What was going on here? She was flat on her back with no more strength in her body than a damp
tunnel root. What could have done this to her? Holly concentrated, skirting the edge of blinding
pain.
The troll? Was that it? Had the troll mauled her in that restaurant? That would explain a lot. But
no. She seemed to remember something about the old country. And the Ritual. And there was
something digging into her ankle.
'Hello?'
A voice. Not hers. Not even elfin.
'You awake then?'
One of the European languages. Latin. No, English. She was in England?
'I thought the dart might have killed you. Aliens' insides are different from ours. I saw that on
television.'
Gibberish. Aliens, insides? What was the creature talking about?
'You look fit. Like Muchacho Maria, she's a Mexican midget wrestler.'
Holly groaned. Her gift of tongues must be on the blink. Time to see exactly what kind of
craziness she was dealing with here. Focusing all her strength at the front of her head, Holly cracked
open one eye. She closed it again almost immediately. There appeared to be a giant blonde fly
staring down at her.
'Don't be scared,' said the fly. 'Just sunglasses.'
Holly opened both eyes this time. The creature was tapping a silver eye. No, not an eye. A lens.
A mirrored lens. Like the lenses worn by the other two…It all came back in a jolt, rushing to fill the
hole in her memory like a combination lock clicking into place. She had been abducted by two
humans during the Ritual. Two humans with an extraordinary knowledge of fairy affairs.
Holly tried speaking again. 'Where…where am I?'
The human giggled delightedly, clapping her hands together. Holly noticed her nails, long and
painted.
'You can speak English. What sort of accent is that? Sounds like a little bit of everything.'
Holly frowned. The girl's voice was corkscrewing right to the middle of her headache. She lifted
her arm. No locator.
'Where are my things?'
The girl wagged her finger, as one might at a naughty child.
'Artemis had to take your little gun away, and all those other toys. Couldn't have you hurting
yourself.'
'Artemis?'
'Artemis Fowl. This was all his idea. Everything is always his idea.'
Holly frowned. Artemis Fowl. For some reason, even the name made her shiver. It was a bad
omen. Fairy intuition was never wrong.
'They'll come for me, you know,' she said, her voice rasping through dry lips. 'You don't know
what you've done.'
The girl frowned. 'You're absolutely right. I have no clue what's going on. So there's no future in
trying to psych me out.'
Holly frowned. It was obviously pointless playing mind games with this human. The mesmer was
her only hope, but that couldn't penetrate reflective surfaces. How the devil did these humans know
that? That could be worked out later. For now she had to figure a way to separate this vacuous girl
from her mirrored sunglasses.
'You are a pretty human,' she said, voice dripping with honeyed flattery.
'Why, thank you ...?'
'Holly.'
'Why, thank you, Holly. I was in the local paper once. I won a competition. Miss Sugar Beet Fair
Nineteen-Ninety-Nine.'
'I knew it. Natural beauty. I'll bet your eyes are spectacular.'
'So everyone tells me.' Juliet nodded. 'Lashes like clock springs.'
Holly sighed. 'If only I could see them.'
'Whyever not.'
Juliet's fingers curled around the glasses' arm. Then she hesitated.
'Maybe I shouldn't.'
'Why not? Just for a second.'
'I don't know. Artemis told me never to take these off.'
'He'd never know.'
Juliet pointed to a viewcam mounted on the wall.
'Oh, he'd find out. Artemis finds out about everything.' She leaned in close to the fairy.
'Sometimes I think he can see inside my head too.'
Holly frowned. Foiled again by this Artemis creature.
'Come on. One second. What harm could it do?'
Juliet pretended to think about it. 'None, I suppose. Unless of course you're hoping to nail me
with the mesmer. Just how stupid do you think I am?'
'I have another idea,' said Holly, her tone altogether more serious. 'Why don't I get up, knock you
out and take those stupid glasses off.'
Juliet laughed delightedly, as if this was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.
'Good one, fairy girl.'
'I'm deadly serious, human.'
'Well, if you're serious,' sighed Juliet, reaching a delicate finger behind her lenses to wipe away a
tear, 'two reasons. One, Artemis said that while you're in a human dwelling, you have to do what we
want. And I want you to stay on that cot.'
Holly closed her eyes. Right again. Where did this group get their information?
'And two.' Juliet smiled again, but this time there was a hint of her brother in those teeth. 'Two,
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