Chapter Text
Excavation Site, 6 months ago
Emery whipped the sweat off his brow and took his hat off and fanned it slowly onto his face. It was just after noon at the excavation site he was interning at and it was the hottest time of the day. It was moments like this that Emery regretted getting into archeology, but what could he do about it now?
“Back to work, Emery, or I take points off your final grade.” barked Professor Morray.
“Yes, Ma’am” Emery called and shoved his hat back onto his head. He focused on the dirt beneath him, carefully sifting through it, so as not to break any potential artifacts he had come across. Not that this was necessarily a huge worry for Emery at the moment as he felt moments away from a heat stroke and had been at this dig site all week and had yet to actually find any artifacts. Just as he finished this thought, he felt some resistance in the dirt and began to unearth what appeared to be a small bottle. He grabbed a brush and dusted off the excess dirt to find a bottle about five inches high with a narrow top that expanded and curved outward before curving inward at the bottom. Although still covered by some hardened dirt, Emery could make out a picture painted on the outside of the bottle.
“Professor Morray, I found something,” Emery excitedly called out to his professor.
Within the bottle, an ancient being stirred for the first time in thousands of years.
Fowl Manor, Present Time
Artemis Fowl was up to something. Then again, Butler thought, when isn’t he up to something. Butler let out a small sigh, in part in exasperation for the shenanigans he was about to be pulled into, but a larger part was relief that Artemis was finally back to feeling like himself again. And that included putting his trust in Butler again. It had been several months since Artemis’s last Therapy session in Haven to treat his Atlantis complex and Butler had noticed the paranoia, OCD, and other symptoms associated with the complex had all disappeared. Needless to day, Butler was relieved that he didn’t have to worry about protecting his principal from his own mind any longer.
Butler was standing over Artemis’s shoulder and watching as Artemis flipped through the various books laid across his desk and the two laptops, each with an ungodly amount of tabs open on them. Artemis had been going about like this for about a week now and based on his growing excitement, Butler guessed he was close to a breakthrough with whatever he was currently studying. Butler didn’t know quite what it was, but he knew it had something to do with the people’s history, as Artemis had asked Holly for several history books some time ago.
Artemis slammed a hand down on an open book, “I’ve got it!” Artemis swiveled his desk chair around to face Butler. “Butler, I’ve got it! We must have a meeting with Foaly and Holly at once. The people’s existence could be at stake.”
Startled, Butler asked, “Hold on, Artemis, what’s going on?”
“The Djinn, Butler, that is what is going on! I’ve got to tell Holly,” Artemis replied.
“The what now?” Butler asked, but Artemis was already leaving the room typing into his communicator ring.
Haven, 5 minutes later
“Alright, Mudboy,” Foaly harrumphed. “What was so important that you had to call us right away. I was just on my way home to Caballine, so this had better be world-ending stuff you’ve got for us.”
“Well,” came Artemis’s voice through the video call, “Maybe the situation is not at such a level quite yet, but if left alone it may become a threat to the people’s anonymity. I am of course talking about the Djinn and the possible Djinn that has recently been discovered by a team of archaeologists.”
For a moment, Foaly and Holly looked shocked, but then Foaly burst out laughing, “What did you just say? A Djinn? That’s ridiculous. There aren’t any Djinn around anymore, Artemis. Are you sure that you’re completely cured of the complex? Because right now, you sound crazy.”
Holly elbowed Foaly sharply and looked imploringly towards Artemis, who was glaring sharply at Foaly. “Artemis, why do you think that the humans have found a Djinn?”
“I’ve been doing loads of research into the people's history as of late and comparing it to various human folklore and mythology when I came across the existence of the Djinn or Genies. According to your history books the Djinn were a species of fairy that died out several millennia ago. However, I do not believe this to be true. There is extensive human folklore and mythology detailing the Djinn or creatures similar to the Djinn that persist for several generations. I have concluded that it is possible the Djinn went into hiding like the people, but instead of going underground they possessed or transformed into various inanimate objects to avoid the humans who tried to exploit them for their powers. Furthermore, the perfume bottle that was just discovered is covered with paintings depicting Djinn’s and I have compared what I can to previously know Djinn bottles and there is a ninety, no ninety-five percent chance that this is an authentic Djinn bottle. The human’s are already aware of this, after all, they have named the artifact, “The Genie’s Perfume”. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets lucky and accidentally summons the Djinn or the Djinn manifests enough power to reveal itself to someone. This situation is a ticking bomb and must be dealt with immediately.” Having stated his case, Artemis took a large breath and sat back in his chair to see Foaly and Holly’s reaction.
Holly’s head spun a little at the sudden information, but she managed to grasp the important bits, “You really think it’s possible that there is a surviving Djinn?”
“Yes, I do. I am sure of it Holly.” Artemis said, seriously.
Now, Artemis was usually a very serious person. In fact, there were hardly any instances in which Artemis was not serious. However, Holly noted that his seriousness was heavier than usual and recognized that Artemis was telling the truth at this moment. He truly believed that the Djinn existed and that it could be a threat to the people’s secrecy. Of course, this was Artemis so he probably had an ulterior motive somewhere in this situation. But that didn’t mean that whatever cockamamie scheme Artemis had cooked up could also benefit the fairy folk.
“No, no,” Foaly began, “There is absolutely no way-”
Foaly was abruptly cut off by one of Holly’s sharp elbows. “What’s your plan, Artemis?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Artemis grinned. “Have you ever robbed a Museum before, Captain Short?”
Meanwhile, Some Museum
The newly awakened Djinn stirred inside the perfume bottle, twisting its smokey body around in tight circles. With every hour that the Djinn remained conscious and enclosed in this cramped prison, its impatience grew. Soon, the Djinn thought, soon I will be free.