva were slow coming down the stairs, as if trying to give Holly more time to join them. Artemis rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. Now that it was morning, Artemis realized everything that he had said to Holly, and he regretted it. But he still wasn't going to apologize for what he said. Nor was he going to wait for Holly. No, he would do exactly as he had planned. He just felt bad about it.
"Are you two ready?" They nodded. Minerva looked behind her, Artemis' eyes followed suit. There was nobody standing there. Damn, he thought. "Then let's go. We have a long trip ahead of us."
"I'll say." Came Holly's voice from behind Artemis. He jerked his head around, expecting to see his old standing there. But instead, all he saw was a wisp of colors. He smiled knowingly.
"I'm glad you made it Holly." As soon as her name left his mouth, Holly appeared before him, wearing a silver jumpsuit. Her short hair had grown dramatically from the first time he met her. At their first encounter, her hair was simply a buzz cut, now it had become more feminine, falling a little past her ears. It had grown a lot more since Butler's death, when she gave up on getting it cut.
"It's for Butler." Artemis nodded. He understood perfectly how she felt.
"Well," he straightened back to his usual demeanor. "Shall we? Ho Chi Minh city is a long ways away." He turned around and walked briskly through the front door. The girls followed behind.
Twelve hours later the three of them were driving down the busy streets of Ho Chi Minh in a rented four wheel drive. Juliet was behind the wheel. Artemis dictated her the directions from memory. A normal human being never would have remembered those from five years ago. But Artemis was not a normal human being. And that is what made him so special.
"There, stop there." Juliet came to a screeching halt. Artemis' head slammed into the dashboard. The seatbelts did nothing to help him. He rubbed his forehead where the big red mark was already forming. "I meant up there, not right here." He pointed to his intended parking space about twenty feet away. She just shrugged.
Holly decided to stay behind in the car. With her lack of height, short hair, and silver jumpsuit, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Minerva was a little nervous. She had no idea was Artemis was planning, very few people ever did. She gripped her back pack's strap tightly. Inside this bag were several things Artemis had packed. Juliet jumped down from her seat behind the wheel. Artemis slowly exited the vehicle with the same class he always showed. That boy didn't know how to do anything casually.
"Shall we?" Before waiting for an answer he walked forward towards the way he remembered from all those years ago. Soon, he was standing in front of that familiar cardboard box, hidden from the sun. he didn't understand it, he saved her from this life before, only for her to return to it. It was cruel how fate worked out sometimes.
"Madam," he called to inside the box. He snapped ihs fingers at Minerva, who quickly pulled a leather flask out of her bag. She handed it to Artemis who place it in front of the box. "I require your assistance." A green scaly hand reached out and grabbed the flask. Artemis smiled, knowing full well where this was going.
"What you want," came a grotesque voice that had been eroded by years of drinking rice whiskey. "You need wart removed. Come, I help you." Artemis shook his head pitifully. The only sort of magic the Sprite had was curing small afflictions, such as warts. She had spent too much time getting drunk by human alcohol.
"I don't want you medicinal assistance. I want information. About the Afterlife." Suddenly his whiskey, holy water concoction was sprayed all over his face. Behind him, Juliet chuckled, he glared back at her, but it didn't stop her.
"I don't know nothing, you leave now!" She threw the flask back at him. It was empty.
"You don't want me to do that."
"Yes I do! Leave!" Artemis shook his head.
"But if I leave, you'll die. See, I slipped Holy Water into that flask of whiskey." He said this with a sick smile.
She gasped out loud. Minerva jumped at the sudden sound. "Holy Water! You dirty little boy, you've killed me!" The outburst made Artemis smile even more.
"Yes, yes, we've already been through all of this before. Now you tell me what I need to know, and I will give you this other flask," Minerva placed it down in his hand. "It is full of the purest water from Ireland. That should be enough to overpower the poison in your system."
The Sprite eyed him suspiciously from the shadows. "Why should I trust you?" Suddenly, Minerva fell to her knees beside Artemis. She was clearly angry, and impatient, but the sixteen year old Artemis found that strangely attractive.
"Look lady, you have two options. Tell us what we need, let Arty," glare. "Give you the water, and live. Or don't tell us, and die a horrible painful death. It's your choice." Artemis couldn't have been more proud of her.
The Sprite thought long and hard about her dilemma. She could either die, or reveal more secrets about her way of life. "You were the one I was supposed to wait for?" Artemis nodded slowly. It seems Imyourfriend had already informed the Sprite of their arrival.
"So what do you say we get down to business, shall we?"