*UPDATE*

Hey everyone, just trying out the new image manager. Hopefully everything is working in order. The cover is my design, based on the actual Artemis Fowl cover design (the newer ones).

If you want to see a full-sized image, you can go here:

karatemaster101 . deviantart gallery / # / d52fqmn

(remove spaces)

Or if that's not working, try my gallery page:

karatemaster101 . deviantart gallery / #

He had done it again.

Artemis was not sure why these things were happening or what was happening in the first place, and this unnerved him greatly. Even at the tender age of one, he was aware of his surroundings and place. Capable of coherent, mature speech and thought at the level of his parents' already, he was eager to explore even more, to find knowledge and hide it to himself.

His father had taught him about gold and money before, speaking to him while he was "sleeping" in his crib (the man had no idea that the baby was actually listening and comprehending the poisonous stories), and while Artemis understood this greed for materialistic goods, he also developed a greed of his own, for power and information.

So when he turned his useless rattle into a white lab rat that day, he realized that there was more to be discovered beyond regular physical science.

He knew things like this should not be happening, that these occurrences were somehow special. On the few trips his family took together, out to the city, he noticed that no other child or adult he ran into had this power, to turn things into other things.

A few months later, when Juliet had put him in time-out for ten minutes (he had broken a rather expensive vase while attempting to decipher some symbols etched into the side), he had angrily stared at the stopwatch in lieu of Juliet, only to find that it was actually clicking backwards at a rate faster than normal. His bodyguard's younger sister had arrived back upstairs to relieve the young man of his punishment, not noticing that the time on the stopwatch and the standard clocks scattered around the house did not correspond.

So moving things without touching them was also part of his unique powers, as he had taken to calling them now.

Several times he had come close to telling his parents, to come running to them, to brag to them, but his father was almost always away on business ventures, and his mother was almost always away at high society parties.

He took this as a sign that these unique powers should be kept a secret, and he hoarded them as his father hoarded his riches, eventually stashing them away, showing no one but himself.

When he was seven, he caught his parents discussing something in private, along with Butler and Juliet. He strained to listen, but all he could hear was snippets of conversation as his parents were talking so quietly.

"He is so intelligent…must have shown by now," whispered his father.

"Maybe he's just a late bloomer…" countered his mother.

"Perhaps…would bring it out?"

"But it would hurt him more, seeing something he could never have!"

"If…he would…"

"No! You will not! One, it scares me, two, the world will condemn us for it! You know that as well as I, Timmy!" This was the only thing that his mother said audibly.

"It's not as if people are looking inside our mansion, Angeline, darling," his father protested.

"But still, don't…" Back to the whispers.

As the conversation carried on, young Artemis only became more and more perplexed. He was certain his parents were talking about him, although about what he could not imagine. What was he supposed to have?

He was already good at reading people, having practiced well, and knew that there was nervousness and anguish on his mother's side and disappointment on his father's. He did not have something he should have, and that was bad…but maybe his special powers would make up for it. Of course, he would have to develop it to full potential before actually showing his parents.

His father turned to Butler. "You are one of the…we trust. If…you will make sure that he receives the same care and education as…if he ever DOES…alert us immediately and we will…his training." Butler nodded, and Juliet seemed sad.

The next morning, his father ordered Butler and Juliet to move a large selection of objects. Artemis never got to see where. He hoped that whatever was supposed to happen would happen, so that maybe his parents would spend more time at home and give him whatever training he was supposed to have (because as much as he liked Butler and Juliet, he did not want to have to go through the same education the siblings had).

So for years he developed his powers in secret, making objects disappear and move at will, changing the properties and shapes of matter (which should not have been possible, according to the science books), and even speaking to animals…exerting over them such strong control that both terrified and fascinated him at the same time. The only thing keeping him from abusing his power was the memory how he himself despised being controlled.

But then, when he was ten, Artemis Fowl Sr. disappeared, as a result of kidnapping by the Russian mafiya.

He had stared in shock when his mother had told him the news, before screwing his face back into the impassive mask that his father had always taught him to wear proudly. Something on her face flickered – almost like a lie, although Artemis assumed that was from his mother's own shock, and the fact that she was trying to hide the worst of the news from him. If his mother were lying, the details would have been more obvious.

Soon after, Angeline Fowl began her descent into madness.

And Artemis showed no one, his efforts poured out into restoring the family fortune and finding his father instead.

For a year he searched, with no luck. He had published some of his scientific papers under aliases, embezzled funds, hacked into accounts, stolen identities (and covering up his tracks well afterwards), committed the most daring cases of financial crime ever recorded. All this, he told himself, was for the family, and for his father, and his mother when his father returned (but a nastier side of him also found it fun, like a challenge, a game – protect your money, an evil child genius is on the loose! How many people will be cheated in an hour?).

Yes, he had a twisted sense of humor beyond his age, and while he would have committed any other being to therapy, he reserved his own case as an exception.

Then, it all changed when the owl appeared in his window one summer day.