Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl or anything you recognize from the Artemis Fowl books. I do own the plot and the Stones, though those aren't exactly anything to be proud of. *shoots stupid plot*
Here's the next chapter.
Oh, and if you love me (or if you want the next chapter) would you visit ? I've got some rather spiffy Artemis Fowl pictures (Foaly, Root, Holly, Grub, and the Bull Troll). I'd love some comments on them. Thankies.
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Chapter 12: Doomsday Preparations
Holly read Artemis's email. Well, she was going to come to the rescue. It didn't look like he'd really need much rescuing, but at least it'd provide some amusement for her. She was at work, Foaly's computer was the only place she could access the special set up Foaly had done. She went to Root's office. "Hey, Commander, can I have a few days off?"
"Sure," he rolled his eyes. "What for?"
"Fowl."
He snorted. "Alright. When do you need?"
"Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I want to stay on the surface."
"You know that's illegal."
"I also know you could arrange it."
"True. Short, you better write a book about this some day and give all of Haven a great laugh."
"Maybe I will, sir." She knew she didn't have the patience to sit down and write a book. Heck, she didn't have the patience to sit down and read a book.
Root told her to get back to work and he started making arrangements. It'd be easy enough to get her access to the pods and arrange which flares she needed to take, but he'd need people to cover her shifts and he'd have to see what equipment he could cajole out of Foaly. Probably enough, after all he was the one who'd rigged communications again between Holly and Fowl in the first place.
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Artemis called Alyssa early in the morning and made final arrangements with her to finish off what they'd started last night. His parents would call her house, she would answer the phone and say no one else was awake yet, negations of sorts would take place, and then everything would be okay and they could have relative peace again.
Artemis hung up and went down to breakfast.
As they ate, his mother asked, "Arty, do you have the phone number for us?"
Artemis Senior chuckled. "I daresay he has it memorized."
The only response Artemis made was to take a business card out of his pocket, he'd written Alyssa's phone number on the back of the card, and slide it across the table to his parents.
"I'll give them a call right after breakfast," Angeline said cheerily.
After they had eaten, she was as good as her word and went to the phone. She dialed the number.
"Hello, Stone residence," Alyssa answered promptly.
"Hello, darling, you must be Alyssa."
"Yes, I am. You're J—um, Artemis's mother?" She'd gotten so used to calling him Junior.
"Yes. I wanted to arrange dinner with your family. I thought it'd be lovely if all of you came over here for dinner on Thursday. That way we could all get to know each other better. Are your parents around for me to talk to them?"
"Actually they're still asleep. They've been under a bit of strain since my grandma took ill last month and so I've been taking care of my brother this morning and giving them the chance to rest up a bit."
"How thoughtful of you!" Alyssa really was a sweet girl.
"Thursday sounds like it will be wonderful. What time?"
"Dinner at 7. Would you like me to give you directions?"
"Artemis can give them to me later when we talk online. I'll call you Tuesday to confirm Thursday?"
"A very good idea. I'll talk to you then."
Alyssa hung up. So far, so good. Now the trick would be to wrangle her parents. She'd only taken a step away when the phone rang again. It must be Junior, she thought. "Hello, Stone residence."
"Alyssa? How did it go?"
She was right. "What, no hello? It went great. She didn't suspect a thing."
"Hello. When are you going to start working on your parents?"
"I can't work on them until Monday or early Tuesday. We've got to wait for my grandma to call." It had been something of a shock the night before when they'd use a three-way call to contact Grandma Stone and found out that she'd gladly help. She said she'd do anything to help "young love" because there simply wasn't enough romance in the world.
"So it's settled. Good. Don't forget to start on over the next few days as though you're getting a cold—"
"Otherwise it won't be believable. I know. I'm not an amateur, you know," she huffed.
"Really? Just how often do you pretend to be sick to get out of doing something?"
"Hmph! I'm not going to answer that."
Artemis smiled. All settled. Things might actually work.
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Alyssa listened as the phone rang, right on time (they'd firmed up plans that afternoon). She let her mother answer it, but picked up an extension in another room to eavesdrop on.
"Hello?" came her grandmother's voice, sounding somewhat weak. Perfect.
"Hello. How are you?"
"I'm not feeling too well actually. I wondering if you and Thomas and the children might come and visit me in a few days."
"How bad are you? Thomas and I could take off work and come at once if you need us. The children are on their summer holiday."
"That won't be necessary, Minnie. But I would like to see all of you later this week. How about Thursday? You can come and spend a few nights with an old lady."
"Thursday sounds fine."
"Are either of the children sick? It'll worsen my condition if they come and they're sick. I can't have people coughing and sneezing all over me, you know."
"I know, I know. Paul's fine. Alyssa might be getting a cold. I did hear her coughing and sneezing a bit more than usual these past few days."
"If she gets at all worse, don't let her come. I can always see her another time."
They said their goodbyes and Alyssa waited until after her mother had hung up, before she hung up. Things were certainly going well.
"Mum," she called, and sneezed. "I wanted to talk to you." Sneeze.
"Yes, Lyssie? I just got off the phone with your grandmother, her illness seems to be getting worse."
"Oh, no."
"Yes. What were you saying?"
"I was talking to Junior and his mum this morning and they wanted to invited us all for dinner on Thursday."
"Lyssie, I just promised your grandmother that we'd all come visit. Are you feeling well? You don't look well."
"I wasn't going to say anything, I think it's just a cold, but it's been getting worse over the last couple of days."
"Your grandmother said that she didn't want you to come if you were sick."
"Oh." She looked sad and innocent.
"But she wanted us for an overnight stay. At least overnight."
"I really want to go."
"I know but we can't risk your grandmother getting more ill. But what can we do with you? A fourteen year old cannot stay home alone for three days. It's unthinkable. I suppose I could stay home with you and just let your father and Paul go." This was a saddening thought; her own mother had died near the beginning of her and Thomas's marriage and she'd grown very close to Thomas's mother.
"You could let me go to dinner at Junior's. It's right along the way."
"That only takes care of a few hours. You grandmother wanted us to stay with her a few days."
"I could stay at Junior's house."
"I'm not having you stay at some boy's house!"
"It's not his house, it's his parent's house. He lives there with his parents and two cousins. They have a guest room and I can there."
After a little more arguing, she gave in. "But I'm not agreeing to anything unless I talk to his mother first."
This was a slight drawback, but Alyssa and Artemis had been prepared for this. Artemis had given her his house number to call if this happened and he was waiting by the phone to make sure he was the first to answer.
She dialed. "Hello, Junior."
"Alyssa, does she wish to speak to my mother?"
"Yes, be so good as to fetch her." She handed the phone to her mum. "Her name's Angeline." She hoped this would avoid her mother asking Mrs. Fowl's name and thus avoiding name Fowl altogether. To Alyssa and Artemis both listening things seemed to be going successful, though they could each only hear one half of the conversation.
"Hello, Angeline."
"Hello, Mrs. Stone."
"Oh, call me Minnie. Thank you for your invitation to dinner on Thursday but Thomas and I, and our son Paul won't be able to make it. Lyssie may be able to come, but she'd need a place to stay and I wouldn't want to inconvenience you."
"It wouldn't be an inconvenience at all. We'd love to have her. Timmy and I are quite anxious to meet her. I'm just sorry that you won't be able to make it. I hear Alyssa's grandmother is ill?"
"How did you know? I only just got the call that we had to go see her."
"Alyssa mentioned it last week. She said that her grandmother's health had been drooping."
"Oh." So nothing that could possibly have anything to do with the phone calls today of course. "So you're really sure it won't be a bother?"
"Oh course not. As I said, we'd love to have her. She can stay in one of the guest rooms. How long will she be staying with us?"
"Only 3 or 4 days. I'm sorry if it seems like a long time, especially since you and I have never really had a chance to chat."
"It'll be fine, Minnie. I already gave Alyssa directions to the Manor when I called to invite all of you over. Goodbye until Thursday."
"Yes, goodbye." Mrs. Stone felt somewhat unsettled. The Manor? Well, rich people did have a tendency to name their homes and from what she'd seen of Junior, his cousin, and his car, the family did appear to be wealthy. She was a little anxious about leaving her daughter with a stranger, but the woman had seemed very friendly after all. And Lyssie had been dating Junior for a month now and known him longer. Things would be fine.
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Yeah, doomsday isn't quite there yet, but don't worry, it's coming. It should be the next chapter. *scurries off to start the next chapter*
