Chapter 1

"Holly?" Foaly said into the trans-communicator, hands and hooves shaking. Please, please, please, please. . .

"D'Arvit!" The elf on the other end yelled. "Foaly, do the words 'officer on leave' mean anything to you? This is the fourth time you've interrupted my holiday for some frivolous and completely grueling task that you could not spare anyone else to do. Well, I'm not standing for it this time! I refuse! I don't want to have any contact whatsoever with you until the next full moon. Do you understand me?!!"

"Holly, Holly, calm down, please. Hit me later if you really have to. But I seriously need you here this time. I'm begging you. Hear me out."

This was certainly unexpected. She had been waiting for Foaly whining, then being able to scream at him, and then having the right to slam the communicator into the wall. This was different. Quite disappointing, actually.

"Fine. You have two minutes to convince me."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Holly! Before I say anything else, I want you to keep an open mind and remember that you have a service to the People—"

"Clock is ticking, pony. Get to the point."

"Well, it seems as if there has been a certain pixie wandering around—"

"This sounds suspiciously like one of your other missions, Foaly."

"You owe me five seconds for that. Anyway, he's wandering around without his magic—"

"Aboveground. Right? Well, I'm losing interest fast. So you've got thirty seconds to add a plot twist before I kill this gadget."

"What? Holly, that's not fair. You cheated me two and a half min—"

"Twenty-five seconds."

"Okay, okay. Well, like I said . . . there's this magic-less pixie and we've run through all the tests but we can't seem to get his powers back no matter what and there's only one being without magic smart enough to figure out how to execute what seems to be a theft of his magic's core and—"

"And that being is Artemis Fowl." Muting her microphone, Holly leaned back on a cushion and sighed. And inhaled. And sighed again. Then she sat back up and pressed the blue "Speak" button.

"I still don't see how any of this pertains to me in particular." She stated coolly, a complete opposite of her reaction seconds before.

"Oh, stop it, Holly. You and both know exactly why this pertains to you. Besides, you were the one who was all 'Arty's gone good'. You have to take responsibility for what you say, you know."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "What are you getting at, carrot-breath?"

"All I'm saying is that if the primary advocate for a certain Mud Boy's keeping of his memories turns out to be wrong and said Mud Boy wreaks havoc on Haven because of his keeping of his memories . . . well, that primary advocate could be in a heck lot of trouble."

"Foaly . . . Are you blackmailing me?!"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Holly. Sorry. It would have been so much easier if you'd just agreed."

He got no response but a skittering noise and a vague, fading static.

Foaly was cowering behind a thick sheet of laser-proof protection by the time Holly got there. Looking bashful, he gestured towards a new communicator sitting on a stark white desk. She snatched it up and resisted the urge to demolish it like she did the last one.

"Hi, Holly," Foaly squeaked. "This is a secure line, so we won't be overheard—"

"Oh, of course not!" Holly's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Wouldn't want anyone knowing what a deceptive lowlife you are."

"Well, that too," Foaly complied. "But mostly it's for security reasons. If people knew they might permanently lose their magic to the Mud Boy genius that's been dominating the headlines for the last three years there might a bit of mass hysteria."

"We don't know that it's Artemis!" Holly snapped, perhaps a bit too harshly. For some strange reason that comment pricked at Holly's already high-strung nerves. "And we don't know that it's permanent," she added quickly in an effort to dilute her previous tone.

But Foaly had already started snickering, his earlier terror long forgotten. "A little protective, are we?" he chortled.

Holly wanted to squish that office and the stupid cachinnating creature inside of it, laser-proof or not.

He's got a point, though, a small part of her remarked. Why are you so upset, anyway?

"Holly? You getting all this?"

"What?" Holly asked, lost in her own thoughts.

"I said that you need to get over to the Manor and— oh, look! Somebody's calling your Arty! Let's see. . . Minerva Paradizo? Isn't that the girl who kidnapped Number One?"

"I need to go to the Manor?" Holly was still catching up to the torrent of Foaly's words. "And he is not 'my Arty'—did you say you tapped his lines? How did he not notice—Wait, Minerva's calling him? Why is she—?"

"Shut up and listen," Foaly stated simply. "I'm sending you this call and taping it too, in case we need it later. Here it is."

Beep

Beep

Beep

A: Fowl Manor, resident speaking.

M: Enough with the formalities, Artemis. I know that you knew who I was before you had gone to get the phone. Is this line secure?

A: Perfectly.

Foaly suppressed a snort.

M: Good. Because I'm about to tell you some intelligence rated high above top secret.

A: I'm no stranger to that.

M: I meant above top secret above the ground and under.

A: (sharp intake of breath) I see.

M: I can't leave any record of this. Stop taping me, Artemis.

A: Of course.

(Short silence)

M: Stop taping me, Artemis!

A: Oh, very well. Although it pains me greatly to miss minutes of your exquisite voice, Minerva.

(Another silence)

M: I-ah-that is to say, I have come across some extraordinary information.

Even though she should have been paying very close attention at Minerva's next words, Holly was more preoccupied with the short exchange before. Artemis could be quite the charmer when he wanted to. Simply beguiling.

He might've meant what he said about her voice, you know. Minerva seemed disarmed by it. She's a genius too, so she wouldn't be easy to fool. She wouldn't normally stutter either. So there was doubtless some truth to the comment. Moreover, Minerva didn't take the perfect chance to be sarcastic. The feelings are probably mutual. Does that bother you much, Holly?

Holly would've groaned if she wasn't with Foaly. It was her pessimistic side back again.

Pessimistic, Holly? Really? How interesting. And why would Artemis and Minerva being interested in each other be such a bad thing? If I'm a pessimist, then the logic I present must be a worst-case scenario. Why do you think that the two of them together is a worst-case scenario?

Holly decided she would rather pay attention to the phone conversation. Because it was so important, of course, and not to get away from this annoying little voice. Not at all.

She tried listening, but there was just silence.

"Why isn't there any sound, Foaly?"

"Because they hung up almost two minutes ago, Holly."

"What?! I mean, can I review the tapes? So I can remember exactly who said what?"

"Yes, Holly, you can. After going to Fowl Manor, which is what I was telling you about before being so rudely interrupted by a completely unintelligent question and then, even more rudely, was awakened to the fact that I had just wasted my breath for nearly two minutes."

"Foaly, you're wasting your stinky carrot breath now, and if you don't tell me about this mission right now there won't be any breath left to waste. So get on with it."

"You go to Fowl Manor. You enter, hopefully without anyone noticing. If they do, well, you've got your mesmer. Of course, Artemis II will probably have some defense mechanism set up the moment he spots you, but don't take offense. Just approach him peacefully and do a little interrogation. Subtly. Find out what happened. I'll be listening and maybe talking some too. Oh, and if I tell you to leave, I mean leave. Right then. Don't stay around no matter what."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Well, it isn't."

"What do you mean?"

Foaly sighed. "I think you should listen to the tapes, Holly. You obviously missed the biggest part."