Chapter 12 – In which Melissa demonstrates her full commitment to her goals
Artemis and Ivy were walking through one of the less known alleyways of Chicago, Artemis looking at every single small rock as if it was personally causing him discomfort.
"You don't have to tag along if you'd prefer to go back to your civilised world, you know." Commented Ivy, seeing Fowl's eyes staring at a scrawny alley cat scampering a few feet to the left of him. "The people I'm going to be meeting aren't going to be very welcoming for you, and not unintentionally either."
Artemis frowned at a dustbin before turning towards his diminutive companion, somewhat insulted,
"Are you implying that I'm a coward?"
You see, a normal, sensible person would have simply said, 'Of course not, I was just looking out for you.' Unfortunately, that's not really what Ivy said…
"Yes. What did you think I was trying to say? You're my knight in shining armour?" Genius, yes. A child prodigy? Definitely. Sensible? You'd find more sensible people in the deserted corridors of Pex and Chip's heads.
The rest of the journey was spent with very little conversation, and most of it hostile insults to the other. If either Nubi or Butler were there, they would have been smacking their own foreheads in frustration.
Soon, the alley had become empty, and all except the skinniest alley cats inhabited the corners. Fowl finally gave into his own curiosity, and asked (a bit more desperately than he had intended),
"Who do you want to meet in this place? Unless you can speak to cats as well as control the four basic elements."
He wasn't actually expecting the fairly abrupt answer of 'Yes' from Ivy.
And he was even more surprised when a knife was at his throat and he was lifted bodily off the ground by a pair of strong hands with the traditional phrase, 'Your money our your life, punk." In a heavily exaggerated accent.
He was about to shout for Ivy when he saw a negligent hand flick at him, and he wasn't sure what happened to the man behind him, but he knew from the 'oof!' and the heavy crash into brick wall assured him that the man was concussed… at best.
"Wow, who's the leader this time then? What took you people so long to get to us and try to mug us? Who's taken over from Sid?"
Artemis stared, unaware that his mouth was now hanging open. He knew that Ivy wasn't your average teenage girl, but being able to control the winds and waves was one thing. Consorting with common muggers and thieves who stole from simple brawn was just… not right.
It was probably the fourth time ever in his life that his extensive vocabulary failed him. Ivy turned to face him, and her features hit him full in the face. It was shocking, to see what effect this dank alleyway had done to Kestrel… her expression, the way she held herself… everything but her actual looks had changed.
She raised an eyebrow. "Fowl, close the mouth. It's not becoming, and humans usually just open their mouths to eat and speak. Have you found an alternative purpose?"
It was quite possible that Artemis would have stood there for several sunlit mornings had he not been knocked down forcibly by a person right behind him.
Ivy rolled her eyes at her friend's falling body with more than a little bit of guilt gnawing inside her. She was, after all, in charge of his safety, and she doubted Mrs Fowl would have been overjoyed to have her son back with his IQ scoring considerably lower.
"Must you be so melodramatic when you knock someone out? It's really much harder to revive them after you knock them out like that, especially when you're not even sure where you hit them." Frowned Ivy, kneeling in front of Artemis, trying to see if he'd been bruised.
"He's your boyfriend? Rich yob, that kid. You're lucky." The sweet, musical voice that lilted out of the shadows revealed itself to be from the person who knocked out Artemis. A tall, slim and obviously female gangster.
"No! Why does everyone immediately jump to that conclusion?" Exasperated, Ivy beckoned into the shadows. "Okay, musclemen, get him to the den."
Two bulky men who could have rivalled Butler's height picked Fowl up and carried him away deeper into the alleyway. The girl followed their progress with narrowed eyes,
"Are you sure that he can be trusted? You English kids are more than a little notorious for gossiping, y'know."
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Oh, you wouldn't believe some of the secrets that we keep from the world."
"Go on then, tell me."
"It wouldn't be a secret then, would it?"
Artemis wasn't in the best of moods when Ivy next saw him. Then again, she mused, no male would be happy if they'd been hit around four times in their lives and three of those hits were from girls.
"And you felt that concealing the existence of an underground system in America was necessary? These people don't even have insurance!" Artemis's scowl and tone were decidedly frosty.
"Hey, we've only known each other for, what? Less than two weeks? How do I know you wouldn't snitch on us?" Ivy's American accent was growing more and more profound – something that seemed to happen quite frequently when she came to America for some reason.
"Would you please cease that ridiculous accent? It makes your obscure speeches sound even more stupid than usual." Artemis threw back as an insult, determined to annoy her to the best of his ability.
Katy stepped in, seeing that sparks fly between them like an electric saw. "Whoa, there, cow-folks. Calm it. Do you English snobs all say hi by insulting each other or something?"
"We don't!" Ivy and Artemis both shouted simultaneously.
Kat smirked maliciously, "And it seems that you're pretty close, for two people who aren't lovebirds."
"We're not lovebirds!" As the words left their mouths, they looked at each other and snapped any eye contact almost immediately, Ivy storming out of the room and Fowl trying to storm out of the room.
And then collapsing against the crudely fixed up bed.
"What is her problem?" Growled Artemis fiercely, feeling uncharacteristically frustrated. How could one little adolescent girl, younger than him, make his emotions turn somersaults every single time he saw her?
Then again, he hadn't even been sure about having any emotions before she had come along.
Ivy was busy kicking up stones and flinging them onto the walls. Piccolo (the person who had taken over since Sid had moved in with his new girlfriend) came up to her and gave her a metal pole.
"You'll knock down the building with the force you're putting behind those throws." He whistled softly, his hoarse voice sounding exactly like a well-carved piccolo. Kestrel looked at him in envy… her voice was good, but she sometimes did wish that her throat could effortlessly produce a sound of pure magic.
Maybe this is a good time to straighten out a few ends. Ivy met the gang on her first visit to Chicago, on her sixth birthday. Meeting with these people under a secluded area and facing knives didn't really have much effect on a six-year-old girl.
Which really worried the gangsters quite a bit. Especially when they found that several of their henchmen had been knocked out… apparently by giant boulders that were far too big for the girl to pick up on her own.
It was Sid who had managed to win her trust (it was amazing how much a pink teddy bear could do to a six-year-old girl) and introduced her to the gang. She was taught how to fight here, and at the end of her two-month stay in Chicago, she had enlisted in the local gym and carried on fighting.
"Wonder how Sid's getting on?" Ivy had a disgusting habit of speaking her thoughts out loud. It really was quite hard for her to keep her own personal secrets.
"Oh, he's over the moon. Who wouldn't be, with a child coming soon and living in a house after ten years spent on the streets?" Mumbled Piccolo, absently checking his nails for any dirt. He looked Ivy in the eyes. He was perhaps one of the only people in the world who could do such a thing.
"Something's bothering you, Kestrel. Tell me." Piccolo wasn't complicated. He was just… scarily direct.
"Not sure. I may just be paranoid, or something, but I know that something's about to happen. And not something good either."
"Ah. I hear the two words 'Melissa Kestrel' lurking in that comment somewhere. Mind telling me where?"
Ivy opened her mouth to retort sharply, but something forced itself up her throat, trapping the words there, what's mother done to me now? She mentally kicked herself for letting her Melissa close enough to do something to her.
Come to the video store, and I won't hurt you…Oh my gosh, she's actually imprinting a command into my head…
Come to the Kiddo Video Store…Mother… please… stop it… when was the last time she tried to plead for something? Five, six years ago? When her mother put the Air Vow upon her?
She was lost from conscious thought now. She didn't even notice it when she raised the metal stick and hit Piccolo hard across the chest, and she was only dimly aware of her feet moving underneath her.
Artemis shot up. Something was up with Kestrel.
"Whoa, there, kiddo. You're gonna faint if you stand up that quickly from lying down." Frowned Kat, trying to get the adolescent to sit down for a minute.
"I need to check up on Kestrel." Even Kat, in the short time that she had known him, was surprised at the outburst of emotion.
"Oh, so you're being human, now, are you?"
"Would you care for what you call the 'English greeting' or are you going to take me to see Ivy?" Inquired Fowl coldly, his eyes glinting in the dim lights.
"And that small piece of humanity has just gone out of the window." Kat sighed. "Okay, let's get you two lovebirds reunited.
"We are not lovebirds!"
Two blocks away, in broad daylight, a girl with piercing green eyes seemed to be having some trouble with a certain lamppost. Controlling, her mother may have been. Careful? There were more careful mad men than Melissa Kestrel.
A/N: I am soooo sorry about the delay! But here's the chapter, and I will try and update soon.
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