Artemis Fowl: A Call for Help

Chapter 15

Outside of Tara, Ireland
Holly ran towards the spot Artemis and Butler were. Never a dull moment, Holly thought. There was no point in shielding, or trying to start her wings. Trouble was running after her, dragging the prisoner along with him.
"Where are you going?" Trouble yelled into his helmet microphone, nearly deafening Holly.
"Artemis needs help. Opal is back." Holly replied, a little short of breath.
"D'Arvit!" Trouble swore. He began to run faster, catching up to Holly. "How?"
"What do we do with the prisoner?" Trouble asked.
"Just leave him. He's got cuffs on and they have trackers. Besides, I have a feeling Opal used him for a distraction." Holly replied.
"Fine." Trouble grunted, dropping the prisoner on the ground.
"Ow!" Merval exclaimed. "That hurt." he muttered to himself, getting up.
Holly and Trouble reached their base. They drew their weapons prepared to fight. Holly wanted to scream when she saw what was happening.
Butler was shielding Artemis with his own body, gun drawn. Opal was floating above them, green light flashing around her.
It looked so familiar. All of a sudden a memory overwhelmed all other thoughts. The flash of green light. Artemis's body falling to the ground. The horror Holly had felt as she had watched, unable to help. It was too much, Holly's knees felt like they were going to abandon her. But Opal had died. So how was this possible?
After Artemis had been murdered and his clone was fully grown, it had taken awhile to get him to remember what he had before. Eventually, nearly everything was back to normal. Artemis could remember everything, and the feelings he had for people. His attitude had changed a little bit, he was more forgiving and maybe even grateful.
He's here now. You can't let that happen again. You can't lose him again, Holly told herself. Her knees hardened, she could feel a renewed strength flowing through her.
"Help!" a voice floated through the air. Holly could tell it was coming from the house.
Holly ran foward, coming into Opal's view. Her gun was raised, pointed at Opal's head.
"I am a member of the LEP police force. You are under orders to come down right now!" Holly demanded. She knew Opal wasn't going to surrender, but it would get Opal to focus on her instead of Artemis.
Opal laughed mirthlessly. "You must be dumber than you look. I thought you would have learned by now. Oh well, I guess not. I suppose I'll have to show you that I do not surrender peacefully."
This was as long as it took for Trouble to position himself next to Butler. If Opal tried to do anything, one of them could try to shoot her. Most likely, her magic would shield her from the shots.
"What do you want?" Butler asked.
"Hmm, let me think. Ah, I know. I want you all dead." Opal proclaimed. There was no point in trying to hide it, after all, her intentions were clear.
"You don't always get what you want." Artemis remarked. "And you certaintly will not. Unless you want a nice prison cell in the Deeps."
"Oh really?" Opal asked. "I don't think so. In fact, I don't just want you dead. I want your final minutes to be the most agonizing ones of your life."