Chapter 7: Traveling in Circles

Kaslynn pushed her way through the throngs that inevitably crowded the streets of Dublin. She wanted to go home and take a nice, long shower, eat everything in her house, and change into some new clothes. The shirt and jeans she was wearing at present felt stiff and sweaty and smelt like old socks.

Her Dublin apartment was in a quiet corner in Kimmage. Right now she was in Dublin City, which was about a ten minute drive from Dublin, or for her, an hour long walk. Instead of taking that particular route, past pedestrians who would undoubtedly ask why she was not in school, she decided to find a private place to teleport from.

The issue with teleportation was that you had to have an anchor of power to focus on. The only things that willingly accepted magic were precious stones. Any precious stone could work, but diamonds worked best. She would fill them with her magic, and then she would be able to trace them back and follow them to wherever they were placed. The purple diamond necklace bounced against her throat as she walked, radiating power. Each of her homes had a small trinket like the one that she constantly carried around, so that she would be able to find them instantly.

Finding a small alley between houses that would be suitable, she slipped inside and located her beacon, letting it pull her over the land and into her own home. She arrived instantly in one of her many kitchens.

Kaslynn's apartment was small, but clean. She spent most of her time here, because this was closest to N°1. It consisted of a kitchen, a small living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom. Simple, easy, only necessities. Just how she liked it.

Kaslynn didn't like things. Getting attached to objects was silly, she reasoned, when you might have to leave at a moment's notice. She had no T.V., only a small, new looking lap top that sat on the desk in her room - the largest room in the house. A few books lined her shelves, but most of them were just fiction that she could leave behind. All of her research was done on her computer. Her closet was full, but all of her closets were. She liked to have a quick change ready when she needed it. Her kitchen was piled with food - most of which wouldn't go bad. She could leave at any time, and nothing would change. She wouldn't need to take anything but her laptop and her backpack.

The backpack was the only thing that she would never leave behind. Not only was it from before she got into the crazy world of fairies and magic, but it contained a few precious things that she'd taken from her old house. A burnt picture of her parents and her younger sister and herself by Niagara Falls. Everyone was smiling at the camera and her sister, Amy, was laughing at something. She couldn't remember what it was. She couldn't even remember that trip very well; she'd only been six at the time, seven years ago. Twelve years ago, she reminded herself. Not seven, twelve.

The picture, a piece of her mother's favorite coffee cup, rounded and melted by the fire. That was all that had survived, besides the diamond necklace that she never took off. The bag was also filled with necessities for living on the road. A blanket, a change of clothes, a few cans of food, and a good pair of running shoes.

After taking a long, hot shower that fogged up the entire bathroom mirror, Kaslynn quickly fixed a can of Spaghettios - the kind without meat - and changed into fresh clothes while she ate them. Black shirt, jeans, soft soled flats. Then she sat on her bed, with the spoon hanging out of her mouth, and brought out her computer.

One of the first things she had bought when N°1 had given her three million dollars worth of fairy gold was a computer. It was basically a classic Mac laptop, but it had been… modified by fairies, as a special favor to N°1 a few months ago. It was now much faster, and it had much more information than any human computer.

Yet its fairy technology was not actually what made her computer special. When she had first started learning about magic and how to control it, she hadn't been very good at containing her own. When she had first touched the machine, a magical surge had gone into it and molded into its workings. Now it acted pretty much like a normal computer, but it had a little more of a personality.

"Mac?" she said. "Wake up, we've got work to do."

The computer hummed to life, and white type appeared on the black screen.

Don't we always, it said.

"Don't sass me, you stupid piece of junk," she said, "or I'm going to toss you in a rubbish heap."

Spare me.

"Just bring me the internet."

As you wish, oh glorious one.

Her screensaver appeared for a moment before her favorite internet browser popped up. The search bar filled with type.

What is it this time? Planning another trip to Rome? Booking online tickets to Egypt?

"No, it's business today," she said, ignoring her computer's sarcastic remarks on her frequent trips to other countries. "Run a search for Artemis Fowl."

I don't feel like it.

"Now, Mac."

Grudgingly, the page changed to the search results. Luckily, there were no extra and meaningless things to wade through; Mac knew exactly what she was looking for. The page filled with links. She clicked through a few. Apparently, Artemis Fowl was an incredibly rich man who was invested heavily in environmental projects. He had millions of dollars going towards the production and development of eco-friendly cars and houses, solar panels, and the protection of endangered animals. He was married to Evangeline Fowl, and had three sons, two twins and one older boy her age. His name was also Artemis Fowl. Artemis Fowl II.

Which one? Mac typed to her.

"I don't know. N°1 just told me to 'find Artemis Fowl', but he didn't say which one." She thought for a moment. "Run the search through the F files." The "F files" were simply all files and websites that were created and run by the fairy community.

Can do, Mac replied, and immediately file after file appeared on her screen. Another plus of having a conscious being as a computer was that she never had to worry about passwords and codes. He automatically broke them for her, so she didn't have to deal with it.

There were too many files to look through, so she just asked, "Is it Artemis Fowl or Artemis Fowl II?"

The second one. What now?

"Can you find out where he lives?" she asked.

Don't insult me. He lives in Fowl Manor. It's just a few miles from here.

"Great!" she said, jumping off the bed and grabbed her cell phone - another device that was charged with her magic. "Can you give me the coordinates?"

Insults! he said, giving them to her quickly.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving a hand. "See you later!"

She didn't wait to see his reply.

Holly stood next to Foaly as he viciously hacked away at his keyboard.

"Where did he say to look?" the centaur asked, his eyes focused on the screen.

"The MTC," she replied. "Apparently N°1 and Qwan were supposed to be leaving there to report to the Police Plaza, but they haven't shown up yet."
"Instead, we have a human girl running around?" Foaly replied, bringing up the feed from those cameras as he linked to Fowl Manor. "There's no way."

Artemis appeared on the screen, busy typing away at one of his many computers. "Hello, Foaly, Holly," he said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"What's this about, Artemis?" Foaly asked. He was scanning all of the cameras in that area, but they weren't giving him anything. Just a couple of pixy kids playing around.

Artemis turned to face them. "Try the history."

Foaly accessed the memories of the cameras in that area, but they were all empty. "There is none."

"Exactly."

Holly sighed. "So someone erased our camera memory. Why? Someone was protecting this girl?"

"That, or she somehow managed to do it herself," Foaly said. "Which is unlikely."

"I agree," Artemis said, "but that is not the real problem. I found one camera across the street that caught a glimpse of her." He sent them a frozen image of the girl. "It is unclear, for some reason, but you can plainly see that it is human."

Foaly rubbed his chin. "Okay… so where is she now?"

"Not in Haven, unless she has camfoil on. I don't think that we're dealing with some innocent child. This person, whoever she is, obviously knows about the fairy world. Furthermore, she must have some ties to fairies. They must have let her in," Artemis explained. "These things are clear. The real question is, why was she here, and to what ends?"

"Could she been working with the Keepers?" Holly asked.

"It's possible," Artemis said. "In fact, it is incredibly likely, considering the fact that N°1 and Qwan are missing."

"They're what?" Foaly exclaimed.

"Missing," Artemis said again. "Gone. They're not in Haven. Somewhere in between leaving the MTC after I called them and the time when I saw the girl, they left, or were more likely taken from, the city."

"D'Arvit!" Holly muttered. "The most powerful warlock in the history of the world is snatched out right from under our noses."

"Do we know where the Black Keeper's den is?" Foaly asked.

Artemis tapped his chin with a pencil. "I have a few ideas. I know that they have bases spread out all over the globe, so that they can better keep record of the inverted sparks that appear. N°1 will be at one of them, or possibly a more secret location, though I do not believe that any exist. I know where most, if not all, of the bases are. The problem is, of course, determining which of their bases to attack. And then, attacking it at all. They tend to choose either places that are in the public eye, or places that are almost impossible to attack."

"So how do you propose we go about it?" Foaly asked, expecting that, as always, Artemis would have a plan. Or many plans.

He didn't disappoint them. "It is possible to break into their security systems, if one knows how to go about it," he said with a none too innocent smile. "I could work two fairies inside, but their discovery would be inevitable. It would be better if I could simply access their files and cameras to see whether they have N°1 and Qwan. Then, if they do, we could send the LEP fairies in a few at a time and take the place as quickly and quietly as possible." He shrugged. "Of course, we must still narrow down the field of search."

"And I assume that you have some way to go about this?" Holly relied, rolling her eyes.

Artemis hesitated. Then, as if the words physically pained him, he said, "Not particularly." Seeing their stunned looks, he shrugged apologetically. "They are incredibly skilled in the art of disappearing. There is no way to narrow down the search, other than to eliminate bases that are of smaller size and stature first. I'll have to break into their files before I can even begin to guess."

"So… why don't you start on that?" Foaly said with an impatient gesture. "The sooner we get N°1 back, the better."

"I'm already working on it," Artemis replied briskly. "My computer is breaking through the less complex viruses and codes as we speak. It will alert me when it is no longer capable of breaking the codes. At that point, I will take over. It shouldn't take me more than a few minutes, after the initial walls are down." He grimaced. "Distractions."

Foaly rolled his eyes. "I know. It can take hours just to break through them, just because there are so many!"

Holly could see where this was heading. "Okay, okay, we get it. You're both very smart, let's move on." She glanced up at Artemis. "So, once you break through, you can tell us where N°1 is?"

Artemis sighed. "We can only hope that they have records of where he is kept. If not, I will have to begin a more complex search. Digital information is the key. Without it, I have nothing to base my search on. We will have to use a guess and check method," he said, as if the idea were the most absolute hideous thing he could imagine. Artemis Fowl did not guess and check. "I'll leave as soon as I have an idea of where to go. After I inform you, of course," he added.

Foaly snorted. "Of course. You think you can do it, Mud Boy?"

"Are you suggesting that I can't?"
"Never," Foaly scoffed.

"Good."

Two hours later, Artemis finished the last of his tea as he looked over the information that was presented before him. He tapped his keyboard a few times, and Foaly appeared on another screen.

"Anything?" he asked. Holly leaned around him in the background, anxious but excited.

"I have narrowed it down to three of their bases," Artemis said. "They do not actually use N°1's name, but I believe that a certain package mentioned numerous times is an alias for him. Based on information found here and my own analysis, there are only three places to look. One is the most likely, but the other two are almost equally suspected."
"Well, what are they?" Holly asked after a moment.

Artemis pulled up a large, holographic map for them. Using the highly sensitive laser beams positioned around the room, he was able to tell the computer where his hands were and what he was doing with them. The map acted accordingly. Foaly looked slightly impressed.

"Lasers?" he asked. Artemis nodded but waved the comment away. He pointed to Europe and it expanded to show more detail. He continued to zoom in until he was hovering above Paris.

"I found the inverted spark at the Louvre in Paris, France," he said. "The Black Keepers also have a base there, which makes perfect sense. Anyone would want to keep track of their valuables. This is their main base, and I believe that it is the most likely of the three." He smiled almost ruefully. "Forgive me if I don't mention the other two. This connection could be intercepted, though I have taken precautions against it."

Foaly grimaced, conceding the point. "So, where is the first one? You've yet to tell us."

Artemis chuckled. "I thought that it would be obvious. The Keeper's base is in the catacombs of Paris."

Kaslynn took a taxi to Fowl Manor. She had to pay extra to get there, but it got the job done. The cab driver leaned over to speak with her as she got out.

"Careful around here," he said softly. "Word it they've got serious, high tech security all over the place."

Like she hadn't expected that. He was a genius, he had lots of money, he had been invested in a criminal empire, and he was the sometimes friend, sometimes enemy of the fairy People. How could he not have tight security?

"Thanks for the warning," she replied brightly, handing him his money. He smiled and drove away, leaving her to the large, ordinate gates that marked the entrance to Fowl Manor. She sent a little shock through the system to open them, watching them silently swing aside. She pulled a warp shield around herself - who knew what the boy had discovered? He could possibly be able to see around a regular fairy shield. So she made herself invisible and stepped through the gates.

The house was huge, buried deep in the woods and covered with fancy technology to alert the inhabitance of any presence. Any presence but hers, of course. Kaslynn slinked along the drive, sticking to the shadows in case she lost concentration and the warp shield faltered. She avoided the front door, instead creeping around the side and finding an open window. There was no way to get to the window; Fowl Manor was a fortress. No handy plants or loose stones offered at way up. So she unclasped her necklace and lobbed it through the window, following it seconds later. She caught it before it hit the ground, so her entry was totally silent.

She was in some kind of study, but luckily there was no one there. The house was empty, and she didn't know when they would be home. She let her shield flicker and die. If someone saw her, it didn't really matter. There wasn't much a human could do to her if they could hear her voice.

Kaslynn walked slowly downstairs, admiring the architecture of the grand house. Art was a weakness for her; all art, any art, every kind of art. The Fowl house was a beautiful masterpiece, a perfect blend of old and new. She loved it, everything about it. Helping herself to fresh coffee in the kitchen and not even taking the time to feel guilty about it, she wondered if the boy the house was named for would be as good as the place itself.

The living room was tastefully furnished, and the chairs were all comfortable and easy to relax in. She let herself fold into one, sipping the coffee, which was excellent. A true American, there was nothing Kaslynn loved more than coffee. Aside from maybe iced coffee, which was much better.

Suddenly events caught up with her. Training with N°1 was usually hard enough without all of this drama. Kaslynn closed her eyes and drifted, waiting for Artemis Fowl to come home.