Flight
I don't need a disclaimer; the idea that I own Artemis Fowl is ridiculous.
I do own Caroline Edderstein, though.
Butler sat in the seat in front of Caroline; therefore he'd heard the light conversation that went on behind him. He then heard the sigh of relief that Artemis released once the girl had fallen asleep.
The trip the two had taken was not of dubious nature by any means, but Artemis had left school for it anyways. The truth of the matter is that Angeline Fowl's birthday was coming up, and since he was there for the first time in three years to celebrate it, an amazing present was in order. Artemis Fowl and his manservant had flown to New York City to donate fifty thousand dollars to charity. He'd gotten a certificate, and a check receipt, and a picture with some of the people he was helping. He even smiled, but that was just for his mother.
Artemis knew how much this would mean to his mother, he knew how much more this would mean to her than a Tiffany's necklace. It would make his mother happy, his father happy, and it would make life considerably easier for Artemis. It was a win on every side, except the fact that he had used 50,000 dollars out of his own pocket. Sure, the money could be replaced, but Artemis tended to be a bit of a penny pincher.
The manservant had come along as a photographer, witness, and companion. He was too old to bodyguard, but he secretly believed that Artemis would get lonely without him. He was right.
Caroline dreamed she was flying. She dreamed she was soaring through the clouds and she dreamed she was flying over fields and pastures. Caroline had been afflicted with the flying dream for a little over a year now. It was a lovely dream, but extremely frustrating. Every morning when she woke up, she felt a sense of loss at finding herself firmly rooted to the ground, and Caroline's morning would start off with her cursing Gravity and Sir Isaac Newton after creating the law and having nasty fig snacks named after him. The closest she'd come to the feeling was when she went scuba diving in Barbados. Ignoring the fact of her irrational fear of fish, she had fun swimming around the Caribbean, as long as the instructor stayed close by with a large knife. She'd completely blocked out the notion that if the instruction had cut anything and blood tainted the water around her, more fish would come, along with other things she'd prefer not think about.
The plane hit light turbulence as it was descending into Dublin Airport, causing Caroline to wake up. There was a moment when she still wasn't fully awake and the descending feeling in her stomach confused her. Her brain sent out electricity to every corner in her body, making her heart pound like crazy. It took her a second to realize that she was still on the plane and they were only descending, but the moment of elation still held a sort of magic to her.
She buckled her seatbelt and made sure that her backpack had everything in it. She sat back and closed her eyes again. She never liked planes landing, and this time was the first time she had stepped foot on an airplane since the kidnapping. Caroline closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as the plane lurched and dropped. She heard the wheels unfold, and two minutes later, the plane hit the ground. They were safe.
Caroline hadn't even realized that she was gripping her knees so tightly that her knuckles popped when she let go. If she was looking, she would've seen Artemis frown slightly.
The flight attendants made sure that Caroline was the first person off the plane, and that she was delivered safely into the arms of her grandparents. It was the first time she had seen them in years, and the tears in her grandmother's eyes made her heart drop into her stomach. Endorphins were released as she ran to hug her grandparents, but there was no happiness surging through the veins of the adolescent girl.
"I missed you guys so much." It was whispered through a bone cracking hug.
"I'm so sorry we couldn't see you before, but your father…" Her grandfather trailed off, but Caroline wasn't listening. It pained her how there were people that loved her so much in the world, and she couldn't even express the most basic feelings of endearment without loving them truly.
"Let's get your luggage and let's go home, you must be exhausted." Caroline simply nodded dumbly at her grandfather and just went along with whatever they were doing.
She slept in the car, and was half-carried to her room, where she dreamt of flying high over trees and streams and fields.
Not very far away, a genius and his manservant were driving down the lane.
"What'd you think of the girl?"
Artemis looked slightly surprised at the question; it wasn't much like Butler to ask things irrelevant to the overall topic. Which was nothing, in this case, they had been sitting in silence for well over an hour.
Artemis just looked at Butler through the mirror.
"Why?"
"Your parents like the Eddersteins; you'll be seeing a lot of her around."
Edited 6.25.08
the epitome of randomness: I promise that Caroline isn't that smart. I'm going to start introducing her a lot more in the next chapter.
jadeddragon212: Don't worry kiddo, I'll keep writing! And thanks for having faith in me.
hopelily: I kind of addressed all of that in my reply. I'm willing to improve and I'd love your input on how I could make Caroline a more rounded character.
Thanks for reviewing, guys.
Caroline has some weird irrational fears. They can all be explained, however.
I'm going to try and post every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Depending on my workload at school I'll see if I can post a bit more over the week. The chapters will get longer as the story progresses, and I've got several ways that the plot could go.
I already know how she meets Mulch Diggums.
