Chapter Text
It was a rare occasion that Holly Short was excited to take some time off work. Normally she was all work all of the time, she'd resented being made to take time off, but a lot had changed recently.
She had championed the rebuilding efforts in Haven City after the technocrash, she had confessed her feelings to both of her crushes and had entered into a wonderful relationship with Lili Frond and Trouble Kelp, and she was promoted to Angel for a set of new trainees. So many perfectly wonderful, exhausting things have happened lately.
The pessimistic side of Holly reminded her that she'd also become more acquainted with time off lately than she ever had been before. She ended up taking months off when she lost her best friend, and then did it again while she helped Artemis through recovering his memories and adapting to his new clone body. Holly shuddered. It wasn't worth dwelling on those unhappy memories; they were both in much better places now.
Which is why I'm so excited to see Artemis this week. Holly concluded. I have so much to tell him, and I'm sure he has so much to tell me. Plus, it'll be nice just seeing him and knowing he's ok.
Yes, a vacation at Fowl Manor for a week was a very good idea. Or, that's what Holly thought at the time.
Eleven Years Ago:
The Holly of eleven years prior was also speaking to Artemis on the surface, only, at that time, she was wishing him goodbye after rescuing his father from the Russian mafia. This was considered by the both of them to be the beginning of their friendship.
Artemis was back in his school uniform, which has been miraculously restored by the People’s technology. He sniffed his lapel.
"This blazer smells unusual,” he commented. “Not unpleasant, but unusual.”
"It’s completely clean,” smiled Holly. “Foaly had to put it through three cycles in the machine to purge-” “
To purge the Mud Man from it,” said Artemis.
"Exactly.”
T here was a full moon overhead, bright and pocked like a golf ball. Holly could feel its magic singing to her.
“ Foaly said, in light of the help you’ve given us, he’s pulling the surveillance on Fowl Manor.”
"That’s good to know,” said Artemis.
“Is it the right decision?” Artemis considered it. “Yes, The People are safe from me.”
“Good. Because a large section of the Council wanted you mind-wiped. And with a chunk of memory that big, your IQ could take a bit of a dip.”
Butler extended a hand.
“Well, Captain. I don’t suppose I’ll see you again.”
Holly shook it. “If you do, it’ll be too late.” She turned toward the fairy fort. “I had better go. It will be light soon. I don’t want to get caught unshielded on a spy satellite. The last thing I need is my photo all over the Internet, not when I’ve just been reinstated at Recon.”
Butler elbowed his employer gently.
“Oh, Holly… eh, Captain Short.”
Eh? Artemis couldn’t believe he’d actually said eh. It wasn’t even a word.
“ Yes, Mud B… yes, Artemis?”
Artemis looked Holly in the eye, just as Butler had instructed him to. This being civil business was more difficult than one would think.
"I would like to… I mean… what I mean is…” Another elbow from Butler. “Thank you. I owe you everything. Because of you I have my parents. And the way you flew that craft was nothing short of spectacular. And on the train… well, I could never have done what you…”
A third elbow. This time to stop the babbling.
“Sorry, Well, you get the idea.”
Holly’s elfin features wore a strange expression. Somewhere between embarrassment, and could it possibly be, delight? She recovered quickly.
“Maybe I owe you something too human,” she said, drawing her pistol. Butler almost reacted, but decided to give Holly the benefit of the doubt.
Captain Short plucked a gold coin from her belt, flicking it fifty feet into the moonlit sky. With one fluid movement, she brought her weapon up and loosed a single blast. The coin rose another fifty feet, then spen earthward. Artemis somehow managed to snatch it from the air. The first cool moment of his young life.
“ Nice shot,” he said. The previously solid disk now had a tiny hole in the center.
Holly held out her hand, revealing the still raw scar on her finger. “If it wasn’t for you, I would have missed altogether. No mech-digit can replicate that kind of accuracy. So, thank you too, I suppose.”
Artemis held out the coin.
“ No,” said Holly. “You keep it, to remind you.”
“ To remind me?” Holly stared at him frankly. “To remind you that deep beneath the layers of deviousness, you have a spark of decency. Perhaps you could blow on that spark occasionally.”
Artemis closed his fingers around the coin. It was warm against his palm.
“Yes, perhaps.”
A small two-seater plane buzzed overhead. Artemis glanced skyward, and when he looked back, Holly was gone. A slight heat haze hovered above the great.
“Good-bye, Holly,” he said softly.
This had all, of course, happened, and it happened the way Artemis and Holly remembered it.
The aftermath, however, had not.
Artemis remembered a rather peaceful ride back to Saint Bartleby's, a call from his mother, a date arranged for him to meet his father in the hospital, and a few, somewhat uneventful weeks afterwards. This was not the case.
Artemis did, indeed, return to school and speak to his father in the hospital, but throughout those few days, Artemis could not shake the feeling of being watched. This was, of course, because he was being watched very closely. And, one night while Butler was driving Artemis home from the hospital, Artemis discovered why.
“Do you need to get anything from the house before we go back, Artemis?”
“No, Butler, I think I’m alright.”
“Okay, just make sure-” Butler was abruptly cut off as the car began to spin out of control. “Shit! Artemis, get down! I think someone’s shot out a tire!”
Artemis ducked just as the car jolted again and lost another tire.
“I did’t hear the shot, Artemis, do you?”
“No, I don't think either of us could hear laser cannon blasts no matter how hard we try." Artemis said, remarkably calmly, as Butler managed to bring the car to a stop somewhere near the side of the quiet road. “It’s the LEP, it must be.”
“But why, I thought we were cleared.”
“I think the Council has changed its decision.”
“You’re damn right about that, mudboy,” a gruff voice said.
And then, the world went dark.
***
Back in the future, Holly had just arrived at Fowl Manor, flying in through a kitchen window Butler had left open for her. Butler smiled at her as she landed on the floor next to him and unshielded. “Holly, good to see you!” He pulled her into a gentle embrace at his side. “I’m just working on lunch. Artemis is waiting for you in the living room.”
“Thanks, Butler. Smells delicious in here; what are you making?”
“It’s a vegetable pie recipe I found. It looks promising; should be ready for dinner.”
“Sounds great! Will everyone be joining us?”
"Most everyone," Butler replied. "Juliet is picking the boys up from school now so they'll all be home. But Samsonetta is visiting with her family in the states this weekend and Robin's away on business."
"Just the original crew then." Holly smiled. "I look forward to it."
Holly made her way over to the living room where Artemis was sitting, reading off of a small fairy communicator. “Holly! Welcome, welcome, have a seat.”
“Hi Arty, how’s it going?”
“I’m well, thank you, I was just talking to Foaly.”
“Oh, what does he say?”
“Something about strange energy signatures in the area, hair-brained nonsense if you ask me. I’ll worry about it after Juliet gets back with the boys and we have some dinner.”
“You sure?”
“Of course, you’re on vacation, you don’t need to worry about that sort of thing right now. I’ll be sure to look into it and hopefully assuage his fears.”
“Thank you, Artemis. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course. Would you like to take a look at the grounds while we wait for the others?”
“Yeah, why not. It’s been a bit since I’ve had some good sunlight.”
“Right this way, Angel Short.”
And, at that moment, a vortex opened in the living room, and Artemis and Holly were thrown violently into the past.
***
“What was that you said about hair-brained nonsense, mudboy?” Holly muttered, picking herself up off the floor.
“Not now, Holly,” Artemis whispered.
“No, seriously, I’d just love to hear how…” Holly froze as she looked up, about a dozen Neutrinos were held at her head. “Ah, ok. Not the time, I get it.”
“Who are you?!” Demanded a shaking, very familiar, voice.
“Trouble?”
“How do you know my-”
Holly stood, waving away the blasters pointed at her. “It’s me dipshit, your girlfriend, remember?”
“I wish you hadn’t said that,” Artemis grumbled, having pulled himself into a sitting position, but seemingly without the confidence yet to stand. “I mean, I really wish you hadn’t said that.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “What’s your problem all of the sudden?”
Artemis gestured at the shocked expressions on the officers staring at the two of them. “Recognize any other friendly faces, Angel?”
And, in an instant, Holly did. All the usual suspects were here, Foaly by a monitor on the back wall, Trouble, Chix, and Grub gathered in a loose formation, but most importantly one such shocked expression was written on her own face, staring back at her. Although, the Holly looking back at her must be at least ten years younger. “Oh shit, this again.”
“Oh shit, this again.” Artemis agreed. “Ok, we have once again stumbled into our own past. How far back did we go?”
“What is the meaning of this?!” Roared another familiar voice from behind them.
Artemis and Holly turned in unison to see Commander Julius Root standing, red-faced and shouting, behind them. “Ah, that far,” Artemis said. “Well, that’s... that’s inconvenient.”
Conversation came to a grinding halt as Artemis and Holly stared at the, once again living, Commander Root. But, not for long. Because, seconds later, Arc Stool and a small collection of officers barged in with past versions of Artemis, Butler, and Juliet being ushered unceremoniously towards the Commander. Shouts of protest immediately rang out from all sides of the room.
“Now hold on a minute!”
“Why the hell are there two of them?!”
“Four humans in Haven!”
“Who said you were allowed in here?!”
“We weren’t supposed to go after them!”
“What are you doing?!”
“Who do you think you are?!”
“What?”
“Why?”
“How?”
“Quiet!” Root silenced the overlapping voices in an instant. “You two that just fell out of my ceiling, go stand over by that wall or I’ll blast you! I’ll deal with you later!”
The two offending time travelers quickly obliged.
“As for you, Stool, what the hell were you thinking?! The Council specifically told us not to go after the Fowl boy after he helped us with that uprising! Why is he here?!” There was a muttering of agreements around the room that Root once again quieted, this time with a stern look.
“The Council has held a second vote, Julius.” Stool grinned. “Given the intense stress we were all under in the aftermath of the goblin uprising, some people thought that those on the Council were not in their right minds when the vote was taken. It seems they were right, as the Council’s previous decision was overturned.”
Root looked like he might yell again, which quieted the younger Artemis, who looked like he might have cut in.
But, after a few moments Root just growled, “Really, and how much money exchanged hands before they did?”
“Julius, I can’t believe you’d make an accusation like that. And, after everything they’ve done for you, instating the youngest LEPrecon commander in history was quite a risk for them, you know.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it!”
“Well, I don’t see why you feel the need to raise your voice at me, it’s not my decision to bring these humans around, I’m just stating the facts. Bring it up with the Council if you feel that strongly about it, in the meantime, I’ll be taking them to their cell.”
Root stilled at that. “Their cell? Surely you’re not suggesting putting them in a prison along with the rest of our...”
“No, of course not! As I understand it, one of your training gyms has been renovated to suit their needs."
“Ah, so that’s what that was about, renovations my ass. You made arrangements rather quickly, didn’t you?”
“Well, it was a matter of great importance. It’s always best to be quick with these things, for the safety of the people, you understand.”
“I do. And, I agree. Which is why, I’d like you to leave these humans with me for a few moments, so my men and I can ensure they’re not planning anything, for the safety of the people.”
“Julius, Commander, I really must insist…”
“No, no, no. If we’re placing them in holding cells, they’re under my jurisdiction now. The Council’s rules, not mine. If you feel strongly about it, you can bring it up with them, but, for the meantime, I really must insist you leave them here. Besides, as you can see, we have bigger things to deal with here.”
Stool shot the future Artemis and Holly a glance. “Yes, I do see that. A case of illegal time travel, and it looks like one of your officers is involved. If that’s the case, I’ll be seeing you shortly.”
The older Artemis looked a bit worried at this. “Illegal might be a bit of a stretch, you see…” The older Holly elbowed him in the ribs and Root gave him a steely glare, cutting off the end of that particular sentence.
“I’m afraid it’s too soon to tell,” Root hissed, still glaring at Artemis. “But, if you’d kindly leave us to do our work, we can determine whether or not we’ll need your assistance much quicker.”
“Very well then. Gentleman, let’s go.” Stool gestured to the officers that had come in with him and they turned quickly to go.
As soon as they’d vanished, the young versions of Holly and Trouble rushed forward to remove the cuffs from the young versions of Artemis and the Butlers.
“Eventful day,” young Artemis quipped. “I do appreciate your assistance, Commander.”
“Shut up, I didn’t do it for you.”
“Of course not. But, would you terribly mind explaining what’s going on anyway?”
Root sighed and rounded on the future versions of Artemis and Holly, as did the rest of the room. “I’m afraid that’s not my explanation to give. The two of you think you can bring the rest of us up to speed without screwing over the entire world more than you already have?”
Future Artemis sighed heavily. “I wish I had more to tell. Unfortunately, this was very sudden and quite unintentional for us.”
Root rolled his eyes. "I'm sure."
Artemis continued, undaunted. "I believe that recent events in our timeline may have… caused some kind of weakness in the integrity of this timeline."
"Opal," Holly gasped.
"Yes, exactly. Opal killing her past self had greater repercussions than we thought. And it appears that whatever she's done, we're in the middle of it again."
"Now, wait a minute. Opal? You're talking about Opal Koboi?" Root asked.
"Yes, she’s been one of the largest thorns in our side for some time now. I trust the two of you have met?”
“We’ve met, yes. We just put her in a goddamn coma. You’re gonna have to get a better cover story.”
“Commander, if I may,” Future Holly cut in. “Opal Koboi is in a coma, yes, but it is self-induced. If you look at her records you'll see that she has been a disciple of Golma Schweem for many decades now, she was able to induce the coma in herself to buy time and avoid trial.”
“That’s quite the accusation.”
“I know, but trust me, it’s true.”
“Trust you? Oh? I’m meant to trust you now? And, what reason have you given me to trust you? Any? Any at all?”
“Please, sir, I know that it’s difficult to believe, but…”
“Commander, she’s right,” Foaly cut in. “I can’t believe we didn’t notice it before, but these self-induced comas are listed in her personal medical history. It’s a possibility that they’re telling the truth.”
“So, does that mean that you’re actually Holly from the future?” Grub asked.
“Yes, it does.” Holly smiled. “Here, Commander, this should prove it.” Holly reached into the pocket of her suit, retrieving a small pin and handing it over to Commander Root. “These are my Acorns, that should be proof enough that I am who I say I am.”
Commander Root held them up. “Well, they look ok to me. Foaly, can you scan these for authenticity?”
“Sure thing Commander, just give me a minute.” Foaly took the badge and fled, glancing nervously at the future Artemis and Holly as he went.
“And, what about you, boy? Got anything to prove you are who you say you are?”
The future Artemis rolled his eyes. “Who else could I possibly be?” An awkward silence followed which Artemis interpreted as a concession to his point. “Exactly, now, as soon as Foaly comes back with confirmation of Holly’s identity, can we begin discussing a way for the two of us to go home?”
“Now, wait just a minute. You don’t get to just walk out of here; that’s not how this works. There are laws about time travel, you know.”
“Yes, of course, Commander, but we didn’t come here on purpose,” Holly said. “There was some sort of a temporal imbalance.”
“Yes, I’m sure there was, because temporal imbalances happen all of the time.”
The two Artemises smirked. “Well, technically speaking, yes, yes they do.” Young Artemis said.
The older Artemis frowned. “That’s enough. The commander wants proof, we’ll give him proof. We have phones don’t we, we’ll just take a look through some important files.”
“Well, you’re certainly very eager to bend to the will of the room, all of the sudden.” Young Artemis glared.
Older Artemis stared at him for a moment, a very tense moment. “You’re right, how foolish of me. I should just let them kill all five of us.”
“You don’t honestly think that they would…”
“I do, and so do you.”
“We’re… the same person.”
“So we are, speaking of which.” The older Artemis drew back his hand and slapped the younger Artemis across the room, a distinctive blue light flashing at the point of impact. There were several gasps.
“Artemis Fowl, what the hell did you just do?!” The older Holly shouted. “Did you burn him?! What is wrong with you?!”
“I thought you’d be on my side.” Future Artemis said calmly. “I mean, look at him.”
“That’s you dipshit. You just slapped yourself. Very classy.” She leaned over the young Artemis and cupped his cheek in her hand. “You did burn him, that’s just cruel.”
“And?”
“Gods, I can’t stand you.” Holly gently sent a few sparks of healing magic into the young Artemis’s face. Having seemingly overcome the shock of the scene, Butler snatched the young Artemis from Holly’s hands as soon as he was healed. “You’re welcome.” She said ruefully.
"You know what, I think I'm on the Commander's side." Butler snapped. "You've just hit my… Well, how do we know you are who you say you are?"
"Forget that, he just used magic!" Chix shouted. "A human just used magic!"
"Yes, how shocking." Artemis deadpanned. "Me using magic, how unexpected. Still, I don't think that's the most bizarre part of this situation, do you?" Another awkward silence befell the room. "Now, you want to know I am who I say I am? Here, I'll prove it. Angle, get out your phone." Several people looked like that wasn't exactly the answer they were looking for, but everyone was too curious to interject.
Holly rolled her eyes but complied with Artemis’s request. The two of them took a moment to unlock their devices, then Holly bit her lip. "I don't suppose you have anything downloaded, do you?" She asked. "For some reason I'm not getting a signal."
Artemis sighed. "Most likely because the satellites these phones are meant to work off of haven't been created yet. But, I'm sure I have something of use downloaded."
"Show us." Trouble said.
"Excuse me?"
"Show us what's on your phone, so we know you're not fabricating anything."
The future Artemis and Holly shared a knowing glance. "Very well," Artemis said. "But I don't think I ought to plug anything of mine into the console without Foaly's permission."
As if on cue, Foaly returned to the room. "Commander, I ran the scans on that badge. The makeup is authentic; we didn't expect to see its number for at least another ten years, but that's about what we expected. We even detected some of Holly’s DNA on the badge. It's her's sir."
Commander Root sighed. "Alright then, return it."
Holly smiled and took back her badge.
"Now, Fowl, you were going to ask to plug something into Foaly's computer."
Foaly looked like he was about to protest, but then thought better of it. "OK, hand it here." Artemis handed over his phone and Foaly took a small baton out of his pocket and waved it over the small device. It beeped once and Foaly frowned. "There doesn't… appear to be any viruses installed."
"That's probably because there aren't any, but go on."
"Alright, would you like me to take it apart?"
"That's entirely up to you."
"Enough you two." Root growled. "Foaly, is it or isn't it clean?"
Foaly huffed. "It's… probably clean. Plug it into that console and don't touch anything else."
Artemis rolled his eyes but complied. It took him longer than usual to find a cable that would attach to his phone given that every cable was out of date by eleven years, but he eventually found one that fit. And, as soon as he did, pandemonium broke loose once again.
Artemis’s phone screen broadcast his background onto Foaly's monitor. Said background happened to be a photograph featuring many familiar faces. On the left, Juliet Butler sat, a woman with curly, black hair lying in her lap; next to them, Holly, Lili, and Trouble sat arm in arm, beside them were Grub and Chix, holding hands with a young sprite girl hanging off of their shoulders, next to them was Foaly, laying with his arms around two other centaurs, a woman and a young boy; next to them, two young human boys sat with a blue pixel wrapping her arms around both of their shoulders, and on the far left was Artemis, his arm around a blond man with striking green and brown eyes, and Butler sat behind them all with one hand on Holly’s shoulder and another on Foaly's. They were all sitting on a picnic blanket in the sun, the real sun, on the surface, grinning up at the camera without a care in the world. The room practically exploded.
"How do you have this?!"
"Who is that?!"
"Is that?"
"Is she?"
The future Artemis and Holly once again made eye contact over the others' heads. Artemis rolled his eyes and Holly almost smiled. Artemis cut through the noise. “Yes, yes, shocking beyond belief, I know! Now if you would allow me a moment to explain I would greatly appreciate it.” The group watched Artemis search through his phone and come to some important looking files. Files, that came up empty. Artemis frowned. “That can’t be right.” More clicking and then. “Goddamnit! Why is half my storage taken up by… Spotify. I don’t even know what that is.”
“I think that’s music,” Holly said.
“Robin must have done something with my phone.” Artemis sighed. “Hold on, I should have some pictures from our last meeting.” Artemis brought up his camera roll, which brought up a few hundred blurry photos of the two human children from his home screen. Artemis was almost laughing. “And then the twins got my phone; god it just goes on doesn’t it. Oh, Holly you’re on here!” A series of photos of Holly, Lili, and Trouble sprawled out on a human couch came up, it seemed to be a record of the three realising someone was taking their picture and then chasing them out of the room.
Holly laughed. “I think Mulch did that. Why did he have your phone?”
“I have no idea.” Artemis chuckled. “But that does explain who deleted my files in the first place.”
“Here, move over, I’ll see if I have anything good.” Holly plugged in her phone, which only revealed a picture of her, Trouble, and Lili once again. Embarrassing but not a revelation. Holly opened up her files, which appeared to be a series of videos of Lili. “Oh shit, I forgot. Lili’s trying to start a series of self-defence videos, I think her demos are all that are on here.”
“Well, that’s lovely.”
“Oh, but here’s a video message from you and the twins.”
“Oh, play that then.”
Artemis’s voice rang clearly through the speakers. “Hello Holly, I wanted to check in on the progress of your recent mission, though I trust that it is going well. Once again, as you continue the rebuilding efforts you are welcome to any of my drones if you can convince Foaly to integrate them into his fleets. But I understand…” Artemis was then cut off by two unfamiliar voices.
“Arty, look at the spider I found!”
“Tell him to put it back outside!”
The two human boys’ faces appeared in the video. “Aunty Holly, Aunty Holly, look at the spider I found!”
“Put it back where you found it!”
“Ok, ok, Beckett, calm down. Holly, I have to go but I’ll talk to you later. I love you, goodbye.” The video cut off.
“Let me guess, it’s still in your house?”
Artemis snorted. “Yes, it’s still there somewhere. Poor thing.”
Root growled behind them. “Alright, I think that’s more than enough. Unless either of you, either of you has any actual evidence I think we’re done here!” The two cringed, evidently without proper evidence of their innocence. “Fine then! Verbil and you Kelps take all five of the intruders to their cell, wherever the hell it is! We can talk about whatever rebuilding efforts that video mentioned tomorrow, for now out, out!”
The two time travelers grumbled but stood and allowed themselves to be taken from the room. Artemis and the Butlers similarly allowed themselves to be taken away, but not before Artemis had one last parting jab. “Well, good luck puzzling this out, Commander, not that you’ll need it. I trust you and I won’t see much of each other in the coming days.” The meaning was clear: you need my help again already, don’t you?
“Get them out! Get them all out of here!” Root shouted. “I will not hear any more of this!”
The Artemises glared at each other in the hall. “I changed my mind.” The older Artemis huffed. “I hope he kills you.”
“Artemis!” Holly scolded. “Leave him alone.”
“Like you weren’t thinking it.”
“I wasn’t! What under the earth has gotten into you?”
“Not a thing, Angel Short.”
“That’s enough out of both of you!” Trouble shouted. “Save it for your cell.”
“Fine, we’ll talk about this later.”
The group allowed themselves to be taken to a large room at the end of a drafty hall. When the doors opened they found that it was nicer than any of them had expected. It had clearly used to be a gym, but temporary walling had been put up to split it into several different rooms making the place look like a small apartment. There was even some furniture, and Butler could stand up straight inside.
Once left inside and warned sternly of security cameras, the five of them were left on their own. Young Artemis and the Butlers glared at the time traveling duo. “I don’t want the two of you anywhere near my family, understood?” Butler growled.
“Perfectly,” Artemis said.
Holly sighed. “Butler, I’m sorry. I know this has been…”
“No, until we get some proof you are who you say you are, I don’t want to hear it.” With that, Artemis and Holly were left alone.
“Ok, what the hell is wrong with you, Artemis?”
“Seriously? Where have you been for the last eleven years? I know you didn’t forget what I did to you, to everyone.”
“I didn’t forget, I forgave you. I thought you’d forgiven yourself by now.”
“Why should I?”
“Because this isn’t healthy! If, if I had known you were feeling this way…”
“Don’t, don’t say that. This isn’t your fault.”
“If you want me to believe that I’m going to need you to stop threatening yourself.”
“I will if he…”
“No! There is no if in that statement. You can’t expect him to experience eleven years of growth in a night, that’s not how people work.”
“...I might actually hate you for that.”
“You’re going to have to get used to other people being right every once in a while. Now, do you promise to play nice?”
“For the time being, yes, I suppose. Now, why do you think they left us in here? Don’t they know that we could escape easily?”
“Actually, it sounds like Foaly getting trapped in his own office only happened a week ago at most, I probably haven’t memorized the Plaza’s ventilation system yet. I don’t think they do know how easily we could break out. Why, do you want to?”
“No, no I don’t think so. If we want to get back to our own time we’re going to need resources, mechanical and magical, allying ourselves with the LEP is probably our best shot. Still, maybe when most everyone goes home you could pick up some supplies for us?”
“I do keep a bottle of whisky in my desk for emergencies, if that’s what you mean.”
“We are supposed to be on vacation.” Artemis chuckled.
As the two made their plans, the LEP officer spoke in hushed whispers at the other side of the building. “What should we do, Commander?” Grub asked.
“I am going to contact the Council of Warlocks.” Root answered. “They’ll send someone over to examine the time travelers’ memories so that we have a better idea of what it is we’re dealing with. As for the other humans, that’s going to be a bit more complicated. Somehow, I’m going to have to figure out why the Council went back on their word and convince them to go back again.”
“You’re right, that is complicated.” Foaly agreed.
“Well, I’ll deal with it after we… does anyone remember what we came in here to do in the first place?” There was silence. “Well then, I guess, meeting adjourned.”
And, as the confused officers slowly took their leave, and as three humans slept fitfully in their cell, two time travelers laughed over glasses of whisky.