Disclaimer: The characters, much of the dialogue, and sadly, even the plot are not mine; they all belong to Eoin Colfer.
Pages: 326 – 330, 334 – 338, 347 – 349
Chapter 32: Gross, Vile, and Fowl
Young Artemis's mention of 'our enemy' earlier was not lost on the centaur and demon warlock and, after both Artemis Fowls were gone, Holly did the best she could to explain Artemis's theory about Opal and the resulting paradox.
Afterward, Nº1 and Foaly just stared at her like she had a screw loose.
"That's it?" said Nº1 in a mock-unimpressed voice. "You're not forgetting some crucial detail? Like the part that makes sense?"
"The whole thing is ridiculous," snorted the centaur incredulously. "Come on, fairies. We've done our part. Time to head belowground."
These two obviously hadn't gone through the last thee days that she had, Holly thought. Bad luck of the most outlandish and absurd kind had seemed to follow them wherever they went, like a mischievous, vengeful goddess of luck. If there was any sense of fairness in the world, surely she had to be coming about due for a windfall before long.
"Soon," said Holly placatingly. "Let's just give Artemis five minutes to check it out. All we need to do is be alert."
Foaly sighed in defeat. "Well, at least let me raise the shuttle," he said. "The troops are holding at Tara, waiting for a callback."
Holly agreed, wondering if Nº1 had had to work very hard to convince his collection of bodyguards to leave him alone inside the manor. Probably not, though; the powerful little demon warlock generally got his way no matter how outrageous the request. Something to do with his tendency to break everything in his vicinity or set objects afire by accident when things weren't going his way.
As Foaly went to work to make the call, Holly turned her attention to Nº1 to tell him to get ready with his magic, just in case. She felt anxious, but it was a different sort of anxiousness from what had plagued her almost constantly while they were stuck in the past. She felt capable and in control again, and she had so many friends here to rely on. Even better, she'd managed to get her hands on a Neutrino even though all her gear was with Opal, thanks to Nº1 and his magic tricks.
In response to Holly's suggestion, the little demon put up his hands, a glow of red magic sparking around them and casting Holly in crimson. "No problem, Holly," he said. "I'm ready for anything."
Unfortunately, the two fairies' brimming confidence didn't do a thing to prevent the next misfortune to befall them.
If a goddess of fortune really does exist out there somewhere, Holly later thought, that woman must really have it in for me.
When Butler threw open the door and Holly's eyes fell on him standing in the entryway, her first reaction was to let out a small breath of relief and smile. It was good to be back in a time where Butler was on their side. Then she noticed the gun.
The next moment the manservant was loping into the room with all the speed and unstoppable power of a African lion. Before Holly could so much at get her hand down to her weapon she had for barely five minutes, Butler had torn off the entire holster and thrown it roughly aside. Behind him Butler hauled a metal barrel mounted on a trolley. Holly couldn't explain it, but as soon as her eyes fell on that barrel, the elaborate runes running like snakes over its surface, she felt a cold dread in the pit of her stomach.
Nº1 only managed to get off one burst of magic at the manservant before Butler hurled the trolley at them with all the force he could muster.
With no time to react, Holly and Nº1 could do little more than stand there and get run down by the ominous steel object charging toward them. However, it was the thick, pearlescent substances that spilled over the sides and onto Nº1 like the saliva of a ravenous beast that made Holly want at this moment to get as far away from this room and this house as she could get.
Nº1 seemed to be having some kind of reaction to the gunk from the barrel; his gray skin had gone pale and his eyes were glassy as though he was only barely conscious, his mouth muttering spells that had no effect. If the demon warlock was out of commission, that made Holly the biggest threat.
Holly tried to retreat back out of the manservant's range, but he was too quick for her.
The next thing Holly knew she was inside the barrel. The overpowering stench of the viscous material that had knocked out Nº1's powers was everywhere. She choked as it filled her mouth and nose, and she clawed at the slime as she fought to right herself and get her head above the surface again. It was probably the taste in her mouth that made her realize what it was. Judging from the way Nº1's magic had gone out when he'd been struck with the substance earlier, there was only one thing it could be.
A second later, the small form of Nº1 was pressed in beside Holly, forcing her up against the side of the barrel and making the level of the substance rise, completely submerging the both of them in the sludge with a consistency not unlike mucus. Fat. Animal fat.
The multiple screens around Artemis's study were dark and silent as the manservant laid a lid over the opening at the top. Holly could not so much as even lift her hands to try to stop it before the round object clunked heavily into place, shutting them in.
Everything was thrown into total darkness. However, Holly could still feel Nº1 beside her and stretching out her hands she could feel both sides of the barrel at the same time. The fat pressed up all the way to the steel-lid ceiling now, and there was nowhere to breathe.
They were minutes away from death. There was nowhere to run, nothing she could do to stop it.
An insane fear overpowered all her senses. Holly struck out wildly against the walls of the prison, barely noticing the agony of bone colliding full force with steel. She could feel Nº1 beside her, twitching spasmodically as though he were having a seizure. With his level of magic power, the demon warlock should have been able to blast a hole in the side of the steel even if it was an inch thick or more, but animal fat was a form of natural magic suppressant, and an entire barrel-full was enough to make even the vast powers of one such as Nº1 as good as useless. Not something Butler would have been aware of, but his controller would likely know only too well, being a powerful magical being herself. The horror of using animal fat in this way was indescribable, a method so base that Holly once would have believed no fairy capable of putting it to use. To drown a fairy in a substance composed of the soft body tissue of dead animals, each once with their own spark of individual life and personality now snuffed out... the only way a human could possibly understand the depths of the depravity was to imagine what it would be like to be inundated in human fat.
Holly felt acidic bile rise in her throat. She couldn't see, she couldn't breath. A thousand thoughts were spinning sickeningly in her mind, all completely without coherence or rationality as her reason was drowned in the knowledge that everything was about to end.
A few stray magic sparks attempted to heal her bruises and wounds from her useless fight against the metal, but they were immediately extinguished in the dark, sickening pool. Still she lashed out with ever increasing vigor, pressed on by the burning desperation to suck in just one more breath of oxygen, though she had not even enough room to fully extend her arms or legs.
She felt the warm ooze pressing against her face, squirming into her ears and finding its way inside her one-piece. The screaming of her lungs reached a fever pitch and then began to dull as a dizzying array of colors that faded into blackness danced at the corners of her closed eyes. Her strength faded and her blows to the metal grew feeble.
At that moment however, she felt something hard and long touch her face. She instinctively reached for it.
Somehow, even in her dimming brain she understood what it was. A tube. A tube that led to air outside. Her groping fingers discovered two, and the spark of hope revived her. She quickly used her hands to probe the tube's screw-like texture until she found the opening at the bottom.
Holly resisted the urge to force the tube into Nº1's mouth first, her LEP training taking over. In situations like this, an officer had to deal with her own wellbeing first before she could properly aid anyone else, or everyone could wind up dead.
Holly put the tube to her mouth, trying to let in as little of the rancid gunk suspended around her into her mouth as she could manage. Though she was starting to feel faint, she blew hard with everything she had left to clear the airway, then breathed in. At first she tasted bits of fat in her mouth and felt some going down her trachea, and she had to tighten the muscles in her face and stomach to keep herself from gagging and coughing violently in response. Holly forced herself to blow a second breath through the tube, which fully cleaned it out. Holly sucked in a deep breath of air until her lungs were full to bursting, then pulled her own tube out of her mouth, keeping it clear by stopping the end of it with her thumb.
Nº1 had gone limp beside her. Holly seized the second tube and blew the fat out of that one as well, then had to feel frantically a moment to find the little demon's open mouth. She jammed the tube inside.
Her heart nearly stopped when Nº1 did not immediately react. She had thought a moment before that the worst possible fate imaginable would be to die here enclosed in this small space as her mother had, but she knew now she was wrong. She'd rather die here a hundred times right now than survive twenty more minutes trapped in here with the body of her dead friend.
Holly waited, counting the seconds, forgetting to breathe herself until suddenly Nº1 twitched and with a start made a few strange sounds into the tube, like he was trying to cough, then revived. Holly nearly let a sigh of relief pass her mouth before she remembered her own tube and placed it back in her mouth.
Both still alive then, for the time being.
What was obvious to Holly was that Butler had intentionally spared their lives. Had he been able to at least partially resist Opal's mesmer, or was Opal planning to save them for later so she could have the pleasure of killing them herself?
However, Holly didn't have any more paralyzing anxiety to spare contemplating what Opal may or may not have in store for them. The horror of their surroundings was more than enough to occupy her frozen, taxed brain. Holly sucked in deeply through the tube, concentrating on slowing her panicked, staccato breaths.
There was no way to escape, but she couldn't afford to think about that right now. Above all, she needed to have control now. That was the important thing, or so the officer inside her was saying.
Holly wrapped her arms around Nº1 protectively, her eyes closed tight against the heavy, roiling fat swirling around her eyelashes and pushing its way up her nose.
She focused all her thoughts on maintaining a sense of tranquility, hoping that Nº1, whose magical empathy was a lot stronger than that of most fairies thanks to his considerable reservoir of magic, would be able to feel it, even if the fat was sure to interfere with that empathy.
Calm, she thought soothingly. What they needed now was to be steady and patient, to keep their reason intact while they waited. While they waited for Artemis to come and save them from this, to come through as he always did.
She felt Nº1's arms around her in return, clinging to her for support, though his limbs felt exceptionally weak even compared to hers, lightly quivering against her waist like the gentle touch of a small kitten.
As Holly reached a more meditative state, she felt her mind begin to ramble aimlessly, random memories and associations drifting through her head as she strove to think about anything and everything but where they were. Feeling the little frightened demon next to her Holly strangely found herself thinking back to those moments before they had gone back in time. Foaly's words when Artemis had tried to insist that Nº1 accompany them to the past came back to her. "Nº1 is little more than a child."
Foaly was right. For all the demon warlock's immense magical power, he was still young, so it was her responsibility to do her best to take care of him in a situation like this, even if she was powerless to do much of anything of use. How old had Nº1 said he was anyway? Fourteen?
Her mind flickered again, away from Nº1. It occurred to her that there was more than one child whose life was at risk here. He was out there somewhere, fighting for all of them.
Here I am, she thought vaguely, yet again left with no other option than to rely on a kid, a genius perhaps, but a child nonetheless. I'm the adult, and an officer of the LEP. At a time like this, it should be my job to take care of everyone who's in danger, to make sure they feel reassured and come out okay. That's my job, isn't it?
But as always, Artemis, fourteen-year-old human boy though he was, had supplanted her. Not just Holly, Artemis always had all the adults relying on him for answers.
Holly thought of Butler, competent in so many areas of military knowledge and tactical execution, but always looking to Artemis for final decisions on things. She thought of Angeline, how she had looked as she lay helpless, dying in her bed, and of the resulting look on Artemis Senior's face, as though he was drowning and looking to his son to cast out a lifeline. Of Foaly and Mulch and even Commander Root, when he'd still been alive, when the LEP had needed some clever solution to some problem or another.
All of them relied on Artemis and his prodigious talent. In fact, he expected it. But no matter how great his tactical judgment or ingenuity, was it really right that a child should be saddled with the burdens of all their hopes and futures?
Holly's head bent. She hadn't been an adult again for more than twenty minutes. Yet she was waiting here, in the same position as always.
However, Holly forced her mind to close out such useless musings. Artemis wasn't here, so she couldn't do anything for him. Taking care of the child she had in front of her was what was important. If she was relying on Artemis to save them, it was simply because she had no choice; there was no one else.
Calm, she repeated, silently trying to send the emotion to the little demon. Calm.
And Holly realized she did feel remarkably calm now, considering the circumstances.
Because, child or not, whether it was right or wasn't, she really did believe Artemis would save them, if he was still alive. Perhaps she could not trust him not to manipulate her, or lie to her, or do underhanded things behind her back. But when it came to coming to the rescue, saving the lives of those he cared about, Artemis Fowl the Second had yet to fail to live up to her expectations.
The wait seemed like an eternity, where Holly chanted the word 'calm' over and over in her mind like a mantra. Only sheer willpower kept her from losing control again; she focused everything she had on her sense of purpose, her will to survive and have the little demon beside her make it through too.
This was the second time in as many days she was waiting in a tight space on the verge of panic for Artemis to pull off a miracle. However, if she'd had a choice, Holly would take the duffel any day. No question that Butler and little Artemis's methods were more civil than Opal's.
Holly felt the barrel shudder slightly, then begin to move. Perhaps Butler was taking them to Opal now. If so, this could very well be their execution.
The fat filling her ears muffled all outside sound. The quiet only seemed to make their approaching fate that much more ominous, a prelude to the all-consuming silence of death.
Listen to me, Holly wanted to think scathingly, but their wasn't even room enough in her head to mock her own melodramatic thoughts. Surely being trapped in a cramped barrel of fat on the verge of dying in some inconceivably horrible way was an excuse to be melodramatic if there ever was one.
The muck all around them weighed down on her, and even though Holly could breathe, the pressure of the thick liquid was heavy against her chest. Every breath of air she drew in was an immense effort, like trying to expand her lungs with a layer of bricks sitting on top of them. She concentrated on making her breathing as steady as she could even as the trolley came to a halt and nothing happened for probably half a minute.
Holly's heart-rate jerked unsteadily as a high, strident voice suddenly pierced through the mire.
"Get the lemur now!"
Holly felt Nº1's arms tighten around her. She squeezed back reassuringly, though her heart pounded and she sucked harder at the tube, her breathing coming in shorter gasps now.
Holly still couldn't hear anything clearly. The other voices, spoken in normal tones, were like the distant babble of a stream, and she could discern no individual words. Only the voice that surely belonged to Opal Koboi was loud and distinct enough for Holly to understand; however, she thought it sounded a bit different than she remembered. A bit deeper, less child-like. Perhaps the sound was being warped by the fat.
Holly strained to catch everything she could. Blind and nearly deaf, a desperate need to know what was going on took hold of her. However, the most she could gather was that young Artemis was facing off against Opal now, playing his part to distract the pixie-genius while his older self moved like a ghost through the manor, on his way to take care of her. Beyond that, Holly was about as helpless and ignorant as she could be.
A new thought struck Holly then, and she felt chills wrack her frame. Opal had all the power, all the magic on her side. This was all a gamble based on the prediction that Opal would not risk harming Jayjay, and as a result be powerless to do anything to Artemis as long as he kept the little lemur close. But if something went wrong or they underestimated Opal's abilities, Opal could very easily kill the ten-year-old.
What then? If the boy died here, in this time, then obviously he would not be able to grow to the age he was now and do the things he had done. Perhaps the Artemis she knew would fade from this world, and by the strange laws of time perhaps there would be some kind of cosmic mind-wipe as a result, her own memories dissipating like a drop of black ink in the crystal pure but empty waters of a mountain lake. All the battles they had fought together, all the pain they had risen above, all the excitement... As though none of it had ever happened.
Calm, she thought, and hoped Nº1 wouldn't be able to sense her inner turmoil. Calm.
Again, Holly heard Opal through the fat, though this time the voice was only raised enough for her to catch snatches.
"I would shoot a hundred of you, a thousand... My future! The world's future!"
In the next moment she heard Opal bellowing at the top of her lungs, "Shoot the boy!"
Calm.
No way Butler would ever obey an order like that, even if he was mesmerized.
Calm.
This was Artemis Fowl. He would find a way. Artemis would never die like this.
Holly felt Nº1 trembling against her, his hands tightening around her midsection, and she automatically rubbed his back and held him a little tighter, though her thoughts again spun in dizzying circles and pounded in her head like a hammer against metal.
For some time, the muffled quiet of the isolated space seemed to envelop everything once again. She heard little more than the sluggish gurgle of the pungent sludge drifting lazily around them. Holly wondered if by now Nº1 had lost all hope, abandoned as he was by all but his fairly useless guardian elf.
Hopeless and abandoned. If he did, maybe it was merely his empathy reflecting her own feelings back at her.
Holly could hear the murmur of voices again, but still she had no clue as to what was going on outside. Whether she and the little demon were about to be released, or their deaths were being arranged.
Again Holly's anxiety rose, trying to overwhelm her with all the thoughts of being trapped in this repugnant place, not knowing what would happen to her friends and helpless to help them anyway even if she did. However, she felt at the same time her worries were also beginning to feel muddled, distant. As though her body couldn't take any more tension and her brain was going to shut down in response.
Calm.
Holly's entire body had gone somewhat limp, her comforting grip on Nº1 now slack, but she was startled out of her semi-daze by a strange sound above her.
It was a sort of scraping sound, much closer than Opal's voice had been. The barrel was being opened. But was this to rescue them or to usher them to their demise?
Holly almost didn't care at the moment. The thought of freedom brought a surprising burst of strength back to her limbs and instantly she surged upward, dragging Nº1 with her until their heads broke the surface.
Holly coughed and hacked as did Nº1. She let the corrugated breathing tubes fall, the objects which had saved them sinking back into the murky depths.
Her eyes still covered with bits of fat and unable to see clearly, Holly had to reach blindly in order seize Nº1 tightly around the middle again, and together they managed to stand. She only had enough motor skills to pull them both clumsily forward, and they flipped themselves out over the lip. Their bodies as limp as rag dolls, they tumbled onto the floor where the soft deep pile carpeting eased the impact of their fall.
Globules of fat still clung to Holly's skin as well as Nº1's, effectively continuing to block all their powers. Holly had never thought she'd ever felt so sick in her life, and she coughed and sputtered violently, doubled over as Nº1 groaned next to her. She wiped at the putrid gunk stuck in her eyelashes and covering her face like a mask of mud.
For almost a minute neither one of them had the strength to do much more than flounder pathetically on the carpet like beached fish, but at last Holly forced herself to raise her head and open her eyes to seek out the face of their liberator. To discover whether he – or she – was friend or foe.
Everything was too bright for a moment as her eyes adjusted from the pure black darkness of the barrel and she blinked rapidly, squinting.
The first thing she saw was a hulking figure lying flat on its back on the carpet not too far in front her. Butler? Holly turned her head slowly until her gaze finally fell on a short figure standing a little ways away.
Holly never would have thought she'd ever be so glad to see that self-satisfied face, at least when he was that age.
"Animal fat," the boy commented, primly flicking a bit of the substance off the hem of his sleeve. "Yes, I did see something about that in my older self's mind. The pixie is as impressive as the two of you described her."
A sense of supreme ease stole through Holly's frame. What strength the remaining tension had kept in her limbs deserted her, and she let her head fall back into the soft carpet again. Her unfocused eyes only dimly registered the thin lacy patterns like silk spiderwebs curling through the thick fibers of the floor inches from her face, little green lines of plant life with tiny leaves.
Young Artemis was not done talking however. "I expect you won't be well for some time," he went on matter-of-factly. "The effect of animal fat on fairy magic I can see is very potent indeed. Astounding."
Holly's initial relief at seeing the younger Artemis Fowl quickly evaporated. Please go away, she thought. I am not in the mood for a lecture on Opal's brilliance.
"The bathroom's over there if you wish to use the shower," he informed her, pointing.
Holly forced herself to turn over and sit up, while next to her Nº1 rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself shakily to his hands and knees.
Holly's body felt as heavy as lead. However, as completely drained of vitality as she felt at the moment, there was a nausea swirling in the pit of her stomach, and getting the awful fat off felt like a more pressing need at the moment than rest. And she thought she would do just about anything to get away from that irksome voice.
Young Artemis, who was staying well out of range of the disgusting substance with apparently no intention whatsoever of helping the two dilapidated fairies, turned away.
Predictable as this was, Holly felt slightly miffed anyway as she watched him go with tired bloodshot eyes.
However, the boy's path took him to the large bed in the middle of the room, his expression changing to one of gentle concern. Holly could just see a thin, skeletal hand dangling over the side of the mattress, and her breath caught, but then the hand shifted slightly and drew back up onto the mattress out of sight. Angeline had made it through.
Holly blinked and glanced sideways as she felt Nº1's fingers around her wrist.
"Holly," he groaned.
"Let's go," she rasped back. Holly climbed shakily to her feet. Finding Nº1 was even more indisposed than she was, she helped him up too, lifting his arm up over her shoulder so she could support him on the short walk to the annex bathroom off Angeline's room.
The few-meter trek seemed endless and when they finally made it, Holly let Nº1 collapse on the white floor tiles in the center of the shower room. She, however, managed to stay on her feet and she trudged over to the controls, despite the sense of vertigo and nausea that swept over her with every step.
"I can do that."
Holly turned to see a shirtless Butler standing in the open doorway. He was looking thoroughly apologetic.
Holly didn't waste any energy bothering with a nod. She simply staggered back a few steps, then collapsed to her knees as Butler walked over. His steps were slow and jerky, and he didn't look much better than Holly or Nº1 if truth be known.
Nausea was overwhelming her again and when Holly coughed hard the air grated against her throat. The smell and feel of the fat gave her shudders and forced up what little her stomach had managed to keep onto the hard floor in front of her. She watched dully as the sickly pale liquid continued to drip in long streams from her mouth and spread out along the cracks between the small white tiles, the smell mixing with the stench of the fat and burning in her nostrils.
However, a moment later Holly felt a hard spray of pleasantly warm water boring into the back of her neck. It blew away the bile and the sickening odor, and Holly lifted her face directly into the blast, raising her hands in front of her as though the water was some kind of blessed holy light.
Butler detached the shower hose from the wall and used it to spray them down more effectively. Holly scrubbed hard at her face with her hands to speed the process of getting the fat off, scraping if off her bare arms and legs and digging it out of her ears.
However, she was still a far cry from being well again. Her elbows and knees ached from where she had hit the sides of the barrel in her bout of madness, and her throat was sore and sensitive from throwing up. But most of all she could still feel the sensation of being smothered in the grotesque, repugnant material, and the memory sent spasms of horror through her entire frame, enough to make her head spin and her stomach churn. She could have scarcely felt worse if someone had worked her over with a crowbar or if she was suffering from a major hangover.
But we're still alive, she thought. That's the important thing.
"Now that was disgusting," said Nº1 with feeling, making a face and gagging. "That was worse than when Abbott and the other demons used to make me take care of all my classmates whenever they started warping. And a warping demon is covered in mucus and thrown into a dung heap."
Holly's thoughts felt muddled and faraway, and she didn't have the energy to comment aloud. She rather thought that Nº1, despite his complaints, must be recovering, as he seemed to be getting slowly back to his usual talkative self.
Holly, on the other hand, though she felt more at peace mentally now that she was out of the barrel and had gotten most of the gunk off, could not seem to stop feeling sick to her stomach even now. Her throat burned as she continued to cough hard, retching even when there was nothing left in her stomach to give up. Perhaps the difference had something to do with Nº1's enormous reserve of magic. She hadn't had so much as a drop going in, so that could affect the speed at which they recovered.
"Thanks," sighed Nº1, who was lying on his back, smiling a little in Butler's direction. "I think it's all off of me now. Holly?"
Holly nodded once mutely from where she was on her hands and knees, her whole body trembling slightly.
She heard in response a click and the sound of the torrent of water like a heavy rain beating against the floor slowed to a trickle, then ceased.
Holly forced her head to turn so she could see the huge bodyguard out of the corner of her eye. The normally stoic features of his face were bunched slightly, his brown a little furrowed and the corners of his mouth down-turned, sorrowful. Clearly he knew what he had done, and probably felt responsible for it even if it had been under Opal's control. Holly noticed dark bags hanging beneath his eyes, which made him look as exhausted as Holly felt. She also noticed for the first time what looked like a twin pair of black burn marks on his naked torso.
Still slightly out of it, as she stared at the hard bulging muscles of her immense Mud Man friend's chest, arms, and abdomen, a rather stupid thought crossed her mind. Apparently for Butler, less clothing only served to make him look that much more impressive. His usual expensive black suit, a symbol of power where most Mud Men were concerned, actually concealed his real strength rather than enhance it. Seeing him like this one could only feel more fear and respect towards the man. What a contrast; she and Artemis didn't have one shred of dignity apart from their formal attire.
As Butler turned and left, Holly slipped down onto her stomach, letting her cheek rest against the cold tiling. She felt remarkably comfortable like that; the nausea wasn't so bad if she kept absolutely still like this. She could hear voices outside the bathroom, but she didn't even try to make out what they were saying and each of the words slipped through her head without her mind registering any meaning.
Holly noticed Nº1, however, sit up nearby after a few minutes. He leaned back slightly with his long arms thrown out behind him as support, legs stretched out limply in front of him. Though his gray pebbled skin was still a shade paler than usual, he was already beginning to look quite a bit better.
"I really thought we were going to die," he said, still breathing a little unevenly. "That was so gross." He suddenly chuckled a little and managed a weak smile. "Gross, that's a good one. Let's see. Vile, icky, loathsome, sickening, repellent, odious, nauseating, foul..."
Holly rolled lethargically onto her back, closing her eyes. "Mm," she agreed. "Foul..."
Nº1 grunted and Holly opened her eyes halfway to see the little demon drag himself over to the bathroom wall so he could put his back against it.
"I guess... it's over now, isn't it Holly?" he asked at length. "Artemis defeated her."
Holly stared with half-lidded eyes at the ceiling, which was surfaced with the same pattern of small white tiles as the floor. "Mm," she said again noncommittally. She certainly hoped so. She didn't think she had an ounce of fight left in her.
The two of them remained silent for several minutes. Nº1 seemed to be silently pondering something, but Holly's mind was totally fried, and she only had strength to stare vaguely at her surroundings, thoughts of a continued hope that this trial really was finally at an end and that all her friends were still alive and in one piece coming and going through her head like wandering vagabonds.
"I think," said Nº1 at last, "I'm going to go see what's happening now."
He got up slowly and, after drying himself off with a towel he found in one of the elegantly ornate cabinets off to the side of the room, headed toward the bathroom door.
Holly only remained behind a few seconds before, listlessly, she forced herself to her feet as well to follow. As she was leaving the bathroom, her eyes fell for a moment on the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door which had swung partially closed. She caught the barest glimpse of her own haggard form, shoulders slumped with fatigue, black circles under her eyes, face chalky pale. Less than an hour before the same face had been ecstatic with being back in an adult form and in control again. Now she looked like something returned from the dead.
Not even having the strength to so much as wince, Holly looked away without response and continued on after the demon.
In Artemis's parents' room, she found Angeline's sleeping form on the bed, young Artemis standing at a distance watching her.
Staying as far away from the fat spilled onto the carpet and the fat barrel still sitting in the center of the room as physically possible, it seemed Nº1 had headed over to the window where the orange light of evening had been replaced by a dreary overcast gray. He pushed himself up onto his tiptoes to try to look out over the Fowl estate, perhaps to find out if there was anything going on outside. Holly, meanwhile, turned and walked straight for young Artemis, who was standing unmoving by the bookcase like one of the manor's shorter decorative statues.
"You certainly don't look much better," he commented as she reached him, his eyes finally flickering from his mother momentarily to take in Holly's appearance with a quick cursory glance.
"Where are Artemis and Butler?" Holly asked, too weary to bother with her usual snappy comebacks.
"I am right here," he said with a bit of a curl to his lip, "but if you are referring to my older self, I believe he and my bodyguard went to secure Opal in the security center." His blue eyes returned to his mother. "However, the doctor who was treating Mother and was under Opal's control is still loose, so that could be a problem."
Holly nodded slowly. "Anything I can do?"
Young Artemis moved his gaze from Angeline once again to eye the elf speculatively. "Sit down before you pass out, perhaps," he said. "Over there please, if you don't mind, where I am in no danger of having this suit ruined."
Holly made a valiant attempt to glare at him, but just then someone appeared at the doorway to Angeline's room and her attention was at once diverted.
"Butler," said Holly, turning slowly toward him. "Where... where's Artemis?"
Butler's face was unusually grim, the corners of his mouth tight. Holly felt a prickle of foreboding at the back of her skull. Something was wrong – that was what every bit of Butler's tightly controlled body language was screaming.
"Gone," he said flatly.
Everyone was silent. Strangely, it was Nº1 who was the first to come out of shock enough to speak. He spun around and said with a sharp gasp, "Gone? Gone? You mean he's – "
Butler shook his head. "No, I mean he's left."
Confusion nibbled at the edge of Holly's mind. Left?
"You mean he's fleeing?" asked young Artemis, frowning. "Or... Ah, I see."
"See... what?" said Holly. Her shoulders were hunched, her back bent as the worry tightening in her stomach brought the nausea rushing back worse than ever.
Little Artemis continued directing his words at Butler. "Opal escaped you then, and her powers have begun to replenish themselves. As a result my older self has taken action to draw her away from here."
Butler nodded once, looking as though he had just swallowed something bitter.
"But why?" Holly wondered. "Why would she go after Artemis when it's Jayjay she needs?"
"He must have taken the lemur – Jayjay – with him," concluded young Artemis. "To serve as bait."
Holly and Nº1 both sucked in sharp breaths, and Holly was forced to bend over as she was set to coughing again as the renewed need to vomit reached a point beyond which she could stand.
"He's using the lemur to draw Opal away from Mother," continued young Artemis, beginning to speak even before Holly had managed to get a grip on herself. His gaze moved slowly around the room, locking eyes with Butler, Holly, and Nº1 each in turn. His own expression remained perfectly cool and unruffled. "After all," he explained, "we would have been in no position to fight her if she came back to retrieve her prize. She would no doubt have killed us all. Consequently, making sure she did not come back by removing what she wanted was the most logical course of action."
Holly was still doubled over, a hand on clenched against her stomach as her throat burned with keeping the taste of bile down even though her stomach was empty. Young Artemis's words sickened her almost as much as the fat had. It seemed so callous somehow, using Jayjay that way, even if it was to save them all. To save Angeline. However, that was just how Artemis was. He had already proven over and over that he would do anything to protect his mother, no matter how ruthless.
"But then..." said Nº1 slowly. "If he's using that little guy as bait and the pixie catches them..."
"This strategy will give us time for your operatives from the LEP to arrive from Tara," said young Artemis smoothly, ignoring Nº1. "They will go after Opal and rescue both the lemur and my older self, if she has not already caught and vaporized them by that point in time. Though I would guess there should be more than enough time for backup to arrive. I assume he would have taken one of the Fowl aircraft, and Opal will likely be somewhat hampered by the tranquilizer my older self used on her, which will prevent her pursuit from being as successful as it might have been, at least right away. In addition, she will likely hold off on any of her potentially more devastating magical attacks, for fear something may happen to her lemur as well."
Nº1's lip trembled, and he looked close to tears.
Butler shook his head slowly. But before he had a chance to say anything, they all heard a strange sort of chattering noise which preceded the entrance of a little animal with soft, puffy white fur, which entered the room by scampering in between Butler's legs.
Young Artemis blinked and Holly stared in disbelief, both equally too stunned to say anything.
"There you are!" cried Nº1 happily, though the exclamation was followed by a short coughing fit. "You're safe after all," he croaked, though he was still smiling.
Jayjay loped across the room and found his way into Nº1's still slightly shaky gray arms.
Young Artemis's brow was furrowed a moment, then smoothed. He still looked mildly troubled however. "I see," he said quietly.
Despite Holly's exhaustion, that was really starting to get on her nerves. Yet again she didn't have a hope of grasping the situation without some further explanation, and she was loathe to ask for it from this particular Mud Boy of all people. However, an unwelcome idea of her own flickered at the back of her mind. Even to think it was enough to make her feel sick to her stomach, and she hated to suggest it out loud, but she she had to know.
"So," said Holly slowly, her voice like the rustle of dry leaves, "So you think... you think he left to escape Opal, not to draw her off."
"A decoy," young Artemis corrected, staring intently at Butler. "That is his plan, isn't it?"
Butler bowed his head, as though it suddenly was as heavy as iron. "Microwave gel pack. If – When Opal scans the ship, she'll pickup two heat sources."
Holly breathed a silent sigh of relief, but it was quickly swept away as she processed what they were saying. Her thoughts seemed to grind to a halt as she stared up at Butler. The huge bodyguard was breathing more heavily than normal, leaning up against the door frame for support.
"But..." Holly said in a low voice, almost breathless, "if Opal discovers he doesn't actually have Jayjay, won't she shoot him out of the sky?"
Butler's facial muscles were tight with suppressed tension as he said calmly, "Artemis is banking on the LEP arriving to capture Opal before that happens."
Holly nodded, slumping slightly. Right. The LEP would save him. This wasn't like when the two of them were back in the past and the only possible hope they had for rescue was each other. Yes, the LEP. Her fellow fairy comrades.
There was nothing more for her to do here but rest and recover. Opal would go back to her time and Artemis would come back swaggering up the avenue with a smug expression on his face, saying how, despite a few blips, everything had ultimately gone according to his plan as always.
As Butler turned and left again, limping off down the hall. Nº1 made calming noises at Jayjay. However, Holly noticed young Artemis turn and walk silently to his still-sleeping Mother's bedside.
He reached out and took her hand gently in his. A moment later he leaned down, saying so quietly into the woman's ear he probably thought Holly couldn't hear, "You don't have anything to worry about anymore. You are safe now, Mother." He smiled slightly, his face as gentle as she had ever seen it. "And so long as you are safe, nothing else in the world matters to me. Not even my own future."
Holly quickly looked away, embarrassed. She slowly closed her eyes. The LEP would surely save him. Surely.
And yet, Holly found herself slowly getting to her feet to follow after the limping bodyguard, though she still could not walk properly. To follow Butler, who, no matter what state he was in, could do nothing else but continue to loyally push himself to do whatever he could for the sake of the welfare his charge.
A/N: Hello again, I'm back. (: (It feels like it's been an especially long time for me this time for some reason.)
So, anyway. Sorry, no schedule. (That is, last chapter I said I might try to work out goals for dates when to post the last chapters, but as of yet I haven't. :c ) It's mainly because I really don't have any idea how long it'll take to finish with the last two. I don't think I'll be able to finish with the last chapter before the last book comes out as I wanted now, but I think I'll be able to get the second-to-last one out before then, and the last one not too long after the last book comes out. I'm going on vacation for a few weeks in a few days, but I'm hoping I'll still be able to work on this while I'm gone, though I'll probably have limited Internet access, so I may not be able to post it right away even if I get finished early.
So, just a couple of notes from me about technical things you're free to skip, as always. (: If you're in a hurry, just go straight down to the final paragraph at the bottom.
1. I really had trouble with the barrel scene... Mainly because not too much jumped out at me that would be worth adding that would contribute to this version of the story. It started out pretty heavily summarized, but every time I read over it, I'd think, 'it's needs more than this.' So I kept adding details that were in the actual book back in... I guess for the most part I felt like the scene would fit well into this story just how it was and there wasn't much I could add.
2. Like the fish pit thing in earlier chapters, there was another part (in the barrel scene) that I didn't know how to reconcile. In the original, the book states that Holly attempts to fly away when Butler comes in, "...releasing her suit's wings from their sheath." (page 328) But she isn't supposed to have a suit yet, unless she took one from one of Nº1's bodyguards in between when they appeared in the study and she told Foaly and Nº1 the situation.
But it doesn't seem like there would have been time for that, especially since the bodyguards were never mentioned as being anywhere around there, since they could have tried to stop Butler if they were; plus, Holly's one-piece is mentioned specifically when she's in the barrel, which would be strange if she had a jumpsuit over it again. Also, there can't be wings for the one-piece, as it was mentioned earlier that there is padding on the one-piece to support a wing rig (which Nº1 told her to remove near the beginning, along with any electronics).
As far as I can tell, it's just an inconsistency, so I just left it out entirely. Wasn't sure about the Neutrino either, but I did try to solve that one... (Though you have to wonder if Nº1 could get her a Neutrino, why he couldn't get her a suit too while he was at it. Maybe the guards have extra weaponry lying around, but full suits are too expensive?)
Anyway, thank you very much for reviewing! We're getting closer... I feel like a lot of the creative block I was feeling with last chapter cleared up with this one, so I'm glad about that. So then, I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. (: Random: I just love the new cover art feature for stories on this site, eheh. (I'm still planning to find/make one I can use for this story that satisfies me; the current one I just found from among my fanart and stuck up there's not that inspiring, lol.)
Posted 6/18/12