Lower Manhattan Hospital, New York, 1998

Artemis Fowl had calmed down considerably after his initial shocking entrance to the grimy alleyway. He was lying in a moderately comfortable hospital bed, testing his newly shrunken limbs as much as could be allowed. His left arm was not only broken, but the communicator phone had seared itself into his hand. He had tried to repair his ailments, but his magic was uncooperative. Every time Artemis tried to call forth a spot of healing magic, it seemed to back away from his calling. No matter. He could come up with a plan that didn't use magic. Or at least, didn't use his.

Artemis had been in a constant state of meditation since he'd woken up in the hospital nearly an hour before. At first, the meditation was for calming his panicking mind and body. This had taken some time, but now that he was sufficiently relaxed, he had begun work on analyzing the situation. He was stuck in 1998 America. He had regressed in age and his magic didn't work. Those were all bad, but there was good that came with it. Artemis deduced that he didn't need to worry about being snatched out of the time he was currently in. With the demon island of Hybros now taken out of limbo, time was not as volatile as it had been. Artemis could be sure that he wouldn't be removed from 1998 and thus didn't have to worry about a ticking clock while he came up with a plan.

The boy also guessed that Holly must know something about his current predicament. His left eye had been painfully active, bleeding from the socket and buzzing in the pupil. Artemis suspected that Holly would be experiencing something similar with her own eye, and if she was then it was reasonable to assume that his friends would be coming up with a plan to save him. However, that was only a hypothesis and he couldn't sit around and wait based on educated guesswork. He needed to take action.

Artemis opened his eyes, only one of which he could see out of. It seemed that the doctors had put a large patch over his left eye. Possibly to keep it from getting infected. Probably because it was hideous to look at.

Beside Artemis was a table with a bell on it and a sign that said "Ring once awake." Artemis obliged. A few moments later, a nurse came through the door, holding a clipboard and smiling at the young Irish boy.

"Artemis Fowl!" she chirped cheerfully. "How are you feeling?"

"Like a need a newspaper," the boy replied, staring at the nurse to get her reaction.

"We'll see what we can do about that, hun." Artemis was impressed; normally adults would be surprised that a young boy would request a local newspaper. This woman hadn't bat an eye. "Any lingering pain or discomfort?"

"Some," Artemis replied shortly, "but all I really need is the newspaper, to take my mind off it."

The nurse acknowledged him with a vague nod. "We've tried to contact your mother, but she hasn't responded yet. Is there any way we might reach her better?" Artemis gave her the fake email address he'd set up while Angeline Fowl had been under her madness. She had lost her grip on sanity shortly after his father disappeared and since Artemis had only been 9 at the time, he had needed to set up a decoy address to fool prying adults.

The nurse exited the room, making no assurances that she would bring a newspaper. Artemis sighed and reached for the landline phone that sat next to the bell and sign. He mostly remembered the number…

Above Dakota Prairie Grasslands, 1998

Captain Holly Short soaked in the view. From 1000 meters up, the wind whipping through the tall grass looked like waves. A heard of American bison lumbered under her and she could hear the thundering of their hooves.

Holly smiled. She had just gotten done saving those bison from a group of poachers. The LEP had made a recent partnership with the Underground Protection Society for Endangered Animals. This was part of their deal: once a month, an LEP Recon officer was sent to check on a heard of endangered creatures. They'd record their numbers and see whether they were rising or falling. It just so happened that this heard of bison were in danger as well as endangered when Holly arrived.

Holly's earpiece buzzed and she opened the video chat on her visor.

Foaly's voice crackled through the speaker. "Holly, are you all wrapped up with those bison?"

"They're all clear." She kicked her wing thrusters into gear. "I'm heading back now."

"Actually, we've got a situation in the states and you're the only one around to handle it."

"Alright." Holly decided to indulge the centaur. Whatever this situation was it was probably Foaly's paranoia. He was always paranoid about human intelligence agencies discovering the Underground. He'd even gone so far as to wear a tin foil hat at all hours of the day, in case the mudmen could read his thoughts. "What've we got?"

"Sentinel picked up a big one from a hospital in New York." Sentinel was a web of observational software Foaly had installed into several human satellites. It monitored phone lines, scanning for any words relating to the People. If a conversation contained enough key words, an LEP officer was dispatched to investigate, as it could mean there was national security risk. The problem was that with the humans' love of fantasy entertainment growing, it was getting harder to tell what was and wasn't a real threat. Holly had heard of one case where the LEP had been stationed outside a house for a week until it was discovered that it was just two kids discussing a Dungeons and Dragons game.

"How big, exactly, Foaly?" asked Holly, already making a flight path to the nearest shuttle port to Haven City.

"Twenty-eight." Holly froze in midair. The average for keywords was three per call. Twenty-eight in a single correspondence was unprecedented. An audio file slid into Holly's visor.

"Play," she commanded and the file expanded into a bar. A play head moved along the dipping and spiking audio.

"Fairy," Holly heard. The voice was young with a thick Irish accent. "The Ritual, LEP, dwarves, short, time stop, neutrino, centaurs…"

"It goes on and on like that," Foaly cut in. "Never heard anything like it."

Holly frowned. "It's just a string of words?"

"That's not good enough for you? Whoever's on the phone could be writing our biography."

"Could it be a crossword?" Holly suggested, hoping against hope.

Foaly shook his head. "Funny thing was that the call was made to the crossword hotline of the London Times. I've already checked the real answers; none of them are on there."

Holly was nervous. Who could possibly know these words? Could it be an LEP agent trying to get home? Or someone pulling a prank. Holly didn't want to consider the possibility that they'd actually be discovered. 1400 years of solitude gone down the drain.

"Alright." Holly recalibrated her flight path to the coordinates Foaly sent her. "I'll check it out."

Hours later, Holly was flying above Lower Manhattan. The pollution in the air was so thick she was afraid she might puke. The ground wasn't much better; the streets were filthy with garbage and the water in the sewer system was filthy. Holly spat, hoping that it landed on the head of a littering human. Preferably ruining a new haircut.

Holly finally found the Lower Manhattan Hospital. She hovered just outside the window and activated her shield. The shield was one of the oldest magical defenses in fairy history; it vibrated the body so quickly that it practically made them invisible, aside from a slight, almost indistinguishable shimmer in the air. The problem now was getting inside the building. It was an ancient rule that no fairy could enter an establishment uninvited. How was she supposed to enter undetected without an invitation?

She flew down to the main entrance on the ground just as an ambulance screeched to a halt. Holly had an idea; she flew invisibly toward the paramedics as they were opening the back doors.

"Help me out!" one of them shouted. Holly flew over and took a light hold on to the emergency trolley. A young girl lay there, woozy and with a nasty cut in her forehead. Holly couldn't help feeling pity for the little mudgirl.

"Heal," she whispered, holding the child's arm. Little sparks flew up her arm and the girl began to breathe easier.

Other doctors ran up to the ambulance. "Help us get her inside," the paramedic yelled, to nobody in particular. That was the opening Holly had been hoping for. A general cry for help could be interpreted as an invitation inside. And even when she had finished helping get the girl inside, nobody said she had to leave immediately.

Once she had gotten through the door, offering the slightest push to the girl's cart, she flew up the ten flights of stairs and waited patiently beside Room 1009 for somebody to open the door. No use taking chances that a mudperson might see a door opening and closing by itself.

Eventually, an elderly doctor came through and Holly slipped by his shoulder.

"Hello, Artemis," the doctor said kindly as Holly hovered silently above. So this is who had called, a young boy with an eye missing. Perhaps it was just another false alarm, the ramblings of an excited boy over a game or maybe just playing a prank to confuse the Times staff.

"Hello, Doctor," the boy replied. The voice didn't sound like any she'd ever heard come out of the mouth of a nine-year-old mudboy. It was level, calculated and cool. If she closed her eyes she thought she could imagine a James Bond villain sitting in the hospital bed, rather than a child.

"I assume," the child continued, "that you wish to have a look at my vitals. I can assure you my heart rate is normal, my blood sugar is perfectly healthy and I've yet to display signs of tics or other reactions to trauma. I'm quite alright." The boy, Artemis, sounded as if he wanted the doctor to leave as soon as possible.

"Be that as it may, young man," the doctor replied, sitting down and looking over his charts, "I still need to take a look at you. I wouldn't be doing my job otherwise."

"Please, Doctor…" Artemis paused as he read the nametag on the doctor's white jacket, "… Phillips, can't this wait until I've gotten a few hours of sleep. I'm understandably exhausted and would like to get some rest not involving anesthetics or painkillers dripped through an IV."

Doctor Phillips examined the charts some more. "Alright," he said, smiling. "You can catch a two hour nap. No more than that, though. I still need to run diagnostics as soon as possible."

"Of course," Artemis conceded.

Doctor Phillips left and Holly hovered closer to the ground, just in front of the mudboy's bed. She could see now that the eyepatch wasn't the only ailment on his body. His left arm was broken and the hand was ruined, mangled by some metal contraption Holly couldn't figure out.

The mudboy took his eyes off the door and, if Holly hadn't been shielded, she could've sworn he was looking right at her. He smiled pleasantly.

"Hello, Holly."

Holly flinched and looked at her hands. They were still shielded. Her whole body was still shielded. And yet this mudboy could see her. Worse yet, he knew her name.

"You got here faster than I anticipated," Artemis went on, the definition of nonchalance. "I suppose you must've already been above ground. On a mission for the Underground Protection Society for Endangered Animals. Always thought they had a horrible name, but they do good work. Always been the most active in America. I predict they'll have the bald eagle out of extinction by 2020. Oh, don't just hover there shielded, old friend. I know you're there; I saw you come in. Foaly really should do something about that shimmer."

Holly didn't move. This was a catastrophe. This mudboy knew the names of her and her comrades. He was familiar with LEP protocol and their magic powers. She was on the verge of taking off her helmet and mindwiping this mudboy when he spoke again.

"You don't believe me," he said, matter-of-factly. "I understand. Technically, we won't meet for another two years. However, if I can prove to you that I mean you no harm and hopefully convince you to help me will you take me to Haven?"

Holly's shield dropped at that. "Not on your life, mudboy."

"Just hear me out." Artemis reached under his hospital gown and pulled out a golden coin on the end of a black string. A clean hole had been drilled into the perfect center of the disk.

"You gave this to me," he said. "After I helped you defeat a goblin rebellion. You shot that hole yourself with your Neutrino 2000. To remind me that there is a spark of decency in me."

Holly crept a bit further and eyed the coin carefully. It was fairy currency, one golden drachma. It was engraved with images of centaurs and gnomes, pixies and dwarves. It looked authentic, but how could this boy have gotten it?

"You said I gave this to you," Holly said, still tense and ready to fly if this turned out to be a trap. "I don't remember that. In fact, I don't even remember you."

Artemis sighed, condescendingly. "As I said, we won't meet for another few years. I'm from the future and I'm stuck in this time. You give this to me about three years from now."

"Oh, dwarf gas," Holly spat. "If you were a time traveler you would've disappeared by now."

"Ahh, yes." Artemis slipped the golden coin back under his gown. "Hybras hasn't been taken out yet. Demons will still be appearing and reappearing. However, in my future, Hybras has been removed as a component in the time stream. And since I am from a time when Hybras has been eliminated, I believe my molecules will stay right where they are."

Holly wasn't convinced at all. This mudboy was obviously making it all up, coming up with some excuse as to why she should trust him. She should wipe the boy's mind clean, leave him a few IQ points short and never think about him again. And yet there was something that drew her to trust him, some insane part of her mind that looked at the boy and believed every word he said. And it was this part of her brain that drew out her next question.

"What happened to your eye?"

"Another long story," Artemis replied, patting at the overly large patch. "In the midst of one of our adventures, you and I ended up together in the time stream. Time, of course, is incredibly temperamental, breaking down the bodies that pass through and putting them back together. This being a volatile process, at times not everything is where it should be."

Artemis dramatically lifted up his eyepatch and Holly nearly gagged. His left eye was bulging, so big that the lid didn't even fully close around it.

"Don't look away, Holly," Artemis insisted even as Holly was doing exactly that. "You need to study it carefully; just try not to vomit."

Holly slowly turned back and studied the eye. Aside from the fact that it was grotesquely large, she couldn't see anything abnormal about it. It seemed perfectly healthy. Her eyes flicked to and fro between the mudboy's eyes and finally saw it; the iris on the left was hazel. The one of the right blue.

Comprehension must've shone in Holly's face because Artemis nodded. "You have one of mine," he said. "In the future." He lowered the eyepatch back down.

"I need your help, Holly. If you take me to Commander Root right now, I'll explain everything and plead my case. If he doesn't believe me, you can drop me in the middle of Africa, mindwiped and living out my days productively. I won't put up a fight."

Holly's mind raced. If the mudboy was telling the truth and he was in need of help, how could she say no. If the mudboy was lying, then she could be leading him right to the heart of their world. He could spring a trap or escape and return to the surface with word of their existence.

"Darvit." Holly swore and put her helmet on her head. "Did you catch all that, Foaly."

"Did I ever," the centaur whinnied nervously. "I don't like this, Holly. I looked up the records of that place. This is Artemis Fowl II, heir to a legacy of criminal activity. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in this family."

"So I should just wipe him now?" Holly whispered into her visor, turning around to look again at the Irish boy. Artemis was sitting placidly, his hands folded on his lap.

"Well, no," Foaly replied through gritted teeth. "Because the worst part is he's probably telling the truth."

Holly frowned at that. "Explain."

"I just did a global security scan for the kid. If he showed up on any security camera in the last day anywhere on the planet we get a hit."

"Get on with it," Holly demanded, tapping her foot anxiously.

Foaly let out a snort. "Alright fine, you want the short version. Artemis Fowl was seen coming in through the doors of Lower Manhattan Hospital. He was also seen browsing for suits in an Irish mall one hour later."

Holly wanted to groan and gasp at the same time. "I'll have to bring him in, won't I?"

"We've gotta study him further," Foaly confirmed. "See if he's telling the truth. So yeah."

Holly looked back at Artemis, who was grinning wolfishly. A strangely terrifying expression on the face of a nine-year-old. He seemed to have deduced what had happened.

The commander is not going to like this, she thought.