The Heir Game

Chapter 1

       
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except for Myrex and Trinity - the pleasure goes to Eoin Colfer

Fowl Manor, Ireland
          It was dark and dreary. Artemis didn't mind. He was safe at Fowl Manor with a fire roaring on the fireplace. Butler glanced at his employer before returning to his book. He was worried about Artemis. Something had been occupying him for the past ten or more days, and it was not anything normal like a girl or sports. In fact, nothing about Artemis Fowl was normal at all. He was a criminal mastermind, a juvenile genius. Usually he was coming up with plans to get money or, occasionally, saving the world. With fairy assistance, however, Artemis had grown more and more human. Butler wondered if Artemis was reflecting on himself or perhaps just coming up with a scheme for more gold. Probably the latter.
           "Butler," he said presently, "I imagine that you are pondering what I could be thinking about. As I'm always right, I assume you want to know what my plan is."
           "Yes," Butler said, always wondering how his Principal could guess what he was thinking.
           "Foaly had recently sent me a message of the LEP falling apart," Artemis said, "I thought perhaps I could solve the problem from the comfort of Fowl Manor, but I need more information. We must travel down to Haven."
            "That's an easy decision to make," Butler said, "I think it wouldn't have taken you as long as half an hour."
        For any normal child it would have taken an entire day but Butler knew Artemis well enough to know that there was a bigger problem.
          "Well there was the small problem of my family," Artemis sighed, "With two parents back in the house I can barely scheme, much less carry out my plans."
"Ah," Butler said, "But what's the real problem?"
He knew that that problem wouldn't keep Artemis up at night. Maybe the fairy problem was more severe than Butler imagined.
"I'm becoming predictable, eh?" Artemis grinned. "Well, I thought about all the gold we've been losing from teleportation."
Artemis had recently been conducting a study on that subject and had spent quite a lot of money to be able to be let into different facilities and buy equipment he needed. Butler sighed. He knew where this was going.
"So you're choosing between Haven and gold."
"Yes," Artemis concluded, " It's not as selfish as you may think. We might need gold to save the People."
"You're lying to yourself," Butler said, "The People are always more important, Artemis."
"Fine," Artemis relented, "I'll pack my bags."