Artemis Fowl: Opal's Revenge Chapter Eight

A few minutes later, Butler knocked on the study door, and Holly opened it, eyes rimmed in red. She mumbled "excuse me" and ran up the stairs.

Butler entered and set the tray down on the desk. Artemis was sitting calmly, staring at his computer screen with deadened eyes.

"Artemis? What's wrong? Why was Holly so upset?" Butler asked.

Artemis sighed. "It's nothing, just-everything that's happened these past few days. She's scared."

Butler knew Artemis was fabricating. Holly was not one to burst into tears when she was scared and go crawling into some ones lap for comfort. He had seen the look in Artemis's eyes earlier. He knew Artemis was giving up.

Holly went into master bedroom and began looking through Angeline's things. The bedside table held some books and other odds and ends. Nothing there. She went to the bathroom and began looking through the drawers and cabinets.

"Razors, shampoos, face creams, combs, a curling iron, a flat iron, hair creams, lotions, cotton balls," Holly mumbled to herself. She opened the medicine cabinet and finally found what she was looking for.

There was a couple of bottles of the pills Angeline had been taking during her depression. They were both nearly empty. Holly quickly removed their lid and carefully dumped the pills in the toilet and flushed it, watching the pills swirl around then disappear. She flushed it again for good measure.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red rimmed from exhaustion. Her spiky hair was messed up. She had stayed up with Artemis, while they had worked more than half the night, searching through books and the internet for a way out.

There had to be way out. She couldn't let Artemis give up so easily. Maybe Opal was controlling his mind, making him feel that killing himself was the only way. But if he died, Opal would too, not having a body to latch onto.

She splashed her face with cold water and dried it with a hand towel, before heading back downstairs.

She entered into the study, trying to look normal. Artemis was picking at a chicken leg.

"Hey, Holly!" said a voice.

Mulch was sitting in a chair, gnawing on a chicken leg.

"Mulch! You came?" asked Holly.

"Yeah. " Mulch popped the chicken bone into his mouth, and crunched it. "I heard from Foaly what was happening, and decided to pop in, see if I could help."

Artemis, trying to eat, was being yelled at by Opal in his mind.

"You're not going to kill yourself," she snapped. "If you start thinking that, I'll take over you. And I bet your little elf friend went and flushed them all down the toilet! Now let Mommy say something."

"No! Get-"

Opal was in control. She dropped the chicken leg and stared at Holly, a smirk on her face.

"So, flushed all the pills, I bet?" she snapped at Holly. "Good girl."

Holly pointed her Neutrino at Artemis, ready to stun him if he went ballistic.

"Oh, you won't be needing that," purred Opal. "I'm not doing anything bad now. It was pathetic, with you sobbing all over his shoulder. Ugh, I'll be glad when I've killed you."

Artemis, trapped in his head, could see Holly's face redden slightly. Mulch was looking from Holly to Artemis, scared.

If Opal could hide in his mind, and keep her thoughts quiet, he could too. He focused on being deep in his subconscious. It was something he had read about on the internet, and didn't know if it would work.

He focused hard on being in his subconscious and opened his eyes.

He could see his own memories floating by, little orbs with flashes of his past going on inside. Artemis was fascinated. It actually worked!

He plucked at orb from the air and shook it. It spread like a blanket, the memory (of a trip to the circus when was little) being played on its surface.

He stared fascinated. The human mind was a complex and fascinating.

He took the memory blanket and wrapped it around himself.

"What are you doing?" Opal asked suddenly, aloud.

"Pointing a gun at you," answered Holly.

"Not you! Be silent, you fool!" Opal snapped.

"What are you doing?" snarled Opal mentally. "Is this really a time to be remembering the circus?"

"I'm getting away from you!" snapped Artemis, poking his head from his memory blanket. "You're the most annoying sprite ever! It's always, I'm going to kill you! My magic is growing! Blah, blah, blah! I've had enough."

"You little snippet!"

Artemis pulled his head back into the blanket. In the memory, Artemis was pointing at each animal in the circus and saying the Latin name for the animal and what kingdom in came from. He was telling this to a small boy beside him, who just stared, a sticky jumbo lollipop clutched in his hand.

"You don't understand any of this, do you?" young Artemis was asking. The little boy shrugged and stuck his lollipop into his sister's hair, who squealed for Mommy.

"I had almost forgotten about that." Artemis smiled, then he focused.

He hadn't dared to allow the thought to enter his head, earlier, because Opal could pick up on it and use it against him. If he remembered correctly, there was something in his lab that would help. But he couldn't allow the thought to enter his head later. If Opal figured it out, his plan wouldn't work. He thought of a second plan, too, in case the first one didn't work. Both would have to be carefully kept from his mind, so Opal wouldn't pick up on it.

In the real world, Opal yelled, "You little snippet!" and pounded her fists on the desk, making the plate with the half eaten chicken leg jump. She wasn't looking at anyone in the room, so Holly figured she was talking to Artemis in her head.

"Opal, how about you get out of Artemis's head, or I'll subject you to some my magnificent dwarf talents," threatened Mulch.

"SHUT UP!" screamed Opal, slamming the desk again, making Artemis's face redden with anger. She picked up the chicken leg and flung it at Mulch, who caught it in his cavernous mouth.

"Mmm, yum." Mulch chewed it up, and then stuck his tongue out, slimy bits of chicken stuck to it. Opal quivered with anger.

Artemis, in his memory blanket, allowed himself a smirk. If his plan worked, Opal wouldn't have her way. He would probably die doing it, but at least his loved ones would be safe.

He shrugged off the blanket. It crumpled back into it's orb shape and floated away.

"Are you done yet?" he asked Opal.

Artemis was back again. He blinked at Mulch, chewing with his mouth open, showing mashed up bits of chicken and bone.

"Mulch, that is disgusting."

"You're back!" said Butler, relaxing. He had been ready to spring should Opal make Artemis do something.

"I want to go to my lab," said Artemis, wiping his fingers on a napkin.

They all trouped up to his lab, Mulch chomping on the rest of the chicken, dropping bits on the floor as they went.

Artemis sat at his lab table, fiddling on his computer.

"What are you doing?" asked Opal. "Why were you thinking of the circus?"

"I don't want to think of what is happening," thought Artemis. "But I have to think of a way to get you out of me!"

"You think you can just whip up some magic potion or something?" Opal laughed. "As if! Whatever, tinker away Mud Boy."

Holly sat near Artemis; afraid he might mix together some lethal ingredients, and try to swallow it. But he seemed to be trying something, so maybe he hadn't given up.

"Please don't give up," she whispered to him.

"I'm not," replied Artemis. "I'm not going to kill myself."

Artemis looked at Holly, blue and hazel eyes meeting. The lie made a twinge of guilt blossom in his gut.