Hyacinth Champagne: keep reading!! And no, they don't like eachother very much. Haha. Understatement.
Remus Junior: eep- sarcasm from Artemis is fun, otherwise, no fun.
KittyKittysomething or other (doing this from memory, sorry): sorry about the spelling, and glad you like it. Artemis lovers everywhere unite!!
Ella: colder and more evil, eh? I'll try! Are you saying Artemis is too nice in this story? As if! No, but seriously, thanks and I'm on it."So, what do you like to do, Arty?" she asked coolly. They were infuriating one another as they had been for a while. Although they both shared a mutual respect and empathy for the other, they also both hated eachother...and knew it.
"Oh, I'm very fond of criminal enterprises, Becky," he replied. Her eyes narrowed at him and he felt himself smirk. Truth be told, she was very pretty, and very intelligent, but far too vain for his own good. Not that he didn't have an arrogant streak...he chuckled. "And of you?"
"Oh, well, Arty, that would be simple," she told him with false sweetness in her voice. "I'm a hacker. That's just what I do."
"Oh, Becky, you silly little goose, I 'm sure you can't hack."
Her eyes flashed. "You think that because I'm a girl that I can't hack?"
"No. I'm saying that because you're inexperienced, you can't hack."
"I'm only thirteen- that's hardly young." She retorted. He accepted that while that may have been true, she was still a year younger than him. Although he was years younger than most scientists and he himself had written more theories- and more sensible theories at that- than the best of them ever would in a lifetime.
"Only thirteen. That's especially young," he smirked. Her use of the word only had made the number seem insignifigant.
"You, Fowl, are a fool," she hissed. He stopped walking and looked at her- she had called him by his family name. That had true meaning.
He took a breath and said, irritated, "Ms. Woods, I do not believe that you know who you're dealing with." And it was true. Artemis Fowl was no ordinary young man.
Rebekah raised her chin haughtily. "Maybe not, Mr. Fowl, but I am not quite sure you're certain of what you've come across, either."
He looked at her grimly. "I guess not."
They continued walking until Rebakah came to the edge of the veranda and she let go of his arm. Artemis felt the warmth of her presence leave his side.
"What are you doing, Ms. Woods?" he asked her.
"I'm going to my room," she replied as though it were completely obvious. "Care to escort me there as well?"
He glared at her. She was infuriating.
"I have no intention of following you around like a little puppy tonight, Becky," he informed her.
"Then don't." she said simply, and walked into her home.
Artemis stared after her in scorn, then walked off to mingle. And maybe find out about why his and Rebakah's fathers didn't like eachother.
Sadly, he did not make it far. Kelly Woods ran up to him. "Hey, little guy, can you tell me where my Beck is?"
"She said she had gone into her room," he replied indifferently.
Her face fell. "Could you get her?" she asked him. "Her room's the one up the right staircase. All the way up at the top."
Artemis was surprised, although it did not show in his pale features. "Her room?"
"Yes, tell her that the Evergreen's have arrived, and that Vance is looking for her."
"All right," Artemis sighed, and he turned around. He did not know why he was actually doing as she asked, but he suspected his mother and father would have quite a bit to say if he refused.
As he walked up the staircase, he noted that the paintings on the walls seemed to change- from the kind found in museums to the kind painted by a blonde thirteen year old with calculating grey eyes.
He saw the door, which had a handmade sign hanging from a nail. Strange, he thought, that she would have such a plain sign, when her family was as wealthy as the Fowl's.
When he drew closer, he noticed the sign's writing: "I am in England during the relatively short rule of Anne Boleyn. On pain of bloody torture and death, do not disturb."
Artemis chuckled at that, then knocked on the door and called, "Becky, it's Artemis."
The reply sounded distant and faintly amused: "Can't you read the sign?"
He smiled. "Yes, and it's quite amusing. May I enter?"
There was a pause. He could picture her hesitating, probably amid a sea of clothes and magazines, the typical teenaged girl. After all, he could remember what Juliet had been like before she had gone to the United States for her wrestling tryouts.
"Oh, all right, seeing as it's only you," she called, and he turned the doorknob and stepped in.
Her room was titanic, and luxuriously furnished. She had a high ceiling and big windows, and long black curtains with plenty black ribbon and lace. She had a black canopy bed. The walls were a light periwinkle blue and her carpet was black. She had a desk, a few bookshelves, a stereo, and a computer desk, where she was sitting. She had what looked like a walk-in closet, a miniature art studio, and over in the corner, an acoustic guitar, a hot pink electric guitar and the best amplifier money could buy. She had a fabulous set of keyboards- although he had remembered her family owning a piano- and a viola case lay open on her bed, the viola and bow sitting out as though she had been playing it, but abruptly stopped.
He turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised. "Funny, but you never struck me as a musician," he remarked. Then he noticed her typing rapidly. "What are you doing?" he asked.
She turned to him a crooked smile on her face. "Can't hack, you say? Wait until you check your email."
He felt his knees grow weak in shock. "You don't have my email address."
"I do now," she said smugly.
He walked over to her, and bent over so that he could see her screen. "Well, at least I have your address, now," he said with a sigh. "I'd dearly enjoy sending you a lovely virus."
She laughed at that. "You're quite funny, Fowl," she said. "And brilliant." She turned to look at him, and he looked at her. "Irritating, but brilliant," she concluded.
He smirked in return. "So you can hack. I guess I can't doubt you."
"Think you're better?"
"I may be."
She smiled to accept the challenge. "Prove it," she said.
She offered him her seat, and brought over another chair.
"By the way," she asked as he sailed through the Internet, admiring how his fingers flew across the keyboard at an astonishing speed, not looking at his hands and not making a single mistake, "what did you come up here for?"
"Your mother told me to tell you that a Vance Evergreen is seeking you out."
She coughed delicately. He glanced over at her. "What's wrong?"
"He's courting me," she muttered.
"Is he? He must be mad."
She shot him a dirty look and he delighted to know that he had gotten to her yet again.
"He's not too terrible- I like him better than you, by about a thousand times, but he's so boring. He's a fool!" She leaned closer to Artemis and looked at the screen. "I'd rather spend my time with someone I hate than him."
"And why is that?"
"Because, you're intelligent, Fowl," she said. "Cunning. Not to mention ingenious. You may be manipulative and cold-hearted, but you're damn ingenious."
"I have the highest tested IQ in Europe."
"If I tested my IQ, I think it would be higher."
"You're a menace, Ms. Woods."
And they sat like that, sharing hacking tricks, for the next few minutes until a certain Mr. Evergreen got curious and asked Kelly Woods where he could find her daughter.
Ha! I love this story! I hope this satisfies you for a while- I love Artemis. And Ella, please, give me a few suggestions about how 'evil' is evil.