A/N: I got such a positive response to the first chapter! Thank you everyone! I'm on vacation, so the next one may take a little longer, due to . . . you know . . . visiting. But THANKS to everyone who reviewed. I'm sorry if you don't like the length, I don't do good with long chapters.
This chapter is dedicated to AnnaCromwell.
"Holly . . ." Foaly's voice came through the earpiece Holly had donned to tell the centaur her diagnosis. "That's not possible, and you know it. No human has ever resisted the Mesmer. Even strong minded-fairies can easily fall prey."
"Artemis seems to be the first for a lot of things," Holly pointed out. "Artemis' pupils are ragged, and I can't heal him with my magic. If he'd been Mesmerized to fall asleep, the amount of magic I used would have woken him up," Holly said.
"But even Artemis Fowl . . ."
"Has some magic in him. Which could help him fight it."
"Who? Who would want to Mesmerize Artemis?" Foaly asked.
"I'm sure there are plenty of fairies that don't like him, that may not have forgiven him for his first few . . . clashes with us."
" . . ." Foaly was silent for a while, the pause almost sounded loud.
"I'll come over soon as I can get clearance," the centaur said finally. "You said his family knows about us?"
Holly glanced at the people still stationed around (or in the case of the twins and animals, on) the bed. "Yup," she said, though that wasn't exactly the truth. She had yet to fill in most of the family on the missions, the details, basically everything other than the fact that fairies existed.
Foaly disconnected, and Holly left the chip in her ear.
"So . . . you're an elf," Artemis Senior, called Timmy by his wife, said.
"Yes. I'm also a leprechaun, but that's just a job. It's short for Lower Elements Police reconnaissance. I suppose you'll want to know about how Artemis came into contact with the fairy people?"
The twins looked up from where they were lying on their backs, Beckett with Turbo and Myles with Hermes, and nodded.
Quickly, Holly outlined the first time she'd met Artemis. How he'd kidnapped her and ransomed her back to her people, then given Holly half the ransom to heal his mother. Then she told the family about how Artemis had helped her foil Opal Koboi's goblin rebellion, in return for help rescuing his father from the mafia. Artemis' father didn't seem to know what to think about that. Then she told the family about the cube, and the mission concerning John Spiro. And the price Artemis paid for fairy assistance.
"You mean to tell me," Artemis Sr. said, voice almost dangerous, "that you took my son's memories of some of the bravest things he'd ever done, despite what he did for you against that . . . Opal Koboi?"
"It was procedure. I wasn't that into it either, and I don't think Foaly was either. But it all worked out. You see . . ." and then she told them about how Artemis had regained his memories after Opal had kidnapped them for revenge. About how he saved the fairies again, thwarting Opal's plan with the Zeeto probe. Then she told the family about how Artemis had discovered, and saved, the Demons, discovering the most powerful warlock for generations, and missing three years of his life. Then, she told them about going back in time to save Artemis' mother from Opal. Stopping his younger self from destroying the lemur, and at the same time, starting Artemis on the path to find the fairies. Then, more haltingly she told them about the most recent saving-the-world adventure. About how Artemis had succumbed to the Atlantis Complex, a guilt and magic driven illness. And then still somehow stopped Julius' evil brother Turnball from going on a murderous rampage.
When she was finished, the twins were looking at her with something akin to worship, Angeline looking down at her son's face with something like wonder, and more than a touch of sadness. Timmy simply turned to Butler and asked, "You were with him during all of this?"
"Most of it," Butler said. "He's my principle."
"Good man," Timmy said absently.
Just then, there was the ring of the doorbell.
"That'll be Foaly!" Holly said, jumping up from the chair. She hurried out the door, descending the staircase to the main doors, opening them so that the centaur could clop inside, holding his case of scientific implements.
"So," Foaly said, "where's our little, apparently miracle, human friend?"
"In his room. The family's there. Still no response to anything. Not that I've tried a lot." The centaur nodded as he worked his way up the stairs. Stairs weren't favorites of centaurs, it made for slightly awkward stumbles at times when they didn't pick up their rear legs quite high enough.
There wasn't a lot that was funnier than a human's reaction to seeing a centaur for the first time. Except for maybe Artemis', but as Foaly had said, their human friend was something of a miracle. "Hello, Butler," said Foaly, studiously ignoring the incredulous looks of the Fowls.
"Oh," said Myles in some surprise, "I guess Santa's real now too."
"What!?" Beckett asked his brother, a look of horror on his young face. "Santa's real, Myles. And now you're going on the naughty list!"
"Simple-toon," Myles muttered with some exasperation.
Holly helped Foaly set up one of his portable computers at the foot of the bed while Foaly unpacked the case. One of the things he pulled out was his modified ret-imager. Now all Foaly had to do to get an accurate image was hold a rod inset with special lights over the eye, and the scratches of the last few things seen would appear on the computer screen. Of course, it was a bit more complicated than that, but that was all Holly had really understood when the centaur had explained it to her.
Quickly, Foaly scanned Artemis' eyes, explaining how it worked to the Fowls. "Intriguing," Myles said, but he seemed to be the only one able to even remotely understand what the centaur. Foaly went over to the screen, hooking up the rod to the computer.
"Well Holly, you were right about the Mesmer," Foaly said quietly. Something in his tone made Holly take a look at the screen herself.
"But that's not possible," Holly said to herself.
"What is it Holly?" Butler asked gruffly.
"She's supposed to be dead," Holly said, staring at the black-haired elf that was the last thing Artemis had seen. Her silver eyes were the prominent part of the image, reflecting Artemis' figure.
"Glimmer Vendera," Foaly said darkly. "Would-be destroyer of Haven, second only to Opal Koboi."
"Um . . . care to expand on that?" Butler asked, eyebrows raised.
"Glimmer Vendera wanted to restart the war with the humans, retake the surface. She had quite the following, before Holly and Julius shut her down. This was about thirty years ago. Her ship blew up . . . it was believed she went down with the ship. Apparently not," Holly said, turning back around. "She was renowned for her magic and indiscriminate cruelty."
A/N: Review? Pretty pretty please?