"Surprised these things still fit properly" Suzy muttered as she hauled a star hood over her head.
"Me too," Arthur grumbled as he jammed arm after arm into the sleeves of his bright coat.
Presently they were in a wordlet, the one Arthur had visited with the Mariner to find part tow of the Will. With the keys Arthur had been able to reenact the spell Tom had used to enter. At the moment, the four of them were dressing in bright coats, star hoods, and immaterial boots to protect them from the heat of this strange island. Chauncey was having a pinch of trouble as he tried to tuck his tail away under the hem of the coat.
"But Arthur, we brought the register over here to destroy it, what're the odds of it still being here?"
"That information is lost" Scamandross replied as he pulled on his star hood.
Arthur glared at the doctor. He marched over and yanked the hood off his round head. "If it's lost then it's not here!" he as much as shrieked. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
Doctor Scamandross spluttered an incoherent answer and then Arthur growled.
"We've got to go back to the Border Sea now, thank you very much" He whirled on Suzy.
"What did I do?" she asked, hesitating to pull off the garments as she was sure Arthur could steam her now with his glare alone.
"You, should've mentioned that before"
"Now see here Artie, I've been through the most of bad parts with you and I sure as heck ain't going to let you blame me. You're the Master whatever, you should've thought o' that yourself"
Arthur's face fell as he realized Suzy was right. "Alright, alright" he grasped the trident that was hanging in his belt.
"You aren't going to," Scamandross began.
Arthur swept the trident through the air and then struck the ground. "Why wouldn't I?" he inquired, right before a great wave of water crashed into him.
"Because!" the Doctor gasped. "The Sea is only to touch where it has touched before! You're about to wash out the Far Reaches!" he gurgled as he got submerged in the water.
"Everyone try to hold your breath and swim" Arthur managed, feeling himself become heavy with the weight. "Chauncey! Chauncey!" he'd forgotten whether or not rats could swim.
There was no reply. Oh no, I've killed a Raised Rat, he fretted. He flung out his arms awkwardly, attempting to swim in the increasingly strong waves. Somewhere above the splashing of water he could have sworn he heard someone swear and then cry out his name. More likely than no it had been Suzy. She hated being wet. Something knocked into him and he recognized Doctor Scamandross who seemingly was knocked out, or dead. Arthur took him under one arm and tried as best he could to swim with the extra weight. The Denizens, he thought frantically, what about the Denizens? And there's Nothing below here, the Border Sea can't merge with Nothing or it will spread. Fresh horror washed over him. Into the Secondary Realms! I haven't been here long and already I've doomed the universe. Was his last conscious thought.
Second day of SchoolTo his surprise and dismay there was Timina on the front steps, sitting, waiting, for him. She looked up as she saw him approach, a rather sneaky smile creeping across her face. "Hello,"
"Your early" Artemis commented.
"It's hard to figure out what time it is anymore." She said standing up and brushing off her trousers. "But I guess you would know"
Artemis rolled his eyes. "What do you want?" he snapped.
Timina opened her mouth to speak but then froze, pausing as if to listen to a new sound. He heard it too. The crackle of thunder. "No rain in the forecast today" he observed.
"I don't think that is rain" She replied, looking off into the distance.
The sound grew louder, as though growing nearer, a thundering rolling sound that echoed around them. Water. The sound was water, now sweeping down the streets towards them. "What the-" Artemis started as the waves grew larger.
"Look out" Timina called as the tumultuous waters surrounded them.
"What?"
Before Artemis could even begin to wonder what was going on. Timina was at his side, locking one arm solidly around him and swimming hard against the tide that had set course to the other side of town. Artemis was half thankful that Timina had grabbed him because he couldn't breathe; he had a touch of asthma that acted up terribly when he was put under great stress. This would count as great stress.
"Where'd the water come from?" he yelled between gulps of water.
"Border Sea" She shouted back, still fighting against the waves.
"Where?" he got a mouthful of water and choked on it. They were being thrashed about in this ocean, and worst of all was no one seemed to notice that the town had become flooded. Timina held on tight all the while trying to soothe him. Out of nowhere, she plucked a bugle out and blew into it, intoning some strange language as she did so. The water was still coming; now a raging storm that threatened to drown them both. "Timina!" he called.
She was slapped hard in the face and Artemis cried out in terror as he watched her skin wash away. Features and all, mouth and eyes, and nose all go sluicing off of her body. Artemis closed his eyes, afraid to gaze upon nothing more than raw flesh or a mere skull. For a split second they opened and he could see yet more of her slipping away, the skin on her arms whizzing by and swirling as if going down some invisible drain. Artemis hadn't realized he had been screaming the whole time and thrashing wildly.
"Artemis" a new voice said. It was richly toned and very clear. He felt a hand underneath his chin and he felt inclined to look up. A woman gazed down at him; she had curling sprigs of dark brown hair, shot through with streaks of gold and white. Her eyes bored into him, they were a deep brown, the sort of eyes any being could gaze into forever. Her skin shone gold, glowing in the midst of the gloom. Artemis was half aware of the fact that she looked like some sort of African Goddess, her brown skin etched with designs. The other half was aware that they were still in the storm. She extended her hand to the sky and vapor came streaming down, forming a cloud as it approached. Her grip on him tightened as she turned her face towards the sky. A pair of clock hands appeared hanging in the air. She held out her hand to it again and the hands began moving rapidly around, emitting a strange sort of zinging sound. Like something being wound up. A clock.
"Time is of my Essence" she murmured softly.