“Of course not,” said Artemis. “I’ll send him out the back way.”
“Good,” said the nurse. “I just need a breath of fresh air, then I will come to check on your mother.”
“Take your time,” said Artemis. “I can read the instruments.”
I designed a few of them, he thought.
As soon as Miss Book disappeared around the corner, Artemis escorted his demon friend up the stairs.
“We’re going upstairs,” objected No1 mildly. “Didn’t that young lady tell you not to allow me upstairs?”
Artemis sighed. “How long have you known me, No1?”
No1 nodded craftily.“Ah, I see. Artemis Fowl never does what he is told to do.”
Holly greeted No1 on the landing, but refused to hug him until he dropped the shape-shifting spell.
“I hate the feel of those things,” she said. “It’s like hugging a wet sponge.”
No1 pouted. “But I enjoy being Ferdinand. Humans smile at me.”
Artemis assured him that there was no surveillance in his study, and so the demon warlock waited until the door was closed behind them, then banished the spell with a click of his fingers. Ferdinand unraveled and fell from No1’s body in a flurry of sparks, leaving the small gray demon warlock wearing nothing but a wide grin.
Holly hugged him tightly.“I knew you would come. We need you desperately.”
No1 stopped smiling. “Ah, yes. Artemis’s mother. Does she want a magical cure?”
“That’s the last thing she wants,” said Holly.
Once the situation was explained to No1, he immediately agreed to help.
“You are in luck, Artemis,” said the little demon, wiggling his eight fingers. “I did a module on time travel last week for the warlock diploma course I’m taking.”
“Small class, I bet,” commented Artemis dryly.
“Just me,” admitted No1. “And Qwan, of course, my teacher. Apparently I am the most powerful warlock Qwan has ever seen.”
“Good,” said Artemis. “Then transporting us all into the past shouldn’t pose any problems for you.”
Foaly had projected himself onto five of Artemis’s various monitors. “All?” spluttered each image. “All! You can’t take No1 with you.”
Artemis was not in the mood for argument. “I need him, Foaly. End of discussion.”
Foaly looked as though his head would bulge through the screens. “It is most certainly not end of discussion. Holly is an adult, she can make her own decision, but No1 is little more than a child. You cannot jeopardize him on one of your missions. A lot of hopes rest on that little demon. The future of the fairy families.”
“None of us will have a future if No1 doesn’t bring us to the past.”
“Please stop,” said No1. “All this arguing is making me dizzy. There is no time for it.”
Artemis’s face was red, but he held his tongue, unlike Foaly, who kept shouting, but at least he muted the screens.
“Foaly needs to vent,” explained Holly. “Or he gets headaches.”
The three waited until the centaur calmed himself, then No1 spoke. “In any event, I cannot go with you, Artemis. That’s not how it works.”
“But you transported us from Limbo.”
“Qwan did that. He is a master, I am but an apprentice. And anyway, we had no desire to go back to Limbo. If you wish to return here, I need to stay as a marker.”
“Explain,” said Artemis tersely.
No1 spread his arms wide. “I am a beacon,” he declared. “A shining supernova of power. Any magic I release into the ether will be attracted back to me. I send you into the past, and you will snap back to me like puppies on a leash.” No1 frowned, not happy with his simile. “One of those retractable leashes.”
“Yes, we get it,” said Artemis. “How long will it take to weave the spell?”
No1 chewed his lip for a moment. “About as long as it takes you two to remove your clothing.”
“Hurkk,” said Artemis half-choking with surprise.
“D’Arvit,” swore Holly.
“I think we all know what D’Arvit means,” said No1. “But hurkk is not English. Unless you meant hark, which means to remember something from the past. Which I suppose could be relevant. Or perhaps you were speaking Dutch, and then hurk would translate as squat.” No1 paused for a wink. “Which means squat to me.”
Artemis leaned close to the demon’s cornet-shaped ear. “Why do we need to take our clothes off?”
“That is a very good question,” said Holly into the other ear.
“It’s quite simple,” said No1. “I am not so skilled as Qwan. And even with Qwan overseeing the last transfer, you two managed to switch an eye each, which was probably because someone was focusing on stealing magic. If you take clothes or guns in there, they could become a part of you.” The demon raised a stiff finger. “Lesson number one of time transfers,” he stated. “Keep it simple.
It’s going to take all of your concentration just to reassemble your bodies. And you will be thinking for the lemur too.”