Author's Note; Firstly, a word out to the reviewers of the previous chapter!
Courage and Love: Thank you so much for that! Yup, did come up with it all on my own. I'm glad you find it creepy, that was the intention ;) Well, we shall eventually learn why our host is super-mysterious, but not much can be said at the moment about that. Also, your prediction is a 100 percent correct!
Bravemaridin: Thank you so much :) I'm glad you enjoyed the previous chapter. I hope you enjoy this one even more, because it's eventful and...kinda sorta answers your question? I wasn't expecting anyone to ask, but I'm glad you did because it has a very interesting answer... ;)
Elisarah: Ethos, Pathos and Logos...yup, composition class! They are all techniques of persuasion in writing or speech. Just like how the realm of Ethos is going to persuade some of our heroes to stay, with the most unorthodox methods imaginable...oops, was that a spoiler?
pokegeek151: Thank you:D! Great encouragement, by the way!
Lina (guest) : Woah, thanks! I'm really glad you like the style and idea. Oh yes, please do! Haha, but then again all I want is for people to enjoy this work, so nevertheless I appreciate you guys telling me in your reviews what you honestly think. Hm...a lot of people seem to be asking for that. Oh well. We shall see. I suppose the main thing is a happy reader. A little bit of twisted A/H in this chapter, though, to satisfy the shippers out there ;)
That doesn't, dearest younger readers, mean mature content. Rest assured, I would have a detailed warning in the Author's Note if it did.
Also, this is my longest Chapter so far. 10,000 plus words EXCLUDING the author's notes! Long read ahead but I know you won't get bored!
Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl.
—•:;*"~—
CHAPTER SIX: NIGHTMARE
Julius Root hated the circus.
And this was a statement of fact; circuses were not a likely business idea in subterranean cities, hence not commonly known by the fairy folk, but there were a few inconspicuous groups who took visas to the surface only for the purpose of watching one. Most of the People were sympathetic towards animals and didn't approve of enslaving and teaching them tricks, although very much like Mud Men, there was a seperate bunch who reveled in the fascination of seals being shot out of cannons (Or did that happen only in the movies? Root had no clue) Either way, it was a disgusting and ironically inhumane practice that didn't win his approval.
There was, indeed, a batch of fairies who earned millions out of the People's currency through their secret (and illegal– the LEP was tracking them down) traveling circus that operated Aboveground specifically for fairies during a particular season. Root had been on the case for a while.
But where the Mud Men were concerned, it wasn't even illegal, hence he found himself riding in the back of a ridiculously colourful old van, given a view of the streets through bars, bound and gagged in impossible knots.
They'd exited the desert hours ago and had been traveling this town for the past few minutes, accompanied by his captors' parade of elephants and carriages. Mud people on the streets watched with excitement and children pointed, and Root wondered if they could even notice the fairy tied up in the back of the van. That was until he noticed a few sprites hovering, completely visible, amongst the human crowd. He would've shouted if his mouth hadn't been gagged.
Why are those idiots there? Do these humans know the people?
No. They can't have been discovered. Then again, his captors had known. Koboi!
Root argued with himself that no, this change can't have happened so quickly. Perhaps he was hallucinating. Perhaps these particular humans were too daft to notice hovering green people.
He felt his chains rattle and snapped to face the front of the van. They'd stopped, so they'd arrived. He was about to be part of a bloody circus.
Root realized that the only thing preventing him from shouting was the gag. Once he got that out, he would feel much better.
–•–
Holly picked up a couple more shirts, stuffing them carelessly into the open backpack that lay before her. It was weird that this place only offered odd medieval clothing; perhaps it was Opal's trap and she was trying to have extra fun out of it as saving the world didn't look very heroic in puffy dresses and corsets. The likely trap didn't matter. Artemis had an alternate plan just in case they were mistaken about their host's sincerity.
Her gaze drifted over to the human, who was also in the process of packing stuff, although in stark contrast to her scrunched up shirts, he folded his suits neatly– typical Artemis Fowl. Stuck in a weird foreign world and he still manages to find suits. Much to Holly's eventual (and admitedly cruel) satisfaction, though, he came across only two suits besides the one he was wearing.
"Major," he called. Holly looked up innocently liked she hadn't noticed his plight.
"Yeah?"
"Do any of those drawers–"
"No suits," shrugged the elf, although she was certain she didn't sound very sorry about it. Hey, she wasn't going to be the only one running around in odd costumes. She opened a drawer anyway, and what she subsequently found spread a small, unsympathetic grin across her features.
"But I might have found something compatible with your highness's tastes."
The look on Artemis's face was one of obvious skepticism, but he looked nevertheless, and headed over to the drawers himself.
"Honestly now," he said, before starting to go through the rest of the contents.
"What's wrong with it? It's a suit, isn't it?"
Artemis seemed to be intensely concentrating on shifting through the disorganized bundles in the top drawer, dropping aside the garments he didn't even consider possibilities. Knee-socks and knickerbockers. Honestly. It looked like he would have to pack the Hawaiian beach shorts because eventhat was a better option.
"Earth to Mud Man."
Artemis found a top hat and snorted, though he started to examine the brim with interest. "Yes, Major?"
"It's a suit."
"I am not a character from a comic book," replied Artemis primly. "But this might pique your interest." He held out the hat. "See the year of manufacture."
Holly took the hat, but didn't drop the bright purple suit. "1937?" she asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.
Artemis nodded. "Probably belonging to a fairy, considering humans don't live that long. Our host mentioned that only Opal's side had fairy magic, even though we share the surface– so, your current outfit included, I don't see why fairy-sized clothing would even be here in this town where there are no fairies."
Holly didn't take him seriously and proceeded to try on the hat, spinning on her heel to check herself in the floor-length mirror. "Fetching," she commented, smiling at her reflection.
Artemis cleared his throat. "There's a possibility that some details were left out when our surroundings were explained. But why wouldn't they want us to know that they have fairies on their side?"
"That's for you to figure out," said Holly unconcernedly, dropping the hat into her bag of clothing. "All I care is that we're probably going to face some Freaks Opal manufactured just to kill us, and she probably made sure we weren't immune. So I'm going to have to save your butt when you get mauled by one of them."
Artemis, to his credit, appeared mildly amused. "What makes you think I can't defend myself, Major?"
Holly tapped her chin in thought, a contemplating grin forming on her lips. "Ok, while it's true that you aren't a whimpy stick-figure anymore..."
"Hard to tell if that's an insult or not."
"...but then again you said you needed a bodyguard, so I don't think you're very good at the Art of self-defense," finished Holly smugly. "Look back on your words, Fowl."
Artemis sighed. "You underestimate me, Holly. I should be somewhat better than I once was."
"Really?" asked Holly, a thread of sarcasm in her tone.
"Affirmative."
"OK."
The knee that collided with his gut was so sudden and unexpected that even though it hadn't carried much force, the human almost doubled over at the impact, letting a loud cry of pain escape his throat before he stumbled back into the open drawers.
"And that," said the elf happily. "Is why you need me, Mud Man."
Artemis glared at her, although it didn't look very intimidating when he was clutching the side of his gut and on the floor against the chest of drawers. "To maul me before a Freak tries?"
Holly laughed, but she knelt down to where he had fallen/sat. It felt good being the one who had to kneel, given that she was an elf who usually got the short end of the stick. Pun intended.
"To teach you a thing or two," Holly corrected, wagging a finger. "Does that have to be healed?"
"Conserve your magic," grunted Artemis. "Our journey will need it."
"If fairies live on the surface, Ritual spots can't be that hard to come by, genius." A spark skipped around her fingers. "Show me the bruise."
Artemis felt like arguing on that point, but he was never in the habit of ignoring pain. It was typical of the elf to get carried away so easily. He grudgingly lifted the shirt inside his suit and gave her a view of the bruise.
Holly frowned. "How badly did I kick you?"
"It was pretty bad."
"It really wasn't," rebuked the elf, roughly pushing up the shirt even more. "So I'd like an explaination for that, if you don't mind."
Artemis knew what he was going to see, but looked anyway. A few inches above where Holly had kicked him, a black spark flitted his slight outline of abs, and the bruise had spread across most of his stomach, turning itself a morbid grey colour. Unusual behavior for any mild injury. Not to mention that the spark was clearly magic and not an electric current.
Artemis sighed. "Why are you always suspicious of me, Holly?"
"You've earned it," said Holly. "And I'm not even wrong. What did you do this time?"
"Don't attempt a healing," Artemis sat up straight. He winced. "That'll only start internal bleeding in organs that I'd rather have intact."
Holly crossed her arms, and didn't sound very patient. "There's black magic in you. Explain."
"Holly, I'm afraid we have to get going."
"Not until you spill the beans, Fowl. I want to know exactly what you've been up to the past six years and so help me if you start lying–"
"Let's just say that earlier I was lying about not having encounters with fairies before I regained my memories, and that some fairies have...methods of expressing anger."
Holly nearly rolled her eyes. "Are you saying that some warlock put a curse on you?"
"Yes," said Artemis firmly. "Would you mind helping me up?"
The elf eyed him with a combination of distrust and doubt, before she decided she'd have plenty of time to grill him later and took his outstretched hand. She helped him up with a little more force than was strictly necessary.
"This talk is not over, Artemis," she warned. "And you won't be giving me anything but the truth when I ask for it, or you'll be sorry, and there'll be a lot more to worry about than the Freaks. Are we clear on that?"
"Of course," said Artemis, before picking up the purple suit that lay on her suitcase, folding it neatly in five quick steps, and adding it to his stack of clothes.
.
The temporary town had indeed been built in a thick forest clearing, but the buildings were squat, many, and clustered. They made their way through dusty streets and past deep alleys, with Caleb pointing out random places of interest along the way. Zone, who was a sturdy figure of nearly (but not quite) Butler's height, stayed completely quiet the entire time. Holly wondered if he could even talk.
They had to walk a considerable distance to exit the town, and towards the back entrance the buildings grew taller, as if in preparation for standing against invasion. Mulch had been found in one of these areas.
They came into a cut path that wound across the forest floor. The weather was painfully dry despite the presence of many trees, and Holly noted the cracks along the soil. This area hadn't had rainfall in a while.
Caleb continued on, in the lead, whistling cheerfully and occasionally drawing their attention to less-than-fascinating species of birds, like magpies or crows. The fairies in the crew could appreciate this. You didn't see birds in Haven. But dwarves preferred them as snacks, so Mulch and Holly looked on for entirely different reasons.
The forest took a long hike to clear– one which Artemis clearly didn't enjoy– and they eventually, a little later in the day, emerged on the other side to a cracked, completely barren land.
"We'll have to be a sparing with the water," said Caleb. "Until we reach the next town, which is where we have our first mission."
"First mission?" asked Holly, stuffing her hands in her pockets. The buckled shoes on her feet were already starting to itch.
"We have a few important items to retrieve," explained the boy. "A couple of months ago we sent out a squad to gather what they could about Opal's strategy; one of our fairies managed to mesmerize a top guy and got all the details we needed."
"What are these items?" asked Mulch, a glint in his eye.
"I promised not to arrest you, Mulch, but I don't think these people follow our laws," threatened Holly. Then to Caleb, "You were saying?"
"Right. Well, until recently we thought this was a myth, but since Opal plans on sending people looking for them, there are different keys located in different places that'll lead us to Logos. She obviously doesn't want us acquiring these, and we must find them before her people do, so time is of the essence. Lol. Time is of the essence. I've always wanted to say that."
Artemis frowned. "Then we know her weakness, but she knows our goal. We know that her plans will go awry if we make it into Logos, and she knows exactly what we're after. She could relocate it."
"No, she won't," assured Caleb. "Her city is more secure than anywhere else. Logos is a city that keeps shifting locations, so there isn't even a definite direction we have to head in. As long as we don't acquire all the keys, we will never know where it is and never be able to get in."
"Are we talking about literal keys?"
"No," admitted Caleb. "It just sounds cool when you say it like that. They're actually some ancient fairy tech with magic. Logos used to belong to the People, and they lost it a long time ago. Before our races started living in peace. Legend has it that they made these things so they'll know where Logos is when they're ready to invade and reclaim it."
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Why does this all sound very fantastical to me?"
Holly clapped him on the back a little harder than was necessary. "Is that complaining I hear, Fowl?"
The genius winced. "It's doubt."
"You'd better believe it," said Holly simply, cantering a few steps ahead. "Come on, the rest of you. Let's go find ourselves that first key."
And with that she happily walked off, almost too happily for someone on a life-threatening mission, and Artemis found himself wondering just how boring her desk job was.
It was only when the sun started to set, a dazzling globe of bright, brilliant orange before retreating into the clouds, that their trek through the merciless desert was given a break. Zone, who'd taken the rear, finally gave the call to halt and camp up, laying down the three stuffed backpacks he'd effortlessly carried the whole time.
They set up three tents, a process in which a certain young genius was of practically no use, and Zone went about preparing a dinner out of their rations. It would take about two days of walking to get to their first destination on account of the fact that Caleb's town has distanced itself as much as possible from normal civilization, in an area far away from potential Logos pop-up spots. Nothing could be stated safely, still.
It was a dinner that Mulch found thoroughly unsatisfactory, which caused him to retreat into one of the tents in a slouch and the promise that he would find a few snacks caught up in his beard. Nobody asked any questions.
Holly watched him disappear into the tent, and raised a superficial question. "Who's going to share with him?"
Artemis gave her a disapproving look. "You don't have to direct the question at me."
"You're the genius. Figure something out."
Caleb and Zone both looked at him.
Artemis sighed. "The dwarf can have a tent for himself. The rest of us can share."
"Can Zone really share one of these tents?" asked Caleb. "Err, no offense, man."
"None taken," rumbled the bodyguard, in what was the second time he had spoken the whole day.
There was a long moment of silence undisturbed even by the stillness of the night.
"Alright," sighed the Prince of Weird. "Rock-paper-scissors?"
"Seriously?" asked Artemis.
"Do you know how to play?"
"Of course I do," said the genius, although he really wasn't as offended as he sounded.
"On three," announced Caleb. "One...two..."
Artemis threw paper, Holly threw scissors, and Caleb threw paper.
"Shucks," muttered the boy. "Okay, another round, Artemis."
Holly smirked.
Holly's smirk soon died down because Artemis threw rock and Caleb threw scissors, and it soon clicked to her that if Caleb was sharing with Mulch, then Artemis would be...
"Oh no," said Caleb disbelievingly. "Noooo!"
Artemis shrugged. "Seeing as we based the decision entirely on dumb luck but it was your suggestion in the first place, I think it's fair to say that you've lost."
"Fine," grumbled the boy. "Hey, I don't think Mulch is so bad anyway. I mean, that sunscreen stinks, but he's hilarious and you know, I bet we're going to be best friends."
"Positivity. I like that."
"Just a second, Fowl," said Holly, raising a finger. "Did it occur to you that..."
"Don't worry about that, Major," said Artemis dismissively. "The tent is big enough for us to have our own portions. And I didn't lose the game, so I don't deserve suffering Mulch's sulphurous skin creams."
Holly sighed, deciding against asking any more questions. He was right. It wouldn't be so bad. Not in comparison to sharing a small space with a dwarf.
A few minutes later, Holly found herself sadly mistaken.
For one thing, she had been ready to fall into a peaceful sleep before the accursed Mud Man had turned up at ten o'clock, flicked on a bright, huge torch that lit up the whole tent, and as if that wasn't bad enough, started removing his suit jacket.
"If you're going to take your cool time getting into your PJs, Fowl," she muttered, turning onto her side to scowl at him. "Haven help me I will knock the daylights out of you."
"I'm not inclined to sleep in a suit, Major," replied Artemis calmly, starting to unbutton his shirt. "And I would appreciate if you turned the other way."
Holly felt her cheeks flush, thus immediately complied. This didn't prevent a witty retort though. "Dream on, Mud Boy."
"And I'm a child again," said Artemis, sounding mock-disappointed. He carefully put the discarded clothes away before sitting in his sleeping bag and stifling a yawn. "Some would say I am quite the specimen in human standards."
"Show off," muttered Holly, fighting the urge to turn back his way. It was practical to be able to look at the person you were talking to. Not that shewanted to look. Why would she? It wasn't as if he was actually that attractive, although a part of her knew that she was seriously lying to herself.
Holly almost shot to her feet at this last thought.
What the heck?!
"Do you still have doubts about our otherworldly friends?"
Holly groaned, just wishing he would turn the light off and let her sleep. She knew it would be no use asking, so she didn't ask. "Honestly? Caleb can't be part of Opal's plans. He's just a child and everything. Not even a mad juvenile genius like you were."
"I'm touched," said Artemis sarcastically. "Although I do remember explaining to you before why I would qualify as a prodigy rather than mad if my first grand scheme went well."
Holly rolled her eyes. "Great, you remember."
"I did say I had all my memories back," pointed Artemis. "But I was wondering...if Opal hasn't already revealed herself to Haven, it would look like I'mthe reason behind your disappearance. It wouldn't bolster my credibility much."
"I think it doesn't get any better than Public Enemy Number One," said the elf. "Don't worry. Foaly will figure it out eventually."
"If by eventually you mean when the Freaks descend upon Haven City and Opal Koboi turns queen of fairykind then yes, I'm completely reassured."
Holly forgot her previous restrictive thoughts and turned on her side to face him. There was a good two meters between them anyway, so she did indeed have her space. "You're a bucket full of sunshine, Mud Boy. Now if you wouldn't mind telling me why there's black magic pulsing through your system, that'd be great."
Artemis sighed, running pianist fingers through his hair. The elf ignored the fact that he was without a shirt again, and was grateful of the sleeping bag that enveloped the rest of his body.
"Are we going to keep returning to this?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Until you give me the complete truth, yes."
"Then we'll have to keep returning to it."
Holly scowled. "Stop being dodgy, Fowl. I don't even fully trust you because you're hiding something. I need to know how, when and why you were messing around with fairy magic before I found you."
"How, when and why," repeated Artemis. "Where do I start?"
"You're stalling so you can think of a lie."
"Please, Major, I'm not nearly as obvious. You wouldn't be able to tell if I was actually thinking of a lie."
"Still stalling."
"Alright," said Artemis, rolling his eyes. "How would you like it? Fairytale format?"
"Huh?"
"Once upon a time, there was this teenage criminal mastermind who discovered mirrored lenses in his eyes. He was naturally curious, so he visited the local witchdoctor–"
"Fowl," cut in Holly threateningly.
"Visited the surgeon whose signature the lenses bore. We had apparently ordered it ourselves. I knew it can't have been a lie– my email was unhackable– and there was also the fact that Butler had called the man himself. One story led to another and I was inclined to believe in memory-loss. Purposeful memory loss, because Butler and Juliet had undergone the same thing. One of the possibilities I stumbled on was the fairyMesmerwhich, upon further research, required exact eye contact."
Holly crossed her arms. "We're getting somewhere. Go on."
"I paid a visit. It was a rogue fairy living as a tramp in New York, and a warlock at that. He hadn't broken any rules to lose his magic; he simply had a great vision of a world where humans and fairies lived together, and just wasn't very bright, so I got a few details. What the fairy kind was, the different families, the magic they harnessed..."
"Something went wrong," guessed Holly correctly.
"Exactly. The warlock glimpsed Butler and recognized me, fairy Public Enemy Number One, and suddenly grew unwilling to give me more details. This raised an eyebrow on my part, because I didn't know this, and I ordered Butler to intercept him."
"Threaten."
"Interrogate," insisted Artemis. "He was an invaluable source of information. He did, however, see it as a threat, and used a few sparks of very powerful magic in an attempt to save himself. It had no effect on Butler. But on me–" Artemis held out a hand, and black sparks crackled at his fingertips. "I haven't fully understood yet what it can do."
"Artemis Fowl with magic," snorted Holly. "Illegal magic, naturally. Black magic. This is just what the world needs."
"I'm not a threat."
"And Mulch Diggums smells nice."
"Holly, now that I know all that the People have done for me, I wouldn't even try–" And he paused, frozen stiff.
Holly frowned. "Artemis?"
Artemis lifted a finger to his lips.
The elf sat up, throwing the sheet off herself. She was in her one piece again. Not the attire she preferred in a dangerous situation. "What's going on?" she hissed.
Artemis grabbed her arm. Stay still, he mouthed, tightening his grip so she got the point.
Holly wanted to ask, but the look on his face told her this was serious.
Wordlessly, still holding onto her, Artemis reached his other arm out to the bright torch and carefully shifted it onto his pillow, before tucking its bright end inside the cover of his sleeping bag.
The room instantly dimmed, but there was a little bit of light that escaped through the thick fabric.
"Listen," whispered Artemis. "Or rather, don't. Block it out."
Holly was confused for the moments before she heard it, and her nerves immediately stood on edge. It was...whistling. Low, melancholy whistling that broke the stillness of the night air, and it seemed to come at them from all sides. At first a single note repeated, but then it increased to three different notes of different pitches, and the quiet noise grew louder. There was something about it that made her gut churn and her limbs feel weak. She wanted to just sit there and listen.
Artemis pulled her closer into him, and she didn't even question it. She just wrapped an arm around his waist and felt herself slipping, slipping out of consciousness...
"Pathos," said Artemis with a clear voice, which made her suddenly snap back to her senses and break free from him.
"D-D'Arvit," muttered Holly, a hand on her head. "That sound..."
"The Mesmer we were told about," said Artemis, getting to his feet. Still a little afflicted by her previous daze, Holly tried to ignore the red boxers. "We need to alert Zone on this. Caleb said he can fight them."
"Them?" echoed Holly. He was already slipping on a pair of trousers.
"There might be more than one," said Artemis, hurriedly pulling his shirt over his head. He spent a futile second trying to even out a few creases before he seemed to realize that it really wasn't the time and proceeded to duck and crawl out of the tent with an extreme sense of urgency.
Holly groggily reached for a pair of shorts and got them on before following, soon emerging into the cold night air inadequately equipped for a fight.
-••
"He's already surveying the perimeter," said Caleb, and even the immune boy had a worried look in his eyes. "But I don't think we'll be able to avoid it. They're quite good at sniffing people out, and I'm sure they've been set on our trail anyway."
"Great," muttered Holly, a hand resting on the hip that usually carried her trusty Neutrino. "Do we know how to get rid of one?"
Caleb bit his lip. "A Freak can't be killed easily. Not unless you drop a grenade on one. Besides, we don't even know if you're immune..."
"Should've had the concoction," snorted Mulch, elbowing Artemis in the ribs.
Artemis was about to retort, but at that moment Zone came jogging up to them from a distance away. "It's gone quiet," he announced. "I set off a green light but there was no response."
"Green light?" asked Artemis.
"They're attracted to bright green lighting." He turned to Caleb. "The danger is past. The Freak you heard must've gone by us."
"I wasn't imagining it," protested the boy. "They heard it too!"
"I didn't say you were imagining it, Master Caleb," said Zone in his usual quiet voice. "It's just gone past. But I'll stay guard anyway, just in case."
Caleb nodded. "Thanks man. Immunity only prevents you from entering Ethos. Those things can still hypnotize you. Sure you can handle it?"
The bodyguard only nodded.
Mulch yawned. "How late is it?"
"Ten thirty," replied Caleb. "Come on, best friend, let's get some sleep."
Holly couldn't help but chuckle as she watched the boy reluctantly follow the dwarf into their shared tent.
"It's unfair to suspect that kid of anything, Artemis," she said, making sure only he heard.
"Perhaps," murmured Artemis, gaze fixed on the dark horizon. "But that isn't the current issue. I don't think sleep will come easy tonight."
The elf stifled a yawn. "Whatever," she mumbled, crouching into their own tent. "Goodnight, Mud Boy."
.
LEPAcademy was usually a very loud place; half of it had to do with a lack of discipline, the other half had to do with the shots fired and various grunts of cadets training in the grounds. She'd been having a bad headache already, so it did nothing to lighten her mood.
Holly Short sat alone on one of the rusty benches near the fence-gate, her eyes wandering everywhere but the Academy behind her. She'd graduated two weeks ago but, upon the insistence of certain let's say, arrogant, worthy-of-a-blackened-eye male instructors, she had to assure them that they hadn't made the wrong decision, so she was still here and with no known people from her batch. It was, after all, a historic and first-time thing that a female had graduated the Academy. Would be a shame if it had turned out to be an accident, wouldn't it?
So she watched the streets outside, alone.
Holly was soon enough in luck and a grin spread on her face. Her father's minivan finally pulled up beside the gate.
She grabbed her pack and, swinging over the fence in a swift move, landed on the pavement outside. She walked over to the vehicle and slid open the door to the passenger seat. Soon settled in, they were heading along the main roads of Haven.
The roads looked dark...darker than usual. It was as if the glo-strips of the city had been reduced to minimum power, but it was also as if some terrible catastrophe, some unprecedented disaster, was about to descend upon the shivering streets. Holly cast an uneasy glance around. The stalactites that made the roof of the city seemed twisted in shape. Like something had sucked the energy out of them, leaving the anyway inanimate feature even more dead.
Something was wrong. Something was terribly, terribly wrong, and she somehow knew the right question to ask.
"Where's Mum?"
Her father smiled slightly, but it was devoid of any happiness. It was more a nervous smile, a worried one of a person with pent-up anxieties.
Holly's eyes widened. "Dad? Where's Mum?"
He couldn't bring his eyes to meet hers, so he simply stared at the speeding road ahead, the ghostly road, the road to what would be Holly's worst nightmare.
"She...was on duty," he started, barely managing not to stutter. "There was an accident. She's in hospital, Poppy."
Holly felt her jaw drop. Accident? Hospital? Her mother's line of work came with a lot of risks, and most of said risks were often...fatal.
"Is she...okay?" asked Holly, her voice a strangled rasp.
"She's a strong one," said her father. "She'll make it. I know she will."
Holly didn't respond. She couldn't.
"We're going to see her," added her father, just as they whizzed past the lane to their house. "She's going to be fine."
She's going to be fine.
That's what Holly kept telling herself throughout the drive, that seemed to stretch on for eternities, and up till the last moment where she entered the emergency ward and saw the worst she'd feared to see.
Which made it hard to tell herself that. That her mother was going to be fine.
.
Holly cried for the first time in her young years at her mother's bedside, eyes pressed tightly against a pale, poisoned hand.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, not bothering to hide the tears, not bothering to mask her breaking voice. "I'm sorry it has to be slow. I'm sorry you have to suffer this."
"I'm not," said Coral Short with surprising vigor.
Holly shakily met her eyes, a mirror of her own.
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because if I'd died at once," her mother's eyes twinkled. "I wouldn't be able to see you now."
Holly managed a weak smile. "But I don't want you to go through this."
"It's OK," said Coral, squeezing her daughter's hand with the little energy she had left. "I don't mind. I want to see your pretty face."
Holly felt her mother's white knuckles, hard, a sign of her body's losing fight against the poisoning.
"I love you," she said suddenly. "I love you, Mum."
"I know, sweetheart. Do you know how much I love you too?"
"You don't know," said Holly miserably. "I've never told you before. I've never shown it. I'm a horrible daughter."
Coral frowned. "Don't insult my daughter," she pulled her into a weak hug, the most her now stick-thin arms could bear. "My daughter is going to be the first female in LEPrecon. My daughter is an ace pilot. And she's made me proud."
"I love you," whispered Holly again, returning the embrace, but gently, carefully, as if a little more force would worsen the dying fairy's condition.
"Holly," murmured Coral, running frail fingers through her daughter's short hair. "Be strong."
Be strong.
Because there was no hope left for Coral Short.
Because, soon enough, Holly would be alone. Again. And this time that loneliness would last.
.
Holly's eyes shot awake to a gentle tapping on her shoulder. Her vision was still a blur, a haze of disappearing dreams, but she remembered too well.
Mother.
Holly wanted to scream, and then just bury her face in the sheets and cry. She had no idea what had triggered the nightmare, or rather the memory; she couldn't care less. She was feeling cold and a million shivers ran down her spine.
More tapping on her shoulder, a little closer to her ear this time. Her soldier's senses didn't kick in as they usually would have; she was feeling weak, tired and...alone. Truly alone.
But her hand unconsciously reached for her shoulder, expecting to find another pale, cold, but human hand. What she found instead was a walnut-sized beetle that scurried off down along her arm the moment she touched it.
Holly shivered.
Alone.
No Coral. No Julius. No Foaly. And not even Artemis, now.
That was when her senses did kick in, and she sat bolt upright in her sleeping bag and frantic eyes scanned the small space of the tent.
You can't be missing.
Her thudding heartbeat soon found reason to calm down, though. There he was, head against his pillow, chin directed at the thick cloth roof. His chest rose and fell, slowly, and his breathing was quiet but it was there.
Holly sighed. At least the infuriating human hadn't managed to get himself kidnapped while she was asleep.
Holly watched him closely. Was he having the same kind of nightmare? About losing someone? As far as she knew, there were only a few souls on the planet Artemis Fowl considered his loved ones. And even that was perhaps after thinking about it carefully, preparing an exact list. She found it hard to imagine what the last six years would have been like for him if he hadn't made any friends and had lost his memories about the few he already had. Alone. With Butler and his parents at his side, but otherwise alone.
"Find something interesting, Major?" asked a quiet, playful voice. "I know. I've been told how my eyes glow in the dark."
Holly nearly jumped. Stupid. Had she been paying actual attention throughout her staring she would have realized that the damn Mud Man was awake.
"Which I find unsettling," retorted Holly stubbornly. "Why aren't you asleep?"
"The mind is awake," replied Artemis, turning on his side to face her. "And you? Bad dream?"
Holly scowled. "Not your concern."
"So it was a bad dream. Interesting. It's quite possibly not for the reason you think, though."
The elf muttered a Gnommish curse and wrapped her sheet around her shoulders, hoping it would thaw the cold. "Are you going to start interpreting dreams now?"
Artemis chuckled dryly. "I would love to try, but we have bigger concerns at the moment. Something Caleb told me about...signs. Of admittance into Ethos."
Holly felt her eyes go wide. Somehow, she knew exactly what that meant.
"But we didn't...we didn't come across a..."
"But we heard one. Remember what our gracious host mentioned? You don't have to fight it. It can have an effect on you with its long-distance Mesmer."
Holly shook her head. "No. It can't be...this early? If I'm going to get sucked into Ethos soon, and I'm not immune..."
"Relax, Holly. We'll find a way," Artemis didn't seem as worried as he should have been. Maybe that was a good thing. Or maybe he just didn't care, it was difficult to tell.
"Easy for you to say," muttered Holly, averting her eyes. "You aren't the one getting nightmares from this Ethos place. You aren't the one who's going to get sucked into some weird hell and...and...ugh, just let me sleep."
Artemis didn't respond for a moment, but then he said, with the hint of a smirk in his voice, "Would you like some help falling asleep, Major?"
Holly's head was spinning too fast to catch his tone. "Huh?"
"Would you, perhaps, like to cuddle?"
The elf immediately snapped at him. "Don't get chummy on me, Fowl."
"It wasn't a real offer," said Artemis, shrugging, although she could swear there was still a grin on his face. "I don't do cuddles. Still, your loss."
"You know," Holly scowled. "First thing tomorrow morning, I'm going to give you a nice, hard whack in the chin."
"Pleasant dreams, Major."
"Pleasant dreams indeed," muttered the elf, rolling over to the other side, letting sleep consume her again.
••
Haven City.
Foaly found himself gladly back on his feet after an overnight stay in the hospital ward, but the bad part was that he had to walk to Police Plaza. His van was, after all, a wreck, and its remains were still smoldering on the corner of the street.
He clopped over to the door of his Ops Booth, and he never noticed Vinyayà's presence until the double doors had already whizzed open.
"Oh! Er, good morning, Wing Commander."
"Are you well?" asked the elf, sounding more businesslike than concerned.
"I'm alright. Ready to present my case," he held up a disc that contained Opal's voice clip. Old-school, yeah, but the Council weren't exactly fancy either.
"You're the only victim who's woken up," stated Vinyayà, walking past him into the Ops Booth. "And the Council has already conjured up a theory of their own."
Foaly frowned, his cheery expression dropping. "How's that even possible?"
"Major Short hasn't reported back."
"Yes, and it's probably Opal–"
"They found out about the Artemis Fowl mission. They believe Fowl is in league with Koboi."
Foaly blinked. "Ok. Wow. Talk about jumping to conclusions. Firstly, I think it's more plausible that Holly and Artemis are both Koboi's targets because they foiled her plan last time, and–"
"You can tell the Council yourself," interrupted Vinyayà, heading towards the exit. "Meeting in ten minutes. I hope you're ready."
.
The Councilmembers gathered around the table in the situations room happened to be all of them this time; which meant several opinions were being voiced at once, several theories shouted at the same time, and Foaly with a very big headache.
"We should have been told about the Artemis Fowl mission," Cahartez slammed a fist on the table. "You know I normally support you, Foaly, but withholding such crucial details have now brought disaster on us all!"
"Chairman," started Foaly, but he was interrupted.
"Koboi is back and we don't have Commander Root!" shouted another Councilman from across the table. "Who, by the way, we only lost because of investigating Holly Short's disappearance. Which came from your unauthorized mission. Explain again how none of this is your fault!"
"You withheld important information from the Council," agreed Rodent, leaning back in his swivel chair for a slight side-to-side spin. "We have reason to suspect you of treachery, centaur."
Foaly was more than prepared to snap, "That's all you CAN do!", but we didn't get todo it anyway. It was at that moment that something, he didn't know what, but something a few meters away from the building, exploded.
The sound was loud and blasted its way though their eardrums, the shock not even sparing the ones with quick reflexes who'd clambered beneath the table either. For a moment the ground shook and Foaly was reminded disturbingly about the attack he'd faced just the day before.
D'Arvit, his wide gaze found the window, through which the panic of various citizens from outside was transparent. Fairies ran off in unorganized directions, some keen on escaping the flames, some keen on starting their vehicles and getting the hell out of the danger zone, because explosioncertainly hadn't happened on its own.
Foaly felt Vinyayà pull him down by a hoof mere seconds before another explosion that seemed to rock Police Plaza on its foundations. He could hear the Councilmen screaming things and watch some of them rush over to the exits, but hear and watch was all Foaly could do. Another one of Koboi's monsters. That had to be it. He was probably still a target.
As if reading his mind, Vinyayà pulled out her communicator and shouted at the person on the other end.
"What's behind the attack?"
She listened for a moment and frowned before cutting the line.
"It's not one of those things, Foaly," she said, sounding oddly calm. "Just another dumb troll. I'll assemble a team to take care of it."
Foaly shook his head. "Think, Wing Commander. It's the second rampant troll we've had in a while. I don't think it's a coincidence."
Vinyayà was already leaving for the exit, again, so Foaly decided it wasn't worth talking to himself and followed her with unmasked nervousness.
It's Koboi again. I know it's all Koboi.
••
It had indeed been pleasant dreams for Holly. No more nightmares, no more Ethos. Just waking up knowing today was the day she'd get to have her revenge. For both the snide remarks and the theft of her shirt. And the black-magic thing. Oh, revenge was such a sweet feeling.
Holly crawled out of the tent to a mildly warm desert, because the sun hadn't had the time to heat up the sand dunes again. It was the nice kind of warm, like English summer. Didn't hurt her magic either.
Mulch was the first to greet her. He had in his mouth something that looked suspiciously like the hind limb of a rather large predator. Holly decided on not asking, and just greeted him back with a wave.
Caleb seemed to be pointing out places in a map to Artemis, who listened and inquired with unreserved interest. Holly only grinned more at the sight of the Mud Man. He had gone through a rough night for sure. There were faint dark circles under his eyes and he had around him the air of an insomniac.
Zone, on the other hand, who'd stayed guard all night, didn't look sleep-deprived at all. Then again it was hard to imagine someone of his level of fitness looking tired. He quietly ate his own meal, seated on one of the mats they had laid out on the sand.
Artemis looked up from the map when he heard her approach.
"Goodmorning, Major. I trust you're ready for today's adventure?"
Holly sat down beside him with what would've looked like a friendly smirk to the others, but what the two of them knew meant Once we get a moment alone, I hit you real hard.
Mulch rolled his eyes. "You two seemed to have got acquainted well overnight."
Holly shot him a dangerous look, and he said no more on the subject.
"Phase One of the plan, then," said Artemis casually, spreading out Caleb's map before them. "From here we head thirty kilometers East and arrive at the town of Gilemo. This is where we'll search for the first Logos key. It shouldn't be very hard because..."
"Because the first key is actually a huge statue made of pure gold," said Caleb with a grin. "But it's shrinkable. If a fairy sends a couple of sparks through its circuit system, that should be enough to shrink it to a size we can carry. Magic and technology. Isn't it cool?"
"I'm more interested in the gold," said Mulch. "So all that gold is going to shrink?"
"Sadly," answered Artemis. "But we'll find more precious items for sure."
The dwarf grinned a wide grin. "Really?"
"Really. But first we must reach Gilemo, and if the Freaks are indeed sniffing us out, it's much easier said than done. We'll have to be on our guard at all times. It won't do to be completely deaf throughout, so we're going to put on a set of headphones each the moment we hear their Mesmer." On cue, Caleb tossed a set each to Holly and Mulch.
"And that's it," announced Artemis. "You'll hear the rest of the plan once we've reached. Questions?"
Holly raised a hand. "If this gold statue has been standing there all this time..."
"We only recently got to know it's a key," said Caleb. "And we're the only one who know, apart from probably Opal. To the people of the town, it's just some old historic monument."
"I'm sure they'd notice if a statue of solid gold just disappeared from the middle of the city square."
"They will," assured Artemis. "Then it's up to us to escape. Naturally."
"Ooh, fun," said Holly, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Your great plan ends with bolting like rabbits. I am so confident."
"Do you have another plan? About the precious items?" asked Mulch hungrily.
"No, not yet," Artemis smirked, knowing full well that his elfin counterpart was fuming. "But I promise I'll set you on it."
Forty-five minutes later, Holly finally got her revenge. Let us not reflect on violence.
•
The trek through the heat of the desert was becoming unbearable. It had been torturous in the first place, but now it was just too much. Especially to a dwarf who needed a sea of the best sunscreen to ensure he didn't fry like a barbecued piece of bacon.
"Mulch," called Holly irritably, stopping in her tracks to look back at the dwarf. He was barely even walking, spilling blotches of the cream all over himself, and this included a dwarf rear end that had turned a lovely shade of crimson. Thanks to her keeping pace with him, Artemis, Caleb and Zone were already several meters ahead, proceeding painstakingly against the sweltering rays of the sun. Holly and Mulch, being fairies, were accustomed to neither intense heat or cold, so had soon found themselves lagging behind anyway; Holly felt her magic reserves evaporate into nothing. Mulch, on the other hand, looked like he might pass out at any moment.
"We'll have to suffer less of this if you hurry up," she called, turning to look at the other three instead. She could imagine the colourful curse words Mud Man was probably keeping to himself right now. He wasn't one for walking, obviously, and he probably wasn't one for the heat either.
"Coming," breathed Mulch, who was practically crawling forward by now. "Er...say, can I ride in your pack?"
Holly raised an eyebrow. "No, that's going to slow me down and drain me out even faster."
"Please," rasped the dwarf, catching up to her.
Holly sighed. "Maybe you could ask Zone. He doesn't even look tired."
Mulch squinted. "He's far away."
"Get a move on, dwarf."
Mulch slowly clambered to his short feet and started walking alongside her.
"So," started Holly. "Maybe you could start some pointless conversation. Get your mind off this heat."
Mulch snorted. "I believe, Holly dearest, that that method only works in dreams. Nothing can beat this heat. Nothing.It's worse than the D'Arvitting Sahara, all the magma chutes under the surface and the bloody sun combined. Look at me. I'm never going to recover my handsome visage again. The world has just lost a big part of its charm."
Despite everything, Holly managed a grin. There, it had worked. Hopefully his babbling would continue and neither of them would feel the time pass.
"I mean look at what this adventure has done to my face, Holly! I don't even know why I'm helping. I deserve a medal. And a gold statue erected in my honour. And possibly some precious gems on my tombstone that reads Here lies Mulch Diggumms– a hero, a friend, lost because of heroically enduring the unbearable heat during an adventure to save the world. And, in my honour, you can start developing sunscreen companies to do their D'Arvitting best to protect the skins of dwarves in the future."
Holly nodded weakly. This ranting was actually helping her stay alert.
"My face," moaned Mulch, dabbing a palmful of the lotion around his cheeks. Perhaps she imagined it, but the white cream sizzled the moment into made contact with his parched skin. Holly winced. That probably hurt a lot.
Her gaze, once again, drifted to where Artemis desperately tried to keep up with Caleb and Zone. Mulch would probably regain his good looks in a matter of weeks of stuffing his face, but she couldn't help but wonder about a certain other...erhm, handsome visage. Because it would truly be a loss if that one was spoilt. She liked that pale skin and blue eyes just as they were.
And it struck her like lightening exactly what she had just thought.
D'Arvit. D'Arvit. The third time! This is the third time those accursed thoughts have crossed your mind!
Holly physically picked up her pace and felt a tad glad that the sun had already made her face red.
It's fine. Ignore it. The heat is playing tricks on you. Obviously.
"Holly," snapped Mulch. "I'm trying to talk to you!"
"Sorry," muttered the elf, resisting the urge to slap herself.
Mulch squinted. "What's up with you and Mud Boy, anyway?"
Holly turned to scowl at him. "Excuse me?"
Mulch was too much in suffering to feel threatened. "It's OK, it isn't that obvious, but I'm smart enough to notice it."
"Notice what?"
"The looks you keep giving him. It's like you have some sort of crush on him."
Which was the worst thing he could've said at the moment and given Holly's current mood, as he soon found out when a hard boot collided at top force with his already injured rear.
"OW!"
"Another comment, Diggumms," hissed Holly. "And this desert you hate so much is going to be your final resting place. Are we clear?"
Mulch rubbed his injured spot. "Gee, sorry."
Holly was about to produce a caustic retort when an all too familiar ring sounded in her ears, echoing around the walls of her pointed tips and thickening the suffering feel of the endless desert.
"W-What was that?" stammered Mulch, his eyes suddenly wide with alarm.
"Pathos," growled Holly, shaking herslef. "Headphones on."
They waited for what felt like a forever, the world around them devoid of any sound, the calm before the storm, and that was when Zone left the group in front and came running up to them with impressive speed.
"Go," he said quietly, motioning to where Caleb and Artemis stood.
The dwarf and the elf both didn't ask any questions and took off. Holly knew she couldn't even help the guy in her current state. The least she could do was not get in the way.
They reached the other two faster than they thought they could have, and looked back in Zone's direction, panting, pensive.
Caleb said something, but nobody heard him through the headphones. It was probably a good thing.
They waited, breathed, and waited more.
Then a sudden ring like the gong of a temple bell penetrated the headphones and echoed in their heads, and this happened a few seconds before Zone's bulk was effortlessly tossed across to them by some invisible force.
Caleb was immediately at the man's side, but he was quick to shoot awake and get to his feet.
"Get away from here," he grunted. They couldn't hear him, but his meaning was quite apparent.
Holly didn't want to run, but that's what everyone did, Zone included. Clearly the threat was too great to face. So, actually being a little considerate, she grabbed both Artemis and Mulch and propelled them forward, dashing off behind them as fast as her legs could carry.
But the sweat and the blisters seemed to go away with the dash she took, and she felt the unbearable heat of the desert fast fade away, melting into something that was more akin to a pleasant Spring morning, a nice breeze, a little bit of cold.
And suddenly she was alone, and it was no longer a desert.
Holly took cautious steps whilst staring at her new surroundings, expression disbelieving. She was inside some sort of manicured garden maze, and the walls of bushes and shrubbery seemed to reach out to the sky. There were several paths ahead, several twists and turns. Holly walked the wet earth to one such junction, and simply continued to gape.
This was impossible. Where had the blasted heat gone? Where was the desert?
Several paths bordered by the same sky-high walls of greenery spread out before her, each one looking endless.
Is this another nightmare?
No, it really can't have been. She had found herself in a beautiful place. A little confusing, granted, but the leaves, the moss, the nature was simply breath-taking. She didn't feel her worries slip away, but it just happened, and she took one of the several paths.
Holly continued to look at the garden walls as she walked, and a delightful spring mist had settled on the maze. A small part of her feared she'd never find her way out of it. But most of her just didn't mind that it could go on forever. This was better than the desert. This was a little cold, and nice. She briefly wondered what Mulch thought of this place. He was probably digging into the delicious earth for a snack or two by now.
Holly laughed. She heard herself. It was such an independent, carefree laugh that she actually wondered where it had come from. It certainly couldn't be from the LEP Major who had stacks of paperwork and stressful missions to save the world...could it?
Holly noticed something else. Her boots were gone, and her feet were bare, and the wet mud felt good and welcoming. Also the fact that she no longer wore the dress pants and sky blue shirt from this morning, but she was in what appeared to be a knee-length white dress.
At this realization Holly faltered. Dress? She had only worn a dress on one or two occasions before in her life. She couldn't remember even packing one for the journey.
Wordlessly she kept walking, and the mud healed her burnt toes in a subtle process that felt better than any magic.
Her focus was torn away from this when the maze ended in a clearing of garden which felt incredible for her ached eyes to look at.
She stepped into the clearing and felt grass under her feet. Real grass. The kind you never got in Haven City. And there were real birds on the walls, there was chirping, there were clusters of flowers of the most bizarre colours and then there was...
Artemis.
There he was, a few yards across from her, in one of his customary Zegna bespokes, sitting a little formally on a long white bench. He hadn't noticed her appearance yet. He was busy observing one of the many wonderful things about their new environment, though Holly couldn't tell which. She frankly didn't care.
"Major Short," greeted Artemis, suddenly turning to look at her. "You can come and sit down if you want."
Holly walked forward to join him on the bench.
"What do you make of this?" asked Artemis.
"I don't know," she replied, somehow feeling like she had no control over her words. "It's better than the desert for sure."
"Indeed," Artemis smiled. "By the way, can I just tell you that you look lovely?"
"What?"
"This attire is new. It rather suits you, Major."
Holly tried and failed to hold back a blush, a Fronddamn blush, which he noticed way too easily.
The genius chuckled.
Holly snapped to scowl at him. "What're you laughing at, Mud Whelp?"
This only served to prolong his laughter and although she found it was a beautiful sound, she did not in the least bit appreciate it. "Stop."
"Alright, alright," said Artemis weakly, raising his palms in surrender. "I'll stop laughing. Just so you know, I'm not the only...shall we say, loved onearound this area right now." He smirked.
Holly was too intent on picking this up to notice his teasing. "What? Who else?"
Artemis pointed a finger. "Look for yourself. Ethos isn't so bad after all."
Holly was already heading off in the direction when she heard him.
"Ethos? We're in Ethos?"
Artemis winked. "Semantics."
She paid no more attention to him and continued along one of the paths in the garden, a winding flagstone path under her bare feet, and found, beside a spotless white fountain, one person she had known could never come into her life again.
"Mum."
Coral Short turned to look at her, a pleasant smile on her gorgeous face that Holly had missed so, so much.
"Hello, dear."
She couldn't reply. She stayed rooted to the spot, simply staring agape. How was this possible? Just last night she had relived the memory of her mother's slow death, and now...here...
Wordlessly, Holly found herself moving forward.
.
"How much longer till she wakes up?" grunted Mulch, giving Holly's unconcious figure an unappreciative look. "Seriously, I'm about to collapse. Ineed to be carried."
Zone, who carefully carried the small elf in his massive hands, gave the dwarf an amused smile but didn't say anything. He had a knack for avoiding conversations.
"Could it be possible," Artemis was asking. "That Holly isn't immune? Or that she's in Ethos right now?"
Caleb shook his head. "I've seen people who're trapped in Ethos. They don't look so peaceful unconcious. They don't breathe that easily either. She's probably in another nightmare brought on by that place."
"Probably," said Artemis, glancing at the elf. She did indeed look peaceful. It was hard to believe she had actually been the first one to get struck when the Freak attacked; he knew her to be the one responsible to saving everyone else's hides on usual occasions. Then again the sun had drained her magic and she'd been extremely weak, already slipping out of conciousness by the time the Freak physically turned up.
"How close to this town are we, anyway?" grumbled Mulch. "If I have to walk any longer, I swear..."
"It's nighttime, Mulch. There hasn't been any sunlight for the past three hours if you haven't noticed."
Mulch simply lifted his bumflap and gave the Mud Man a nice view of it in reply. An insult it may have been, but it did prove a point; his dwarf skin still had blisters and he was still suffering.
"We're quite close," said Caleb, hiding a grin at this display. "A little further up this dune and..."
"Gilemo," said Artemis triumphtantly, upon the timely emergence of a cluster of colourful city lights in the valley overlooked by the dune.
"Wow," admitted Mulch, licking his lips. "Looks grand."
"I'll bet it is," remarked Artemis, trying to get a closer magnification of their areal view. "Looks like there's a circus in town."
•••
Mulch was the first to settle down in their hut, even if he had to take the couch. And he claimed the couch himself, finding it closer than the bed and the easiest thing to jump onto, and was asleep within minutes even though he knew full well that Artemis would have to put his things away because they blocked the door.
Zone laid Holly's figure down carefully upon the bed and bid them a quiet goodnight before walking out and heading towards his own hut.
Artemis sighed, unamused by the dwarf's antics. He decided to let the luggage wait till morning. He wasn't used to being a slob, but between a teenager's habits and having to move Mulch Diggumms's luggage...well. We all know what we'd prefer.
Artemis sat down beside Holly on the bed, wondering for the umpteenth time if she really wasn't suffering in Ethos right now. Surely, such a long period unconcious...
And, as if on cue, Holly parted her lips and mumbled something, lolling her head to a side.
"Holly?" asked Artemis at once, a finger on her pulse. "Holly, I need you to wake up. Now."
The elf smiled in her sleep and buried her head into the pillow.
Artemis turned her head back up. She could easily suffocate in that state.
"Major, this is serious. If you're still feeling the Mesmer, fight it."
Holly laughed, but she didn't open her eyes and remained asleep, unaware of the real world around her.
And, as if she'd finally heard his requests, she murmured a word he managed to catch. "Artemis."
Artemis roughly shook her by the shoulders, tightening his grip if that would help. "Yes, Major, it's me. We need you to come back to us."
Mulch's snores were loud enough to reach his ears, but other than that the night was dead silent. Artemis took a closer glance at the sleeping elf.
She wasn't awake. Just talking.
Artemis frowned. Then she couldn't hear him...?
The elf suddenly laughed again, a soft, carefree laugh, and he then heard her say something that she probably never, ever wanted the real him, the one outside of her dreams, to hear.
"You're kinda cute, Mud Boy."
A pause while Artemis was taken aback and trying to process this somehow completely coherent -and rather unexpected- statement.
"I love you," sighed the elf, before turning back on her side and slumping back into a quiet, wordless, potentially deadly sleep.
•
A/N; MWAHAHAHA! REVIEW FOR AN UPDATE! +insert devil grin emoji+
-regards,
shaadia.