AN: At long last-
ASN: It's only been two days, dear.
AN: At long last-
ASN: Whatever.
AN: *Evil glare* AT LONG LAST, the highly awaited chapter 14.
ASN: In which we learn why Artemis is so pissed off.
Chapter 14: The Parents Are Leaving
Defea switched off the screen. The minute she did, her defeated look was replaced with calm menace. "That creep." she muttered, returning to her computer. "How dare he try to blackmail me? And with Grub, nonetheless! If his brother finds out, I won't be alive to be tried before the Council."
She typed 'Stephen Kegel' into the search engine of Interpol. If he worked there, he had to have a file. After a few moments of reading, she leaned back and groaned. She had known Kegel was boring, but she didn't think he was this bad. No family, no girlfriend, no close friends, no cat or dog or goldfish. The man didn't even own a plant, for heaven's sake. It was sad.
The centaur sat and thought. She needed something easy to catch to hold as leverage over Kegel. Something that he wouldn't dare try to get help with. Something that worried him to no end…
After a moment, she grinned. Then Defea clicked on the file about Kegel's boss, Antoine Badeau. Maybe if she emailed him or something. Or threatened him. No, none of those had any real potential…
An evil smile lit the centaur's features. What do you know? His boss had a little girl. How convenient.
One Simone Badeau. 14 years old. Smart, bright, a perfect 'daddy's little girl.' And she was even a foreign exchange student somewhere, so she wouldn't have to deal with her father's Interpol security. In fact, she was staying at…
"WHAT?!?!"
Fowl Manor. Defea dropped her head into her hands. Of course. It made perfect sense. After all, every road in Haven led to Artemis Fowl. Be it up, down, east, west, diagonal or inter-dimensional, every road ended with the pale Mud criminal. Defea took a deep breath. She wasn't sure if she could handle this. After all, she was a thinker, not a doer.
And come to think of it, she'd rather take on the Interpol guards than Artemis Fowl. Foaly had told her about him whenever they were still dating. She was sure what scared her more: the criminal himself, or the fact that Foaly was leery of him. Foaly wasn't scared of anyone. Not even that commander with the coronary.
After a moment, Defea straightened. Still, she could defeat any Mud Boy any day. After all, he was mindwiped. And Artemis Fowl would be the perfect person to test a few of her new 'gadgets' on. He was a worthy opponent.
**********
Artemis stared at his father. "You're going to London with Mother…and leaving me here with her?"
Angeline clapped her hands together. "Artemis, you actually sounded like a teenager!"
Holly's laughter echoed in his ear as Artemis glared at his parents. "Thank you for your opinion, Mother." he said very dryly. Artemis Sr. shook his head.
"Artemis, I have to go to London to sign some papers. Your mother's coming with me for a little break; after all, our honeymoon did get cut a little short."
"You're not even taking one of the Butlers?"
"No, we're just signing some papers and going to a play. Two days, Arty." Angeline said. "Surely you can stand her for two days. It's not like you'll be forced to spend time with her. If you must talk to someone, you can talk to Butler or Juliet." Angeline paused. "Or this Holly girl you know."
Artemis resisted the urge to groan. Loudly.
"Artemis, are you all right? You look…ill."
"Good heavens, I wonder why." he muttered softly. He didn't think anyone could hear it, but as Holly whacked him, he remembered that elf hearing was much more sensitive.
"You know Fowl, if I buzzed you here and now, I'd love to see your explanation to your parents when you jumped three feet off the ground." she said maliciously.
Artemis Sr. rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Artemis, I'd love to stay and tell you why this is actually a good idea, but I don't have the time. So, I'll just tell you this." He looked squarely at his son. "Deal with it."
The doorbell rang, shattering the tense silence. "That'll be the airport limo. We need to go." Artemis Sr. said. Angeline gave her son a hug, causing Holly to back up with a jerk.
"You'll be fine, dear." she said. "We do love you."
"Yes, Mother."
"I really hate it when you do that." Angeline complained. "We'll see you in two days." The pair strode regally towards the door. Artemis waited for it to close, then he turned to walk up to his room.
"Sounded just like a teenager, huh?" Holly said, grinning as she followed him up the stairs. "Simone must be a good influence after all."
Artemis resolutely ignored her. The only hint of his displeasure was him shutting his bedroom door in Holly's face.
"That was rude."
She opened the door. "Look, Mud B- oops." The elf paused.
Artemis was staring at Simone, who was smiling nervously.
**********
Artemis shut his door in Holly's face with no small amount of satisfaction. He turned to find a very annoying French girl sitting in his desk chair with a nervous smile on her face.
"Hi." she said. "How are you?"
The door opened behind Artemis under its own power, paused, then closed just as mysteriously. Simone blinked.
"What was that?"
"Wind. What are you doing in here?"
"Playing Solitaire."
Artemis smiled grimly. "Nice try. I only have FreeCell."
"Oh." Simone said flippantly. "That's why I was losing." She looked up at the teen and grinned. "Well, in that case, I think I'll leave and find another computer."
"You do that."
Simone pushed away from the desk gracefully and breezed past him. As she reached for the door handle, his voice stopped her.
"By the way, stealing is also illegal."
She stopped and turned to face him. "I'm surprised you knew that."
Artemis did not look amused. In fact, for the very first time Holly had ever seen, he looked downright pissed. "Return the disks. Now."
Simone looked at him pityingly. "You are the most paranoid person I have ever had the misfortune to meet."
"I know worse." Artemis said. Foaly would win hands down any day. "Give me the disks."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"My dear lady, and I use the term loosely, I have all of my data disks counted and numbered. You have three of them hidden somewhere on your person. Give them back, or so help me, I'll find them myself."
Holly almost tripped over her jaw. Simone started to laugh, saw the look in his eyes, and stopped abruptly.
"You aren't joking."
"Mademoiselle, I never joke." Artemis held out his hand. Simone laid three CD-Rs carefully in his hand.
"Shame. You really look like you need a sense of humor." With that cheeky comment, the girl grinned and walked out.
Artemis took the disks back to his desk and carefully returned them to their drawer as Holly unshielded. "Whoa, Arty!" the elf said. "Be glad your mother wasn't around to hear that."
Artemis locked the drawer and brought his gaze up to meet Holly's. Unaccountably, the elf suddenly felt very cold.
"I think I'll go see what Juliet is up to." she suggested. The expression on the teen's face did not change, but he nodded slowly.
"That would probably be a very good idea." he stated. Holly saluted flippantly, and flew out of the room.
AN: Hope you liked that chapter. If you think Artemis is out of character…
ASN: Tough.
AN: Excuse her. Three weeks into school, and she's starting to flip out.
ASN: Does not bode well for the 15 weeks left, does it??
AN: If you liked the preview idea, please review/email and tell us.
ASN: If you don't like it, we'll stop, because it takes time and taxes our already overheated mental capacity.
AN: * Whines* It's too late to be using such big words.
ASN: See what I mean??