Chapter 18 – In which some things need to be explained… badly

Foaly stopped the discs at the last one, the one just before the C Cube madness. Foaly winced as he saw the fountain outside Spud's Emporium respond to the electricity flowing from Kestrel's fingertips. Perhaps letting a thirteen-year-old girl, half way through adolescence, free into a place filled to the tips with single sprites, mostly resembling Chix's personality.

It had taken some of them at least a week in the Haven Hospital to get onto the 'stable' list.

And yet, they were all staring without any recognition on their faces. Holly, naturally, was the first to respond to it all.

"I babysat? For that girl?" Foaly nodded, causing Holly to mutter, "At least they didn't put Lili Frond on the job. Her personality would have caused even more disaster in Haven."

For once, Foaly couldn't help but agree with this sentiment.

And then he realised something. Foaly started swearing almost as well as a swear toad by now, albeit without the occasional swelling of the chin. That would make him look weirder than a goblin at a civilised tea party.

"I've shown you all of this and still no residual memories being triggered? What is wrong with your minds and how strong was that mind-wipe?" He kicked a ground button viciously. An electronic voice (his own, naturally) piped up.

"What is your request?"

"My request," Everyone, including Root, was starting to edge away from Foaly now, "Is that somebody had better send for my underlings with mind-wipe material, because I can see that only the good old low-tech is going to be able to solve this now!" The centaur was never in the best of moods – especially when it turned out that somebody's mind-wiping material was much more successful than his own.

Or any kind of patent that excelled his, to be honest, and Foaly would foam at the mouth worse than a whole vat of vole curry.

His order was obeyed. Foaly had very few days like this, but when he did…

Let's just say that even Root was wary of the furious centaur, and leave it at that.

When the said material was brought, the four people in the room who had no recollection of Ivy whatsoever recoiled slightly. It was, after all, a daunting prospect to submit to the mind-wipe, so mind-wipe equipment usually lurked in some dark, un-dusted corner of every being who encountered fairies.

"Foaly, what are you doing with that thing?" Demanded Artemis, backing away from the technology displayed before him, for once losing any kind of curiosity about fairy technology. "I have not, as you may have realised, given my consent for a mind wipe to be performed on me."

Artemis Junior knew that he was babbling, and that the People did not really need permission to wipe him, but he was human as well – after all, being suspicious was in his nature.

"Relax, Fowl, I'm just going to do some retyping, so to speak. I'm going to have to do this manually, unfortunately. Someone has been using some very dangerous material here, and I can't be sure what kind of damage it has done to all of you. I advise you to relax." And with that, Foaly slapped two electrodes onto Artemis's temples, knocking the boy out immediately.

The boy's face still had a look of disbelief on it, as did all the people who were having electrodes attached to their temples. Of course, Fowl was more important to sedate faster – it was unlikely that he had taken any precautions, but then again, this was Artemis Fowl the Second, child prodigy, in question here.

"Foaly," Whispered Root, "If you bring me back with six centuries of emptiness in my head, I will personally burn your flank so that no female will look at you twice at that line-dancing club you go to…" And with that, he was knocked unconscious. Foaly hurriedly proceeded to delete the memory of that particular threat.

There was just one female centaur that Foaly had his eyes on, and he didn't want his chance of being a prospective mate going down the recycling chute.

He looked at the spiralling text. The parts with Ivy in them were faint… eerily faint. It was almost as if someone had literally managed to wipe them. Of course, the term 'mind-wipe' was a bit of a misnomer. What the People really did was suppress memories. Given strong enough persuasion, those memories would escape the suppression and rise again into conscious thought, not just subconscious.

And that was exactly what Foaly had to do. Manually.

The centaur cast a brief look across the four sedated beings. Three elves, one human, all unconscious, and all about to have their minds tampered with. The mind was a delicate thing, and any mistakes were not to be taken lightly.

Then again…

Foaly shook his head, dislodging any ungracious thoughts on re-wiring the old commander. No, it was time to return their rightful memories.

This was going to take a while.

Ivy's requests were a little more than unusual. After all, a piece of burning coal, to be placed in her hand, was not on the average girl's list of what she would want to be done to her during her stay in limbo.

Of course, most average girls do not spend much time in limbo, unless you count during the godforsaken hours in the morning.

For the most part, the requests were not too taxing, although it was slightly difficult to explain to the head gardener why they needed a patch of earth with an acorn in it, planted in an earthenware bowl.

As per instructions, the burning coal was placed within the girl's hands, and it immediately re-lighted (what, did you think that Duke Kestrel was going to let his daughter touch a literally burning coal?) and a slight tapping followed that sounded somewhat testy.

Fowl immediately translated, "Ah. She says that she thought her instructions were clear enough to be understood by a goblin."

Somehow, the insult did not penetrate to the greater depths of Kestrel Senior's brain. What he was concerned with, was getting that great ball of fire out of his daughter's hand. Which he tried to do.

The operative word being 'tried' - he got promptly burnt, and saw a strange smirk appear on the girl's face. Similar to Fowl's, in fact. The duke was tempted to put his hands in his face and moan – his daughter hadn't even been conscious in the presence of Fowl yet and was already being corrupted by him.

When they had got the girl into the position she needed to be in, Fowl backed away several steps. The duke unconsciously followed, and then wondered why he was following,

"Fowl, why are we backing away?" He asked, whilst joining the pale human by the wall.

"The positions that she has instructed us to put her into are not common, sir. Those materials that she demanded would also be fairly substantial if magic were used to combine them. What are your daughter's powers again?" The youth smirked, obviously enjoying making his superior sweat for the fun of it.

Was it possible that the elements had chosen his daughter…?

And, at that moment in time, Ivy stopped mumbling and fidgeting. An inexplicable calm filled her, and she started to mutter something inaudible.

The inhabitants of the room, however, were quite sure of the context as soon as they saw the soft glow protruding from the four objects that Ivy Kestrel was in contact with. Humanoid figures appeared, clad in robes and each with its own compelling aura. The one clad in blue held the girl's hand tightly, murmuring something.

It was when the lightning bolt suddenly struck the young girl that her father finally decided to regain control over his drooping jaw and go and see who these beings were and just what they were doing with his daughter.

The job had taken over an hour, the longest time Foaly had ever had to work on a single project before. This was definitely a first.

Foaly had saved Fowl for last. In fact, Artemis was almost definitely the hardest to bring back. Whoever had wiped Fowl's memory had wanted it to be done thoroughly – the original memories were so faint and small that it would have been practically impossible to detect them. Unless, smirked Foaly, bringing out his Retimager, you are a genius like me.

Picking out the last thing that Fowl had seen, which, of course, was Melissa and Ivy, and cross-referenced his latest image with one of his faint memories, the boy genius's mind started to make links between the two pictures, eventually recognising them to be the same image. The idea was simple, in itself, but pure brilliance when examined under scrutiny.

The rest were relatively easy, seeing as their memories were not as faded as Fowl's, and their minds linked up the two images much faster as well. Obviously, whoever wanted Ivy's image to be erased from the surface of the earth wanted to make sure that Fowl especially didn't regain his memories.

Of course, this mysterious person hadn't counted on Ivy being known under the earth's surface as well.

Eventually, they all came to. The operative word being 'eventually'. The sedative was a little stronger than necessary, but, after all, the mind was a delicate thing. If any of the people having their memories revived woke up halfway through the process, there was a good chance that some drastic changes would be made to their minds, perhaps irreversible damage.

"I feel like I just went through a fight with that troll in Martina Franca again." Groaned Holly, her hands cradling her head. Then her hazel eyes went wider than usual.

"Oh Frond, Ivy! Machine! Melissa!" Screamed Holly, apparently not able to speak in full sentences for the moment.

"Holly, may I remind you that full sentences are necessary in my presence?" Snapped the Mud adolescent, "And yes, I would like to express my displeasure as well, although I think that should be saved for a bit later on."

"How much later on, Fowl?" Root spat, his hand already going toward his mouth for the non-existent cigar, "The People can't survive for long without her, and at the moment there is something that we need to desperately do."

Everyone stared at the former commander, waiting for a clue to what he was going to say next. As per usual, Artemis beat everyone to it.

"Of course, we will be needing some more influence underground than just one LEP Major and three civilians. We need a Council Member," She glanced at Root, "or at least a candidate for the seat."

And so, the plan for making Root officially alive again within twenty-four hours proceeded, without too much unnecessary impatience from a certain Mud Adolescent. (Please note that I have not said that he was completely devoid of impatience)

The girl was conscious again, and looking about her for a clue to where she was. Her green eyes, so much like her father's, pierced through objects almost as easily as a blade would through a loaf of bread. She directed this gaze towards her father and someone that looked astonishingly like Artemis, although he held himself differently; his eyes were haunted, adding even more emphasis on his maturity beyond his years.

"Would someone mind telling me where I am?" She asked, when no further information came out of glaring at her father and the 'other' Artemis, so to speak. The young Fowl heir saw that she had expected someone to answer as soon as her eyes were upon them.

"My lady, you are within Duke Kestrel's domain. Are you going to inform us as to your reason for being where you are?" Asked Artemis, his voice mocking Ivy as much as enlightening her.

"Fowl, if this is a Kestrel's domain, then I have a right to be here, wouldn't you say?" Ivy retorted, "More than you do, as my name is, in fact, Kestrel."

One nil, and it's Fowl's turn, thought Duke Kestrel, trying not to grin manically. After all, it wouldn't be dignified if the current Duke Kestrel fell to pieces laughing in front of a human and his own daughter.

Seeing the slightly startled expression on Artemis's face, Ivy decided to rein in the attacks slightly,

"Artemis, give it up, you're never going to get as good as I am with these insults, no matter how much you try – you just won't degrade yourself by reading some fantasy novels." Smirked his daughter. That's it, Duke Kestrel cursed silently, as soon as I have the chance, I am seeing if Fowl has the power to communicate telepathically, even though no such power has ever been recorded.

My daughter has definitely been corrupted by him.

Wing Commander Vinyaya, well known for her piloting skills and path of flame through the unquestioned sexism within the Lower Elements Police force, and with a sharp tongue to match a certain other female LEPrecon ex-captain, couldn't seem to summon the words to her mouth as she saw her old crush stand before her, a lopsided grin plastered onto his face.

"Hello, Vinyaya. Miss me?" He asked. And, of all the possible answers she could have given, she had to blurt out the first:

"You're not alive!"

Welcoming, real welcoming.

A/N: Thanks to all of my reviewers! I am still trying to work my way through all of my summer homework (I've recently had Chinese added onto my seemingly never-ending pile).

Now, for all those who haven't reviewed… do so!

Artemis: How dare you make me inferior to Ivy in your story!

AmethystNox: I haven't made you inferior, just equal.

Artemis: It's either superior or inferior in my book – there is no in-between.

Ivy: Ignore the egotistical one. He's still annoying that I beat him in the Chemistry test last term ;)

AmethystNox: Quite right, Ivy, I am very glad that I decided to invent you now.

Artemis: (Moans) I cannot believe that all the girls are ganging up on me… just review, and make Nox end this story soon – I'll be left in peace after that!

AmethystNox: He does have a point, people… REVIEW!