Disclaimer: I own barely any of this story, practically all of the credit must go to Eoin Colfer, who is the genius behind Artemis Fowl.
Authoresses Note: Hello again everyone! There are not enough adjectives in the English language to express how much all your reviews mean to me. So from the very, very bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you!
And some of you guys haven't left your email addresses at the end of your reviews. Why on earth not? I love replying to them! So from now on please do, especially if you flame, at least give me a chance to defend my work, if you're going to criticise it.
Now that I'm typing this out, I've found how little I have to really say…So to conclude, I hope that I've made this chapter a little easier to read, though I know that the chapter and character breaks are hard to make out, but they were the best I could do, and I also hope you guys enjoy it as much as you seem to have enjoyed the first one. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that jazz!!
So. Without further ado, here is chapter 2.
-,-
Artemis Fowl: And The Raven's PropheciesChapter 2: In Which the Fowls are Introduced
Raven was starved, she realised she hadn't eaten all day. Rumours were buzzing around the school by the time dinner was served and she knew exactly who had started them.
-,- Flashback -,-
"I can't believe how pathetic she is. Couldn't even manage to kill herself properly, how useless can a person get?" Ellie Ellison giggled form her position in front of Raven, in their History class earlier that day. Referring to Raven indirectly, obviously still abiding to the threat made the previous day.
"Oh wait…" she pretended to think, "…I can believe how pathetic she is!" At this the two other girls broke out into silent laughing fits, both beside themselves with evil mirth at something that wasn't even remotely funny. Making sidelong glances at Raven while they sniggered into their hands.
Mr Rickman took his time quietening them down. Usually stopping someone before they managed to fully finish their sentence. But he seemed to be enjoying the Raven bashing so let it continue until they had all stopped speaking to just laugh.
At this outrage Ravens eyes didn't even bother to hint a change. She was too tired to be angry and too tired of being angry to care what the little harpy thought of her. Though that didn't stop her from laughing when Conner tripped her up outside the doorway. She practically screamed bloody murder, but the look in Ravens eyes stopped her from saying a word. The threat still hung heavy in the air. So she picked up her bag and snorted superiorly before walking away…quickly.
-,- End Flashback -,-
"Why isn't Azlyn here?" Nick asked, catching sight of her across the hall, her angry look confusing him.
This bought Raven back to reality. She looked at Nick first before switching her view to Conner, Aidan and Ed. No one wanted to answer.
But Conner kept glancing back at her. "I'll see you guys later," he said soon after and left in search of Azlyn.
Nicks eyes followed the scene that went on and it continued to confuse him. Raven seemed almost angry at the fact that Conner had left to see Azlyn, but she dropped the look the instant she saw that he was watching her. Tilting the very corners of her lips up in a minuscule smile, she continued to play with her food, barely eating anything, her left hand hanging limply at her side.
And this was how it was. Until Conner came back to their table, while they were well into their desert, a teary eyed Azlyn a little distance behind him.
Raven looked past Conner and saw Azlyn standing a little way off. Hastily wiping away a few tears. Raven turned her gaze to Conner who smiled at her unasked question: "What's going on?"
Conner stepped aside, leaving Raven with a clear view of Azlyn.
Raven stood up and the two of them stood awkwardly in front of each other, neither knowing what to do or say, Raven more so then Azlyn. Then all of a sudden Azlyn launched herself at Raven, clinging on to her for what felt like dear life. "Oh Raven I'm soo sorry!" she wailed into the shorter girls shoulder, "I've been so selfish! It's just that I was soo upset about before, that all I could think about was Jay…(Jay being Azlyn's pet name for her sister)…" but she didn't finish, only lapsing into silence.
"No, no you haven't been selfish. If anything I have, it's mostly my fault," Raven consoled and after a few more minutes of Azlyn's tears, they both let go. Azlyn smiling, while Raven tired her best to return it. They had put pressure on her wrist when they were hugging and now it throbbed painfully.
"I think it's about time for us to go to bed," Conner ventured, a hint of something that only Raven noticed, but she couldn't place her finger on it…she looked at him out of the corner of her eye to see him watching her again. Looking somewhat seriously at her. Again she felt the feelings of guilt bubble up to the surface, but she forcefully pushed it down again, she had nothing to feel guilty about…
Raven changed and got into bed, with no intension of sleeping. Her friends were all yawning and getting comfortable, while Raven arranged herself rigidly to stop her from yawning and feeling comfortable. Keeping the curtain open slightly so she could keep an eye on the clock, she readied herself for the long haul; she would never see her parents like that again.
-,-
Raven noted it was just after midnight when she heard the door to their dorm room, creaked open. Ed moaned from her position and their silent stalker seemed to pause in their tracks. But after a few seconds she sighed contentedly and carried on sleeping.
Raven moved as soundlessly as she could from her corner of the bed to pretend that she was actually sleeping. Slipping under the covers just as the door creaked a bit more to prove that it was mainly closed. She pulled the covers as best she could under her chin, placing her hands down gently on either side of her on top of the duvet, then she closed her eyes and slowed down her breathing.
But after a few minutes it was plain that their intruder was after her. Raven's bed was the furthest away from the door and because they had been in their room for a while, it was easy to think that they could've seen her friends already. And if they really had, there would be some screaming, mostly from Azlyn.
Her curtains opened carefully and her intruder climbed softly onto her bed.
"I know you're awake," Conner's voice spoke in the dark.
"Why wouldn't I be, you know what I see," she retorted, turning away from him and opening her eyes, letting them adjust to the dark again. She didn't know why she was mad at him, but it was apparent she was.
"I know what's going on Raven. I just want to hear it from you," with that he shuffled up and used his knees to hold her hips in place as best he could with a duvet between them. And taking advantage of her distraction, he gently pulled up her arms and pinned hem by her head, taking special care with her bandaged arm. He leaned in close and whispered softly yet forcefully, "Tell me Raven, what's going to happen?"
Much as she tired to fight it more tears leaked out of her eyes. She didn't like the fact that it had been happening so often. She hardly ever cried and only ever once or twice in front of her friends. She felt it weak to cry and lately her eyes would start watering of their own free will and she despised it. "Tell me, I'll understand," he persisted.
"But I don'twant you to understand!" she whispered furiously, turning to face him, eyes dripping glistening tears onto her pillow, "I don't want this to be real! I don't want to believe it!"
Conner wasn't expecting this and his astonishment made him slacken his grip on her arms, which was enough for her to break free and swing her arms around his middle in the same movement. "I don't want to leave! I want to stay here with everyone! I don't want to moveConner! Please don't make me!" She sobbed into his chest.
Making what seemed like such a scene to herself and Conner, it seemed a miracle the others hadn't woken.
Conner was momentarily stunned. But only momentarily, he really hadn't expected such an outburst, but now he understood why she hadn't told him. She was very much in denial. But he forgot all that from the moment he slipped his arms around her lower back, offering as much comfort as he could.
"When do you leave?" he asked after a while.
"Friday," she sniffed.
"To your aunts and uncles I suppose?"
"Yeah, in their jet…when did they get a jet? The look she gave him made Conner laugh out loud, her look of utter perplex-ion was so cute. But then again it made him frown a little, jet…didn't that mean flying…?
"I don't know sweetie, but if we only have until Friday then we'll have to be together as much as possible, wont we?" he said releasing her so she could lie back down, except she chose to stay seated.
"Right…" she murmured, suddenly extremely tired, much as she tired to shake the feeling.
"Good, I'll start right now. It'll be too cold to walk all the way back to my room and it's already past midnight and you don't mind me sleeping here do you?" he asked taking advantage of her preoccupation.
"I…guess…not…" she said slowly, "But then again…I wont be sleeping," she replied turning away from him as he un-straddled her all in one motion. Raven slipping away into her corner.
Conner yawned as he took of his t-shirt and slipped under the covers she had previously occupied.
"Oh no you don't Raven, you're getting some sleep," he stated, "You look like crap,"
She laughed dryly, but began moving slowly towards him, she trusted him enough. He lay down and she did in turn beside him.
"Goodnight Patricia," he whispered in her ear before kissing her temple. The gesture making the waves of sleep wash over her…more like drown her. She didn't know if she could fight it.
"Humph…" she huffed, conscience enough to realise he called her by her real name and dislike it.
Conner fell asleep smirking and Raven soon followed.
-,-
Raven woke up warm and comfortable. Her mind blissfully blank. Glancing around she saw that she was leaning against something equally warm. The events of the night soon came back to her and she realised that she was leaning against Conner's chest, while he had his arms wrapped around her stomach holding her to him.
Their relationship was purely platonic which was why she had let happen what had; they did it quite often when they were younger. Raven used to have the worst fear of lightning, but being with Conner had chased it away, just like he did with her nightmare. So she smiled slightly as she snuggled into him.
"Humph…" he grumbled, hugging her a little tighter.
After a bit of wriggling and more grumbling from Conner, Raven managed to turn around and face him. "I have to wake up now don't I?" not bothering to open his eyes.
"I should say so, we do have classes, what's the time anyway?" Opening his eyes, he blinked them into focus. Using one arm he drew the curtains a little so that he could see the clock.
"Would you believe we're late from Rickman's class?" Raven started to laugh, but caught the seriousness in his voice. She shot around and sat up as she grabbed the alarm clock. She squeaked when she saw the time.
"We gotta go!" As soon as she threw off the covers, she stopped moving. It was freezing! During the night the school had been hit by a cold wave. "Too cold…!" Raven stated rubbing her legs back under the covers. She wondered if the rest of the school was covered in ice, it was that cold!
"He'll be angrier if we don't show up at all, come on, just put on a scarf or something," Conner shook the duvet away and got out of bed. Even he couldn't deny it was cold, but he quickly picked up his shirt and put it on before saying: "Meet me outside Rickman's class. We may as well face the music together," and with a nod, he left.
Raven got out of bed and grabbed her uniform. Changing as quickly as she could, she messily pulled out a scarf and a beanie from her closet and put them on, slinging on her bag as she ran to class adding to her already untidy look.
They arrived at the same time, both out of breath. Conner opened the door and walked in with Raven in tow. The whole class turned to look at them as if expecting them, all the girls dressed in the same way Raven was, clad in scarves and beanies and gloves.
Mr Rickman turned slowly too, his eyes glinting maliciously. "So good of you two to join us," he mocked. "I can understand yesterday, but what have we been doing?" he chuckled evilly at his own lewd insinuations.
The class looked at them and could see why he thought that. Conner's hair was dishevelled, unlike his usual meticulously spiked hair. His blazer buttons were not done up properly, but then again he never usually did them up and he was stilling catching his breath.
Raven's shirt was buttoned at the wrong buttonhole just before her jumper. Her hair was also a mess underneath the beanie and she too was out of breath.
"Sorry we're late," they chorused, refusing to accept his explanation, even though it was a little true.
"No explanation?" he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"We both slept in," Raven answered.
"What a coincidence, that both of you would happen to sleep in on the same day and turn up late to class at the same time - "
"We were sleeping together," Conner stated and that shut up Mr Rickman, "You know, one last fling for old times sake, she is leaving after all - "
"Detention Mr Holloway!" he bellowed, "And you shall serve it on this Friday, you may as well both take your seats." His tone was final and he returned to the board.
"But that's when she leaves!" Conner protested, all his cockiness evaporated.
"Well I hope this little stunt, lasts you till the next time you see each other, because you'll be in detention or in class for the whole day. You know the rules. Now get into your seats!" They obeyed instantly; they could only test his patience for so long before he snapped and they didn't want to be the reason he did. So they took their seats with their friends and class started again.
"Did…did you really…sleep together?" Ed asked, her voice strange and un-Ed-like.
"No, of course not," Raven dismissed and Ed visibly breathed in relief, but Raven chose to ignore it. "But we were in the same bed, the rest of the school can believe what they want,"
"Hey it was too cold to leave," Conner said in his own defence.
"Lazy," Azlyn muttered.
"But you gotta admit it was cold last night," he added. There were murmurs of agreement from their vicinity, until they caught Mr Rickman turning around to check on his class. Raven quickly took out her books and began talking down the notes he was writing on the board. But it was stuff she already knew. She really wasn't in the mood to be redoing the gulf war, but Mr Rickman's mood wasn't all too good either, so she sucked it up and began writing, it was gonna be a long day.
-,-
Lunch was the quietest it had been in a while. Except for the whispers that now eternally seemed to plague them, everyone seemed to eat in silence. Conner only half-heartedly tried to keep the rumours about them alive (he seemed to find it amusing). After a while he bide goodbye to Azlyn, Aidan, Ed and as one last gesture kissed Raven on the cheek and left the hall with no explanation as to where he was going.
Raven was completely dumbfounded as to why he was leaving, seeing as today was most likely the last day they were going to see each other for a very long time. "He better have a pretty good excuse for leaving," Azlyn exclaimed after he left.
And they continued to wonder that when they heard he hadn't turned up to his class. Seeing as Raven had physics then.
It was raining when Conner arrived late to class; Raven hadn't even expected him to turn up seeing as he wasn't present at the one just before. He was completely soaked and the teacher excused him to go and change, but when he returned he went straight to work and refused to speak to any of them, he seemed to be shivering slightly. But as soon as class ended he left again, dropping his bag off in his room and changing out of his uniform. He still didn't tell anyone where he was going, the guy seemed possessed.
Raven had gone to sleep that night expecting to sleep as peace fully as she did the night before, the gentle pitter-pattering of the rain lulling her to sleep. But there was no such luck. After only a few hours she was holed up in the corner of her bed, waiting…no, praying for morning. But as she sat there she seemed to notice that it was just that little bit harder to wake up.
She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and began to watch the clock. But when you want time to speed up it all most always does the opposite, so it seemed to strike the second slower until she could almost swear time had stopped.
Deciding against staying there alone, she slipped on a dressing gown and tip toed to the door. She heard a distinct giggle come from Azlyn's bed and she paused for a second. She heard a quick hushing sound and decided to let her be, Raven didn't really wanna know what was going on. So she hop footed it out of her room and made the journey she had all those many times over to Conner's dorm room.
She slipped into the room with practised ease and quickly found Conner's bed. The room seemed almost identical to Raven's excluding all the clothing on the floor and the piles of books all over the place. She mentally made a note to herself: "Make Conner clean his filthy room!"
Even being around his things made her forget her reason for coming. Conner was magical.
Raven began pulling the same ploy that had gotten him into her bed, only to find she couldn't, because - to put it simply - he wasn't there.
Not completely undeterred. She settled into his bed and decided to wait for him there.
Unbeknownst to her that she was ever so slowly slipping away from consciousness.
Conner arrived well after curfew. He was pretty much all water and was going to just go straight to bed and risk it; he was too tired to make a fuss. But when he parted his curtains; he saw a lump that should have been him.
Drawing more of it back, he saw blue-black hair spouting from under the duvet. He smiled minutely and thought the reason she was here, couldn't be good. So sighing he released the curtain in search of a towel and something warm to wear, he couldn't risk getting Raven sick. 'But where to put the box,' he thought.
So it was even later still when Conner finally managed to get into his own bed. His damp hair making water marks on his pillow. He took Raven into his arms and kissed her forehead gently, he didn't want to wake her now and instantly fell asleep.
-,-
Raven awoke missing something instantly, and that something was warm and seemed like it was there only moments before. It didn't help that she was dreading awakening.
She felt lethargic all of a sudden, but as she realised that she wasn't in her own bed she forced herself out Conner's and was just going to leave until her conscience took over. 'At least do something nice for him,' Raven looked around the room. The only nice thing she could do was clean it and that was something even Raven wouldn't do, she barely wanted to touch it with her hands. 'How does he live like this?'
'You could make his bed?' the productive part of her brain answered and after Raven found nothing wrong with that, seeing as it was pretty much all done anyways, she set to work.
As she was moving a pillow she felt that it was wet and dropped it instantly. 'Ewww…dribble,' But the more she looked at it the bigger the splodge seemed to be. "Still no one can dribble that much. I mean I don't even do it at all," The little person in her head snorted.
So Raven deduced that it was probably just water…that didn't mean she still wanted to touch it any. But then like a bolt from the blue a thought struck her, "…Conner…"
It explained the wet patch and the warm feeling and…it explained…the…the lack of her nightmare, she realised and felt then a sudden urge to kiss him.
After putting on the final touches to her act of kindness she began to leave his room, she tripped on a pile of something she didn't want to think about and managed to stumble out into the corridor without causing damage to herself. She glowered a bit at the door before leaving.
Raven may have been relatively awake by then but not so much to take in loud noises, which she was when she was suddenly assaulted with a cheerfully voice.
"You must be Patricia?" She asked, "I'm glad I ran into you!"
"Yeah…" she answered, "Who's asking?" The irritating girl, who seemed barely older then Raven herself, giggled.
"I'm Mrs Bitters replacement silly," she replied as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had heard. She looked down at Raven and giggled at her appearance but took the protesting girl by the hand and led her to the infirmary, giggling as she did.
"So who are you?" Raven asked, now too tired to put up much of a fight.
"Silly," she giggled. Was this girl ever serious? "I'm Natalie now come here, your dressing needs to be changed and quickly. You don't have much time do you?." She automatically seemed to switch from giggling schoolgirl to a true professional. The change shocked Raven but didn't comment, she was good. But what was she saying about the time…?
"They look better, they're healing nicely. You wont need this after today, they're shallow and will probably heal well before it has a chance to get infected," she flashed a smile, got out a little tube of anti bacterial cream and with it began to redress her. She also pulled out a black cotton bandage and Raven had to smile, Mrs Bitters knew her too well. "She said she thought you might like it,"
Natalie finished wrapping, tucking the last part into the rest and Raven could only just move her four fingers. It was stiff but not uncomfortable she so thanked Natalie, who also gave her about four extra rolls, all in black and sent her packing…literally. But that wasn't before a well-needed trip to the bathrooms.
Raven firstly went to her closet and pulled out all of her clothes. Upon finding a medium sized hand carrier she threw in most of her clothes including her uniform. She chose to keep a plain white polo shirt and her red and black tartan miniskirt to wear with her tall knee high black punk boots and fish net stockings.
She quickly packed her other essential items of clothing and her rolls of bandages before moving onto the other little things that would fit into her suitcase. She then decided to pack her laptop. It was one of those things she wouldn't dream of leaving behind. Her brand new sliver Sony VAIO (which was already in a state of disrepair) had her life on it, plus it came with its own carry case, which she carefully packed it into, with its extra batteries that were fully charged, her headphone/microphone and her web cam. Raven then packed a small handbag with her cell phone, wallet, some cosmetics and as much candy from her secret stash as would fit.
Seeing as how the day turned out to be much, much warmer then the last, she changed into her clothes and checked the black and silver Calvin Klein watch (A/N: yes she's a slave to designer labels) for the first time only to find that she hadn't much time left. It would have to be the quickest breakfast in recorded history if she wanted any food at all.
The kitchen staff were recovering from breakfast when she wandered into the hall. They happily served her with what may have been all the left over food. She tried hard to enjoy their company, but the weight of her leaving had really begun to settle in and as the seconds ticked on, she was closer and closer to leaving.
Raven did feel guilty though about not seeing them sooner. All the main chefs remembered her; they had even made her baby food. She smiled at them softly and at the memories, she had literally grown up in this school…but again she remembered she was running out of time. Bidding them farewell, more quickly then would be polite she left the kitchen to gather up her things and pretty much disappear.
Before Raven knew it, it was already 8:30 and it was time to leave (the morning felt longer then it was). Her hair was brushed straight and she had put on her black chocker with its silver rings. Her skirt had her wallet less wallet chain attached and she had put on her two black spiky bracelets, on the same wrist of course. No…that wasn't hard -sarcasm-
Raven put on some clear lip-gloss, black eye liner, waterproof mascara and some smoky eye shadow. With her handbag on her shoulder she attached her laptop to the top of her hand carrier and wheeled it out of her room and down the stairs to the main entrance. Where Mr. Rickman, Miss Honey, Azlyn and Aidan (who looked oddly smug together), Ed and to her happy disbelief Conner, were all waiting for her. One of them looking decidedly angry, "I'm not late am I?"
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Why give me detention for one day when I can be there for a month instead - "
"Yes, yes well we haven't gotten all day do we?" Mr Rickman interrupted impatiently, "All right, all leaving get into the taxi, now!" With that Raven's friends all trooped into the taxi van, with Mr Rickman in the front next to the driver.
"I have to leave you here Patricia," Miss Honey said, "Keep in touch wont you?"
"Of course!"
"Hurry Up!" Mr Rickman called.
"Well goodbye then Patricia Grayson, I do hope we will meet again," She said quietly, eyes brimming with tears as she hugged Raven.
"If you don't get a move on I will leave without you and you can miss your plane!" he said leaning over the driver to honk the horn, cutting the moment short and pissing off the driver.
"You better go," she laughed.
"Take good care of my mother's school," Raven added in all seriousness, before reverting back to herself, "Goodbye Miss Honey, I'll miss you," she called as she ran towards the taxi, which was started instantly and by the time she was fully buckled in, they were already halfway down the long driveway leading away from the school and into town.
"How'd you sleep?" Conner smirked, Raven smiled in reply and following an old impulse she kissed him soundly on the cheek.
-,-
Airports were usually teeming with life, but this one was lacking a little in that department. The one they were in was obviously not used very frequently.
Raven looked around the big open space and even though she hadn't seen her aunt and uncle in a while, she recognised them instantly. It surprised everyone when she dropped her things and began running.
And she did bolt straight towards two people who were just standing in the middle of the room. She stopped just before a lady who even from that distance looked so much like Raven's mother…
Crying and very unsure Raven stopped before her aunt and waited for a reaction. "Oh Patricia," her aunt said and she jumped into her open arms. Her good arm slinging around her neck while her bad one sort of hung stiffly at her side.
"Aunty Em!" she sobbed.
"There, there darling," she cooed, pulling Raven away from her and wiping away a few tears, "It'll be ok," She then seemed to change personalities in a very odd way. "Your arm," she placed her palm out, expectantly.
Raven did so, but very reluctantly. She had a feeling her aunt would squeeze it and she wasn't disappointed. Pain shot through her arm and she had to close her eyes and mouth to stop any sound escaping, which at that point, would have been nothing short of ear splitting.
Her uncle sensed her discomfort in waves and he suddenly interrupt. "There's time for this later, we really should be on our way," he said releasing his wife's killer grip on the poor girls and arm and giving it back to the owner.
"Thank you Uncle Richard," she turned towards him, she always felt she needed to be polite to him.
"Now there's no need to be so formal…" he started and if there were any other words, they were lost on her.
"But I can't leave without saying goodbye," her voice was becoming frantic. She edged backwards.
"Oh go on," he aunt smiled. And before the words had finished leaving her mouth, Raven walked quickly back to where she left her friends with her luggage.
"You didn't think I was leaving without saying goodbye did you?" she asked.
"Not for a second," Azlyn said, eyes only slightly wet and she hugged her friend. "I'll miss you so much Raven, I love ya, you'll call right?"
"Of course! And I'll email and there's also MSN. It'll be like I never left," More to convince herself then the others.
"Give us a go," Ed said and Azlyn moved out of the way and Ed took her turn to hug her. "I love ya too, I'll miss you so much Raven, don't forget us when you go," She too was crying when they pulled apart. A sight that warmed her, Ed was strong, she never cried.
"Raven…" Aidan said as he lifted Raven up as he hugged her, making her squeak. He wasn't crying but she could tell he was sad; it would have worried her more if he was. Placing her on the ground gently, "There's no need for long goodbyes, I know I'll see you again," And with that Raven nodded before turning her sights to Conner, who was waiting patiently.
"Conner…"
"Patricia - " Conner started before she threw herself at him and hugged him with all her might. "Girl you'll crush me," she let out a muffled giggle. "Now before the water works come again," to this Raven huffed, "I have something for you," She released her killer grip on him and he fished out a small red box. "I wouldn't freak you out by getting down on one knee, funny as that would be," he smirked as she smiled. "But it is a ring,"
"Surprise killer," She muttered, as he opened the box to reveal a stunning silver ring. "It's beautiful," she said in complete awe. Picking it up, a beautiful silver chain she hadn't noticed before dropped gracefully out of the box.
"That's where I was yesterday," he added out of the blue, "I remembered the ring at lunch and left to check if it was finished yet, I've been working on it for a while now. But I left too late and wouldn't have had enough time to make it back there and back in time and even then I was late to class and soaking wet," he sniffed for emphasis, it was a little disgusting.
"So I went after classes and I found that it was finally finished, so I paid for it and bought it back, a gift that's sorta from all of us, but paid by me," he passed a meaningful glance at the others.
Raven looked at the ring more clearly and saw what he meant. Their names were written very carefully in there ring with a different silver that seemed to shine more then what the ring was made out of. Azlyn, Eden and Aidan were written on the top and when she looked on the inside of it, she saw 'Raven and Conner BFF'
"This must have cost a fortune, I can't except this!" Handing the ring back.
"It was less then you would think, I know the jeweller," He took the ring and opened the clasp on the chain. Spinning her around the other way, she lifted up her hair and he put the necklace on her.
"Group hug!" Aidan called and they all crushed together and well, crushed Raven in the middle.
"I'm going to be sick!" Mr Rickman muttered.
"Come along Patricia, we really must go," Her uncle said and she realised that they had come to join her.
"We have time for a quick introduction?" she ploughed on without waiting for an answer. "This is my Aunt and Uncle, Emma and Richard Carrington. Aunt Em, Uncle Richard, this is Azlyn, Eden, Aidan, Conner and Mr Rickman," Everyone quickly shock hands,
"We spoke on the phone," Mr Rickman said as he shook their hands.
The feeling of: This is all ending too soon, plagued Raven. But it sadly couldn't be helped, it was her turn to say goodbye.
"You guys all know I love you and how much I'll miss you, I'll call the instant I can! You all have my mobile number, you call me." Wiping away stray tears, she couldn't bare to hug them again, for fear of never letting go.
Before she could change her mind, she turned and walked with her new guardians towards the other side of the room, to big glass sliding doors. Very glad she thought ahead and wore waterproof mascara.
"You left school grounds without permission!" she heard Mr Rickman thunder, "Another month of detention! Boy, you will not breath fresh air for a long time!"
Raven grimaced slightly. But most thoughts went straight out of her head when she saw her means of transport. It was only then that she actually realised that she was going to be flying…in a plane. The way her…parents…
She began to lag behind and by the time she actually reached to plane and was boarding, she was very close to fainting. Not breathing for a while can do that to a girl.
"I know this may be a little difficult for you," her aunt said softly sensing her discomfort, "but it'll be okay. I promise," the quiet statement helped marginally. Enough so to notice they weren't alone.
"Hello…" Raven breathed, uncertainly.
"I guess it would help if we introduced ourselves," the man said politely.
"My name is Angeline Fowl," the woman said exuding grace and elegance, "and this is my husband Artemis,"
"How do you do Miss Grayson?" he asked, shaking her hand.
'So formal,' she thought. And replied with a very common lie: "I'm fine thank you,"
Raven found a nice squishy armchair to sit it, with a great view out the window and had enough sense in her head to turn of her cell, while her uncle took her luggage and put it in an overhead compartment.
"We'll be leaving momentarily," a male voice sounded out over an intercom system. "I suggest you all buckle up tightly, we are on a tight schedule." And with that the engines started and everyone had found a seat and had fastened their seatbelt. Raven was already gripping the seat with enough force to start pulling the thing apart.
Within 20 minutes they were in the air and Raven hated it. She would opt for a cruise any day!
Her breathing was so shallow she slipped between consciousnesses.
"Patricia are you alright?" he aunt asked as she glanced over at her. She was turning her head to signal that she most defiantly wasn't, but she looked out the window and saw miles of clouds rolling around underneath her and she felt a sudden, serious pang of deja voo, but after that she fainted delicately in her seat.
-,-
The absolute second Raven woke up, she missed Conner. 'Why is nothing ever easy for me?' True the lightning thing had taken many…many nights to cure, but Raven was really hoping for a quick fix. And this one obviously hadn't work.
Her eyes fluttered open and she noticed it was late. The sun was hanging low on the horizon and the cabin lights were already on, but then again cabin lights were on during broad daylight as well. "Hmmm…" she though distractedly. But shock her head to get rid of those thoughts.
She couldn't shake the feeling that it was much harder to wake. Sleep still tugged at her and it was much harder then it use to be to shake it off.
"Ahh…she lives," her uncle joked, bringing her out of her thoughts, "you've been asleep for hours. Are you feeling alright?"
Raven didn't trust herself to speak, so she shook her head slowly, she really didn't. She lifted up her own hand, placing her palm on her forehead. She could already feel it heating up.
"Would you like something to eat?" Artemis asked. To which she shook her head again. She would have liked to add a 'no thank you', but couldn't force the words out.
"Do you think we could get Juliet to come with us?" Emily asked Angeline. Both flicking through magazines.
"The last I heard she was still on tour," She answered, pointing out something she liked.
"What do you mean, 'come with us'?" Raven managed to choke out, she didn't understand why it was so hard to formulate a full sentence, but continued all the same, "What's going on?"
"You haven't told her?" Enquired Artemis.
"We haven't exactly had a chance," Her uncle said in defence, "We only spoke to the school twice and Patricia was unwell both time," Raven felt her cheeks heat up a bit and gently touched her bandaged wrist. It was getting better, it didn't hurt so much.
"Well there's no time like the present." Her aunt said, "Patricia, we can't take care of you," Raven's jaw dropped, she had definitely not expected that.
"At least not for a few months," Her uncle added in hopes of making it sound better but not seceding very well.
"Where…where…will I stay…?" she stammered out, her voice getting stronger. But panic started to settle too, she did not want to be homeless.
"That's the beauty of it. We wont be able to take care of you because we have a business trip that cannot be rescheduled. But the Fowls here have a son. And they have all kindly agreed to let you stay in their house in Dublin while we're all away." He replied.
"Well what are friends for," Artemis replied.
"He really needs to start associating with more children his own age," Angeline added sadly, "You'll be good for him. And we've gotten you a scholarship to his school as well, we have some connections there, we decided to take him out of St. Bartleby's…" she trailed off, they didn't really need hear this, "…Anyway school starts in about two weeks?" her husband nodded, "In two weeks, so you'll be pretty busy, you may not even notice were gone,"
"A house nearly all to myself," she said softly. Raven smiled genuinely for the first time in a while and began daydreaming about life without parental supervision. Her smile wavered more then a little, as the thought struck her that she would be living without that for the rest of her life…
But it was a thought she didn't want to dwell on, she concentrated on the things she would like to do, but thoughts of her parents drifted in. Her eyes glazed over as she thought, making it look like she was staring blankly at nothing. Tears rolled out of her eyes unchecked, it was like she was in a trance and she was forever fiddling with her necklace.
But the adults hadn't seemed to notice, they were discussing business and politics and places to buy expensive things.
-,-
Raven woke up suddenly as the sounds of the landing gear being released stirred her out of her comatose state; everything struck her as being overly loud it wasn't a shock that she was woken up.
She noticed the dawn sky was still vaguely littered with stars, but there was barely anything to see of the ground below, so she assumed they were somewhere in the country.
"Home…if only for a minute," Angeline sighed.
"We'll be landing shortly," said the voice of the pilot. As the plane descended, more of the landscape became clear. And she was right for the most part, except for the huge area of concrete set aside for landing planes, the rest was rolling countryside that looked lush and most probably green and beautiful.
The landing was smoother then most commercial flights she had been on and that didn't strike her as odd at all. The Fowls gave her the sense that they only had the best and expected nothing less.
Before Raven knew it, the plane had come to a complete stop and her things were being taken out of the overhead compartment.
--,--
Artemis Fowl the Second watched a small private jet land on a small private airstrip. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the consequences of a hasty decision. Which was something to worry about in itself, because Artemis Fowl the Second didn't make hasty decisions…ever.
"The new pilots good," he commented as the plane landed smoothly on the runway, his accent soft and clipped.
"Should I bring the car around?" Butler, his seven foot tall Eurasian manservant, asked from the drivers seat.
"If you must," he sighed as Butler drove the Bentley Arnage Red Label towards the newly landed plane and pulled up carefully a few feet away. When everyone was fully out of the plane, they seemed to naturally form an oddly straight line.
The one on the end caught Artemis's attention.
He watched her as Butler climbed out of the front seat and came around to open his door. He noticed that she began fidgeting with her skirt, which was thought of in the loosest sense of the word, the second she saw Butler and to that he smirked.
Butler had that effect on people.
Artemis stepped out of the car and continued to watch the girl with his calculating eyes. Of course he knew who she was but he didn't expect her to be quite so…deathly looking. He could see it through the make up; the girl did not look at all well.
Miss Patricia Grayson didn't have a criminal record of any sort, which made it all the more time consuming to find out about her, which he didn't appreciate by the way.
But as soon as he broke into her school records, he found out everything he needed to know about her, which was everything.
His look seemed to have tipped her off and she looked up at him with something like determination clearly visible in her blue and green depths. "Oh darling, must you always make such and entrance?" His mother asked with a laugh. This bought his attention to her and he hugged her earnestly. "It's so good to see you again. Your trip to Greece was nice I trust,"
"It was," he answered, his expression softened.
"I only wish we were staying longer, but business is business and we just couldn't get away. We must catch up, you and I, when we get back. I'm so tempted to come back early, I've never missed a birthday before; we'll go skiing maybe? I know the Alps wont be ready but we can find other ways of occupying our time. You wouldn't mind missing a few weeks of school," She smiled as she released him.
"I would like that," he replied with full sincerity, which was something he had been lacking of late. He could of snorted too, like he needed to go to school. It was only a formality. A formality that continued to annoy him.
"Son," Artemis said and had his turn embracing him. It was a manly kind of hug, but even still the exchange panged something in Raven's heart and the hurt reverberated. She was never going to experience anything like this again. "Will the hurt ever go away?"
"Now let's stop neglecting our guest," Angeline said as she steered her son to Raven.
"This is our niece Patricia Grayson," her aunt introduced, more then a little unnecessarily, but then again she didn't know that.
"And this is our son Arty," Angeline added. She gave her son a look that seemed to be a regular for he extended his hand, but continued to send her a look that said this was below him.
Well that's what Raven mistook it for, he was just miffed that she used his pet name in front of her, but the below him thing, was definitely there.
Raven's eyes flashed black in annoyance and she gripped his hand a little more tightly then she meant to, but it didn't seem to make a difference.
He smirked superiorly at her…he looked like a vampire, but his mother seemed to take it as a good sign, for she smiled broadly, but it only irked Raven more and her eyes gained their black gleam. But this time it was different…
--,--
She got that cold clammy feeling and she had never gotten it from touch before. She breathed in deeply as she felt her knees become weak, her grip start to get loose and she began slipping backwards as she slowly lost herself in a vision. The last thing she remembered was someone catching her as she fell into darkness.
Her visions was more organised this time and much less painful. Though the pictures were not whole, she saw: big hazel eyes that blinked at her in surprise. It cut to a red mass of some sort that seemed to bubble out on its own. Her next one was of hooves that looked like they belonged to a horse or a donkey. But the last one she had hurt her more then she could understand.
Her view was filled with blue, but there where black dots that didn't seem to belong there. Her chest felt like it was being crushed slowly and she couldn't help but start struggling. And just as soon as it started, it ended. The pain in her chest eased, leaving behind a dull ache and after a few deep breaths her eye site returned to her.
"Ah she's awake! Patricia are you all right?! You just dropped and we didn't know why and you fell and we didn't know why and you were thrashing around and we didn't know why…" and her aunt continued to ramble like this until her uncle managed to shush her. The quiet making comprehension dawn on her. She looked uncomfortably at her husband, how were they going to explain this…
"Argh…" she moaned as she tried to sit up, hand firmly placed over her heart and a dull pumping in her head.
"It would be best if you lay down," a deep male voice sounded and she complied. She chanced a glance and saw it was the tall intimidating bald man. He seemed to be checking her pulse, and just at the sight of him, her heart race increased and her body tensed. The man noticed the increase and smirked a bit, "There's no need to be scared,"
Her face flushed embarrassment. Angry more at herself then the pale, suit clad Irish boy, who's eyes were boring into her, telling her without words that he thought her pathetic, weak and insignificant.
The man began to move around the bandage. But Raven lifted her other arm and placed it on his hand. Even if she was at her full strength she would still never have been able to push aside his arm, but the small gesture seemed to work, for he let go of her bandage.
"She's alright though, isn't she Butler? I'll call an ambulance or something, we should get her checked out," Angeline asked, she was starting to like the girl.
"No!" Raven's aunt burst out. Causing everyone to stop and stare. "There wont be need for that," she looked to Raven for backup. "Your fine, aren't you darling?"
Despite the violent urge to be sick Raven nodded her head.
"Are you sure you don't want us to send her to see someone?" Artemis asked, not quiet satisfied.
"It's a…family…condition," her uncle answered, "She'll be fine," Eying her carefully, Artemis finally agreed.
"We are running late. Butler, just make sure the young lady gets help, if this happens again,"
"Yes sir," he replied, "have a safe trip," Artemis smiled and answered with a laugh,
"Make sure Arty stays out of trouble," The manservant cracked one of his rare smiles and nodded.
"Good! Well adieu Arty darling, we must be off," His mother hugged him once more and he seemed content, she kissed his cheek, which she promptly wiped, having left a small lipstick stain that her son would not enjoy at all. Pang…
"Yes Patricia, I wish this was a better way to begin," Her aunt looked sad and had a slightly far off look in her eyes, so her uncle continued.
"When we come back, we'll show you your real home. How does that sound? Hmm…"
"It sounds lovely thank you," And they hugged. It wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be, it most certainly wasn't the same, but it was something she could get use to.
"Shall we go then?"
Raven watched from a rolled down window at the gate to the private airstrip, her aunt and uncle fly away until they became nothing more then blinking dots in a starry sky.
"Home Butler,"
-,-
Raven and Artemis chose to spend the ride in silence. It didn't take too long for them to reach the Manor and Raven's jaw dropped at the sight.
To put it simply, it was huge.
Raven turned her head and saw Arty watching her with another one of his vampire smirks.
This shut Raven's mouth. She knew the guy for less then 24 hours and she already hated everything about him. Not that she knew much about him.
More like his pet name, or at least what she hoped was his pet name. To actually be named Arty, now that would be sad. And his smirk…she had seen it too many times already.
And what he did when he touched her…
That was something she never wanted to feel again.
She was bought back to reality when she heard one of the car doors open and shut. Raven wasn't fancy enough to need someone to open a door for her, she had hands.
And it seemed that Arty had the same idea. He was reaching for the door at the same time that she decided to. Within seconds of reaching each other, her hand snapped away as she realised what could happen and she literally recoiled to the other side of car. Much preferring to get out of the other door.
The man, Butler, he was waiting for Arty outside his door. While he himself looked a little confused. But covered the look when he noticed that she was looking. This guy didn't give anything away did he?
They walked a little way away from where the car was now parked and Raven decided to the change the mood, both of them didn't need to be completely stuck up. "So Arty, this is quite a house you live in," she could have whistled for emphasis but she didn't need to be that happy.
"I am Artemis Fowl the Second, only my parents call me 'Arty'," Just then the door to their abode opened and Butler took a defensive stance in front of Artemis, beginning to draw something out of his suit.
"Don't bother bro, it's only me," Came a bubbly voice from the doorway and out came a beautiful Eurasian girl, wearing a small black top and black cargo pants, her hair seemed wet and she looked to be twenty or less and even within seconds of seeing her, Raven definitely knew she was related to Butler.
"Juliet," came the soft-spoken word from Butler and he jogged over to his sister and swept her up into a big bear hug, lifting her off her feet.
She giggled and returned it, her wet hair parting to reveal a small blue diamond tattooed on the back of her neck and a jade ring glittered brilliantly on her finger in the waning light.
Her brother heaved a sigh as he let go of her, much as she wouldn't like to hear it, she was starting to get heavy, though it wasn't fat, muscle weighed more then that. Maybe he was just getting too old for this.
"Arty!" Juliet said when she stepped away from her brother and Artemis stepped forward graciously, a true smile tugging at his lips.
Which Raven saw and noted, 'only my parents call me Arty,' she snorted.
Artemis looked back a bit, but shook it off, Americans!
"It's nice to see you again. Butler made us watch all your matches," They took a second to look at him, he smiled a little as he looked down, the grass was looking increasingly interesting. "None of them had a chance," She smiled.
"I know! It wasn't as fun, they could have put up a bit of a fight at least," And Artemis took the time to finally hug her, placing a small kiss on her cheek.
"And Juliet, please don't call me Arty again," he whispered. Juliet wondered about the sudden change, he hadn't seemed to mind in all the years they'd know each other. She looked behind Artemis and saw the girl she was supposed to be taking care of. She tilted her head a bit and noticed that the girl was more then fairly pretty, dressed in a very punk-gothic style that on any other person she knew would have looked extremely bad, it didn't help that most other people she knew were men.
Ah ha! That seemed to be the ticket.
Juliet grinned a little too widely, giving the young professional wrestler a sinister look, deciding to play along with it, she answered: "Sorry master Artemis," He didn't quite seem to believe it.
"Well Butler and I have work to do, so take Miss Grayson's things to one of the guest rooms. It's the reason you're here in the first place," It wasn't a question.
"Yes sir!" she exaggerated…just a little, Juliet knew her place and that was that Artemis was in charge, even though she didn't really work for his family any more.
Artemis on the other hand didn't feel the need to say anything more, so turned on his heel and continued into the house, disappearing from sight, with Butler right behind him.
"Shall we go then?" Came the voice of Juliet, who was standing just behind Raven with her things in hand already, "Patricia is it?"
Raven was a little stunned, Juliet…she moved quick. "Please call me Raven, the name Patricia…" she shuddered for emphasis, she really hated that name!
"Your American! I'm American! At least originally," the girl practically squealed with delight, before composing herself again, "Okay Raven, lets get you settled in." Taking the lead, she led Raven into the house, up a flight of marble stairs and across the landing, opening the door directly across from it. "You'll be staying in here," opening the door wider, Juliet ushered the girl in.
The room itself seemed massive. It was fully furnished with a king sized four-poster bed, a large wooden desk and chair, a fairly large television, equipped with DVD player and a separate sound system. There was also a small (quite random) three-person sofa, a bookshelf and a set of double doors that were open to show a wardrobe. It had a stunningly large bay window that had a great view of the battlements that surrounded them.
She was lost in the grandeur of the entire establishment until Juliet's voice bought her back to Earth.
"There's a small bathroom through that door," She said signalling to a little silver knob hanging in the middle of a wall, with the faintest lines to signify a door. "But there's time to look at this later. Right now, you are about to go on a tour of Fowl Manor.
-,-
It was almost two hours later when Raven returned to her new room. The tour itself took about half the time itself. The house was bigger then huge.
I mean Raven had a pretty good memory, but at that time she really thought she'd need a map to navigate the 'Manor'.
And the hallway with the portraits…
Can you say creepy?
But the rest of the rooms were done beautifully but there were a few that Juliet seemed to make a point of missing.
Raven wasn't so nosey that she had to know what was behind those doors, but she did vaguely wonder what the Fowl's were hiding.
She couldn't actually tell what the time was, only that it had been forever since she last slept because of the time differences; when suddenly jet lag hit (or what she thought was jet lag) her like a tonne of bricks. 'Sleep bad…don't…sleep…' her groggy mind kept trying to say, but the functions that could have registered that and actually done something about it, seemed to have shut down.
Raven blindly climbed into the bed, still fully dressed and sunk, not only into the most comfortable mattress she had ever had the pleasure of sleeping on, but also into a slumber that seemed very different from all the others.
-,--,--,-
A/N: Do I sense a bit of a cliffhanger? I think I do. Well I guess you'll just have to wait to find out what happens next then wont we. And in the next chapter, more important characters will be introduced, and more of the plot will be revealed! Sighs – how I relish in the fact that my story has one…
LOL anyways, I was also informed of a little mistake I made at the end of my story in my Authoresses Notes. I guess I should add it in here again because it makes more sense that way, so I will say it again: Okay folks that's it. I know how hypocritical it is of me but I'm sorry for the out of character-ness, I like it better this way - pouts childishly -. I'm also sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I was never very good at that even with Word. I wont push you for reviews this time because even if I get enough, I can't promise you how soon I can update. So I hope you enjoyed reading it, and hope even more that you review and leave you're email addresses!
Anyways thanks a bunch for managing to get this far,
- Amanda aka The Obsessive Compulsive Hobbit.
