Julie looked at her wrist as though there were some sort of watch there. It was bare and looking at it seemed odd, like she was late for something and had to get there very quickly to get out of a bad conversation. Otherwise everything seemed normal. In fact she seemed quite low tech for someone that just came from the future. Then her wrist activated a small screen which projected itself into to the air. It became apparent that any tech on her was either invisible or grafted in. Artemis was fascinated.
"Excuse the irony but I don't have a lot of time to explain. We have to go now" Julie said adamantly. Holly and Artemis both looked perplexed.
"Once we hit the time stream I will tell you guys everything" Julie continued. She pointed her finger at the portal and it activated by itself without the switch being on. In one fluid motion she pulled them both and herself into the portal.
Holly felt the familiar bliss of being out of time. She felt the urge to meld into the time stream and be lost forever until her daughter began to speak. A mental conversation between the three of them began. It was quite odd to be swirling through time holding hands.
"Stay strong mum, we have a lot to do" Julie said
"Where are we going?" Holly asked
"To the first spark, were it all began" Julie replied
"That's a little vague" Artemis said
"You were mind wiped at the age of ten. But in order for everything to come to pass, you must have a dream" Julie explained
Artemis recalled that dream, it was after the whole lemur affair. It was the first encounter with the People and his future self. Of course he had been wiped and all that was left was the remnants of an epic adventure they had.
"You aren't going to have that dream, unless I lift the wool a little. No1's magic is potent, any memories would surely be lost" Julie said
"How can you possibly know that" Artemis asked. Julie didn't answer with words. Artemis suddenly found that he was inside a scene. Julie was searching in the library at Fowl manor.
Artemis quickly noted how his mansion changed, there was clear evidence that a half fairy child lived here. Books in Gnomish were strewn on the floor along with family pictures lining the shelves. One picture surprised Artemis the most. There was dusty frame hanging on the wall depicting a forty something Artemis with a two year old toddler in his lap. Holly was sitting with her legs crossed while holding a Rubik's cube in the picture. A wave of emotions hit Artemis. He felt a great joy that he had a family that was so warm, yet sad that he seemed much older than everyone else in the picture.
Artemis tore his eyes from the wall and watched the scene progress. Julie had found something, a tiny book with various dates and a few instructions. However some of the ink had faded leaving much to the imagination
4/15/2001 – Dad must have a dream. Hinder the warlock's spell
6/23/2001 – Dad visits Cairo… stop… fairy
8/1/2001 – Dad is in Ho Chi Minh … Mesmer…
11/23/2001 – Dad meets Mom
"How long have you been doing this" Artemis asked
"I haven't started yet, I need you both in order to verify the memories" Julie said. Artemis felt instantly that was true, otherwise Julie would have been able to recognize him. But how did she recognize Holly so quickly. It had taken her forever to realize who he was.
"Mom lived longer than you. By the time I was born, you were already in your twenties" Julie explained
"Do you mean that Artemis died when you were young" Holly said. She felt a sharp sense of dread. Julie seemed reluctant
"Yes" Julie continued. Holly configured a list of gruesome deaths Artemis might have gone through. Artemis figured out what she meant already.
"No… it's not like that, he died of old age. Fairies live very long compared to humans, and I live very long compared to fairies. By the time I was seventy. I was only biologically seven by human standards when Dad passed on" Julie explained.
"Isn't it against the rules to tell us this?" Holly said aghast
"I can tell you anything as long as …" Julie began
"You mind wipe us later" Artemis finished. Julie confirmed this.
"You mean we won't remember anything" Holly said sadly. She would not remember her daughter which made her feel quite melancholy.
"It's the rules, otherwise you might jeopardize the future" Julie continued.
"I doubt any one could destroy the future, everything that has happened must happen" Artemis said smugly hiding his own sadness. It was a lot to learn that he would die before his daughter turned eight… err … eighty
"Focus, we need to get to the beginning. We must make sure the future exists" Julie commanded all of the sudden.
"Dad, I need you to think about the dream you had. We need to get there" Julie pressed. Artemis felt odd being called dad. Artemis pulled together and began focusing on the dream.
Suddenly they were ejected from the time steam. At first it was disorienting like the feeling after you've spun around too fast. They found themselves inside Fowl Manor of the past. But something seemed wrong. Julie looked at her bare wrist again. It flashed a date and time in a neon green color that seemed reminiscent of classic time bomb counters.
11/24/2001 6:29PM
"This isn't the right day, we are months off" Julie said. Her expression was tense, she didn't like when things didn't go to plan.
"Should we try again?" Holly said.
"I'm not sure, what going on right now" Julie replied. Suddenly some footsteps echoed in the hallway. Julie grabbed Holly and Artemis hands. Sparks of dark blue magic engulfed the three of them, making them invisible. Holly was in awe at how potent the magic was. Being invisible usually was very uncomfortable due to the vibrations. However, Holly felt no such vibrations but was sure she was invisible due to her lack of visible hands.
A young Artemis appeared in the hall. He was walking through the hallway into the kitchen very nearly brushing against Julie. Had there been even a slight glimmer of heat, young Artemis might have noticed but the magic Julie used was powerful and flawless.
"Now we should celebrate" young Artemis said. "Some Champagne I think". Julie felt Artemis hands tighten around hers. She felt him emanating stress, as if those few words from Artemis the younger rekindled space and time.
Butler and his younger sister Juliet followed young Artemis into the kitchen. Juliet looked at her big brother
"Is this OK" Juliet asked, obviously about the underage drinking.
Artemis the elder felt they were safe out of hearing range, he whispered into Julie's ear.
"This is moments before the LEP blue rinse the entire manor" Artemis said. "We should fall asleep like them, or else were doomed".
This was the day Artemis had stolen one ton of gold in exchange for Holly's freedom. He had kept half of it, and even that was too much for the LEP to justify. They decided to kill them all in order to reclaim the stolen gold. However, Artemis had devised a clever way to survive. He would put them to sleep in order change their state of being, and thus tricking the blue rinse.
"I think I know why we're here now. Sleeping doesn't actually save people from the rinse" Julie explained as quietly as possible. They watched Artemis the younger sink into slumber along with his bodyguards.
"We are supposed to save you" Julie said.
"I suppose that in the future the blue rinse is more thoroughly tested on sleeping humans" Artemis said with a slight edge. He was sore. His plan had not worked after all. It was whatever happened now that would save them.
"That's barbaric" Holly said. Human testing could not be the future!
"No, we don't do human testing. It was just proven a while back that blue rinse targets brain waves rather than states of being. A tin foil hat would do you more good than falling asleep" Julie quickly said. She pulled Artemis and Holly into the kitchen. Artemis felt odd looking at a younger version of him lying unconscious.
"Hold on to my shoulders" Julie ordered. They complied, each placing unnecessarily strong grip on either shoulder. Julie arranged her free hands so that her thumb and index fingers formed a triangle. She blinked a few times and blue sparks filled her eyes. She muttered something to herself. A slow bubble formed around all of them, it felt like soap as it maneuvered around their figures.
It was then that the blue rinse swept across Fowl Manor. It was an eerily light that kill everything in the house, all the vermin at least. Artemis could hear the faint squealing of terrified mice. Then the glow disappeared and Julie released the barrier. A bead of sweat rolled down her face, as she exhaled.
"What was that?' Holly said trying to calm down. Her forehead was equally sweaty
"It's a time stop, only without several powerful warlocks and huge amounts of machinery" Artemis said impressed.
"You have a lot to learn about the half-elven species" Julie said cheerfully. Holly on the other hand seemed tense
"We'll have to wipe the footage that we were here" Holly said thoughtfully. She was also impressed with the time stop yet felt anxious. Did her daughter really have to put herself in constant danger just to make sure that time was paradox free?
"No worries. I have this scrambler " Julie replied pointing at her bare wrist. The action made her seem quite crazy. But the two of them were catching on. All the gadgets seemed to be on a small spot on her wrist.
"Like the scrambler I made?" Artemis asked looking at Julie's bare wrist as if something were actually there.
"Not exactly, it smarter than that, it puts video on continuous feed and actively detects cameras in appropriate viewing areas. It doesn't just make it white noise" Julie said smugly. It was obvious this modified scrambler was her invention.
"It's time to go" Julie said taking hold of Holly and Artemis again.
"But how are we going to go, there's no wormhole in sight" Artemis said.
"Don't worry, I've got a tether on the wormhole back in your time" Julie said simply as thought that was all the information required. She looked at her empty wrist again, and suddenly a worm hole blossomed in the middle of the kitchen floor. Suddenly Artemis and Holly found themselves corralling in the time stream again.
"This is going to be the biggest adventure in my life" Artemis thought as the time stream pulled around him. It was just a strong statement, considering how adventurous his life had been so far. Yet despite the odds, infinite upon infinity, he was right.