The Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl 6)

Artemis spoke clearly, so his words would carry across the divide. “It’s not a lemur,” he said. “It’s a monkey.”

Opal’s smile froze, all tiny teeth, and she grabbed what she had thought was Jayjay. The figure was soft in her hands.

“A toy!” she gasped. “This is a toy.”

Artemis’s triumph was dulled by pain and exhaustion. “Opal, meet Professor Primate. My brother’s plaything.”

“A toy,” repeated Opal dully. “But there were two heat sources. I saw them.”

“Microwave gel pack stuffed inside the foam,” explained Artemis. “It’s over, Opal. Jayjay is in Haven by now. You can’t get him. Turn yourself in, and I won’t have to hurt you.”

Opal’s features were twisted with rage. “Hurt me! Hurt me!” She dashed the toy monkey against the rock surface over and over again until the dented works fell out.

A metallic voice issued from the speaker: “History will remember this day. . . . History will . . . History will remember this day.”

Opal screamed, and red sparks boiled around her fingertips.

“I cannot fly and I cannot shoot lightning, but I have enough magic to boil your brain.”

Opal’s dreams of supreme power were forgotten. At that moment all she wanted was to kill Artemis Fowl. She stepped onto the second span with murder in her heart.

Artemis stood wearily and reached into his pocket. “Your armor should save you,” he said, his voice calm. “It will be terrifying, but the LEP will dig you out.”

Opal scoffed. “More tactics. Bluff and double bluff. Not this time, Artemis.”

“Don’t make me do this, Opal,” Artemis pleaded. “Just sit down and wait for the LEP. No one needs to get hurt.”

“Oh, I think someone needs to get hurt,” said Opal.

Artemis took his modified laser pointer from his pocket, activating the narrow beam and aiming it at the base of the Little Sister.

“What are you going to do with that thing? It would take a hundred years to saw through this rock.”

“I’m not trying to saw through it,” said Artemis, keeping the beam steady. “And it’s not a rock.”

Opal raised her hands, sparks laced like barbed wire around her fingers.

No more talk.

Artemis’s laser beam cut deep into the base of the Little Sister, until it pierced the outer shell and reached the vast pocket of methane beneath.

The Little Sister was not a rock. It was the seventh kraken, attracted by the magical resonance of Hybras. Artemis had been studying it for years. Not even Foaly knew it was there.

The explosion was huge, shooting a column of fire fifty feet into the air. The outer shell collapsed under Opal, engulfing her in a blizzard of shrapnel.

Artemis heard the dull twang of her LEP armor flexing to take the shock.

Foaly’s armor should save her.

He threw himself flat on the sea stack, suffering the rain of rock, weed, and even fish on his back and legs.

Luck will save me now. Only luck.

And luck did save him. The plateau was hammered with several sizeable missiles, but none struck Artemis. He was hailed with smaller objects and would have a hundred bruises and cuts to add to his list of injuries, but not a single bone was broken.

When the world felt as though it had stopped vibrating, Artemis crawled to the lip of the sea stack and gazed down at the bubbling sea below. A pyramid of rubble steamed gently in the waves where the kraken had been. The great beast would be moving away silently now, to find another magical hotspot. Of Opal there was no sign.

The LEP will find her.

Artemis turned over on his back and watched the stars. He did this often, and the sight usually caused him to wonder how he would reach the planets orbiting those pinpricks of light, and what he would find there. On this evening the stars just made him feel tiny and insignificant. Nature was vast and mighty and would eventually swallow him, even the memory of him. He lay there cold and alone on the plateau, waiting for a feeling of triumph that he realized would never arrive, and listening to the distant shouts of the villagers as they made their way across the long meadow.

Holly arrived before the villagers, gliding in from the north and touching down soundlessly on the sea stack.

“You’re flying,” said Artemis, as though he had never seen this before.

“I borrowed a suit from No1’s bodyguards. Well, I say borrowed . . .”

“How did you find me?” asked Artemis, though he could guess.

“Oh, I saw a huge explosion and wondered, Now who could that be?”

“Hmm,” said Artemis. “A bit of a giveaway.”

“Also, I followed my old suit’s radiation trail. I’m still following it.” Holly touched a finger to her visor, and the filter changed. “That’s quite a pile of rocks you dumped on Opal. It’s going to take a Retrieval team some time to dig her out. She’s cursing like a tunnel dwarf down there. What did you do to her?”

“The seventh kraken,” explained Artemis. “The one Foaly missed because it was tubular rather than conical, I would guess. I picked it up on a weather satellite.”

Holly placed a finger on Artemis’s forehead. “Typical Artemis Fowl. Beaten to a pulp and still he delivers a lecture.”

Magical sparks flowed from Holly’s fingertip, engulfing Artemis like a cocoon. He felt comforted and peaceful, like a baby in its blanket. His pains were wiped away, and his shattered collarbone liquefied, then solidified whole.

“Nice trick,” he said, smiling. His eyes were glassy.

“I’m here till Tuesday,” said Holly, smiling back. “No1 filled my tank.”

Artemis gazed up at his friend through a red haze. “I’m sorry I lied to you, Holly. Truly. You’ve done so much.”

Holly’s eyes were distant. “Maybe you made the wrong decision; maybe I would have made that decision myself. We’re from different worlds, Artemis. We will always have doubts about each other. Let’s just carry on and leave the past in the past, where it should be.”

Artemis nodded. That was as good as he was going to get, and better than he deserved.

Holly pulled a tether from her belt and looped it under Artemis’s arms. “Now, let’s get you home before the villagers start building a gallows.”

“Good idea,” mumbled Artemis, drowsy with the aftereffects of his magical makeover.

“Yes, believe it or not, other people do have those occasionally.”

“Occasionally,” agreed Artemis; then his head lolled back and he was asleep.

Holly reset her wings for the added weight and launched them both off the lip of the sea stack, flying low to avoid the flashlight beams of the locals, which strobed the night sky like searchlights.

Foaly tuned into Holly’s helmet frequency while she was airborne.

“The seventh kraken, I’m guessing. Of course, I had my suspicions.” He paused. “This would be a good opportunity to mind-wipe Artemis,” he said. “Save ourselves a lot of grief in the future.”

“Foaly!” said Holly, horrified. “We don’t wipe our friends. Artemis brought Jayjay back to us. Who knows how many cures lie in that lemur’s brain.”

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding. And guess what, we won’t even have to ask Jayjay to donate some brain fluid. No1 synthesized it while he was waiting for the shuttle. That kid is one of a kind.”

“I seem to run into a lot of those. By the way, we need to send a team in for Opal.”

“They’re en route. I think you’re in for another rake over the coals from IA when you get back here.”

Holly snorted. “What’s new?”

Foaly fell silent, waiting for Holly to share the details of her adventures. Eventually he could wait no more.

“Okay, you win. I’ll ask. What happened back then— almost eight years ago? My gods, it must have been mayhem.”

Holly felt a phantom tingle on her lips where she had kissed Artemis.

“Nothing. Nothing happened. We went, w

e got the lemur, we came back. A couple of glitches, but obviously nothing we couldn’t handle.”

Foaly didn’t press for details. Holly would tell him when she had processed it herself.

“Do you ever think you might like to go to work and then just come home? No drama?”

Holly watched the ocean flash by below her and felt the weight of Artemis Fowl in her arms.

“No,” she said. “I never think that.”

CHAPTER 16

A TEAM OF HAIRDRESSERS

Less than an hour later they landed at Fowl Manor. Artemis woke up just as Holly’s heels hit the gravel, and was instantly alert.

“Magic is wonderful stuff,” he said, pinwheeling his left arm.

“You should have held on to yours,” quipped Holly.

“Ironically, if I had not attempted to cure Mother, Opal would have allowed her to recover. It was my journey into the past that gave Opal the basis for her plan, which she instigated by following us to her future.”

“I liked you better asleep,” said Holly, retrieving her tether. “My head hurt less.” “It’s the big time paradox. If I had done nothing, then nothing would have needed to be done.” Holly touched her helmet. “Let me get Foaly on the com. You two could both talk at the same time.”

The exterior lights cast a soft glow on the gravel, setting the stones shimmering like gems. Lofty evergreen trees swayed in the gentle breeze, rustling with life. Like Tolkien’s creatures.

Artemis watched Holly stride toward the main doors.

If only, he thought. If only.

No1 sat on the front step, flanked by a squad of LEP officers bristling with the latest weaponry. Artemis knew that his DNA was coded into their guns, and all they had to do was select his icon from a list and there would be no escape. Jayjay had wrapped himself around the demon’s crown like a hunting cap and seemed most comfortable there. He roused himself when he saw Artemis and leaped into the boy’s arms. A dozen LEP rifles instantly beeped, and Artemis guessed that his icon was being selected.

“Hello there, little fellow. How do you like the present?”