"Well, I guess we must go." Artemis sighed.
"Wait a minute. You mean walk into their trap?" Holly cried.
"We must be ready, then." Butler replied, walking into the house.
Artemis and Holly both knew what Butler meant.
Holly started to follow, hoping to take one of Butler's smaller guns, (the only weapon she had with her was her neutrino 3000, and she wanted as much firepower as she could get) when Artemis stopped her.
"Holly?" He said. "I want to talk to you about something."
"What is it, Artemis?" Holly asked, still a little cross from him taking her diary, but also sad, and sorry for him.
"Holly, you do know why I stole your diary, don't you?"
"Yeah, because you like to tick me off!" She replied, angry again.
"No. Because it has… valuable information." He could see the impatience on her face, and continued. "I wanted to find out… if you had feelings for me."
"What kind of feelings, Arty?" Holly asked, almost mesmerized. She had thought that only fairies could mesmerize others.
"The kind of feelings… that you had for me… back in the past."
"And what did my diary tell you?" She asked, trying to breath.
"That you do."
They moved closer, inch by inch, until they were centimeters apart. Then, Butler came out of the house, loaded with different kinds of guns, including a sig sauer.
"Lets go." He said loudly.
Artemis and Holly, startled by the huge bodygaurd, jumped ten miles. They stood there, now a little farther apart, shaking.
"Are you guys okay?" Butler asked, wondering what had happened.
"Yeah. Fine." Holly said quickly.
"Yes. Everything is fine, Butler. Let's get going." Artemis answered, trying to shake himself out of it.
"Okay. Whatever you guys say." Butler said, not entirely convinced. "Oh, and by the way, Holly, I thought you might want this." He tossed Holly a small gun.
"Thanks." Holly said, calming down a little bit. "You read my mind."
They started the Fowl Bently, and they were off.
The ride to the "address below" took quite a while. The awkward silence in the car was terrible. Artemis and Holly were lost in their own thoughts, trying not to look at each other. Butler could hardly imagine what had happened between them while he had been inside the house.
When they finally reached the destination, they jumped out of the car and looked around. They were parked by an old, beaten down shack near the Dublin Bay.
Holly and Butler went to the front of the shack and kicked down the door, holding their guns out, ready to fire. Artemis stayed a safe distance behind, surveying the scene.
There was nothing inside, at first. No humans, no fairies, no demonds, etc. There wasn't even any furniture.
Then, with almost no warning- only a miniscule whiffling noise as it came down- a huge, transparent box fell on top of Butler and Holly and locked onto something on the floor. Artemis, still outside of the shack, peering in, stayed right where he was.
"Opal Koboi, we know you're here. We know that both of you are here, past and present. We've come here to get my twin brothers back." Artemis said calmly, although he was anything except calm.
Finally, one Opal came out, holding a neutrino 3000. Artemis guessed that this was Opal from the present.
"Finally you're here!" She complained. "Those little brats we took are giving us a headache. I have no idea why you could possibly want them back!"
"What do you want, Opal?" Artemis asked. "What do you want for them?"
"We'll tell you together, both of us Opals. Go down those stairs and we'll have a little chat." She pointed her Neutrino 3000 at him.
"What about Butler and Holly?" Artemis asked coolly.
"They can stay here while we talk," Opal said. "There's no way they can escape. The only way for them to get out is for me to let them out, which I might do if you give us what we want."
Artemis walked down the stairs to the basement, Opal from the present walking behind him, threatening him with her Neutrino 3000.
When he reached the bottom step, he saw his little brothers in a large cage. They didn't seem hurt, just scared. He let out a breath that he hadn't known he was holding.
"Artemis! Artemis! Save us! Do something!" Myles and Beckett cried.
"SHUT UP!" Yelled a voice. Artemis looked in the direction from which it had come from. There, sitting at a simple table, in one of the two chairs on the far side, was Opal from the past. She looked at him and said, "Those two have been SO annoying, with all of their yelling and crying and punching and kicking!" She rubbed a spot on her arm which had a bruise on it.
Opal from the present sat in the chair next to Opal from the past. "Sit," she said, pointing to a chair on the other side of the table. Artemis sat.
"Let's talk about our terms." Opal from the past said, flashing him a creepy smile.