A/N: Heyoo readers! New chapter, yay! I'm going camping Friday evening through Sunday morn but I figured I'd put out this chapter to read in the meantime. When I get back we'll pick up right where we left off. Hope you enjoy!
Cynthia: Hey, everybody! Did you miss us? Sorry this chapter took a little longer. I had some tests to study for. Well, enjoy your weekend everybody. I'll shut up now.
(It's okay we like hearing you talk Q.Q) Well anyway, comment, suggest BLAH BLAH BLAH THAT STUFF and enjoy! :) Cynthia&J
Butler and Lilac were in the car with their sweets and Christmas tree on top. Butler was driving silently and occasionally sneaking looks at Lilac, the pretending not to if she looked in his direction.
"Well, that was fun!" Lilac said, breaking the silence. "Wouldn't you say so?"
"Yeah," agreed Butler. He continued looking straight at the road, and trying to ignore the insane feeling building up inside of him.
"Glad we finally decided on a Christmas tree. Isn't it lovely?" Lilac asked.
"Mhm. Yeah."
Lilac sat up straight in her seat. "What is it, Butler? What's wrong?"
"I don't know what you're saying," lied Butler.
"Yes, you do! Why won't you talk to me?" demanded Lilac.
He took his eyes off the road for a few moments to look at her. Her stare was almost tearing into him... He couldn't hold back his questions any more.
"Why didn't you react?" he blurted.
Lilac's look of stubbornness and accusation turned into one of confusion. "Huh?" she asked.
Butler tried to rephrase it better. "Why... When you first came here, you met everyone, including Foaly. Foaly is a centaur. But you didn't even react, let alone mention it. Why?"
Lilac looked down at her lap. She looked nervous, he noticed. She didn't say anything for a few moments... then finally she whispered, "I was confused. And... kind of nervous. I didn't want to say anything, because I thought it'd be rude or insensitive. I know now I should've..."
Was that it? That beautifully simple answer. Butler didn't know if he should accept it or not. He wanted to. Oh, Butler wanted to so bad! But he couldn't ignore the little sensation of doubt in his mind that was planted by Artemis.
"Okay," said Butler, emotionless.
"So, you see, it was just a misunderstanding!" Lilac explained.
Butler pulled into the driveway and couldn't help but think that maybe it wasn't. Maybe Artemis was right. It wasn't a misunderstanding. But then that would mean Lilac wasn't who she said she was.
"Good. I'm glad." Butler smiled. "Let's go take these sweets in."
Lilac smiled back at him happily. "I'm so glad we got this cleared up!" She bounced out of the car and ran inside.
"Yeah," sighed Butler. "So am I."
He just couldn't get that annoying little voice out of his head that said 'Artemis was right'. Why had Lilac's answer only made that voice grow louder?
Butler, while thinking about this, stepped out of the car and onto the pavement. Or, the snow covering the pavement. He walked over to the manor, and soon as he stepped inside, he could hear excited talking from the kitchen. One of the voices he recognized was Juliet.
"Isn't it perfect?" his sister asked.
Lilac replied with, "Oh my goosh I love it! It's going to bed really hard to eat this!"
Before Butler took the tree inside, he decided he'd better have a look at what he assumed was the finished Gingerbread house.
"Butler!" Juliet exclaimed. "Look at the gingerbread house! Isn't the gingerbread perfect? I am sooo glad you and Lilac got candy to decorate it."
Butler nodded and plopped the bag of candy and sweets on the counter. "There you go. I have to go upstairs."
Lilac frowned. Why wouldn't Butler want to spend time with her[italics]?
"Is everyting okay?" she asked sweetly.
"Yeah," said Butler. "i just need to go upstairs."
Butler left and started walking up the stairs. He hated the thoughts of doubt swirling in his head. Lilac couldn't be a criminal or anything like that. She was Lilac Bloom. Sweet, gorgeous, and innocent. That's who she was. But if that who she was, why was there a voice in his head that kept insisting there was something more. Something she was hiding. Something deadly.
His first instinct was to go to Artemis. After all, he was the one who had emphasized those doubtful feelings. First he looked in his study, which is where he was most of the time. But he wasn't there. Next he checked the library, then his room, but he was nowhere.
"Artemis?" he called, walking up and down the halls. "Are you there?"
"He's not here," said a voice behind him.
Butler twisted around to see who had spoken. He wasn't alarmed, because he'd recognized the voice as Foaly's before he saw him. And he was right; it was Foaly. He was just walking out of the library, with a book under his arm.
"Where is he?" Butler asked.
Foaly had presumed that Butler didn't suspect anything, so he lied and didn't tell him about Madame Ko. He said, "We sent him and Holly away to find some Christmas decorations. We were hoping we'd spark some Hartemis by getting them alone together..." He winked. Great, he thought. I suppose I'll have to call them now and tell them to bring something home.
It made perfect sense, so Butler had no reason to think otherwise. "Ah, okay," he replied. "Well, Lilac and I just returned with the candy for the Gingerbread house..."
Foaly's face lit up. "Awesome! I'm gonna go down and help with decorating! You coming?"
"Oh, no thanks... I'll probably just break something." That was the sad truth. "It's not my thing anyway."
"Hm... suit yourself!" Foaly passed him and galloped down the hallway to the stairs. Butler watched him go, and then waited until he was out of sight to head to the library. There were a few computers in there, and he needed to do some research...
Later that night, Holly and Artemis silently entered Fowl Manor. It was near pitch black and practically impossible to see. Holly waited until her eyesight adjusted to the darkness, rather than proceeding through the living room and somehow harming herself as Artemis did. The pair crept into the kitchen and Artemis flipped on the light switch, filling the room with a dim light.
"That was...insane," Holly finally said.
"Indeed," agreed Artemis. "It was quite an adventure, or rather a misadventure. If only we had Butler there."
"That couldn't be helped. Butler is, you know," reminded Holly.
"Yes. I know," Artemis said. "You needn't remind me."
"Well, what do we do now?" asked Holly.
"Wake up Juliet and Foaly, I suppose..." he replied. "You get Foaly, I'll get Juliet."
"Alright." So they walked upstairs together, and then went their opposite directions.
Juliet's room was right next to Lilac's, so he had to be careful. As quietly as he could, he crept to the door, and then turned the doorknob. He got it open half an inch before the hinges squeaked, and then he froze. Artemis waited a few seconds... then, begging for it not to make any more noise, tried again. He got it open another inch before it squeaked again. Silently he cursed the doors.
In the morning I'll have to remember to tell Butler that we need new doors, he thought with bitterness. He only risked opening it halfway, and then slipped inside the room.
After his eyes adjusted to the room- it was darker than the rest of the manor, he could spot Juliet in her bed. One arm was flailed over the side of the bed, and the sheets were tangled worse than a rat's nest. Like her hair. Artemis sighed. This girl was something else...
He walked over to her side of the bed, and started to gently shake her shoulder. "Juliet," he whispered. "Wake up. Holly and I are back."
She didn't respond. Up close, he could see that she was drooling... "How insanitary," he muttered. Before attempting to wake her up again, he walked to the bathroom connected to her room, and took a few tissues out of the Kleenex box. When he returned he wiped her mouth clean, until it was all dry again. Then he shook her shoulder again; this time harder.
"Juliet!" he said. "Wake up!"
Juliet mumbled something, and her body shifted a little, but she still didn't come to consciousness.
For the second time in the past few minutes, Artemis sighed. How was he going to do this?
Artemis suddenly got an idea. He was 99.9 percent sure it would work. It was after all thought up by him.
I can't believe I am about to do this, thought Artemis, this is madness! Artemis shook his head and took a deep breath. He leaned in close and whispered in Juliet's ear: "Holly Short, I-"
Juliet's eyes snapped open, and she sat up. She grinned with joy at Artemis and excitement was dancing in her eyes.
"Were you about to admit your feelings for Holly?" she asked hopefully.
"No," said Artemis shortly. "I need to tell you something."
Juliet's expression soured. "What?"
"Hm..." he thought aloud. "Come with me to the living room. Holly's waking up Foaly and we'll explain it to both of you."
Juliet said, "Okay," and followed him when he left the room.
Minutes later, the four of them were gathered together. Foaly and Juliet looked eager to find out what happened with Madame Ko... and Holly and Artemis looked hesitant to tell. After sitting in silence for more than a minute, Holly finally asked, "Did the Gingerbread House go okay?"
Juliet brightened as she nodded. "Mhm! It went great! It's in the kitchen, if you wanna look at it!"
"We will," Holly assured her.
More seconds passed and nobody said anything. Foaly and Juliet were desperately wanting to ask the obvious question... it was like a pressure was rising from within them and they couldn't keep it bottled up any more. It was unplanned and unrehearsed, but that the same time, both of them exclaimed the words, "So what happened?!"
Artemis and Holly were shocked, and frankly, kind of scared. "Wow," Holly whispered to him.
"They're in unison," he said back. Then he cleared his throat. "I'll start off." He paused, and then began, "Madame Ko has a base in Ireland, so we met her there... It took a while to get a meeting with her, but being the principal to Butler helped. Holly hid her ears, of course, and just passed off as short. I made the code name Evanlyn for her. We finally got to speak of her, and she confirmed that Lilac went and graduated from the academy. But..." He stopped, and both he and Holly exchanged glances.
Holly finished the sentence for him. "She sort of... disappeared," she said.
Foaly frowned in thought. "What do you mean, disappeared?"
"What do you think, Foaly?" Holly cried. "Disappeared. As in off the grid. No records."
"Well, she is a bodyguard trained by Madame Ko. Maybe she just..." Juliet trailed off when she saw everyone looking at her with looks of pity and disbelief.
"Juliet, there's no simple explanation. Lilac Bloom is hiding something. Pure and simple," said Holly gently, but firmly.
Juliet sighed. She knew that it wasn't simple anymore. She knew Lilac was hiding something. But Juliet didn't want to admit it. Lilac just seemed so sweet and nice for a highly trained bodygaurd.
"I know. I just wished it wasn't true," Juliet admitted.
Holly's face softened. She could relate. "We all do. But now, we have to figure out the why and how Lilac disappeared."
Artemis felt it was his turn to speak. He said, sounding all intelligent, "Well, surely Madame Ko has all access to criminal files, so checking would be a waste of time. The LEP doesn't have any information on her... So, the question is, what's the latest footage can we find of her?"
Everyone was silent except for Foaly. He had a feeling Artemis knew the answer to his own question, but he spoke up anyway..
"The Academy has cameras placed all around the building. We'll watch the video of her last day there and see if there is any relevant information," said the centaur.
Artemis nodded. "Exactly." He turned to Holly and said, "Fly there early tomorrow and get whatever tapes we need."
Holly let out a small sigh at the 'early' part. "Fine. But only if you come with me."
Artemis smirked. "What, are you scared to be all by yourself, without me there to protect you?"
Holly folded her arms across her chest with a defiant look on her face. "Of course not! I just think it might be a good idea to have some backup. Even if that backup is a pasty Irish boy."
Artemis arched his right eyebrow and smirked. "So easily offended, Captain. I wonder why."
Holly opened her mouth to shoot back a witty retort, but Juliet interrupted her.
"You know I love to watch this flirty banter," said Juliet, "but if you and Arty are going to be leaving early in the morning, we should all go to sleep."
Foaly grinned. "Yeah. We wouldn't interrupt a Hartemis moment unless our sleep was really important."
Holly growled and Artemis grinned at the two smirking personas who were too cheeky for their own good.
Finally, Artemis spoke. "Yes. We should all retire for the night. We'll need to be focused in the morning."
Holly nodded, Juliet yawned, and Foaly started going back to where he was sleeping. Juliet started running up the stairs, taking two at a time, with Holly close behind her.
Artemis sat down on the expensive furniture and sighed wearily. This was all so complicated and confusing. But he would solve this mystery. He was, after all, Artemis Fowl the Second.