The morning we finally brought Willow into our family was definitely one of my best. She was, for all intensive purposes, already my sister, so it wasn't what the courts said that mattered most to me…it was the fact that we were pretty much stuck together, which didn't sound too bad. I skipped down the steps arm in arm with my sister who was nearly crying. That in itself surprised me, because Willow NEVER cried, not even when my Pomeranian, Jay, died. When she finally spoke I started out of my train of thought.

"Dina?"

"Yes Willabel?'

"Please don't call me that. Just one thing…thanks for letting me stay."

"Dude, who do you think we are? Sociopaths?"

She rolled her eyes but grinned at me.

"Well, I don't know about your dad, but you certainly…"

"Gee, I feel loved."

"You should." She hugged me tightly.

We pulled up to my, our, house. Willow jumped out of the car almost immediately and ran to her new room, in which she had painted long, swaying willow trees against an olive-ish background. It suited her, as my lavender suited me. Her room was almost completely organized, thanks to my slight case of OCD. It came in rather handy at times. I put the last few boxes (Of clothes that I had deemed unwearable, mostly) into her roomy closet. She sighed.

"You know, I really loved those sweatpants…"

"Not happening, babe. We're going shopping this weekend."

"But they're pajamas!"

"Exactly. You need to know acceptable sleepwear."

She made her famous puppy dog eyes and I caved.

"Fine. You get TWO outfits. I'm calling Artemis."

Over the past couple of months (much to my surprise) Artemis, or Arty, had become our friend. That was mostly due to Willow's persistent stalking and cookie baking, which I was very extremely against, for the record. Unfortunately, I'm a huge pushover so darling Willabel finally got my support in Operation: Make Artemis Our Buddy. I trotted upstairs to my lavender-scented room and punched in Artemis' number.

"Hello, you have reached Artemis Fowl. Either I am not available or I'm not feeling like answering the phone. If you are seeking an appointment to negotiate ransom or salary, press one. If you are a stalker, press two. If you are in my eighth grade class (Yes Willow, you too.), press star. Thank you."

"Hey Artemis, its Dina. I just wanted to let you know that Willow is officially my sister! Anyway, I'm throwing a celebration party Sunday and I was wondering if you wanted to come. I'm inviting the whole class, so bring Butler. Spencer loves basking in his manliness, as he will never have any. Give me a call and hopefully I'll see you then! Bye!"

I hung up with a feeling of satisfaction, mostly due to the fact that Daddy had let Willow live with us. And that I was throwing an undeniably awesome party. This one would be even better than the costume party I threw that one time when I hired midgets to dress up like cherubs wearing tuxedos so they could serve us drinks. Ah, good times…

But now, Willow was OURS. And not even a court order could change that.