Caroline awoke to the sound of someone whining.
It was special whining. Not your regular, ever-day, run-of-the-mill whining.
This was Artemis Fowl-grade whining.
And it was annoying as hell.
"Shhhhhhhhhh!" She managed, noticing that her body had been unceremoniously dumped in an awkward position, making only the side of her mouth available for speech.
Caroline felt the thunder clap of a laugh vibrate the air around her and guessed that there was a big man who found her funny. Artemis Sr. wasn't that big, so she guessed that Butler was there.
How long had they been gone?
Obviously not long enough for her grandparents to come home, or she'd have a lot to answer for. Caroline wriggled around until she was laying flat on her stomach, letting blood flow to her legs, which had fallen asleep.
"Artemis, you need to start working out," she said groggily as she sat up, "because I'm not that heavy." She figured that by the way that she'd been dumped onto the bed, it had been Artemis who'd had to carry her.
The boy shot her a glare, which she happily returned.
"Go back to sleep, Caroline. We sedated you for the trip and that doesn't count as real sleep."
Caroline's widened, and then rolled in irritation. She didn't blame the tiny people for making that decision, though (if it had been Arty's she'd make sure to punch him hard), because she knew she was annoying as hell, a liability, and a stranger.
"I guess I could take a nap," she yawned and smiled a little, appraising the boy and his manservant.
"I'll wake you up in a couple of hours." Caroline nodded a bit and snuggled down. The two men left her alone.
-
"You know Butler, after she leaves; I think I'll be ready for fatherhood." Butler nearly choked but remained stoic.
"Do you two get along? Are you friends?" Ever since Butler semi-retired from his duty, he'd been even more worried about Artemis connecting with other kids his age, or even people in general.
It was Artemis' turn to laugh.
"You are a friend, Butler. Taking care of her is like taking care of an unstable child." Which she was, incidentally.
"But do you get along?" Artemis thought about the question more this time. He didn't dislike the girl, but did he like her? He knew he pitied her, and respected her at least a little bit. She was intelligent, he'd give her that, but she wasn't at his own level. He was instantly reminded of the fact that neither were most of his friends.
"Our relationship has the potential to progress to friendship," he said rigidly, grudgingly.
The two went down to the kitchen, and while Butler prepared a light breakfast for the three inhabitants of the house, Artemis filled him in on the Demon situation.
The wind was cool against her face as she flew along the countryside. She was free and the air felt lovely.
"Hey bird," she said, and the robin she was flying next to chirped happily in response.
"Conditions are nice today, huh?" she said as the two swooped closer to the ground.
"Yeah, especially after that cold front last week, my beak nearly cracked while I was working on a frozen seed!" She nodded seriously.
"My fingers were numb, and I could feel the cold through my shoes. I mean it's weird seeing as it's hot on land." The two cast a look to the ground below them, which was sandy and barren.
They were pretty high up, as they could see the curvature of the earth on the horizon.
"Let's dive," the robin chirped and folded its feathers back.
Caroline pressed her hands to her sides and clapped her legs together, she then angled her body slightly downwards, and began to dive.
Caroline noticed that on the ground there was a road winding through the dunes of the desert.
She felt that she reached her absolute velocity as she dived. The robin was far, far behind her.
She didn't worry that the ground was getting closer and closer.
She didn't worry that the flying feeling in her belly was gone, meaning that her ability to fly had dissipated.
So she was going to hit the ground.
But she didn't.
"You are such a child," Artemis was being short with her, as usual.
"And you're a little priss." Caroline clearly knew that it wasn't a word, and had said it just to annoy Artemis, and it did.
He sped up down the hallway leading to the kitchen, which amused Caroline.
They were silent until they reached the kitchen. There was a place set for Caroline with food, but she wasn't hungry. A look from Artemis told her to sit down anyways.
Butler was sprucing up the kitchen a bit, obviously deep in thought.
"Hey Artemis." No answer.
"I wrote you a song." No answer.
"Do you want to hear it?"
"No," he answered immediately.
"Artemis, Artemis,
You got to get laid-emis,
Artemis, Artemis,
Why won't your fat girlfriend put out?" Butler stifled a laugh. Artemis' jaw tightened.
"Artemis, Artemis," she continued, "you've got weird smelly friends!"
Artemis hadn't ever really wanted to hit a girl before in his life. He shot a look to Butler that said, 'I take back what I said about us being friends.'
"I don't really like the last line, but I ran out of creativity. He felt a hand on his shoulder, Butler's silent reminder that Artemis was the bigger person in the current situation.
"Please finish your breakfast," he said sourly and left the room.
Caroline looked at the food in front of her and frowned.
"Doctor's orders," Butler said firmly, which caused Caroline to sigh dramatically. Except, how did the manservant know? Stupid question, obviously Artemis had told him, but why?
Clearly Artemis had met all of those people before, many times. And the boy was only 18, and she could imagine the boy at the scrawny age of thirteen or fourteen trying to take on fairies.
She snorted as she ate, which caused a coughing fit.
She was fine after downing half of her glass of orange juice, but the desire to eat had left her.
"Finish your food." Artemis' unexpected voice caused her to jump. She didn't want to, but she nodded docilely. She'd acknowledged that her song was out of line.
Not that she regretted singing it.
"My mother and your grandparents are coming home today."
"Cool."
There was a brief silence.
"When?" Caroline had gathered that silence didn't bother Artemis, and thought he noticed cues for speech, he didn't opt to take them unless directed by the other person.
"Tonight, their flight lands at seven."
"Are we picking them up?"
Artemis had a sudden vision of the drive to Dublin with Caroline and swallowed.
"Yes."
"Oh, okay."
She speared a slice of strawberry with her fork and chewed on it thoughtfully.
"When does your dad come home?" She ate another slice.
"My father and the twins are returning in," he looked at his watch, "an hour."
"Oh."
As he cleaned, Butler loved every awkward second of the exchange.
In the end, Artemis ended up driving Caroline to pick up some of her clothes, because honestly; the girl's appearance wasn't in good shape.
Everything would be so much easier after the 72 hour period of limbo that her brain had to accept or reject the medication.
So he had to spend the time with her, and if she freaked out, he'd have the pleasure of knocking her out and hauling her to bed. And call Foaly. And get a tech to the surface to perform a major cranial surgery.
I'd be a big mess, and one Artemis hoped to avoid.
She took her sweet time getting clean and getting dressed, and Artemis found it annoying, even though he usually took twice as long as Caroline ended up taking.
She skipped down the stairs gaily and stood next to him.
He could feel that she was noticing the two inches she had on him.
"It's almost lunchtime, and we're eating when father comes home with the twins."
"Should I help setting the table or making food?" She surprised him.
And he didn't know. He assumed that Butler would be fine taking care of everything by himself, but the boy had never considered asking the older man if he required assistance.
Caroline took his silence to mean that he didn't know, relieving him of the task to tell her.
Which he was grateful for.
"Mister Butler, would you like some help?"
There was a brief silence, which Artemis broke by entering the kitchen, accidentally slamming the door behind him.
Butler gave him a questioning look, and the only response Artemis could come up with was a mild shrug.
Butler instructed the girl on what to do and Artemis just stood idly, feeling spoiled as it had never occurred to him to ask Butler if he ever needed help. Sure, there was his upbringing to account for, but still… it was common courtesy.
He used the time to check his emails on his mobile phone.
He didn't even notice that his companions were done.
Out of everyone she'd met so far in the Fowl household, she liked Butler the best.
He had a beard, but wasn't dirty, and was clearly the most physically fit person she's ever met, never mind his age of around 50 or so.
He had a soft look to his eyes when he looked at Artemis.
He also had the best accent of anyone she'd met in Ireland.
So she liked talking to him.
At least, she'd liked the conversation they'd shared so far.
"So how do you like the Old Country, then?" Pretty standard question there,.
"I don't know, I haven't really seen much of it," Caroline chuckled. Most of the time she'd been in Ireland, she'd been asleep.
"It's very green, though." Butler chuckled.
"Not used to the country, then?" She shrugged noncommittally.
"So what were you guys doing in New York?"
"Artemis was getting his mother a present."
"It's her birthday? Should I get her a present? Are you going to have a party or something like that?"
"You can ask her when she gets home with your grandparents," Artemis's voice floated in through the kitchen.
"And when is that?" Caroline didn't like being left out, and she felt that this was something rather important to be let in on.
"At seven, I told you this." She mulled over the fact and found something rather important that needed to get addressed.
"But we need to go… back…" she pointed to the ground and then pointed to her head, and then back to the ground.
"Yes," was all Artemis said, and it was obvious by his tone that it was final.
Butler, who Caroline hadn't even noticed leave the room, entered the room and announced that Artemis Fowl Senior was home.
Underground, Foaly had managed to subdue the raging demons who'd broken out of their new home.
Well, not Foaly, really. It was Section Eight, but Foaly's technology was the real hero of the day.
His babies had been out on the field, and therefore, he'd been out there too.
Kind of.
Okay so maybe I lied about this being really long, but I couldn't wait to get it out!
Plus I don't think I have the attention span for anything longer than this at the moment, but maybe if there's more reviews ;D
hiiiiint hiiiint.
hope ya like it, and please review! if you review, a new chapter will come out soon soon soon!
