Disclaimer: All characters belong to Eoin Colfer. Any poetry mentioned here belongs to William Butler Yeats.

Criticism is very much welcomed! :)

Evening

It was evening, with the wind blowing and the sun shining – and the Fowl twins were out in the grounds of Fowl Manor.

'Myles! You said you would play!' Beckett yelled in dismay as his twin stood stubbornly at the edge of the field. Myles had not even changed out of his customary polo shirt and slacks to join his brother outside, but despite this ominous sign, Beckett remained a great believer in the power of persuasion.

'No, Beckett.' Myles sighed and crossed his arms. 'I refuse to play in all that mud.'

'Awww.' Beckett kicked at the pool of mud he had painstakingly cultivated over the week – with help from Butler, of course. The bodyguard was now resting under the shade of a nearby copse of trees, keeping an eye on his young charges despite the lack of danger to them. But then again, with Beckett, danger seemed to lurk in whatever harebrained schemes he got up to.

The grounds had undergone a few changes over the years. Where once before had been smooth lawn, and then a riot of shrubbery and bushes, it was now a large field and a well-ordered flower garden. Beckett had demanded a field for football, and had further added to the view with several pools of mud.

'You're a sissy,' Beckett griped, getting down on his knees and starting on a mudpie. 'A sissy, Myles.'

'Yes, I suppose I am.' Myles rolled his eyes and assumed the haughty expression he had sometimes caught on his elder brother's face. 'I thank you for your offer to make mudpies, but I'm afraid this venture holds no interest for me.' He gave a long-suffering sigh and turned to head back indoors.

'Look at that!' Holly crowed with laughter, pressing her face against the glass of one of the manor's western windows. 'He's got Myles in the mud now – ouch, that doesn't look good…'

'Third time this week,' said Artemis, smiling as he watched the twins wrestle in the mud. Butler could be dimly seen in the shade, roaring with laughter. 'I wonder why Myles doesn't just stay inside instead of subjecting himself to Beckett's mudpies.'

'He's not a genius, I suppose.' Holly smirked and stood up on the window ledge she had been kneeling on. 'But he does remind me of someone.'

'I suppose he does,' Artemis conceded, still smiling. 'But I wouldn't say that he isn't as smart as the person you're alluding to.'

'Oh?'

'He suspects me.' Artemis shrugged and turned away from the window to look at Holly. 'I'm frankly not surprised. He's observant for his age, as you have no doubt noticed. Try as I might to cover any sign of your presence, he still catches the smallest detail.'

'Oh my,' said Holly in mock horror, 'someone actually outsmarted Artemis Fowl?'

'Really, Holly.'

'You've told your mother, haven't you?' she said. 'She's perfectly aware of my presence here.'

'Yes…and of the existence of fairies in general. I have tried my best to explain the whole matter to her.'

'Everything?'

'I did what was right – I was completely honest with my mother.'

'She hasn't met Mulch yet,' Holly said, giggling. 'Speaking of which – we watched your Peter Pan DVD yesterday; Mulch, me, Foaly and his – er – foal.'

'And how did you find it?'

'Foaly laughed so hard, he choked on a carrot,' said Holly, shaking her head. 'Mulch said it was still better than the blatant misrepresentation of dwarfs in Snow White. The little centaur loved it though.'

'And what did you think of it?' asked Artemis.

'Eh,' replied Holly, shrugging, 'it was okay. I agreed with Foaly on the caveman animation, but you Mud Men still have better movies than we do.'

'I see.' Artemis had turned back to watch the twins fling mudpies at each other. 'What did you think about Peter Pan?'

'What – the movie? Oh, you mean the character. Hmm.' Holly sat down on the ledge and crossed her legs. 'You've probably psychoanalyzed him or something, haven't you?' She poked Artemis playfully on the shoulder. 'What if I tell you the wrong answers? Will I be analyzed against my will then?'

'I doubt it, Holly. I was merely asking for your opinion on a beloved children's icon.' Artemis glanced briefly at her before turning to look out the window again.

'He was…strange, I suppose,' said Holly. 'Yet – I guess it happens sometimes, doesn't it? Puberty can be very, er, confusing. Maybe some people would prefer not to grow up.'

There was silence as Artemis and Holly stared fixedly outside. Holly could feel her cheeks turning red; the memory of the kiss she had given him years ago still turned up occasionally when she thought she had all but forgotten it. She could not, however, guess what Artemis's thoughts were.

'I'm turning twenty-one next week,' Artemis said in an undertone, apropos of nothing. 'Legally I will be much older, of course, but the jaunt in the time stream has held me back several years physically.'

Holly kept silent, not knowing what to say. He's blabbering, she wondered. Is this normal for him?

I don't think so.

'Imagine that – Artemis Fowl turning into an adult,' she joked. 'What dastardly plot will you put into action after that fateful day, pray tell?'

'Nothing much, Commander,' Artemis replied, raising an eyebrow in amusement. 'I have vowed to stay clean, and I have for years now. It pains me that you think that I'm still capable of my past deeds.'

'Oh, I wouldn't know.' Holly tilted her head and frowned, studying Artemis's profile with exaggerated intensity. 'Let's say the Arty of past years wouldn't be caught dead reading sentimental poems by Yeats.'

'So you've tried reading them, at last. And how did you find his work?'

'Interesting, but you know me. Some were just too mushy and sentimental – you should really read Horri Antowitz, Arty. Yeats is good, but he's just not my kind of reading, you know? And he gets so depressing sometimes.' Holly paused, biting her lip in thought. 'Like the one about the man who dreamed of Faeryland.'

'Ah yes, that one.' Artemis nodded thoughtfully. 'Interesting.'

A few small beeps broke the companionable pause. Holly glanced at the comp screen strapped on her wrist and sighed.

'I have to leave now, Artemis. Foaly called a meeting today.'

'Say hello to him for me,' said Artemis. 'And Mulch too.'

Holly laughed and jumped off the ledge to retrieve her wings. 'Foaly always tells his kid about you, but he keeps denying it.' She gave Artemis a shrewd look as she strapped on the wings. 'Are you going to tell Myles about us?'

'When I decide that the time is suitable, I will tell him,' said Artemis. 'Don't worry about it.'

'I'm not,' she retorted, firing up the wings. She rose smoothly to his height to look him in the eye. 'Remember what can happen if this knowledge gets into the wrong hands.'

Artemis thought fleetingly of his younger self, of Minerva, of the other times that the knowledge of the existence of fairies had come dangerously close into the hands of less than scrupulous humans. 'I promise you I won't act rashly on this.'

Holly snorted in disbelief. 'I should hope so. I believe you, Arty.' She beamed and patted him on the shoulder. 'Now be a good boy and mind your brothers. Maybe I'll give you a lollipop when I see you next.'

Artemis shrugged away from her hand, but he was smiling. 'I'll look forward to that lollipop.'

'Touché.' Holly drifted to the window for a last look at the twins and Butler. Artemis Senior and Angeline had joined the group in the field a while ago; Beckett was now having a one-man team football match against his father.

'Have you ever,' she asked hesitantly, 'thought about what it'd be like if you've never known about fairies? If you've never met us?'

Artemis bowed his head and did not meet her eyes. 'No,' he said. 'I never think that.'

'I suppose not,' said Holly softly. 'And now I really must go – Foaly's going to be out of his mind if I'm late. See you soon, Arty. Say hello to Butler and your mother for me.'

'I will. See you, Holly.' He looked up to see her shimmer out of sight. The window was pushed open by an invisible hand, and the heat haze in the room drifted outside and was lost in the golden light of sunset.

He shut the window a few minutes later and headed out of the room to join his family in the field.

'It had become a glimmering girl

With apple blossom in her hair

Who called me by my name and ran

And faded through the brightening air,'

he quoted to no one in particular.

Excerpt of the poem quoted by Artemis is from Yeats's The Song of the Wandering Aengus.