"And here is the Great Room" Carter guided the trio through a massive space where all sorts of teenagers and people were either talking or simply chilling while watching the sports channel.
Annabeth was immediately amazed by the architecture in the room; the cedar ceiling that climbs four stories high which are held up by stone pillars with hieroglyphs engraved upon them; walls decorated with strange assortment of musical instruments and Ancient Egyptian weapons that were pretty exotic. There is even an enormous fireplace (big enough to park a car) with a plasma-screen TV above the mantel; it is flanked by two leather sofas and has a giant snake-skin rug on the ground. In the center of it all stood a two-story-tall statue with a head of an ibis, clothed in a fancy Egyptian get-up and holding up a scroll and quill.
"Thoth" Artemis muttered in a daze, his eyes seeming to have a faraway look as he gazed at the statue. Annabeth couldn't read what was going through this mortal's mind, but whatever it is had to be something about her mom. She bit down a tinge of jealousy and faced Sadie, the sight of an old friend making her smile "It's been long! I'm sorry I haven't contacted for some time–had to run a long errand in Boston and had just got myself back on my feet until–surprise, surprise–in comes another calamity!"
"That must be dreadful" Sadie sympathized and patted Annabeth's shoulder, "Still, you owe me a shopping trip in Manhattan. Deal?"
"Deal" Both grinned as they high-five one another, a scene that made Walt flinch and Zia giving them a curious look.
"Yo, Carter!" Julian, along with a couple of trainees, approached and eyed the three strangers-his gaze staying a second longer on the blonde, "New initiates? I could help out with the tour, and I could show you a thing or two if you catch my drift"
Annabeth huffs, "I'm too old for you, kid. Run along before I kick your sorry behind straight to the Underworld"
Everyone chuckles from that, even Julian, "I like her-what path of the gods are you taking?"
"Athena" Annabeth cocks her head and glances at Artemis, "But more of her child than admirer"
Artemis shrugs, "Touché"
Carter waves his hand in dismissal before questions could be further raised as the group made their way to a three-story long flight of stairs towards a carefully-crafted door. If the Great Room was impressive, then to Annabeth the Library was so traditionally marvelous, she might have stamped it as a UNESCO world heritage site!
The walls of the library were decorated with pictures of gods, monsters, and people in all different colors. It also was filled with cubbyholes holding scrolls, one that Annabeth could bet contain knowledge she wouldn't have dreamed regarding Egyptian mythology. The ceiling had a shade of deep blue and covered in swirling stars that shape the form of a woman, probably a goddess of sorts. Similarly, the floor is shaped into a man's body, the earth seeming to latch onto it in such an artistic style.
"Nut and Geb" Artemis muttered while stroking his chin, "The Sky and Earth, respectively"
"Familiar with the Egyptian gods, are you?" Sadie eyed this Irish boy with curiosity.
"In a manner of speaking" Artemis replied, a slight glint of grey in his eyes flashed for an instant then faded like it never happened. Before Sadie could question it, Carter clapped his hands to get their attention.
"I think proper introductions are at hand before we could discuss things further; as you know, I'm Carter Kane, path of Horus. Pharaoh-in-vacation and Slayer of Chaos, along with my sister Sadie Kane who follows the path of Isis"
"Quite a title you have there" Artemis smirks as he shook hands with him, "Artemis Fowl the 2nd; Ex-criminal Genius of Ireland and the Bane of the People"
"You're joking?"
"If I am, then so are you"
"Fair enough," Carter shrugs, believing he had now seen it all in terms of trainee backgrounds, "And the gorgeous girl on my left is my girlfriend, Zia Rashid, path of Ra"
"The sun god?" Artemis questioned with a curious face, his left hand rubbing his temples, "I don't know why, but all I keep seeing about him is a dung beetle"
"That is Khepri, God of rebirth and his aspect of the morning" Zia nodded with a smile, "You speak as if you've seen him yourself. By any chance, could it be that..."
"Yes, Athena had met him before...at some point" Artemis suddenly showed a flicker of pain, his hands on his head. Percy and Annabeth were then on alert, but Walt waved them off, "It's nothing to be alarmed about, he's just having a struggle with the goddess in him in terms of knowledge-I assume she wouldn't like to recollect her time spent on Egypt"
"A pleasure seeing you again, Anubis" Artemis smirked with his voiced laced in the familiar femininity in it, "All grown up, I see?"
Walt snorts back, "I'm older than you, goddess of wisdom. Ironic that you are not living up to your name as of recent times"
"Anubis? As in God of the dead?" Annabeth asked warily, slowly distancing herself from Walt as Percy stretched an arm out warily.
"God of funerals, actually" Walt crossed his arms and shrugged, "Osiris manages the dead here. And my name is Walt, Walt Stone. I'm technically also Anubis so...it's a little by of both"
"Ehem" Sadie coughed and tapped her foot impatiently, "Forgetting something, Walt?"
"Hmm? Have I?" Walt wondered with a smile, "I've finished all my assigned duties of the day, perhaps I've missed one?"
"What a responsible boyfriend you are, yet can't act like one. The nerve"
"I wonder where I got it from. Must have been rubbed off on me by a certain someone"
"Am not!" Sadie protested while punching Walt's arm, albeit playfully while she giggled, "I am such a liar!"
"You're my little liar"
"No, you–"
Artemis then interrupted all thoughts with a snap of his cane hitting the ground, the sound echoed through the library with a tinge of godly power. Anger was evident in his face as he muttered, "Mind if I interrupt your flirting session to bring up the fact that my friends are being harbored by the People, and since I'm well aware that the gravity of my falsely accused crimes could lead to their eminent death at any moment, I rather not waste my time here longer than I need to"
Silence followed, his words seeming to freeze the temperature down to the point even the candles seem to dampen.
"Yes, back at the matter at hand" Carter clapped his hands nervously together and gave a look of pure sincerity and understanding, "I'm sorry, Artemis. We didn't know–"
"No, no-it's fine" Artemis waved, the anger deflating just as fast as it came, "The anger was mine to blame; I couldn't control it"
"What do you mean?"
"As you can tell, Athena somehow is not pleased with whatever it is to deal with Egypt" Artemis tightened his jaw as a wave of rage seem to boil in him, "So, I'd like it if you'd give me a tip or two then help us reach Ireland somehow–sounds good?"
"I thought you came to train?"
Artemis shook his head, "Eagerness is a trait I share with my patron, thus the urge to leave would simply overwhelm me"
"That's right, synchronization is key factor to the path of the gods" Sadie came forward and observed Artemis' eyes, "Awhile ago I saw your eyes flickering silver. And the fact that your emotions are now linked with hers..."
"Are you saying he is already an Eye of Athena? Does that even work?" Zia mused skeptically, "We are talking Greek here, the idea of a Greek god applying methods of Egyptian magic...it's unheard of!"
"Not exactly" Annabeth interjected, "Back when Percy and I met Carter and Sadie for the first time, we've combined our Greek and Egyptian aspects to find against Setne"
"And I've been possessed by a vulture lady" Percy added with a shrug, "Why not the other way around?"
"Because there are two special things that come into play involving the path of the gods" Zia wagged her finger in warning, "The first is compatibility. You can't just simply pick a god and start channeling through spells, invoking his name and whatnot; not only must your specialty in magic be the same, but also your persona. This way, it's easy to tap into magic and allow the full potential use of your capabilities with the guidance of your patron. I'm not saying you can't channel multiple gods, but it's obviously not only risky, but totally insufficient and dangerous"
"I think I got the persona down, but I don't have magic in me" Artemis opened his palms helplessly, nostalgically remembering his short time being a legitimate faerie with magic coursing through his veins.
"Are you sure? Because I can seem to sense a dormant energy in you" Walt points out, "It's really faint, enough to probably cast a spell or two within roughly two days maximum"
"How...how is that possible?"
"That's where the second part comes in, and that's blood," Carter continues the explanation with a wave, "To tap into the true power of the path of the gods, one must have the blood of the Pharaohs running through their veins; this way, you can have not only a higher chance of becoming the Eye, but quite possibly even bare host to the god/goddess! And you, my friend, have a drop of it"
"The blood...of Pharaohs?" Artemis was stunned at this. He had before dug up the family tree of the Fowl family, but the records stopped at the 11th century. Could it be...that his family is way older than that?
Right then, a wind of silver light seem to twist and churn faintly around him. An eerie hoot of an owl rang through the library, and Atry appeared out of nowhere, encircling the group twice before suddenly making a dive, heading straight to Artemis.
While everyone ducked, Artemis stood his ground, as if he had nothing to fear. In a split second before the bird could crash into him, it morphed in a white light and seem to wrap around Artemis' neck, shrinking and waning until it took a form of a barn owl necklace of a silvery luster.
The display shocked everyone, most especially Annabeth. Though this raised a ton of questions to, one in particular continued popping up: Who is Artemis Fowl and what has his family done to deserve such attention?
.....
"So...he has the looks, the blood, and now a bloody charm...I say we have an initiate" Sadie chirped with a grin as she walked towards the door, "Since you say you are in a hurry of some form, why don't we get started?"
=====🗣=====
Sorry for delay! Partly college work and also...because an inspiration had hit me!
Now...I want you to judge (and do comment on this)–is my way of telling a story good? Bad? Not too stretched and lengthy? Where should I polish kind of thing? Cuz...I just had a rad idea of another fanfic involving Percy Jackson
Don't worry, it's an original idea–I promise! (I think-or at least I haven't dug deep enough to see it around)
So yeah, want feedback so I can see if I can really pull another one off my arse or something around those lines!
And as always, thanks for reading! 🦉