It was another day of boredom for Artemis Fowl. He was back at St Bartleby's to complete his education. He sighed. He was the only teenager in the world to understand quantum physics, know more of psychology than the counsellors he had gone through and have possibly, the highest tested IQ in history. Yet, his mother and father had insisted that he go to school, so that he could 'interact with others and make new friends'. He had no choice but to relent.
The teacher interrupted his train of thoughts with an announcement. "Everybody, we have a new student!" He looked up. It was a girl with brown skin, black eyes and black, curly hair. Two years ago, St Bartleby's had started to accept girls, and now there were enough girls to rival the boys' population. "Good morning, everyone," she started. "I am Thalia White. I am from New York. I hope that I have a good time here." Artemis snorted. Hope to have a good time? She was trying to reason with the class, and they were anything but reasonable. "Now, Miss White, you will be sitting with…..Master Fowl." informed the teacher. The young Fowl was instantly alert. Him, sit with this girl? He looked at the new student, his eyes cold and calculating. She kept her bags next to her table, smiled at him, and sat right next to him.
"Good morning, Master Fowl. How are you?" she asked, casually. "Miss White, I am perfectly fine. I would prefer it if I did not have to engage in such casual exchanges. Do not expect me to take you on a tour of the school, or anything like it; I have far more important matters to attend to." said Artemis, in a cold tone. The girl was surprised. She raised her eyebrows disapprovingly, and then shook her head, as though his behavior was not up to standard.
The class teacher left, and the physics teacher came in. He rapped the table for attention. "Today, we shall talk about force. Now, does anyone know what a force is?" he asked. Artemis groaned in his head. Really, this school was falling to pieces. The next thing he knew, they would be reciting the alphabet. Next to him, Thalia rolled her eyes, and then raised her hand.
"Oh, are you new?" asked the teacher. "Yes, ma'am, I am Thalia White," she said. "Now, a force can simply be defined as a push or a pull. It can also be defined as the quantitative description of the interaction between two physical bodies, such as an object and its environment." Artemis was only slightly displaced by this. She knew what forces were. That hardly posed him a problem. His mind was already churning out more detailed descriptions than an average person could even pretend to understand. "I see. Thank you, Miss White, for your detailed description of a force." said the teacher. "Now, can anyone name a few forces?" the teacher asked. Artemis snorted. Would gravity do? Or would he have to explain the electromagnetic force? Gods forbid, would he have to explain a push?
Thalia tapped on his table. He looked at her, his face a mask of calm. "Master Fowl, I was thinking, do we have to explain what a push is? Or should we elaborate on the force of gravity?" she joked. He was slightly thrown aback. She had just voiced his very thoughts. He also noticed that, instead of using the word 'you', she had used the word 'we'. It was almost as though they were friends, and she was speaking for both of them. Nevertheless, he looked at her and snapped, "Well, I hardly think that you know enough about the strong or the weak forces to trivialize the matter."
Her eyes grew wide for a while, and then she smiled. "Oh that? A piece of cake. The strong force can be divided into two itself, the color force, which holds the quarks in a nucleon together, and the nuclear force, which is the residual force from the color force and holds the protons and the neutrons together. The weak force is the reason for why particles decay. Did you underestimate me, Mud Boy?" she replied, with an edge to her voice.
The boy was surprised. Mud Boy? How could she know? No one knew about the People, except him, Butler and Juliet. This was no ordinary girl. She had to be handled carefully, or she could put the People in danger. He looked at her as though he hardly knew what he was saying. "Excuse me? What do you mean?" he asked, faking confusion. She just flashed him another smile and looked back at the teacher. His feigning was useless. She knew that she had hit upon something.
After one and a half hours of class, he sat in his seat while the rest of his classmates poured out into the corridors for recess. Thalia extracted a large blue file from her bag and turned to Artemis. "Could you show me where the library is? I don't know where to go." she requested. Artemis took this as an opportunity to interrogate her. He got up and brushed some imaginary dust from his blazer. "Very well, but I won't be chaperoning you all over the school." he replied curtly. She got up and followed Artemis, all the while, hugging her file. He walked out the door, and headed left.
They went for half a minute with no conversation, when Thalia decided to ask him a question. "Master Fowl, do you like Mozart?" "I prefer Vivaldi and Debussy over Mozart," he replied indifferently. She nodded, as if that made sense.
Artemis stopped at two open doors. He gestured at the room and said, "This is the library." The girl started. She was so busy reading some papers that she almost smashed into him. "Oh, thank you. I'm sorry you went to all that trouble," she said. She walked into the room and sat down at the farthest table. He followed her, and took a seat opposite to hers. "I would like to ask you a question. What did you mean by 'Mud Boy'? I find it rather offending," he said, carefully wording his sentences so as to not let the girl know anything more. "Really? Maybe I should tell her that," she said, slyly. "Her? Who are you talking about?" asked Artemis, puzzled. "Your girlfriend. The one with the hazel eyes and the reddish orange hair." she said. His girlfriend? Artemis tensed. She was talking about Holly. How did she come to know?
Artemis narrowed his eyes, and looked at her. "How did you see her?" asked Artemis, sharply. "Are you interrogating me?" she asked, annoyed, "I am not a criminal, you know. Now, let me pick out some books." Artemis was determined not to let her go. On the other hand, she was smart. She would know that he was hiding something. He stood up, ready to leave, when Thalia called out to him, "Please wait, Artemis. I'm almost done issuing the books." He noticed that she called him Artemis this time. Where did she get his name from? Probably the teacher, he thought. He rolled his eyes. If he left now, she would probably get lost, and the teacher would blame it on him. Then, the counsellor would use that as ammunition against him. He decided to wait.
Thalia came back to the table, carrying three unusually thick books. Artemis's eyes widened. How could she carry three of those? He could only carry two. He noticed that the way she was holding the books was unstable; if she leaned too much, the books would fall on her. She reached for her file, leaning backwards. Her fingers were at the edge of the file. "Almost got it," she said, and leaned a little more.
He instinctively moved to her. Not a moment too soon. She lost her balance, and fell right towards Artemis. He caught her by the shoulders, staggering. The books fell around them. She gasped, and then got on to her feet. She blushed, and mumbled, "Thank you, Artemis." Then, her chest filled with intense guilt. He doesn't know. He does not remember me. But, when I reveal what I did, would he still be this way?, she thought. Artemis's cheeks felt warm as well. "I-It was nothing," he said. But in his mind, he was surprised by his actions. Why did he catch her? And why did he stutter? And why, did she look strangely familiar?
He dismissed the thought. He would be able to identify her if he knew her. "Could you help me with these books, Artemis?" she asked sheepishly. He nodded. He picked up one book. It was a black book, titled Stars and Atoms.
She took the other two books and her file. They made their way back to the classroom. The rest of the class passed without incident. Then, it was time to go back to the dormitories. Artemis gathered his things and was ready to go back, when someone tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around, only to see Thalia. She smiled and said," By the way, the answer to the question you asked me in the library: I just saw her in your little computer thing, that's all. I thought it would annoy you."
Artemis sighed internally. Holly had called him through the fairy communicator in the morning, at school, to tell him something important, when he told her that he was at school, and that he would be available at 5:00. She didn't know about the People, and she thought that the communicator was a computer. He was still unsure if she was hiding something, but he let the matter go for the moment. Artemis smirked, "Well, it didn't, in the least." She laughed out loud. It was a clear and long laugh. "Oh, Artemis, you're so funny!" she laughed. He was completely confused. "Funny?" he asked. "Yes!" she said, and ran out the door.
He shook his head, and turned to check if he had left anything behind, when he saw a blue file, lying on his table. He picked it up. It said 'Thalia White' on the label. Thalia White, he thought. Have I heard that name before today? He shook his head. After making sure no one was around, he picked up the file, and went back to his dorms.
Artemis looked at the fairy communicator, and then at his watch. Just as the watch showed 5:00, his communicator glowed. He smiled, and accepted the call. Holly's face was projected on to the wall. "Ah, yes, Holly, I had been waiting for your call. I have almost nothing to do here," said the boy. Holly's image laughed. "Well, Mud Boy, we need your help." she said. Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You need my help? Really, I thought that you would never admit it." he pointed out. Holly scowled playfully, "The People need your help, Fowl, not me alone."
She continued, "There is a problem, and I need to tell you in person. Can you get me into your dorm room?" Artemis shrugged. "Why not? Where are you now?" he asked. "Right outside the dorm building. I need your permission to come in." said the elf. "Fine. I, Artemis Fowl the Second, give you permission to enter the building," he proclaimed. Holly rolled her eyes. "Overkill, don't you think?" she asked. "Ok, Artemis, let me in."
Artemis switched off the device and opened the door. A heat haze entered the room. To avoid arousing suspicion, he pretended to look for someone, and then shut the door. Holly vibrated into visibility, and sat on his bed. She took off her helmet, and put it aside. Artemis sat in a chair next to his bed, and leaned forward to hear the news. His eyes shone at the prospect of a new adventure. Holly took a deep breath and started relaying the news.
"Ok, so do you remember when Opal tried to expose the People to the humans?" Artemis snorted. Did he remember? He had been mind wiped after the Spiro incident, and then the People came back for help. Opal had made a clone of her and fooled everyone into believing that it was her. She had mesmerized a human, Giovanni Zito, and had him send a probe down to Haven. Luckily, Artemis and Holly thwarted her plans, with the help of Butler and Mulch.
"Yes, I do, Captain. Vividly. What of that?" asked Artemis. "Well, it seems that Opal had a backup plan, in case she didn't succeed. She kept contact with a human girl, so that she would keep the mission to discover Haven going. But the human in question did not make a fuss. She just absorbed all of it and kept it to herself. Now, we have to find that girl, and take her down to Haven for questioning." concluded Holly.
"Where is this girl now?" asked Artemis. "That's the easy part. She's in this school. We just have to find her." she said, as if that explained everything. Artemis's brain immediately started thinking. Did Thalia have a say in all of this? He asked Holly, "Did anyone notice you coming?" Holly shook her head. Then, her face lit up, as she remembered something. "Actually," she said," as I waited outside, this girl saw the haze and looked at me for a moment, but she shrugged and walked back." Artemis immediately stood up. "What did she look like?" asked Artemis, sharply. "She had black hair and she was dark-skinned." said Holly. "I followed her back to the central garden, and she was sitting on the bench, reading an unusually thick black book. It was titled 'Stars and Atoms'. Nothing serious there."
Artemis's head started red-flagging events. Stars and Atoms? That was the very same book that Thalia had issued. He sat down. He had a plan. "Holly, I have a plan. You can go back. I have to check on a few things. I'll get back to you later." said the boy, firmly. "I'm not going anywhere, Mud Boy. I'm supposed to be here till I get some solid evidence to take back to Foaly." argued Holly. "Well, not in my room. You can stay at my house for the night and come here in the mornings." retorted Artemis. Holly smirked, "That's all settled, Arty. I'm with Butler." Butler had been staking out the perimeter of the school, even though he was banned from the premises. Artemis smiled. Never leave the principle.
Holly took her helmet and put it back on. "See you later, Artemis." said Holly, waving, as she vibrated out of the visible spectrum. Artemis stepped around where Holly was a few seconds ago, and opened the door to let her out. He then closed the door, and sat in his chair, rubbing his temples. He opened his eyes and looked around. The blue file caught his eye. He went, picked it up, and rifled through the papers.
Most of them were print-outs from Wikipedia, on topics so varied that it made no sense. Then, a photograph fell out. He tilted his head slightly, and leaned down to pick it up. It was Thalia with three other girls. Her friends, he presumed. He searched more. His fingers came in contact with a thin, blue and silver book. My Diary, it said on the front. He sat down, and looked at the book for some time.
One half of him wanted to open it and read it to see if anything about the People was written in it. The other half wanted to go, and return it to her. He shook his head. This book could have some very vital information that we need, he thought. He had to open it. He turned the book around in his hand, checking for locks. There was a unique lock on the back of the book. He had never seen a lock like it before. It was flower shaped. Artemis spent the next 20 minutes trying to pick the lock, but it was in vain.
I need the key, he thought. He put the diary in his drawer, and retired for the day.
