This is rather short, but I wanted to get it out there. Thanks to my reviews::hugs you all:: It's a bit of a rough chapter, but you'll see the TLC influences almost right away.

---

Chapter 8

Andrea picked at her food, watching the door anxiously. Juliet, Myles and Butler were already seated around the table, eating and talking, but Artemis had yet to appear. The seafood rolls had started to go cold. Not that Andrea really cared. She hated fish with a passion and was consciously separating all the little bits of salmon from their bed of vegetables and … whatever the roll was made of.

Stabbing a particularly large piece of salmon, she shoved it across her plate, wondering what lead Artemis had on the Mona Lisa. When had he managed to get it, anyways? It’s not like he had been doing much besides working with Foaly. Unless he was like Julius Caesar and could cut with one hand, write with the other, all while dictating a letter and a grocery list or something like that. The more Andrea thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

Sighing as she accidentally pushed some of her dinner off her plate and onto the rich looking tablecloth, she quickly scooped it back up onto her plate, then glanced around to make sure no one had seen her. That’s when she caught the trailing end of Butler’s sentence.

“…the Headmaster called Angeline a few days ago about it. Mr. Fowl was furious.”

Andrea frowned. Why would a headmaster be calling Artemis’ parents? Surely he was a little old to be getting trouble at school.

“What did he say about it?” asked Juliet curiously, chewing on her salmon.

Butler shrugged. “Said if he got one more call about Oliver’s behaviour, he was going to pull him and put him in the local comprehensive and see how he liked it there.”

Juliet winced. “I bet Olli would love that even more than St. Bartelby’s.”

“I’d feel sorry for the local kids,” said Butler ruefully. “They wouldn’t know what hit them.”

“What has my brother been doing now?” Artemis’ steely voice made them all jump. The Butlers looked immediately contrite, while both Myles and Andrea looked between them and Artemis with puzzled expressions.

“You didn’t know?” said Myles, in a slightly startled voice, then winced as a sharp crack sounded from under the table. If Andrea hadn’t been so confused, she’d have laughed – Juliet had kicked him.

Artemis said nothing, his strange blue eyes were fixed on Butler and he was wearing a marked frown.

The huge man shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Your parents asked that I wouldn’t tell you,” he hedged. “But Oliver has been toeing the line,”

Artemis arched an eyebrow. “Since when has Oliver not done so?”

“Good point,” acquiesced Butler.

“What did he do?” said Artemis sharply, crossing his arms. He was the closest to outright anger that Andrea had ever seen. Juliet and Butler exchanged looks.

“He…” Butler started slowly.

“He was caught sneaking back into his dorm,” said Juliet slowly. “With a girl.”

“Unacceptable,” snapped Artemis, spinning on his heel and striding out of the room. Juliet immediately jumped to her feet and ran after him. “Artemis!”

Andrea was too curious to not follow. Pushing back her chair, she trailed after them back to Artemis’ study. By the time she got there, Artemis was already on the phone and Juliet was standing nearby, wringing her hands helplessly.

“-like to speak to Oliver Fowl,” said Artemis coldly. He paused for a moment, listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. “I don’t care where he is. I would like to speak to him immediately.”

Juliet caught sight of her peeking in the door and scurried over, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the room, shaking her head. “There’s nothing that can stop Artemis now,” she said sadly, sighing.

“Who’s Oliver?” asked Andrea curiously. “Surely not his brother?”

Juliet let out a weak laugh. “Oh, Oliver is Arty’s brother alright,” she said, leaning against the wall. “They’re so similar that it kills me, but do they get along? Oh man…It’s painful to watch.”

Andrea tilted her head. “Why?”

Juliet shook her head sadly. “If Oliver wanted to, he could meet or break most of the records that Artemis has set. When someone can make him sit still, he tests off the charts… because of that, Artemis expects so much of him. More than Angeline or even their father and as far as we can tell, Oliver has been doing everything in his power to disappoint Artemis. If it weren’t for Diana, they would probably come to blows, as surprising as that sounds.”

“Diana?” said Andrea, feeling even more bewildered.

“Artemis hasn’t told you much, has he?” said Juliet with raised eyebrows. Andrea let out a snort. “He hasn’t told me anything. I figure it all out for myself,” she replied sourly.

Juliet smiled. “Well, Diana is just about the only thing that Oliver and Artemis have the same opinion about, and that’s only because she’s their sister.”

“And what opinion is that?” said Andrea interestedly. Juliet laughed. “They both think Di has too many boyfriends.”

“Just how old is she?” asked Andrea puzzledly, wondering how she could have completely missed the fact that Artemis has two younger siblings that she hadn’t known about. Had she somehow overlooked pictures or portraits of them in the manor?

“Fourteen, same as Oliver. They’re twins,” replied Juliet. “I understand Artemis’ concern, but I think Oliver’s being something of a hypocrite at this point.”

It took a moment for Andrea to figure it out, then she grimaced. “The girl he was caught with?”

Juliet nodded, rolling her eyes meaningfully. “Sad, don’t you think? I can’t believe I’m telling you this – hell, I’m didn’t even want to know about it in the first place – but damn, the kid is fourteen and he’s already more experienced than his twenty-five-year-old brother…” she trailed off and shuddered.

Andrea couldn’t help but laugh at the dismayed expression on Juliet’s face. “It could be worse,” she said reassuringly. “Don’t ask me how, but I’m sure it could be.”

“Diana could be the experienced one,” replied Juliet with a choked sort of giggle. “That’s how it could be worse - Poor Artemis’ heart would fail.”

“Is Diana anything like the two of them?”

Juliet shook her head. “Not really. I mean, she’s smart I guess, but she’s not like either of them. Compared to them, she’s actually relatively normal. She’d rather go out for football and maybe the judo team than do physics equations and whatever brainy things those two do for entertainment.”

“Does she go to the same school as Oliver?”

“No, Bartelby’s is a boy’s school. She attends St. Margaret’s in Dublin, so she usually lives with Artemis during the week and comes back here on weekends.”

Andrea stared at Juliet. “Artemis lets his younger sister live with him?” she said, her voice more of a whisper than a gasp.

“Oh yeah,” said Juliet with a nod. “Artemis gave her a room in his penthouse because she wanted to live closer to her friends in Dublin. She would be living here, but the manor isn’t exactly the best ‘hang-out’ is it?”

“No,” said Andrea softly, looking back at the door of Artemis’ study. “I suppose it isn’t.”

---

“Yeah?” Oliver managed to turn the simple slurring syllable into both a challenge and a defense, something defiant, wounded and ultimately, expectant. Artemis felt his lip curl. His brother knew he disliked slang.

“Oliver, this is Artemis, I -”

“I knew you’d call,” sneered Oliver contemptuously, cutting him off. “Can’t just let Father shout at me can you? Or just have Mum cry about how terrible her precious little boy is being? Oh no, I can never get by with anything without a lecture from the Great, Godly Artemis-Fucking-Fowl II. ”

“Oliver,” said Artemis sharply.

“Artemis,” mimicked Oliver sarcastically. “Really, if you want to scold me, get it over with. I’m surprised you’re not jealous.”

“Jealousy is hardly something I would feel,” replied Artemis. “Destroying my own future or that of a girl’s is hardly desirable.”

“It’s not like you’ve even had the option of doing so,” said Oliver, his smirk evident in his voice.

“Do you realize what you are doing?” said Artemis, ignoring his younger brother’s attempts at insults.

“Pushing your buttons?” said Oliver, sounding mockingly hopeful. Artemis leaned back against his desk, massaging his temples and stifling the frustrated groan that rose in his throat. Oliver, thinking himself beyond normal reason, often defied it, declaring his independence both loudly and recklessly. Oliver was smart enough to avoid the IQ tests and thus comparisons to Artemis’ score, hiding his own intelligence behind a façade of brash rebellion. But his apathy towards his schoolmates and his self-isolation was telling.

Artemis had summed it up on a paper he had written several months ago under the name of Dr. I. N. Telligence. It was common for children, and indeed, adults, who tested 30 or more points above a group average, would withdraw from their peers socially. Oliver may have thought he had flouted the rules by being troublesome, but truly, he was acting exactly as expected.

Unfortunately, Artemis found that this knowledge did little to stem the flashes of anger and irritation that often surfaced in response to learning of some of his brother’s more irresponsible exploits. He had never been so careless at this age. The world had enough Fowls in it. It didn’t need to loose or gain any prematurely. At least when he had decided to risk his own life, he had had Butler or Holly by his side. Oliver insisted on doing things alone, balking at even the thought of Butler watching over him. This alone had rankled Artemis unconsciously on some level. It was disconcerting and slightly worrying to think of his brother all alone, without backup or some form of companionship.

Artemis heard a click and saw Andrea slip into the room out of the corner of his eye, closing the door behind her carefully. Without a word or another sound, she stole across the room and settled herself in his armchair. Drawing her legs up to her chest, she rested her chin on her knees, watching him curiously through a curtain of bangs.

So that was how she snuck in, he mused, admitting to himself that if he hadn’t been partially facing the door, he would have missed her entrance entirely.

“Hardly,” he replied, noting that barely a few seconds had passed between his brother’s last words and his own. But the hesitation was enough for his brother to pick up on.

“Is someone there?” demanded Oliver angrily.

“Yes,” replied Artemis shortly. “It is none of your concern.”

“Who is it?”

A flash of inspiration struck Artemis at that moment, clearing his thoughts for a less than a second. He held the phone out to Andrea, who stared at it in surprise for a moment, before standing up and taking it.

“Hello?” she said softly. The paused for a moment, frowning. “No, it’s not Diana. My name is Andrea.”

There was a long pause and her face twisted into something that he had seen only once, just before she had seized his communicator. Artemis suppressed a smirk. Suddenly he understood how Butler had found the situation so amusing.

“Look kid,” snapped Andrea. “I don’t care who you think you are, but if you think you can use that kind of language with me, you’re going to be retrieving my boot from somewhere up your ass!”

Pause. Andrea’s lip curled as Oliver said something else.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she added archly. “I’ve already gotten Artemis where it hurts and I have no qualms about doing the same to you.”

Artemis barely managed to suppress a wince that Andrea would be able to see. He had no doubts about whether she would follow through on her threats or not. Feeling a twinge of brotherly sympathy, he was relieved to see Andrea’s expression soften slightly. Whatever she said must have worked.

Then she gasped and her face turned bright red as her mouth opened and shut, round and gaping like a dying fish.

Or maybe it hadn’t.

“Tell him he’s going to feel some serious hurt if I ever see him,” she said tersely, shoving the phone back into his hands and stalking out of the room. Artemis stared after her bemusedly, already lifting the phone to his ear.

“Who the hell is that woman?” demanded Oliver, sounding perturbed for the first time that Artemis had ever heard. He smiled to himself. Maybe having Andrea Black around wasn’t quite the chore he thought it would be.

“She’s an associate of mine,” replied Artemis smoothly.

“Bedroom associate?”

“Hardly.”

“Not sleeping with something that fiery? Meoowww,” crowed Oliver.

Artemis didn’t see the point in replying to that. “I do not wish to receive any more notifications of your activities from the Headmaster.”

“Whatever, Arty.”

Click.

Artemis slowly hung up the phone and turned around. Only to find himself once again nose to nose with Andrea.

“So, what’s this lead you were talking about?”

---

Please review! I would really appreciate it!. Also, for those who are interested, I've posted up the first several chapters of my original novel, "Saving Nicholas", on my fictionpress account, the link to which can be found in my profile.

Thanks for reading!

Janna