For her eighteenth birthday, Juliet Butler asked for, and received, a ribbed judo crash vest, two weighted throwing knives, and a World Wrestling Grudge Match video. Items that did not generally feature on the average teenage girl’s wish list. Then again, Juliet Butler was not the average teenage girl.
Juliet was extraordinary in many ways. For one thing she could hit a moving target with any weapon you cared to name, and for another she could throw most people a lot further than she trusted them.
Of course, she didn’t learn all of this by watching wrestling videos. Juliet’s training began at age four. After kindergarten each day, Domovoi Butler would escort his little sister to the Fowl Estate dojo, where he instructed her in the various forms of martial arts. By the time she was eight, Juliet was a third-dan black belt in seven disciplines. By ten years of age, she was beyond belts.
Traditionally all Butler males enrolled in Madam Ko’s Personal Protection Academy on their tenth birthday, spending six months of every year learning the bodyguard’s craft, and the other six guarding a low-risk Principal. The female Butlers generally went into service for various wealthy families around the world. Juliet decided she would combine both roles, spending half the year with Angeline Fowl, and the other half honing her martial arts skills in Madam Ko’s camp. She was the first Butler female to have enrolled in the academy, and only the fifth female ever to make it past the physical exam. The camp was never located in the same country for more than five years. Butler had done his training in Switzerland and Israel, but his younger sister received her instruction in the Utsukushigahara Highlands in Japan.
Madam Ko’s dormitory was a far cry from the luxurious accommodations in Fowl Manor. In Japan, Juliet slept on a straw mat, owned nothing apart from two rough cotton robes, and consumed only rice, fish, and protein shakes.
The day began at five-thirty when Juliet and the other acolytes ran four miles to the nearest stream, and caught fish with their bare hands. Having cooked and presented the fish to their sensei, the acolytes strapped empty twenty-gallon barrels to their backs and climbed to the snowline.
When their barrels were filled with snow, the acolytes would roll them back to base camp, and then pound the snow with bare feet until it melted, and could be used by the sensei to bathe. Then the day’s training could begin.
Lessons included Cos Ta’pa, a martial art developed by Madam Ko herself, specially tailored for bodyguards, whose primary aim was not self-defense, but defense of the principal. Acolytes also studied advanced weaponry, information technology, vehicular maintenance, and hostage negotiation techniques.
By her eighteenth birthday, Juliet could break down and reassemble ninety percent of the world’s production weapons blindfolded, operate any vehicle, do her makeup in under four minutes, and, in spite of her stunning Asian and European gene mix, blend into any crowd like a native. Her big brother was very proud.
The final step in her training was a field simulation in a foreign environment. If she passed this test, Madame Ko would have Juliet’s shoulder marked with a blue diamond tattoo. The tattoo, identical to the one on Butler’s shoulder, symbolized not only the graduate’s toughness but the multifaceted nature of his training. In personal protection circles, a bodyguard bearing the blue diamond needed no further reference.
Madame Ko had chosen the city of Sfax in Tunisia for Juliet’s final assessment. Her mission was to guide the Principal through the city’s tumultuous market, or medina. Generally, a bodyguard would advise his Principal against venturing into such a densely populated area. But Madam Ko pointed out that Principals rarely listened to advice, and it was best to be prepared for every eventuality. And as if Juliet wasn’t under enough pressure, Madam Ko herself had decided to act as surrogate Principal.
It was exceptionally hot in North Africa. Juliet squinted through her wraparound sunglasses, concentrating on following the diminutive figure bobbing through the crowd before her.
“Hurry,” snapped Madam Ko. “You will lose me.”
“In your dreams, Madam,” replied Juliet, unperturbed.