Artemis fowl: the lost colony by Eoin Colfer

Author:Eoin Colfer [Eoin Colfer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Jeunesse
ISBN: 9780786849598
Published: 2008-03-10T10:00:00+00:00

Holly was not too happy playing the victim. She had enough of this in the Academy. Every time the curriculum threw up a role-playing game, Holly, as the only girl in that class, was picked to be the hostage, or the elf walking home alone, or the teller facing a bank robber. She tried to object that this was stereotyping, but the instructor replied that stereotypes were stereotypes for a reason, so get that blonde wig on. So when Artemis proposed that she allow herself to get caught, Holly took a bit of persuading. Now she was sitting tied to a wooden chair in a dark, damp basement room, waiting for some human to come and torture her. The next time Artemis had a plan involving someone being taken hostage, he could play the part himself. It was ridiculous. She was a captain in her eighties, and Artemis was a fourteen-year-old civilian, and yet he was dishing out the orders and she was taking them.

That’s because Artemis is a tactical genius, said her sensible side.

Oh, shut up, responded her irritated side eloquently.

And then Billy Kong came into the room and proceeded to irritate Holly even further. He glided across the floor like a pale, hair-gelled ghost, circling Holly silently several times before speaking.

‘Tell me something, demon. Can you peel off your face?’

Holly met his eyes. ‘With what? My teeth? Hands tied, moron.’

Billy Kong sighed. Lately everyone under five feet seemed to think it was their prerogative to give him verbal abuse.

‘You probably know I’m not supposed to kill you,’ said Billy, teasing his hair into spikes. ‘But I often do things that I’m not supposed to.’

Holly decided to crack this human’s confidence a little.

‘I know that, Billy, or should I say, Jonah. You’ve done a lot of bad things over the years.’

Kong took a step back. ‘You know me?’

‘We know all about you, Billy. We’ve been watching you for years.’

This wasn’t strictly true, of course. Holly knew no more about Kong than Foaly had told her. Perhaps she wouldn’t have baited him if she’d known about his demon history.

To Billy Kong, this simple statement was confirmation of everything Eric had told him. Suddenly, the building blocks of his beliefs and understandings toppled and smashed beyond repair.

It was all true. Eric had not lied. Demons walked the Earth and his brother had tried to protect him and paid with his life.

‘You remember my brother?’ he asked, his voice shaking.

Holly presumed that this was a test. Foaly had mentioned a brother.

‘Yes. I remember. Derek, wasn’t it?’

Kong pulled a stiletto from his breast pocket, gripping it so tightly his knuckles whitened.

‘Eric!’ he shouted, spittle spraying from his mouth. ‘It was Eric! Do you remember what happened to him?’

Holly felt suddenly nervous. This Mud Man was unstable. It would only take her a second to escape from these bonds, but maybe a second was too long. Artemis had requested that she remain bound for as long as possible, but from the look on Billy Kong’s face it seemed as if staying bound could be a fatal mistake.

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