My Artemis Fowl fan fiction

chapter 13

Chapter 13

Zoey knew she was terribly sick, but she still didn't think she deserved all the attention she was getting from everybody. Holly stayed in the room with her and kept trying to give her all these books to read. She just didn't want to read any books, but Holly acted like not wanting to read was the most insane thing that could ever happen in the history of the world. Zoey knew why, of course, because just yesterday she couldn't think of a better thing to do than read books. Raven had performed some sort of experiment on her brain and she could read everyone's minds, yet they somehow felt obligated to explain the whole new encounter with Dr. Raven in full detail, particularly Foaly. The furious centaur expressed his hatred for Raven with a few genuine threats sprinkled with plenty of cursing, particularly words that Zoey had never heard of before, like D'Arvit. Once Holly had ushered him out of the room to cool off, she explained that Foaly was just upset because he had been outsmarted by the doctor, which rarely happened. He wasn't going to rest until Raven was mind-wiped and dumped somewhere in northern Africa to start a new, non-evil life.

What she really wanted was to spend more time with Butler, and get to know her father. She never had a real family. Her foster parents were nice, and her foster brothers and sisters could have been worse, but Zoey had wanted to meet her real parents all her life. As a child, she had been told about her mother. She died in childbirth and didn't know the father, so she was taken in by the state and soon put into countless foster homes over her lifetime. Zoey didn't get to see Butler much because after Raven's hologram had went out he left with Foaly and Artemis to track the hair barrette. Holly left every now and then to check up on their progress, and she always came back with somewhat good news.

"They've locked in on a general location." She informed Zoey happily. "They think he's in the British Isles." Zoey nodded absently and played with the page of a book that laid in her lap.

"That's nice." She mumbled. The truth was that Zoey didn't think that she cared anymore. The minute that she died everyone could stop worrying over her and Dr. Raven wouldn't have anything else to do. So far as Zoey was concerned, as soon as she was dead, everyone else would finally be happy.

"Do you want to eat something now?" Holly asked her, but Zoey shook her head for the umpteenth time. Holly sighed sadly and hovered up to sit next to her on the bed. She laid her hand on the book in her lap and closed it, causing Zoey to look up and stare at Holly strangely. "They're only trying to help you, can't you see that?" Holly asked her, taking the book and tossing it aside. Zoey sighed and sank lower under the covers, wishing that she had never been born.

"Can I talk to Artemis?" She asked Holly softly. "Alone, please?" Holly almost smiled. Even now, as sick as she was, she still wanted to spend time with Artemis.

"Well, he's busy trying to track down the man who tried to kill you at the moment... but I'll see what I can do." Holly replied sarcastically. Zoey smiled for a moment and closed her eyes peacefully. She felt like an old woman who was ready to take her final sleep, but Butler and Artemis had worked so hard just for her to die now. She had to fight. For them. After a few moments of rest, a soft knock sounded at the front of the room. Zoey quickly opened her eyes to see Holly and Artemis standing in the doorway, cautious about coming inside.

"You wanted to see me?" Artemis asked, trying to smile and make Zoey feel a little better. Smiling was difficult, as he did not genuinely smile often and he was so sleep-deprived that the simple action took an enormous amount of effort. If it was for Zoey, then it was worth it, Artemis reminded himself.

"You're tired." Zoey noticed. He was practically dragging himself instead of walking, and his eyelids were drooped halfway closed.

"I am fine." He assured her. "We are taking shifts for sleeping. It's my turn now, but that's alright. I can wait." Zoey smiled a bit, but it caused something in her head behind her left ear to smart. It was a sharp, throbbing pain and it felt like someone was pinching a nerve back there, then letting go and pinching it again. All she really could do was grit her teeth and wait for the pain to subside.

"What does Butler like?" Zoey asked innocently, but the question took Artemis completley by surprise. What did he like? So far as Artemis knew, he liked being a bodyguard and hurting people, but truly that was not all that he enjoyed. Artemis had no answer.

"I'm not sure, I've never asked him before." Artemis replied. Zoey pouted disappointedly and asked,

"Not even a favorite color?" Artemis shook his head sadly.

"I'm afraid I don't know. And even if I did, I'd be much too tired to think straight enough to answer anyways." Artemis chuckled at his "joke", and Zoey smiled slightly as not to upset her pain. She knew that is was very rare for Artemis to make fun, so she considered herself even luckier than she already thought she was. She had met her birth father today, and accepted that as very lucky.

"Even though I've been sleeping all this time, I'm exhausted." Zoey tried changing the subject, then regretted her choice and mentally reminded herself that Artemis had just gone about fourteen hours without sleep just for her. "I wonder why that is..." She was drifting off again, Artemis could see. As discussed in the hallway, Holly had now returned with Zoey's vitamin supplement. Butler had thoroughly instructed him how to inject it properly, though he already knew how to before.

"How do you feel?" Artemis asked her while cautiously sticking the needle into her vein. She avoided looking at it directly, and didn't answer his question for a while. Really, he could guess how she felt anyways. Zoey was still as sickly pale and thin as ever, her breathing had become short and shallow. Her blue-black eyes had lost their liveliness, and her personality seemed to have dissipated altogether. She probably felt like she was already dead.

"When do you think I will die?" She asked sincerely, disturbing Artemis to have heard it come from her so plainly. The question was so casual, like asking for the time or what there was to eat in the kitchen. Artemis was glad that Zoey had asked for him and not Butler. He knew how protective Butler was of Juliet, imagine how overbearing he would be of Zoey.

"I don't think that you will die." He answered calmly, removing the needle from her arm stepping back away from the bed. He was trying to remain positive for her "You should get some rest." Zoey sighed forlornly and sank into her bedsheets.

"Soon, then, I suppose." She whispered to herself once Artemis had left, fearing that sleep was close. The nightmares would soon find her, and force her back to that dreaded place she had been avoiding for so long. Every second she was away from that place was a treasured one, but Zoey knew it was time to let go. She closed her eyes and let the reality of her own nightmare entangle her beyond any recognition whatsoever. Holly scurried over to her bedside, stroking her hair as she used the rest of her conscious mind to repeatedly mutter softly, "Soon, soon, soon..."