I'm so smart!

~~*Chapter 5 Set in Motion*~~ (Part 1)

Holly was not worried. No she was not, and anyone who dared to suggest that she was would become newly acquainted with the ground.

After, she had absolutely no reasons to be worried. Artemis was too much of a nuisance to just peacefully die. The tracer had most likely malfunctioned, or perhaps Artemis had been struck with the uncontrollably desire to tinker with it. There were thousands of other possibilities and Holly was not the type to believe the most pessimistic one, despite how mush evidence there was to support it.

Just because Foaly’s equipment said that the young genius was dead did not necessarily mean that he was. The fact that Foaly’s equipment rarely failed did not matter. After all, hadn’t Foaly’s equipment once told them that Mulch was dead? And the aforementioned dwarf was currently raiding her kitchen and contacting old acquaintances for any information on who may have kidnapped Artemis.

Though the centaur would never admit it, his inventions were not entirely foolproof, though, they were pretty darn close.

So why, Holly thought, as the wind ruffled her hair. Why do I feel just like I did when Root was killed?

As she flew to the countryside where, according to the transmitter, Artemis had “died”, Holly vowed that is the boy genius was alive and she got even one little hair from all this excitement and worrying, not even Butler could save him from her wrath.

But deep in her heart, she knew that she really wanted to find her friend alive.



The streets of London were more often than not, teeming with excitement and people rushing. Each person followed their own path, not knowing or caring about the destination of the person next to or across from them. Everyone had their own worries and plans and no time to waste on those of others.

Quite understandably, Butler’s size brought some attention and Juliet’s looks did catch the eye of a few of the locals, but no one went out of their way to talk to either of the Butlers. For that they were quite glad. They had no time to waste making small talk with overcurious strangers while Artemis’s life hung in the balance.

They were on their way to a building where, according to Foaly, there may be a clue indicating the identity of those idiotic enough to dare kidnap a Fowl. It had taken some persuading on Foaly’s and Holly’s part to convince the bodyguard that it would be more efficient if Holly went alone to the last location the transmitter had a feed from Artemis. She could most likely get there much quicker than any mud man contraption, a fact that Butler reluctantly acknowledged.

Besides, the building which Foaly claimed held a clue to Artemis’s whereabouts was a Mud Man dwelling, meaning Holly would not be able to enter unless she managed to find a loophole and that would have most likely taken time that they did not have.

“So,” Juliet said, stepping out of the way of a harassed looking woman with a baby stroller. “This place we’re going to, will it really help us?”

While Foaly had briefed Butler and Holly abut the plan, Juliet had gone on a mission to find a working phone. She had finally managed to find cell phone that actually received a signal in the hands of one of the residents, who was kind enough to let her make a 5 minute call if she promised not to tell them were he was. Juliet had quickly agreed, though she had no knowledge who ‘them’ was, and made a quick call to Artemis’s parents.

She couldn’t tell them Artemis was missing again, so she altered the truth a little and told them that their flight had been delayed due to some unexpected turbulence. Not the truth, but not exactly a lie either. However, it had taken her a while to get away from the man who seemed to think that his television was watching him. By the time she had returned to their room, a plan had been formed, Juliet had been given a brief explanation, and they had gone off to save the young genius.

“Foaly appears to think so” Butler replied, walking straight ahead.. People moved out of the way for him, instead of the other way around. “And considering his track record, I’m willing to trust him.” With Artemis’s life.

Juliet glanced at her older brother’s drawn and tired face. He hadn’t rested nearly as much as she would have liked.

“I think we can trust that geek as well . But,” she said, jumping off the curb to avoid being run over by a skateboard, only to hop back on as a car honked and speed by. “We don’t have to move so fast. We can slow down a little.”

Butler didn’t change his pace. “I don’t want to waste any more time than absolutely necessary.”

Juliet sighed and gave up attempting to walk right next to her brother as yet another person almost walked right into her. She altered her pace so that she was right behind him. It was much easier to walk in the path cleared by Butler than having to jump left and right to avoid near collisions.

“How about we slow down just a little?” she suggested.

“Juliet--” Butler started before a teen with brilliant red hair bumped into him. Hard.

Butler’s pace faltered for a few seconds, but the teen was not so lucky. He crashed into the ground, dragging with him two others, a girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with glasses and messy black hair, along with him.

Butler, a bit worried that he may have caused some damage, stopped, as did Juliet.

“Are you three ok?” Juliet asked, trying to keep from laughing.

Several of the people passing by did not even bother an attempt at politeness. They laughed quite openly at the teens misfortune. Quite understandably, that made the three extremely mortified and a bit grouchy.

“No, we’re not alright!” the red head snapped, rubbing his head which had meet the pavement in a particularly painful manner. “We just got run over by a bloody…” He broke off as he caught sight of Juliet and his mouth fell open.

Juliet rolled her eyes at his reaction and turned her attention to the other two. Apparently the bushy haired girl did not like her friend’s open admiral of Juliet, judging by the manner she lightly smacked his head.

“Ouch! What was that for, Hermione?” the red head said, rubbing the injured area and shifting his gaze onto the girl, Hermione.

“Be polite Ron,” she hissed in reply before addressing Juliet who was quite amused by their banter.

“I’m sorry.” she said, accepting Juliet’s offered hand and getting up. “My friend should have been paying more attention to where he was going. He’s really sorry, right?” The glare she gave the poor boy frightened away any thoughts he might have had about disagreeing.

“Er, yeah. Sorry.” Ron said sheepishly as he and the other boy got up.

“Don’t worry about it.” Juliet said cheerfully. “it’s seems like you guys were the ones who got the wrong end of the stick.”

“You can say that again.” The black haired boy said, adjusting his glasses and grinning.

Before Juliet could reply, Butler cleared his throat loudly to get her attention. Now that he knew the teens did not require a trip to the hospital, he was anxious to continue on their way.

“Just a second.” She told him before turning back to the three. “Well, if you’re alright, then we really must be going. Bye!”

However the teenagers were too awed by Butler’s appearance, mainly his height, to respond, though Hermione did manage a weak wave.

As Juliet turned away, she heard the red head whisper, “Blimey! He’s huge! How mush do you want to bet that he’s got giant’s blood in him?”

That was a bit odd, Juliet thought as she jogged to catch up with her brother. Most people would say Dom is a giant, not that he was giant’s blood.

She shrugged the thought away as she feel back in pace with her brother. Maybe it was just a British teen way of speaking. After all, teenagers did come up with the strangest expressions. Plus, slang was bound to change from country to country, so it wasn’t surprising that she had found it strange though she had been a teen just a few years ago.

“Hey, Dom,” she started, planning to restart their earlier conversation.

However, Butler did not intend to give her the chance.

“I’m not slowing down, Juliet.” he said, cutting her off. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

“I wasn’t going to say that.” Juliet replied indignantly when mentally cursing her brother’s stubbornness. Fine, she’d give up attempting to get him to rest for now. “I was going to ask, those people we’re supposed to be looking for, what do they call themselves?”

Butler stopped so suddenly that Juliet nearly ran into them.

“Wha--?” She started before she realized exactly were they were. They were currently standing just a few feet away from a bookshop and a record store. They had arrived.

“Foaly wasn’t exactly sure why, but he believes that it may be a code name.” Butler said, pretending to study the books on display in the bookshop while in reality he was making sure that there were no eavesdroppers. It was only when he was sure that everyone was too busy with their own personal matters that he answered Juliet’s question.

“They call themselves ‘wizards.’”

(I don't know why, but it says this chapter is too big So here's part 2)

It should come as no surprise that since Artemis had absolutely no prior knowledge to the structure of the building he had been imprisoned it, he had quite easily gotten hopelessly lost. It was so though the entire building had been specially designed to have a uniform pattern of dirt, mold, and cobwebs in order to trap any prisoners who had managed to escape their cells.

Artemis had passed several cells on his search for a way out. Fortunately, the cells were clearly empty. Unfortunately, each cells had been stained with dark stains in various stages of freshness. As Artemis had no wish to share the fates of the previous inhabitants of those cells, he had continued his search with renewed determination.

But finding a way out had been surprising difficult. It should have been facile to simply lurk in the shadows and find a staircase which would lead him to the ground floor. While there were few of the kidnapper’s colleagues patrolling the hallways, each time Artemis managed to sneak down a staircase, he had the oddest sensation that he was going up instead.

Any windows he passed were little help since each showed a different scenery, some set during the daytime, some during the night. It had been easy to conclude that the windows had been altered by magic in order to confuse any intruders, like himself. After the third staircase, he had been unable to find another, and thus, had to sneak around on that floor, searching for a way out.

So, Artemis thought, ducking behind a small pile of boxes which had been placed in a shadowy part of the hall. Either I’m on the ground floor, or the very top. After all, I have no idea if my cell was underground or not.

He wouldn’t put it past his kidnappers to place spells meant to confuse ones sense of direction. A robe clad man walked by, causing Artemis to freeze. That didn’t really matter right now. What mattered was getting out alive, preferably before they realized he was gone. There was a hole in one of the boxes, just wide enough so that he could watch what happened in the hall while those in the hall had no idea of his presence.

“The prisoner’s escaped!” The cry rang through the hallways.

Artemis sighed quietly. That was fast, he thought. I had been hoping for a little more time.

So much for being miles away before they became aware of his disappearance.

“What?” said the man who had walked passed Artemis. He turned to face the bearer of the news, an oily black haired man well past his prime. “How could a muggle escape?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” the black haired man snapped. “Just find him before the Dark Lord realizes this, or we all get it.”

The other man was clearly scared of that possibility, judging by the way he paled.

The black haired man indicated one end of the hallway with a nod of his head. “You search over there and I’ll go warn the others.”

The other man snapped to attention and nodded pathetically. “Y-yes, of course.” He practically ran away from Mr. Black Hair. It seemed he hadn’t only been afraid of their boss.

That was too close, Artemis thought, resisting the urge relax. Hurry up and follow your companion.

But Black Hair didn’t show any indication of moving. He simply stood were he was, perhaps five feet away from Artemis, scanning the hallway. Twice his eyes passed over the pile of boxes Artemis had temporarily taken refuge behind.

Artemis became aware then just how sweaty his hands were, but he didn’t look away from the spy hole. He had to be ready to run when Black Hair left. But when the man took a step, it was toward his pile of boxes.

Artemis was certain at the moment that he had stopped breathing though his heart was thudding so loudly, it was a wonder the sound wasn’t echoing throughout the hallway. He clenched his hands into fists and hoped the man was simply paranoid. This was too nerve wrecking. He was definitely going to come back one day with reinforcements.

Does he know I’m here? Artemis couldn’t help thinking despite that fact, that logically, it should have been impossible.

The boxes were large enough so that he was completely hidden and his clothes were dark enough that even if someone glanced his way, they wouldn’t be able to see him. Artemis knew very little about their magic, but none of the other robe clad men had given any indication that they were away of his presence.

Being ignorant was extremely frustrating, Artemis couldn’t understand how the people of the world could bear with their ignorance on a daily basis.

He was already wishing that he could take a break from hiding in order to conduct a few experiments. He glanced at his hands. Perhaps he should attempt to get the man to leave with the aid of his magic.

Abruptly, Black Hair seemed to decide that there was no one there, and turned to leave. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very long before he stopped, due to the appearance of a suspicious blue glow which appeared behind a pile of boxes, right from a certain missing prisoner’s hands.

Artemis didn’t bother to wonder why his hands had chosen that moment to glow. Nor did he pause and attempt to talk himself out of his current predicament. Instead, the boy genius put aside his pride and ran. Fast.

But the man was no slowpoke himself. He had paused for a second, probably from surprise, giving Artemis a good head start. But now his was right behind him, and catching up fast.

“The prisoner!” he shouted, drawing his wand, but not firing any curses. “I found the muggle! Stop!”

Artemis ignored him and continued to run, hoping Black Hair’s shouts did not attract any more attention. Luckily for him, the man did not seem to want to hit him with any spells, probably hoping to catch him unharmed so that ‘the Dark Lord’ did not realize he had managed to slip away from them. And his earlier show with fairy magic had probably helped a bit.

Artemis had neared the staircase, and was about to head down when he realized that Black Hair’s cries had attracted attention. Quite a bit of it. More than was desired actually.

The stairway was blocked by over a dozen robe clad men, all of whom were too surprised him his sudden appearance to move and catch him. But Artemis wasn’t going to stand around waiting for them to gather their wits.

In one smooth motion, he turned around, ducked under Black Hair’s outstretched arm and continued to run. For good measure, he made sure to stomp down hard on Black Hair’s right foot. Hearing the man shout in pain was satisfying enough to make Artemis ignore just how childish his act had been.

“After him!” Black Hair shouted, his voice ugly with barely suppressed rage and pain.

Perhaps aggravating his pursers was not a great idea, no matter how satisfying it was.

Artemis was aware of the fact that he couldn’t run forever, he was beginning to breathe heavily already. He rounded a corner, hoping that there was something, anything, on the other side that would help him out.

No such luck.

What he saw was half a dozen robe clad men running at him from the other side. Wonderful. One of them must has realized that if half of the group went the other way down the hall and the rest went after Artemis, they’d eventually meet, with Artemis right in the middle.

He was trapped and out of choices. Well, there was one ridiculous and almost idiotic choice left. Something that Artemis wouldn’t even consider unless it was in a dire emergency, like his current situation.

There was a window in the hallway, about halfway down the hall. If Artemis increased his speed just a little, he would be able to reach it before the group across form him.

It was a rough plan, he knew, with many things that could easily go wrong, but it was the best he could do at the moment. Artemis was more used to having time and being able to mediate while coming up with his ingenious schemes. Neither of these assets were available to him at the moment, so he was forced to improvise as he went along. And he was doing quite well so far. After all, he was still alive.

“Stupefy!” One young and overenthusiastic man cried out.

Artemis ducked just in left and left something ruffle his messy hair as it barely missed him.

“Idiot, don’t curse him!” Black Hair shouted, angry. “The Dark Lord doesn’t want him harmed!”

They were getting desperate and that was dangerous. Artemis willed his feet to move just a little faster, the window grew nearer. He couldn’t stop running to judge how high he’d have to jump to clear it, so he made a rough estimate. It was when he changed his direction and aimed for the window did Black Hair realize what the boy intended.

“He’s going to jump! Stop him!” he hollered, struggling to run faster. Apparently, running in robes hampered your ability to freely race. Not by much, but just enough.

Artemis didn’t stop to think. He took a great leap as soon as he was close enough and sailed out the window.

It was only then did he realize that he had jumped out of a window on the third floor, approximately twenty feet above a lake.

Artemis wasn’t the type to curse often out loud. He had always left people who cursed were too unimaginative to express their feelings with more sophisticated language. But at the moment, he ignored his contempt for cursing and let out a string of colorful profanities.

And then gravity took over.

Awesome! I love it, and I don't say that about a lot of things!! Very very good, MK! Bravo!

Thank you!