AN: Okay, really long time since I've updated. Sorry, but I've been busy. Artemis might be a bit OoC, but several minutes of conversation with Kim can do that to a person. Trust me, I've known her for quite a while. Oh, and just a little memo:
There will NEVER be ANY Kim/ Artemis. Never. If they whole lot of them get abducted by mutated pop stars in tights, Kim and Artemis will never hook up. Ever. There are no real ships in this story, except for a bit of Kim teasing Artemis about Juliet, and that's stopped soon enough. Thank you.
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Artemis flipped open his laptop, and quickly ran a search on the name Kimberly Holmes. No Interpol, no police records, no psychology records, to his surprise. An online diary, though. How convenient. After the rest of the hits popped up, he opened the journal. "Kimberly Holmes. Thirteen, female, brown hair, blue eyes, Nova Scotia, Canada. You really shouldn't put all this personal information online."
Kim was sulking, having somewhat gotten over her fear of the gorilla. "They don't know who I am anyway. And who's Mr. Muscles in the front?"
"Call him Butler. I see that your middle name is not on here. . ."
She stuck out her tongue. "And you'll never know it!"
" . . . But it is on your medical record, your optometry record, your orthodontist's record and your school record."
She fell back, beaten. "Shit."
"Miss. Holmes, it will serve you well to know this early in the game that I will always win. If you don't make waves, then you will most likely be returned to your home unhurt. If you tend to cause difficulties, however, you may just vanish mysteriously off the face of the planet."
There was really something about this Artemis kid that got under Kim's skin and gave her the creeps. It was strange how he seemed to scare her more than all of the bullies twice her size who had gone a few rounds with her on The Hill at lunch hour. "You can't just kill me, you know. I have a family. People will look for me."
He gave her a chilling smile that reminded her too much of a monster movie for comfort. "Tell me, Miss. Holmes. Have you ever threatened to run away from home? Or have you even hinted it? Think about it."
Kim froze. Just the day before she had gotten in a fight with her mother and had used the old empty threat of running away and going to BC to live. She knew she never would, but did her mother? She swallowed dryly, suddenly realizing just how much trouble she was in.
"That's what I thought. Now, if you don't mind, this trip is about to be made a lot shorter for you."
Before Kim could even react, Artemis whipped a dart out of his pocket, and plunged it into her neck. She felt the prick, then saw only darkness.
Some time later, her eyes shot open. She closed them again. The light was blinding. She opened them again, and blinked to adjust them. She was still in the car. Gorilla, no, he had a name. What was it . . . Butler. Butler was still driving. Vampire Boy was beside her. Artemis, that was it. Weird name. Really weird name. A weird name for a weird kid.
He glanced over at her. "You're awake. What a pity."
She rose off of the seat. "Where . . . Where am I? What did you do to me?"
"Just a little tranquilizer. Probably not necessary, but I for one didn't want to listen to your random babbling the entire flight over. Anyway, there should be no side affects."
"Tranquilizer!? Damn it, you could have killed me, you know. What if I had an allergy to the stuff or something?"
"I hacked into your medical record, remember? I checked to make sure you wouldn't have any reactions to it. I did notice, however, that you are allergic to horse hair. That could prove to be a bit of a problem. But I sent an e-mail to Foaly, who had already breezed through your files. He said it was under control."
"Okay, a few questions. One, who's Foaly? Two, would you stop acting like you know my life story? And three, flight?! Where are we?"
Artemis sighed. "You'll find out who Foaly is when you need to and not a moment sooner. Judging on what you put about your personal life online, you might as well of faxed me your autobiography. And yes, flight. We are currently passing though Dublin, Ireland."
"Ireland?! What the . . ." She peered though the tinted window. They were driving by green fields, and she could see a town behind them. Kim recognized some of the landscape from pictures. "Holy shit. This is not happening. This cannot be happening."
"I'm afraid that the time when you had any say in things is long gone. You still have the stone?"
She pulled the red rock from her pocket. It gleamed in the light reflecting off of the rear-view mirror. Kim turned it in her hands. It was warm, but not burning like it had been for Fowl. She quickly glanced at his hand, and saw the red marks. Out of habit, Kim balled her fist so hard that the nails drove into her palm. A few drops of blood, the exact same colour as the stone, leaked out. She watched as they ran down her hand.
"This is real. This is really real."
"I could have saved you the self-inflicted wound and told you that, you know." He examined his own perfectly manicured nails. "We should be approaching Fowl Manor sometime soon. I'd advise you not to make a run for it. Butler here is armed to the teeth, and will not tolerate any misbehaviour. Although judging on your degree of combat and weapons knowledge, it's my guess that he could kill you by tapping on the right spot, so I suggest you stay in line."
"You sound like a bloody flight attendant." grumbled Kim. "And one hell of a morbid one, to boot."
"Well, scaring people seems to be what Butler and I do best. Besides completely baffle every law enforcement officials on and below the earth."
"What a sec . . . Below?! What do you . . ." She stopped suddenly as they rounded a bend, and a huge mansion came into view. "Holy shit! Who lives there, the Queen of Ireland?!"
"There is no Queen of Ireland, we are under the British Crown. And that is Fowl Manor."
"Fowl Manor? As in, you live there?! Holy crap, you live there?"
He sighed. If there was anyone more annoying then this girl, he prayed he would never meet them. "Yes, my family has resided there for centuries."
"It's so big! Do you ever get lost? Does it have any ghosts? Has anyone ever jumped off one of those balconies? How much do you pay for upkeep? Do you have any servants? You must be really rich! Do . . ."
"Shut up!" Artemis was starting to lose his cool. "No, no, no, none of your business, yes."
She blinked. "What was that?"
"A command, followed by the answers to your questions in order. Now be quiet, or you'll be the first to fall from the balconies!"
"Spastic little dweeb, aren't we? And homicidal too. Hey, have you ever read that book where they thought that Jack the Ripper had murdered people a thousand years before he was born? And the first one, he took their eyeballs and . . ."
"Look, would you be quiet?! You are starting to annoy me. And when I get annoyed, people tend to get hurt."
"Oh, Count Dracula's losing his cool! Poor little vampire! Wanna bite my neck?"
He took several deep breaths. He couldn't let this girl get to him. If he had dealt with NASA scientists, he could deal with this child. "Would you kindly stop be so immature? Now, what you are about to witness may be a trifle shocking for you. It defies everything you grew up believing, and may even be beyond your level of acceptance. However, you are quite young, and you seem to have an, er, open enough mind."
"Oh, I'm young? And how old are you, sixty?"
"I merely meant that your mental level in much lower than mine due to the gap between our intelligence levels, and that you are emotionally younger than I am."
"Oh, so now I'm mental? And who said I'm not smart? I could very well be, like, a super genius!"
"Are you?"
"No. And personally, I don't give a rat's ass."
The Bentley rolled to a stopped, and Butler opened the door. He gave his young charge a sceptical look.
Artemis sighed. "I know, Butler. But we have to put up with her. At least until the faeries arrive."
Kim obviously didn't here their small conversation, as she was still looking up at the manor, trying hard not to let Fowl see that she was amazed. "Shit, and I thought the high school was big." she muttered, as she followed Artemis in the double oak doors.