No ten-year-old, no matter how brilliant, is ready to be an adult. But that is exactly what was asked of young Artemis. With his father gone, likely dead, and with his mother slowly descending into madness, it fell to him to take care of things.
And that sort of responsibility would weigh down even the broadest pair of shoulders. Placed on the shoulders of a child, that weight simply crushes them.
Then one day they wake up and find themselves irreversibly changed. No longer a child but not really an adult either.
Life for Artemis Fowl II would forever be haunted by the childhood he never even realized he'd lost.
