Artemis Fowl was annoyed with him self. He was feeling ill, something that didn't happen very often but he blamed himself entirely. He knew that it would be a bad idea to give in to the lemon ice that the waitress had offered in the restaurant. So now he was paying for it, there was such a horrible feeling in his stomach that he thought he might vomit, highly embarrassing. Artemis was also feeling fed up for reasons that he couldn't quite explain, there was a strange feeling of longing that was tugging at his heart and he was trying to ignore it, trying to pretend that it wasn't there. For Artemis Fowl knew exactly what this strange feeling was, he knew that this time would have to come but always tried to convince himself that it wouldn't. Today Artemis Fowl was feeling lonely.
Deprived of his computer for two dreadful weeks, Artemis Fowl had been unable to entertain himself. He had spent the past fortnight in Turkey with his parents though he could have thought of at least thirty things he would have preferred to do. He was against the holiday from the beginning, but when his mother told him that he would not be taking his laptop Artemis could have wept. The infuriating woman even found his emergency hand held computer in the innermost pocket of his travelling bag and confiscated it. So he was stuck for two whole weeks without anything to do. Watching the television made him feel even more ill than lemon ice, with its awful 'actors' and annoying stereotypes. Artemis was forced to stare for hours out of the window of the villa that the Fowls had rented. He watched the teenagers in their groups, chatting and laughing amongst themselves on the docks and riding the streets on skateboards. That's when it started for Artemis, this strange pulling sensation in his chest. He was convinced that when the time came he would easily be able to shrug the feeling off, but no. It had stuck and even now that he was in a different country it refused to even subside a little.
"Is something troubling you Artemis?" Butler asked. The bodyguard could see that he was not in the best of moods.
"Actually I'm not feeling all that well," Artemis admitted.
"Would you like me to stop the car?"
"No, no. Drive on, I'll be quite alright when I get home but the sooner the better,"
Butler turned into the school road that wasn't quite as busy as the road they had been driving on previously. The children had gone home half an hour before so the road was almost deserted. Butler slammed the breaks on; Artemis was thrown forward into the seat in front of him. Something thudded against the bonnet of the car.
"Stay right here sir," Butler said to Artemis and climbed quickly out of the vehicle. Something was wrong, Butler never left Artemis' side unless it was extremely important. Artemis decided to see what was going on. His curiosity got the better of him and he followed Butler out onto the road.
Butler hadn't even seen the girl on the pavement, she appeared out of nowhere, and if he had been going any faster he would have killed her for certain. For once he hadn't really been concentrating on the road, he had been thinking about Artemis. It concerned him to see his principle this unhappy. The girl was lying unconscious at the front of the car. Butler put a finger at the side of her soft, pale neck; her pulse was only slightly faster than it should have been.
"Butler what is going on?" Artemis asked, coming round to the side of his bodyguard. He saw the body of the girl lying on the road and stopped. He was shocked, something else unusual for Master Artemis, he was used to everything being planned and didn't like unexpected things to happen. This was certainly unexpected.
"Is she alive?" he asked.
"Yes sir, I think that she may have just passed out, she ran out right into the road," Butler replied.
Artemis took a closer look at the girl; she was dressed in school uniform with the Vetna Hill logo on the chest of her sweater. She was wearing long black trousers and on her feet were smart, flat shoes. Her hair was long and dark, her skin was pale and there was a pair of broken glasses by her side. Artemis couldn't quite make her out, she wasn't at all like the other children that he had seen flooding out of the school gates. She was rather smart, her uniform was somehow immaculate even as she was lying unconscious on the ground and her eyelashes were long and slightly curled. But Artemis was looking too much, picking out too many details.
The girl's eyelids fluttered for a moment and she looked around her. Realising that she was on the ground she stood up and brushed herself off. She looked up at the huge Eurasian man who was standing in front of her. The sheer size of the man scared her but she didn't let it show, she never did.
"I'm so sorry, I really don't know what I was thinking of sir, I should have looked but you turned the bend terribly fast," she said, giving the large man an apologetic look.
"That's quite alright," but it wasn't the man who spoke, it was the boy beside him. The girl frowned at him and went to push her glasses up her nose, but they weren't there. She saw them and bent to pick them up off of the road.
"Oh no! They're broken," she said, annoyed.
One of the pieces of glass had come out of the frame but it was still intact, if only she could find the screw she could fix them up without her parents knowing what had happened.
"I'm willing to pay for the damages," Artemis said. The girl sneered at him and dropped to her knees.
"Stop trying to be a smart arse and help me find the screw," she said. Artemis was taken aback, how dare she talk to him like that! He didn't quite know what to do so he stood and watched her fumbling around on the road. She picked something off of the ground and stood up.
"Thanks for your help," she said sarcastically.
"Will you be alright getting home?" Butler asked.
"I doubt it," the girl replied quietly.
"And why is that?" Artemis asked, he was talking a lot more than usual.
"Because I've missed my bus, the school is closed and I don't have a mobile phone," the girl snapped at Artemis, usually he would snap something back but his brain wouldn't supply anything for him to say.
"We have a phone in the car. We'd be happy to contact your parents and take you back home," he said.
"I see," the girl said slowly, staring at the ground," If you would." The girl fixed the screw back into the frame of her glasses and got into the car as Butler held one of the back doors open for her.
Artemis was sharing his back seat with someone, he'd never done that before. The girl was sat back on the leather seat, her fingers laced, looking, frankly, quite sorry for herself. She looked up and caught Artemis staring at her.
"May I ask your name?" she asked, her eyes glinting in the light from the street lamps. Artemis couldn't believe how polite this girl was suddenly, and she spoke so nicely too, none of this 'whatever, init, duh' stuff.
"May I ask yours first?" he replied.
"I suppose so, my name is Emily Gold," the girl said and Artemis was satisfied.
"I am Artemis Fowl the second, pleased to meet you," he said. He was happy with the 'pleased to meet you' bit, he was being polite, sociable, and respectful, Dr. Pett his current councillor would be pleased. Emily stared out of the window at the scenery flashing past and Artemis took another daring stab at trying to make conversation.
"So what are your interests Miss. Gold?" he asked.
"I construct web sites in my spare time and I also write pages for the Internet about trying to stop others from ridiculing people who wish to do well in school. I believe that there is far too much pressure on children in state schools to have a 'cool image' if you like. I believe that it disrupts education beyond repair, which is why we are at a loss for nurses and scientists in the country because people just aren't achieving good enough grades in their GCSE's," Emily said, it was quite obvious that she explained this information to anyone that was bothered to listen. Artemis was genuinely gob smacked, he'd never met anyone like this before, so… so… so much like him, well, not quite.
"How about you? What are your hobbies?" Emily asked. He couldn't well tell her that he spent a lot of his time trying to think of another way of restoring his family fortune, plotting criminal acts and trying to find out as much as possible about the Lower Elements Police. So he said:
"It seems we have something in common, I also spend much of my time on the Internet, but not because of as good a cause as yours I must admit," Suddenly the car started to slow down and Emily recognised her street.
"Thank you ever so much sir, again I'm terribly sorry about running out in front of you, it won't happen again," she said, "Goodbye Artemis, perhaps we'll meet again by a bizarre stroke of luck," and with that she was gone.
Artemis was at his computer as was usual, when his mother called him.
"Arty, there's someone on the phone for you darling," she said.
"Transfer the call to my phone please mother," he called back and picked up the phone on his desk.
"Artemis?" asked the voice on the phone.
"Yes, speaking," Artemis replied, he didn't recognise the voice.
"Hello Artemis, It's Emily Gold, I was wondering if you were busy this afternoon,"
"I don't believe so,"
"Would you like to meet me maybe later on?" Emily sounded hopeful. Artemis had never been asked by someone his own age to meet them, he could barely contain his joy but of course he did.
"Maybe you would let me take you to dinner?" Artemis asked.
"That would be nice, if you're sure," Emily replied.
"Of course. I'll have Butler pick you up at your house at five o'clock and we can return to Fowl Manor to discuss where we should go." Artemis insisted.
"That sounds wonderful Artemis," Emily said and Artemis genuinely smiled for the first time in a long time.
"Miss, Gold, I'd be interested to know how you acquired my telephone number," he said.
"You know full well how I acquired your telephone number. If you would tuck it into the back of the seat in front of me were I would undoubtedly find it Artemis." Emily laughed, it wasn't a cheerful laugh, but nevertheless it was a laugh.
"I… I shall see you at five o'clock," Artemis said and put the phone down. If he was anybody else he would have blushed, but he wasn't. He'd been caught out! This rarely happened. It wasn't one of his most brilliant tricks, indeed it was shamefully simple, but it had worked many times with adults and he hadn't yet been caught out. Then this girl comes along and makes him feel stupid, but for some reason he didn't mind. Artemis turned his computer to standby and went to find Butler and tell him his plans.
Emily was both happy and anxious at the same time. It was four o'clock and she was lying on her bed listening to a CD that she'd bought a week previously. There were so many thoughts running through her head that she was confusing herself. Had she done the right thing? Had this Artemis Fowl character really wanted her to call him? Had he left his number there for her to find or was it an accident? What she didn't realise was that Artemis Fowl never had accidents, he never made mistakes and of course he'd left his number there for her even though it hadn't actually been planned until a split second before he did it, most uncharacteristic actually. Emily had only said a few words to him but somehow they'd connected, strangely she had to admit. It wasn't the kind of connection that one made with a dear friend that lasted a lifetime, neither was it the sort of connection that linked two lovers together. It was a connection of similarity, but enough difference for each to teach the other. They were both lonely individuals with an almost similar way of thinking but they both came from amazingly different backgrounds and by a strange stroke of luck they had been set up together. Emily almost despised the little she knew of Artemis, he was arrogant and rather pompous but she felt that she needed to see him again, that's what her sixth sense was telling her anyway and it had never let her down, she trusted it. It felt as though Artemis needed her, he was desperate and vulnerable like an abandoned puppy, and she had to at least see that he was what he appeared to be although she knew that this wasn't the case.
Emily was dressed in a fine pair of black trousers and a plain black T-shirt; she trusted these clothes to make her look presentable but not too smartly dressed. Her mother had been reluctant to let her go out this evening but she had pleaded and finally got things her way. She was even more reluctant to let her daughter go when she answered the door to a two-metre high lump of muscle. Emily ran to the door, kissed her mother quickly good bye, and walked quickly down the path beside Butler, taking four steps to every one of his.
Artemis was waiting for her in the car, he even attempted a smile, what was getting into him?
"Good evening Miss. Gold," he said, almost cheerfully.
"Good evening Artemis. You can just call me Emily you know, when you call me Miss. Gold, I'm scared I'm acting too immature for you when you treat me like an adult," Emily laughed.
"Very well, Emily," Artemis said, rolling the name around his mouth as though it had a strange taste, it felt like he was breaking some invisible barrier and he wasn't sure what was on the other side. The car started to roll along and Emily felt tense, so did Artemis and the both of them tried their very best to hide it. You can imagine the atmosphere in the back of that car, a complete nightmare.
"I'm sorry I called you a smart arse," Emily suddenly laughed.
"That's quite all right, even I agree that I can sometimes be… unsociable," Artemis said quietly. Emily thought that it was a strange choice of words.
At Fowl manor the unlikely pair sat together at the large dining room table.
"Do you live on your own?" Emily asked, she hadn't seen anyone else.
"If only that were the case Emily," Artemis said, smiling at her in a way that made her frown, " No, my mother and father are out for the evening so we have the manor to ourselves as it were,"
"I wish my mother would let me stay at home on my own, she treats me like I still attend play-school." Emily sighed. Artemis stared at her in a pitying way that made her cheeks flush slightly.
"I'm so glad that my mother ignores me most of the time," Artemis said.
"Yes, well… where did Butler go," Emily asked, deciding to change the subject before she got herself worked up.
"He's monitoring my computers, I'm waiting for an important e-mail." Artemis explained. "Anyway, have you any suggests as to what we're going to do for dinner? Do you know any good restaurants?"
"No not really," Emily replied, "We could always call for a take-out pizza,"
"Take-out pizza? Well…err… of course we could always… err…" Artemis was lost for words, take-out pizza was not exactly what he had in mind, he wasn't even sure that it was edible food.
"Artemis! Don't tell me you've never had a Rich's take-out pizza before!" Emily said, grinning wickedly at Artemis' discomfort.
"Well, no I haven't quite honestly," Artemis admitted.
"And your terrified it won't match up to the standards of your usual elegant delicacies," Emily guessed. Artemis didn't reply but looked into his lap, almost shamefully.
"You know Artemis, sometimes less is more. May I use your phone?" Emily asked, smiling gently.
"Of course, there's one in the hallway," Artemis replied. Emily nodded and walked out into the hall.
Artemis was experiencing some strange emotions, it wasn't love, he'd felt that before, but it was more like understanding. It was like one of the psychiatrists had finally cracked the code, had finally made a difference, but the psychiatrist was a young girl his own age. People had never treated him like she did, people had never understood him like she did. And he was glad, someone was finally on the same wavelength, but he was also angry, he couldn't hide from her, she knew exactly what was going through his mind, and he felt naked and vulnerable. Emily came back into the room moments later and Artemis made it look like he hadn't been waiting for her, Artemis Fowl didn't wait for anybody.
"Now, Artemis, we play the game," Emily said, smiling almost wickedly.
"Which game would that be?" Artemis asked, dreading the answer.
"Don't look so worried, it's not strip poker!" Emily giggled.
"What is strip…?" Artemis began to say but Emily tutted and shook her head.
"Never mind. Let's just wait yes? The waiting game?"
"Ah, yes," Artemis said and the room went deadly, unnervingly, awkwardly silent for at least five minutes.