Disclaimer: The characters, much of the dialogue, and sadly, even the plot are not mine; they all belong to Eoin Colfer.

Pages: 234 – 236

Chapter 19: Freeze and Store

Holly soon understood what Kronski's plan was to apparently solve the problem of his showcase creature being soaked to the bone in a layer of her own sweat.

When the trolley stopped moving, the guards opened the cabinet section and dragged her out and set her on the ground. Holly sucked in a sharp breath through her nose as she was hit with a blast of icy air and she made contact with the shockingly cold metal floor. She curled instinctively, trying to lift every part of her exposed skin away from direct contact with the frozen surface, though wasn't entirely successful.

Teeth chattering behind her sealed lips, she glanced quickly around her and soon found that her prison was to be a sort of storage freezer room. No doubt this was Kronski's strategy to stop her sweating and make her slightly more presentable – though now she could feel her sweat freezing in crystals on her skin, making her shiver that much more, the cold of the steel floor easily penetrating her abaya and sinking deep into her core.

Had the doctor had any brain at all, Holly thought irritably, he would have seen this was no way to treat an important piece of china. But of course from a purely practical standpoint, she had to admit a freezer did make a good prison, as the cold drained her energy almost as effectively as any drug and made the possibility of a breakout fairly remote.

Holly noticed one of the guards was holding what looked like a miniature, plastic chair, probably meant for a Mud Child, though that also made it about the right size for a fairy. He set it on the floor at the very back of the freezer, around a corner in a place mostly concealed from the main entrance.

One of the other guards lifted her off the icy floor and deftly cut her bonds, allowing Holly's arms to snap back around. Her shoulders had become so stiff she'd thought her arms might have forgotten how to move back where they were supposed to be.

Picking her limp form up together, the two guards carried her between them over to the chair, where the third guard was waiting. Promptly getting a hold of her untethered wrists again, the guard quickly cuffed both her hands to the arms of the small chair. Any form of freedom it seemed, however slight, was going to continue to elude her until the end of this.

She supposed she should be grateful that she was a bit more comfortable now than she'd been for the last hour and a half at least, though that was a sad thing to say as the chair was extremely hard and flat and not comfortable at all either for her pelvis or tail bone. If this was what Mud Men subjected their children to, it was little wonder that so many of them had back trouble later in life.

Holly had a flickering hope that the guards would leave her alone and go guard her by waiting outside the freezer door, but she wasn't too surprised to have no such luck. The three all stood around her, at least one keeping an eye on Holly at all times, while the other two watched the exit at the far end of the freezer room for signs of hostiles.

Holly took note of the fact that her Neutrino was still sitting where Kronski had left it, in plain sight atop the trolley used to transport Holly. It was less than ten feet away, but it might as well have been ten miles for all the good it did her. She had no hope of getting to it like this with the guards right there, and couldn't have wielded it properly anyway even if she'd managed it, secured as she was to this plastic chair, though perhaps she could have used it to cut the bonds off if she could do it without also sawing off her own hands by accident. She wasn't even certain it would still work anymore by now anyway, if the internal circuits had already been remote destructed already.

It wasn't long before Holly's fingers began to numb from the cold, and she had to suppress a shiver now and then. Her feet were still fine for the moment despite being right against the floor as luckily she was still wearing Artemis's loafers.

Cooked alive and frozen both in the same day – like leftovers from someone's last meal. Holly hoped the Extinctionists didn't eat her after they killed her; that would be an even more ignoble end than being stuffed and put over the mantle in Kronski's living room, though the former probably wouldn't last as long.

Holly was a bit consoled by the fact that the guards obviously didn't like the cold of the freezer any better than she did. Most were probably native to Fez after all, and so were used to a hot climate. They rubbed their arms and hands together and one guard, the guard who had manhandled Holly earlier and Holly got the impression must have less experience with Kronski than the other two, even stamped his feet every now and again.

Holly's gaze flickered about the room, searching for something, anything that would help her form a plan of escape. However, any spark of inspiration escaped her, and she could do nothing but stare at the icy steel walls, from which such cold seemed to radiate off in sheets that made her shudder, and at the various frozen food items stacked up and arranged neatly around the space.

Instead, her gaze kept being drawn back to the row of chains hanging just beyond where the trolley had been parked nearby. Disgust and horror made her stomach churn at the sight of the slabs of various meats hanging from the chains frozen over with tiny icicles, like an assembly line of death. She realized it was only in a place like this that the true depths of Mud Man depravity could be understood.

As Holly sat in the frigid air, tied down and unable to move, stomach complaining that it needed to be fed even as nausea from looking at the meat rose up as well, her throat on fire from the need for water to replenish all that she'd lost earlier in the form of sweat, the tape across her mouth itching painfully, she tried to shut it all out, so she could stay on the lookout for any opportunity that might arise.

However, a part of her knew that the only way she was going to get out of this alive was if Artemis came to save her with one of his ingenious plans. The only question was if he would show up.

No... that wasn't right. It was not whether he was willing to come or not; rather, her being rescued hinged on whether the boy was able to come up with a feasible plan. If he came up with one, he would come no matter what the danger to himself, she was certain of it.

On the other hand, if he couldn't come up with anything that would even have a chance of working, that would be a different story. Even if he didn't want to leave one of his friends, his intellect would override his emotions to tell him not to waste either his own life or Mulch's. After all, Artemis still had a task to complete. He had an obligation to save his mother, and the wellbeing of his parents came before everything else.

It had occurred to Holly that, while Artemis wouldn't be able to get back to the future without her, not directly, there was still a way. After all, it was only eight years' difference. Now that he had Jayjay, all he had to do was spend those next few years keeping 'the antidote' safe, staying hidden from the world. Then, on the day that Holly Short and Artemis Fowl vanished from the world, the young-adult Artemis could go strolling up to the manor, explain the situation, and provide the cure for his mother. It would be a miserable and tedious existence until that day finally arrived certainly, and one Holly wouldn't envy in the least, but she knew Artemis could handle it if it was for his mother.

And yet, even to imagine such a bleak image for the future, her own horrible death and Artemis's continuing to exist as a friendless hermit...

He will come up with a plan, Holly told herself firmly. This was Artemis Fowl she was talking about after all. Artemis always had a plan.

Of course, there was a third scenario. Perhaps Artemis would form a plan, but it wouldn't be one to save her. Maybe the most he would be able to come up with given his limited resources would be just enough to prevent the Extinctionists using her to reveal the existence of fairies to the world at large, and it would require her to make the ultimate sacrifice at the end.

She closed her mismatched eyes. Upon reflection, she knew that that would be something she could live with – if Artemis found a way to help her not betray the People, she could be satisfied with that kind of miracle.

Her lips quirked up behind the tape suddenly as a thought occurred to her.

But, she thought wryly, if worst does come to worst, he could always bring me back to life.

And so, Holly spent the next while alternating between believing with absolute certainty that Artemis would definitely come up with something and someone would come breaking down the door to bust her out at any minute, and believing that there was not a single thing he could do, that he wouldn't come.

The more time that passed, the more sure she became of the latter. She had gathered based on what Kronski had hinted at about his 'trial animal' and 'centerpiece of the conference' that they were going to wait for this big event held for the Extinctionists to finally kill her, in a mock trial setting perhaps of some kind, which would be happening tomorrow evening. Holly couldn't imagine even Artemis pulling off a rescue in front of a hundred rabid Extinctionists, so every minute that passed that drew them ever closer to the time the conference would begin, the more unlikely it seemed Artemis was going to show up.

But then again, Minerva Paradizo had managed to get hold of Nº1 in front of an entire audience of people at an opera and got away with no one besides Holly, Artemis, and Butler any the wiser. Artemis, Holly remembered, had been impressed with the performance, but hadn't seemed to think it was something he couldn't have pulled off himself.

Artemis could perhaps save Holly at the conference itself she supposed, provided he had enough of a distraction. But this situation had so many other factors that Minerva's hadn't, including the fact that they were all expecting her. Wouldn't it be better if he could get her before she was seen at all by any of the other Extinctionists?

Hours must have passed as she sat there, each second seeming to stretch to an eternity as the uncertainty of what was going to happen pressed down on her. The time dragged on and on without end, her joints all aching as the cold of the freezer sunk deeper and deeper into her innermost being. From time to time, the guards would leave only to be replaced by more guards, who watched her like a hawk. Some of them brought sandwiches which they ate with agonizing slowness and deliberation, as though taunting her while her own stomach rumbled in low tones.

Eventually though Holly forgot about the sharp hunger in her gut as her head dipped to her chest. The cold made her feel drowsy, sapping her strength. She was certain now that that really had been Kronski's true strategy in bringing her to this place.

Was the freezer cold enough that she would die here right where she sat if she were to fall asleep? Surely Kronski would not allow it intentionally, but of course he couldn't know how much fairies loathed the cold.

But maybe, her sluggish brain thought, it would be for the best if she did die now. It would have to be a better death than the one Kronski had in store for her certainly. Best to get it over with. It wouldn't matter then that Julius was dead, or her mother, or that she was responsible for betraying the entire fairy race to the humans, or that Artemis was not going to come for her...

Holly awoke. Blearily, her eyes roved around the room as she tried to remember where she was, disoriented. Her eyelids were still so heavy, her entire body sore and aching, she felt almost like she was recovering from the effects of a hypodermic. Strange, she hadn't had this much trouble waking up in the morning in years. Not since after her training with the LEP anyway. It was almost like back when she was...

And then it all came rushing back to her with a sudden jolt and she was suddenly very much wide awake.

I'm at the Extinctionists' compound. I'm going to be executed.

Holly saw the guards standing around her chair, and recognized them as the same guards who had originally brought her into this ice prison what seemed like an age ago.

How much time had passed? Days? Weeks? Of course, she knew it hadn't been that long; time always seemed to pass at an exponentially slower rater when the prisoner was not allowed to do anything and/or in extreme discomfort of some form. Kronski himself had said at one point that the show was going to be 'tomorrow night,' which meant that she probably wouldn't be held here much longer than twenty-four hours before she was sent off to die.

However, Holly was sure that hours upon hours must have already passed by now, especially considering all the guard switches she'd seen earlier before she'd passed out. It was amazing she hadn't felt like she needed a restroom break in all that time, though she was so dehydrated maybe it was only to be expected. She was glad, as she thought being forced to use one of the Mud Men's repulsive indoor facilities would have to be the ultimate degradation, even beyond being stuffed as a trophy.

She felt a bit refreshed thanks to the nap. As sad as it was to spend what might turn out to be her last moments on this planet sleeping, she had needed the boost. At least she wouldn't miss her chance because she was too wiped out to seize it if one arose. Of course, if no opportunity did come, then it just meant she would be that much more awake and aware of things when her death came.

I need to stop thinking like that. What she needed to do was look for a way out. Never give up.

However, the tips of Holly's ears, as well as her nose, fingers, toes, arms, legs – in short, basically all her extremities, despite being covered with the dark material of the abaya she wore – were all frozen, not to mention how frozen her brain felt as she still hit a wall on ideas for escape. Only her lips were warm, thanks to the tape, which ironically felt rather like they were on fire for itching.

However, she did feel more alert mentally now that her drowsiness was gone, even if her body didn't feel fully functional in this climate. She closed her eyes again, reaching down into her innermost depths, searching for that strength she knew was there, even if it was harder to access in this body.

She opened her eyes again a moment later, and this time they held just those traces of defiance that so defined her. Yes, the strength was still there all right. She would never give up, not until the very end. And maybe not even then.

By the time Kronski came striding into the freezer like he owned the place, which he probably did, Holly had managed to work herself almost entirely out of her earlier lethargic state. The cold was still numbing every part of her body, but it couldn't quite reach the burning determination in her chest. In fact, she was so recovered she found herself wishing to be able to do something to nettle the doctor a little with a bit of sass, but thanks to the tape she had not the freedom to do even that, so she settled with fixing the man with the most antagonistic scowl she could muster.

The doctor, dressed in a purple suit and wearing his matching purple-lensed glasses as ever, with a tiger-fur cap perched atop his head to top it off, much to Holly's indignation showed all the signs of having just taken a shower a little bit ago. He had also freshened up in other ways besides, in contrast to Holly's having been frozen like a Popsicle to solve her sweating problem while her clothing irritated her skin, still itchy and uncomfortable as ever from all the previous day's activities. Holly seriously hoped that karma had something major in store for this man.

Kronski, meanwhile, spent a minute trying out the Neutrino handgun which he plucked right off where he'd left it on the trolley, and seemed delighted with the result.

Holly felt a mixture of disappointment and relief. Seeing a human like Kronski in possession of a fully operational fairy-made weapon was bound to be disquieting, but the fact it still worked also meant that Artemis hadn't destroyed it from the shuttle at this point, which may mean he hadn't totally given her up as a lost cause, at least not yet.

"My goodness. This is quite a toy," said Kronski, marveling as he examined the futuristic-weapon once again.

Holly just continued to glare daggers at the back of his head, continuing in the one and only hostile gesture she was able to make.

Kronski did not turn back to look at her right away. He stowed the weapon in his suit pocket, then abruptly brought his foot up, stamping it hard on the metal floor of the freezer. The deep, hollow sound of metal reverberating off metal filled her ears and she could feel the vibration beneath her numb feet, the tiny movement of the floor enough to send spasming pains all along her soles. By now the cold of the steel floor had long-since permeated Artemis's loafers and her formerly sweat-soaked socks.

"No tunneling out this time," said Kronski smugly, as though Holly had not already figured this out within the first hour of her captivity. "Not like at the souk."

Kronski did turn around then, a wide, leering smile on his face as he approached her. When he came to a stop in front of the tiny chair and his fairy prisoner, his enormous frame completely blocked her view of the exit, as well as much of the contents of the freezer.

Kronski did not seem the least bit deterred by Holly's glower. Instead, if the look on his own face was any indication, if anything he seemed pleased by her rebellious attitude. If he'd ever trained horses, Holly had no doubt breaking the horse would have probably been his favorite part.

"Do you speak English, creature?" he said, speaking slowly and clearly as though talking to someone either severely dimwitted or slightly deaf. "Do you know what I am saying to you?"

Holly rolled her eyes. Ironic that she was the one being treated like a moron when Kronski was interrogating someone whose mouth was covered with tape.

"And for good reason," said Kronski, as though they were holding a conversation rather than him simply talking to a gagged captive. He eyed the tape appreciatively as though it had been his idea. "We know all about your hypnotism tricks. And the invisibility."

Yes, she mentally answered, beaming the thought at him, since at the moment it seemed he was pretending to be able to read her mind. I was there when Butler told you about it. If he was trying to make himself sound important or impress her with what he knew, he wasn't do a very good job. Kronski acted like just because she was in a duffel bag at the time and he couldn't see her meant she had been dead to the world.

Kronski playfully pinched her cheek and shook it slightly as if she was a baby, continuing to act like a fool in order to degrade her as much as he could possibly manage.

"Your skin feels almost human," he commented. "What are you? A fairy, is that it?"

More questions to the elf with the taped mouth. Holly rolled her eyes again to try to convey to her best ability a condescending attitude that went beyond even Kronski's. As she did so, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

Artemis has been thwarted more than once on this trip. But the one doing the thwarting has been...

Yes, now that she thought about it, Artemis had been technically facing himself so far. So maybe he would have an easier time outwitting this ridiculous man who was continuing to look at her as though her silence proved she was a bit dim than he had facing a younger version of his tactical genius self.

Kronski was apparently done chatting. He suddenly turned back to the three guards, all formality and business now. "Est-ce qu'elle bougé? Has she moved?"

The guards, who had been watching the exchange from the background, all shook their heads mutely.

"Very well," said Kronski, looking happy again. "Good. All proceeds according to my plan."

Holly resisted the urge to roll her eyes yet again. She imagined Artemis taking the cliché-ness of the comment as a personal insult, being the self-appointed expert on inventing fresh villainous sayings he was. Had he been there, they could have irritated the president of the Extinctionists by giving him their best sardonic expressions.

Even Kronski seemed to think he'd gone a bit over-the-top. "Listen to me," he said, sounding slightly exasperated with himself. "All proceeds according to my plan. That is so Doctor No."

'Doctor No,' Holly gathered, being a James Bond character.

"I should get myself some metal hands," Kronski went on. "What do you think, gentlemen?"

"Metal hands?" said the guard who Holly thought seemed a bit inexperienced, appropriately thrown by the slightly ludicrous question.

Kronski, paying no attention to the guard whatsoever, soon started up on a speech about the importance of the conference to the organization, how the guards were as good as dead if they let 'the creature' escape, and so on, as though he had not already said all this earlier. He added some bits about not removing her restraints or gag for any reason and not letting anyone else see her and such, which as far as Holly could tell, ought to have been mentioned long before now if he didn't think these instructions were so obvious as to go without saying. Holly felt her hope rise.

Yes, if the last five minutes of completely brainless conversation and repetitive, pointless instructions told her anything, it was that the doctor would be a much easier opponent for the older Artemis to hoodwink than his little ten-year-old self.

If he came.

A/N: A pretty fast update, and a fairly long chapter too, so that's good right? (: I'm going back to school in a few days, so I wanted to be generous while I'm still enjoying the prosperous times of vacation, heh.

As for the events in TTP, we are slowly creeping along... Yeah, I liked the whole 'Extinctionist' thing (so outrageous as to be both funny and creepy at the same time, kind of like Opal), so I wanted to spend more time on that.

Plus, this is one point in the book where Holly's perspective is never actually given (and I think purposely avoided), so we don't really get a sense of the kind of ordeal this had to be. I'm not sure whether Colfer was trying to avoid having it coming across as a bit melodramatic to write very much angst in there, or if he thought spending too much time of it might bog down the pace of the action, or if he thought the concept was disturbing enough as it was, and preferred to keep that side of it to a minimum. Or it could have been a mixture of more than one... But anyway, I'm rambling on now, so I'll stop. (;

So yeah, thanks so much for reviewing! I'd love to hear from you, as always. (:

Posted 1/4/12