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Chapter 25: 1000 Miles (Artemis)

There was still no sign of Astoria. The local authorities searched the house from top to bottom, in and out, but they still couldn't find her. On Monday, much to my surprise, Mother let me stay home while they continued the investigations. Those fools, I thought to myself, don't they realize that if they haven't found her in the house by now, than they should search elsewhere?

Evidently they somehow reached the same conclusion for the following day the authorities decided to go to Saint Bart's and question the students and teachers of her disappearance. On that particular day I decided to attend school in case there were any clues to explain Astoria's absence.

The school was in an uproar; there had been some suspicions and rumors starting about Astoria's absence from school over the weekend and on Monday. However, regardless of how wild and far -fetched some of the rumors were and the mediocrity of my classmate's minds, even they realized deep down that Astoria was probably just ill. No one had actually believed the rumors. Therefore it was something of a shock among the student body when the authorities arrived at school. Teachers and students were questioned about Astoria's disappearance, but nobody had any idea what had happened to her. Rumors were spreading like wildfire among the school now and they were even more wild and exciting than the ones before. There was an atmosphere of both excitement and fear in the air at school now; an atmosphere of suspense and mystery.

The worst part about these rumors that were spreading rapidly throughout the school was that as farfetched as they were every single one of them could be absolutely true. It was completely unknown what had happened to Astoria. Some students despite the circumstances, or maybe even because of them, seemed to find the whole thing thrilling. Others seemed to perceive the situation a bit more realistically and sensibly, and seemed to understand the gravity of the situation as opposed to the students who only seemed to think this was a scene from some sort of action movie; aware of it happening but not fully grasping the concept of it.

The students who understood that this was serious and not something to be taken lightly were very concerned and worried about Astoria. Astoria had had friends from Saint Magenta's before meeting me, and many of the students from the school were very upset about the current situation at hand. They were frightened and felt a terrible sense of sadness for their friend and classmate. Some were angry and vowed revenge against anyone who may or may not have harmed Astoria. During this time I felt conflicted emotions about my classmates. I had always thought of them as mediocre bumbling imbeciles, although during this time I felt different about some of them. I loathed the complete morons who seemed to think the entire situation was like something out of a movie or a television program, and had to resist myself from the temptation to wring their necks then and there on the spot. Or do something so terrifying I almost regretted thinking it; telling Butler to go have a word with them.

I was unable to proceed with this delightfully painful plan however being as the school would not allow Butler onto the grounds. Regardless of said idiots, I did feel differently about the students who grasped the complete gravity of the situation. I realized that they might not have been as dumb as I had thought them to be. People were so distraught over Astoria that I even saw some of my classmates crying over it. I saw others angrily vow revenge against anyone who may have harmed Astoria. For example, one bald boy declared to his friend," Nobody better harm one hair on Astoria's wittle head! If they do, they will have to harm all the hair on my wittle head first!"

"You don't have any hair on you wittle head." His friend reminded him.

Some of my classmates suddenly seemed to feel that it was necessary for them to follow me around everywhere I went due to the present circumstances, although in reality I just wanted to be left alone. It was maddening. When Astoria had disappeared I had felt an emotion I had not felt before in months; a feeling of complete and utter loneliness. I had not felt that way since the period of time when I had had my mind wiped but had not met Astoria yet. During that time, something in my life had seemed as if it was missing something but I did not know what. I knew what it was now; magic. Astoria had brought magic back into my life when it had been taken away from me. Part of it had to do with her having fairy powers but what it really had brought back to me was friendship; and not feeling alone. Knowing that someone understood me and accepted me for who I am. During that point in my life, though I did not realize it at the time, was the moment I needed a friend the most. I did not need to be nor cared whether I was popular or not: just one would have sufficed, because that "one" is not zero.

Astoria was that "one". Astoria accepted me and liked me for who I was. And, regardless of whether I liked it or not, she would never leave me alone. No matter how I treated her or what I said to her, she still kept trying to be my friend: which is more than anyone else had ever done. My classmates, before Astoria's disappearance had avoided me like the plague. Astoria sought what nobody else would seek; me. That was why…. that was exactly why I was going to get her back. Because even though I was often cold towards Astoria and acted indifferently I actually valued her friendship. I knew what I had to do.

I had to contact the Haven Police. They were still unaware I had regained my memories. On Wednesday afternoon I contacted them but did not get a response. I went to the dining hall for dinner, decided to skip because I had not felt like eating much since Astoria had left, and decided to take a walk. As I walked, I recalled memories I had of Astoria. The good times and the bad times. I reached the courtyard where we had first met and stopped. I remembered all of Astoria's mixed emotions and actions from that day; she had never got around to telling me why she had behaved that way. Then again, I had never told her the snow was fake. I wondered what other- if any- secrets we had been hiding from each other.

It was then that I noticed a flicker in the air for just a brief moment. That brief moment was all it took for me to realize there was a fairy shielding itself nearby.

"You can come out now," I informed them. "I am aware of your presence; there is no use in hiding. " A moment later Captain Holly Short appeared before me.

"Artemis Fowl," she said, pointing her neutrino blaster at me, "You have got some serious explaining to do. How did you get your memories back and why did you tell us? What are you up to?"

I then explained everything to Holly what had happened since my mind wipe. I was right at the part where I regained my memories due to the sight of Astoria's fairy powers when I stopped, unsure of whether to go on. I thought about the consequences of telling Holly about Astoria's powers. On the one hand, the knowledge of this might somehow put Astoria in even more trouble, but on the other hand, Holly Short knowing this might somehow be an advantage of finding her. However, hadn't I promised Astoria I would never tell anyone about her secret? If we were able to get her back and she found out about this, would she still want to be with me? In the end it all came down to how much I wanted Astoria back: I took the chance of telling Holly. And the risk of Astoria's friendship. I saw Holly's eyes widen as I told her about this valid piece of information.

I went on telling her everything that had happened up until this very moment. A long silence followed my little monologue before Holly spoke. "You really care about this girl don't you, Artemis." There was no need to answer; it was a statement rather than a question.

"I will help you Artemis, but keep in mind that when this is done the consequences may not turn out entirely the way you may want them to. Something might happen to cause you to lose your memories once again. Are you sure you are willing to take that chance?"

I did not even think before I answered that question. "I don't care what happens Holly. All I care about is Astoria coming back safely. "

My answer seemed to surprise her, and then she said," In that case then, please show me the notes that were found in your house."

We retreated to my dorm room with Holly shielding herself all the way in case anyone saw us.

I showed Holly the notes wrote in the unidentifiable language, and Holly's eyes widened once again. "Good Gods," She breathed." Do you know what this means, Artemis? This language here is literally ancient and hasn't been used in millenniums. Someone has brought back the long lost language of Gnommish before it was revised to be the way that it is used today. Due to my gift of tongues, I can read this, but it will be very hard being as the original language hasn't been used in so long and- My Gods! - I think whoever wrote this has taken the old language and revised parts of it which means that… they've created another language!"

Holly read through it and wrote the translations for the notes on another sheet of paper.

As I read over the translations I felt my heart rate speed up and demanded several times that Holly recheck her translations to make sure what I had just read was correct.

If what I had just read was accurate, then I knew the location of Astoria: Inside Fowl Manor.

But that was impossible. The manor had been searched inside and out, but there was no sign of Astoria. How on Earth could she possibly be there? According to the letter, there was a secret passageway that would lead to where Astoria was hidden. The letter also explained what had happened to Astoria and I felt my face pale and my blood run cold as I read it. "Holly," I ordered." We are going to Fowl Manor straight away to investigate." Holly nodded and decided to call the rest of the Haven police to use as back up.

I called Butler to take me home from school at once, no questions, and not to inform my family of my visit. Butler was still unaware of the existence of fairies due to the mind wipe, so holly and the Haven police had to Shield themselves in order to sneak in. We had quite an adventure ahead of us and there was no time to waste…

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