a high frames-per-second rate, allowing him to detect the threat. After Butler incapacitates the intruders, Root decides to lay siege to Fowl Manor using a time-stop and enter negotiations. Artemis states his ransom demand: one ton of 24-carat gold. Artemis also reveals his knowledge of the time-stop and claims that he can escape it. An analysis by LEP behaviour experts determines that Artemis believes he is telling the truth. The attempts to gain entry to the manor continue as the LEP recruits an infamous criminal, the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums, to break in. Fairies normally cannot enter human dwellings without permission, but Mulch has forfeited the magic preventing him from entering dwellings, causing him to be safe when burglarising. He tunnels underground to reach the house while Foaly feeds a loop to the manor surveillance system, allowing Mulch to freely explore. Mulch accidentally locates a safe containing Artemis' copy of the book, revealing to the fairies the source of Artemis' knowledge, which he had led them to believe he had acquired from a truth serum administered to Holly. The Fairy Council, deciding that nothing is working, promotes a lieutenant called Briar Cudgeon to acting commander, temporarily usurping Julius Root. Meanwhile, Holly cracks through the concrete of her cell, finding fresh dirt, and completes the ritual with a smuggled acorn. Having regained her magic, she escapes into the main house. Cudgeon decides to release the troll Holly captured earlier, into the mansion, to force Artemis to allow the fairies to enter and subdue the troll. This backfires, as Butler, aided by Holly's healing powers, defeats the troll. The Fairy Council subsequently strips Cudgeon of his post. Artemis is finally granted the ransom. The gold is sent in and Artemis asks Holly for a wish: to cure his mother's insanity — she has been living in her bedroom, driven mad by the loss of her husband. Holly grants the wish at the cost of half the gold. The LEP decides to send in a "blue rinse" – a biological bomb that kills all organic life — to eliminate Artemis and allow for the retrieval of the gold, but this fails when Artemis discovers how to escape the time field and escapes the time-stop by drugging himself and his comrades with sleeping pills. Artemis, having survived until the end of the time-stop, the LEP is bound by law and leaves the remaining gold