'What? I'm flesh and bone after ten thousand years and now you're telling me a bomb is going to blow me to a million pieces?'
'This is Qwan,' explained No.1. 'He's the most powerful warlock in the magic circle.'
'I'm the only one now,' said Qwan. 'I couldn't save the rest. Just us two left now, lad.'
'Can you petrify the bomb?' asked Holly.
'It will take several minutes before my magic is up and running.
Anyway, the gargoyle's touch only works on organic matter. Plants and animals. A bomb is full of man-made compounds.'
Artemis raised an eyebrow. 'You know about bombs?'
'I was petrified. Not dead. I could see what was happening around me.
The stories I could tell you. You wouldn't believe where tourists stick gum.'
Butler was piling unconscious bodies against the security doors.
'We have to get out of here!' he called. 'The police are in the hallway.'
Artemis stood and took half a dozen steps away from the group, closing his eyes.
'Artemis, this is no time to fall apart,' chided Minerva, crawling from behind a display case. 'We need a plan.'
'Shh, young lady,' said Butler. 'He's thinking.'
Artemis gave himself twenty seconds to rack his brains. What he came up with was very far from perfect.
'Very well. Holly, you must fly us out of here.'
Holly did a few sums in her head. 'It will take two trips, maybe three.'
'No time for that. The bomb must go first. There are a lot of people in this building. I must go with the bomb as there is a chance I can defuse it. And the fairies must come too; it is imperative that they are not taken into custody. Hybras would be lost.'
'I can't allow this,' objected Butler. 'I have a duty to your parents.'
Artemis was stern with his protector.
'I am giving you a new duty,' he said. 'Look after Minerva. Keep her safe until we can rendezvous.'
'Let Holly fly out over the sea and drop the bomb,' argued Butler. 'We can mount a rescue organization later.'
'It will be too late. If we don't get these fairies out of here, the eyes of the world will be on Taipei. And anyway, the local seas are thronged with fishing boats. This is the only way. I will not allow humans or fairies to die when I might have prevented it.'
Butler would not give up. 'Listen to yourself. You sound like a… like a good guy! There's nothing in this for you.'
Artemis had no time for emotions. 'In the words of H. P. Woodman, old friend, Time is ticking on, and so we must be gone. Holly, tie us to your belt, all except Butler and Minerva.'
Holly nodded, still slightly shell-shocked. She reeled out a number of pitons from her belt, wishing she had been issued one of Foaly's
Moonbelts, which generated a lo-grav field around everything attached to it.
'Under the arms,' she instructed No.1. 'Then clip it back on to the loop.'
Butler helped Artemis with his strap. 'This is it, Artemis. I've had it, I swear. When we get home I am retiring. I'm older than I look, and I feel older than I am. No more plotting. Promise me?'
Artemis forced a smile. 'I am simply flying to the next building. If I cannot defuse the bomb, then Holly can fly it out to sea and endeavour to find a safe spot.'
They both knew that Artemis was lying. If he could not defuse the bomb, there would be no time to find a safe drop point.
'Here,' said Butler, handing him a flat leather wallet. 'My picks. So you can at least get into the works.'
'Thank you, old friend.'
Holly was loaded to the chin. No.1 and Qwan clung to her waist, while Artemis was cinched to the front.
'OK. Everyone ready?'
'I wish my magic would come back,' grumbled Qwan. 'I'd turn myself into a statue again.'
'Terrified,' said No.1. 'Freaking. Planking. Up the creek.'
'Colloquialisms,' said Artemis. 'Very good.'
Butler closed the case. 'One building across. That's as far as you need to go. Get that panel off and go straight for the explosive itself. Rip out the detonator if you have to.'
'Understood.'
'OK. I won't say goodbye, just good luck. I will see you as soon as I can talk us out of here.'
'Thirty minutes, if that.'
Up to that point Minerva had hung back looking shamefaced. Now she came forward.
'I'm sorry, Artemis. I shouldn't have gone near Mister Kong.'
Butler lifted her bodily aside. 'No, you shouldn't, but there's no time for apologies now. Just stand by the door and look innocent.'
'But I. .'
'Innocent! Now!'
Minerva obliged, wisely realizing that this was not the time for arguing.
'OK, Holly,' said Artemis. 'Lift off.'
'Check,' said Holly, activating her backpack. The wings struggled with the extra weight for a moment, and there was something about the engine vibration that Holly didn't like, but gradually her rig took the strain and lifted all four of them off the floor.
'OK,' she said. 'I think we're good.'
Butler nudged the flying group towards a window. This was all so risky he couldn't believe that he was letting it happen. But there was no time to deliberate. It was do or die.
He reached up, yanking down on the window's security catch. The entire two-metre pane swung wide, allowing the high altitude wind to scream into the building. Suddenly everyone was deafened and under attack from the elements. It was hard to see anyone and even harder to hear them.
Holly floated the group outside and they would have been whipped away had Butler not held on for a second.
'Go with the wind,' he shouted to Holly, releasing his grip. 'Make your descent gradual.'
Holly nodded. Her wing motor skipped a beat and they dropped two metres.
Artemis's stomach lurched.
'Butler,' he called, his voice thin and childlike in the wind.
'Yes, Artemis, what?'
If something goes wrong, wait for me. No matter how it looks, I will return. I will bring them all back.'
Butler nearly jumped out after them. 'What are you planning, Artemis?
What are you going to do?'
Artemis called back, but the wind caught his words, and his bodyguard could only stand framed by steel and glass, shouting into the wind.
They dropped quickly. A bit more quickly than Holly would have liked.
The wings can't take it, she realized. Not the weight and the wind. We're not going to make it.
She rapped a knuckle on Artemis's head. 'Artemis!' she shouted.
'I know,' shouted the Irish boy. 'Too much weight.'
If they fell now, the bomb would detonate in the middle of Taipei. That was unacceptable. There was only one thing to do. Artemis had not even mentioned this option to Butler, as he knew the bodyguard would reject it no matter how sound his own reasoning.
Before Artemis had time to act on his theory, Holly's wings spluttered,
jerked and died. They fell in ragged free fall like a sack of anchors,
head over heels, dangerously close to the skyscraper wall.
Artemis's eyes were scalded by wind, his limbs were folded back to breaking point by rushing air, and his
