Artemis Fowl and the Master Experimentation

Chapter 17

"Faylinn?" Artemis called.

He was cold, so cold, like he was immersed in icy water. There was a blue light, it seemed, glowing at him. It flickered in an un-natural way. It was taunting him.

"Faylinn?" Artemis called again, but there was, once again, no reply.

The blue light danced, just out of reach.

"Faylinn!" cried Artemis, for a final time.

"Artemis?" called back her voice, but it was distorted.

"I'm here!" he shouted, relieved, "I'm here, Faylinn!"

A face appeared in his eye line. It was Faylinn, but her features were warped, twisted.

"Hello, darling," she hissed at him.

He couldn't move, not even when she reached out her clawed hands and wrapped them around his throat.

Holly landed in the garden of the house, powering down her wings and drawing her blaster. She looked about herself and crept forwards, towards the front door. She felt something wrong in the air, but ignored it, putting it down to residual deflection charms. A mistake, it would turn out.

She approached the door and put her palm to it, not feeling any buzz in the house at all. She pushed the door gently and it swung open. Surely they would have locked the door? She thought, but over-ruled it because she was glad they hadn't, because it would have wasted valuable seconds.

She slunk inside, back to the wall, watching her surroundings intently. There was no noise in the house apart from her breathing hushed by her visor. She scanned the area and found a heat source in the room to her left, laying down.

Artemis. 

Holly sighed in relief, he was still here. She crept forwards and went into the living room, not ready to throw caution to the wind just yet. Ahead, she saw Artemis laid out on the sofa. He looked fairly peaceful in his sleep, yet almost comatose. She lowered her weapon and came to his side, checking his vitals. He seemed alright, just knocked out. 

She felt something shift, behind her. She turned and the scared face of the Master grinned at her.

"Hello, Captain Short," he said to her.

She raised her blaster but he was quicker. In seconds she was going down, her only thoughts before she blacked out being: I was too late.

The Master looked down on the prone figure of Holly Short at his feet. With the toe of his boot he shifted her, her arms flopping in a strange way. He stepped over her body and looked down on his prize once again. 

Artemis shifted a little under his gaze, but slept on. The Master gestured to his team of sprites, who entered the room.

"Get him out of here," the Mater said, not looking from the teens sleeping features.

"What about the female?" 

"Bring her too, you lot have been complaining about needing something to do during your breaks."

The Master frowned as Artemis was removed. He had his most important acquisition and he had the Captain, so that was good. However, that still left one loose end that he intended to cut off as painfully as he could. He needed to get hold of the Faylinn girl. 

Faylinn rested her head against the window, gazing out of it unseeingly. She was worried about Artemis. Would Holly have got there in time? She closed her eyes for a moment and her mum rubbed her shoulder.