Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Hollow Kingdom series, nor the Artemis Fowl series. Also, there is a direct excerpt from the fifth Artemis Fowl book, The Lost Colony, indicated in italics, which I have included in this story.
Surprise Landing:
Artemis hung from a piton hooked to the belt at Holly's waist alongside the demons N o1 and Qwan. They were suspended in midair by the mechanical wings equipped to Holly's back outside one of the tallest buildings in the world. The wind attacked them relentlessly, trying to rush them to their deaths, but Holly managed to keep them hovering in front of a window on the fortieth floor of Taipei 101. Butler stood at that open window, his bulk filling the frame and his eyes wide with shock at the turn of events.
Sensing their time was short from the worrying sounds of Holly's engine motor, the pale boy called out to his friend. "Butler?" His voice was immediately snatched away by the wind, but it seemed that the large man had understood him.
"Yes, Artemis, what?"
"If something goes wrong, wait for me. No matter how it looks, I will return. I will bring them all back."
Precisely at that moment, the fairy wings gave out and the wind gleefully claimed its hapless victims, leaving Butler staring in horror at the empty space they had just occupied.
The next few seconds passed in a dizzying blur. The wing motor had given out, and they were plummeting to a death-by-pavement forty stories below—that is, if they didn't die from being smashed repeatedly into the unyielding steel of the skyscraper first. Both were good options for a painful and unsightly death, but neither was high on anyone's To Do List.
With a determination that was uncommon to Artemis except when it concerned gold, he put his contingency plan into action. He reined in his thin, flapping arm and thrust it in the general direction of N o1. He was met with an indignant sound from the demon as his hand slapped the imp's face. Trying again, this time he was able to grab ahold of the silver bracelet worn around the gray arm that dangled beside him—not as easy as it sounded, when a person was literally being tossed around like a rag doll in the wind. With a grunt, the silver item was torn from the small wrist and fell away from the group. The result of this action was immediate and the group of four fell—literally—through a hole in the sky.
Different times and dimensions flashed past them—or perhaps Artemis and the fairies were the ones who flashed past. It was difficult to tell. So far the group had traveled through the tunnel unhindered. Artemis thought this would remain the case until they landed in Hybras, the island that had been lifted out of time and was home to the demon race. He was wrong.
Before any of them realized it, the swirling colors and distorted sounds of the tunnel had faded to be replaced by a rush of green and the cacophony of insect calls. There was a chorus of loud grunts as the group materialized about five feet in the air and dropped to the ground in a tangled heap of bodies. They disentangled themselves quickly, or as quickly as was possible when there was a finger up one's nostril and an elbow in another's eye.
Once free from the confusion of limbs and tails, Artemis lifted his hand to see that it was solid once more, and upon closer inspection, so was the remainder of his body. He had fully materialized, and from what he could tell, he did not have two tails or pointed ears. Looking over at his fairy companions, he saw that they were completely themselves as well. Next came the area in which they had landed. They appeared to be in the heart of a forest; they had landed in the center of a large ring of trees with an outer ring just beyond. There was not a building in sight. The sky was tinged with pink and purple, so the sun was either just rising or just setting.
"This is Hybras?" Artemis asked.
"No," No1 answered immediately. "Trust me, you'd know if it was Hybras."
"So then where are we?" Holly asked, her eyes scanning the shadows warily. She would have just closed her helmet visor and used the computer to scan the area for body heat, but her helmet computer was not working. She tried a manual reboot, but there wasn't so much as a peep. The experiment to activate her wing rig failed as well. What she lamented the most, however, was her Neutrino, which was currently just a lump of metal in her palm—a lump of metal that did not shoot laser blasts. It was a devastating loss to the fairy.
"We are in a forest, Holly."
"Brilliant, Artemis. You certainly deserve to be called a genius."
"Ask an obvious question…"
"It isn't my fault that giant brain of yours is incapable of correctly interpreting my question."
No1 was afraid his new friends would throw themselves across the short distance and start rolling around on the grass, throwing punches. The gray imp was fairly sure the slim but muscular Holly would win. Then again, his face still stung from when Artemis had accidentally struck him earlier, so maybe Artemis could hold his own as well. When he saw Holly aim the Neutrino in Artemis' direction, he quickly intervened.
"Children, please!"
At No1's outburst, Artemis and Holly both let the matter drop. It had just been such a relief that they hadn't ended up somewhere like the surface of the sun, that Artemis just couldn't help goading Holly a bit. Holly, for her part, while upset over the loss of her main weapon, had enjoyed the banter as well, because of the familiarity the activity provided in this unfamiliar world.
"Relax," Holly soothed the demon. "The Neutrino was just to scare the Mud Boy a bit. It's not like I would have actually fired. It doesn't work anyway."
"That's reassuring," Artemis remarked sarcastically before he'd fully digested her words, and his faced formed a frown. "That could be a problem."
"You think?" Holly layered her voice with sarcasm as well.
"As much as I enjoy listening to your witty exchanges, I'm afraid there's another problem at hand," Qwan said from the outer edge of the ring of trees, where he appeared to be examining the dirt at his feet. "This will be a good lesson for you, No1. What do you think should have happened when we fell into the portal?"
"Well, without the silver to ground us, we should have been pulled back to Hybras," No1 answered, eager to be taught about his newly discovered gift.
"Correct. But we're not in Hybras. So what happened?" Qwan asked.
No1 didn't have an answer to this question. This was all still new to him, and while he had what felt like a bottomless reservoir of magic in his body, he lacked the theoretical knowledge to go with it.
Artemis cleared his throat and stepped into the conversation, "I believe I can answer that." Artemis thought he heard a soft snigger from Holly, but when he turned to look at her, she looked back with a straight face. When the two warlocks also turned their attention to him, Artemis launched into a lecture.
"The theory was that without the silver to anchor No1 here, the lure of Hybras would pull him—and us—back there, making minimal and always short-lived stops along the way. However, with three highly magical beings simply floating through time and space, it would stand to reason that another magical world could intercept us from our journey. If we're here now, it means that something highly magical is in progress in this universe. We need to figure out what that is, and if possible, stop it long enough for us to be returned to the time stream."
It was a long explanation, and by the end of it, only Qwan seemed completely unaffected; Holly and No1 both sported confused expressions.
"The Mud Boy is correct. Remember all that? There'll be a quiz later." Qwan winked at No1 and Holly. No1 blanched as his mental dictionary processed the word quiz.
"What we need now is a plan of action, or we'll just be sitting pretty while this bomb counts down the time to our deaths," Holly declared. She glanced down at the metal case still cuffed to her arm and gasped.
"What is it?" No1 asked worriedly.
"The timer," the elf pointed at the bright red numbers on the screen.
Artemis studied the numbers on the case. They read six consecutive nines across the small screen, and no longer counted down. It would have seemed as if the bomb, like Holly's equipment, was not operable in this world had it not been for the steady light of the numbers.
"What's happening?" Holly asked. "Does this mean…"
Artemis shook his head. "No, the bomb is still active, but the time tunnel has clearly affected it. If we arrived in an earlier time period—much, much earlier—then it could have knocked the timer for a loop."
"But why does the bomb still work when my computer and Neutrino don't?"
"My best guess would be that you are carrying fairy equipment, which probably does not exist in this world, so it is not functional here. The bomb, on the other hand, while its exact structure may not exist here, its components do. It therefore does not defy the laws of this world, and is allowed to function." Artemis knelt in the grass for a moment to think before directing his attention to Qwan. "Is it possible to place the bomb somewhere in this world and set it off?"
Qwan shook his head. "You can't mess with the natural balance of another world, kid."
Artemis opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came forth. For a second, he merely stared blankly at his friends with his mouth hanging open, presenting them with a rather comical sight. Then, the pale boy's eyelids lowered, his body slumped forward and he face-planted in the grass. Holly would have immediately jumped into action had her own mind not shut down and deposited her on the ground as well.
"What's… happening…" No1 fought off a huge yawn as he tried to articulate his question. There was a foreign weight pressing down on his mind, telling him to sleep. He tried to fight it, but his magic was new to him still, and he found it difficult to control when he was just so darn sleepy. Maybe just a… little nap…
Qwan watched as his student's fluttering lids finally shut completely and the young warlock fell into a magical slumber—magical because it had been induced by magic, obviously, and not the other kind. In a matter of seconds, Qwan's friends had been taken out one by one. The elder warlock himself had no trouble fending off the magic directed at him, and merely waited for the spell casters to show themselves. Maybe they would be able to help.