Hi!

So... this side of Christmas... heh... yeah. Sorry about that.

SORRY TO REPOST BUT A LOT OF THE WORDS WERE MUSHED TOGETHER AFTER I DIDN'T GIVE IT A PROPER LOOK THROUGH AND IT WAS BUGGING ME!

REVIEWER FEEDBACK

Ktw18 - Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it, and yeah this fic is planned to the gills! (apologies for the Christmas deadline... *blushes*)

ilikechocolatemilk - (As do I, but prefer strawberry) Holly/Annie interaction coming up! Yep, this chapter has TWO dream sequences :D

Hello - I am me - (Such a strange pen name...) still confused? Good. Glad I'm still holding your attention.

Lli - I HATE Artemis Senior. Awful man. You think he's a jackass now? Heh. Heh heh heh.

mischievous101 - Okay, maybe I shouldn't have written the "human" review prompt, it is extremely annoying... I think it's amazing that you're considering this as your seventh book :) That's so nice. Also, you have a fish bone wedged in your throat? Wth? Is that a saying or have got an actual fish bone wedged in your throat? (or did have, hopefully it's out by now).

the one who breathes nitrogen - You gave me the weirdest review I have ever had. Thank you. Truly, it was gift. So to the point and actually made the "human" review prompt kind of worth while...

Beckett Simpleton - Ah, you'll get to uni quick enough. It's scary how quick it comes around. And yes, my Dad is amazing. And I miss him so much now that I'm living away. Oh the sacrifices one makes for a good education!

Kusajishifuktaicho - Let's see if your theories are right (whatever they may be?)

silverphoenix - You're starting to loath Artemis Sr? Good! Welcome to the club my friend - Lli and I have cookies :)

BrazeRancor - You're review really made me smile. Such a nice thing to get. I'm really chuffed you're getting into it! Um, no. Artemis will not be getting flashbacks of Holly's past. Its a one way thing.

killerpoison - I know. Updates are always late from me. But pokey reviews do kinda help... Thanks for giving me that spike in the butt, lol.

Disclaimer - Ich heisse nicht Eoin Colfer (did I get that right? Any Germans in the house?)

'No, Art. There's a big difference between killing someone, practically killing someone, and not killing someone...

Which is it?'

She was led back through the parting crowds and through a staff door marked PERSONNEL ONLY that led into a corridor stinking of sim-coffee and old coins. Other terminal staff passed by her in the corridor, each giving her a quick glance before moving hurriedly on.

'You're in there,' said the attendant after a few minutes, stopped and held open a grubby door to her left. 'Good luck.'

'Thanks,' grunted Holly, wondering why she'd be needing luck.

But she understood exactly why as soon as she saw who was in the room. In fact, she was probably going to need the combined luck of everyone else under the Earth... and possibly over it too.

Because Commander Kelp was seated at the interview room's only table, triple acorns glinting on his chest and stormy purple irises fixed on her dumbstruck face.

Oh fuck, thought Holly numbly.

Chapter Seven - Drowning

'Trouble, I can explain-'

'Oh no,' he said, cutting across her. 'You don't need to. Foaly's already told me the whole sorry story.'

Holly winced.

'Trouble,' she said, forcing herself to look at him. 'You don't understand. It was... I... just a complete moment of madness. I don't know what came over me...'

She trailed off, knowing she sounded pathetic. But the truth was the truth, and sitting there stricken in the cold shadow of hindsight she felt like madness really had played a key part in her life these past two days.

Had she really told Foaly she was having psychic dreams? Had she really gone AWOL to Fowl manor in order to try and prove them?

Have I lost my mind?

The Commander walked away to the far side of the room and put his palms flat against the concrete of the cell wall. He dropped his head wearily between his biceps.

'Do you have any idea how worried I was?'

Holly broke out from her thoughts, looking up in surprise.

'Worried?'

He reared back from his position and slammed his hands back to table.

'Yes, worried! You took off without clearance to Fowl Manor, the home of the most dangerous mudman in the entire world and you expected me to just sit back and shrug about it? I phoned you this morning and you thought I was him! You were expecting him!'

Holly felt her face redden.

'Trouble-'

The commander ignored her and began pacing the room.

'For all I knew, Fowl could have been planning for months to lure you there! What if he'd been talking to you, grooming you? What if he'd sweet-talked you into meeting him, into trusting him? Next thing I know, I've got another kidnapping on my hands all because one of my own fucking officers doesn't know a threat when she meets one.'

Holly was stunned.

'What are you talking about?' she gasped. 'I thought you said Foaly had explained this to you?

'Oh he has! He told me all about it. About how you've been coming to his office, telling him you've been dreaming about the mud boy, about how finally you just had to go and see him...'

The she-elf's mouth dropped open.

So that's what Foaly's told him. That I had to go topside to see Artemis because...

'Now I know you two are close,' continued Trouble, obviously struggling to keep his voice steady. 'I know you've been through a lot and all that shit but today you directly violated-'

Holly's chair moved back with a sound like knives scraping ceramic.

'You don't understand,' she said. 'You really don't understand.'

Trouble's eyes flashed.

'Oh really? And just what is it that I don't understand, Captain?'

Holly stared at him hard. Her knuckles were white above the tabletop.

Should I tell him? Should I tell Trouble Kelp, my commanding officer, that I was acting on the authority of dreams?

She swallowed.

'I...I...'

'Yes?'

Unless... unless I accept that Foaly's already given him the best explanation...? That I went to Fowl Manor because I cared about Artemis. Is that really so far from the truth...?

A vein was pulsing in Trouble's left temple.

'Well, Captain?'

Holly dropped her gaze.

'I just... had... to see him.'

Trouble snorted derisively. 'Of course you did. And that, Captain, is why as of right now you are released from active duty.'

Her head snapped up.

'What?'

The Commander glared at her.

'What did you expect, Holly? That you could pull a stunt like this one and just skip merrily back into Police Plaza as if nothing had happened?' He gave a short, hollow laugh. 'I'm afraid it doesn't quite work that way...'

Holly stared at him as if he'd just slapped her across the face.

'But...but Trouble...'

The male elf's scowl deepened.

'Don't but Trouble me,' he grunted. 'You've brought this on yourself. You and Fowl.'

He moved away, rubbing a hand roughly over his crew cut. Holly just sat there, stunned.

What have I done?

'You're to hand in your badge and your gun,' continued the Commander with his back to her, 'and remain within your place of dwelling until you are summoned to court. That means no trips topside, no visits to plaza. Just you, in your apartment, until I tell you that you can move. Do I make myself clear?'

'Yes, Sir,' said Holly quietly.

'Good.'

He turned to her, his face twitching in anger.

'Now get out of my sight.'

Holly stood with her eyes averted. Trouble watched her, waiting for her to say something more, but she turned her face away, detached herself from her chair and left the room without making a sound.

Trouble turned back just as the door was shutting.

'D'arvit!' he swore, kicking out at his abandoned chair and sending it skittering violently to the other side of the cell.

It took Holly a further sixteen hours to get back to her apartment. Official Recon officers had confiscated her equipment and LEP passes the instant she'd stepped from the room, giving her a thorough search and scan down before marching her out into the terminal. They'd issued her official court summons in the public courtesy lounge, inviting an audience of half the terminal staff and customers.

'Did you have to do it in front of everyone?' she'd hissed, cheeks burning. 'Why couldn't you have waited until we were somewhere more private?'

'You gave the rules no consideration, Captain,' replied the official sprite smartly, sliding his documents back into his briefcase and closing it with a snap. 'Why should we have granted you any?'

Holly had clenched her fists and scowled.

'You have...forty seven... at...13...34... pm.'

Foaly's voice bleated from the tinny machine.

'Holly! Holly! Trouble's on the rampage; he's somehow found out you've gone topside. Look, just get home as soon as possible and... and hopefully we can figure something out...'

'Second message received at...13...57...pm.'

'Oh, shit. Holly, Trouble's just been in the ops booth demanding to know where you've gone. I... I had to tell him. I told him you're in Fowl Manor but... but I didn't tell him exactly why. He's just jumped to his own conclusions and now he thinks Artemis has lured you there! He's heading up to the surface right now to fetch you! Please, if you get this, phone home!'

'Third message received at...14...03...pm.'

'Holly, I'm so sorry! I know I shouldn't have told Trouble anything! I... I just... Please call.'

'Forth message received at...14...07...pm.'

'You know what, I'm not sorry! You've been acting crazy these last few days, and I was right to tell Trouble where you've gone! Frond, you're looking for bodies in the Fowl woods! What the d'arvit, Holly? Can't you see there's something just a teensy bit wrong with that picture? '

'Fifth message received at...14...12...pm.'

'I take it back. I'm sorry. You're not crazy. Just please come home. Please. We can talk this over. We can get to the bottom of everything. Please, just phone home...'

'Sixth message received at-'

Holly switched off the machine and dropped her keys onto the table beside it.

She took off her boots and LEP over-jacket and wandered to the kitchen. In the fridge there was nothing but a few freeze-packed rations hoarded from a field simulation three months ago. She closed the fridge door again and walked to the living room where her futon was still laid out from that morning. She eyed it grudgingly.

I should sleep right now...but if I do will I dream?

She trudged over and flopped down fully clothed into the mess of sheets and pillows.

After the day she'd just had, it was a risk she was just going to have to take...

Annie smiled at her. She was dressed in turquoise this time.

'Don't worry, Holly,' she whispered, reaching down to take the elf's shaking hand. 'Soon the clearing will have plenty of bodies for you to find.'

Holly nodded, comforted by her touch.

'Will there be many?' she asked.

Annie squeezed her palm. 'Enough for everyone.'

The elf felt the hand in hers begin to fade and soon the girl had disappeared altogether.

Shadow was the next thing to register. Moving shadow...

No, not shadow. It was light - rippling light.

The underwater lamps of the Fowl swimming pool reflected shifting waves onto a glass ceiling. Holly approached slowly, stopping on the edge of the terracotta tiling that ringed the outside of the pool. She looked tentatively down into the golden water and saw a white figure lying face up beneath the surface; its eyes were closed, limbs drifting limply from its torso.

'No!'

Holly whipped around. Annie Shinner was sprinting towards her. The girl drew level with the elf and without hesitation leapt feet first into the water. Below her, the figure's eyes snapped open.

'Ann!' it gasped, but all that came out was a stream of stunned bubbles.

The girl grabbed at Artemis' arm, yanking at him desperately as she clawed at the surface with her free hand. The boy saw her struggles and wrenched himself free from her grip. Annie gasped, water rushing down her throat, her splayed fingers clutching at emptiness. Artemis beat back her limbs, wrapped his arms tightly under hers, and kicked off from the bottom of the pool.

They broke the surface together, Annie still thrashing, Artemis still clinging to her.

'Ann-!'

The world deadened as they were submerged once again. With more than a little effort, Artemis kicked them both back to the air and pushed Annie towards the side of the pool. She scrabbled at the tiling, still gasping and choking. The boy lifted her legs and she rolled upwards, slopping onto the darkened terracotta. He pulled himself after her.

'Annie! Annie, are you alright?'

The girl's chest was rising and falling like a well-pumped bellows. Her face was white, too white.

'Annie?'

She twisted up onto her hands and wretched. Artemis bent over her, dragging back her sodden hair. After a few seconds heavy breathing, Annie coughed and dragged a shaking hand across her mouth.

'M'alright.'

Artemis snorted and sat back on the tiles.

'What did you think you were doing,' he demanded, after a moment more of recovery, 'jumping into a swimming pool?'

She scowled at him, her eyes bloodshot. 'I thought you were drowning!'

'You can't swim!'

'And again, I thought you were drowning! Actually no, I thought you'd already drowned.'

They looked at each other, both their breathing still ragged.

'Well of course I wasn't drowning,' sneered Artemis, getting up and snatching a towel from a nearby sun lounger. 'Butler ensured long ago that I became a competent swimmer.'

Annie bucked her teeth and waggled her head from side to side.

'Butler ensured long ago that I became a competent swimmer,' she mimicked, patting down the front of her oversized and dripping duffel coat. She reached a pale hand inside and retrieved a pack of destroyed cigarettes from an inner pocket. 'Aw, feck. Look at that! They was my last lot too! Callum's gonna kill me. I said I would share them...'

Artemis rolled his eyes and tossed her a spare towel.

'You barely escape filling your lungs with water but persevere in filling them with tar?'

'Yeah, yeah. I'm not in the mood for a lecture, thanks all the same.'

The boy pressed on regardless. 'Why did you even come here tonight? By sneaking into the house without informing me first you triple the chances of Butler discovering you.'

Annie shrugged out of her jacket.

'You're such a worry wart. You showed me the way through the cameras remember? And anyway, it's a house, not the feckin treasury. We've both gotten through tighter places than this...'

She dropped the coat to the floor and began to peel her cardigan back from her shoulder. Artemis frowned deeply. All along Annie's newly revealed arm were bruises, some faded and brown like old coffee-rings, but others large and angry against her pale flesh.

'Annie...'

She glanced up and saw what he was staring at.

'What?' she snapped, pulling her cardigan back over her.

He just looked at her. She snorted, dipping to grab her towel from the floor.

'Callum and I'ave bin fighting is all,' she snapped. 'And anyway! What were you doing floating in a swimming pool, eh? Isn't that swimming pool one-oh-one? "Don't float about like you're dead or the lifeguard will think you're dead and jump in to save you, wasting everyone's time and patience"?'

Artemis sighed. 'So you're a lifeguard now? You must surely be the world's worst.'

'I wouldn't have had to jump if you hadn't been playing dead.'

'You thought I was dead, you knew you couldn't swim, and yet you still jumped. Where's the logic in that?'

She looked at him, her thin face wrapped in a shroud of yellowing towelling.

'Feel flattered.'

She sat down heavily on the closest sun-seat and glared at the water in silence.

Artemis looked at her from the other chair, watching the pool-light ripple over her pallor. His eyes drifted again to the cloth that now hid her injuries.

'So,' said Annie, distracting him, 'you still haven't answered my question. What were you floating about in the pool for?'

Artemis' frown deepened.

'I was... thinking.'

'Couldn't you do that on dry land?'

'No. This is the only room in which I can loop the surveillance feed for prolonged periods without attracting attention. No one has used it for years.'

Annie sniffed, wiping a damp hand across her nose before tucking it back into the folds of her towel.

'Must have been some heavy thinking, eh?'

The moon was shining through the glass above them full and round.

'It's my Father.'

'Who's he killed this time?'

'No one.'

'Really? Wow. That is something to think about.'

'He's gone to Russia.'

'Oh yeah. On that boat trip right? Nice little holiday for you.'

He closed his eyes tight and dropped his head into his hands. Annie blinked.

'Artemis?' she asked, her towel falling back from her head. 'Artemis what's wrong?'

He didn't answer, just sat there, water trailing from his dripping fringe and down his arms.

'Artemis?' she repeated, getting up and walking towards him. 'Artemis, what?'

He sat up, sniffing loudly.

'I've killed him.'

The entire world seemed to hold its breath.

'Beg pardon?' whispered Annie, her heart hammering against her rib cage.

Artemis adjusted his towel around his shoulders. 'My father is going to die.'

'Going to? So you've not killed him?'

'Practically.'

Annie closed her eyes. 'No, Art. There's a big difference between killing someone, practically killing someone, and not killing someone. Which is it?'

'He departed for Murmansk nine days ago. In the next day or two he will pass into the Bay of Kola... where the Russian Mafia will be waiting with several primed missiles ready to blow his ship out of the water.'

'And you haven't told him?' gasped Annie, eyes wide. 'But how long have you known?'

A slow, dreadful smile crept onto the ten-year old's face. 'Two months.'

Annie turned away from him, her hands clasped over her mouth. She took a few steps towards the pool, then wheeled back.

'And he really doesn't know?'

'No. I've made sure of it. It has been my primary focus these last few weeks to keep the information from him. I was incredibly lucky to have intercepted it in the first place.'

She shook her head in awe. 'God. If he'd found out... And if he'd found out you knew and hadn't told him.'

'He'd have killed me,' nodded Artemis. 'He still could. I will not be safe until the Fowl Star is at the bottom of the sea.'

They looked at each other, nervously, excitedly, like two children who had just placed a drawing pin on the chair of a much-feared teacher. Annie swallowed.

'And you're sure?' she asked him, her expression sobering. 'And you're sure about this?'

Artemis' smile vanished. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

'Because he's your dad.'

The little boy's eyes flashed. 'No. He's the man who buries bodies in the garden and tells my mother he's inspecting the lawns.'

'Artemis, be serious.'

'I have never been more serious in my life.'

The room had taken on a different atmosphere. Annie clutched her towel close to her.

'But what about the other people aboard? Have you thought about them? How many crew on a boat that size?'

'Forty one, including my father.'

'Forty one? So what about the other forty?'

Artemis spoke to the water. 'Their deaths are regrettable... but necessary.'

She stared at him incredulously. He caught the look.

'There are approximately two hundred and sixty eight bodies in that clearing!' he exploded. 'If I have to sacrifice forty people now in order to save another two hundred from meeting the same fate then so be it!'

'Great!' shouted Annie, her face red. 'So you're allowing the deaths of these people in order to potentially save the lives of many more. Wow, sound ethics there.'

He glared at her venomously. 'Why are you questioning me like this? You know he deserves to die. Why are you trying to stop me?'

'I'm not. I'm just making sure you're sure. You're the one who's going to have to walk around for the next however many years knowing you let your father get murdered.'

The boy flinched. Murdered, murdered, murdered.The word echoed from the glass ceiling, ricocheting off the walls, the water, before eventually fading to nothing.

'I am sure,' he whispered. 'I must be.' He looked up at Annie. 'You don't hear the way he talks to my mother. He always placates her, tells her that this time will be the last, this time will be the last. I heard him, her Pirate Prince,he told her that this deal in Murmansk would end it all, that after it is done he will have the funds to finally become legitimate and remain that way. He's lying, Annie. He's lying.' Artemis took a shaky breath. 'My mother and I will not be able to live safe, happy lives until he is gone.'

Annie bit her lip, leaving sharp imprints in the already chapped skin. With three steps she sat down next to him.

'God, Artemis,' she muttered. 'Just... God.'

The boy wiped his forearm across his eyes and sniffed, hard.

'There is no such thing.'

Holly blinked. She had vanished from the pool room and instead found herself in a primary school classroom, complete with clumsy drawings tacked to the walls and, of course, their juvenile artists. Thirty ten-year old heads bobbed in front of her, almost all vigilantly facing the front. A young teacher in a floral dress and non-too-sensible heels teetered at the front of class, pointing to a whiteboard featuring the eight times table.

'And four times eight is...?' Ms Garrett looked around for an appropriate victim. 'Omar?'

Omar had to take a pencil from his mouth before he could answer. 'Thirty two?'

The teacher clapped. 'That's right! And five times eight is...? Sheba?'

'For...ty?' guessed a young blonde with pigtails.

'Yes! And six times eight is...? Artemis?'

The classroom collectively turned to look at the back where a small boy with raven hair was sat at a desk on his own, having pulled his chair as far away from his fellow classmates as possible.

Ms Garrett tapped the board for attention. 'Artemis?' she called again. 'Did you hear me?'

With a laboured sigh the child allowed the three thousand-page helicopter manual he'd been reading to fall spine down on the desk.

'You rang?' he drawled.

The young woman blinked. 'I... I just asked you a question, Artemis. It is Artemis isn't it?' She smiled kindly. 'It's just I heard your mother call you Arty at the last parents evening and I was wondering if you preferred to be called that?'

There was a collective intake of breath from the rest of the class. The last time somebody had called Artemis "Arty" Mary Jeffries had lost her septum.

The boy's head cocked to one side. 'I'm sorry,' he said pleasantly. 'I appear to have quite forgotten your name, Ms...?'

'Garrett,' supplied the teacher, still smiling.

Artemis clicked his fingers. 'Of course, yes, Ms Garrett. You were eligible to teach a little over ten months ago, were you not? Graduating from Cambridge with an honours degree in English Literature, before going on to complete your Post Graduate Certificate of Education. You were a fully qualified teacher at the tender age of twenty two.' He smiled endearingly at her. 'Bless you.'

The graduate in question was decidedly taken aback.

'I...I beg your pardon-?'

'I was merely congratulating you on your credentials, Ms Garrett. You should be proud. A person like yourself must have worked very hard to achieve them.'

'Artemis,' said the teacher carefully, realising that this may well be the "little turd" they always spoke about in the staff room. 'I have asked you a question. If you do not know the answer, then I shall go through it with you on the board. There is no need to try and create a distraction.'

The child cocked a thin eyebrow. Around him, the other children were slowly recoiling, watching the youngest Fowl as if he were a landmine in uniform.

'A distraction?' questioned Artemis. 'Why would I try and create a distraction, Ms Garrett? As you can see, I was happily involved in my reading.'

Ms Garrett reached a hand out and snatched the manual from the table. Or at least she tried. Her snatch turned out to be more of a heave.

'Yes, Artemis,' she wheezed, folding her arms around the five kilogram tome. 'I shall have to confiscate this. You know you're not allowed to read while the teacher is teaching.'

Artemis smiled, amused. 'Was that what you were doing? How fascinating.'

She dropped the book onto a nearby desk with an almost deafening bang.

'Artemis! Stop this now. I have asked you to answer a question!'

The boy blinked. 'What question?'

'Six times eight!'

'Excuse me? Really, Ms Garrett, you should try to be clearer in your enunciation.'

'I am your teacher, Artemis-!'

Artemis gasped, apparently horrified. 'Teacher? You consider yourself my teacher? My God. I know this school has always been a little lax in its hiring standards but I never realised it had sunk to recruiting delusional psychotics.'

Patricia Garrett placed both hands either side of the child's desk, allowing only three inches of space between them.

'I will ask you only one more time,' she growled. 'What is six times eight? I know you know.'

'Threatening a child, Ms Garrett? This is hardly professional behaviour.'

'Just answer the question.'

'And to think, you had such a glittering career ahead of you.'

'This is absurd! I am more than twelve years older than you!'

'Oh, please. I know women who own breast implants older than you.'

'IT'S THE GARDA!'

There was a colossal scraping of chairs as the rest of the class stampeded to the east-side windows. Holly, Artemis and Ms Garrett stared after them. True enough, there was a white police car just pulling into the school car park, its blue roof lights unlit. A man stepped out from the driver's side and opened the back door, self-consciously straightening his protective vest. A woman emerged unsteadily from the car. She was wearing a thick faux-fur coat that hung from one shoulder and what looked to be a silk nightdress underneath.

'Isn't that your Ma?' demanded Petra O'Figgins, un-sticking her nose from the window in order to stare at Artemis. 'She looks bad.'

'She's in trouble whatever it is!' announced Madeleine Potts. 'Or at least Artemis is!'

Georgie Khan giggled. 'Artemis is gonna to be arrested. Artemis is gonna be arrested.'

The chant was picked up by the rest of the class, and had soon built to a tumult. Artemis ignored them, disengaged himself from his teacher, and ran to the window. It was indeed his mother, looking as lost and confused as a child just woken from a dream. A nightmare. Butler appeared at the doors of the school reception and ran to meet the Fowl Matriarch. He caught her just as her knees gave way.

Artemis flinched.

'Your mam looks sick,' stated Jared Northcliffe, and the rest of the class murmured their concurrence.

Artemis gripped the edge of the window ledge, his nails cracking the paint beneath them.

Butler's massive head obscured his mother's as he bent down to whisper something in her ear, pulling at her arm. He glanced anxiously towards Artemis' classroom window.

There was a sharp knock at the classroom door.

'Ms Garrett?'

Everyone turned. Everyone except the boy with paint under his nails.

'Oh! Mr Farrows,' yelped Ms Garrett, ripping her eyes away from the spectacle outside to face the school's Deputy Headmaster. 'How can I help you? Children, get back to your seats!'

There was a reluctant groan as the majority of the children sloped back to their chairs.

Mr Farrows cleared his throat. 'I'm here to collect Artemis. He's been called for by the headmaster.'

Everyone froze again, turning to face the boy still gazing out the window.

Artemis swallowed. 'Why does he want me?'

The senior teacher looked uncomfortable. 'I... I think they'll explain it to you there, Artemis. If you'd just come along.'

'Should I take my things?'

'Oh, um, yes... yes, I... I should think you should.'

So this day has finally come, thought Artemis. He took a steadying breath and turned away from the window. Holly followed him.

The headmaster's office was only a five-minute walk from the year five classroom, and yet that day it felt to Artemis like several hours. At every door they passed there were several faces peeping back at them through the safety-glass portholes. Each face watched him as if he were a man being walked to the gallows. Or maybe that was just his imagination.

Butler was waiting at the end of the final passage; Artemis could recognise that bulk anywhere. Mr Farrows, however, had clearly never been introduced and he gave an audible gulp as they approached.

'Artemis,' murmured the bodyguard, his face turned down.

The boy ignored him, pushing instead into the room beyond. Holly followed. Inside there were four people: two police officers, his mother, and the school's Headmaster, Keith Lister. Doctor Lister fumbled with his teacup as Artemis entered, placing it shakily down on its saucer.

'Ah, Artemis, you're here.'

The boy kept his face devoid of emotion. 'You called for me, Doctor Lister?'

Lister frowned. 'Yes. Yes I did.'

Artemis looked to Angeline Fowl. She was hunched over in her leather chair, a shaking mug of something dark clasped between her hands. Her lips were brushing together as if she were speaking, or singing, but it definitely wasn't to anyone inside the room.

The two Gardai glanced at each other.

'Would you like a biscuit, Artemis?' asked one kindly.

The boy looked at him. He was a tall man, with a neatly trimmed moustache and well-shined shoes. The double arrows on his navy epaulettes told Artemis they'd sent someone of rank.

'Sergeant,' snapped the child. 'I am not stupid. I know something significant has happened, otherwise neither you nor my mother would be here. Please do not add insult to whatever grievance you are about to impress upon me by attempting to placate me with...' He sneered distastefully at the sustenance being offered to him. 'A plate full of ginger hobnobs.'

The man blinked. He retracted the biscuits, placing them hastily back onto Lister's already cluttered desk.

'All...alright then.'

The boy's heart felt like it would burst with the force it was throwing itself against his ribcage.

This is it. This is it.

'It's the Fowl Star, Artemis, that... that was the name of the boat your father took-'

'I know the name of the boat!'

The Sergeant swallowed. 'Right. Well. It's sunk.'

The boy nodded.

That wasn't so bad.

'Go on.'

The Sergeant's taller colleague frowned.

'It sunk in the Bay of Kola - that's in Russia - and a lot of people have died.'

You knew that. You knew that would have to happen.

'Including the Major. Who I believe you knew.'

Butler's uncle.

'And-'

'And Father,' completed Artemis.

The Gardai exchanged another glance.

'Well, we don't know that for sure,' amended the Sergeant, his eyes creasing at the corners. 'They haven't actually found your father yet.'

'You mean they haven't found a corpse yet.'

Everyone in the room stared at the child, all except Angeline, who continued to whisper to herself.

'Dear me, Artemis,' blustered the Headmaster, his eyes wide. 'What a way to go on. That's your da you're talking about.'

The ten year old smiled tightly. 'I am aware of that, Doctor, thank you.'

The other policeman moved away from the window. 'You're right, Artemis,' he said, taking over from his slightly stunned superior. 'We haven't found a body. There is still a chance that the Russian authorities will find your father alive. However... the boat sank about seventeen hours ago, and the waters your father fell into are very, very cold...'

Minus one point seven.

'...and people don't tend to survive temperatures that harsh.'

Ah.

'So,' said Artemis, 'what you're trying to tell me is that my father is missing but presumed dead.'

The man grimaced at the boy's bluntness, but nodded. 'Yes.'

The child clapped his hands. 'Butler!'

His bodyguard's mammoth head appeared immediately around the doorframe. 'Artemis?'

'I wish to go home now,' said the child, as if the room were a park he'd simply grown tired of playing in. 'Would you be so kind as to collect my mother and help her to the car? I predict she will need a little assistance.' He turned back to the two police officers. 'Gentlemen, I thank you for taking the trouble to come down here today. I know the weather on the roads has been more than a little treacherous.'

Doctor Lister stood up from behind his desk.

'Artemis,' he said. 'Artemis, slow down, child. You've just received some terrible news.'

The boy sighed. 'And yet again, Doctor, you display a remarkable ability to always state the patently obvious.'

'Artemis. Artemis. Listen to me.'

Lister moved out from his office chair and knelt so their eyes met.

'I know how you're feeling,' he said. 'I also lost my father at a very young age and I can tell you... you don't have to be so strong, Artemis. Now is the time to grieve, to think of your father and... and to just get it all out.'

There was a pause. Butler helped a doll-like Angeline to her feet. She murmured something unintelligible.

'To "get it all out"?' asked Artemis, a gleam in his eyes. 'Yes, of course. I shall need plenty of time to get it all out, won't I? Put me down in the Governor's books for an extended term of absence. Who knows how long I will need to mourn?' He turned sharply to his manservant. 'Butler, we're leaving.'

The child swept from the office. In the playground outside, a plump dinner lady was already ringing the hand-bell for lunch. Doors banged open along the corridor as dozens of children answered her call. They all avoided the lopsided pair of Butler and Angeline, staring at the Fowl Matriarch as if she were wracked with some terrible, contagious disease. Artemis strode to the car and Holly hurried after him.

The drive home passed slowly. Angeline gathered a little more awareness inside the Bentley and kept trying to reach for her son's hand.

'Arty,' she croaked. 'Oh, Arty.'

He resolutely avoided the contact.

As soon as the car pulled up at the manor steps, Artemis was out of it.

'Artemis!'

It was Butler, calling from behind him.

'Artemis, wait!'

The boy stopped on the stairs.

'What?' he demanded. 'I have things to do.'

Butler looked up at him, his hand still on the Bentley's driver-side door.

'Artemis. You're upset.'

'No, I am merely impatient to get on.'

'I know it's tempting to simply hide away-'

'Hide? I am not going to hide.'

'Artemis, your mother...'

The wind-stripped birch trees swayed like always and in them squawked their resident murder of crows. Somewhere on the western lawn the Fowl gardener whistled the same tune he'd been whistling for thirty nine years. A sudden gale blew Artemis' dark hair across his face.

'Please, Butler,' he said, keeping his voice level. 'I wish to be alone.'

The child turned and walked up the steps. He crossed the entrance hall, ascended the main stairs, ran down the second corridor, crashed through the door to his bedroom, and crumbled, sobbing, into Annie's waiting arms.

And there it is!

Artemis attempted to passively murder his father in the Fowl Star incident so that he and his mother could live better lives.

Well, that's my theory.

Really hate Artemis Sr.

Next chapter - Tuley Brannagh is back.

Please remember to review (believe me, they do have an impact on when I write.)

And thanks again to my amazing new beta - CIELO CRIMISI - without whom this chapter wouldn't be here :D

(well it would. It would just be immeasurably shit.)