Chapter I: Foaly

You never know when a day could end from a visit from another dimension. It has happened before believe you me, but this one was of the most peculiar variety. Down in the Lower Elements Police station in Haven, Foaly the resident paranoid, genius centaur, was working on some top secret projects. He was keeping an eye on one of his old friends. Artemis Fowl.

He was singing some song about swear toads when he got an alert on his unauthorized magic alert system. Nowadays, magic was considered pretty dangerous and was limited only to LEP officers and lackeys. The Ritual was becoming harder to perform due to deforesting problems and a few raised suspicions about recent fairy sightings. Usually when a fairy was spotted the LEP was to perform a mind wipe on the Mud Man who saw the fairy. Somehow though, some of the Mud Men who saw them have been slipping through the cracks and had this had been putting poor Foaly on edge trying to track them down.

Foaly thought it his duty to deal with all the technical stuff involving electronic reports on the internet of fairy sightings. Mud Men technology was so primitive compared to fairy technology. It would be super easy to hack.

Foaly turned his attention to his laptop that he devoted to tracking unauthorized magic happenings. The LEP had a tracker on anyone authorized to use magic and it would show up as a green dot on the screen if the user of magic had one of these before mentioned trackers. It would show up as a red dot if the user wasn't authorized.

Foaly let out a few choice words that a swear toad would be proud of as he examined the screen.

It has to be a malfunction. Foaly thought to himself.

Usually whenever the alert would go off it was usually just an LEP member doing some typical magic for a child, or an LEP member using the mesmer as needed. There was rarely ever a red dot on the screen, and when there was it was just an unlicensed member of the LEP or a new member who didn't know the rules quite yet.

What Foaly saw on the screen couldn't have possibly been an ignorant mistake. What he saw was a giant cluster of red dots. Hundreds to be in fact.

Artemis Fowl was on the way to a very prestigious meeting. He was dressed in his typical dark suit and tie. He was in an unassuming sports car so as not to raise suspicion and on his lap lay a dark briefcase made of reinforced steel. He smoothed back his slick dark hair and pressed the tips of his fingers together in his lap and turned to his driver who appeared to be a mountain of a man. Butler was Artemis' bodyguard and was a very capable person.

"Artemis…" Butler started to speak but was cut off by a raised hand from Artemis.

"I have told you that we can't stop for biscuits until we arrive in Vermont." Artemis replied in a phony British accent. Butler looked quizzically at Artemis as they stopped at a traffic light.

The car is bugged. Artemis mouthed at Butler. He motioned to under the dash. Butler made a motion to remove it but Artemis shook his head.

Whoever our stalkers are, he mouthed, we can't let them notice anything out of the ordinary or even that we noticed it. To help his point he added, "We can stop at that gas station you love and get a couple of ice creams." Butler cringed but replied in a British accent of his own.

"That would be great." Butler smiled. He couldn't let any emotion show even though he was good friends with his principle Artemis. He didn't know if the camera also had visual and not just audio.

Soon, they arrived at their destination. It appeared to be an old run down warehouse. But as Artemis had learned in the past and by his own experience, looks could be deceiving.

When they stepped out of the car and had walked a ways towards the warehouse, Artemis explained.

'The man we rented the car from must have been under the mesmer or something. He was acting stranger than I've seen him. When I asked him an inside question he pretended not to know what I was talking about. I was talking about his wife." He paused for a moment and fiddled with his wristwatch.

"We have a few minutes before we're expected." Artemis said. He then smiled grimly. "Best to have the element of surprise. No matter how small it may be."

He knocked thrice on the door and waited hands clasped in front of him while holding the silver briefcase. A buff dude with a buzz cut answered the door. He raised his prominent eyebrows at Butler. This happened a lot.

"What do you want?" The man said gruffly, "State your business or I'll have to kill you."

Butler cracked his knuckles intimidatingly and Artemis cleared his throat.

"You can tell your boss," Artemis replied, "That I have what he wants and I require a private conference with him to discuss business terms."

The man seemed amused and said, "The boss doesn't take too kindly to pointless interruptions."

"Oh I'm expected," Artemis replied with a stone cold grin. "And if you're not going to let us through, my large friend will be glad to move you for us."

The man took a gander at Butler and paled slightly. He stepped aside quickly and talked into a portable cell phone.

"Sir," He mumbled, "A creepy Irish kid is here. He says that he's expected."

Artemis could hear someone on the other end of the radio. It was faint but he could tell it was the man he was looking for. The man on the other end kept talking and the man on this end paled considerably. He quickly mentioned for Artemis and Butler to come in.

"Come in Master Fowl," The man mumbled hurriedly, "The headmaster is waiting for you."