A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I was a lazy butt as always, not to mention engrossed in my new story and studies. And this is never a good combination.

Chapter Eight: The Great Secret Revealed

Holly felt warm and comfy. She also felt strangely at peace, as if a heavy weight was lifted from her chest. She opened her eyes to reveal not any special dream place, but her own bedroom, where she was tucked in her own bed. She also noticed that she was fully clothed. Now all the events of the previous night came back to her.

"Arty?" she called, saying the first thing that came to mind.

There was a little rustle in the hall and then Artemis came into the room.

"Good morning. How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. But I'll certainly need a new uniform," Holly remarked, examining the hole in her suit. There was no trace left from the wound already.

"I am sorry about that."

"Well, it was necessary. Otherwise, it would've been impossible to take the bullet out."

"I mean the whole incident of you being shot in the first place. It wasn't in my plan."

"Why did you even take your gun with you after demanding for the Neutrino?"

"I am used to it. I promised Butler I would never leave home without that gun. It was his present. And I also needed to have something heavy at all times to break the window."

"Yeah! A little bit of detail on that part! Where in Frond's name did the LEP come from, anyway?"

"We couldn't have arrested all of them, could we?"

"But the note said to come alone."

"We did. The LEP arrived half an hour later and hid in the nearby bushes. It was all Mulch's idea."

"Oh, really…"

"Indeed. I am to be at Police Plaza in an hour. I've sent my report to the Council, but they want to question me about something. You can come of you feel like it," he added the last part, already in the doorframe.

"Artemis, what happened to Koboi?" Holly asked in a serious tone.

"He was thrown out of the window by the earthquake."

"And not for the protocol?"

"I told you the truth."

"I heard the sound of the gunshot."

"I shot into the ceiling. You can order to find the bullet if you want the evidence to prove my words."

"Would you have killed him if it hadn't been for the earthquake? Did you take your gun fro for this purpose?" Holly asked with desperate demand.

"If it hadn't been for the earthquake, I wouldn't be standing here right now. Mother Nature helped us again."

"Answer me!"

"I admit that such idea crossed my mind. Numerous times. But, as you know, I am quite good at hiding and suppressing emotions, even ones as strong as hate and… well, this time again I managed to overcome my anger. Shooting into the air helped. I wonder why you concentrate so intensely on the matter. Do you think that during those years, I have changed into a monster? That I have blood on my hands? Forget about it. I live a complicated life by saving the world every other day. And I do it willingly. The casualties in this business are unavoidable, but my efforts negate them to the minimum. I don' consider myself a murderer, but it is your choice what you think of me. I don't play games anymore, Holly, I never did, but I'd drown several lines for myself. One of them is that you'll never die because of me.

I don't want to be late. Are you with me or not?"

"Of course. I'll just change real quick." Artemis's last phrase seemed to mean to Holly much more than accompanying him to the Council meeting. That way or the other she was definitely with him.

……………..

The room looked absolutely the same as it did a week ago. The only difference was that there were two chairs instead of one in front of the Council.

"Be seated," the Head of the Council uttered. "You have presented an interesting report, Fowl," he continued after Holly and Artemis took their places. "Your gnomish is surely worthy of praise, but there are still some unclear moments about yesterday's events. Your report is mostly the written form of the dialog between you and Vincent Koboi. Can you comment on, for example, this phrase: 'I know exactly why, how and with what means you completed your plan'? You didn't include your way of coming to this conclusion."

"I put there all my actions, not my thoughts, otherwise it would've been two times longer. But if you want me to describe Koboi's plan of revenge…"

'One thing will never change about Artemis Fowl II – his liking to show off his intellectual greatness. Of course, he didn't include the most important thing on purpose. He wanted them to beg him to show how smart he was,' Holly thought.

"Yes, that will be quite wishfull."

"Vincent Koboi wanted to avenge the humiliation and unfairness that the People showed to his younger sister, Opal Koboi. He formed a plan and started bringing it to life five years ago. It was a well- know fact that whenever a catastrophe happens in Heaven, a strange group is formed. The core of this group is present here – Commander Short, Foaly and I. Other members vary under the circumstances. It was clear to Koboi that Foaly and I were the brains of any rescue mission, and that's why we must've been eliminated.

Thus five years ago there was a diversion of exposing the fairy world to humans. Technically there was no real threat, but the result was the awaited one – no contact with the surface inhabitants, and especially me.

Foaly was another problem. He was always here, in his booth. But he wasn't exactly alone, even at that time already he had a girlfriend. That relationship was obviously heading to something more. So Koboi waited. Waited for Foaly to go to the honeymoon.

Foaly leaves and Heaven remains practically defenseless. It was time to put his plan into action. So for two weeks he terrorizes the city. In my theory, soon he would've asked for the ransom from the government, but… He underestimated one person, someone who doesn't care only about her interests, but for the interests of the people around her, the citizens of her city and her subordinates. I am talking about Commander Short, of course." By the end of that speech Holly was as red as tomato. "She insisted on my returning. My appearance here definitely wasn't in Koboi's plan. But he continues to play. He decides to kill all birds with one stone, namely, Foaly, Commander and I. So he gathered us all in one place and you know the rest. I am sure the details can be told by the men the LEP captured. The current commander is certainly better than the previous one."

"Yes, those pixies will certainly be interrogated. Now we can go to the matter concerning your payment."

"Actually, I haven't finished yet. There is still the problem with the earthquakes. I am sure though, it won't hurt to start discussing now. Firstly, I want you to reward the Whisky brothers. Practically all the work was done by them, I only guided their actions. For myself, I ask permission to become a citizen of Haven."

Everybody in the room including Holly openly gaped at him.

"What do you mean?" one of the Council members managed to breathe out.

"I want to live here. Permanently."

"But on what basis? No Mud Man -" the Head of the Council began with indignation, but stopped abruptly when Artemis put a hair strand behind his pointed ear.

"Because I am not one. In approximately one year, the genetic mutation will be completed and I will be an average elf."

"How?!" "What?!" "When?!" "But!" Came the cries from Council members.

"Look on the bright side — your positive decision will bring a lot of advantages to the People: I will be your constant ally, my brains will always be at your disposal, not to mention my services will be much cheaper."

"We will notify you of our decision."

"Thank you, Counselor," Artemis replied with a bow and left the room with Holly in tow.

The moment the door closed behind them Holly blew up, "Are you nuts?!"

"About what?" Artemis asked evenly.

"About your living in the Lower Elements!"

"And what is so illogical about this?"

"You don't belong here!"

"How so? Only yesterday you said that it was an abnormality to be a fairy among humans. So isn't it obvious for me to live here, among the ones of my own species?"

"Well, yeah. But what about your family and friends?"

"My parents have each other and are busy with the twins. Minerva and Juliet are starting the families of their own. They will miss me but not desperately. We can exchange emails and I can visit them. In the end I'll outlive them all anyway, so I'd better leave earlier. I won't tell them anything about the fairies if that is what you are concerned about."

"No, but this is so unusual. You, an elf and, living here. This is all just so confusing. What are you even going to do here?"

"I am a genius, I'll surely find something to do. Care to have lunch?"

"Oh, lunch? Wait a minute – Foaly sent me a message during the meeting. He invited us to have lunch with him at his place."

"How polite of him. Are we taking a caddy?"

"What for?"

"Well, it is quite far away."

"How do you know?"

"I always have back up plans. Knowing the location of Foaly's house was one of them."

"You never seize to amaze me."

"I try."

The ride was indeed long, but the destination was worth it. It was a large white house in a cave, the entrance to which was completely hidden by other mountain rocks. Between them was a narrow path that lead into the cave.

Holly was the one to ring the doorbell. A small camera appeared from above, sized them up, disappeared and only then did the door open.

"Come in," came Foaly's voice from the speaker.

"Single or united, Foaly is as paranoid as ever," Holly remarked.

"Nothing is new."

"Come here, into the living room," Foaly shouted.

They followed his voice and stepped into the spacious room with comfy armchairs and sofas. They were reckoned for centaurs but looked quite comfortable for anyone else.

"Holly, Artemis, how I am glad to see you," Foaly greeted, doing some strange dance.

"Hello, pony boy. You are on for some butt kicking," Holly growled in return. "Don't you even watch the news here? How could you just sit and do nothing when everything was collapsing?!"

"Holly, when people are on honeymoon they have much more… interesting things to do than watch the news," Artemis said, trying to calm her down. "I am glad to see you too, Foaly. The drugs weren't dangerous, I hope?"

"Nothing serious. And stop being so violent, Holly. You are a woman, you know. But if it helps…" Foaly turned to face them with his rear. Holly swung her leg and gave him a good- natured kick. "Uuuugh, sorry for my mistake. Women don't have such kicks," Foaly commented, obviously in pain.

"Now it's your turn, Arty."

"Thank you, but I'll pass."

"No, no, no. It was your idea in the first place," Holly insisted.

"Okay, okay. No hard feelings, Foaly?"

"Of course." Artemis landed his kick, which made Foaly jump up slightly and give Artemis a flabbergasted look. "You didn't hold back, didn't you, Holly?"

"Of course not. What for?"

"But -" Foaly stopped, noticing Artemis shaking his head slightly. "Let's sit down then. If it doesn't hurt me to sit," he muttered the last part under his breath. "So what have you been doing these five years, Arty?"

"I remember, we'd reached an agreement, Foaly."

"Okay, okay. What have you been up to, Artemis?"

"Why don't you know? I thought you kept twenty-four-seven surveillance on me."

"Well… I did, at first, but then switched only to bank accounts and after the block out, the contact was lost all together. So I know nothing about the last five years of you ingenious life."

"So many things have happened that I could write a whole book about it."

"So why don't you tell me about your and Holly's last adventure? I heard it had been quite a blast."

"Count me out," Holly protested. "I did absolutely nothing. Even yesterday in the laboratories. I didn't fired a single shot! Acted like some damsel in distress! Grrrr… This case is the shame to of all me my operative work."

"Your presence was quite enough. I am sure you'll have a lot more cases to make us all proud," Artemis reassured.

"Yeah, yeah, if I am not removed from the post."

"Of course not," Foaly stated. "You are the best for the job. Don't you agree, Artemis?"

"Of course I agree."

Foaly looked from Holly to Artemis and back. Something wasn't right. It wasn't exactly wrong, but new, and thus unresearched and because of that, dangerous. The whole atmosphere between them was somehow different. And Foaly knew that it would never be the same. No extreme and life threatening adventures in which they dived head first, not really thinking about the consequences. Artemis wasn't a kid anymore, Holly was the LEP Commander and has responsibilities towards her troops and the Council, and he wasn't alone anymore, thus had to protect his new family… The priorities had surely shifted.

"Oh, what a horrible host I am! I've invited you to lunch, haven't I?" Foaly pressed a button on the table and big door on the other side of the room opened. In a few moments, a big table appeared out of there, pushed by a centaur of the color of dark honey.

Artemis instantly jerked up. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Caballine," he greeted with a bow.

"Likewise. It is a true pleasure to finally see the great Artemis Fowl II in the flesh. And the flesh is quite a pleasant sight too." Artemis had the decency to blush on the last comment.

They had the small talk while Caballine set up the table, putting out quite a number of dishes, including a huge bowl of carrots for Foaly. When everyone was settled with plates, Caballine began her speech.

"I will be the orator, because Foaly isn't really good with words. We both would like to thank you for saving us. If it hadn't been for the two of you, we would surely been dead. And I certainly don't want to die so disgracefully. We didn't even see our captor's face!"

"So you were drugged the whole time?"

"Exactly. If I hadn't been, I would've showed them what my hooves were made of!" she exclaimed, shaking her fist.

"Now, now, dear. Don't act violently towards our guests."

"Yeah, yeah, I am just a housewife."

"A violent housewife is much better than a simple one," Artemis disagreed. "She is much more interesting then."

"I certainly agree with you, Fowl," Caballine said with triumph. "And what do you think about that, Holly?"

"Well, I don't know. I've never been a housewife, so I don't have any experience to have an opinion - "

"You surely must, Holly," Caballine interrupted Holly's blubbering. "Family life is so exciting! You can't be Commander till pension. You are still a woman, even if you are the only woman in the LEP. I am sure there are a lot of guys out there who are willing to date you. Probably the whole LEP," she finished with giggles.

"I keep my relations with the officers strictly professional," Holly protested.

"Oh, don't be a snob, Holly. And what about you, Fowl? I bet all the fairy girls will be chasing after you the moment you settle here. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't? You are handsome, smart, wealthy, the local hero. What else does a woman need?"

'What is she doing?!' Holly thought, boiling inside. 'United lees than a month ago and already makes advances on the other man! Can't she see I am sitting right here?!' Holly hasn't yeh yet realized it, but Caballine's words made her extremely jealous of everyone who would look at Artemis the 'wrong' way.

"Firstly, Caballine, call me Artemis. Secondly, the Council hasn't decided about my permanent stay here yet. But if by chance I am accepted into this community, I don't see any obstacles having a family one day."

"But you said, you'd never have any children!"

"Any human children, Holly. Speaking of children, where did you find those brothers, Foaly? They are pure gold. Right now, they lack a bit on the analytical part, but in a hundred years they'll surely kick you out from the Operational Booth."

"Oh, those little hackers," Foaly began with pride. "I found them in an average school. I was on the search for some talented kids to make them my successors. Those guys are definitely good. One of them made a report on you, Artemis. Do you remember?"

"Of course… And I wondered why the face was so familiar. That guy broke into my network, can you imagine that?"

"That's how I noticed him actually, and then his brothers. I heard you worked together well enough. Now I need to change all my passwords so you won't enter my files again."

"It is useless, Foaly. I will be able to enter any time I want."

"Please, enlighten me."

"I've got tired of all that routine hacker's work and created a program that allows me to avoid it at the same time I haveand have constant access."

"How? Tell me!" Foaly whined.

"Don't act silly in front our guests, dear. It doesn't look good on you."

"I must know!" Foaly protested.

Artemis beckoned him with his finger. Foaly tilted down so Artemis could whisper into his ear. "I made some changes in your password submitting program, so whenever you change any password, a message with certain content appears in my inbox…"

Foaly paled. "You wouldn't dare…"

"I've never opened any personal folders, only the ones I needed information from. You can always try to change everything back…"

"Do I hear challenge?"

"Most definitely."

"Hey, quit whispering already," Holy cut into their challenging conversation, making Artemis and Foaly take their original places.

"Yes, ignoring ladies' presence isn't polite," Caballine supported her.

"I am sorry, but science was always the topic of endless discussion between us," Artemis explained himself.

Suddenly there was a beeping sound from Holly's side. She took out some kind of communication device, read the message and became as pale as a ghost.

"What is it? Are you alright?" Artemis asked with eyes full of worry. Holly handed him the device and h. He read the text, but his reaction was the absolute opposite of Holly's – he smiled widely. "The Council have made their decision. It is positive."

A long pause settled after that declaration. Holly was motionless, staring into one point on of the wall. Foaly was speechless and Caballine simply didn't know what to say.

"So, what will happen now?" Foaly finally uttered.

"Now I have a lot of things to do," Artemis answered. "And first of all, I need to finish my business on the surface. I think we should go now." He turned to Holly and shook her on her shoulder. "Does the caddy have an autopilot?" he asked her.

"Huh, what?" Holly finally snapped out of her shocked trance.

"I asked if you had an autopilot in the caddy."

"What for?"

"You can't drive now. You are still in shock."

"I am quite alright, thank you," Holly said defensively. "I can drive whatever state I am in."

"I certainly hope so."

"Can you wait in the caddy, Holly?" Foaly asked. "I need to briefly discuss one… scientific project with Artemis. In private."

"Okay, but not for long," Holly responded with a shrug.

"I'll see you out, Holly," Caballine suggested, standing up.

"Caballine," Artemis called for her. "Thank you for your efforts. I really appreciate it."

"What efforts?"

"You know what I am talking about."

Caballine giggled and left the room with puzzled Holly in tow.

"So what do you want to discuss, Foaly?"

"Why did you do it, D'Arvit?"

"Do what exactly?"

"Change into an elf, what else?!"

"I had personal reasons."

"Name at least one worthy of it. Why didn't you tell me? I could've at least stopped the process, if not reverse it. Why did you do something so reckless? Was your brain switched off at that moment?!!"

"Do you really want to know, Foaly?"

"Of course I do."

Artemis closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"You must promise me that everything I say will remain between us."

"Why such secrecy?"

"You will understand."

"Okay. I promise."

"I did it…" Another deep breath, "Because representatives of two different species can't have an intimate relationship."

"Now I understand," Foaly said after a pause. "And that's why you let her call you Arty."

"That is correct."