Artemis Fowl: The Olympian Case

XXIVd: The Water Elemental

"Battle plan, Annabeth!" Sadie snapped her fingers insistently, grounding the daughter of Athena back at the present. Rescue him first, punch boyfriend later, she resolved.

"Walt, what is that creature!?"

"A water elemental," he answered darkly, "Beings of raw elemental power–they are more like forces of nature than godly beings. There is no reasoning with them in its current state"

"Alright, alright" Annabeth quickly analyzed the situation, "Rescuing Percy takes priority. We can't hit it with direct attacks lest we risk hitting the torso too. Walt, what are those charms for?"

"I use these to summon creatures to help"

"Alright! Flank left and get an angle; aim for its limbs and head, but never the body-got it?"

"On it!" Walt nodded and sneaked his way through the rubble and statues while Sadie instinctively covered for him by shooting fireballs at the monster and keeping it occupied.

"Carter, can you help?" Annabeth asked as she bandaged his arm. He gestured to Zia with his eyes, a sense of understanding going between the two.

"I might be able to conjure my combat avatar for a couple of minutes, but I'm not leaving her side!"

"That's fine-you don't need to," Annabeth replied thoughtfully, a reckless idea popped into her head, "How hard can you throw?"

"Like a pitcher in a professional match, I suppose"

"Wait for my signal then," Annabeth then walked up to Sadie who is already looking close to burned out, "Do you have any papyrus left?"

"Bag!"Sadie gritted her teeth as she held out her wand. The creature at the moment seemed sluggish, yet attacks in such quick succession. At the moment, it is bombarding the shield with a continuous stream of water, equal to the force of three water cannons. Annabeth quickly wrote in Greek into the papyrus, the memory of how this all works stinging her mind like a needle–yet managed to pull it off.

"Now or never Walt!" Annabeth called out. A second later, a white crocodile materialized out of nowhere and chomped off the right limb clean. The arm simply smashed on the ground like a puddle but, just as fast as it came off, it slowly regenerated itself with the water drawn to the creature. The elemental then fixed its gaze at Walt and bellowed menacingly.

"Heh-sieh!" Sadie chanted in reflex, making the water elemental turn away from Walt and face back at them. Annabeth then unrolled the scroll with the words 'Μην μετακινήσετε' and shouted, "Don't move!"

The blue Greek letters glowed like unnatural branding on the elemental and it stopped moving, but the symbols immediately showed signs of fading. Too quick, Annabeth gaped but didn't falter on her plan.

"Carter, now! Pitch me!" Annabeth ordered with her hands up and her face set in determination. Not questioning it, Carter morphed briefly into his combat avatar, grabbed Annabeth, and threw her straight at the belly.

Gotcha, she thought triumphantly, her arms wrapped around the unconscious Percy. Then she groaned, realizing she miscalculated as the force wasn't enough to send her all the way through.

Walt then appeared and shouted out,"I-ei!", concentrating at the hand of Annabeth's that managed to come out from the other side. A strong tug then pulled her and with her boyfriend-in-tow out, landing softly at the camel Walt set-up. Just in time, as the Greek symbols faded and the elemental let out a howl that shook the building.