People, I am EXTREMELY sorry about the delay for publishing this chapter. So please enjoy!
For people who thought Artemis is a bit of a softie, he kinda is until his dad disappears and his mum goes a bit cuckoo... but rest assured, from now on, he's going to be the Artemis we all know and love. .
A blood-red moon shone crimson as it emerged over the horizon, casting everything into an eerie glow, foreboding the evil that was about to occur. The red soon vanished, the moon returning to its usual pale silver, but the sight of it burned itself into Sana's memory, chilling her to the very core, instead of calming her down. The Bentley cruised through the moonlit meadows of Ireland, renowned for their beautiful vistas and magical aura. However, Sana did not see or appreciate any of these famous landscapes.
Artemis, you're selling an innocent animal to a bunch of Extinctionists. What the hell are you doing? It's evil, Artemis, evil!, she wrote angrily. She waved it in front of his face.
Artemis looked up from observing the occupants in the boot glassy eyed. He's thinking about something else. Again. Why can't he just listen for once without tuning out?
Earth to Artemis. READ!!!!!
Artemis shook his head, clearing all thoughts from his mind. "Sana, what do you want?"
Read what I wrote, dammit! Sana waited as Artemis read over what she wrote.
He sighed. "It's for the money. We need the money to pay off the rest of our debts, including our mortgage, as well as for funding the Arctic expedition to find Father."
She cleared the board, and then covered it with another line of writing. Can't you get the money from somewhere else? You're selling an innocent life! That's so…
She thought it so evil that she couldn't think of a word to describe it. Artemis felt his resolve crack. Be strong. Artemis took a deep breath.
"If we sell this lemur, then the money Mother had wasted on buying it in the first place will be regained, and the money I had reserved for Father would be available again. Secondly, Father had invested a lot of money into this venture, along with many other wealthy people who want their money back. To repay them, I had to borrow money, which I paid off with the profits from the Rembrandt sketch, but to get our money back, I need to sell this lemur. Thirdly, I don't know what Mother will do next, so just in case she suddenly buys or spends money on, I will need to keep a sum for her to draw on. This will pay for that reserve. Finally, in order to keep the Fowls in control of our empire, I need resources. Usually I would build that up over time as well as what Father would leave to me, but I don't have that advantage. I need the money now to gain the upper hand, and also to start building those resources. OK, Sana?"
Throughout his whole speech, Sana had not looked away once. Now she turned away, her face like a mask, folding herself up into the smallest possible position as far from Artemis as possible. Staring at her back, Artemis felt a pang in his heart at her rejection and hate, but he locked that away too. I vowed that I would do anything to get Father back, no matter what. Even if Sana ends up hating me, I can't and won't stop this mission. Not now, not ever. Artemis did not notice the single tear that trickled down Sana's cheek.
Artemis exited the car, strolling down the drive as casually as if he was walking down a corridor back at the Manor. Behind him, Butler locked the car. Sana walked rigidly beside Artemis, her face composed and still. They entered Rathdown Park, Artemis turning off the security with the director's key card cloned on an earlier visit that day.
Striding down the institute's pathways, following Butler blindly, Artemis checked his mobile phone. It could receive a live video feed from a button camera he had popped into the air-con duct earlier, and their guests were wakening. The female is fascinating. She isn't human, that's for sure. I wonder how she will react when she becomes alert... She's obviously lighter, but she stirs first. Did she take a drug to combat anaesthetic? Or is it something else? The boy pales with insignificance next to her. But then many of his features look like Fowl features. Maybe he's a distant relation trying to get something out of Father's disappearance. A random light made Artemis look up. They were passing through an aquarium filled with rare and endangered animals in water mimicking their natural habitats. Amazing really, what humans are capable of. A group will save these animals, when another will do anything to kill them off. Just like the Extinctionists. One hundred thousand euro for a lemur.
"Focus, Artemis. One dastardly crime at a time," Butler reproached Artemis.
"Dastardly, Butler?" Artemis said, looking up from his phone. "Dastardly? Honestly, we are not cartoon characters. I do not have a villainous laugh or an eyepatch."
"Not yet. Though you'll have an eyepatch soon enough if you don't concentrate on the job at hand."
Anyway, Artemis, you don't need a villainous laugh or an eyepatch to do evil. Sana wrote quickly. Her scorn was palpable.
"Sana, if you don't like what we're doing, then go back to Fowl Manor. I don't need distractions right now."
If I didn't come, who else would try prevent you from doing dastardly acts like murder? Artemis didn't even wait for her to finish writing her reply. She cleaned her board and walked slowly behind Artemis and Butler. Where was the Artemis who had taught her how to read? Where was the Artemis who helped her paint her room? That Artemis wouldn't murder an innocent animal. Wrapped up in her thoughts, Sana ran into Artemis, who had suddenly stopped walking.
Sorry. No response. Sana peered into Artemis' face. He was in shock.
Artemis, what's wrong? She waved the question in front of his face, breaking his reverie.
Artemis looked up from his phone. "Our guests have just escaped the boot with another non-human! They may potentially be more lucrative than our lemur." Artemis maximised the volume of his handset. They both heard the word lemur mentioned more than once. Sana saw Artemis' realisation.
Artemis, don't! Do something else to get the money! Give the lemur to them! She scribbled, so quickly that her writing was nearly intelligible.
"No."
Sana was aghast. What do you mean, no?! Sana put the question in front of him where he had to read it.
What have you become, my brother?
Artemis did not bother answering her question. Perhaps this lemur is more valuable than I realized. The animal is the bait that lures these creatures in.
Artemis began walking again. Sana ran ahead to walk beside Butler instead. They walked together in quiet companionship, the anger about Artemis dissipating in Sana. They both shared the same views on the lemur hunt. Behind them, Artemis lagged behind, absorbed in what he was seeing and hearing. A rather hairy behind was perched on the side of the boot, quiet talk humming in the background. Occasionally the camera would pick up on a word, but they made absolutely no sense to Artemis at all. Soon, the female creature reappeared, only to promptly disappear. Invisibility? The energy involved in creating a reflective field, or to generate high-seed vibration, must be incredible. Artemis activated the digital thermal imager, and the female creature's form quickly appeared on his screen. Artemis smiled thinly. These abilities would be valuable indeed.
"Butler, old friend. Slight change of plan." In front of him, Butler glanced back at his young charge.
"We're still on the trail of a little creature, though, I'll bet."
"Creatures. Plural." Butler and Sana shivered simultaneously.
The small party arrived at the camouflaged hide in front of the cages. Behind them, at various points of their journey, night guards snored on the pathway, courtesy of Butler's darts. Artemis opened the hide with the key card, and immediately got shoved in by Butler. Sana was already in there.
"Butler, what's…" In front of him, two more guards slumped to the ground. Butler bent over, scooped the guards on to his shoulder, and deposited them at the rear of the hide.
"Guards," Butler said, a tad unnecessarily. He closed the door behind him. "What do we do now?"
Artemis frowned. "We observe the lemur, then approach its cage. When it sees us, I will entice it with a concoction of mine. If it needs reassurance, purr."
"Purr?"
"Yes, Butler. Purr. Purring has been proven to comfort lemurs." Behind him, Sana snorted derisively. Artemis whirled around. "Sana, I will need your co-operation. Otherwise, if our plan fails, I will sell everything in this park to the Extinctionists."
Sana turned pale. Why don't you do that in the first place? She wrote unsteadily.
"Do you really think of me like that?" Artemis said, incredulous. Even if he had hardened, he hadn't changed that much, right? Sana had began to write an answer when Butler shushed them up.
"Look."
The two children looked through the slot windows of the hide. Sana's mouth dropped open. Artemis would never do something so undignified as to drop his mouth open, but he came close to it. Very close.
The cages were interlocking blocks, so the lemur had been, an instant ago, above the next cage but also still inside its own cage. As the occupants inside the hide watched, a small explosion caused a mound of earth in a gorilla's cage (which was, incidentally, the cage next to the lemur) erupted, a small creature shooting out of the resulting hole to pinball off the ceiling of the cage, crashing to the ground unconscious. The gorilla, sleeping quietly in a corner, stirred, its head moving up towards the sound. Suddenly, a white hand appeared and gripped the side of the tunnel. Slowly, the pale raven-haired male emerged awkwardly from the hole.
The gorilla, deciding that the creatures coming out of the hole were dangerous, pounced onto the intruder. All two hundred kilograms of Ugandan mountain gorilla. The male intruder collapsed, and, seeing him prone on the floor, the gorilla began to shake the boy like a rag doll.
"Oh dear," said Butler delicately, "That must have really hurt. I better lend a hand or at least a dart."
The male was unconscious, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth across his face, while his companion seemed to be overcome by spasms of flatulence.
Incredible, thought Artemis, this day is full of surprises.
Artemis looked at his phone. "I don't think a dart is necessary," he answered, "Help is already on the way."
Right on cue, the third member of the party flew across the screen in a blur of red, stopping in front of the cage. Looking up, Artemis could see silver thread trailing her path from a nearby tree to the cage door. A moment later, the door opened of its own accord. Artemis heard Sana draw in her breath. He didn't offer any explanations. He didn't need to.
The minute the red shape entered the cage, the female reappeared, silver wig disintegrating, shouting, charging, and doing whatever she could to attract the gorilla's attention. The gorilla, noticing the third threat, stopped shaking the male. The female saw this and squatted down, elbows crooked, knuckles on the earth, arching her spine forward. She started hooting.
Artemis? Is she trying to talk to the gorilla? Sana asked, her hands just scrawling down the words, her eyes never leaving the scene.
Artemis glanced at the whiteboard, reading it quickly, then nodded curtly. So this was another gift of theirs, being Dr. Doolittle. He had no idea what the hoots meant, but he could guess that the female was trying to scare the gorilla away. Probably by saying 'Danger'. The gorilla, seeming confused, dropped the male and started beating its chest. Standard power show. It was trying to control the female! She suddenly darted forward. The gorilla followed her progress; she stopped suddenly in front of the gorilla and hooted more urgently. This time, the hooting worked. Artemis could see the dumb fear in the animal's eyes, and immediately after, the gorilla turned backwards and lumbered to the back of its cage, less gracefully than usual. Soon, fearful gibbering could be heard from the upper canopy.
Artemis, seeing the female rush to her companion's side, turned and went over to the door, Butler following suit. Sana, noticing them leaving, hurried to their side. They slipped out of the hide and slinked across the small courtyard to the lemur's cage beside the gorilla's cage.
"Troglodytes gorilla," Artemis commented. "Given the name by Doctor Thomas S. Savage, an American missionary to western Africa, who first scientifically described the gorilla in 1847."
Butler seemed less than pleased to learn this trivia. "You don't say," he muttered. Sana could tell his attention was elsewhere. Like, for example, the reach of the gorilla's arms.
Artemis, swiping the cage's key-card lock, kept his eyes on the activities in the next cage. He pushed open the gate door.
"Look at those two," he said scornfully. "Wasting time. You wouldn't catch me doing that."
Butler snorted. "Most people never catch you doing anything, Artemis," Butler said, deadpan.
Artemis chuckled. This was a most interesting day, and the challenges these intruders presented were very enjoyable. He looked up at the lemur, perched high in a Madagascar palm.
"And there we are," Artemis said quietly. "The last silky sifaka lemur in the world. The hundred-thousand-euro primate." The lemur looked at its guests curiously, its snow white coat contrasting with a brown patch on its chest.
Artemis pointed to the patch. "That colouring results from chest scent marking with the sternal-gular gland."
"Uh-huh." Butler said, caring about this information as much as he would an ant on a footpath. "Let's just get the animal and get out of here before our friends next door regroup."
"I think we have a moment or two," said Artemis.
Butler studied the strangers carefully, memorising every detail of their appearance in moments. Sana stared hard at Artemis, then at the male. Slowly, a suspicion formed in her mind.
I swear that boy is a grown-up version of Artemis. How they got here, I have no idea, but for them to time-travel to this time, get abducted and locked up in a boot, sneak into a zoo and then get beaten up by a gorilla, this lemur must be seriously important to something or other in their time. Somehow, I need to talk to them without Artemis or Butler noticing…
Artemis felt her scrutiny. "What is it, Sana? Do you know them?"
Sana took out her marker. No. I've never seen them, ever.
