(The next day...)
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"Those three are mortal?" Leo asked again, trying to wrap his head on that thought. They were all hanging out at Poseidon's table, and were careful not to be overheard by others.
"Yes, Valdez, they are," Annabeth sighed as she eyed at the reactions of the gathered members from the Seven; Percy and Piper already knew so they just kept on eating their breakfast, Nico and Calypso didn't seem surprised, while Leo looked mind blown, "What kind of mortal can raise the bar in the scare factor, almost beating Nico? No offense of course" Leo quickly added.
"Not even an insult," Nico smirked then shrugged, "But I too got to admit, this Artemis Fowl is not a simple mortal; I feel for the dude"
"Of course you would" Piper chipped in,"You both are intimidating and have this cold air around you two-like you've been chilling in a freezer for half your life! And something tells me that Artemis is no stranger to death, considering he died himself, as he claims to have"
"I assure you, he had died" Nico slipped a grape into his mouth, "The question is how he escaped; I need to know this in case a leak from the Underworld was the cause, since it's my duty to patch it up-but then again..."
"What's also odd is the information on him" Annabeth then pulled out a fairly thin folder entitled "Artemis Fowl", with a huge 'CLASSIFIED' stamped over the fine print, "Artemis Fowl II, born in Dublin, Ireland on September 1st, he is the son of Artemis Fowl I, a criminal businessman, and Angeline Fowl, a humanitarian by heart"
"A criminal father huh? That must be why he is who he is" Percy deduced the obvious.
"But that is not as interesting as his family heritage" Annabeth continued with a sudden interest indented in her tone, "The Fowls are a family of 'legendary criminals' whose history dates back to at least the Norman Conquest that have amassed a fortune through both legitimate and illegitimate means. Working alongside the Fowls is the Butler family, a centuries-old line of trained bodyguards that form lifelong affiliations with members of the Fowl family"
"Must be the same bodyguard Holly warned us about yesterday" Percy recalled, "Tight family"
"The Fowls also had held a strong family motto that had influenced them for generations to come: 'Aurum Potestas Est'"
"Gold is Power" everyone said in unison in response to the Latin phrase, now feeling that this was no coincidental meeting.
"Such an ancient family line...they could basically pass as royalty!" Calypso stated while nibbling on a sandwhich, "He is more interesting that I believe him to be!"
"Gee, your boyfriend is right here, sunshine" Leo sarcastically reminded her, clearly annoyed. Calypso gave a smirk, "Jealous, Flame Boy?"
"Of-Of course I am!" Leo replied in frustration, "I dislike him even more after the forges fiasco! I don't care if it was an accident, it was still his fault!"
"What happened?" Annabeth asked.
Leo muttered to himself for awhile then relayed his story, "I was showing Artemis around the forges as asked when suddenly a strong frequency of noise, apparently coming from his LEP goggles, were emitted in such a way that set off some of our sensor-sensitive circuits, and well...Poof! The entire forge was transformed into an electric death trap! A couple explosives were set off-but we managed to reduce and rescue as much as we could before it would become one great catastrophe! Just to sum it all up, the forges is under repair and cleaning, and would take at least a week to get it up and running again!"
"Leo is also very salty because Artemis rescued me in the entire confusion" Calypso added matter-of-factly. That lit flames around Leo's body as he glared at the his drink which suddenly started boiling.
"Ahh, man-that's tough" Percy remarked with a flinch, knowing he'd be frustrated too if someone else had saved Annabeth when he had the ability at the time to do so.
"I wouldn't know" Nico tried to shrug it off, but seem to relate somehow in his own deathly sort of way, as the temperature seem to grow a bit colder.
"Boys" All the girls muttered together, letting that phase hang for awhile before Annabeth continued, "A frequency you say? It might have just been a malfunction to his devices, since he needs those to see through the Mist"
"I came to the same conclusion, yeah" Leo muttered, "Ingenious, I'll give him that; even so, what I clearly don't understand is the million-dollar question: how in the name of the gods did he got in camp in the first place!? Regardless if he sees us or not, he still wouldn't be able to pass the barrier that keeps the mortals out"
"That boggles me too" Piper narrowed her eyes in concentration, "The Mist is also a powerful tool that encompasses the camp; even if he were to see the camp border, he wouldn't be able to attempt to go near it since the Mist would coax any mortal to turn their attention elsewhere or convince them to stay away, similar to charm speak"
"What's more puzzling also is that that's all we know!" Annabeth threw her hands in frustration, "I got this info from Rachel, and she is trying her best to send me more but-this is all we have on Artemis Fowl II; the last tip about him is that he apparently had gone into hiding for two years, and have not been seen since,"
"Until now" Percy pointed out while stabbing his last blue pancake, "and had mysteriously popped up in the middle of camp, conveniently also equipped with gear to handle our magical defenses-"
"Not to mention the friends he brought along" Piper added, "Minerva Paradizo so far seems like a normal, proper lady that holds the mortal boy's heart-and trust me Annabeth, your eyes weren't deceiving you that what you saw last night was true emotion, or at least the best he could muster"
"What you mean last night?" Percy asked, with the rest also questioning the same thing in their minds.
"None of your business" both Piper and Annabeth said in unison and equally embarrassed to have been witnesses to a personal conversation.
"But I'm sure there is more to Ms. Paradizo that meets the eye" Nico remarked, "That includes the other girl, Holly Short I assume? Will had told me that Ms. Short had healed Artemis using nature magic that felt too ancient to be that of a nymphs or satyrs-it was something older, may even be not Greek"
"Even so, it is clear that they rely on Artemis for a plan; that makes him the brains of the operation, which makes it twice as alarming on what his secret agenda is" Annabeth concluded while she paced back and forth, "The Fowls...an ancient bloodline of criminal masterminds...and now the heir to that line had popped up suddenly in the middle of a camp not known by any regular mortal while he had been in hiatus for two years prior to this arrival...indeed it seems he had planned this, we just don't know why or even how"
"For now, we can only keep watch; he still hasn't revealed his motive, and the fact that he has layered himself to be that of a 'genius boy with emotions' makes him a sneaky individual, and really unpredictable. But one thing is for sure: he is bad news. Whatever his agenda is it clearly does not bode well for us, him being a criminal himself"
"Is that so?" A cold voice startled the group and faced the source of the voice, which of course was Artemis Fowl, wielding his cane like a kingpin and giving them all a smirk of amusement. A flutter of wings from the sky came, and a barn owl, probably the same one as yesterday, swooped in and landed on Artemis' left shoulder, silencing Annabeth from retorting.
"No need to be a cause of alarm, daughter of Athena, for I've heard nothing of your conversation. I was merely directed here by Chiron, stating that you could guide my friends and I throughout camp activities, that is, if you are free?"
...
"Yes, yes of course," Annabeth replied, trying for a smile while forcing down her resentment, "Where would you like to go?"
"The centaur advised the armory, since it's a requirement for all demigods to wield your sort of weapons to deal with...monsters, which I assume are of Greek origin?"
"Um, yeah. Percy, let's go" The rest of the group dispersed, leaving Percy and Annabeth to deal with the suspicious and uninvited mortal trio...
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So, new chapter every Friday, I've decided! An early release for every milestone we hit btw (I say the first is when this reaches a total of 750 views? I hope I get there!)
And do comment below on what you think would happen next, your input will be a great influence to me in upcoming chapters! I'll do my best to reply to all of them; I'll reply also to old chapter comments so
GO WILD!
And as always, thanks for reading! 🦉