Gosh y'all, this already almost has the stats of a story I've been writing for 5 months...
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The next day, Holly woke up in the bed in the room instead of on the floor. For a second she wondered how she'd gotten there, but one look around told her the answer.
"You know, for someone so small, you're rather heavy," Artemis commented, without looking up from his laptop.
She scrambled back, away from him. She would have fell off the other side of the bed if he hadn't reached out and snatched her ankle, pulling her back up. She almost let out an involuntary scream at his touch, but it only came out as a whimper. She pulled away and he let her.
"What do you want?" she snapped, remembering their previous night's events.
He looked up at her from his laptop for a second, then his eyes flashed back down to it. Without looking up again, he pushed a plate of food onto her lap and simply said, "Eat."
She shook her head, and looked at the food like it was poison, which might actually be. "No."
"It wasn't a question. Eat."
"No."
"Now."
"I'm not hungry," she complained.
"Liar."
"Really."
"Do you really want to test me right now?!" He almost yelled.
He finally looked up and gave the elf his full attention before closing his eyes and easing back to his calm state. "Look, Holly, you need to eat. I'm sorry for what happened last night, but you made me...very angry. Now, you're not going to leave this room. You need some food in your system, and I will get it into you, one way or another. Eat."
Her eyes flashed to the door, like she was contemplating trying to run. He saw the movement and smirked. "The door is locked. And even if you unlocked it somehow and got out, you can't leave the manor, so it will be a futile effort."
"How will you get out, then?" she demanded.
"I have a key, which I don't intend to use until you've eaten."
"You can't stay in here forever."
"Captain, I can stay in here with you as long as I need to. If you want me out of your hair, then eat, and I'll leave you alone for a while."
"This is ridiculous," she sighed. She took a bite and swallowed quickly, barely chewing it, and then another, and another. She scraped the plate clean after a few more minutes, and Artemis watched intently to make sure she swallowed every bite of it. When she was done, he took the plate from her and put it on the nightstand beside her bed.
"Good girl," the boy murmured, patting her arm lightly.
She flinched and jerked away from him. "I'm not a dog, Fowl," she snapped, realizing a second too late that was probably not the brightest thing to say.
She braced herself for him to snap on her again, to drag her down to the basement, but it never happened. He just shrugged.
"You seem... different." She said cautiously.
She had paused halfway through, deciding her original statement, "you seem less hot-headed than usual," was probably not a smart thing to say.
"Why? Because I didn't get mad?" She nodded. "Well, I've decided that our arrangement was not working out very well, so I thought a different approach would be better. I'll try to keep my temper in check, and you don't purposely say things you know will make me mad, deal?"
She nodded again. "I can try... You're just so... temperamental. I never know if what I say will set you off or not."
"Then you should watch your tongue until you figure it out." He got up and walked across the room, picking a bag up off a dresser that was pushed up against the wall. He threw the bundle towards her, and she caught it automatically. "Now, get dressed, and meet me outside your door in half an hour. I think, as you'll be staying here for a while, I should show you how to navigate the manor. It will make things a lot easier on both of us."
Thirty minutes later Holly was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.
I'm dressed like a mental patient, she thought. Probably so I don't hurt myself.
She opened the door warily, as if danger was outside the door. Artemis was waiting for her, so she was somewhat right.
"Come on," he muttered, turning to the opposite direction and walking down the corridor.
Holly followed him hesitantly, looking around and kept a good space between them as they went through the manor. Kitchen, living room, music room, library, she tried to remember where everything was, but she would no doubt get lost sometime or another.
Finally they reached a staircase, and Holly was just about to go up it, when Artemis snatched her arm.
"Holly, I am putting this the nicest way possible... do not go up there."
Holly looked into his eyes and tried to figure out why he didn't want her up there, but couldn't. She just nodded distractedly.
Artemis was about to start yelling at her, she could feel it. But it never came. Instead, Artemis's cell phone rang.
"I'll be right back." he muttered, taking the call into the other room.
Holly looked up the stairs, she wondered what could be up there, what would be up there for Artemis to almost get upset with her.
She glanced the way Artemis went. The call did look like it was going to take a while. Maybe just a quick peek, just go in there, take a look and come down...
She nodded at her thought and headed up the stairs. Each one creaked, making her wince, but Artemis never came back. Finally, she reached the door at the top of the stairs, and opened it.
She gasped when she saw what was in there.
A sleeping lady. The covers were pulled up to her chin, so Holly couldn't get a very good look, but Holly knew she was definitely sleeping. Well, sleeping or dead.
Why would Artemis try to hide this from her? she wondered. Then she had a thought. Maybe I could help her...
oooh cliffhanger!
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