A/N: wow...second to last chapter already! Time flies so fast when you're having fun, right?
Holly, Chase, and the Bobb and Unix were picked up by LEPretrieval that same night. As the officers loaded the two into the shuttle, Captain Kelp came to talk to Holly.
"You know," the captain said, "you were supposed to wait for us."
Holly shrugged. "Artemis had a better plan," she said. She peered at him. "You're going to file a complaint, aren't you, Grub?"
Grub Kelp lifted his visor. "Very funny, Holly," he said.
Artemis and Ettie stood by, watching. "Um...Loretta," Artemis said. "Good work back there."
Ettie shrugged. "It was nothing."
"But a toilet lid?"
"It was what was handy at the moment."
Artemis chuckled. "Americans..."
Ettie frowned. "What? Toilet lids are very useful."
Artemis looked down at his shoes. Ettie was the second girl he'd ever really talked to, besides Holly, yet he still didn't know what to say.
"You know," he said, "Holly said you were smarter than you looked. I guess she's right."
Ettie smirked. "That must mean I'm pretty damn smart."
"Don't get cocky."
Ettie, Artemis, and Butler entered the house from the garage. Kicking off her shoes, Ettie climbed the stairs. Her head was drooping and she slouched. She started up the stairs. "God, I'm exhausted," she said. "I'm going upstairs to get a drink of water. Then I'm going to bed to sleep for a week. Then when I'm tired of that I'll rest a bit. Then when I've had enough rest I'll go back to sleep for another month."
She continued up the stairs, the wood creaking under her feet.
Artemis followed suit and came in behind her.
"Where have you been?"
Both heads turned to see a very tired looking Angeline Fowl sitting on the couch in the living room. There were red rims around her narrowed eyes and her normally elegant hair was messy. She was dressed in her baby blue nightgown and matching slippers. Ettie felt secretly jealous about those matching P.J.'s and slippers. Ah, the luxuries of being rich.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" She paused, waiting for an answer. When none came, she said, "It's three o'clock in the morning. Not a time to be parading around the city with fairies. Can you imagine how worried I was? You could have been hurt, what with awful people like Opal Koboi on the loose."
"But she's not on the loose, Mother," Artemis said. "Both of them are still locked up."
"That's what they want you to think."
Ettie looked from Artemis – cool and unnerved – to his mother – sleepy eyed and worried. "Wait a minute," Ettie said. "She knows?"
Artemis ignored her, for it was, after all, a pretty stupid question. "I'm sorry, Mother," Artemis said. "It was urgent."
"But why did you take Loretta with you? She could have been hurt!"
"It was not my fault she came," Artemis said, calmly checking his nails. "She stowed away in the trunk."
Angeline sighed. "Artemis," she said. "What am I going to do with you?"
She got up and put her arms around her son. "Next time, Arty," she said. "Please tell me."
He nodded and Ettie smiled. Ettie went downstairs to sleep.
Captain Oak came out of the interrogation room quietly, shutting the door behind him with a small click. Holly gazed in through the one-way glass. Unix sat inside, hands cuffed to the chair, head bowed.
"Has he talked yet?" Holly said quietly.
Chase shook his head. "Not a word. Not even any denials. Nothing."
Holly studied the sprite. She sighed.
"Has the other one done anything?"
Holly looked at her fellow officer. "Other than scream and shout and kick?" she said. "No."
Inside the room, Unix looked up at the glass. Holly knew he couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. His brow was furrowed.
"I'm going to go in and talk to him," she said, reaching for the doorknob.
Chase put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure?" he said. "What difference can it make? One officer is the same as any other when it comes to criminals."
Holly didn't answer. She just shrugged off his hand and entered the room. Unix's eyes followed her as she made her way to the other chair. She pulled it out and sat down, treating the sprite to her deadliest stare.
"Tell me, Unix," she said. "Where did you get that device?"
He didn't answer.
"You know," she said, "the one that your partner was carrying."
Unix's mouth tightened and his thin green wings quivered.
"Okay then," Holly said. "Tell me this. Why don't you want to tell us?"
Unix finally spoke. "If I told you," he said, his voice shaking, "she'd kill us. Both of us."
"Who's 'us'?"
"Me and Bobb."
"Who'd kill you?"
Unix glared. "You think I'm stupid, lady? I ain't gonna tell you. She'd kill us."
Holly smiled. "It will be just between us."
No answer.
"Please?"
Nothing.
Holly left the room. Chase was waiting outside. "Nothing?"
"Nothing."
Ettie shut the door to her room quietly and sighed. What a night. Good thing there was no school tomorrow. At two o'clock in the morning, it would be impossible for her to wake up at seven in time for school.
She collapsed in bed, without even taking off her clothes. She used the last of her strength to turn off the light. Letting the welcomed darkness wash over her, she was asleep in seconds.
Ettie was awake before she opened her eyes. Someone was shaking her.
"Loretta..." someone said softly. "Loretta..."
She waved at the voice, burying her face deeper into her pillow. "Mmph...go away," she said. "Leave me alone."
"Loretta!" the voice said. "Wake up."
Ettie opened her eyes to meet a pair of mismatched ones. "What do you want Artemis?" she said.
The shaking stopped. "I want you to wake up. Hurry up."
Ettie pulled herself off her bed and onto her feet. She put a hand on Artemis' shoulder for support while she waited for sleep to go away. "What time is it?" she said.
"It's nearly noon."
"Oh."
"Follow me."
Artemis walked out of the room and Ettie slowly followed. She followed him out the garage door and down the block to where the white van had been parked earlier. It was still there.
"What's going on?" she said.
Artemis didn't answer. He opened the door of the van and beckoned for her to come inside. She stepped up into the vehicle. There were machines everywhere. By the looks of it, someone had gone and loaded up the van overnight. Holly sat in there, staring at the machines. There was a chair inside. It was small, but when Artemis told her to sit in it, she was able to squeeze into it.
"What's going on?" Ettie said again.
Holly turned to her. "I'm sorry, Loretta," she said. "Ettie. But this is completely necessary. Please, don't take it personally."
Ettie frowned. "Why? What are you going to do?"
"You're going to have to be mind-wiped," Chase said. "The People can't afford to have another human running around up here with your knowledge."
"What?" Ettie said, tilting her head to one side. She looked at Holly's regretful expression, then to Artemis' unreadable one, then to Butler's frown, then to Chase's sympathetic one. "Oh! Oh, I see now. Like...brainwashing, right? Taking away my memories of you guys?"
"Exactly," Artemis said. "You must understand, this is a requirement."
"Yeah," Ettie said. She looked at the floor. "I think I understand. You sure you want to do this?"
"Positive."
"Damn."
"Just relax," Holly said. "You won't feel a thing."
They didn't waste time with good-byes. That would just take too long. Besides, Ettie wasn't like Artemis. They hadn't braved the arctic, traveled hundreds of miles, or saved each other's lives. Ettie was just another human.
"Sleep now," Holly said. "Sleep, and you won't remember any of this."
And so Ettie closed her pale eyes, and was snoring soundly.
A/N: *sob* I'm going to miss you guys so much! Next chapter is the epilogue already! *sob* I know how much you guys don't want this to end, but everything must come to an end sooner or later. Don't worry you guys! There's a sequel. You'll get the details next chapter.
-Demented Cookies
