Chapter 2

Tara was one of the oldest tunnels leading to the surface. All shuttles were shut down due to the red light, but Foaly had given her a brand new pod that would get her to the surface safely.

She stepped back from the bush she had used to cover it up with, making sure the pod was no longer visible.

She reached up, pulling down the visor on her helmet.

"Alright Foaly, now what?" she asked. On the far left on the display inside, her vital signs beeped away. There was also a meter that showed (according to her suit), how many injuries she had. This was a new Beta suit Foaly was getting her to test out. He was trying to work out the kinks like when magic heals the injuries weather the bar loses some, or fills back up.

"Go complete the ritual. You still have a few hours of night left." Came the responds. She activated her wings, and took off into the sky.

"You're going to have to be extra careful Holly," Foaly warned, "You can't shield remember? You are completely visible to everyone."
"I'll be careful don't worry Foaly."

She settled into silence. As much as she enjoyed being back up on the surface, something was wrong. She took in a deep breath of cool night air, and it hit her on what it could be.

Despite Mud Man attempts to get rid of it all, radioactive waste was almost impossible to get rid of. Their scientists and all they had thought they had found a way to completely destroy waste. But of course, they were wrong. Their methods only diluted the effects, and perhaps some humans would never feel the effects in their lifetime, but the radiation was still there. Mud Men just couldn't detect it on their computers.

But Fairies could. This was one of the reasons you couldn't go to the surface anymore. Radiation poisoning was no laughing matter to the fairies.

Holly paused in midflight, her stomach curling, making her feel like she was going to be sick. She opened up a small keyboard that was on her wrist and began typing. After a moment, a chart appeared up on the screen of her visor.

"Horrible isn't it?" Foaly said, sounding both resentful, yet his voice was soft.

All Holly could do was nod. The radiation level in the air was so high; the diluting effects of the Mud Man wouldn't have done much. Soon, there were going to be horrible effects on the humans from all of this, even possibly, the people of Artemis' generation would feel it.

And that meant the radiation was seeping into Holly right at that moment.

"Foaly! I can't be up here!" she exclaimed, turning in midair and heading back to the pod.
"It's alright Holly. This suit will give you some protection from the radiation, and once you do the ritual your magic will protect you as well."

"Foaly… no this is too dangerous!"
There was some muffled talking over her head piece before the voice suddenly changed from Foaly's to Commander Roots.

"You listen here Short! The whole council believes you are the only fairy for this job! And by Frond! You are doing it!!"

"Yes Commander." She said back, once again turning around, "On one condition." She said, stopping in midflight suddenly.
"Short you are in no position to be making compromises!"
"Then I'm coming back right now. I'm not getting poisoned, someone else can do it."
Root paused, "Fine," he sighed, "What is it?"
"Artemis Fowl. I want to check up on him at the very least."
There was a long silence at the other end.
"…Fine, alright. No interacting with him, just observe. We can't have any trouble with the Mud Men." Root sighed.
"Holly." Foaly's voice said suddenly, as Root handed the controls over to him once again, "You know we're all worried about Artemis. Even Julius."
"Yes, I know." She said softly, before continuing on her flight, not saying anything more on the topic.
By Frond !! Why did she care? Shouldn't Artemis be one of the last people on her mind?

Fact was, Holly had come to see Artemis as a friend the last time she had seen him. How old would he be now? Holly thought it over, twenty four… or at least somewhere around there.

Gently she landed on the soft ground. Winter was approaching; you could feel it in the cool autumn night. As a light wind blew, knocking dyeing leaves from the trees, Holly stood there just looking around her. She hadn't even realized where she was going up till now.

This, was the very same clearing she had ever first met Artemis. She scowled, and stomped angrily over to the acorn tree, picked up a fallen one, and began the ritual.

It took only a few moments, but as soon as the acorn was buried in the ground she felt the power flow over her.
"All ready Holly?" Foaly asked as Holly flexed her fingers, the power tingling to the tips as she did.
"Of course. Now, where is this flying balloon from Hell?"
Foaly chuckled lightly at that, "At the moment, it's flying over Dun Laoghaire and heading for Dublin."

"Right then." She said, activating her wings, shielding then flew into the air, heading South East.

**

"That is one ugly piece of-"
"Captain Short! Remember you are on duty!" Julius Root shouted through her head piece.
"Sorry Commander." She said.

Though Holly was right. The blimp like creation hovered in the air, moving at a slow pace towards Dublin. Holly was at least 100 to 200 yards away from it, but almost every detail could be seen on the contraption, including the net like material hanging off the bottom.

"While you were travelling, I've connected one of our newer satellites to the… Thought-blimp? Anyways, I can pick up on any of the thoughts it collects, this way, I can see how far the transmission goes and see if there's anything to worry about."
"Right.." Holly said, her eyes still glued to it.
"Alright then, let's get started." Holly heard the clicking of keys, "You are about 180 yards away from the Thought-blimp now, think of something, anything, and see if we can pick it up."

'Foaly is an ugly Centaur. Foaly is an ugly Centaur. I am slowly going crazy. Foaly!!'
"Thinking anything?"
"A few things." Holly answered back.
"Hmm… so it doesn't work that far. Then we're safe. Shall we see how far we can go?"
"Whatever, let's do it."

For the next hour, Holly and Foaly work on see how far the 'Thought-blimp' could read out to. Finally, Holly got to 100 yards even when Foaly picked up her thought.
"Well, that's not as far as I thought it would be." He said, sounding slightly relieved, "Then again, that just might be from the sides rather than right under it."

Holly flew back away from it before she answered, "Yea well, I don't plan on being that close."
"Of cour-" Foaly suddenly stopped.
"Foaly? What is it?" Holly asked, suddenly worried the 'Thought-blimp' picked up one of her stray thoughts.
"No-nothing. Nothing at all Holly." Foaly said, clicking away at the keyboard.
"Commander Root! What is it?" Holly demanded.
"Nothing to worry about Captain Short. I guess that means this.. blimp is over Dublin now?"
"Yea… I mean yes." Foaly said sounding slightly shaken.

Holly looked up, noticing the 'thought-blimp' was much farther away from her now, and by the looks of it, it was now over Dublin.
"You picked up one of Artemis' thoughts, didn't you?"
"Well, that's to be expected isn't it?" Foaly said sheepishly, "He does live in Dublin now, and that's where they're…. Holly. Where are you going?"

Holly had activated her wings, and rushed off after the blimp, she made sure she stayed at least 200 yards away from it just to be safe.
"Holly! Don't go, don't be stupid! If he sees you they can catch his thoughts then we'll be in trouble."
"Not if I get him out of here now will they?"
"Holly!!!"
"Besides, the Commander promised."
Holly shut off the communicator. Foaly and the Commander could still hear her, but now she couldn't receive anything from them.

"Alright Fowl. Let's see what you've been up to." She muttered as she came to a subdivision. All the houses looked the exact same. Every house had the same, hybrid car in front of it (though some of them had different colors). Everything was neat, tidy, and looked like a stage from an old Mud-man family show.
She shivered, this was just.. gross. No other words for it.
'Which one is you Artemis?' she thought to herself, changing her altitude so that she could see the front doors of the houses when she flew by. She gave a slight laugh when she realized that every house had the owners name written on the mail boxes.
"Let's see. Finnegan, Acton, Maddock, Sandford, Fowl!" She stopped outside of house number 28. There was a car in the driveway, so she didn't have to worry about Artemis coming home or anything.

She flew up to the main window, which had the curtain drawn and travelled around the house looking for an uncovered window. Going around to one side, she found the window to a bathroom, which was empty. The door into the hallway was open, but she didn't see anyone. Hovering around to the backyard she found the kitchen window, and the large sliding glass door, which was open slightly to let air in.
She landed on the door step and peeked one eyes through the crack. For the first time in a long while, she was annoyed at the rule of having to be invited into a Mud-Men dwelling before entering. It wouldn't have bothered her if this was Fowl Manor, but seeing as how it wasn't, she couldn't enter.

Inside she saw a dining table set almost right in front of the door, blocking her view of the rest of the house. If she looked to the right, she could see the counters and fridge of the kitchen, and to the left there was a small sitting room where a TV was turned on, but no one was sitting there.
Something moved in front of her and Holly launched back and gave a surprised yell.

Holding a hand to her chest, she looked back and saw a brown tabby cat sitting at the door, waving a paw through the crack, meowing at her to let it outside.

"Eros, you crazy cat." Came a voice inside, and suddenly the door opened fully, and the cat, Eros, dashed outside, sitting right under Holly, staring up at her.

Holly's attention was on the cat's owner. A man in his early twenty's stood there, dressed in black jeans and a dark blue button up shirt. His bright blue eyes watch the cat in amusement, and his black hair stood on end as if he'd been running his hands through it a few times. He didn't look so pale as he did when he was a child, but he still had the aristocratic look about him.

With a shaking hand, Holly turned on the communicator again, only slightly surprised at not hearing anything from the other end.
"Is that really him Foaly?"
"Yea, it has to be. Boy has little Arty grown up."
"Eros, what are you looking at?" Artemis Fowl II said, looking right at Holly, though he couldn't see her. His cat meowed back, as if talking to his. Artemis shook his head, but continued to stare at the spot where Holly was hovering. Between the cat and Artemis, Holly was starting to get uneasy.
"You can come in whenever you'd like." Artemis said finally, leaving the door open and headed back inside.
"Was that to you?" Foaly asked her, sounding confused.
"I'm… not sure." Holly said, before once more landing on the steps, tentively looking in. Eros the cat was right behind her, purring loudly.

"Only one way to find out." Foaly said softly.
Holly held her breath and stepped inside the house. She didn't feel sick at all. Just as she let the breath go Artemis spoke from her left, sitting on a set of couches she hadn't seen before.
"Hello Captain Short."

A/N: whew. And finally, Artemis is here ^^ R+R