"In Another Time"
Once all was said and done, and everything seemed to be returning to normal – if there was such a thing, in Artemis Fowl's life, as normal – Artemis retreated into his study, shut the door with a firm shove, and sat down on his desk chair, staring at the glowing monitors, which to him at this moment spewed nothing but jargon. Quite unusual. All the loose ends had been wrapped up by the LEP, his mother had been painstakingly debriefed, and he had ensured the ruckus had been cleared up.
Now, at last, came a stolen moment of peace.
He shut off all the monitors. They could wait.
The People were gone, until the next time: and Artemis was sure there would be a next time. With his head cradled in his hands, he allowed his mind to wander to the last thing Holly had said to him before she left.
"In another time."
Upon the recollection of the memory, his cheek burned hotly with the tingle of her kiss.
Sighing, he removed his hands from his head and placed them on front of him on the desk, closing his eyes. In another time. He turned the phrase over in his mind, trying to deduce its meaning, rephrasing and theorizing. After five minutes, he gave up.
Relationships were not a science. After all his adventures with the People, he should be smart enough to know that. There were no theorems at work here. No, the only thing that mattered was what he knew to be right, here.
He knew the right thing to do was to forget about it. To move on. But he could allow himself some thought before he did.
In another time. Another world, perhaps, where Holly and he were the same species. If Holly were a human girl... or I were an elf. The thought of himself with pointy ears in Haven may have prompted the flicker of a smile, if he were in any other frame of mind. Both of them the same age – equal. Cliched evening after evening sitting on open roofed cars.
He screwed his eyes shut. That world didn't exist. And maybe it was better that way, anyway.
He allowed himself to be something approaching a normal teenage boy for a few minutes, considering the idea, until a crack appeared at the door, accompanied by Butler's footsteps. He knew they were his from the precise sounds they made along the hallway – Butler was accustomed to having a stealthy tread, but he wasn't trying, and he was no small man.
"Artemis," he said, his ever careful watch examining his young charge. "Your father's calling."
Artemis drew himself up into a sitting posistion, banishing the thought of the exceptional Captain Short. Another time. A time he could and would not access.
"Right," he said, trying to sound composed. "On my way."
And that was the last he would allow himself to think of that.