Sorry if the last chapter seemed a little rushed. I don't really like writing about Artemis's parents. So here's the next one, hope you like it!
Artemis almost ran down the stairs. He hoped that Juliet hadn't hurt Finn. He knew she was always careful, but you never knew…
When he entered the living room, he let out a pent-up breath as he noticed Juliet and Finn lying on the floor laughing. All the furniture was pushed out of the way, leaving an open area in the middle of the room, but a shattered vase lay on the perimeter of the space.
Juliet looked up, tears in her eyes from laughing so hard. "Sorry Artemis…I think we broke something."
Artemis glanced briefly at the remnant of the vase. A priceless collectible, of course, but he couldn't care less.
He knelt beside Finn. "Are you hurt?"
The boy shook his head, blue eyes shining as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
"Are you mad Daddy?" he asked. "About the vase?"
"No," Artemis said. "But we are going to clean up the mess you made."
Finn nodded and scrambled to his feet, beginning to gingerly pick up shards of glass.
Artemis sighed and joined his son.
However, Juliet quickly grabbed his arm. "You don't have to help Artemis. Butler and I can take care of it."
Artemis looked at her sadly. "I need something to do to keep my mind off…things."
Juliet nodded and let go of his arm, the tone in his voice speaking for itself.
As they cleaned, Artemis found his mind wandering regardless. The glass lying all over the floor had sparked a thought in his mind. Could Finn heal others too? Could he heal at will? If someone were to get cut by the glass-
Artemis's train of thought was abruptly cut off at a yelp from Finn. He glanced up and saw the boy holding his hand, palm up, and looking at a small shard of glass protruding from it. Artemis saw that he was trying not to cry.
He crawled over to his son, who held his injured hand out to Artemis as he sniffled.
Artemis took his hand gently and looked Finn in the eyes.
"Finn, I want you to do something for Daddy."
Finn nodded and sniffled.
"I'm going to pull this out and I want you to concentrate really hard on your hand getting better really quickly."
Finn looked confused but obliged by staring intently at his hand.
Artemis had to smile, but soon winced at the thought of removing the glass from Finn's hand. He didn't want to cause him any pain. He sighed and quickly pulled out the shard.
Artemis watched Finn's hand expectantly, but for a moment, nothing happened. Then, blue sparks erupted and ran along his arm, targeting the wound and erasing it from his skin.
Finn stared at his hand in wonder, then looked up at Artemis. "What was that?"
"Magic," Artemis said quietly, still entranced.
"Magic?" Finn asked, now completely confused.
Artemis looked into Finn's eyes. "I never told you Finn. They said that you were fine, but obviously you're a bit different from the rest of us." He took a deep breath. Finn waited for him to continue.
"Finn, you are part fairy. Elf, to be exact."
Finn sat still for a moment, then leapt to his feet. "I'm a fairy?"
"Part fairy," Artemis corrected, unable to read Finn's expression.
Finn frowned for a moment, but a grin soon broke through. "Cool! Do I get wings? And pointy ears?"
Artemis laughed quietly. "No wings. But you do have pointed ears."
Finn's hands flew up to his ears. He ran his finger over the small points before jumping up and down and yelling "I'm a fairy!"
Artemis clapped his hand over Finn's mouth before anyone could hear.
"Quiet Finn. You must not tell anyone, especially not Grandpa, Myles and Beckett, you understand?"
Finn nodded and Artemis removed his hand from his mouth.
"Why not?" Finn whispered.
"Because they don't know about the fairies and they must never find out. You have to keep the fairies a secret."
Finn nodded again. "Alright." He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking. "Do Juliet and Butler know about the fairies?" He glanced at Juliet suspiciously.
"Yes, they do. You can talk to them about the fairies."
"Good." Finn looked back at Artemis. "Do you have magic Daddy?"
Artemis sighed. "I did once. It was a long time ago. Do you remember the story with the demons?"
"Yes."
"Well, the boy in the story, that was me."
Finn gasped.
"I stole magic in the time stream. But I lost it trying to heal Grandma, in the story about the lemur Jayjay."
Finn stared at Artemis with wide eyes. "You know the fairies?"
Artemis nodded. "I do," he said, a little bit sadly. "I haven't seen them in a very long time though." He decided to leave out the part about Holly. Finn would probably meet her soon enough now.
"Why not?"
"I'm not really sure Finn. I think that the fairies don't want to see me."
"Why would the fairies not want to see you?" Finn asked incredulously. Artemis heard a slight snicker from Juliet as she finished picking up the glass.
"I'll explain to you when you're older," Artemis answered wearily. "It's a very long story and hard to understand."
"You promise you'll tell it to me though?"
Artemis nodded. "I promise."
"So did all of those things happened to you? All the stories you told me with the boy and the fairies?" Finn asked.
"They did. All of them happened to me."
Finn sat on Artemis's lap and looked up at him in wonder. "You're so lucky Daddy. I wish those things would happen to me."
Artemis smiled, although it was still sad.
Finn kept talking. "So you kidnapped a fairy too? What was she like? What was her name? Did you use real names in the stories?"
Artemis sighed. He was going to be answering questions for a long time now that he'd told Finn the truth.
"Her name was Holly Short."