Hiya people!
I'm extremely sorry for the long break in the middle between this chapter and the last one!! It will never happen again!! Unless there are circunstances that arise that prevent me from typing...
Thanks to Green_Waterfall for noticing that Ireland doesn't use dollars. They use Euros, and I've changed it accordingly. Thank you!!!
Quite a long chapter, so enjoy! I must say though, from now on, I will try to make every chapter 2000+ words. I know the pain of reading short chapters, so I promise to deliver good long chapters from here onwards.
Enjoy!
The next day, after Sana's shopping spree, Artemis was woken up by the sounds of something heavy being dragged past his bedroom door. Stretching cat-like, he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Another loud thump sounded. Puzzled, Artemis hauled himself out of bed and stumbled towards the door. Before reaching the door, he had already formulated several reasons as to why the sounds were occurring, and reaching a conclusion (the most likely reason), he turned the knob and opened the door.
"Good morning, Sana."
Sana looked up. She let go of the bed and took out a mini whiteboard, complete with a marker and a whiteboard wiper. Hi, Arty. How d'you know it was me? You just woke up, she added, glancing at him in his Armani pyjamas.
Artemis smirked. "I knew it was you because of several reasons. One, no-one can bypass Butler's security system, except you and me. Of course, it could be a ruse from family enemies who had miraculously gotten past Butler's security devices and then stationed themselves outside my room just to wait for me to get up and investigate the sounds, but it is extremely improbable. I already knew you would be redecorating your room today, as you went shopping yesterday. For the redecorating, you would need to remove the furniture out of your room, and as your room is adjacent to mine, you're most likely to be the cause of the disturbance. Where did you get the whiteboard?"
Yeah, yeah, alright. Unless I was a fake, and I wasn't Sana, and an assassin hired by 'family enemies' to kill you. And the whiteboard was a present from Angeline.
"How nice of Mother. And you can't be an assassin, because you are dragging a bed that I recognize." Seeing a pair of feet sticking out from the far side of the bed, he added, "With Butler's help."
A voice that wasn't Butler's deep gravelly voice answered. "That's where you're wrong." A blond smiling head poked out from the other side of the bed.
"Juliet! When did you get here?"
Juliet smiled wider. "I arrived late last night, and when I heard that Sana needed help, I volunteered. I mean, I haven't seen her for so long, and I needed to catch up with her. Only, I'll see you a lot more now that you're living here, won't I?" Juliet said, redirecting her attention to Sana.
Sana nodded at the girl, scrawling, Yeah. If only Dad could see your new karate moves. He's always loved it when you came back to show us something new that you learnt from Madame Ko. Sana showed Juliet the board, then wiped her board clean, looking down to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.
"Juliet!" Rowan calls, opening the door and hugging her. "It's been a while!"
"Yeah. Six months since I last saw you guys?"
"Something like that." Rowan is pushed aside by a small, brown haired figure.
"Jul! You're back!" Juliet bends down and hugs the girl.
"Yep, I'm back." By now, Adam has joined his wife at the door.
"Juliet! Anything new to show me?" he asks enthusiastically.
"Yep, Mr. McEwan. I've got a few tricks to show you. I'll show you later."
"Sure! Looking forward to it!"
"You always are!" The group laughs and moves indoors.
Sana could practically smell her mother's fresh, clean scent and her father's warm, woody smell. She turned around, expecting them to be there, but all she saw was an empty corridor. She turned around despondently. Juliet clambered around the bed to pat Sana's shoulder. "Cheer up. He can see me, only just not from Earth."
Sana blinked hard, opening her eyes wide to try prevent the tears from falling out. He's probably trying it up in Heaven. I can see him, standing there in his karate clothes, practicing it.
Juliet clambered back into position. "Artemis, if you're not helping, you can go back and sleep, or change and eat, or whatever you do, unless you want to risk getting your head or toe smashed by a random part of the bed that no one's ever known about."
Artemis retreated back into his room. Juliet met Sana's eyes and smiled. "Sana, ready?" She nodded. "On my count. 1… 2… 3!" And with that, Sana and Juliet lifted the bed up and progressed slowly down the corridor, with Artemis wondering where the two girls got the strength to move a solid oak bed complete with canopy poles.
A few hours later, after finishing an extremely satisfying breakfast, Artemis sat in the study, preparing to define a hitherto unknown element that he had discovered earlier in the week. Just as he was lighting up the Bunsen burner, music floated into the room. Listening closely, he could just make out 'Unchained Melody', with the most, ah, interesting lyrics he had ever heard. Artemis opened the door, determined that it originated from Sana's room, and, navigating his way through the furniture, painting material and fabric packed into the hallway, reached the doorway to his destination. A scene worthy of a market met his eyes. A white sheet covered the carpet, draping itself over the skirting board and the doorway, a paint splattered stereo was loudly playing music, the wire trailing itself over the floor in a way that presented itself a risk to the two people in the room who were haphazardly balancing themselves paint tins on the top of wobbly ladders while rolling paint onto the walls. From the look of the white sheet on the floor, a lot of the paint had ended up on the floor. In fact, one paint tin had fallen over and rolled across the room, leaving behind a trail of white-yellow. From Juliet's mouth, the song poured into the room.
Oh, my love,
My darling, I hunger for your
Touch, uh-oh, only tame
And tame your smile, so schmalling,
I want to go your mama,
Eh-oh, schtill maul, Ah –
And so on. It was pure torture for Artemis, whose ears were accustomed to poetic lyrics married with soulful melodies. Covering his ears, Artemis turned to leave, only to hear the torturous sounds end. Juliet, although many people thought she was pretty, could not sing to save her life. The problem was that she sung very loudly, very off-key, and she never got the lyrics right. Puzzled to the sudden quiet, he turned around to find both Sana and Juliet standing inches behind him. Startled by their silent and sudden appearance behind him, Artemis took a step back and tripped on the stereo wire lying behind him. Juliet laughed, Sana twitched her lips. Artemis scowled and picked himself up from the floor.
Since you're here already, why don't you come help me and Juliet? wrote Sana.
"It's Juliet and me."
Whatever.
Juliet grinned. "You're going to help Sana and me paint her room, aren't you, Artemis?"
Sana nodded and dragged Artemis over to the nearest wall, which was still mostly white and handed him a paint roller and a tin of yellow paint. Juliet followed, spouting instructions.
"You can start over here. If you can't reach the higher parts, go get a ladder from over there and start painting. Paint from the top down, and when you're done, see if the parts you've painted already are dry, then start painting the blue over it. Got that?" Without waiting for Artemis' reply, the two girls went back to where they was before and began painting again, Juliet humming under her breath. Artemis looked sceptically at the paint roller. Was this contraption the only thing that could paint a wall? Mentally calculating the areas, he figured that, at his arm span, he would probably take half an hour to paint one coating. Sighing, Artemis began to carry the sturdiest looking ladder over to the wall, trying to figure how to balance himself, let alone a full paint tin, on such a flimsy device. Gingerly climbing up the ladder, he leaned precariously over to dip the paint roller in, only to find the paint roller too big to fit into the tin. He looked more closely at Sana, who was closer to Artemis than Juliet. Finally, he noticed that she was painting from a shallow tray filled with paint. Artemis sighed again. He had never gotten the opportunity to say no.
An hour later, Sana clambered down the ladder and stretched upwards, rolling her shoulders. She had forgotten how tiring painting a wall was.
"Sana, look at the walls! Isn't it beautiful?" Adam gestures at the walls around him. "Your brother will be proud to have a room painted by his family, don't you think?"
Sana laughs. "Dad, I haven't even finished the wall!" Her mother comes in, leaning on the doorframe. Her belly has a small bump.
"Looking good." Adam stands and makes his way over, hugging Rowan. Sana smiles, then stretches. Her hand hits a paint tin suspended on a ladder, spilling all the paint over her. Her parents look around and start laughing. Sana wipes paint from her eyes.
Her mother points at Sana. "When did I ever give birth to a Smurf?" Hearing that, Adam and Rowan begin to laugh in earnest. Soon, Sana joins them, and the three of them laugh together, the painting forgotten.
Sana looked at the wall. It wasn't unfinished now. It was beautiful, and it looked just like what mum had said it would look like when she showed her daughter the sample she had made in preparation for repainting the kitchen. The green undertones of the blue paint were brought out by the white-ish yellow under it, but without swamping the bright translucent blue. It really does look like ocean waters now, thought Sana. She looked down at her hands sadly, the pale skin covered with splotches of yellow and blue. She wasn't covered in paint now. Looking around the room, she saw Juliet climb down her ladder and stretch too. Three walls have been painted, and Artemis… Sana twirled around to look at Artemis and his wall. The wall was now yellow, which was a good sign, but where was Artemis? She turned around and looked quizzically at Juliet, who, like Sana, had turned around to look at Artemis. Juliet stared hard, then suddenly giggled and pointed back to the wall. Following Juliet's pointing finger, brown hair flying, Sana saw a bit of the wall move and then detach itself, walking towards a tin of blue paint. Sudden understanding flooded her brain. She began to grin. Juliet was on the floor, rolling around with laughter
"What happened?" The sound came out as laughter, giving Artemis a hard time comprehending what Juliet just said.
Artemis looked at the ground, burning with mortification. Imagine this incident getting out into Father's empire! "I was painting when the ladder slipped out from under me. I fell to the ground, then, as the ladder steadied itself, the paint tin slipped from the ladder and landed onto me. I was just getting up, so it hit me on the side and the paint fell out and splashed over me." Looking back up again, he saw Juliet sitting up, wiping tears from her eyes. Sana was standing next to her, and she was smiling. Smiling!
"Sana, you're smiling." Sana looked up, startled, then reached one hand up to trace the curve that adorned her lips. It had felt natural a moment ago, but now that Artemis had mentioned it, it felt unnatural. Her smile disappeared, and she looked at Artemis closely, studying the extent of the damage he had done to himself.
Sana walked over to the mess in the middle of the room, searching for something. Triumphantly she pulled out her whiteboard, and began to write hurriedly on it, walking over to Artemis to show him her words. Actually, I think Butler will have finished preparing lunch by now, so if you want to clean yourself up, feel free to use my bathroom. There won't be time for a shower, so wash as much paint off as possible, then wet one of the towels, wipe the rest of the paint off and then use a dry towel to pick the rest up. The bits of dried paint might be peelable, but if it's not peeling, wet it and wipe it. I think that'll work. If not, I'll tell Butler that a slight crisis has come up, and that you'll be eating lunch in your room. Yeah? Artemis was already in the bathroom, rinsing his arms.
Juliet asked, "How do you know so much about these things? You're ten years old!! No offence, but most kids haven't even seen a paint roller, let alone paint an entire room."
Sana began to scribble furiously. My dad taught me how when we painted my brother's room a few months ago. So I learnt how to paint as well as how to get paint off fast because the same thing happened to me. Sana felt tears well up in her eyes, and widened her eyes, refusing to let the tear slide out of her eye.
"Oh… Your parents really let you try new things, huh."
Sana nodded. Artemis emerged from the bathroom, wet, but quite clean, in regards to his skin. His clothes were, unfortunately, permanently yellow. Artemis groaned. Now he needed to go clothes shopping again!
Sana heard the groan and smiled, interpreting the groan correctly. Arty, she wrote, at least you're wearing long pants, or you would've had to wash your legs as well. The most important thing is that you're clean. Your clothes can wait. And you can wash paint out of clothes, you know. So you don't need to go clothes shopping. Artemis walked out of the room, disturbed that Sana knew what he was thinking without him saying a word, but elated that she had smiled twice in the last ten minutes.
After lunch, after watching Artemis avoid Butler's probing questions on his appearance and after painting the remaining wall with blue, the sheet got removed, the carpet had a strip the width of a glass brick removed. The glass bricks Artemis had heard Sana order were built into a wall a metre from the front of the wardrobe, rather like a straight, glass brick version of a Japanese style silk screen. This time, Artemis was in charge of stirring the concrete used to join the bricks so that the concrete didn't set. Sana and Juliet were in charge of actually making the concrete and building the wall. Artemis believed that they didn't really trust him anymore. Not that he minded stirring the concrete; it meant that he could use that time to think about the mysteries of the universe. Like the newly discovered element, Artemisanium. His element never ceased to cheer him up. Any time he felt discouraged, by thinking about Artemisanium, Artemis would feel heartened and cheerful. For example, when he was in the middle of formulating an especially difficult mathematical theorem, or when he was trying to disprove E=mc2, or when he was stirring concrete with arms that got heavier every second. Finally, finally, the moment came when his services to the concrete were not needed anymore. Looking up, he beheld a magnificent glass wall that reached over two metres in height and extended more than three metres lengthwise.
Sana stood, admiring the wall. It's beautiful. Thanks Jul, for helping me. Do you mind helping me move the furniture back in? She placed her whiteboard in front of Juliet.
"Sure. I don't mind. I mean, I haven't got anything else to do except look after Artemis' mother, and she hasn't needed me so far, so I'll stay."
Sana smiled and wiped her board clean. She sat in front of Artemis, writing, Thanks! Artemis, thanks for your help. I really appreciated it. Artemis thought that every thing Sana said seemed to be said from a long distance away, as if she was saying it from within an echoing tunnel. It was to be expected that he felt a little out of it. The fact that Artemis had been stirring concrete for three hours needed to be put into consideration. He nodded dreamily, and then got up slowly and slowly walked back to the study, where he found the Bunsen burner still burning from hours ago, and Artemisanium waiting for him to examine it after being abandoned hours ago. The loud chiming of the grandfather clock in the hallway downstairs jerked him back into this world. Checking his clock, Artemis saw the clock hand turn to seven. What? I couldn't have spent nine hours helping Sana! Painting walls and putting floorboards down and stirring concrete can't have been nine hours!
As Sana and Juliet set down the last piece of furniture, Sana grinned and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She flashed Juliet a thumbs up, which was returned, and then lied down on the floor, looking up at the white ceiling. Juliet joined her without speaking, the two of them enjoying the companionable silence.
Sana sat up and began to write, the marker squeaking loudly. Juliet, even though I've been living here for two weeks now, I still don't really feel like a Fowl. I've felt like I always have, a family friend of the Fowls. I still think Adam McEwan is my dad, and Rowan McEwan as my mum. I've been accepted as a Fowl, I've accepted the Fowls as my family, I live with the Fowls, I've made this room my room, but I still think that my dad will come anytime to pick me up back to my home, and that my mum will have dinner waiting for us to eat together, then later, we'll all play a game, and I'll kiss them goodnight, and when she thinks I'm asleep, my mum will come in and tuck me in, singing a song she's sung for ever. What should I do? Should I forget about my old life? Should I remember them, when every time I think about them, I still see them alive until I remember that they're dead and then it feels like I'm falling into an abyss that never ends and it feels like there's a hole in my heart that nothing could possibly fill and I don't know what to do. Sana rolled over and grabbed Juliet's arm. The older girl could see the anguish in the younger one's eyes. She rolled on to her side and propped herself up with her elbow.
"Sana, you're supposed to feel like that. I felt like that when my parents died. I know Butler did, even though you couldn't see it from his actions. It's a part of life to feel like what you're feeling now, but it'll pass with time. As people say, time heals everything. You've got to give it time. To the Fowl thing, you've got to do the same thing. No one expects you to be a Fowl overnight. Just let it be for a while, and then, after a while, you'll see yourself remembering more events and little mannerisms of this family more clearly and in more quantities, you'll remember funny or weird or sad or happy memories that you've had in this family, and then, when you find yourself imagining your mum as Angeline and your dad as Artemis Snr and your brother as Artemis Jnr, then you've become a Fowl. You don't need to forget you're parents. Put them in a special place in your heart. You're keeping their name, so you'll be acknowledging them every time your last name is said, and through you, and this family and their friends, you're parents will be remembered. So don't worry about it. Let yourself make some memories with the Fowls, and you'll soon feel like a Fowl."
Sana hugged Juliet, conveying her thanks in the movement. Juliet hugged her back. Disentangling herself from Sana's embrace, she reached over and patted Sana's head. "Hey, I think I smell Dom's cooking. Race you to the dining room!" she said, leaping up and dashing off, calling over her shoulder, "Whoever's last is a rotten egg!"
It's a lame ending to a chapter, I know. And I will punish myself for it.
