I made a few big changes in Chapter 1. You should read it first.
Disclaimer: If you think I own Artemis Fowl, you must be out of your mind.
CHAPTER 3
Holly had just gotten home from a long day of work. She was going to sit down, turn on the TV, and…
Ring. Ring.
"Hello?" Holly reluctantly answered the communicator before it could ring a third time.
"Hello, Captain Short." Trouble Kelp's face appeared on the screen of her communicator.
"Hi Trouble," came Holly's less formal reply.
Trouble grinned. "Holly, listen, would you please come to Police Plaza tomorrow for a, well, a 'job interview,'" he made air quotes on "job interview."
Holly raised and eye brow. "A 'job interview' for who?" she asked suspiciously.
Trouble sighed. "For you, of course! Listen, Recon needs good officers, and you are a good officer. Please Holly?"
Holly smiled. "Trouble, as much as I would love to help you out, I like it here at Section 8. It's so secret agent-like, especially with the matte black uniforms. Don't you remember that when I was young I used to pretend I was a secret agent when you came over to visit my brother? Well, as childish as this sounds, I never stopped liking the idea of me being a secret agent."
"But you're not a secret agent. You're in Section 8," replied Trouble with a frown.
"Way to ruin the fun, Trouble. What I'm trying to say is that I like Section 8. Plus, Wing Commander Vinyáya is in charge. It's a nice change of pace to be commanded by a girl, no offense."
"None taken."
"Oh, by the way, I never got to properly congratulate you on being promoted to Commander," said Holly with a friendly smile.
Trouble blushed. "Oh, yeah, well, I just hope I can be half as good as Commander Root was.
Holly smiled sadly. "Yeah, Julius was a great commander…"
Trouble, seeing Holly's sadness, decided to end the conversation. "Well Holly, if you ever change your mind, there is always a LEPrecon uniform with your name on it."
"Thanks, Commander Kelp."
"If you ever need assistance and/or back up, just call me up," offered Trouble.
"Thanks, Trouble." And with that, they both hung up.
Holly was just about to sit down when…
Ring. Ring.
Frustrated, Holly picked up the communicator again. "Hello?"
"Holly, it's me, Foaly."
"No, really? I thought it was Johnny Depp," came Holly's sarcastic reply.
"Johnny Who?" asked Foaly, confused.
"Never mind. Anywho, why are you calling me? We just saw each other half an hour ago," questioned an annoyed Holly.
Foaly got all excited again. "I was going to wait until tomorrow to show you, but when I found out who wrote it, I had to call you." Then Foaly started to ramble.
"Hold up, who wrote what?"
"… not exactly a prophecy but it's more like a witness or something…"
"FOALY! Couldn't you, I dunno, speak in plain Gnommish so that I can understand you? What are you talking about?!" interrupted Holly.
"Sheesh, Holly, no need to be rude," said Foaly, slightly miffed that he had been interrupted during his ramble fest. "Come on over to Section 8 HQ and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
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"What is so important that you had to call me over here, Foaly?" questioned Holly to the very excited centaur.
"I found a document that is over ten thousand years old, and I was able to decode the bottom half of it."
Holly clenched her fists. "There better be more, Pony Boy, for your own sake," whispered Holly dangerously.
Foaly gulped visibly (and audibly). "It isn't just any old document, Holly. I found it about fifty years ago, but I just couldn't decode it. When I looked it over a yesterday, I found out that I could read it like it were Gnommish. It's like it wanted to be decoded at this moment. It's, well, here, see for yourself." And with that he gave his elfin friend a piece of paper printed from the computer. It read:
This enchantmente is the key to the unity of the world. My master is quite talented with his magick, and if he created this, it is sure to work. It has been hidden well. Latitude and longitude shall be revealed when the time is right.
To unity,
Qweffor
Holly looked up at Foaly. "Qweffor?" questioned Holly. "Wasn't there any more?" she asked.
"Yes, there was, but, oddly, I couldn't decode it. I had almost no problems with the second part. The first part of this document just won't budge! As if it doesn't want to be decoded. What I want to know is who was the guy who 'created the enchantment.'"
"I think I know, Foaly," said Holly, reading the paper over. "Many years ago, all the demon warlocks moved the demons blah blah blah… we all know the story. Qweffor, as we know, was one of those warlocks. But he was an apprentice at the time. He was the apprentice of…"
"Qwan!" finished Foaly for her.
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"Hello?"
"Hello, Qwan," said Foaly.
"Yeah, hi," said Holly.
"Oh, hello," Qwan replied.
"Qwan, we would like you and Qweffor to come on over to Section 8 HQ, please," Holly stated.
"Not No. 1?" asked Qwan.
"Well, he doesn't have to come, but he can," replied Foaly.
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What is it you would like to speak to us about?" asked Qwan curiously.
"Well, we've, um, found something…" started Holly.
"A special document…" continued Foaly, looking at the warlocks in front of him (No. 1 had decided to come.)
Qwan and Qweffor looked at each other. "What kind of document?" asked Qweffor.
"It is a document written on a certain enchantment that can unify the world," replied Foaly.
Qwan and Qweffor looked at each other again.
"It can unify the world? Really?" asked No. 1. Then he started to do his little hobby. "Unify, unite, bring together, join…"
"Yes, yes, it can do all that," interrupted Foaly.
"Did this document, ah, reveal the nature of the charm?" asked Qwan.
"No…" said Foaly. "I was only able to decode the part were it says it can unify the world." He showed them the paper. "As you can see, you are the one who signed this document, Qweffor. And you," he said, turning to Qwan, "you are the master he's talking about. Aren't you?"
Qweffor looked at Qwan yet again, and was surprised to see him nod in agreement. 'Wasn't that supposed to be kept secret?' Qweffor asked his superior telepathically. 'Not really,' answered Qwan.
Foaly looked between the two and asked the question he really had been wanting to ask. "What is the enchantment?"
"That, I'm afraid, I can't tell you," he answered.
Holly looked sort of upset, but not all that shocked. "You realize, Qwan, that this enchantment might be able to unify the world in a way that it hasn't been for a few thousand years?"
"Yes, I do, Captain Short, but part of the enchantment is that if we help you discover the nature, location, or incantation for the spell, it will not work. You need help, yes, but we can only help you by accompanying you to get the sc- thing that contains the enchantment, after you have discovered where it is, of course."
Holly looked discouraged, and Foaly looked outraged. "And how exactly are we supposed to find what ever we're supposed to find if we don't know what it is or where to find it?!"
No. 1 looked confused.
"Well, I can help you in this way. What is this enchantment supposed to do?"
"We don't know! You won't tell us," replied Holly.
"No, no, I mean, when the enchantment does what it is supposed to do, what will happen?" clarified Qwan.
"It's supposed to unify the world," said Foaly.
"And what needs to be unified the most?"
"Fairies and Mud People, I mean, humans," replied Foaly again.
"So if this enchantment is meant to unite the People and humans, what would make the most sense to do, relating to the unity of fairies and humans?" asked Qwan.
"Artemis Fowl," whispered Holly.
"Now is not the time to be thinking about the Mud Boyfriend, Holly!" cried Foaly, exasperated.
Qwan and Qweffor looked at each other.
"One: he's not my boyfriend, and two: they're saying that we should get Artemis to help us decode this thing!" exclaimed Holly indignantly.
Foaly looked at the Warlocks for confirmation. They just nodded.
Whoo hoo! Sorry it took so long. Tell me what you think in a review! I already have the next chapter planned out.
HollyluvsArty