My Artemis Fowl fan fiction

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Artemis returned to Zoey's room about ten minutes later, three of them being spent sitting on the floor in the halls simply thinking about her. He retrieved a bottle of ibuprofen tablets for her headache and a glass of pure room-temperature mountain spring water and put it on a silver waiting tray. Artemis wasn't sure why he was going through so much trouble just for a few pills and a glass of water, but he knew that he now shared Butler's fancy for Zoey and was thoroughly intrigued by her. He was about to knock on her door and give her the medicine she asked for and didn't notice Butler coming up behind him, also checking in on her. Butler laid a thick hand on his shoulder, making him jump and almost spill the tray of water and pills.

"She's sleeping..." Butler informed him. Artemis whirled around and let out a short breath of relief.

"Oh, Butler, you startled me." He said with a hand on his rapidly beating heart. Butler eyed Artemis' tray warily and then glanced up to glare at Artemis with his deep blue eyes that were almost black.

"I wanted to see how she was doing." Butler said to him, then snatched the bottle half full of ibuprofen tablets and checked the label and dosage information. His face flushed a deep red, which rarely happened and he bellowed, "Why are you bringing her those pills? Are you trying to kill her?" Artemis shook his head, thoroughly afraid of Butler for the first time in his life. He had never been on the receiving end of Butler's wrath before, and he certainly wasn't enjoying it one bit.

"No, she had a headache. She must have fallen asleep waiting." He explained to Butler, who relaxed quite a bit and apologized for overreacting. Artemis forgave his friend, for he knew he would have done the same thing now. Butler took the tray from Artemis' hands and placed the bottle of tablets on it again.

"I wouldn't stay for long..." He advised Artemis while moving the glass of water to the top right corner of the tray, then the left.

"Why not?" Artemis asked him, without receiving an answer for a few moments. After anxiously settling on the top left corner for the location of the water on the tray, Butler answered,

"She has nightmares like no one has ever seen." Artemis rolled his eyes at the manservant and crossed his arms against his chest, not caring if it wrinkled his suit in the process, unusual for himself.

"I'm familiar with nightmares Butler. I doubt it's nothing I can't handle." Artemis assured him, but Butler still refused to let him inside her room.

"You know nothing about her." He insisted.

"Is she alright? If she's not well then I have to see her." Artemis informed Butler.

"She wasn't well before. Just trust me on this Artemis. These aren't normal nightmares." Butler knew that once Artemis had his head set on something, he wouldn't be convinced otherwise, yet he had to try and keep him away from this. Just this and that was all. Unfortunately, Artemis didn't budge.

"She can't be any worse than mother was, and she's fine now." Artemis pointed out, and Butler decided that it was no use arguing anymore. He opened the door and allowed Artemis to enter, and stepped in after him. They watched as Zoey tossed and turned in her sleep violently. "Tossing and turning, common." Artemis commented nonchalantly. Butler quickly shushed him and set the silver tray down as gently as possible on top of a nearby table.

"This is miniscule." Butler whispered, as if just talking a bit too loud would upset her. "Just wait." And Artemis did. He waited for about fourty five seconds and then Zoey began to whimper and moan in her sleep. She squeaked and covered her head with her blankets and then threw the blankets off again and curled into a frightened ball, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth on her side.

"What is she doing?" Artemis asked, a little bit horrified at the nightmarish display. Butler turned to look him directly in his blue eyes and replied,

"She's crying. Don't you see the tears?" And he did. He saw crystalline water droplets scampering down from Zoey tightly closed eyes one by one, as if they were hurrying to escape the horror of what lay on the inside of her eyelids.

"Her face portrays pure terror... It's awful." Artemis said out loud, and Butler nodded solemnly. They couldn't take their eyes off of her, though they desperately wanted to stop watching such suffering and misery. Suddenly a terrified shriek erupted from the disturbed soul wretching around in the guest bed that rattled the window panes and made both Artemis' and Butler's ears ring for several minutes afterwards. As Zoey laid in her bed sobbing silently Butler rushed over to comfort her, stroking her hair which was damp from cold sweat and tears that ran off the sides of her face and whispering in her ear, 'Calm down, you're okay' and little things such as this. Even Artemis tried offering as much solace as he could give after her ordeal. He helped her back into bed by bringing her a box of tissues to dry her tears and fetching one of his mother's relaxing noise machines to assist her in falling back asleep.

"Do you think that she will be alright from now on?" Artemis asked Butler once she had gotten back into bed without another nightmare episode. Butler was much more adept in dealing with the physical and mental state of others than Artemis, who would much rather study diseases and ailments than treat them himself.

"Yes, I guess that screaming doesn't count as speaking." Butler replied while holding open the door for Artemis to step out. He closed it softly behind him so as not to disturb Zoey in her sleep.

"What does she dream about?" Artemis wondered aloud, and Butler shook his head without looking back at Artemis.

"I hope that I will never know..."