The multiverse. Such a simple concept, yet so hard to visualize.
Trillions of trillions of parallel universes exist so close to each other, but its inhabitants are completely unaware. They are separated by decisions made by its inhabitants, some small choices, and some history-changing. When that choice is made, the universe will split according to the different consequences. Of course, since these trillions of worlds originated from one world, many of the people living in them are the same….
"Cops and robbers! Let's play cops and robbers!"
The little girl's voice rang out in the dark forest as she ran across the leaf-covered ground. She jumped over knotted roots and dodged the branches like a seasoned athlete. Closely following her was a red cardinal, his feathers a few shades brighter than her shorn hair. She stooped down to grab a chunk of wood that vaguely resembled a pistol and hid behind a fallen tree trunk. The cardinal landed on her shoulder, then abruptly changed his shape into a weasel.
"You think he's gonna get us this time, Pol?" the girl whispered to the small furry form.
"The cops always win, that's what Mr. Root always says," the weasel, Polethim, her dæmon, the physical manifestation of her soul, whispered back.
The girl grinned with confidence and peaked out of the top of the log to look for her friend. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small figure slowly walk through the trees, careful to avoid the branches that stuck out. Behind him, a blue jay flitted through the foliage.
"Hooooolly. Hol-ly!" the boy called, looking through the forest for the girl. He peered through the fading light of sunset.
She smiled briefly, and then put on her father's 'serious policeman' face. She positioned her fingers on the wood like her father showed her. Squaring her shoulders, she stood up, extending her arms to its full length, and shouted, "Stop, felon!"
But there was no one there.
Holly frowned. She looked around the woods and while pointing her weapon at the exact spot the boy was a second before. Polethim changed into a lynx and hissed in confusion, scanning the shadows of the trees with his keen eyes. They waited in the orange sunlight, when…there! The slightest movement in the bush! The girl and her dæmon crept slowly as silent and agile as ninjas. The bush shook ominously. When they were almost right next to the shrub, Holly whacked the leaves as hard as she could with her wooden firearm.
A strangled yowl erupted from the bush and Polethim darted into the leaves. For one second, the girl and the dæmon looked almost savage when they pummeled the poor plant. But the only thing the bush yielded was a fox that scampered away.
Holly was starting to get pretty mad. She knew her friend was cunning, but the fact that he tricked her twice in one day, and uncountable times before, was starting to bug her something fierce. She started to trudge up back to her hiding place to search for him again.
Suddenly, a big black form tackled the unaware Polethim, knocking the breath out of Holly. The panther, a dæmon, pinned the lynx to the ground. Polethim responded by turning into a tiger, and they growled at while they circled each other. Holly was so caught up worrying about Pol that she didn't notice the grinning boy who was tiptoeing right behind her.
He pounced on her, and they started to wrestle on the forest floor, next to their squabbling dæmons. Holly struggled blindly for a while, until she remembered some of her self defense training. She placed a couple well-placed punches and immediately got the upper hand. In no time, he was flailing. She landed a couple more punches and the desperate flailing turned into wheezing. She started to laugh; he never could fight for his life. Her joy was infectious and the boy started to laugh, too. Their dæmons took one more playful swipe at each other and changed their forms. The marten-shaped Polethim greeted the raccoon dæmon like old friends, which, of course, they were. The boy sat up and smiled at the girl, his blue eyes gleamed in the dim sunlight and his black hair ruffled by the breeze. Holly sat up and smiled back at her best friend, Artemis Fowl the Second.
It was one of those rare moments that Holly Short would look back at in the future, where she would remember exactly what she thought, what she saw, and how she felt. She was completely content, wishing forever that she could stay in an eternal forest and play childish games with her best friend. She wished that their families where not complete opposites, one criminal and one lawful, one highborn and the other lower-class. But most of all, she wished that they would not have to grow up and their dæmons did not have to give up shape-shifting and settle on one form.
But, like the child she was, she forgot her musings as soon as he spoke.
"It is getting rather late," he murmured as he examined his chronometer that he pulled from his aristocratic coat pocket. "Father will be displeased."
Holly squinted at the setting sun. Another thing she wished was that there was no such thing as time. "You dad gets displeased over everything. Anyways wouldn't he be mad already since you tricked Butler?"
Artemis frowned. "Not so much tricking him as ordering him away. He is supposed to follow my every order. Besides, he knew I was getting bored and I would have found a way to escape from that infernal party." His parents had hosted a celebration of sorts over his father's newly established trade routes to Muscovy. "And yes, I suppose he would be considerably angry already."
Ah, this talk again, Holly thought disdainfully. Every time they played, he would return home out of fear of his father instead of the actual wanting to be at home. She decided to voice an idea that has been stewing in her mind for a while instead of saying the usual good-byes.
"So why don't we just run away?"
Artemis was shocked and turned to look at Holly. She was at ease as she stared at the sun and acted as if the suggestion was completely natural. Polethim was relaxed and rested his head on her leg. His own dæmon, Shirkissa, licked her paws and stared at him ambivalently.
"And how do you suppose we live? On the street?"
"No…we can sell that coat of yours," she teased, glancing at the thick fur that lined the edges and the golden fastenings. The Fowl family crest was emblazoned on the breast pocket and it reached down to his knees when he stood up. Not that he was very tall in the first place, being ten years old. "I bet it could feed a small village for a year!"
"It is not that expensive!"
"Says you," Holly replied. Artemis stuck out his tongue out at her.
"I still think we would not survive on the street. First, where would we stay?"
"In this forest, of course! My dad taught me how to hunt last week!"
"And what would we do all day, when we aren't looking for food?"
"Play, of course! Arty, for a genius, you can be pretty dumb."
"Ah, of course. Silly me…"
She paused. "So you think it's a good idea?"
He thought about it. "Yeah. I don't care if I never come back."
Holly peeked at him out of her peripherals. His voice was bitter and his face was twisted into an expression that looked like anger and a little fear. She noticed that Shirkissa had turned into a snake and wrapped herself around Artemis's neck. Not for the first time, she wondered what went on in the Fowl household to make him act like that.
"Well, if you never want to go back, you know you can live at my house anytime, right?" she said slowly.
He smiled faintly. "Yeah. Thanks, Holly." She beamed back.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence. Holly folded her arms behind her head and laid down next to him. Her eyes half closed, feeling the sun on her face, the security of a friendly presence. At that moment, the world was perfect and nothing could possibly interrupt the peace she felt right then. She felt her eyes droop even lower and Polethim snuggle into her side. Just a little nap and then they could return back to the real world….