Artemis Fowl: Opal's Revenge Chapter Six

If anybody would be interested in giving me ideas for this story, I would greatly appreciate it and will try to work them in, if possible. Thanks to everybody for reading!

There are a few lines from the book, The Last Guardian. I needed to use them, so I'm just letting everyone know, so they don't think I'm plagiarizing.

With Artemis unconscious on the floor, Butler checked on Holly, who was finally starting to awaken.

"D'arvit," she swore. "Where's Artemis?"

"Unconscious," replied Butler guiltily. "I had to hurt him a bit, and used the chloroform on him. Opal, apparently, does not like chloroform and retreated, allowing Artemis control over himself again."

Holly got up and went to Artemis.

"I, uh, kind of cracked a few things on him," said Butler. "His arm, and three of his ribs."

Holly healed the broken arm first, allowing the blue sparks of her magic to dance from her fingers and onto the limb. Then she healed his ribs. Artemis moaned a bit and opened his eyes, then passed back out.

"I'm here!" shouted a voice suddenly. "I'll save you!"

No1 came sprinting as fast as his stubby legs would allow him, a ball of magic balanced on finger, ready to fire.

"Bit late, aren't you?" asked Holly. "Butler had to break Artemis's arms and snap three of his ribs. Opal's seems to be gaining magic."

"That's why I passed out," explained No1. "I could feel her siphoning my magic off and changing it. I didn't even know that was possible! She's a monster!"

"We need to get him back to the manor." Butler lifted Artemis easily. "Let's go."

Artemis woke up as they made it to the house.

"I can walk," he said, shaking his head slightly.

Holly readied the Neutrino. "Just in case," she said sheepishly.

"I know," said Artemis.

In the study, Holly cuffed his hands together again.

"Opal is gaining magic," said Artemis. "We don't have much time. If she gets too much, she may take over me completely. We have to do something fast."

The idea of Artemis being lost forever to that mad pixie scared Holly.

"If we got some animal fat-" she began.

"No!" said No1. "I believe she is twining her soul with Artemis. If we did that, Artemis's soul could be trapped too."

Artemis put his fingers together in a steeple, and stared at them hard for a moment. "Everybody leave me for a moment," he said. "I need to think."

"I'll be outside the door, if you need anything," said Butler.

"Thank you, friend," said Artemis.

Butler stood outside the door while Holly and No1 made for the kitchen.

"I'm famished," he said, opening a refrigerator.

Holly got some carrots and celery and chopped them up. No1 made a face at the celery, and rooted in the fridge until he found some apples in the bottom.

"Do you think Artemis can figure out what to do?" asked No1, taking a bite of his apple. Juice dribbled down his chin and he wiped it off with a napkin.

Holly nibbled a carrot. "I sure hope so. "

Artemis, everyone having left, took a voice recorder from a drawer and turned it on. He wanted to meditate in peace, and with the voice recorder, he could say a thought aloud if he wished and have it saved.

A few minutes passed, Artemis lost in his thoughts. When he had been dead, he hadn't remembered feeling Opal's presense. He had just been soul, keeping himself anchored to that area where he had died, waiting. He had heard voices calling him.

"Artemis! Come to my voice!"

"Artemis! Artemis, please."

"Artemis. Artemis, come back to us!"

"Be calm. You are safe now."

Opal's hate, and wish for vengeance, but must have been strong enough to anchor her on this plane. That, and the black magic she had gained.

"Opal," said Artemis, out loud. "What do you want?"

A few seconds passed. "You're death."

"But if you kill me, you'll just be a soul again," reasoned Artemis.

"I won't need you forever," chuckled Opal, in his mind. "You're just a pawn, until I can get to my own clone. If I can do that, I'll have my own body back, and then I won't need you."

Artemis remembered the clone. "You want your clone, so you can basically have your own body back."

"Exactly," said Opal. "My black magic is growing, and there is nothing you or your little friends can do about it."

Artemis thought her sentence sounded a little cliché. It was like something from a movie, where the villain laughs evilly and announces that the protagonist and his friends are powerless to stop him.

"I do not sound like a movie cliché!" Opal screeched in his head. "You just wait Mud Boy! I'll make sure your death is a painful one! I'll rip your limbs off, I tear your innards out and burn them! I'll-"

Artemis sighed while Opal ran through the list of terrible things she had planned for him. "I hate to disappoint you, but your clone died."

Silence. Then Opal exploded into cursing and shouting. Artemis let her run herself out.

"What did you expect? The area around the lock killed anything that was a fairy," said Artemis.

Opal was silent a moment. "I'll find a way, you'll see. And when I do, I will rule the world. You can't win."

Opal retreated, likely to sulk and work on growing her magic. Artemis wondered how strong she would be able to grow. How long did he have before Opal would take over him entirely, and kill his friends?

Artemis spent some more time thinking and saying a few thoughts aloud for the recorder to catch. He felt he hadn't made any real head way.

Two days passed. Foaly searched his computers for anything he could, but sadly, it seemed even his science had failed him.

Holly watched her friend with worry. Artemis seemed to be a little paler, with deep shadows under his eyes. The worry lines at the corners of his eyes, unusual in most boys his age, had grown deeper. He looked tired, and defeated. He barely ate, searching through books and on the internet for a way to get Opal out.

"I thought of exorcism," said Artemis, staring at the computer screen. "But it's a deranged pixie inhabiting me. And I doubt a priest would believe me if I told him that."

Opal hadn't made an appearance in these past two days. This thought bugged Holly.

"How much power could she amass in two days?" asked Holly.

"Enough to make it nearly impossible to keep me restrained if she resurfaces." Artemis rubbed his eyes and then looked at her for a moment. "Holly, come here."

Butler was in the kitchen, making something to eat, and No1 was helping him. Holly got up and walked around the desk, and hiked herself up so she could sit on the edge of it.

Artemis reached up, the handcuffs clinking, and clasped her small hands, his looking unnaturally pale against her coffee brown ones. Hand holding was unusual for Artemis, so Holly knew he must have something important to say.

"Holly," he began. "You know you and Butler and are my best friends, right?"

"Of course," said Holly.

Artemis looked like he was working himself up to get out the next sentences. He looked at their clasped hands. "I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you or Butler, or my family. I couldn't bear the idea of me hurting you Holly; after all you did for me and my family. You stuck by me. Opal may have complete control over me soon, and if that happens, she'll try to kill you, and Butler, and my family, plus countless other people and faeries. She's bent on revenge and domination, and will destroy those closest to me. I can't let her do that. I don't see any way out of this, and I don't want to ask you to do what needs to be done-but-"

He stopped for a moment, looking at Holly, there mismatched eyes meeting. "I'm going to have to kill myself."