This is random, I know, but the idea came to me and I couldn't resist. This is just the preface, and I will write the rest - if I get, oh, shall we say five reviews? Ha ha ha - I love being evil. And the reviews should preferably be off different people. I do have a plot, but no one else gets to see it unless you tell me you want to. Love you all - Liris

Holly Short sucked in a sharp breath, but gave no other sign that she was in pain. The sprite wielding the knife grinned at her maniacally, and pulled it out of her shoulder. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, grateful that she'd recently completed the Ritual. Blue sparks swarmed her shoulder, repairing it in seconds. The sprite waved the bloody blade in front of her face, spittle flying from between his teeth as he hissed at her.

"Tell me, elf. Where is he?"

Holly bared her teeth at him, but didn't answer. He wouldn't break her. She wouldn't give in. The sprite gave her a few seconds to talk, then huffed when he realised she wasn't going to.

"You're only causing yourself more pain, you know. Is he really worth that? Is he worth being mutilated for? Worth dying for?"

Holly turned her head away from his foul breath, attempting to work out where she was. She'd been on a mission for Section Eight, tracking a runaway demon, when someone had shot her with a dart. She'd come to in this room, hands tied together and suspended from a hook in the ceiling. She didn't know how long she'd been there – a couple of hours? It couldn't be too long, as her magic was still fairly strong. It only felt like two years because she'd spent the time having a dagger plunged into her shoulder and thigh, and some insane sprite yelling at her to talk.

She gritted her teeth, suppressing a scream as he stabbed her again, this time going in between the ribs. The blade nicked a lung, and she was instantly writhing in pain, whilst the sprite yelled at her to tell him the location!

He pulled the knife out with a wet slurping sound, and she whimpered. She would have screamed, but she didn't have enough air. The blue sparks whirled around her torso, and the pain dissipated, leaving her slack in the bonds, breathing heavily and trying not to pass out. The sprite leaned into her, anger turning his voice sibilant. He had a goblin ancestor somewhere in his family tree.

"Tell me where I can find Artemis Fowl!"