Of course, Artemis and Holly were the first to arrive near the outskirts of Fowl Manor. The two were just approaching the outskirts of Dublin when Holly’s helment beeped again.

“Oh no…” Holly gasped.

“What? Another bomb?”

“Much worse. It seems that a LEP team are already positioned at Fowl Manor, presumably to root us out. There’s no blind spots. It will take quite a feat to get inside. At least they can’t enter the house itself”

“Why not?” Artemis’s natural curiousity began to surface.

“The book, our bible, forbids us from entering human dwellings without an invitation or we’ll lose all our magic” Holly replied, without glancing back.

Something caught Artemis’s eye. It was Butler. The Bentley stopped in the driveway. He paled. “This is not good”

Holly scrambled over to see. “It certainly isn’t. Butler is going to run straght into Retrieval. And he’s certanly in no shape to take them on, even if he did defeat them once” she smiled grimly. “There’s no other choice”

Artemis realized what she ment but he still couldn’t supress a gasp as Holly seized him by the shoulder and dived toward Fowl Manor.

Butler’s soldier sense was beating a tattoo on the back of his skull. There was danger here. Invisible, but here nevertheless…

“We’ve set sights on Fowl’s bodyguard” a Retrieval member whispered, even though his voice was contained by the helment.

“Incapitate him” rang Sool’s reply.

The Retrieval officer may have signaled for the others to move, if he had not been pummled by a quick rabbit punch to the face. Holly had strived for this moment.

Butler turned toward the sound, only to find Artemis and a girl the size of a child scramble out from beneath the bushes.

“Butler! Get inside the manor!” Artemis gasped. Butler nearly questioned the order before grabbing Artemis by the shoulder (Artemis was holding on to Holly’s shoulder and technically, he brought Holly in and it counted as an invitation).

Butler dodged the hundreds of laser bursts aimed at his direction. He rushed for the door and made it inside just as a Neutrino blast missed him by a hair. The door shut behind them and Butler bolted the door.

“Okay, Artemis, I want a through explanation for this”

Artemis and Holly stared at each other darkly and proceeded to explain. While Retrieval could not harm them inside a human dwelling, it was still a very effective siege. After Butler was filled in on the details, the floor started to rumble.

Mulch Diggums popped into the living room as he ejected the granite in his mouth. Holly, Artemis, and Butler just stared; Holly in surprise, Artemis in disgust (of the smell), and Butler in alarm.

Some other stories by Star Jinin:

• Short Update!
• Beautiful Lie
• The Unknown Audience
• Reason to Live
• Death Note