I love you guys, lol, thanks so much for coming back, I do appreciate the loyalty. I will try to keep up with such great reviewers. Next semester is a lot easier than my first so I figure I wont have to take such long breaks in between each chapter. If any of you catch Artemis being a bit OC please let me know, i'm feeling wary since he's in a new situtation dealing with a human girl not Holly.
Anywho. Please R&R, hope you enjoy.
Chapter: Six
"Crystal... Are you all right?" Matthew asked. All the way home he watched her, staring in silence out the window, eyes shadowed by the locks of black hair.
She didn't reply for a long moment then nodded slowly. "I'm fine."
He looked at her for a second then turned away. "Please don't lie to me."
"I'm not."
"It's all over you."
There was silence a moment. "I am frustrated and a bit shocked, however not upset." she turned to look at him with cold gray eyes, calculating the look of irritation on his face. "I don't lie."
They stared at each other and it wasn't a friendly moment, but then Matthew sighed and turned away, looking ahead towards the oncoming road lit on all sides with lights.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing on purpose."
"So he offended you without meaning to..."
"No." She turned to look at him with a frown. "He did not offend me."
"Then what shocked you?" he frowned back, slightly irritated by the strangness of it all. "He's the paint thief." she stated softly, turning to look at the window again. "The one we've been watching out for."
Matthews eyes widened. "But you said you traced him down to-"
"England, I know. He's a clever boy, Matt. I'm going to have to look over the research I've done." she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose lightly.
"He's eyeing the Mona Lisa as well."
Matthew stopped, looking at her with as much shock as she had felt upon seeing the poster in Artemis' room.
"...But... we need that painting-"
"I know. We have to move fast." she murmured, glancing at him. "Tomorrow I'm going to contact the suppliers in New York. They're moving the painting in four days. I know trying to reach it in mid move isn't the easiest way to go about it-"
"It's the worst way to go about it!" Matt snapped, turning to look at her. Crystal sighed very softly. "Matthew. Be silent. I know it not to be the best move, but we're competeting with Artemis Fowl."
"Exactly why we shouldn't try that.' Matthew growled, turning to look away, suddenly wary. They had been planning to take the Mona Lisa from the moment it was found out that a private collector was to be buying the masterpiece...for reasons that neither of them liked to discuss.
"Crystal, loosing the Mona Lisa to Artemis Fowl is not something we can afford." he whispered, glancing nervously at the driver, who looked in silence at the road.
Crystal stiffened beside him. Eyes narrowed in dislike she turned to look at him. "Do you think I'm not aware of that? Do you think I don't care? I know, Matthew. Despite what you may think, I'm not an idiot."
He glared at her a moment, the frustration of facing a situation that might put her in danger making him moody. "Perhaps you should tell him. He may decide to help rather than take the Mona Lisa himself if he knew your situation."
"I can handle it." She snapped, opening the door of the vehicle as soon as it came to a stop at the footsteps of the mansion.
Matt growled and stormed out after her, following her up the steps, leaving the driver to blink in surprise.
"I don't think you can."
"Then you don't know me." Taking a deep breathe she turned to look at him, standing just outside of the porch that rose around them with pillars and a pair of massive double doors leading into the new Lord Manor.
"I am capable of doing this, Matthew. Either trust me, or let me find someone who does." her words were not intended to hurt but it did the job and as though struck Matthew pulled back, looking at her in slight surprise. Never had there been much tension between the two of them, only under this kind of circumstance... one that played with the life of someone they both loved were they likely to battle for dominance.
"Fine. We'll hit the Mona Lisa on the move.' he muttered, shoving the door open and entering, ignoring the surprised look of the butler that stood at the doorway having just moved to open the door for them both.
Crystal stood outside, looking quietly on at the darkness cast by the lack of moonlight and stars. It was a difficult situation... made even more difficult by the meddling of the genuis with whom she had been facinated for years.
But the facination was beginning to decay, rotting away as the list of priorities was put more in order. She had family to take care of, and vengence to pay. The Mona Lisa was the key, he would not take it from her without a fight.
When the morning came, Artemis had already managed to round up enough information on Crystal to feel a bit more comfortable should he have to face her in the day.
From his studies of the diary entries his mother and father kept on laptops and other pcs that littered the house he had found a goldmine of information passed from Crystal's own parents onto his own and then recorded as thoughtful reflections of the day by both.
It was as factual a story of Crystal as he was to get, unless he spoke to Matthew or to her directly.
From the moment he found the diary of his father in the local server he word searched it to find anything to do with the Lord family. Often it was simply the dealings of business, not too pleasant to read, but interesting anyway.
Then, as the years went on and he found himself being mentioned almost as much as Crystal... things he had not expected began to float through the words.
He knew now that he was nine months older than her. That her relationship with her sister had been one that he could only compare to himself and Butler. That her mother had been absent in a coma due to a heart problem. For two years the only mother that Crystal had known was her older sister.
he knew that Matthew had been often in and out of the house with his parents and that their side of the family had been straight with the law for three generations, something that Mikkael Lord admired but dared not attempt on his own.
He knew also that Crystal had been a very quiet child, and that to his shock, she had visited Fowl Manor more than once during the days that he had stayed at boarding schools. The reason that he had not been told of the closeness between their two families had been, very simply, protection.
Should anyone think him a link to them, it would double his dangers of kidnapping and more. For once he wished his parents had not cared for him so much.
It was a reality he was grudgidly accepting that he was curious about Crystal... Curious because, logically she was the first in a long endless line of female bothers to attract his attention in a way that wasn't simply a wonder at how moronic she was.
Caught off guard by the thought he stopped, halfway done buttoning up his shirt. Curious...
As usual he made his tea, but too busy with his thoughts made no jabs at Juliet, sitting half asleep by the counter with her coffee. She watched as he left, his eyes glued to the Da Vinci book.
Butler too noted a change in his young charge. Silence weighed heavily by deep thought and a look of concentration across the boy's face made him shift uneasily in his seat. He had seen that look many times before, but not for a while. He had hoped he wouldn't again.
"Artemis?" he asked as the young man went to get out of the car.
Dragging his mind from his thoughts the boy turned. "Yes, Butler?"
"Perhaps speaking honestly with Miss Lord on the matter with the Mona Lisa would be more helpful than preparing to battle for the painting. After all, we still don't know why she wants it."
Artemis looked at him a moment, pondering his point. The question of why had obviously been bouncing around in his head for all of the night, and still no answers came. As far as he was aware she wasn't even an expirienced thief, let alone one that would dare try to get paintings as expensive as the Mona Lisa. That, or she had covered her footsteps so well he had never expected nor noticed heavy competition...
"I will find out, Butler. I do not do things on a whim."
The manservant nodded, knowing that to be as true as Artemis would ever go. "All right."
With a firm nod they parted and Artemis closed the car door, stepping back to watch Butler drive away. He half expected Crystal to sneak up behind him as the day before but the steps were deserted and as the bell rang he sighed. It would be a long day if she was refusing to play...
He waited at the door of the Physics room, watching as his classmates ran in, glancing nervously in his direction. It wasn't often that he did something out of the ordinary. His routine had been solidly set the moment the school year began. He was always the first in the class and the first to leave, saying nothing to anyone, sitting in silencein his seat with his work out on his desk... and several other things that looked more complicated than the very things they were dealing with.
To see him standing by the doorway set their subconcious into wary caution. But Artemis paid them no heed, too preoccupied with watching out for a short but powerful little competitor he was sure to see coming down the hall.
As expected he caught sight of her, turning the corner into the hall, her arms tight around her books and her head bowed slightly. He frowned. It was a defensive slightly frightened stance... one he had not seen her use while walking around before.
The reason for her wariness became apperant as a group of girls turned the corner behind her, their laughter ringing loudly down the hall. Something within Artemis shifted uneasily just watching as the smaller figure of Crystal was drowned in their crowd.
Thoughts bounced around his head eerily. Holly and Butler... and probably everyone he considered his friend would be disappointed to hear that he had stood there and watched as she was bullied, however the logic in his mind stated she was an enemy and this sort of thing would weaken her against him.
A cold shiver drifted down his back as he remembered years ago when he had thought that the enemy of his enemy was his friend.
Looking on at those girls, cirling her like a pack of hyennas, he knew it to be false. Sighing and forcefully shutting up the voice of Holly in his mind he started down the hall, ignoring the sound of the bell tolling and the class doors beginning to close. He'd be late for Physics.
The sudden sound of a body slamming against a wall startled him out of his thoughts and he suddenly didn't care.
The group of girls began to drift away, still jeering. They were taller, and stronger and more confident that the small one that was now leaning lightly against the hall wall, wiping with her jumper's sleeve the blood that dripped down from her ripped lip.
"We'll see you at lunch, China." One of the girls called over her shoulder sweetly before disappearing around the corner.
Crystal's gray eyes glared in their direction, her ears ringing with the sound of their laughter drifting away. Not knowing she was being watched, she quietly sniffed and bent down to pick her things up.
Artemis watched her for a moment, hesitant to help, but too closer to get away without her realizing he was there. She saterd at her pale hand for a moment, which was shaking furiously and clenched it.
"Are you all right?" He asked suddenly, the words slipping out of his mouth before he had a chance to think them up let alone allow them passage. It startled him as much as her, for she looked up sharply and stood.
"How long have you been there?" she snapped instead, the defensiveness still lingering over her body. he resisted the urge to shrug and bent down to pick up some of her books.
"A few minutes. Long enough."
She didn't move for a moment, as if contemplating what he wanted, then quietly she bent down and began to pick her things up as well.
"Thank you." she muttered as he handed her the textbooks.
"They called you China." he said quietly, curiousity lingering over his face as they began to walk to class. "Why?"
Crystal's lips pressed together into a thin line as she walked along beside him, staring straight ahead.
"China Dolls. They think I look like a China Doll." she muttered and he blinked, seeing as there was little insult in that, but still Crystal seemed to feel the force of it in a way that stated it 'was' one.
Is this one of those 'girl' things Juliet says I'll never understand?
"I see.." he said and she smirked suddenly, glancing at him. "No you don't."
They stopped at the door of the physics room and he smirked back. "You're right, I don't."
Neither moved to open the door, and finally Crystal dared to look at it. Brown and solid and certainly dividing them both from a long hour of boredom.
"I'm not going in." she muttered suddenly, touching her sleeve to her lip again to stop the bleeding. "I've to get cleaned up. Thank you for the help, Master Artemis." she muttered, turning to continue down the hall.
Artemis watched her, having seen such a reaction coming. She looked as though she had been tossed around, it made sense that she wouldn't want to go into class. The teacher would ask what happened...
Then the thoughts collided forcefully with his mind that if they had both entered, not only would the teacher ask what happened... he'd ask Artemis what happened.
He very nearly twitched and suddenly followed her. He couldn't go into class either...
"Miss Lord." he called, making her turn to look at him over her shoulder with a frown. "What?"
He kept walking, making her follow at a slow walk. "How do you know so much about paintings?"
Crystal sighed then and he watched in surprise as she pinched the bridge of her nose... much as he did when in deep thought.
"The same way you come to know so much about them, Master Artemis." she muttered, shifting her books in her arms slightly. He almost smirked and glanced to the right at the iron gate of the school, shut tightly to keep them all in.
She was playing a very clever game.
"You were very interested in the Mona Lisa." he stated, decided he didn't want to drag the thing on forever. He stopped walking, forcing her to look at him. "Why?"
She frowned. It was as straight forward a question as he would dare to ask. They both knew then that both were aware of their plans.
"It's a rather complicated situation." she replied. He frowned. "I need to know."
"I can't tell you. Though, if it changes anything at all. I would preffer not to care for the Mona Lisa at all. If I could have my way... I would forget it ever existed." she smiled and it wasn't at all a happy expression.
"The painting however holds other values that I can't ignore." she frowned and then said very quietly. "And you? Why do you care for the Mona Lisa? She is, just another painting, after all."
Artemis felt the conversation beginning to complicate and knew there was a hidden question in her sentence, but distinguishing it was a difficult matter.
"You know who I am, don't you." he stated instead, and Crystal's expression changed to slight surprise.
"Yes, I do."
"I don't care that it's just a painting, Miss Lord. No painting is 'just' a painting."
Crystal nodded slowly. "I see."
"And you? Who are you?" Artemis pressed. Crystal smiled again. "No one at all. Just a girl caught up in a complicated plot, that's all." she turned to continue walking, forcing him to follow.
The tides seemed to turn against each other in their conversation, for only minutes did one have the upper hand. He was growing steadily wary.
"No one...? Then why would you want her?"
Crystal stopped and then put her books down on the railing. "Matthew wished me to explain that to you. He said you might withdraw your claim. I don't think you would." she pulled herself up on the railing as well, letting her feet hang down, inches off the ground.
"You're too competative."
"Don't judge me before you know me." Artemis retorted, feeling a bit insulted.
"The Mona Lisa is currently in the property of Marque Anotel. He is living in New York city and the painting to be displayed in his apartment there. They are moving it from the Paris museum to New York in a few days time. Marque Anotel happens to be the son... of my father's late associate Antonio Anotel. His business collapsed when my father decided to pull back his financial support. This did not sit well with the Anotel family." her face darkened for a moment and she turned away.
"They're the ones that took my sister away."
Artemis started in slight surprise, having not thought of such a connection. "I looked into the investigation- they said they had no clue who-" he began.
Crystal scoffed. "I was there, I saw their faces. Marque Anotel was leading the operation. Antonio often called him on his cell phone while they had the house surrounded. Antonio gave the order to kill my sister. Marque is the one that put the gun in my hands and made me pull the trigger."
The silence was weighed down like a mountain was around them. The rumours his mother had heard were apperantly true. "...you shot..." Artemis began slowly, remembering that the relationship between Crystal and her sister had been much like him and Butler.
"They drugged me, I didn't know who I was shooting until after. Then the police stupidly began to threaten that they would go in... Antonio said to get out, so Marque did. they snuck out. Our grounds in England were surrounded by forest. In the dark you can loose someone in there for hours. They had an easy time leaving." she sighed.
"This doesn't explain why you want the Mona Lisa." Artemis pointed out, shoving his shock away to examine later. Crystal nodded. "It doesn't, I know. It explains why Marque wants the Mona Lisa... and why they were in our home." she shook her head.
"My sister had been researching for a long time something she said she had found in the earth... miles down. She found pieces of information hidden in many historical things everywhere, including the Mona Lisa, she said that was the key. She was sure she would find whatever was in the earth with the Mona Lisa. Because our lines were tapped the Anotels found out and thought it had something to do with money... that's why they wanted the Mona Lisa so badly." she sighed.
Artemis stared at her in silence, fully aware of the knot that had formed in his stomach upon her mentioning the 'something' under ground.
"What was it she thought she had found underground?"
"Something... she never dared to tell me what. But she often studied egyptian symbols and the like. I was never very interested, but she was fully devoted. I have yet to crack her own encryption on her data base. She was a lot smarter than I am..." Crystal frowned at the ground.
"She shouldn't have died."
Heart beating furiously, Artemis nodded and turned to look out, trying to calm his senses. Was it possible that Crystal's sister had begun to find traces of the People...?