The Lower Elements

 

Opal Koboi’s shuttle was a concept model that had never gone into mass production. It was years ahead of anything on the market, but its skin of stealth ore and cam-foil made the cost of such a vehicle so exorbitant that even Opal Koboi couldn’t have afforded one without the government grants that had helped to pay for it.

Scant secured the prisoners into the passenger bay, while Merv piloted them across to Scotland, then underground through a mountain river in the highlands. Opal busied herself making sure that her other plan, the one involving world domination, was proceeding smoothly.

She closed the screen on her video phone and dialed a connection to Sicily.

The person at the other end picked up in the middle of the first ring. “Belinda, my dear. Is it you?”

The man who had answered was in his late forties, with Latin good looks and gray-streaked black hair framing his tanned face. He wore a white lab coat over an open-necked striped Versace shirt.

‘Yes, Papa. It’s me. Don’t worry, I am safe.“

Opal’s voice was layered with the hypnotic mesmer.

The poor human was utterly in her power, as he had been for over a month.

‘When are you coming home, my dear? I miss you.“

‘Today, Papa, in a few hours. How is everything there?“ The man smiled dreamily.

‘Molto bene. Wonderful. The weather is fine. We can take a drive to the mountains. Perhaps I can teach you to ski.“

Opal frowned impatiently. “Listen to me, idiota… Papa. How is everything with the probe? Are we on schedule?“ For a moment, a flash of annoyance wrinkled the Italian’s brow, then he was bewitched again.

‘Yes, my dear.

Everything is on schedule. The explosive pods are being buried to the probe’s systems’ check was a resounding success.“

Opal clapped her hands, the picture of a delighted daughter. “Excellent, Papa. You are so good to your little Belinda. I will be with you soon.”

‘Hurry home, my dear,“ said the man, utterly lost without the creature he believed to be his daughter.

Opal ended the call. “Fool,” she said contemptuously. But Giovanni Zito would be allowed to live at least until the probe he was constructing to her specifications punctured the Lower Elements. Now that she had spoken to Zito, Opal was eager to concentrate on the probe portion of her plan. Revenge was certainly sweet, but it was also a distraction. Perhaps she should just dump these two from the shuttle and let the earth’s magma core have them.

‘Merv,“ she barked. ”How long to the theme park?“

Merv checked the instruments on the shuttle’s dashboard.

‘We’ve just entered the main chute network, Miss Koboi. Five hours,“ he called over his shoulder. ”Perhaps less.“

Five hours, mused Opal, curling in her bucket seat like a contented cat. She could spare five hours.

Some time later, Artemis and Holly were stirring in their seats. Scant helped them into consciousness with a couple of jolts from a buzz baton.

‘Welcome back to the land of the condemned,“ said Opal. ”How do you like my shuttle?“

The craft was impressive, even if it was ferrying Artemis and Holly to their deaths. The seats were covered with illegally harvested fur, and the decor was plusher than your average palace. There were small entertainment hologram cubes suspended from the ceiling, in case the passengers wanted to watch a movie.

Holly began to squirm when she noticed what she was sitting on. “Fur! You animal.”

‘No,“ said Opal. ”You’re sitting on the animals. As I told you, I am human now. And that is what humans do, skin animals for their own comfort. Isn’t that right, Master Fowl?“

‘Some do,“ said Artemis coolly. ”Not me personally.“

‘Really, Artemis,“ said Opal archly. ”I hardly think that qualifies you for sainthood. From what I hear, you’re just as eager to exploit the People as I am.“

‘Perhaps. I don’t remember.“

Opal rose from her seat and fixed herself a light salad from the buffet. “Of course, they mind-wiped you. But surely you must remember now? Not even your subconscious could deny that this is happening.”

Artemis concentrated. He could remember something.

Vague out of focus images. Nothing very specific. “I do remember something.”

Opal lifted her eyes from her plate.

‘Yes?“

Artemis fixed her with a cool stare. “I remember how Foaly defeated you before with superior intellect. I am certain he will do it again.”

Of course, Artemis had not truly remembered this; he was simply repeating what Holly had told him. But the statement had the desired effect.

‘That ridiculous centaur!“ shrieked Opal, hurling her plate against the wall. ”He was lucky, and I was hampered by that idiot Cudgeon. Not this time. This time I am the architect of my own fate. And of yours.“

‘And what is it this time?“ Artemis asked mockingly. ”Another orchestrated rebellion? Or perhaps a mechanical dinosaur?“

Opal’s face grew white with rage. “Is there no end to your impudence, Mud Boy? No small-scale rebellions this time. I have a grander vision. I will lead the humans to the People. When the two worlds collide, there will be a war and my adopted people will win.”

‘You’re a fairy, Koboi,“ interjected Holly. ”One of us. Rounded ears don’t change that. Don’t you think the humans will notice when you don’t get any taller?“

Opal patted Holly’s cheek almost affectionately. “My poor, dear, underpaid police officer. Don’t you think I thought of all this while I stewed in that coma for almost a year? Don’t you think I thought of everything? I have always known humans would discover us eventually, so I have prepared.” Opal leaned over, parting her jet-black hair to reveal a magically fading three-inch scar on her scalp.

‘Getting my ears rounded wasn’t the only surgery I had done. I also had something inserted in my skull.“

‘A pituitary gland,“ guessed Artemis.

‘Very good, Mud Boy. A rather tiny artificial human pituitary gland. HGH is one of seven hormones secreted by the pituitary.“

‘HGH?“ interrupted Holly.

‘Human growth hormone,“ explained Artemis.

‘Exactly. As the name implies, HGH enhances the growth of various organs and tissues, especially muscle and bone. In three months, I have already grown half an inch. Oh, maybe I’ll never make the basketball team, but no one will ever believe that I am a fairy.“

‘You’re no fairy,“ said Holly bitterly.

‘At heart you’ve always been human.“

‘That’s supposed to be an insult, I suppose. Maybe I deserve that, considering what I am about to do to you. In an hour’s time, there won’t be enough of you two remaining to fill the booty box.“

This was a term that Artemis had not heard before.

‘Booty box“ That sounds like a pirate expression.“

Opal opened a secret panel in the flooring, revealing a small compartment underneath. “This is a booty box. The term was coined by vegetable smugglers more than eight thousand years ago. A secret compartment that would go unnoticed by customs officials. Of course, these days, with X-ray, infrared, and motion-sensitive cameras, a booty box isn’t much good.” Opal smiled slyly, like a child who has put one over on her teacher. “Unless of course the box is completely constructed from stealth ore, refrigerated, and has internal projectors to fool X-ray and infrared. The only way to detect this booty box is to put your foot into it. So, even if the LEP did board my shuttle, they would not find whatever it is I am choosing to smuggle.

Which in this case is a jar of chocolate truffles. Hardly illegal, but the cooler is full. Chocolate truffles are my passion, you know. All that time I was away, truffles were one of two things I craved. The other was revenge.“

Artemis yawned. “How fascinating. A secret compartment. What a genius you are. How can you fail to take over the world with a booty box full of truffles?”

Opal smoothed Artemis’s hair back from his forehead. “Make all the jokes you want, Mud Boy. Words are all you have now.”

Minutes later, Merv brought the stealth shuttle in to land. Artemis and Holly were cuffed and led down the retractable gangplank. They emerged into a giant tunnel dimly illuminated by Glo-Strips. Most of the lighting panels were shattered, the rest were on their last legs. This section of the chute had once been part of a thriving metropolis, but now was completely deserted and derelict. Demolition notices were pasted across various drooping billboards.

Opal pointed to one. “This whole place is being torn down in a month. We just made the deadline.”

‘Lucky us,“ muttered Holly.

Merv and Scant prodded them wordlessly along the chute with their gun barrels. The road surface beneath their feet was buckled and cracked. Swear toads clustered in damp patches, spouting obscenities.

The roadside was lined with abandoned concession stands and souvenir shops.

In one window, human dolls were arranged in various warlike poses.

Artemis stopped in spite of the gun at his back. “Is that how you see us?” he asked.

‘Oh, no,“ said Opal. ”You’re much worse than that, but the manufacturers don’t want to scare the children.“

Several huge hemispherical structures squatted at the end of the tunnel. Each one the size of a football stadium. They were constructed of hexagonal panels welded together along the seams.

Some panels were opaque, others were transparent.

Each panel was roughly the dimensions of a small house.

Before the hemispheres was a huge arch, with strips of tattered gold leaf hanging from its frame. A sign hung from the arch, emblazoned with six-foot-high Gnommish letters.

‘The Eleven Wonders of the Human World,“ declared Opal theatrically. ”Ten thousand years of civilization, and you only manage to produce eleven so-called wonders.“

Artemis tested his cuffs. They were tightly fastened. “You know of course that there are only seven wonders on the official list.”

‘I know that,“ said Opal testily. ”But humans are so narrow-minded. Fairy scholars studied video footage and decided to include the Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt, the Moai Statues in Rapa Nui, the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia, and the Throne Hall of Persepolis in Iran.“

‘If humans are so narrow-minded,“ commented Holly. ”I’m surprised that you want to be one of them.“

Opal passed through the arch. “Well, I would prefer to be a pixie, no offense Artemis, but the Fairy People are shortly to be wiped out. I shall be seeing to that personally as soon as I have dropped you off in your new home. In ten minutes I’ll be on my way to the island, watching you two get torn apart on the shuttle monitors.”

They proceeded through the theme park, past the first hemisphere, which contained a two-thirds scale model of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Several of the hexagonal panels had been ripped out and Artemis could see the remains of the model through the gaps. It was an impressive sight, made even more so by the scores of shaggy creatures scrambling across the pyramid’s slopes.

‘Trolls,“ explained Opal. ”They have taken over the exhibits. But don’t worry, they are extremely territorial and won’t attack unless you approach the pyramid.“

Artemis was beyond amazement at this point, but even so, the sight of these magnificent carnivores preying on one another was enough to speed his heart up a few beats. He paused to study the nearest specimen. It was a terrifying creature: at least eight feet tall, with grimy dreadlocks swinging about its massive head. The troll’s fur-matted arms swung below its knees, and two curved serrated tusks jutted from its lower jaw. The beast watched them pass, night eyes glowing red in their sockets.

The group arrived at the second exhibit. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The hologram by the entrance displayed a revolving image of the Turkish building.

Opal read the history panel. “Interesting,” she said. “Now, why do you suppose someone would name a male child after a female goddess?”

‘It’s my father’s name,“ said Artemis wearily, having explained this a hundred times. ”It can be used for girls or boys, and means the hunter. Rather apt, don’t you think? It may interest you to know that your chosen human name, Belinda, means beautiful snake. Also rather fitting. Half of it, at any rate.“

Opal pointed a tiny finger at Artemis’s nose. “You are a very annoying creature, Fowl. I do hope all humans are not like you.“

She nodded at Scant.

‘Spray them,“ she ordered.

Scant took a small atomizer from his pocket and doused Holly and Artemis liberally with the contents.

The liquid was yellow and foul smelling.

‘Troll pheromones,“ said Scant, almost apologetically. ”These trolls will take one whiff of you and go absolutely crazy. To them you smell like females in heat. When they find out you’re not, they’ll tear you into a thousand little bits, then chew on the pieces. We’ve had all of the broken panels repaired, so there’s no escape. You can jump in the river if you like; the scent should wash off in about a thousand years. And, Captain Short, I have removed the wings from your suit and shorted out the cam-foil. I did leave the heating coils. After all, one deserves a sporting chance.“

A lot of use heating coils will be against trolls, thought Holly glumly.

Merv was checking the entrance through one of the transparent panels. “Okay. We’re clear.”

The pixie opened the main entrance by remote.

Distant howls resonated from inside the exhibit.

Artemis could see several trolls brawling on the steps of the replica temple. He and Holly would be torn apart.

The Brill brothers propelled them into the hemisphere.

‘Best of luck,“ said Opal, as the door slid shut. ”Remember, you’re not alone. We’ll be watching you on the cameras.“

The door clanged shut ominously. Seconds later the electronic locking panel began to fizzle, as one of the Brill brothers melted it from the outside. Artemis and Holly were locked in with a bunch of amorous trolls and smelled irresistible to them.

The Temple of Artemis exhibit was a scale model that had been constructed with painstaking accuracy, complete with animatronic humans going about their daily business as they would have been in B.c. Most of the human models had been stripped to the wires by the trolls, but some moved jerkily along their tracks, bringing their gifts to the goddess. Any robot whose path brought them too close to a pack of trolls was pounced on and torn to shreds. It was a grim preview of Artemis and Holly’s own fate.

There was only one food supply. The trolls themselves. Cubs and stragglers were picked off by the bulls and butchered with teeth, claws, and tusks.

The pack leader took the lion’s share, then tossed the carcass to the baying pack. If the trolls were confined here much longer, they would wipe themselves out.

Holly shouldered Artemis roughly to the ground. “Quickly,” she said. “Roll in the mud. Cover yourself, smother the scent.“

Artemis did as he was told, scooping mud over himself with his manacled hands. Any spots he missed were quickly slathered by Holly. He did the same for her. In moments the pair were almost unrecognizable.

Artemis was feeling something he could not remember having felt before: absolute fear. His hands shook, rattling the chains. There was no room in his brain for analytical thought. I can’t, he thought. I can’t do anything.

Holly took charge, dragging him to his feet and propelling him to a cluster of fake merchants’ tents beside a fast-flowing river. They crouched behind the ragged canvas, peering at the trolls through long claw rents in the material. Two animatronic merchants sat on mats before the tents, their baskets brimming with gold and ivory statuettes of the goddess Artemis. Neither model had a head. One of the heads lay in the dust several feet away, its artificial brain poking out through a bite hole.

‘We need to get the cuffs off,“ said Holly urgently.

‘What?“ mumbled Artemis.

Holly shook her manacles in his face. “We need to get these off now! The mud will protect us for a minute, then the trolls will be on our trail. We have to get in the water, and with cuffs on we’ll drown in the current.”

Artemis’s eyes had lost their focus. “The current?”

‘Snap out of it, Artemis,“ Holly hissed into his face. ”Remember your gold? You can’t collect it if you’re dead. The great Artemis Fowl, collapsing at the first sign of trouble.

We’ve been in worse scrapes than this before.“ Not exactly true, but the Mud Boy couldn’t remember, could he?

Artemis composed himself. There was no time for a calming meditation; he would simply have to repress the emotions he was experiencing. Very unhealthy, psychologically speaking, but better than being reduced to chunks of meat between a troll’s teeth.

He studied the cuffs. Some form of ultralight plastic polymer. There was a digit pad in the center, positioned so the wearer could not reach the digits.

‘How many numbers?“ he said.

‘What?“

‘In the code for the cuffs. You are a police officer. Surely you know how many numbers in the code for handcuffs.“

‘Three,“ replied Holly. ”But there are so many possibilities.“

‘Possibilities but not probabilities,“ said Artemis, irritating even when his life was in danger. ”Statistically, thirty-eight percent of humans don’t bother changing the factory code on digital locks. We can only hope that fairies are equally negligent.“

Holly frowned. “Opal is anything but negligent.”

‘Perhaps. But her two little henchfairies might not be as attentive to detail.“

Artemis held out his cuffs to Holly. “Try three zeroes.”

Holly did so, using a thumb. The red light stayed red.

‘Nines. Three nines.“

Again the light stayed red.

Holly quickly tried all ten digits three times. None had any effect.

Artemis sighed. “Very well. Triple digits was a bit too obvious, I suppose.

Are there any other three-digit numbers that are burned into fairy consciousness? Something all fairies would know, and wouldn’t be likely to forget?“

Holly racked her brain. “Nine five one. The Haven area code.“

‘Try it.“

She did. No good.

‘Nine five eight. The Atlantis code.“

Again no good.

‘Those numbers are too regional,“ snapped Artemis. ”What is the one number that every male, female, and infant knows?“

Holly’s eyes widened. “Of course. Of course. Nine zero nine. The police emergency number. It’s on the corner of every billboard under the world.”

Artemis noticed something. The howling had stopped.

The trolls had ceased fighting and were sniffing the air.

The pheromones were in the breeze, drawing the beasts like puppets on strings. In eerie unison, their heads turned toward Holly and Artemis’s hiding place.

Artemis shook his manacles. “Try it quickly.”

Holly did. The light winked green, and the cuffs popped open.

‘Good. Excellent. Now let me do yours.“

Artemis’s fingers paused over the keyboard.

‘I don’t read the fairy language or numerals.“

‘You do. In fact, you are the only human who does,“ said Holly. ”You just don’t remember.

The pad is standard layout. Zero to nine. Left to right.“

‘Nine zero nine,“ muttered Artemis, pressing the appropriate keys. Holly’s cuffs popped on the first try, which was fortunate because there would be no time for a second.

The trolls were coming, loping from the temple’s steps with frightening speed and coordination. They used the weight of their shaggy arms to swing forward, while simultaneously straightening muscular legs. This launch method could take them up to twenty feet in a single bound. The animals landed on their knuckles, swinging their legs underneath for the next jump.

It was an almost petrifying sight. A score of crazed carnivores, jostling their way down a shallow sandy incline. The larger males took the easy way down, charging right through the ravine.

Adolescents and older males stuck to the slopes, wary of casual bites and scything tusks. The trolls crashed through mannequins and scenery, heading straight for the tent. Dreadlocks swung with every step, and eyes glowed red in the half light. They held their heads back so their highest point was their nose.

Noses that were leading them directly to Holly and Artemis. And what was worse, Holly and Artemis could smell the trolls, too.

Holly stuck both pairs of cuffs into her belt. They had charge packs and could be adapted for heat or even weapons, if Holly lived long enough to use them.

‘Okay, Mud Boy. Into the water.“

Artemis did not argue or question; there was no time for that. He could only assume that, like many animals, trolls were not water lovers. He ran toward the river, feeling the ground below his feet vibrate with a hundred feet and fists. The howling had started again too, but it had a more reckless tone, mindless and brutal, as if whatever self-control the trolls had was now gone.

Artemis hustled to catch up to Holly. She was ahead of him, lithe and limber, bending low to scoop up one of the fake plastic logs from a campfire. Artemis did the same, tucking it under his arm. They could be in the water for a long time.

Holly dived in, gracefully arcing through the air before entering the water with barely a splash. Artemis stumbled after her. All this running for one’s life was not what he was built for. His brain was big, but his limbs were slight, which was exactly the opposite of what you needed when trolls were at your heels.

The water was lukewarm, yet the mouthful Artemis inadvertently swallowed tasted remarkably sweet.

No pollutants, he supposed, with that small portion of his brain that was still thinking rationally. Something tagged his ankle, slicing through sock and flesh. Then he kicked into the river, and he was clear. A trail of hot blood lingered for a moment, before being whipped away by the current.

Holly was treading water in the center of the river.

Her auburn hair stood up in slick spikes, and her suit crackled to match the background where the mud had been washed off.

‘Are you hurt?“ she asked.

Artemis shook his head. No breath for words.

Holly noticed his ankle, which was trailing behind him.

‘Blood, and I don’t have a drop of magic left to heal you. That blood is almost as bad as pheromones. We have to get out of here.“

On the bank the trolls were literally hopping mad. They head-butted the earth repeatedly, drumming their fists in complex rhythms.

‘Mating ritual,“ explained Holly. ”I think they like us.“

The current was strong out in the center of the river, and drew the pair quickly downstream. The trolls followed along, some hurling small missiles into the water. One clipped Holly’s plastic log, almost dislodging her.

She spat out a mouthful of water. “We need a plan, Artemis. That’s your department. I got us this far.”

‘Oh yes, well done, you,“ said Artemis, having apparently recovered his sense of sarcasm.

He raked wet strands of hair from his eyes and cast around, beyond the melee on the waterline. The temple was huge, throwing an elongated multipronged shadow across the desert area. The interior was wide open, with no obvious shelter from the trolls. The only deserted spot was the temple roof.

‘Can trolls climb?“ he spluttered.

Holly followed his gaze. “Yes, if they have to, like big monkeys. But only if they have to.”

Artemis frowned. “If only I could remember,” he said. “If only I knew what I know.”

Holly kicked over to him, grasping his collar.

They swirled in the white water, bubbles and froth squeezing between their logs.

‘If only is no good, Mud Boy. We need a plan before the filter.“

‘The filter?“

‘This is an artificial river. It’s filtered through a central tank.“

A bulb went on in Artemis’s brain. “A central tank. That’s our way out.”

‘We’ll be killed! I have no idea how long we’ll be underwater.“

Artemis took one last look around, measuring, calculating. “Given the present circumstances, there is no other option.”

Up ahead, the currents began to circle, pulling in any rubbish picked up from the banks. A small whirlpool formed in the middle of the river. The sight of it seemed to calm the trolls. They gave up on the butting and banging, and settled down to watch. Some moved along the bank; these would later prove to be the clever ones.

‘We follow the current,“ shouted Artemis over the hiss. ”We follow it and hope.“

‘That’s it? That’s your brilliant plan?“

Holly’s suit crackled as the water wormed its way into the circuits.

‘It’s not so much a plan as a lifesaving strategy,“ retorted Artemis. He would have said more but the river interrupted him, snatching him away from his elfin companion into the whirlpool.

He felt about as significant as a twig in the face of such power. If he tried to resist the water, it would slap the air from his lungs like a bully slapping his victim. Artemis’s chest was compressed; even when his gasping mouth was above water, he could not force adequate amounts of air into his lungs. His brain was starved of oxygen. He couldn’t think straight. Everything was curved. The swirl of his body, the sweep of the water. White circles on blue ones on green ones. His feet dancing little Mobius strip patterns below his body.

Riverdance. Ha-ha.

Holly was before him, pinioning the two logs between them. A makeshift raft. She shouted something, but it was lost. There was only water now.

Water and confusion.

She held up three fingers. Three seconds.

Then they were going under. Artemis breathed as deeply as his constricted chest would allow. Two fingers now.

Then one.

Artemis and Holly let go of their logs and the current sucked them under like spiders down a drain.

Artemis fought to hold on to his air, but the buffeting water squeezed it from between his lips.

Bubbles spiraled behind them, racing for the surface.

The water was not so deep or dark. But it was fast and would not allow many images to stand still long enough to be identified. Holly’s face flashed past Artemis, but all he could make out were big hazel eyes.

The whirlpool’s funnel grew narrower, forcing Holly and Artemis together. They were swept diagonally down in a flurry of bumping torsos and flapping limbs. They pressed their foreheads together, finding some comfort in each other’s eyes. But it was short lived. Their progress was brutally cut short by a metal grille covering the drainage pipe. They slammed into it, feeling the sharp wire leave indents on their skin.

Holly slapped at the grille, then wormed her fingers through the holes. The grille was shiny and new.

Fresh weld marks dotted its rim. This was new and everything else was old. Koboi!

Something nudged Holly’s arm. An aqua-pod.

It was anchored to the grille by a plastic tie.

Opal’s face filled the small screen sealed inside, and her grin filled most of her face. She was saying something again and again on a short loop. The words were inaudible over the din of sluice and bubble, but the meaning was clear: still beat you again.

Holly grabbed the aqua-pod, ripping it from its tether. The effort threw her from the slipstream into the relatively calm surrounding waters. Her strength was gone, and she had no option but to go where the river led her. Artemis dragged himself from the flat face of the grille, using the last of his oxygen to kick his legs, just twice.

He was free of the whirlpool, floating along after Holly toward a dark mound farther down the river.

Air, he thought with keen desperation, I need to breathe. Not soon. Now. If not now, never.

Artemis broke the surface mouth first. His throat was sucking down air before the water cleared. The first breath came back up, laced with fluid, but the second was clear, and the third. Artemis felt the strength flow back into his limbs like mercury in his veins.

Holly was safe. Lying on a dark island in the river. Her chest heaved like a bellows and the aqua-pod lay beneath her splayed fingers.

‘Uh-uh,“ said Opal Koboi on-screen.

‘So-o-o predictable.“ She said it over and over, until Artemis struggled from the shallow water, climbed on the mound, and found the MUTE button.

‘I am really starting to dislike her,“ he panted.

‘She may come to regret little touches like the underwater television, because it’s things like this that give me the motivation to get out of here.“

Holly sat up, looking around. They were sitting on a mound of rubbish. Artemis guessed that since Opal had welded the grille across the filter pipe, the current had swept everything that the trolls discarded to this shallow spot. A small island of junk in the river bend. There were disembodied robot heads on the heap, along with battered statues and troll remains. Troll skulls with the thick wedge of forehead bone and rotting pelts.

At least those particular trolls could not eat them.

The dangerous trolls that had followed them were working themselves up into a lather again along the banks on both sides. But there was at least twenty feet of six-inch-deep water separating them from the land. They were safe, for the moment.

Artemis felt memories attempting to break through to the surface. He was on the verge of remembering everything, he was certain of it. He sat completely still, willing it to happen. Unconnected images flashed behind his eyes: a mountain of gold, green scaly creatures snorting fireballs, Butler packed in ice. But the images slid from his consciousness like drops of water off a windshield.

Holly sat up. “Anything?”

‘Maybe,“ said Artemis. ”Something. I’m not sure. Everything is happening so fast. I need time to meditate.“

‘We’re out of time,“ said Holly, climbing to the top of the junk pile. Skulls cracked beneath her feet. ”Look.“

Artemis turned toward the left bank.

One of the trolls had picked up a large rock and raised it over his head. Artemis tried to make himself small. If that rock hit, they would both be gravely injured, at the very least.

The troll grunted like a tennis pro serving, spinning the rock into the river. It barely missed the pile, landing with a huge splash in the shallow waters.

‘A poor shot,“ said Holly.

Artemis frowned. “I doubt it.”

A second troll grabbed a missile, and a third. Soon all the brutes were hurling rocks, robot parts, sticks, or whatever they could get their hands on toward the rubbish heap. Not one hit the shivering pair huddled on the pile. “They keep missing,” said Holly. “Every one of them.” Artemis’s bones ached from cold, fear, and sustained tension.

‘They’re not trying to hit us,“ he said. ”They’re building a bridge.“

 

Tara, Ireland ; Dawn

The fairy shuttleport in Tara was the biggest in Europe. More than eight thousand tourists a year passed thro............