Thank you to those of you that have reviewed. It means a lot, and please keep it up. I know these chapters are pretty long, so I apologize to anyone who doesn't like them that long. It's just harder to divide them up even more than they already are. So anyway, here it is.
Thanks to: me, obviously; refloc; misticjadewolf; cybergurl; and cloudlessnight for your reviews.
Chapter Four: Talk and Breakfast
Fowl Manor
Artemis woke up at six, like every other day. No matter how late he would stay up at night, he could never sleep past six o'clock. After he had showered and dressed, he made his way downstairs to the dinning hall. He was immensely surprised to find Holly already there. The Captain had always struck him as the type to have an untidy house and sleep in late. But there she was, wide awake, eating eggs and toast.
"Good morning Captain. Sleep well?"
Holly looked up surprised, having not heard him come in. "Actually yes, I did. But it was a little weird being in such a big bed. What are you doing up already?"
"This is what time I get up every morning."
Holly raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I always pictured you sleeping in like other spoiled rich kids."
Artemis chuckled as he sat down. "Hardly. I see it as a waste of time to sleep half the day when there are plenty of other things to be doing with my time."
"Like robbing banks and bankrupting other companies so they can sleep out on the streets?" She said accusingly.
Artemis frowned. "Now wait a minute. I haven't bankrupted a company in a few years and it was never that bad."
Holly snorted. "Sure, and I'm supposed to believe you? You've tricked the People many times now."
"I believe the correct term is outsmarted the People." Artemis smiled smugly. Holly was just about to retort when a different, sleepy voice spoke first.
"Isn't it a bit early for you two to be going at it already?" Mulch walked in and yawned before sitting down. Holly looked at him in surprise now.
"You get up this early too?"
"No, not normally. I usually sleep for a few more hours."
"So why are you up so early today?"
"Butler put that Bough guy right next door to my room and he snores like crazy. I'm surprised he doesn't wake himself up. Kept me up all night." Mulch complained in a whiny voice. Holly giggled.
"Awe, poor Mulch. Does the convict need his beauty sleep?"
Mulch grunted. "What are you doing up? I know Arty gets up this early all the time, but I didn't think you did."
"I had the same impression. I figured you to be one of those people who sleep in late and are really messy." Artemis said.
Holly grinned. "Well, you're half right. You can't even see my floor. But I've never been one to sleep all that late. With my job, I have to be up as soon as the moon rises." Fairies could almost be considered nocturnal. They preferred to work at night because the sun drained their magic. Of course they could work during the daytime as well, they just preferred night time. Then she thought of something. "What do you mean you thought I'm a messy person? Do I look untidy or something?" She narrowed her eyes at him and Artemis jumped to rectify.
"No, no I didn't mean it like that. I mean, uh, you're not untidy, you're fine just like that." Artemis blushed slightly and quickly tried to fix the situation, which he was only making worse. Very embarrassing for someone of his repute. "I just thought that because of your attitude. Err... how about breakfast? Mulch, can I make you anything?" Artemis wished to leave the room right away. Mulch nodded, smirking.
Holly smirked too. "You do realize that Err is not a word, right?"
Artemis was trying to regain his composure, so he simply ignored her comment. "Hol-Captain, can I get you something else to eat, or maybe a drink? We have excellent orange juice."
"You can cook now? I thought Butler or Juliet did that for you." Holly asked.
"I had Juliet show me a few things about a year ago. That way Butler can sleep in a bit later and not have to wake up just to serve me breakfast. Occasionally Butler will get up early anyway or I'll come down late. But when Juliet is here, she still cooks for us."
Shock was evident on Holly's face. Artemis must really have changed, she thought. He was a bit more compassionate now. He still held onto his icy composure, but just in the last few hours since she had arrived, she had already seen passed it a few times (like when he blushed just now, Holly thought, hiding a smile with her hand). Something he had never allowed to happen before (letting his icy composure drop at anytime or letting anyone see past it).
"I think I'll pass on the food, but I do want to see you cook. I won't believe it until I see it." Holly got up and Artemis shrugged. She followed him into the kitchen and hopped up onto a stool to watch. She watched as he pulled out a couple of pans and placed them on the stove. He then pulled out some eggs and placed them on the counter.
"What are you going to make in that other pan?" Holly asked as she watched Artemis walk over to the giant freezer.
"Hash browns." He said as he started rummaging through all the frozen foods. Holly raised an eyebrow in surprise again. This Mud Boy was full of surprises.
"You can make hash browns? Wouldn't you ruin your nails by peeling the potatoes?" She asked sarcastically. Artemis grinned as he finally found what he was looking for. He held up a bag of frozen hash browns and Holly laughed.
"I had Juliet stock up on simpler foods that I can either microwave or throw on the stove, for whenever I have to cook. Normally we only eat fresh food here, but I'm not exactly a professional chef." He went back over to the stove to start cooking. "Oh!" He turned back around and walked over to one of the many cupboards in the large kitchen. He went through it and after a minute pulled out an apron. Holly started laughing again after he put it on. He smiled. "What do you think?" It was just a plain white apron, but it looked utterly ridiculous on him. Holly had never before imagined him cooking and now here he was wearing an apron!
"Can't have you getting anything on your expensive suit now can we?" She said, starting to wipe the tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.
"No we can't. This suit is Armani and cost me quite a lot." Artemis said seriously, but his eyes were still shining with amusement.
Holly laughed some more. "I will never understand why you would spend that much on a suit."
"Appearances can be everything in some situations you know. If you dress important enough, others will know that you are powerful and not underestimate you."
"But in some cases isn't it a good thing if they underestimate you?" Holly pointed out.
"True. That was one thing about being a boy genius. Nobody would ever expect a young pale boy to be anything other than innocent. But now that I'm no longer a child, I need to give the impression that I have power, which I do, so that they will know not to mess with me."
"Yeah, well you made us think twice about underestimating a kid. After that whole thing with you kidnapping me, more than a few officers would grip their guns whenever they saw a Mud Boy." Holly grinned and looked at the apron again. "To bad my helmet is upstairs, I would have Foaly take a picture of you. Do you think you could keep that on long enough for me to run and get it...?"
"Don't even think about it. You're staying right here now." Artemis said, watching her. She grinned and held up her hands.
"I won't go anywhere."
He turned back to the stove to begin cooking. Holly watched him for a minute before deciding to start another conversation. "So how's Juliet doing? Is she still into wrestling?" Artemis shook his head.
"Thankfully, no. She still occasionally watches it I think, but she outgrew wanting to be a wrestler."
Holly nodded. "Did she get her memories back as well?"
"Of course. She got back from out of town one day and Mulch hadn't left yet. As soon as she saw him, her memories returned."
"What do your parents think of Mulch? If he's staying here, won't they be a bit suspicious on whither or not you're going straight?"
"Yes, they would be suspicious. That's why he goes and stays elsewhere whenever they're home. Mother and Father are usually gone for weeks at a time, visiting various friends around the world. Juliet accompanies them most of the time, to guard Mother. Lately, I've been hearing them discuss purchasing a vacation home in France. So they'll be staying there for a lot of the year. There, the eggs are done." He said as he pulled the pan off of the stove. He dumped its contents onto a large plate and went back to the hash browns.
"You know, those eggs don't look half bad." Holly admitted. Artemis grinned again.
"Why don't you try some? You can let me know how good a chef I am." He said, adding a bit of smugness into his voice.
Holly smirked. "Okay, but I'm sure they won't be that good." She took a fork and took a small bite. An involuntary 'Mmm' escaped her and Artemis chuckled. Holly took another bite and muttered, "Don't get to smug Artemis. They're not that good."
"That explains why you're still eating them?" He smirked as he turned around. She frowned and put the fork down. She looked up and found him watching her. Their eyes met and Holly was surprised at how blue his still were. She felt as though she could get lost in those eyes. They stayed like that until finally Artemis looked away. He cleared his throat and went back to the stove. Holly blushed, feeling slightly unnerved.
There were a few minutes of silence after that, while Artemis finished the hash browns. He poured them into a bowl and took out another fork. He took a bite and smiled.
"I think I outdid myself on these. Would you care to test them? See if they are any better than my 'okay' eggs?"
Holly shrugged and took her fork and scooped up some of the golden brown potatoes. Artemis watched as she took a bite.
"Well?"
"Okay Fowl, I'll admit that you're a pretty good cook."
"Thank you." He smirked and after taking off his apron, he picked up the plate and bowl with the food in them, and headed back out to the dinning hall. Holly followed with a couple plates. Bough had joined Mulch and they were both sitting down waiting for the food.
When Mulch saw them he said, "Took you long enough. Are you sure all you were doing was cooking?"
Holly glared at him and put her hand on her buzz baton. "Don't tempt me Diggums."
Mulch chuckled, but still kept an eye on her just in case. He knew as well as she did that she would use it on him in a heartbeat. Even though Holly had already eaten earlier, she ate again with the others. As much as she hated to admit it, Artemis was a better cook than she was, which in a way was kind of pathetic. Okay, really pathetic. So Holly had no intention on telling anyone else that. There wasn't much talk while they ate that time.
When everyone was done, Holly said that she would take all the dishes to the kitchen. Unfortunately, there were too many now, so Artemis helped her carry them out there. Holly walked over to the sink but stopped when she realized that she wasn't tall enough to reach the faucet. Not wanting to embarrass herself, she just placed the dishes in the sink for someone else to do, as her wings were upstairs with her helmet. Artemis though, saw the problem immediately and would not let it go without a comment.
"Don't worry Captain. I'll take care of them." He snickered as Holly glared daggers at him.
"I can't help it if you Mud People are so big." She muttered as she stood back to let Artemis near the sink.
Artemis smirked. "Yes, now you know why the male fairies are probably a bit jealous of us." He winked.
Holly flushed and growled, "Dirty, foul, little Mud Boy." But a small grin escaped onto her face and Artemis laughed.
It was amazing how much he had laughed and smiled lately. He didn't think he had ever smiled that much in his life as he had in the last seven hours. He barely showed any emotion at all. And yet ever since his memories had been returned, he had been experiencing various emotions and he found it a bit overwhelming. He rinsed the dishes and left them in the sink.
"What's the matter? How come you're leaving them there?" Holly asked.
"Truthfully...I don't know how to use the dishwasher. I always leave that for Butler or Juliet." He said, a bit embarrassed. How was it that Artemis could make grown powerful people nervous? And yet he became self-conscious or intimidated because of a single elf and her opinion! There were only a few people in the world who were not intimidated by Artemis and only those few ever dared to talk back to him or talk to him as an equal. Those people were Artemis Fowl Sr., Angeline Fowl, Butler and Juliet. Now it seemed Holly needed to be added to that list. She never became in the least bit intimidated by him and was constantly arguing with him and making fun of him. And for some unknown reason, he tolerated it! Even enjoyed it!
"You're telling me that a criminal genius such as yourself, can find a way to escape the time-stop and construct a C Cube with an eternity code on it, but you can't work a dishwasher?" Holly crossed her arms and waited for a reply.
"I'm positive that if I tried, I could have it figured out in seconds." He snapped. "Besides, a genius, such as myself, a criminal one or not, does not belong in a kitchen, let alone doing dishes."
"I see. But you'll cook?"
Artemis frowned. "I learned to cook only to be courteous to my good friend, who does not need to be going all over the Manor, just to serve me. The least I can do for him, after he's saved my life numerous times, is make my own breakfast."
Holly's expression softened. After a moment, she said, "Come here." Artemis narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
"Why?"
Holly sighed. "Because I'm going to show you how to clean the dishes."
Artemis reluctantly walked over to where she stood. Holly then proceeded to instruct him on how to load the dishes, how much soap to use and how to start it. When the dishwasher was running, they stepped back and Holly turned to him.
"There, now if you are ever stuck in a normal person's house and Butler is nowhere around, you'll know how to wash your dishes." Holly smiled and Artemis chuckled.
"So they have dishwashers underground as well? You seem to be an expert."
"Well, I was always stuck cleaning up after dinner at my house. But we haven't used one of these in over fifty years. We have a much easier, less manual way of washing dishes."
"Really? How?" Artemis asked, intrigued.
"Like I'm going to tell you. You know far too much about Fairy Technology as it is. I still can't believe that I'm going to be taking you to Haven."
"You don't have to worry about me. I've learned my lesson with selling fairy technology. I was just curious, that's all."
"Hmm." Was all Holly said. They walked back out to the dinning hall to find it empty.
"Well, I suppose I need to pack a few of my things so I'm prepared for this afternoon. If you'll excuse me Captain." Artemis turned and headed upstairs, leaving Holly wondering what she was going to do next.
Neither of them had noticed Butler who had been standing in the other entrance to the kitchen, watching the two of them amusedly. He had gotten there just after they had with the dishes, and had watched their whole conversation, including Holly teaching Artemis how to use the dishwasher. Butler knew that he should not have been spying on his young master and Artemis would have been furious had he found out. But Butler had never seen Artemis act so...normal before. He actually acted like any normal person when he was around Holly. He was still arrogant and sarcastic, but Butler who had been with Artemis ever since the genius' birth, could tell a huge difference.
Holly headed upstairs to the guest room where she had slept the previous night. As she was walking down the hall, she passed a door that was slightly open and voices came drifting out. Curious, she stopped to listen.
"You are going soft Arty." Mulch's voice came out, both accusing and amused.
"Well, wouldn't you have done the same thing?" Artemis replied. "We can't leave them to sort it out on their own. They wouldn't be able to do it without us as you so gladly bragged about last night."
"They haven't done anything for us."
"Maybe not for you. Holly healed and saved both of my parents and saved Butler's life twice. If anything, I owe it to her to help the People."
"Hey, I think we should help them too, but for a larger price. We could have gotten gold."
"Okay, how about I go tell Root that he can arrest you if I get the gold instead." Artemis said sarcastically.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Well you should be grateful that I thought about that, or else I'm sure that Corporal Bough or Holly would already have you in cuffs. We have plenty of gold for now. You just said that you were offered five million American dollars last night. That's another 2.5 million for each of us. I am now officially one of the five richest men in Europe."
"But every time I help Julius, I always end up on the run or in jail. He'll find a way to get me back in prison. Knowing him it'll be Howler's Peak." Mulch gulped.
"He won't break our deal. Besides, I'm sure something worthwhile may come from this."
Holly frowned. What did he mean by that? They started coming towards the door and Holly sprinted around the corner, not wanting them to know that she had been listening. She waited until she heard their receding footsteps down the staircase before she continued to her room. Once there, she sat on the bed and put her helmet on. Foaly's voice came through the speaker.
"Holly? Holly, you there? Captain?"
"What is it Foaly?"
"Holly, there you are. I've been trying to get a hold of you all morning. Everything all right?"
Holly hesitated a second. "As well as it could be, staying at Fowl's. I left my helmet in my room." She lied about the first part. She was actually having a pleasant time, but if she admitted that to the centaur, she would never hear the end of it. Luckily he couldn't see her.
"I feel bad for you. Is he still a monster? Didn't sound too much like one last night."
"He's not that bad I guess. I definitely noticed a difference in his attitude though."
"Yeah, me to. He actually turned down that challenge. But he's not the only one who sounded different." Foaly said.
"What do you mean?"
"You actually agreed with him and stood up to the commander, and admitted that you needed him." Holly could just imagine Foaly smirking.
"We needed him Foaly. Not me. You know as well as I do that we wouldn't have the slightest clue as to what to do next if not for him."
Foaly sniffed. "Give me a few days and I'm sure I could figure out who's behind it."
"You've had a week to do it, and you still haven't gotten anywhere. Who knows what a few more days could bring? More fairies could be gone by then."
"Humph." Foaly was silent and then decided to get Holly back. "Well, you seemed a bit eager to stay there last night. You didn't protest or anything."
Holly turned red. "I had orders Foaly!"
"You were also ordered to compete against Fowl but you disobeyed them." Foaly pointed out and Holly fumed.
"That's because those were ridiculous orders. We shouldn't be taking this thing so lightly. We should be trying to solve it as quickly as possible."
"I think it would have been fun. Besides, isn't there some saying or something that if you split up, you cover more ground?"
"Yeah, but we weren't splitting up to cover more ground. We were going to split up just to see who's more capable or smarter."
"Hey, I agree with you. But who do you think would have won?"
Holly thought a minute. "It would be close. But truthfully, I think Fowl's team would have."
"Really? I don't think so." Foaly said confidently and a little stubbornly.
"Think about it Foaly. Artemis could figure out who is behind it and come up with a plan on how to stop them. Mulch could get them into anywhere and Butler could take down any foe."
"I'm a genius to you know, maybe a little unappreciated, but a genius nonetheless. And the LEP could take on any foe too."
"I don't think all of the officers would appreciate being used as pawn pieces in some chess game. Don't get me wrong, I would love to shove it into Fowl's face that we beat him or outsmarted him, but this is not the time."
"Hmm, well the reason I was trying to get a hold of you in the first place was that you need to have yourself and all the others at E1 at noon."
"Okay, we'll be there. Hey Foaly?"
"Yeah?"
"Where are they all staying? The commander said he didn't want everyone knowing they were there."
"I think he said that Fowl was going to be staying with you."
"WHAT!"
Foaly started laughing. "I'm just kidding Holly. I don't know, he didn't say."
Holly started growling. "Foaly, you just wait until I get down there..."
"Hey, you're staying at his house aren't you?"
"That's different. He lives in a mansion for Fronds sake. Unless we're actually looking for each other, there's a very slim chance we run into each other. My place consists of two bedrooms and a kitchen."
"So were you two looking for each other then?"
"What?"
"Well obviously you weren't in your room if you left your helmet there and didn't answer me. So that meant you were out of your room for at least two hours because that's how long I was trying to get a hold of you. What could you possibly be doing for so long in the morning?"
"Foaly..." Holly warned, her pointy ears were beginning to grow warm.
Foaly chuckled. "I'm just kidding Holly. But seriously, I won't tell anyone. Were you with him?"
Holly hesitated while she decided if she was going to tell him the truth or not. Finally she sighed. "I went down for breakfast and he came down right after I did. We talked for a bit, or argued I guess you could say, and then Mulch came down. Artemis went to go cook breakfast for the two of them and I went to watch-"
"Fowl can cook?"
Holly smiled. "Yeah, he had Juliet teach him a few things so that he could let Butler sleep in later in the mornings."
"Wow, maybe he really has changed. So was he any good?"
"Better than I expected. He made eggs and potatoes." Holly was not about to admit that she had really enjoyed the food. Just admitting that was too much, especially to Foaly. But she trusted him to not tell anyone. He was, after all, one of her best friends.
"And that took you two hours?"
"Well, I had to show him how to use the dishwasher." Holly muttered, afraid of what Foaly would say next. Fortunately, he was too shocked about something else.
"They still use those? Wow, Mud Men are starting to fall way behind us. We haven't used those in over fifty years."
"Yeah I know, but the one Fowl had was pretty advanced for a Mud Man."
"So you showed him how to use it huh?" Foaly's voice was smug and Holly groaned silently but he still heard it and chuckled. "Don't worry, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone."
Just then there was a knock at Holly's door and Artemis' voice came through.
"Holly? Are you in there?"
"Yeah, just a minute." She called. Foaly was just about to say something but she stopped him. "I got to go, I'll see you later."
"Alright, but don't forget to wrap the Mud Men in your camouflage foil before coming down here. Only the LEP are to know they are here. The commander already briefed them on it."
"Okay. Got to go." She cut the connection and went over to the door. Artemis stood there, waiting patiently.
"Talking to Foaly?" He asked as she took the helmet off.
She nodded. "He said that we have to be at Tara at noon to board the shuttle. He also said that you and Butler are to be wrapped in cam foil so nobody knows you're there. Only the LEP will know."
Artemis nodded too. "We should probably leave here in an hour or so then."
"Okay. Was that all you came here for?"
"Actually, no. I just wanted to inform you that I caught your Corporal Bough in my parent's room. He claims that he got lost and I just wanted to ask you if he is really that clueless or if he was actually sneaking around."
Holly groaned. "Actually he is that clueless, but I'll still yell at him."
"I didn't notice anything missing, so I doubt he stole anything. But, may I ask, as to why he was sent here to spy on me? He seems to be an amateur and made quite a few mistakes before he was brought in here."
"The commander decided to send him. He didn't want to risk sending me just yet. As it was, he had a back up team waiting to come over if anything went wrong."
"Ah, because of our previous...history together." Artemis grinned. "He was afraid I would kidnap you again or something of the sort? Or was it the fact that he didn't want you to become one of those missing or presumed dead officers?"
"I think it was a mixture of both. But how did you know that last one? I only thought he didn't think me to be qualified but Foaly told me that he didn't want anything to happen to me. He said something about how I'm one of his favorite officers."
Artemis nodded. "Yes, I noticed that right away. I'm surprised you didn't."
Holly frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It's obvious that he almost considers you a daughter. He has always been quite concerned about you and protective. He showed it more than a few times in the Arctic and when I first captured you. If I'm to believe right, if you were any other officer you would have been kicked off the force by now." Artemis raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed slightly embarrassed.
"He's stood up for me a couple times against the council. They think that I cause more trouble than solve it. Truthfully, the past couple years he's been sort of like a father to me, I mean, he has looked after me but I never really thought of that before now. So you're saying that's why he wouldn't send me?"
Artemis shrugged. "I'm sure you know him better than I do. I'm just merely stating my opinion. I think you're lucky to have him as a Commander though. I do admire his loyalty to the People and his officers, although his temper can get quite out of control."
"You didn't see him during the Hamburg incident." She grinned.
"Do I even want to know what you did?"
"No, because I'm sure you would never let me live it down after that."
"Well now I'm curious. You realize that you have to tell me now, right?"
"No way." She tried to walk past him out the door, but he blocked her way. He stood, crossing his arms. Every time she went to get passed him, he would step to the side to block her. She frowned. "Do I need to punch you again?" She asked half serious and half joking.
"I don't think you can reach my face now." He smirked.
Holly grinned wickedly. "Maybe not there..."
Artemis' eyes widened and he quickly stepped back. "Okay, okay. You can go. I'll get it out of you some other time."
Holly laughed and made her way around him after grabbing her weapons and helmet. He followed her as she made her way over to Bough's room. She stopped at the door and turned back to Artemis.
"You're going to stay here to watch me chew him out?"
"Might as well. I have nothing better to do right now." Artemis grinned. Holly watched him, and for some reason felt odd when he grinned. She quickly turned back to the door and knocked.
"Corporal?" She called. Artemis found it amusing when she spoke in her commanding voice, whenever she spoke to the officer of lower rank. She would stand up straight and act serious. But then when she was talking to Artemis or say Foaly, she was completely different. He leaned back against the wall opposite the door to watch.
The door opened and Bough stuck his face out. When he saw who it was he quickly opened the door all the way.
"Corporal, Mister Fowl here says that you were found in his parent's bedroom. Can you tell me why you were there?"
"Um, I sort of got lost when I was on my way back here." He said, looking somewhat humiliated.
"You got lost, so you went inside their room?"
Bough was just about to say something when Butler came around the corner. He whispered something to Artemis, who frowned and nodded. He turned to Holly.
"If you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to, some rather urgent business." He turned and walked quickly down the hall with Butler following. Holly watched him go, confused but then turned back to chew out the Corporal.
Artemis walked quickly to his study. Butler came in behind him and Artemis took a seat. "Now, when did they call?"
"Just a minute ago. It seems that their visit was cut short because their friends had some family emergency, so they are already on their way home. They called from the airport, so they should be here within the hour."
Artemis frowned again. "My parents weren't supposed to be arriving back until another two weeks and we need to be at E1 by noon."
"How are you going to explain that you're running off for who knows how long?"
Artemis thought for a minute. "Well, I am eighteen after all, I shouldn't have to explain where I'm going every time I decide to leave the manor." Butler looked at him doubtfully and Artemis sighed. "Very well, I will simply inform them that an old friend of mine has invited me over to stay with them in England. I daresay Mother would be pleased to know that I have friends. We'll need to have Holly, Mulch and Bough in the car while we wait long enough to inform them of where I'm going, or where they'll believe I'm going anyway."
Butler nodded. "In that case, I'll finish getting ready." He stood up and left the room. Artemis put his head into his hands. This was already proving to be frustrating. Unfortunately, it most likely would only get worse when he got to Haven.
There was a knock at the door. "Come in" he said without picking his head up. He listened as whoever it was came in and walked up to his desk. He smiled to himself before saying, "Hello Holly."
"How did you know it was me?"
Artemis looked up. Holly sat there, waiting for an answer.
"Well, your footsteps were very light and barely made any noise."
"Okay, then why couldn't it have been Bough or Mulch? Even Butler knows how to move without making a sound." Holly pointed out.
"Mulch tends to walk around like he owns the place. He can be quite at times, but his rather large feet still make a soft thump. And from what I've seen, your Corporal is a bit of a klutz and walks and acts unsurely, while here. Your footsteps are small, light, and confident."
"Observant little Mud Boy aren't you?" Holly scowled, realizing this sounded a bit familiar. She didn't like how easy it was for Artemis to notice or discover all that. It was like he could read everyone like an open book and know everything about them. It was more than a little unnerving.
"I try. Now how may I help you?" He asked politely.
"I was just wondering what urgent business you had to take care of. You're not planning anything are you?" She asked suspiciously.
"I must say that I am a little insulted at your lack of trust in me." Artemis' voice was filled with sarcasm but also seriousness, and did Holly detect sorrow too? For a split second, his eyes looked almost sad, but then it was gone. She must have imagined it then.
"After all you put the People through, do you deserve the trust Artemis?"
Nope, hadn't imagined it. There was the sorrow again. Mixed with a little bit of regret, and this time, it lasted longer. Artemis sighed. "I believe I told you before that I do harbor doubts over kidnapping you. I never meant for you or any of us to get put into any danger. I did return half of the ransom gold to the People."
It was true. Artemis and Holly had negotiated and Holly had been allowed to leave with half of the gold if she healed Artemis' mother. He had also proved to be decent when he agreed to help fight the B'wa Kell if they helped rescue his father. But it wasn't a matter of decency, but trust. He had proven that he had changed, but could Holly trust him? Holly was still silent and Artemis nodded.
"I see. I suppose I thought friends trusted each other, but it seems I haven't earned your trust yet." His trademark icy voice had come back as well as his icy glare. It was all Holly could do not to shudder at the sudden change in him. "If you'll excuse me Captain Short, I need to prepare for my parent's return and for our trip this afternoon." Artemis stood up and Holly took that as a cue for her to leave, so she got up as well. Feeling confused, uncomfortable, and also somewhat guilty, she left the room and closed the door behind her.
She stood there, her mind going over the last few minutes. I suppose I thought friends trusted each other. He considered her a friend. Or at least he had, she thought. Actually, she had considered him a friend too. Foaly hadn't thought it likely or possible, but before Artemis had been wiped, the two of them had grown quite close. She had been upset for some time after that, but refused to show it. They had also been getting along pretty well that morning. She suddenly felt really guilty. Didn't she at least trust him some? After all, she was staying in his house, after being held captive here six years ago. Apparently she trusted him a little bit. It seems I haven't earned your trust yet. Holly was suddenly very angry, at herself and at Artemis. How could he say that to her? Did he really think that he deserved it? But then another part of her knew that he had changed a lot, and he had been working very hard at being courteous and helpful to them. Although she couldn't say why, she knew that she did trust him. But she was not about to go back in there now.
Instead, she decided to try and find Butler. Artemis had mentioned something about preparing for his parents return. They shouldn't be back yet, according to what he had said earlier. She decided to try and start downstairs first and headed down there. She descended the giant staircase and began her search of the entire first floor. It took her almost a half hour just to search that single floor and she didn't see Butler at all. She headed back to the staircase just as Butler was coming down them.
"Oh, Butler! There you are." She ran up to him and he turned around to face her.
"Oh, hello Captain."
"I need to ask you something. Artemis mentioned something about preparing for his parents return. He said earlier that they weren't supposed to be back for another two weeks."
"Ah, they called earlier from the airport and said that their trip was cancelled. They should be here any minute in fact. Artemis said he was going to have you and Mulch and your Corporal waiting in the car so they wouldn't see you. He didn't tell you?"
Holly frowned. "I might have upset him. But no, he didn't tell me anything about that. He's lucky they haven't got here yet. His parents could have walked right in here and seen one of us."
Just then they heard the front door open. They both looked over to see Artemis Fowl Sr. and Angeline Fowl walk in, with Juliet right behind.