Myles Fowl [On Hold]

Chapter Four - Family Emergency

Myles tried to get inside is house quietly, unlocking the door and creeping past the kitchen.

"Myles." said Angeline in a just-what-do-you-think-you're-doing-young-man sort of tone. Myles straightened up, looking at his mother.

"Yes mother?" he said, erasing all emotions from his face.

"Why were you late coming home? I was worried." her face said otherwise. It said, You'd better have a good excuse, or you're not leaving your room for a month.

"Ms. Trik wanted to see me after school. She told me I need to be more social." He replied smoothly. That was plausible. The school counsellor had asked to see him multiple times, and all of them had boiled down to that statement.

Angeline was not impressed. "The school called, Myles."

There was a very tense pause. "Oh."

"Four detentions in the last week alone? Myles, this needs to stop. Can you please try to act responsibly?"

Myles said nothing. You never, ever interrupt a mother reprimanding you.

"Honestly Myles! You're a smart boy, I know you are! Why is it so hard for you to just sit quietly in your desk?" said Angeline. Myles made a show of pulling out a chair and sitting in it. Angeline sighed. "I won't give you a lecture. Honestly though..." she sighed again, going back into the kitchen.

Myles stood up, running to his room. Once inside, after checking Beckett wasn't there, he got out his cell phone and began to dial a number.

Headquarters of the Lower Elements Police, Haven

"There!" Foaly jabbed a finger at the screen, freezing it simultaneously.

Holly and Artemis exchanged glances. "Err, Foaly, " started Holly, "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

Artemis nodded. "You have not explained what we are looking for." he said, "And nothing looks out of place there."

Foaly sighed, zooming in on an image. "There."

Holly groaned. "Foaly. Explain, please."

"You know how we had an escape from the LEP prison?" said Foaly, clearly annoyed.

"Yes..." Holly waved her hand, a gesture for so?

Artemis opened his mouth to say something, but paused when a ringing echoed around the operations booth. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, check the caller ID, and said to his friends, "Hold on, give me a minute." He put the phone to his ear. "Yes Myles?"

A garble came through on the other end, and Artemis said, "Yes I remember. What about them?"

Another pause. "That's good..." the speech on the other end got faster, and Artemis's voice tenser. "And what exactly does this missing key unlock?"

Holly and Foaly exchanged glances. Uh-oh...

"Myles! Why didn't you-" Artemis paused for a moment, listening, before putting his hand over the mouthpiece and saying, "Foaly, I will need to use a computer. Family emergency."

Normally, Foaly would never have let someone use any computer of his, but family emergency with the Fowls usually also meant danger of fairies being discovered, or possibly the ending of the world as we know it. So he sighed and backed away, letting Artemis take control of the keyboard.

Artemis cradled the phone between his head and shoulder, putting both hands on the keys and started to type. "Name?" he asked into the phone. "Do you have a last name? No, okay, describe how he looks." After a few more minutes of typing, he pressed the enter button.

After he few seconds, he said, "Good news Myles; the pool has been narrowed to 4000 possibilities."

Myles said something on the other end, and even Holly and Foaly could tell it was sheer sarcasm. Artemis grabbed the phone in one hand, relaxing his shoulder. "So you're locked out?" A few more seconds, and Artemis hung up, saying, "I'll be right there."

Holly and Foaly looked at him quizzically, but Artemis simply said, "I'll need a shuttle to the surface; and quickly. The family emergency may not stay in the family for long..."

The Fowl Residence, Dublin, Ireland

Myles flipped his phone shut, flopping backwards onto his bed. He was willing to bet that everything that had happened -- the lost keys, Linden, possibly even Kara slowing him down -- had been carefully planned. The point, he wasn't quite sure of, but one thing was for sure. If someone knew what that key unlocked, they were in loads of trouble...

Myles looked up as the door creaked open, staring back at the ceiling after spotting Beckett. "Hello. Here to chew me out again?"

"No." Beckett sat down at the computer, opening a few files up. "Sorry." he said, without looking at Myles. Myles smiled.

"And there's no need to look that smug." continued Beckett, spinning around on his chair.

Myles raised an eyebrow. "Isn't there?" he said, sitting up.

Beckett steepled his fingers. "No," he said, fighting the urge to laugh, "There is not." he changed his voice, accented it ever so slightly, "I've been expecting you..."

There was thirty seconds of silence before both brothers burst out laughing, interrupted by the doorbell. That's Artemis, thought Myles, finally, we can sort this mess out.