A/N: So in this chapter I wanted to clear up some of the questions from the reviews. (Thanks, guys. I really appreciated them.) If you still have questions afterwards, ask away. Oh, and I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while... my teacher goes hardcore with the projects. There's always like four at a time, so less time for me to write.
Holly was silent the whole way back to the manor, aside from the occasional necessary comment. Artemis glanced worriedly at her. He knew it would surprise her that some of his stolen magic was back, and it probably still hurt a bit from when he lied to her. He felt like he should say something to diffuse the tension, but for all his intelligence, he couldn't think of one thing to say.
Before long, they were home, and Artemis led the way up to his room. Holly opened his laptop and asked curtly, "Password?"
Artemis felt a bit uneasy as he spelled it out. Holly deftly tapped it into the computer without glancing at him, and Artemis once again felt an urge to initiate conversation. Finally he gave in. "Holly," he started hesitantly, "What is wrong?"
Holly still wouldn't look at him. "I don't know what would lead you to that conclusion," she said, "Is there supposed to be something wrong?"
Artemis felt a prickle of frustration in his chest, but he kept it hidden. "You are obviously upset about something, most likely involving me. I came to that conclusion because this morning you acted as you normally do, but as soon as we encountered the demigods, you withdrew and refused conversion. There is something bothering you, and I want to know what it is." Artemis finished and looked sternly at Holly, which almost caused her to smile.
"Well," said Holly, staring back, "You hid your magic from me ONCE AGAIN, and that makes me wonder what else you're lying to me about."
"Is that what you think of me?" Artemis asked, feeling slightly and unexplainably hurt and disappointed, "I know I lied before, but for the most part I am a man of my word. If anything, I do keep my promises."
"Then why was I not informed?" demanded Holly, who somehow managed to pack her anger and mistrust in one quiet sentence.
Artemis sighed. "I wasn't sure of it myself," he answered honestly, "As soon as I was sure, which was today, I planned to tell you. In my theory, Hecate's blessing must have somehow awakened a dormant bit of fairy magic in me, a bit I wasn't aware was still there.
"I am aware that my crude form of blocking their memories will only last so long, but it should be enough to last until we introduce ourselves to them. That was my plan the whole time, I promise. Is there anything else that you are upset about?"
Holly shook her head. "That was it, basically. You kept things from me before, and I know you apologized for it. I have forgiven you, but that type of thing can be difficult to forget."
"I understand," agreed Artemis, "So is that all cleared up?"
"One more thing. Who was that man who came to visit this morning?"
"Oh, he was Hermes," Artemis replied casually, as if it were everyday the god of travelers showed up at his door.
Holly raised her eyebrows. "You mean the Greek god?" Artemis nodded. "Uh, what do the gods want to do with you?"
He sighed. "I really didn't want you to know about this-" At Holly's glare, he hurriedly continued. "No! No, it's not like that. I just didn't think it was important. I prayed to one of the gods, Apollo. You know him? He's the sun god, as well as the god of medicine."
Holly went from looking annoyed to slightly worried. "Are you alright, Artemis?"
"Yes, yes. I should be fine, at any rate," he said, waving his hands, "But that's not the point. I was simply not feeling like myself, but now I feel fine. As payment for healing me, Apollo requested I promote his new... ah... "country" album. He's the god of music, too. It never occurred to me that he would, for lack of better words, suck at singing."
Holly laughed. "Of course he does." She suddenly felt concerned. "But why would they help you? They seem to have a reputation for not interfering with humans."
Artemis reflected her own emotions. "That's precisely what I'm wondering. I suppose it must be part of their games. They have a reputation for that too." They were both silent for a moment.
"Well, we've cleared up all that there is to clear up," said Holly. She smiled faintly. "I suppose it is back to work now?"
Artemis grinned back, relieved. "Of course."
"So what will we be doing today, Mr. Fowl?" Holly inquired, putting on an over exaggerated and eager expression.
"Let's look at our wands first." Artemis rolled his new wand gently between his fingers, carefully inspecting it. Without warning, a thin stream of light beamed out of Artemis's wand tip, widening to form a hologram type projection. Artemis backed up a bit, startled but not surprised. Thin, looping words appeared, written by an invisible hand. WELCOME TO THE WIZARDING WORLD! - HECATE.
As the words faded, shallow engravings appeared on both of their wands, almost invisible at the first glance. Artemis's wand had his name, in Gnommish, around the base of his wand. Holly had her name engraved likewise.
"Somehow I figured Hecate made these specifically for us," said Holly, holding the wand up to the light.
"Yes, most likely because she was the one to give us our magic," Artemis nodded, "I researched several spells that seem particularly useful, along with all the ones we should know already."
Holly sighed. "Better get started then. We've got five years to get caught up on."
"Great. First we'll start with a few charms..."
As soon as the ground stopped spinning, Thalia stood up, walked over to the nearest bush, and promptly threw up. Annabeth winced at the sound of her retching.
"I think she found something she hates worse than flying," she muttered to herself.
"And I thought she'd rather anything but flying," Nico replied quietly.
Annabeth smiled slightly. "Learn something new everyday."
Nico opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when he saw Thalia stalking back over to the group, glaring at anyone who dared look at her for more than a second.
Percy cleared his throat. "I think I might like shadow traveling more than this."
Nico smiled and the shadows around him deepened. "Why, thank you."
Percy grinned too, and Tonks and Annabeth heard pipes creaking beneath their feet. "Are we playing this game?"
"Show-offs," Thalia huffed. The sky rumbled in the distance.
Annabeth quickly put her foot down at this point. "No," she said sternly, "I am not going to allow a competition here in the middle of the street."
"Yes, mother," Nico drawled, rolling his dark eyes. The shadows grew even thicker before lightening to their natural shade. Thalia let a bolt of lightning loose before the clouds cleared. The only one who immediately listened to Annabeth was Percy, most likely not wanting to face her wrath.
The daughter of Athena let out a sigh. "Thank you, Percy," she said tiredly.
Percy grinned and gave Annabeth a peck on the cheek. "Anytime."
Once again, they started towards the house. "Are they always like that?" Tonks whispered to Annabeth.
"Unfortunately, yes."
Inside, they followed Tonks to the kitchen. As soon as the demigods sat down, pots and pans and various ingredients started flying around the room. Percy rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Yes, food! Can you turn it blue?"
Tonks paused in her work to look at Percy. "Blue? Did I hear that right?"
Nico jumped to answer for Percy. "Yeah, you heard him right. He's just weird like that."
"Thanks," Percy drawled sarcastically, "I love when people say that."
Thalia glared at the two boys. "Shut up and eat your food." She rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered to Annabeth.
"I know what you mean," Annabeth agreed wholeheartedly.
For a while, they ate in silence. Then Tonks spoke. "Before we get down to business, I should warn you that the other members of the Order are coming over this afternoon."
"Oh, yeah," Percy said, "You told us that this morning."
Tonks nodded. "I did, but they're coming in about-" She was cut off by a loud buzzing sound. Everyone looked towards the door. "Zero seconds."
Tonks walked over and opened the door. A small group of people stood on the front steps. "Ah," Tonks said, smiling, "Come in." As she ushered everyone inside and found enough chairs, she continued, "Children, these are some members of the Order. They all know who you are." Gesturing around the table, she started listing off names, "The Weasleys - Molly and Arthur, and their sons Bill and Charlie, Mrs. Figg (she's not a wizard, but a Squib), and Lupin." The demigods nodded politely to each wizard as they were introduced. "Now," Tonks said, "We all know that Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia are demigods; however, not all of us may be familiar with what things you can do. I think some introductions might be in order, hmm?" She gestured to Percy. "Why don't you go first?"
Percy stood up, his chair squeaking on the floor. "Hey," he said, shuffling his feet, "Uh, my name is Percy Jackson. Actually, Percy is just a nickname for Perseus, only my teachers and my enemies call me that. My mother is Sally Jackson and my step-father is Paul Blofis. I love them both." Percy smiled at the thought of his mother. "My godly parent is Poseidon, god of the sea, of horses, and of earthquakes."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Percy," the smiling red haired woman Tonks refered to as Molly said, "Would you mind a display of your powers?"
Percy nodded. He understood that it would be suspicious if he didn't comply with them. He looked around the room, spotting a pitcher of water sitting on the counter. He also noticed that Tonks had placed a cup at each seat. Smiling, he let the familiar tug in his gut take over, water arching out of the pitcher to pour into each cup. "Have some water," he murmured.
Gasps were heard around the room. "Oh! A stunt like that, for a non wizard, is just amazing," Arthur Weasley said. He shook his head. "Non wizards are just so underestimated..."
Annabeth stood next. "My name is Annabeth Chase. I know my boyfriend's powers may be shocking, but not all demigods are born with such... flashy abilities. Some of us have more subtle talents. Take me for example, a daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. I might not be able to fight with water or move rocks with my mind, but, well, even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes." She smiled as everyone in the room nodded in agreement. "So, while I might not be able to necessarily show off my powers, I have a reputation."
"A pleasure to meet you as well, Annabeth," Lupin said, nodding to her.
"I suppose I'll go next," Nico sighed, "And get this over with." He stood up and looked around the room. "We'll start by talking about my childhood, or lack of as the case may be. My father is Hades, god of the dead and of wealth, king of the Underworld. He and his younger brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, made this pact that they would have no more children, as children of the Big Three are extraordinarily powerful. Now, when this happened, I and my sister, Bianca were already born. Hades suspected that Zeus would kill us, and he did succeed in killing my mother. In short, I spent about sixty years in a hotel, not aging or aware of the passage of time." He took a breath and noticed all the stares he was getting. I spoke too much, he thought, but I suppose there's nothing I can do about that. "On to my powers. I can control shadows, produce hellfire, communicate with the dead... et cetera, et cetera. Anything else?" He looked expectantly at the wizards. No one spoke. "Alrighty then. Thalia, you're up."
Thalia stood. "Well, after them, I doubt there's much else to say. My father is Zeus, and yes, I am a result of a broken truce between the Big Three. As a matter of fact, Percy is too. Back to me, though, my name is Thalia, and I don't use my last name. I can call down lightning, as my father is the ruler of the skies as well as the head of the gods. I am also the lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis." She touched the silver circlet she wore as a symbol of her rank. "The Hunters are chosen maidens of the goddess of the moon, and more importantly, the Hunt. We live in good health, serving Lady Artemis forever, unless we die in battle." Nico blinked and looked down. His sigh went not unnoticed by the wizards and demigods. Annabeth put an arm around his shoulders. "As for an example of my power..." Everyone looked outside to see a lightning bolt strike the ground by the window.
"Thank you, Thalia," Tonks said, gesturing for her to sit. "Now, in a week or so there will be some wizards who will be in your year at Hogwarts coming over. They do not know you are demigods, and neither should they find out. It is your job to keep an eye on them, keep them safe. Your story is that you are wizards from a small private school in America. You've been quite sheltered about the outside wizarding world your whole life, and only now are you receiving the opportunity to see the outside world. This should help explain any odd questions or peculiar habits you might have. Still, you will need basic training. You will be Sorted after the first years. I believe Dumbledore will briefly mention you first, but really, the first day of school is always a blur. Just go with the flow. Any questions?"
The four demigods shook their heads. "No, not right now," Annabeth said.
"Okay, you can talk to any of the members of the Order if you have any question, no matter how stupid you might think it is." Tonks and the rest of the Order stood. "This meeting is dismissed. Percy, Nico, Annabeth, and Thalia, stay for your first lessons."
A/N: To all my loyal followers (along with any newcomers to this story), I'd like to warn you that updates will be very erratic, and probably very spaced out as well. I'm so sorry... but I will never abandon this story, even if it takes me a couple years. Thanks for sticking with me!
