Jersey stood at the window pressing her hands against the glass. Though Winter was bellowing through the streets of Chicago in all her glory the glass was warm. The twinkling lights of the city were mesmerizing, but Jersey's eyes were focused on something far away.

The flat screen TV flush against her wall was on, but the sound was off. It was set to MSNBC and it had been running the same story over and over again since early this morning. Jersey could almost say the entire spiel word for word. "Jon Spiro CEO of Fission Chips has been convicted. The verdict was handed down after 2 hours of deliberations. Spiro has been linked to a dozen murders around the Chicago area and he has been involved with the Gambino crime family out of New York City. Spiro is expected to be sentenced next week. Spiro has maintained his innocence in the matter by implicating Artemis Fowl II. Fowl the second is the oldest son to Artemis Fowl Senior who had been missing for several years before his rescue. Fowl Senior has denied his son's involvements..." That's when she had stopped listening. Jersey had been in court every single day of her father's trial.

Her brown eyes hardened as she kept her gaze fixed on a point in space. If she could see Ireland from her house Artemis Fowl II would be a dead kid now. "Jersey honey are you coming?" Her mother asked from the doorway.

Jersey turned around to look at her mother. She hadn't even heard her entering. "I don't feel like it." she muttered.

Her mother frowned. She hated the dark mood her daughter had slipped into ever since her father's arrest. "Jersey you have to leave this room. This isn't healthy and it doesn't change anything." Memphis Cole walked into the room and over to her daughter. Memphis on a good day was an inch over 4'10 and even in heels she barely got up to 5'1. Her daughter was no different. Mother and daughter were spitting images of each other. Both had smooth brown skin with thick black hair. Smiles that could part the clouds on a rainy day. And yes both of them were named after cities around the world. It was a tradition in their family. Memphis' mom was named London and her sister was named Nevada. It was often a cruel joke as Memphis had a cousin named Timbuktu.

Jersey plopped down on her bed with a sullen look on her pretty little face. She nearly sank into the soft folds of the downy comforter. "Its not fair mom." She had been working herself up for a good pout and not was as good of a time to unleash it as anything. "He's taken everything from us." Her resolve cracked and she dissolved into her tears.

Her mother was at her side in an instant. "I told you life isn't always fair." Memphis crushed her daughter into her arms to sooth her. "He hasn't taken anything from us Jersey. Your father.." She stopped and took a breath. "Jon was not a nice man and his dealings caught up with him." Memphis had never hidden Jon's past from Jersey and she never fed her some pie in the sky story about a upright and honest lineage. Jon Spiro was a rotten man through and through. And Memphis was sorry that she made such a poor choice in the man, but she was glad that Jersey was the result. And for that she would never regret meeting Jon Spiro.

Jersey sobbed and snotted all over her mother. She didn't care, she needed this crying session. "He's a little beast." She croaked.

Memphis patted Jersey's head, "Don't blame Artemis for your father's choices. What have I always told you?" She asked leaning back to look into her daughter's eyes.

Jersey sniffed, "We choose our own path." This was not how this was supposed to be going. She wanted her mother to be on her side. "But mom.." she whined.

Memphis cut her off with an angry wave of her hand. "Stop this." She would comfort her child as long as she needed it, but she wasn't going to sit by and let her daughter whine when nothing was wrong. "Now your father is in jail and we can't change that. All of his high powered lawyers couldn't change that. He committed a crime and that's what happens. You go to jail." That was something Memphis always stressed to Jersey. She didn't want Jersey following in her father's footsteps. "We will be alright I promise. Do you think I've been irresponsible with our finances or something?" She was kidding with the question of course, but she wanted to make sure her daughter wasn't worrying about what they were going to do needlessly.

Jersey shook her head making her curls bounce around her head. She had been getting ready to go out with her mom to the opening of some new children's hospital wing. Her mother was always doing things like that. Jersey was certain her mother was trying to make up for all the bad her father had done and continued to do. "I've been saving too." she told her mom with a tight smile.

The Cole family was what some called "new" money. Before Memphis mustered up the courage to barge into Jon Spiro;s office and present him with a swaddled Jersey they were living in one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods. They were living on public assistant while Memphis was in school. She must have shamed the titan of industry something terrible because the next day they had a house on the Gold Coast and Jersey had been enrolled in the best pre-k program in the city.

But Memphis wasn't stupid. She knew Jon good graces could change in a instant. She had been saving almost all of the money he had been giving her as an "allowance" for keeping silent about Jersey. She had taught her daughter the same thing.

Memphis stood up and checked her dress for stains. Satisfied there weren't any she smoothed down the wrinkled fabric, "So let's go out and have some fun tonight. You can brood over Artemis Fowl later." She smiled down at her daughter with a twinkle of humor in her eyes.

If only she knew how much brooding and plotting Jersey was going to do. If only she knew the things her daughter had gotten up to with her father's blessing and sometimes guidance. It would break Memphis' heart, but the only thing Jersey was interested in breaking was Artemis Fowl's face.