Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony (2006)

Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony, known in America as Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony, is the fifth book in the Artemis Fowl Series by Irish writer Eoin Colfer. The book, originally expected to be published in the UK and Ireland on 7 September 2006, was shipped to stores early. On 12 September of the same year, The Lost Colony became available in the US, and was released soon to other countries. It is followed by Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox.

Plot

In Barcelona, Spain, Artemis Fowl II and Butler, his bodyguard, wait for a demon. They suddenly encounter a demon who transports Artemis through time. Before Artemis is lost in time, Butler is able to get a hand on Artemis and pull him back to the present, thanks to the silver cuffs he is wearing. Meanwhile, Wing Commander Vinyáya brings Holly Short and Mulch Diggums, who have recently been working on their semi-successful PI business, to secret organization Section Eight, an elite squad whose work includes the monitoring of demon activity. The island of Hybras was lifted out of time at the battle of Taillte by the demon warlocks to allow the demons to recover so they could resume the fairy war with humans. However the process went wrong and the demons have been unable to return. Occasionally demons appear on Earth when they are pulled back due to their strong connection to the Moon. Foaly informs Holly that Artemis was able to predict such a demon materialisation when Section 8 could not. Holly is sent to ask Artemis how he could chart the information so accurately.

On Hybras, which is suspended in "Limbo" (where time is nonexistent), No.1, an imp, is bullied because he is the oldest imp not to have "warped" (changed into a mature demon), and is repulsed by the desire of his kind to return to Earth and take revenge on humanity. After accidentally turning a wooden skewer into stone, No.1 wonders if he is the first warlock since the battle of Tailte, when all the warlocks were supposedly killed during the casting of the time-spell, trapping Hybras in Limbo. Leon Abbot, the last survivor and warhero of the battle of Tailte, now leader of the demon pride, uses something suspiciously like the mesmer to urge No.1 to jump into the island's volcano (used to cast the time-spell) and reach the human world.

Artemis, Butler, and Holly arrive at the Massimo Bellini Opera House, where Artemis has predicted a demon appearance. Here again, they see a blonde girl they had encountered in Barcelona. Artemis concludes that she knows something about demons. She is identified as Minerva Paradizo. No.1 materialises in a dark corner of the stage and is immediately shot with a tranquillizer dart using a rifle disguised as a crutch by Minerva's hired mercenary, the unstable Billy Kong. Minerva leaves for her residence in France, although Holly maintains pursuit while Artemis and Butler follow by a different route. No.1, in Minerva's home, tells her about demon culture, and is slightly shocked to learn Minerva plans to put the demons in a zoo. He also learns that Leon Abbot visited this very place under care, exhibiting what appeared to be a serious case of split personality, and then took a book and a crossbow back to Hybras when he dug out his silver bullet, knowing full well that the demons stood no chance against humans of the modern day. Holly is captured trying to rescue the imp, but Artemis has Foaly recruit Mulch Diggums and the pixie criminal Doodah Day to sabotage the security of the Paradizo chateau. When Artemis distracts Minerva, Holly and No.1 escape, after the bug Day plants in wiring in the chateau allows Foaly to have the CCTV monitors show a massive military attack on the house, and destroy Minerva's research.