Artemis Fowl the Second let out a sigh, barely audible over the drone of Professor Jann's voice. History class would have been far more interesting if he hadn't been a child genius. Instead of taking notes on the living habits of civilians in Ancient Greece, he had been vaguely outlining a plan that would allow him to control a series of robberies targeting a certain Mikhael Vassikin. It had taken Artemis many hours of long, intense research to finally track Vassikin's movements since he had left Russia eight months ago. He had proved very elusive, but Artemis was a persistent and diligent worker and had finally been rewarded at 10:00 the previous night. Now, sitting at his desk in the bleary History classroom, Artemis was plotting his next dastardly deed. He began by reviewing his progress and copying out a list of the moves Vassikin had taken after his attempt to kidnap Artemis Senior:

Killed Britva and all other important persons Stole their money Hid in London, investing in shares and increasing his already large fortune Purchased a chain of grocery stores and proceeded to steal from them and hide the evidence Lived like a king

PLAN Contact Mulch Diggums Organise robberies targeting: Vassikin's mansion



His stores (just damage building, no stealing) The hotel he moves to because he's scared Send threatening email and demand Vassikin hand over the money he stole

From Britva 4. Split profit with Mulch

It was, by Artemis's standards, a simple plan, but he decided to build on it after school. He would have to work hard to outsmart Vassikin - he had only survived last time with the help of fairy technology. The bell rang to signal the end of class. Artemis almost smiled, but he caught himself just in time. A criminal should never show his emotions. All the same, Artemis couldn't help rejoicing inwardly because he didn't have another History class for the rest of the term. There were only two days to go until the summer holidays. Just twelve more periods to survive and then he would be on the way home to see his mother, father and bodyguard Butler. He pictured himself sprawled on one of the many lawns of Fowl Manor, a drink in his hand and Butler beside him, running over some of the finer details of his latest plan and working out how to contact Mulch Diggums, the kleptomaniac dwarf. But as Artemis was leaving the History classroom, books in hand, he realised he had left out one important factor. That was quite out of character for him, actually. He had forgotten that his father, Artemis Fowl Senior, had organised a trip for the whole family (including, of course, Butler and Juliet) to Australia. Australia! Of all places to choose from, his father had to choose Australia. Heat did not agree with Artemis, and he did not look forward to the prospect of spending two whole weeks in one of the hottest places he could think of: Alice Springs. Smack bang in the middle of the second driest continent on earth. Well, not quite in the exact middle, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Artemis would either have to put off his enterprise until next holidays, or control the robberies from school. The latter was probably the safer option - less chance of being traced - but it was definitely the more difficult one. Just for a start, he wouldn't have Butler to protect him and that was a major drawback, but there was a whole chain of other problems such as trying to keep the affair away from the teachers and having to devote less of his time to study. Artemis began to get frustrated. That upset him, because he usually went over things carefully before he even thought about feeling such emotions, which was rare. Almost angrily, he told himself to calm down and think things through. And if he didn't come up with a solution, he'd contact Butler and see if he had any ideas. Relaxing, he let out his breath slowly. Artemis was no longer worried. He'd think of something. He always did.