What if Artemis and Holly had come back in the past?
“Think of your world,” Qwan instructed. Artemis found his center, and focused on the spot that Hybras should have been in his mind. “That’s it,” Qwan upraised, but Artemis could no longer hear him. He forced all his energy into getting them back to the right place and time. Abbott, however, was not to be so easily tamed. Some of his thoughts still penetrated into the circle, one of them with such force that Artemis’s thoughts were thrown off to his own home, to the past. Suddenly, Qweffor, No. 1, and Qwan disappeared, and Holly and Artemis were throw through time.
Artemis woke to the feel of something wet pressing against his face. He felt something wet and spongy beneath his fingertips. Wet earth. They’d made it back.
“Holly?” He called softly through the dense forest they were in. He’d never seen this place before. Odd, as he couldn’t possibly have sent them through time to a place he’d never seen. He found Holly sleeping under a large oak tree. He knelt down beside her and shook her shoulder. “Holly, wake up. We’re… well, we’re on earth, anyway.” She groaned as she sat up.
“I feel like I just got ran over by a bull troll. I need to replenish my magic, soon.” Remembering she wasn’t the only magical being of their little posy anymore, she asked, “How do you feel?”
“Fine,” Artemis realized.
“And the demons?”When Artemis sighed, Holly scowled. “What happened?”
“They’re not here.” Artemis admitted. “There should be an island in the middle of this forest, but there isn’t.” Holly was livid.
“You mean you lost them?!”
“No,” Artemis said simply, staring into space with his arms folded over his knees, “I think they lost us.”
Artemis explained the whole thing to Holly, how Abbott had literally mind-butted him, and how he theorized that the island simply completed the trip without them.
“We’re lucky to have even returned.” Artemis pointed out, “But I imagine the magic was already routed to the earth, so it only had to find a suitable time and place to put us.”
“So where… and when… are we?” Holly asked in a low voice.
“Ah,” Artemis tutted with a coy smile, “Therein lies the question.”
They spent the rest of the day looking for a way out of the wood, or at least a place where Holly could replenish her magic. They did not discuss Artemis’s own abilities. The next morning, Artemis was drawn from unconsciousness by the smell of fire and the racket of loud catcalls and grinding machinery.
Not the machinery of my time, though. Artemis noticed as he woke Holly from her slumber. They followed the noise for a few leagues before coming to the construction site. Upon seeing it, Artemis fell to his knees in wonder and despair.
“What, Artemis? What is it?” Holly demanded from behind him. Then she, too, saw.
“Oh, gods.” She moaned. “How far did you take us back, Fowl?”
It was the first construction of the imfamous Fowl Manor.

“What are we gonna do about this, Artemis?!” Holly shrieked when they were safe in the cover of the forest. “We’re stuck in the sixteenth century! In this time period you have no money or influence, and I can’t very well take you down to Haven for safe keeping.” Another thought struck her. “And who knows how long you’ll live? Just because you have magic might not mean you can survive the ages, Artemis…” She grabbed his shoulders, her eyes full of pity. “You might not survive to see your own time again!” Artemis eyes overshadowed for a moment, then he looked away.
“Let’s not look that far into the future. Right now, we need to focus on food and shelter.”
“Well, maybe one of those men could…”
“No!” Artemis insisted, then collected himself. “I mean, no. We cannot go anywhere or see anyone associated with our pasts and our family’s pasts lest we contaminate the time stream.”
“Then where are we going to go, Mud-Boy?” Holly asked, exasperated that he wasn’t taking the time to explain his train of thought.
He looked at her. “Africa.”

Some other stories by iesnoth:

• STORYLINE CONTEST!!!!
• Artemis Fowl: the forgotten times