Part I, "The Departure"

Chapter One, Panem

Artemis blinked, trying to clear his vision. I took a few seconds to realize what had just happened. The boy stood up, not exactly sure of where he was located in time and place.

There seemed to be many factories in the sector. Actually, a factory placed above three gears was printed on the flags suspended around the region. "District 3," read Artemis.

"Hey!" Artemis turned around, searching for the provenance of the sound. "What are you doing here? You should be working!" Two men in white uniforms approached him, weapons in hands. They both looked at Artemis and evaluated his age. "You should be in school, young man," one of them corrected their previous statement. The two armed men were now close enough for Artemis to read their name tags.

Peacekeepers? Well that was certainly not from his time period, thought Artemis. The boy's mind then began to race. How could he use these two men at his advantage? The answer came to him rather quickly, mesmer, of course. N°1 had filled him up with powerful magic, so it would not be too difficult…

The Peacekeepers were about to arrest the young boy when his enchanting, multi-layered voice reached their ears. They froze and listened to the voice, ready to do anything it could request. "Take me to the closest digital database you know of. Now," it said.

The Peacekeepers nodded and led Artemis though countless empty streets, escorting Artemis to a massive building.

A flight of stairs later, Artemis was inside the District 3 Justice Building, facing the town's mayor.

Artemis eyed the man before him. The mayor seemed to be a charismatic man in his mid-forties. Artemis then looked around the office, searching for clues that could eventually help him create perfect lies and alibis, if need be. After having quickly scanned the room, Artemis noticed three cameras; no blind spots, one computing device that looked like a computer and he had taken note of the mayor's name; Mayor Theravan Hewatts. As far as Artemis was concerned, that could suffice…

"And who do we have here?" Mayor Hewatts asked one of the Peacekeepers.

Artemis cleared his throat in order to get a good eye contact with the mayor. "Leave the room at once, and bring the Peacekeepers with you. The entrance of this room will be forbidden to everybody but me until I instruct you otherwise. Do not tell anybody of my presence here." The mesmer worked rather well on the man, for he immediately obeyed, leaving Artemis alone in the office.

Not losing a second, the boy got to work. He sat before what he identified as the mayor's computer and began his research.

After a few minutes of getting used to the futuristic software, Artemis got comfortable. As it turned out, the technology of the future was extremely similar to the People's of Artemis's time.

Searching through the files and programs of the device, Artemis managed to find what he had been looking for; archives. Of course, in his time, the files were not archives, for they were yet to be written…

The thing was that the Fowl heir had recently came upon an extraordinary opportunity in a very unstable stock market. The market in question could fluctuate in a matter of a few hours, and though the benefits could be great, the loss could be even greater… Not wanting to turn down such an offer, but not wanting to risk his family's freshly restored fortune, Artemis and came up with a simple plan; to manipulate N°1 into sending him to the future in order to find the archives of the stock market. This way, Artemis would have an idea as to when the market would be at its most profitable.

Once he found the answer he was looking for, Artemis let his curiosity guide him as he clicked on the more recent archives… After all, he had to know where and when he had landed.

He clicked on a file, anticipation going through his system. What will humanity come to? He wondered, smirking, though his smile began to fade away, leaving a frown behind as he read the information he found.

Extracts of news articles had eventually became protected documents, which had then turned into top-secret files as time passed…

From what Artemis read, terrible natural disasters had struck the planet and made the sea levels rise until humanity became gravely threatened… Eventually, the weak and dying society found refuge in the remains of North America, which would soon be known as Panem.

Bread and circuses, quoted Artemis from the Latin saying, as he got more and more intrigued about this nation.

On one of the articles, Artemis found the map of a distorted North America. The territory had been divided in fourteen regions; thirteen sectors called the Districts and one other part baptized the Capitol.

The young boy read on, learning that each of the districts had eventually evolved into industries responsible to serve the needs of Panem… Or more precisely, the needs of the Capitol… The districts then realized that they were slowly becoming slaves of the Capitol and they did what an oppressed society had to do, they rebelled.

Artemis let out a gasp as he read the statistics of the rebellion's casualties. Not only had the war led to the complete destruction of the 13th District, but it had also lead to an even stronger dictatorship from the Capitol, as well as the creation of a grotesque spectacle. From the victory of the Capitol had bloomed the Hunger Games.

Viewed as both a way to demonstrate their power, as well as to entertain themselves, the Capitol had created a televised game show featuring twenty-four children between the ages of twelve and eighteen, who were to fight to the death until one of the teenagers would emerge as the victor. Apparently, the victor was a way to represent the Capitol's generosity.

Feeling slightly nauseous about that last detail, Artemis scrolled up in the documents. The newest file on the computer was one announcing the official dates of what was called the Reaping of the 80th Annual Hunger Games

The boy grunted in disgust, suddenly feeling ashamed of his own race. How cold anyone let these kinds of things happen during eighty years?

He shook his head and closed the files. When he would get back to his own time, he would make sure that humanity never came to this. He would, however, make sure that the stock market would triple the amount of money he would invest in it.

Sighing, Artemis made his way through the doors of the mayor's office. He would have to find Hewatts and revoke his previous orders before going back to the 21st century. It was not an absolute necessity, since Artemis could not care less about a mayor not being able to step into his office, but Artemis felt generous today, luckily for mayor Hewatts.

Finding him at the end of the hallway, Artemis immediately made eye contact with the mayor. "You are now allowed to go in your office," he said, pushing a dose of mesmer through his voice.

Theravan Hewatts stared at him blankly and nodded. "I'm now allowed to go in my office," he repeated, matter-of-factly, in a calm voice.

Snapping out of the trance, the mayor's dark grey eyes became clearer and were still aimed at Artemis. "And who do we have here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. There was no time for Artemis to answer, for with one snap of the mayor's fingers, the two Peacekeepers beside him all turned to the Irish boy. "There is an intruder in the Justice Building! Get him." Hewatts pointed to Artemis and the Peacekeepers obeyed.

Needless to say, the intruder, better known as Artemis Fowl ran.

He navigated through the corridors and rooms of the building at the best of his physical abilities – which were not too great to begin with – in order to get a few seconds of tranquility, just enough time to reach N°1's magic signal and go back to where he belonged. All he needed was a room that could be easily accessible, as well as easily locked and blocked.

Two more Peacekeepers added themselves to the previous ones… Artemis would soon be circled.

There was absolutely no way he could run passed the men in white uniforms, and no way for a quick mesmer either, for the Peacekeepers were too busy looking at the possible paths Artemis could borrow in order to escape them.

Taking one quarter of a second, the boy evaluated his options and thought of what his allies would do.

Butler would shoot or hit the Peacekeepers; Foaly would get one of his precious bugs to distract them, whereas Mulch would use his own body to create an unpleasant diversion… And Holly… If she had a Neutrino close by, she would do like Butler, but unarmed, she would probably use her shield, or make herself as small as possible. Alas, Artemis's body was not exactly made to hit and shield, nor was his digestive system built like a dwarf's.

Artemis scanned the corridor as he worked out a plan. Hoping with all his heart that his physical abilities would allow him to be fast enough, he ran straight towards the wall in front of him, as the two pairs of Peacekeepers approached him.

The boy praised himself as he ran along the wall. His tactic had had the advantage of taking the uniformed men aback, as well as giving Artemis one small chance of escape; in approximately six meters, was a door. Artemis had to take in consideration the probabilities of it being locked or occupied, but later decided to give his luck a try due to the circumstances.

Making himself as small as possible against the wall, he took the situation literally one step at the time. The Peacekeepers were closing in. If Artemis could not make it to the door, he would have to prolong his stay in District 3.

Artemis felt a hand on his back as he took his final step, his own hand wrapping around the door's handle. He pushed it open and closed it back up as soon as he got in.

With a sigh of relief, the boy took awareness of his surroundings; a janitor's closet apparently. Taking whatever was available in the small, dim lighted room, Artemis blocked the door. His barricade would not last for long, but it would be a sufficient amount of time.

Artemis closed his eyes, searching for N°1's magic signal, which he instantly felt. He concentrated on his magic, ready to leave this place in which kids slaughtered one another for a dictator's entertainment and lust for power.

A loud knocking sound came from the door. The Peacekeepers were already starting to force the door open.

Artemis took a deep breath, focusing on N°1's anchor point. He felt it, beaming and calling for him. The only thing Artemis had to do was to answer the call and let his body and mind enter the time tunnel. The boy felt the air stir and had the vague sensation that his atoms were being lifted… But that only last for a split second.

The strange feeling of being pulled down by an abnormally strong gravitational pull forced Artemis's eyelids to open. There was some type of static noise inside his head, right where his magic expressed itself. It was almost as if the power he had gotten from the People had turned into a radio that could not receive signals properly.

Shaking away the uncomfortable scratchy noise, Artemis tried to get into the wormhole again, only to be getting back to the same result.

Another powerful blow hit the door. "Get out now and we will not harm you," said one of the Peacekeepers, which, ironically, was the one hitting on the door.

Desperately, Artemis attempted to get back to his own time again and again, but if was of no use. After each try, the dizziness and static noise informed him of his failure.

The door of the closet flew open.

"There is no point in trying to hide," the mayor stepped from between the Peacekeepers, which were blocking the door frame. Hewatts looked straight into Artemis's eyes. "Now, tell me… Who are you and who sent you here?" He asked with an authoritarian tone.

Artemis had to think particularly fast, finally one thing he was good at. He cleared his throat, already calling the mesmer. "I am Artemis, you son," he began, recalling the small details he had noticed in the mayor's office. "Following both your wife's and my parent's death, you adopted me."