We went to the room next to Artemis' and listened outside of the door.
"Yes, Foaly. I'll make sure to get all of the information I can, and then I'll call you to come and mind wipe them."
I quickly knocked on the door, terrified. I wanted her to end that call, now.
"Oh, I gotta go, Foaly. Bye!" she finished. We heard a click, and then, "Hello? Who's there?"
"Umm, it's Starla and Rashelle," I called. "You wanted to talk to us?"
"Oh, yes. Come in."
We walked into a room the shade of a robin's egg that looked quite a bit like ours except for the color and the bed. The bed was a queen sized mattress. That must have been comfortable, considering she was four feet tall.
"So, what did you want to ask us?" Rashelle sounded really nervous.
"Well," she said, turning on the Mesmer, "tell me. How many people, exactly, know about the People?"
"Pretty much our whole world," I replied, instantly relaxed.
"Except for the people who haven't heard of the book," Rashelle added in the same tone.
"Your world?"
"As I said, I believe that we come from a different universe, or an alternate universe, in which you don't really exist and are all just book characters. It would be pointless to mind wipe us. Even if you did it right before you sent us back, we would most likely forget all about the Artemis Fowl books and everyone around us would get suspicious, and remind us about them. Even if you just erased our memory of this trip, the books would be sure to make us remember."
"One more question," she muttered, looking defeated. "How did you get here, and how do you plan on getting back?"
"We don't know," I said, slightly annoyed. We had answered these questions already! "A portal came to our library, sucked us up, and dropped us off here."
"Okay," She sighed, dropping the Mesmer. "You can go back to your rooms."
We left, but we didn't go back to our rooms. We had decided to go pay Artemis a little visit.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in," Artemis called.
We opened the door and saw him in his study/room. He, of course, was on his computer. We walked up to him. There wasn't anything on his computer, other than his screen saver and icons. Obviously, he had closed out of whatever he was doing before we had walked in.
"You wanted something?" he asked, his voice monotone.
"Yeah. We wanted to ask you some questions," Rashelle said boldly.
"Fine. Proceed."
"Well," I started, "first of all, can you please disconnect all of the cameras in our guest room?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.
"I'm talking about how you love recording everything that goes on in this house, and we would like our privacy. Remember? I've read all of the books."
"Fine. I'll do it as soon as we're done here."
I was too smart for that. "No. You are going to do it right now while we are watching, just so we can make sure." I grinned.
Glaring, he did. I made him get Butler to take out all of the cameras in our room to make sure he didn't reconnect them as soon as we were gone.
"Now, second of all, we need to go shopping."
"Why?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
"Because all we have here with us are the clothes on our backs and the books in my sacks, which I would like back."
"Fine. We shall go to the mall as soon as I am done with what I was doing earlier."
"Good. Now, my books, please?" I grinned in a way that told Artemis that I was going to get what I wanted.
"You may have the ones that do not concern me back." He said, dumping them into my outstretched arms.
"Fair enough. Now, last question. Have all of the adventures in those books happened already in your real life so far? All the way up to the sixth book?"
"Yes. Now, I need to ask you something. Are there any books like these that you don't have right here?"
"Yeah. There are the Artemis Fowl Files, which pretty much have interviews with all of the main characters, two short stories, and some puzzles and activities. There is also a graphic novel, which has the first book in a comic book form, with you guys in cartoon character form." I grinned. I love being an expert on Artemis Fowl.
"That's it?"
"Yes."
"You may either go to your room, or explore around the manor. Butler will get you when it is time to go shopping."
"Okay," Rashelle said, with a straight face.
We left the room, and guess what we did?
We explored, of course!
First, we explored the upstairs. It wasn't that exciting, but it was kind of fun to see the other guest rooms and the hall bathroom.
Then we went downstairs, to the ground floor. The first thing we saw was, of course, the living room. There was a medium sized television, a large couch, and a table in between. Almost similar to my living room, but with different furniture, and MUCH bigger. There were also four large chairs around, one of them being a recognizable oxblood leather armchair. The floor was covered with a Tunisian rug. The room seemed almost spotless. That's when I realized something.
"Where's the rest of the family?" I wondered out loud.
"They are at a water park," came a voice. We looked to the foot of the staircase, and there was Artemis. "I would have gone, but I was… busy. Anyway, I hate water." He said this with an ominous tone.
"Well, we love water," I said, grinning. "Speaking of water, do you have a pool?"
"Of course we do. It's in the basement."
"Well," Rashelle said, "when we go shopping, we can buy swimsuits." We both grinned.
"And I have an idea." I grinned mischievously, then whispered into Rashelle's ear. She soon made a face almost identical to mine.
"And he so deserves it," Rashelle said out loud.
"See ya later." We ran off to explore more of the house.
We decided to visit the kitchen. It had everything that you could imagine. Every kind of silverware, plate, cup, bowl, and anything else you could imagine. The fridge was stocked with everything you have ever had a craving for. Chocolate, chicken, ice cream, pie, and every other kind of food known to man. We soon emptied the fridge and filled our bellies. Well, more like put a small dent in the fridge.
Next was the game room. It had every game you've ever heard of, and more. Monopoly, The Game of Life, Phase 10, Uno, Shoots and Ladders, Checkers, Chess, and more! It even had a Pool Table, a Foosball Table, an Air Hockey table, and multiple tables like that. Of course, Rashelle and I spent quite a while in that room.
We had decided to skip the parents' and the twins' room, so the only room other than the basement, or the pool, was the shed. They obviously used it for storage. It wasn't as dirty as a usual storage, but it wasn't exactly as clean a surgery room, either. There were all kind of decorations. Halloween, Christmas, birthdays, Valentine's Day, Easter, everything! It was so much fun sifting through all of the stuff! Soon, too soon, Artemis came in.
"I am done," He announced. "We may now go shopping."
"What mall are we going to?" I asked in wonder. I had decided to take in as much of Ireland's culture as I could while I was here.
"We are going to the Stephens Green Shopping Centre."
"Interesting." I said. "Do you have any paper? A pencil?"
"Yes. Why?"
"I would like to take notes about everything I do here. That way, when I get home, I can write all about it in my journal."
He gave me some paper and a pencil. I quickly wrote down some notes.
"Would you like some paper and a pencil, too, Rashelle?" I asked.
"No thanks. Now let's go shopping!"
We went inside, got Butler, stepped inside the Fowl Bentley, and drove off.
Wow. I thought. Ireland is so beautiful!
The scenery was amazing! Trees, flowers, cars, and even the buildings were wonderful! The sky was so clear! I knew then that the books were right-Ireland was the most magical place in the world. So unpolluted, so preserved! Then I remembered. I pulled my glasses out of my purse, and put them on.
Whoa! The colors! The lights! The detail! I think I would have jumped out of the car to feel the leaves on the trees, if Artemis hadn't spoken up.
"Are you enjoying the scenery?" he asked.
"Yes!" I cried. "It's amazing! I mean, It's not like Utah is all polluted and stuff, but wow!"
He chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that's why The People enjoy Ireland the most."
We sped along the roads for a while longer until we neared a building almost as big as the Fowl Manor. Almost.
"This is the Stephens Green Shopping Center," Artemis announced.
Butler got out and opened the door for us. Rashelle and I rushed out excitedly as Artemis stepped out calmly, almost gracefully. I grabbed Artemis' arm and started dragging him behind me as Rashelle sped in front. Butler chuckled as he followed slowly, about 40 feet behind us. Artemis glanced at him pleadingly, but Butler merely grinned and shook his head.
We dragged Artemis everywhere. We went from shop to shop, picking out clothes, books, and anything we wanted. Whenever we didn't want him, I'd push him towards Butler and tell him we'd be back. By the time we were done, we'd visited every store, gotten some food from every fast food place, and seen quite a few movies in the movie theater. Needless to say, we didn't leave until very late. In fact, they practically had to kick us out because they were closing. When we got into the Bentley again, Artemis nearly collapsed out of exhaustion, and he fell asleep on the way home while Rashelle and I were still buzzing with excitement.
When we got home, Butler actually carried Artemis up to his room! Rashelle and I burst into giggles. We walked up to our room, with a bit of confusion as to which door was ours, and laid down on our bunks. I took the top, and Rashelle took the bottom. We must have been more tired than we thought, because we fell asleep within five minutes after discussing how amazing this all was.