"Epitome."
"E-P-I-T-O-M-E. Meaning the prime example of or a brief overview of written works from the Greek." Myles answered without a second's hesitation.
"Very Good." Artemis nodded his approval. He'd grown to take a lot of pride in the twins over the last three years. Myles was eager to learn as much as he could, and Artemis found himself almost just as eager to teach as it seemed.
He trudged through the green hills of Ireland with his younger brother, simply enjoying the rare warm sun as it followed a recent downpour of rain. Once, Artemis had been pleased that there was so much dreary rain in Ireland, but now he found himself longing for sunlight every once and a while. Not as though he'd live in the American south east, but to simply feel the sun sometimes. He blamed the magic he'd once had. It'd been three years since he had relinquished the magic, but it still left him with odd pulls to the moon, insomnia, and a longing for the outdoors and nature.
Myles picked at the sleeve of his jacket in a very Artemis manor. He'd shown a great interest in becoming just as intelligent as his older brother and had, to Artemis' great relief, ceased calling him a simple-toon. Myles and Beckett had lost the infant blond hair, to be replaced with a very Angeline-like red color. The sound of Artemis' phone ringing broke his momentary blissful silence.
"Artemis." He answered. He'd only recently given his number to other associates of his father's business. He had to appear as though he were planning on taking the business, no matter how little interest Artemis held in common marketing. "Thank-You, Butler." He hung up the phone and stopped, Myles imitating him. He looked at his little brother.
"Mother says that the Paradizo's have arrived and that she would like us home to clean up before the party." Myles' expression changed to that of excitement and he took off towards the house as fast as his little legs could carry him. Artemis smiled and continued towards the house at his normal pace. Minerva Paradizo. He hadn't found a moment to meet with her or even speak with her since his return home. Well, he had found the time. After all, he'd found the time to design a website that now had hits all over Europe and into parts of Asia, meet with his best challenger in person, and teach his brother the basics of several major languages. It was she that had never found the time.
He let his mind wander back to that day in Spain when he'd seen her. He had noticed that she hadn't panicked or run with the crowd, but he should have seen the signs that these reactions screamed. He'd just been too distracted by the demon. He would never admit to himself that it was the distraction that she and the Spanish driver posed. Now that he thought back on it, she'd been very young looking. He almost felt wrong to have seen her that way. He had to remind himself that she was several months older than him now. Just as well, he almost physically slapped himself when he remembered the Spanish woman. Sure, Minerva had been a bit striking for a twelve year old, but the driver had been a grown woman, and now that his head was stable he knew that fatal diseases were not the most horrible trial a body could endure. No, that was hormones, and the driver could only have been able to distract someone in hormonal struggle.
Artemis walked up the drive to see a very nice rented Porsche 911 Turbo painted in sleek black and a nine-year-old pouring over it, wide-eyed five year old twins at his side. There was a young woman with a calf length double-button coat over an Emerald sweater leaning against the driver's side. Her face was hidden with locks of long blond curls as her fingers flew over the keypad of her cell phone. He noticed that her hair had become more relaxed over the years and the curls were more loose than they had been.
"Well, well Ma'amselle Meduare. Not only did you hack into my computer system, but now you've seen fit to trespass." He said, a wicked humor in his voice. She looked up, a pair of very over-alert green eyes met his. It took only an instant before she had placed his connection to that Alias, but even that instant was, in Artemis' opinion, to delayed. He thought about the time changes, but it was late afternoon in Ireland and only about an hour later in France. So, her sleep schedule was not off. Perhaps Mademoiselle Claudia Meduare was a more widely used alias, and Minerva Paradizo was often in situations that called for an alias.
"One does not complain when hypocrisy is the crime at hand. do not complain because I was better prepared than the 'great Artemis Fowl'." Artemis scowled, her delayed initial reaction still on his mind. As well as those curls...
"She's become almost as powerful as you are, hasn't she, Artemis?" Butler asked as they walked away. Artemis stopped and looked back for a moment, a smirk on his face.
"No, Butler. I don't think I could be as powerful as she is now, no matter how hard I tried," Butler arched an eyebrow and Artemis smirked up at him, "I don't have a body like that." He smiled as he walked away.
"And that's when you know Artemis fowl the Second is officially a teenager." Butler mumbled to himself as he walked towards the house after the eighteen year old.