O teach me how I should forget to think

They sat in silence in the car. Artemis observed her out of the corner of his eye, watching as she wrung her fingers awkwardly. He was never usually this stuck for conversation. Not so long ago, he'd subtly turned up the radio to fill the tense atmosphere, but for once Mozart was not easing his nerves.

He knew he'd done something wrong; he just didn't understand what. She was being harassed and surely the gentlemanly thing to do would be to eradicate that threat from her life. She should be happy. She should have thanked him by now. Instead, though she'd offered a peace-broker of another coffee sometime, the air between them was still heavy. Back in the café, she had seemed angry at him, upset even. He could understand if she was angry that he had not told her the true intention of their meeting, but Artemis was receptive enough to infer that she was not angry at that deception … Should he ask her? He retreated into his mind to envisage Holly in that café instead – what would she have done?

In his mind's eye, Holly berates him for not being honest with her. She tells him, 'you should have just said why you invited me out!', and then, 'honestly, we never get to meet for just an ordinary chat'. As Butler dragged back the journalist and seated him firmly opposite the two of them, Holly would scowl at her harasser, interrogate him. She'd be angry – not at Artemis, but at the man who had threatened her privacy. And then, as Artemis scorned the man, she'd … there was that twinge again. Of guilt. Like he was doing something wrong. He probably wouldn't have acted like that in front of Holly – he couldn't do it because he was reminded of his twelve-year-old self shooting her with a dart and caging her like an animal, not a person.

Katherina interrupted his thoughts. Or, more accurately, her phone did. It began to sound a bird-like trill of song.

"Sorry," she said, "Do you mind?" Artemis waved his hand and she answered. In the short space between them, he couldn't help but listen in to her end of the conversation. "Hello? Yes, that's me." There followed an immediate silence as Katherina listened intently to the other side of the phone. Artemis spared her a quick glance to judge her expression. Her eyes were ever so slightly enlarged, anxious. "Is he okay? … When did this happen? Which hospital did you say you were calling from? I can't … I'm in Ireland, I can't … My brother is away, too. Yes, please use this number. No, I don't think … unless one of his friends can go … Oh my god."

"Is everything alright?" Artemis asked in a whisper, noticing the way she was stammering her words now, clearly disconcerted. She looked over and it was clear in her expression that things were not okay. Artemis decided to pull over in the car, waiting for the next turning to move off the main road. Once he pulled into a small housing estate, he waited patiently for Katherina to finish her phone call.

"Can I ring this number?" She continued, now subconsciously scratching her forearm in distress. "Thank you. No, thank you. Yes. Bye." Her finger tapped the red button and she took a shaky breath. Artemis didn't push her. Once she had composed herself, she turned her cat-like green eyes towards him. "Do you mind driving me to the airport?"

"Where do you need to go?"

"To England. My dad lives there. He's fallen off a ladder at work and I think he's in a really bad way. Probably spinal damage." Though she tried to control her tone, her voice cracked towards the end of her sentence. Artemis pulled back onto the road. He re-orientated himself, not heading for the airport, but for Fowl Manor. Katherina seemed to notice they were going the wrong way.

"I was planning to fly to England tomorrow. I have no problem arriving a day earlier."

"Oh, okay." She nodded, slightly confused but too shaken to think straight. "Do you need to head back for your bags?"

"And for my private jet." He smiled, softly. It wasn't the type of brag he usually made; today it felt in good taste - a little light-hearted joke in a time of stress.

"Your-!" Her jaw dropped. "You are kidding me, right?"

"I am Artemis Fowl the Second. I don't kid, Kathie." It was the first time he had called her this way and the way her eyebrows twitched showed that she noticed. He hoped he hadn't crossed the boundary in their friendship. He found that when Holly started calling him Arty, it had been endearing. Whenever he was feeling a little low, hearing her address him as Arty helped to raise his spirits a little. He hoped doing so would have a similar effect on his new friend. "Where in England do you need to go?"

"Winchester."

"Then the nearest airport would be Southampton, correct?" She nodded, slowly. "That's a small airport, there's probably not a direct flight. To get there would be extortionate. You'd probably have to take the train from London."

"You've really got a private jet?"

"I have."

"And a pilot?" She asked. Artemis blew air between his lips in a slightly undignified manner.

"Miss Kat, I've had a pilot's license since I was fourteen."

"Well sorry for asking," she laughed, softly, and the sound was relieving. "You honestly don't mind? You're heading to London, aren't you? This is out of your way."

"Hardly," Artemis scoffed. "I've always wanted to see the original capital of England. I've never actually been to Winchester." The car slowed at the lights and Artemis turned his head towards her, once again throwing her another smile – one which he truly hoped looked reassuring. There was still an anxious knot in her forehead. "And also … I know how it feels to nearly lose your father."

Katherina's gaze fell into her lap. She averted her eyes outside of the window, her hair falling to cover her face from his view. "I'm really sorry, Artemis," she said. He was immediately puzzled – what had he done now? "I'm sorry because I thought you were a bad person. When people talked about you, they said you were a psychopath – absolutely no regard for others, able to cut people like glass with your words and have no remorse for it." Artemis blinked several times, still unsure where this apology was going. He tried to focus on the road as he pulled off the motorway and into the country lanes leading to his Manor. "Although, that can be true," she continued, "I've learned there's more to you than that. I didn't think I was such a judgemental person. You're a really good guy."

She raised a finger to her right eye and Artemis caught her clearing away a tear. This caused him to thoroughly panic.

"Ah, uh-!" he fumbled for the right words to say. Afterall, she had just revealed something quite flattering to him, even though she was the one in distress. As a gentleman, he should say something back. "Your father will be fine," the words eventually spilled from his mouth. It was the only thing he could think of. "And we'll get you there in no time."

They rolled up the driveway to Fowl Manor, wheels crunching over the pebbled front driveway; he would usually park in the underground garage, but they were in a rush. He hoped his parents would not be home, but something told him his hope would be fleeting. Katherina was wide-eyed, trying not to let her expression show how astonished he was, her head craning back to see the full expanse of the manor. Artemis pressed the handbrake and took out the keys from the ignition, trying to skirt round the car to help her out but she was already on her feet.

"I'll show you inside to the living room. Do you need anything bringing from your house? I can send Butler. He won't be longer than half an hour."

"You even have a butler," she blew air through pursed lips and laughed, the sound stilted and forced.

"No, not a butler, Butler … never mind. Do you need anything?"

"No, thank you. I have some clothes as my dad's house."

Artemis keyed in his 8-digit code on a block beside the front door that was disguised as an ordinary stone. The front slid open, revealing a fingerprint pad. A light flashed just above the pad to indicate that the alarms were deactivated. Someone was home. He pushed his ring finger onto the pad, holding it until a small vibration signified that he had been accepted as an owner. The front door clicked. They stepped into the Grand Hallway, two staircases spiralling off to different corners of the house, a chandelier the size of a stag proudly hanging from the centre of the ceiling. A man with palms large enough to crush tree trunks descended the staircase on the left, his build and gait like that of a silverback gorilla. It was, of course, Butler.

"Nice to meet you again so soon, Miss Palmer." The expression Butler's face clearly battled between professionalism and the notion of teasing his young charge. Artemis placed a hand on Katherina's back, softly directing her towards the living room. As Butler fell into step beside him, he made a quick remark, "I'll remember to knock before I come in. Never thought I'd see the day that Artemis Fowl would bring a girl home."

"Get your things, Butler. We're heading to England." Once in the living room – the only room in the house that didn't appear to be straight out of an eighteenth century romance novel – Artemis gestured to the lounge chair in front of a television that could have been a window for the size of it. "Take a seat," he said, picking up some of the twin's toys as he walked and dropping them back into their storage boxes, "I'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you, Artemis," Katherina replied. As she sat, it appeared as though the life drained out of her for a second. She stared blankly at the screen in front of her, green eyes suddenly exhausted. It made Artemis pause – his entire soul seemed to reach out to her in empathy. He found the emotion somewhat novel. He had never had a friend his age and to encounter one in a similar position of trouble that he had been in some years ago was making him react in a way he wouldn't have expected. He felt he would go out of his way to help her. A shadow fell over him for a fraction of a second. Was he just using her to rid himself of his own demons? Subconsciously, was he trying to remedy his past through her?

Butler followed Artemis out of the room before he spoke.

"England, Artemis?"

"Ahead of schedule," Artemis agreed, jogging up the stairs two at a time, "but no matter. Her father is in hospital, so I offered to drop her off."

"In the jet?"

"Yes, old friend. Pack your things."

"Artemis, I'm always packed. I'm a bodyguard."

"Then could you make her some jasmine tea? It might help settle her nerves."

"Artemis, not to pry into the mind space of an adolescent, but this is all a bit sudden. We barely know the girl and now you're flying her abroad?"

"We're helping out someone in need. It is not far out of our way. We were intending on flying to London tomorrow. A stop-off in the southwest of England the day before does not massively trouble us."

"Hmm," Butler hummed, not convinced. "The other thing is, Artemis, as your bodyguard …" he lowered his voice even though they were long since out of ear shot, "I don't really trust her."

"If you trusted everyone immediately upon meeting them, we'd have both been dispatched a long time ago." Artemis dismissed. Butler shrugged his huge shoulders – Artemis had a point. He usually did. Still, Butler would remain alert against this young woman. First, there were the articles about her and Artemis in the news. Then, all of a sudden, she needs a lift to England the day before Artemis was set to fly there? It could be nothing. However, it was Butlers job to think of the nothings.

In the back of his mind, he thought this might be a good opportunity for Artemis. Recently, he'd been depressed. For a long time, Butler hadn't known whether 'depression' was the right diagnosis - was he just lonely? He didn't have many friends and the ones he did were inaccessible and at least twice his age. Boredom, then? He wondered if that was the case. The boy had always been against some sort of world catastrophe since a young age and it was clear Artemis loved the thrill of a plan. Even though he was keeping extremely busy juggling the life of a student against the life of a young genius and leader of an economic empire, he could simply be bored. Now that Butler could see the return of the twinkle in Artemis' eye, he saw retrospectively that his charge had truly been depressed.

The signs were all there: disrupted sleeping patterns, occasional irritability, the guilt he would sometimes mention that hung over him, lack of motivation in things that usually inspired him, and at times his weight seemed to fluctuate until Angeline Fowl always forced him back onto a healthy and regular eating pattern. He was also becoming reckless with his own safety. He had noticed it mostly with Artemis' late night walks, his lab experiments where he 'forgot' to wear the proper protection, and then his suspicion was topped off with Artemis' inclination to lean so far out of his window. It was like his charge was tempting fate, daring it to harm him.

Hopefully, it had not been a severe depression. However, Butler knew that his charge was adept at hiding things from him – especially when they related to his mental health. He had somehow managed to hide his descent into Atlantis Complex until it was too late to avert his path into outright delusion. Butler sometimes lay awake at night, thinking about what might have happened if the whole incident in Iceland had not occurred. Perhaps, he would have slowly decayed into madness to the point where Artemis damaged more than just his relationships with others. If Butler was not careful, this depression might swallow his charge up before he even knew about it.

As usual, Artemis' greatest enemy was himself.

Butler followed Artemis absentmindedly, completely ignoring his request for jasmine tea. In his thoughtful state, he'd lumbered after Artemis until the boy entered his room and glanced back, quizzically.

"Tea?"

"Ah, yes." Butler nodded. "Tea." Before he turned to head back downstairs, Artemis stopped him by clearing his throat apologetically.

"Tea was just a suggestion, Butler. You know well that you are my friend, not a manservant now, don't you?"

"Manservant and a bodyguard," Butler replied. "I know I'm old, but it's still written in my contract." Although he was grateful for Artemis to have those intentions now, especially after all they had been through, he did not want to be pitied. This old dog still had some tricks in him. "I'll make the tea, Artemis. Angeline would hit the roof if she found out that you had brought a girl home and we hadn't offered her tea."

Artemis' lip curled into a quick smile. "Our secret." He said, charmingly, and Butler suddenly thought that his young charge had become very handsome as he had matured. His face was angular and long with high cheek bones, his thick dark hair the spitting image of his father. When he wasn't sporting his usual misunderstood-teenage-prodigy expression – one of a singular raised brow and a twist in his nose like he could smell something foul – his bright blue eyes were playful and young. Butler couldn't help one last remark.

"I'll make sure to knock on the cabin door before I intrude." He didn't look back to see Artemis' scowl.