I predict one more chapter, then we'll be at the end of the first book. We will see where this goes from here. I might start doing one-shots, or take a break from this. Life is kind of crazy right now! I have a new job, new apartment, a query letter to perfect, and the second book in a series to start writing. Thanks so much to my beta for taking the time to look at this. She is the best! And as always, I hope you guys enjoy. :)

Commander Root was not, in fact, a happy camper. As he walked into the makeshift base at the foot of Fowl Manor, wet, singed, and exhausted from his flight, he would have happily doused this d'arviting Artemis Fowl the Second in gasoline and set cheerfully them ablaze. It was a comforting thought. He had the whole flight back from Russia to think about the chill cold of the whaling ship, the static of the video screen, and the smug satisfaction in the high voice that said, "Oh, and Artemis Fowl the Second sends their regards." He'd thought about that as he had watched the ship turn into a roiling inferno, thought about it more while he peeled the crispy suit from his toasted body, and kept thinking about it the whole flight back.

At this point, Julius Root had an extensive list of things he wanted to do to this Artemis Fowl the Second. He'd start working his way down it after he got his wayward officer back.

Growling at the fairies saluting as he stalked through the halls, Julius flung open the command room door with a bang and asked the room's occupants bluntly, "Is the d'arviting time stop up and running yet?"

The room was packed to the gills with wires and screens, the conference table having been shoved back to make room for the sprawl of technology. Four people in various positions of readiness were spread widely throughout the space. In front of the hub of screens, sitting in his custom chair and typing merrily away, was the centaur Foaly. A tin hat perched precariously on his furry head, he munched on a carrot absentmindedly as he worked, intermittently letting out short whinnies of frustration.

Off in the corner, the infamous Mulch Diggums was twirling in his swivel chair with an air of casual disregard, fishing snacks out of his beard and eyeing all the tech with a greedy gleam in his eye. A pair of loosened cuffs were lying on the table in front of him, more likely due to the convict repeatedly removing them himself rather than anyone with authority releasing him from his bonds. Root knew first-hand how hard it was to keep this slippery devil in restraints. Trouble Kelp was standing next to him, side-eyeing him with suspicion and fingering the buzz-baton at his belt with a threatening air. For some reason, the man's usually pristine uniform was muddied and stained, green grass marks and dirt clinging to its surface. More tellingly, Diggums looked like he wanted to die from amusement, while Trouble had the air of someone vaguely ashamed of something. Root gathered the LEP retrieval team hadn't been as successful as they hoped.

Finally, his old friend Brian Cudgeon was pacing the small length of open floor, his hands clasped firmly behind his back as he tried fruitlessly to both watch the monitors and Diggums at the same time. Personally, Root would have kept his eye on Diggums. The monitors weren't going to pinch his wallet while his back was turned.

"Up and running, Julius," said Cudgeon immediately, looking him over with a faint air of camaraderie. "Glad to see you not charred to a crisp."

"So am I," grunted Root, plopping himself heavily in a chair and cracking his knuckles. "I assume you were watching through my helmet cam?"

"We all were," mumbled Foaly from around his carrot, eyes never leaving the screen. "That was a real close call, boss. This Artemis has been one step ahead of us for every step so far."

"Tell me something I don't know," said Root irritably, pulling out a fungus cigar and gnashing it between his teeth. Turning to Trouble, he said with a raised eyebrow, "I assume the scouting team didn't have a fun time either, judging by the state of your jumpsuit."

Trouble had the good grace to look embarrassed, saying with a hint of defensiveness, "There was a huge Mud Man guarding the perimeter. He was looking through something, probably a jury-rigged anti-shield filter made from Short's helmet. We never stood a chance."

Root frowned deeply at this. That was troubling. To do that so quickly with unfamiliar technology… "Pull up what we know about this Fowl character," he barked at Foaly, who rolled his eyes but swiftly complied. "I want to know everything I can about this guy."

"Well, actually," said Foaly, turning in his chair as he pulled up an image, touch-typing to fill out the command request. "It's not really a guy, per say."As the image came up, Root's eyes widened. The picture that came up was of a small girl, her face pale and serious. She was wearing a small suit, standing in front of a what could only be described as a mansion and glaring at the camera. On either side were an older man and woman, both smiling politely, with a mountain of a man lingering behind them all.

"You're shitting me," said Root plainly, staring at the little girl dressed in an impeccably tailored suit. "I thought the perp was just modulating his voice. That's our fairy-napper? How old is she?"

"According to our files," said Foaly, hints of blatant admiration suffusing his voice, "She just turned twelve last month."

Root continued to stare at that little scowling face, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. "How is this real life?" he asked incredulously, the cigar being ground to pulp between his teeth. "You're telling me this kid did all of this?"

Mulch was laughing aloud from his place in the corner, still twirling gaily in his seat. "Outfoxed by a Mud Girl!" he hooted, hands clutched over his stomach with the force of his mirth. "This is going to be one for the history books."

"Shut your trap, convict!" snarled Root, turning his beet-red face to glare furiously at the dwarf. "I have a Captain held hostage in there!"

"I know," said Mulch, all of a sudden turning serious. He stopped his spinning, facing the room. "That's the only reason I agreed to help you guys. I like Short. He's funny."

"Yes, yes, we all know Captain Short is a fine officer," said Cudgeon irritably, waving this away with an impatient hand. "But the real priority is to wipe these Mud People's memories and put this whole thing behind us."

Root frowned, but decided to let this statement go. For now. The Mud People did need to be memory-wiped, after all. "Have we had any ransom demands?" he asked Briar brusquely.

"Yes," said Cudgeon, his lips twisting in disgust. "One metric ton of gold. Unmarked ingots only."

The cigar fell right out of Root's gaping mouth. "Seriously?" he wheezed, eyes bulging out of his skull. "What the hell did the Council have to say about that?"

"They're going to shell out," said Trouble with grudging admiration. "They're taking it on faith that we'll be able to get the money back within the time limit. By any means necessary. You know how the Council is about gold."

Root winced. He vividly remembers his last departmental budget meeting. "How far have they ordered this to go?" he asks Briar darkly.

Cudgeon smirks. "We'll send the dwarf in. After that, well." He gives a non-committal shrug of his shoulder, spreading his hands in a 'what can you do?' gesture. "That remains to be seen. Your play with the dwarf had better come through, Julius."

"It will," said Root darkly, staring at Mulch with clear threat, which the dwarf ignored impressively.

"Play me the ransom tape," said Root with a grunt, dusting off his dropped cigar before desperately putting it back in his mouth. He needed everything he could get to make it through this.

"Sure thing," said Foaly, fingers a blur as he pulled up the recording. Root and the rest watched it in silence, though the others in the room had clearly seen it before. He stood from his seat, walking over to get a closer look at the little girl sitting confidently in a throne of a chair. Her mouth was pulled in a hint of a smirk as she spoke, her voicing both cutting and confident. There was no empathy in her eyes, and Root watched her face closely as she made her demands.

"You cannot beat me," the girl said arrogantly, her mouth curled in a smile, "Because I have a way to escape the time field."

Root frowned at this, turning to Foaly. "What do the experts say?" he asked the centaur.

Foaly shook his head with reluctant admiration. "She believes it," he said. "I don't know if it's true, but she definitely thinks it is."

"Well, it's time to put this to the test," said Root viciously, standing tall like a general about to go to war. He paces the room like a lion, and even Mulch knows to be silent at the expression currently on his face. "I don't know how this girl found out so much about fairies," he said with cutting hardness, eyes blazing, "But if she knows our rules, then it's time to throw them out the window." He sits at the head of the conference table, steeples his fingers, and says in a growling voice, "Let's put this Mud Girl in her place."

A sad fact that Artemis was beginning to realize was that real life was rarely as neat as she imagined it in her head. That was the problem, mused Artemis as her short strides carried her to the control room. She could plan all she wished, examine the situation from every angle, but in the end there were certain things left in the hands of fate. Life was not chess. Life would forever be a gamble, and Lady Luck hadn't decided whether she was going to smile on Artemis today.

The die has been cast, thought Artemis grimly, coming to a halt in front of the door to her command room. From now on, all she could do was defend her position until the appointed hour. Turning the ornate door knob, she slipped carefully into the room, a monstrous tangle of screen and wires rising to greet her. Artemis was, of course, unaware how closely her set-up mirrored one created by a certain paranoid centaur. It would be some time before they were involved in a direct clash of wits, and even longer before they worked together as allies. For now, the two of them sat a small field and a large house apart, pursing their lips in a synchronous motion as they both viewed their computer screens.

Butler appeared like a shadow on Artemis's right, placing a large hand on the back of the girl's custom leather chair. Artemis looked up for a moment, the hair cascading back from her face to reveal her serious expression, but went back to her intense scrutiny of the computer monitors almost immediately. The bright light of the screens washed out her face, making her skin appear paler than it was. This in itself was an impressive feat. With the right hat, Butler often joked he could accidentally lose her in a blizzard.

Given how the next year would end, Butler really should have known better than to tempt fate with statements like these.

"How is Angeline?" asked Butler, doing his best to sound casual. He knew seeing her mother in such a state took a heavy toll on his young charge.

"Sleeping, for now," replied Artemis, giving an odd quirk of her lips as she did so. Butler wasn't sure how to interpret this, so instead he cleared his throat and gave Artemis a quick situation report.

"Juliet is with the fairy now, wearing the glasses as you instructed," said Butler, waving a monitor down and to the left. It showed the entirety of the cell, the fairy encapsulated within. The creature was still, for now, lying on the cot with his eyes closed shut. Perhaps it was a precaution, a way of guarding against more commands. That would be a foolish waste of time, thought Artemis smugly, straightening her suit cuffs with a flick of her wrists. If she were in his position, Artemis was sure to have found a better use of her energy.

Sitting in the hall outside, chewing casually on a stick of gum and flipping her way through Wrestling Weekly, was Juliet. Her glossy hair was, as per usual, wound in a tight braid adorned at the end with a hard stone. Her matte black tank-top was stretched tight over the expanse of her chest, display her… assets prominently. Artemis made a noise of disgust at this, wrinkling her nose and narrowing her eyes. For some reason, whenever Artemis was faced with Juliet's… chest, a wash of emotions would begin churning in the pit of her stomach. Her only theory was that it was some sort of negative conditioning, a reaction to how Artemis tended to feel when forced to interact with Juliet's personality. While there were many things Artemis admired about Juliet, the way she constantly felt the need to fill perfectly blissful silence with empty chatter was not one of them. Artemis swore she had developed an early-onset ulcer the last time she had spent more than an hour in the car with the loquacious teen.

Looking up from her magazine, Juliet spotted the corner camera and gave a peppy wave. Her lush lips had clearly been adorned with some form of lip gloss, and the jade of her eyes was framed with shadow and liner. She was, admitted Artemis with a kind of grumbling acquiescence, a stunning individual. Artemis reached over to the desk, picking up the yellow walkie-talkie that now served as the Fowl's main line of communication. As soon as the time stop had come into effect, all cell communication had gone dead. Luckily, Fowl Manor ran on closed circuit electricity, so everything else was still functioning. Artemis had fiddled with the walkie-talkies herself, putting the transponders on a continuously oscillating bandwidth set to synchronize only with their handsets. Artemis has no doubt that the fairies, given time, could unscramble the pattern. She hoped, however, that this whole ordeal would be done by the time they even noticed the signal.

Holding down the talk button, Artemis brought the hideous yellow monstrosity to her lips and said with forced calm, "Juliet, why are you not watching the prisoner?"

Juliet jumped slightly at the squawk of the handset, but picked up her corresponding walkie-talkie and replied, "You know, Artemis, when you're talking over radio you should always end your message with the word 'over'." She paused, then said, "Over," with a faint smile.

Artemis gritted her teeth, clenching the walkie-talkie tight in her fist. "I knew that!" hissed Artemis into the handset with obvious annoyance. "I just forgot for a moment." Huffing out an irritated breath, Artemis snapped out, "Over!" and dropped the walkie-talkie back on the desk with an exasperated noise.

Butler knew better than to chuckle the way he could see Juliet currently doing over the camera feed, but he pulled out his own communicator and said in a chastising tone, "Don't let your guard down, Juliet. This is a whole species we know nothing about. Who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves? Over."

With a roll of her eyes, Juliet flipped her hair and said back, "Geez, relax. This door could withstand a bomb blast. I doubt Mr. Lucky Charms is getting out of that any time soon. Over."

"Did you at least remove the restraints like I instructed? Over," asked Artemis, assuming a semi-lecturing tone.

"No, Mum, but I was going to," said Juliet, seemingly unconcerned with this matter. She licked her finger and tucked the glossy page of her magazine. "I'll do it in a minute. Over."

"You'd better," said Artemis darkly, before stowing the communicator safely in her suit pocket.

From beneath the cloth, a voice could be faintly heard saying, "You forgot to say 'over'!" Butler could just barely keep a leash on his laughter at the expression Artemis was currently making.

Looking in askance in Butler's direction, Artemis massaged her temples and asked wearily, "Is there any way to exert a modicum of control over your sister?"

"Not that I am aware of," said Butler dryly, giving the other screens a quick once-over. No one had approached the building since that first advance with the fairy team. Since then, nothing. It had been disturbingly quiet. Frowning, Butler voiced his concerns to Artemis.

"I feel it too," said Artemis thoughtfully, giving a distrustful look at the view screens. "I fear our enemies are making their move. But from where?" Her blue eyes practically alive with the speed of her thoughts, Artemis said with sudden brusqueness, "Butler, do a sweep of the house. Make sure to check our cameras for tampering, touch in with Juliet, and look at all ingresses and egresses. Return here when you are done. I know they can't enter without permission, but I have a strange feeling that something is not right."

"Yes, mistress," said Butler without preamble, unholstering his Sig Sauer as he left the cramped room. Left sitting there with nothing but the computers for company, Artemis's fists were balled up tight as she ceaselessly scanned each and every monitor.

"There must be something," muttered Artemis, her eyes darting from point to point, running an unthinking hand to push her hair behind her ear. "I've missed something. But what?"

Artemis was so focused on thinking of potential weaknesses in the Manor's defenses, she spared less brain power than she should have trying to puzzle out what she was seeing on the lower left monitor. If she had only taken the time to figure out Holly's plan, the rest of the next hour would have been less of a disaster. But Lady Luck had made up her mind, and she was definitely not smiling on Artemis today.

"Would you stop that?" shouted Juliet, a scowl on her face as the din of crashing metal continued within the cell. Temporarily lifting her lame Artemis-mandated sunglasses, she tried in vain to massage away the headache pounding behind her eyes. No such luck. The fairy had been smashing that bed around for the last ten minutes, banging the heavy frame against the hard concrete.

There was a pause from inside, the noise blessedly ceasing for a short moment. "No!" called the fairy in a voice that was cruelly cheerful, before resuming his deliberate attempt to drive Juliet insane. Gritting her teeth, Juliet dropped the magazine she had been trying to read and pushed herself to her feet. Walking over to the door, she looked again at their small captive and his baffling movements. While the fairy's cuffs gave him little slack, the small creature had none the less managed to stand by the side of his cot, lifting the solid metal frame in a dazzling feat of strength before dropping it to crash back to the floor. Juliet watched his biceps bulge with admiration. She could appreciate a ripped dude when she saw one. It would have been super cool to wrestle with him, a unique fairy vs. human grudge match. But, Artemis was being a kill-joy, as per usual. Juliet pouted as she considered the tantalizing possibilities, now forever lost to her. She never got to do anything fun in this house.

"Look," Juliet said loudly in between the clatter and clang of metal. "Just tell me what the hell you want. Are you doing this just to drive me insane? Or is this you protesting your captivity by trying to break the furniture?"

"Why not both?" the fairy grunted, shoulders straining as he lifted his weight once more. Sweat was dripping down the back of his tan neck.

Juliet huffed at this, crossing her arms. "Seriously, what do you want?" she asked, clearly approaching the end of her patience. "Do you want food? Water? A book? Porn? I'll give you whatever. Just, for the love of god, stop trying to make my ear drums bleed."

The fairy paused in mid-lift, lower the bed back down to the ground. He looked in Juliet's direction for the first time, though Juliet noticed his eyes never went anywhere near hers. "Aside from my freedom?" he asked wryly, using the corner of the bed sheet to wipe the sweat from his face. "I'd like this cuff off my wrist. That Artemis whelp chained me pretty close to the bed. There isn't a lot of slack here, and it's starting to hurt." And it was true. Upon closer inspection, Juliet could see red blood dripping from the place where the cuff had dug into the fairy's wrist. Huh, she thought in a moment of introspection. Apparently magical creatures still bleed red.

"Arty wasn't the one who chained you," said Juliet with a roll of her eyes. "It was my brother. He said something about extra precautions, even though Arty seemed pretty convinced she could just magic you into stay there or something."

"Well regardless, I'd like them off," said the fairy, massaging the non-bloody area around his manacled wrist. "Please," he added belatedly, almost with a sense of reluctance. Juliet didn't blame him. She's be pissed if she'd been captured too.

Juliet sighed, simply glad the cacophony had stopped, for the time being. "Fine," she said with a huff, pulling out the master key ring attached to her belt. "It's not like whatever voodoo Artemis put on you allows you to leave the cell anyways." Opening the door with a loud clank and the click of a lock disengaging, Juliet entered the room with confident bravado. After all, she was a Butler, a ten-times wrestling champion, and could bench-press five of this guy with one arm. What did she need to be afraid of?

"Just keep your hands where I can see them," she said warningly, moving over to the chain attached to the bed, her eyes never leaving the fairy.

"Yes, ma'am," said the fairy with a hint of sarcasm, his eyebrows raised in a "who, me?" expression that fooled no one. Juliet frowned at him, but continued to feel along the rail for the cuff attached to the bed frame. Key already in hand, she looked down for one second, needing to find the keyhole.

It happened fast. The fairy moved in a blur, and Juliet snapped to attention, ready to defend herself. But the damage was already done, as the fairy's blow had sent her sunglasses spinning to the floor. They landed at the fairy's feet, and for the first time, the two people's eyes met.

The fairy was smiling.

"Why don't you unlock my cuffs?" he purred in a voice like melted chocolate.

"Sure thing," said Juliet in a daze, not really seeing why she should disobey a request from someone with such a beautiful voice. She would do anything to make the voice happy. As if moving in a dream, she unlocked the fairy's bonds. He smiled up at her, clearly pleased. In her mesmered state, Juliet couldn't see the ugly anger etched onto the fairy's face.

"Silly Mud Woman," he said, his voice worming its way into her ears and grabbing her by the brain. "Just because I was ordered to not leave the house does not mean I can't leave this cell. Now, I want you to lock yourself in the cuffs and stay here. Can you do that for me?"

Juliet frowned. There was something about this that seemed… But in the end, her desire to please the voice was just too strong. "I guess," she said reluctantly, sitting on the bed so as better to do her restraints.

"Good," said the fairy. He walked to the door, then paused, looking back at her with a new expression. "You don't seem particularly bad," he said in a gentler tone. "Not like that Artemis girl. You should find better friends. Something tells me you can do better."

Juliet shook her head slowly, smiling bemusedly. "Naw," she said, a hint of a slur suffusing her voice. "Arty isn't all that bad. Kinda cold, but I don't blame her. She's just desperate right now."

The fairy frowned, seemingly torn between leaving straight away and finding out more. Finally, curiosity won out. "Why desperate?" he asked, moving a few inches closer. His face broke into a sneer. "Has her daddy's money dropped into the six digits?" he asked with contempt.

Juliet made an angry face, though it was muted greatly by the pall cast over her mind. It was impressive she could express anything but glazed happiness under the Mesmer. "Artemis Senior is dead," she said flatly. The fairy's eyes widened in shock. "Arty thinks he's still alive though," Juliet said in a dreamier tone, sliding back into her stupor. Her eyes still had a sadness in them though, a hint of pain that crinkled them at the corners. "She's spent all the money trying to find him. But it's all gone now."

"I see," said the fairy, his face thoughtful and a touch relieved. "So, it's just about the gold, and not about dissecting me for science. Good to know." Giving Juliet the faintest hint of a sad smile, he told her, "You will be the happiest Mud Woman in the world while you stay in this room."

Immediately, a euphoria spread through Juliet's body, a wide smile breaking across her face. She leaned back onto the bed, basking in the feeling like a cat by a warm fire. "Yay," she said hazily, smiling up at the bare concrete ceiling. She did not notice the key chain missing at her waist, nor hear the door close behind the fairy's retreating body. She was in the middle of a wrestling championship, holding that gold belt high, feeling as if she were on top of the world. Her brother was there, cheering from the sidelines, Artemis at his side.

Little Arty was smiling. It had been forever since Juliet had seen Arty smile like that.

Holly closed the metal door carefully, hearing the lock click gently back into place. Picking a direction, he began to walk briskly down the corridor, absorbing everything he had learned. So, the little brat had her reasons after all. In truth, Holly could sympathize. Not that it was going to stop him from burning the house down until that girl was begging her to leave the property. The only thing that had changed was now Holly would feel a little bad about it later. Holly swore aloud under his breath, scowling at the air as his short legs took him swiftly down the lush corridor. In the end, this didn't erase the fact that he had been kidnapped against his will. He still needed to get out.

Looking down at his clenched fist, Holly looked at the small acorn nestled in the meat of his palm before slipping it carefully into his pocket. He smiled to himself. Time to find a nice patch of dirt to plant this in. Then, thought Holly with relish, the gloves were off. Reasons or no, Artemis Fowl the Second was going to rue the day she thought she could chain up Holly Short. Holly was going to make sure of it.

Comments are always appreciated. Thank you so much for all the support you guys have given me already! It is greatly appreciated.