Artemis Fowl: The Unpredictable Future

Chapter 12: Hidden Secrets

As the girls approached the cave with Ottoman, Holly tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at Artemis who was standing at the back. He was leaning against the wall on his forearm and resting his head against it, looking down. As she neared him, she noticed he was talking to himself.

"I don't know what to do." He sighed, "This concept is completely foreign to me." He let out a groan before turning around, resting his back on the wall instead. Surprised to see Holly and Rachel standing there, he slid his hands behind his back, trying to muffle a subtle click sound. "I didn't expect you to return so soon. I would have prepared a meal if I knew." He said as he tried to hide the fact that he had dropped an object into the pillow case on the ground.

Holly crossed her arms, "You've never made a meal in your life Arty." She paused as she noticed that his eyes weren't focused at her face. He was looking down below to which Holly followed his gaze, looking down at herself. She furrowed her eyebrows and pointed sternly at him, finally remembering that she still wasn't wearing any pants, "Artemis, turn around. NOW."

"Surely you don't expect me to-"

"I said turn around, Fowl." She interrupted.

Artemis did as he was told, listening to Rachel laugh in the background. "I'm going to go change out here, you two play nice now."

Holly stared at Artemis the entire time she took off her wet clothes and put on dry ones, making sure he didn't sneak a peek.

"It's not like I haven't seen your body before. When can I turn back around?"

Holly silently laughed and threw her wet tee-shirt at him, smacking Artemis behind his slick hair. "Never, jerk face."

Artemis picked the shirt off of his hair and turned around, wiping the moistness off of his hair. "Am I to assume that was my punishment?" (Almost smug-like)

Rachel came in from the outside of the cave, dressed in dry clothes that actually fit her this time. "Hello again. Everything good here now?"

Holly chuckled, "For now. We will see if he stays a good mud man."

"I'm going to go back to town and see if we can get anymore supplies. Maybe find out if Fulton is still around. Is there anything I should be on the look-out for? Food, water, maybe a pack of cond-"

Holly reached over and firmly pinched Rachel's cheeks, "Food and water will be just fine." She had a welcoming smile, but a glare that could freeze hell over. "Now you be careful out there, little troublemaker."

Rachel rubbed her cheeks and slightly pouted, "Oh, don't worry about me, I'm going to take Ottoman too. I'll try not to be gone too long. You two try to have fun while I'm gone." She turned to walk out of the cave but then looked back at Holly, "But not too much fun." And with a subtle wink, Rachel hovered on top of Ottoman and slowly trotted off towards the town.

Holly turned to Artemis, who was staring at her wet clothes on the ground. "Artemis?" He snapped out of, what looked like, a trance and returned his gaze to Holly. She giggled, "What in Frond's name is that?" She tugged at the bottom of his shirt, exposing the complete frontal design.

Artemis grabbed at the collar of his shirt for just a moment before realizing he wasn't wearing a tie anymore. He cleared his throat and brushed off imaginary dirt from the side of his pants, "This was the only form of wardrobe we had that would fit me. It definitely was not a willing choice."

"Now, now Arty, I was only teasing. It's kind of refreshing to see you in a tee-shirt, even if you are still wearing dress pants." She laughed and crossed her arms playfully, although her expression made a strange change from lightly casual to complete seriousness. "Now, what or who were you talking to earlier?"