Captain Holly Short strolled back into LEPrecon headquarters in Haven after a long day's work. Or what normally wouldn't have been. She had spent virtually all day doing nothing of vital importance. If she hadn't been getting paid, she would've protested. Ever since the last incident with Opal Koboi, the world around the elf had been much quieter. All that they had to do now was rebuild after the demented pixie blew up Haven, and even that had started to bore Holly. She was hoping Foaly had some good news for her when she got back.

The elf removed her helmet, rubbing her pointed ears in the process. She was glad to be able to pull it off as she set it on the desk, startling the centaur who was busily working in front of her, causing his papers to go flying in every which direction.

"Holly! What have I told you about sneaking up on me like that?" he shot her a glare as he tried his hardest to gather all the loose sheets. "I could've miscalculated the dimensions and then-"

Holly smirked, pushing some of her auburn hair from her eyes. "Oh Foaly, quit being so melodramatic," she interrupted him. She paused for a moment before she placed her hand on the table. "So anything intriguing happen since I left this morning?"

A devilish smile stretched across Foaly's face. "Oh do I have some news for you!"

Something had in fact happened while she was out in about. Holly was curious to know what it could've possibly been. "Well what are you waiting for?" Holly questioned. "What is it?"

Foaly laughed as he typed something into a nearby computer. "Wait until you see what Fowl's been up to. He has seriously made my day."

Holly sighed, taking a seat in a nearby chair. "What is it this time? More kidnappings, theft, the extinction of species, multiple personality disorders?"

"Even better than that," Foaly grinned. "Just watch." The centaur pressed another button before a video feed popped up on the screen. "This is the video surveillance from the Flint Institute of Arts this afternoon. And it just so happened that little Arty was there-" he pressed pause, zooming in "-and he was with a girl!"

Holly's hazel eyes widened. This was too good to be true. "No way. This girl was willingly talking to him? He's not holding her against her will? No ransom fund? No threats from Butler?"

"Nope," Foaly answered, turning away from the screen, his arms crossed. "This girl, whom I've gathered is named Diana, willingly approached Artemis and started talking to him. They later exchanged numbers and everything!"

Holly was admittedly a little shocked. The Artemis she knew was never so willing to make friends, especially with girls. She wondered why this girl was any different. "So he likes her then?" she asked as she began spinning in her chair.

"Well, I think he deems her to be worthy of intelligent conversation," Foaly said, glancing at the ceiling briefly. "It isn't often Artemis is able to find someone whom he can talk to without dumbing things down for them. So far, Diana seems to be one of the few who can keep up with Artemis and his sometimes intriguing conversations."

"What do we know about this girl?" Holly asked, wondering exactly how she managed to snag Artemis' attention enough for him to want to talk with her again. Part of her was not exactly thrilled about Artemis making friends; the more people he befriended, the better chance that they could once again be discovered by humans. "No threat to us right?"

"As far as I can tell, no," Foaly shrugged, trotting over to the other side of the room, going about his business. "Diana is, for all intents and purposes, just a normal teenage girl. She's a bit smarter than the rest, but other than that, nothing too odd about her." Foaly shot his friend a glance. "You don't mean to tell me you're jealous that Artemis is talking to some other girl are you?"

Holly snorted. Her jealous of a human girl talking to Artemis Fowl? There was no reason for that. They were friends, and that was all they were ever to be. Granted, they had exchanged a few small romantic moments, but nothing was ever to come out of it. Holly knew better than to date outside her species, and she was sure Artemis felt the same way. "Oh no. I don't envy her. She doesn't know half of what she's getting into. Admittedly I feel bad for her."

Foaly shook his head. "She really doesn't know." He rubbed his palms together, as if he had a plan. "I wonder how mad he would be if we called and harassed him a little bit?"

Holly smirked, knowing exactly where Foaly was going with that. "Well... why don't I just pay him a little visit?"

"Lucky you," Foaly muttered, wishing he could go above ground as easily as Holly. "It just so happens we have a flare running in E116 in twenty minutes. I can prep the shuttle for you. Unfortunately that chute leads to Los Angeles, and he's in Flint, Michigan. You'll have to take a long over-ground flight, so be careful. Don't make any stops, and stay shielded or use the cam foil. I don't care what you do, but don't get yourself caught again."

Foaly knew how she was. Holly had never made things easy. He could recall many a flight where Holly had almost caused their very existence to be discovered. In fact, it was her carelessness that had allowed Artemis Fowl to capture her in the very beginning. Foaly was hoping she was far more careful this time than then. They couldn't afford another catastrophe right now.

"Am I ever not careful?" Holly winked, and with that jumped off the chair, making her way down to the shuttle ports. Foaly got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach as she disappeared from sight.

*****

Artemis sat at the desk in his room, staring out across the grounds of his uncle's manor. It was early in the morning, and the sun had yet to rise. His efforts to sleep that night had been, once again, futile. After only a few hours, Artemis had awoken, though he was far from well rested. For some reason, his mind was in hyper drive, and it wouldn't stop thinking, mostly about his recent encounter with Diana.

The girl piqued his interest. It was the first time he had been able to hold a conversation with a girl other than Holly, his mother, and Juliet. Artemis was unsure of why he didn't seem to mind her companionship. Perhaps he was interested in being friends? He shook his head at the thought. Artemis didn't need friends. That's why he had Butler and Holly. They were all the friends he needed. But if that wasn't the case, why had he given her his phone number in the first place? Admittedly, he hadn't been this confused in a long time, if ever.

He twirled his cell phone between his fingers and the desk, something he had never found himself doing before. Artemis was quite anxious, though he had no idea why. He glanced up from the desk to see what appeared to be a haze outside his window. Had he been someone else, he would've contributed it to the atmosphere, or even his lack of sleep. But he knew all too well that the hazy spot outside the window was a fairy using its magical shield.

Artemis unlatched the window, opening it to speak with the fairy. "Well Holly, this isn't how I planned on seeing you again."

The haze shimmered away and had been replaced by Holly's frame, who was adjusting the speed of her mechanical wings. "Well Artemis, when you gave me a bit of information to brighten up my day, I had to come see it for myself."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "What on Earth are you possibly talking about?"

A smirk appeared on Holly's face. "Who's this lady friend of yours, Fowl?"

Artemis sighed. He should've known that was what Holly was here to talk to him about. He figured as soon as his fairy friends had gotten wind of it, he was going to become the butt of many jokes. "She's just an acquaintance, Holly. Hardly a friend. We only met this afternoon."

"You gave her your phone number!" Holly exclaimed. "You can't tell me that you didn't at least think she could be a possible friend for you."

Artemis brought a finger to his lips, hoping Holly would catch the hint and quiet her voice a bit. The last thing he wanted was for any of his family members to wake up. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Holly. Intelligent conversation is all she is."

Holly was skeptical, Artemis could tell. "For some reason I have a feeling you'll be eating your words. From what Foaly told me, Diana seems to be able to keep up with you, and that is nothing we have ever seen happen with a teenage girl before... other than Minerva of course," she answered. "C'mon Artemis. You can't tell me you decided to just randomly be nice to a girl. It's not like you at all."

Artemis rolled his eyes, something he found himself doing more and more often. "I'm attempting to turn over a new leaf, Holly. Making some new acquaintances couldn't hurt me. I need to broaden my horizons, and that is all I'm doing here. I mean... I will be in this putrid city for two weeks. A local companion would do me some good."

Holly frowned slightly. Although she could've easily entered the building to speak with Artemis, Holly stayed back. Her instincts still told her the old magical laws were still in effect, while in actuality they had been lifted some time ago.  "You can say whatever you want Arty, but we'll see who's laughing in the end."

Artemis braced his head against his hand. "You can't possibly tell me you made the jaunt up here just to interrogate me about a girl? Foaly and Trouble would've never given you the clearance to come up for that."

Holly shrugged. In actuality, she did need clearance from both Foaly and Commander Trouble Kelp before she could get in a shuttle to the surface. But tonight they had made an exception. "I did, actually."

Artemis shook his head. "They're going soft in their old age."

Holly went to say something, but was interrupted by Artemis' phone vibrating. She glanced down at it to see an envelope with Diana's name underneath it. "It would seem you have a text message, Arty," she swooned.

Artemis sighed, flipping his phone over so he couldn't see the message. "I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?"

"Of course not," Holly replied. "You would do the same to me had I found someone."

Artemis rubbed his eyes, trying to keep them open. Even though he couldn't sleep, his eyes kept trying to tell him he needed to. The day to follow was not going to be fun for him. "If you insist," he said quietly.

Holly yawned, only adding to Artemis' sleepiness. "Well, I think I'll let you be for now. I'm ready to head to bed, and I'm sure you need to get some kind of rest." She smiled. "We'll be in touch, Arty. Don't have too much fun."

After a brief wave, Holly went back to shielding herself. Artemis sighed, resting his head on the desk. He should've known that Holly would've been there as soon as she found out about Diana. He flipped his phone back over, staring blankly at it before he decided he should probably answer the message she sent him.