Aarti

Aarti leaned back against the grassy hill. She'd carefully staked out the area beforehand. Unless you were being very diligent, you couldn't easily discover the way through the briar bushes that usually blocked access.

Sebastian was gingerly perched on a rock nearby. He didn't like sitting out in the open, that was truly clear. He kept glancing around warily.

"Why are you so nervous?" Aarti asked softly. She wasn't sure if sound carried over the brushes and the sounds of the nearby ocean waves.

"I'm a man on freaking Themyscira. I keep thinking someone's going to come and chop me up with a sword or something," Sebastian admitted. He sighed. "That would be rich. A Dime Store cowboy biting the dust at the hands of Amazons."

"What's a dime store cowboy?" Aarti asked curiously.

Sebastian looked at her from the corner of his eye and from under the brim of his cowboy hat. She'd always thought the hat was some kind of affectation.

"I work at the Dime Store. I'm just surprised you're never shocked to see Kerri." Sebastian shrugged, his gaze once more scanning his surroundings.

"Why would I be surprised? Aren't animals supposed to come in pairs? That's what I learned before I came here," Aarti said. She sat up, feeling a cooler breeze blowing that made her frown.

"Your dog isn't supposed to have a mate," Sebastian finally said. "He's a guardian of the Underworld. There's only supposed to be one, but that's where the Dime Store comes in. I'm lowest on the totem right now, so when the favor came due, I got pulled in."

"What favor?" Aarti was starting to get a bit frustrated. She liked to have all the information presented in nice, neat packages.

"Look, for that you have to understand that the Dime Store exists outside of everything. It's there to uphold the peace between different dimensions, and everyone who works there are people who won't really be missed." There was a bitter tinge to Sebastian's last words.

"Dimensions?" Aarti caught that one phrase, her mind turning it over thoughtfully.

"It's like the multiverse here, only larger. Don't you wonder how there's always a Kerr or Kerri when there's an Underworld to guard? They're not supposed to reproduce because there's only supposed to be one of them per reality." Sebastian took off his hat and started rotating it by the brim.

"Only one? But that's not possible for a sustainable population," Aarti argued.

"You're looking at this from an outsider's perspective. You should start thinking like an Amazon. I've no clue what happened to make you like this, but you should've threatened to shish kebab me the moment I showed up," Sebastian explained.

"He's right," came a new voice.

Aarti started as she watched Euphemis push through the bushes. There were bleeding scratches on her arms and legs and a long, ugly one on the side of one palm.

"Euphemis," Aarti snarled as she jumped up.

"Ma'am," Sebastian greeted as he stood up as well.

"You let not just outsiders but a man on the island! Just wait until I haul you before the Adjudicators." Euphemis smiled unpleasantly.

"I didn't let anyone on the island," Aarti argued.

"You didn't even let anyone know we'd been invaded," Euphemis cut in. Her expression was of supreme self-satisfaction and ridicule.

Aarti felt the anger start to bubble up again. It'd been curbed by her curiosity earlier, but now was starting to show up again full force. She stared at Euphemis, trying not to look in the direction of the tunnel she and Sebastian had used to get to the hilltop. The tunnel started at the entrance to Kerr's cave. If she allowed Euphemis to follow, she'd discover both things.

"And you," Euphemis sneered at Sebastian. "You need to be turned over to the Adjudicators as well and questioned on how you got here."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, ma'am," Sebastian responded politely.

"I'm afraid that's not up to you, intruder," Euphemis said.

Aarti took that moment of distraction to launch herself at Euphemis and push her into the bushes. Euphemis went down with a shriek of displeasure. Aarti grabbed Sebastian's hand and pulled him towards the tunnel.

They'd nearly made it when Euphemis snagged Sebastian's arm and pulled. He made a sound of pain. Aarti felt the anger in her chest start to subsume into panic. The reason Euphemis and her little group could bully her was simply because they were older. Despite reaching fifteen, Aarti was still lacking in muscle mass as she was still growing. Euphemis was a few years older than her, her and her cadre one of the last batches of Amazons born.

"Let go!" Aarti gritted out.

"Never," Euphemis replied as she gave a stronger yank.

Aarti let go. If they kept that up, Sebastian might be literally ripped in two.

Euphemis and Sebastian went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Aarti took the chance to deliver a kick at Euphemis that had her grunting unhappily. Aarti reached down, snagged Sebastian and hauled him to his feet.

"Run," she advised, turning towards the tunnel. If they were lucky, perhaps she could convince Kerr to eat Euphemis.

As they took a few steps towards the tunnel, Sebastian jerked to a halt.

"My hat!" He exclaimed.

"It's just a hat. I'll get it back," Aarti assured him.

"That's not it." Sebastian turned back to see Euphemis weave unsteadily to her feet, clutching his cowboy hat in her hands. "My hat!"

Aarti opened her mouth to say something but was distracted by the light shining from the cowboy hat in Euphemis' hand. Blood from the scratch soaked into the dark fabric and was absorbed, making the light even brighter.

She stared, wide-eyed as the familiar bright dot appeared behind Euphemis. It elongated and expanded into an empty doorway. Beyond, she could see a familiar and hated expanse.

"Euphemis! Come this way! Quickly!" she said, beckoning with her hand.

Euphemis, standing in front of the doorway, frowned. She clearly hadn't noticed the doorway appearing behind her. Aarti felt fear clog her throat as several guards approached the doorway, eyes darting from Euphems to Aarti with brightening glee.

"You can't tell me what to do, Aarti," Euphemis sneered. She crushed the hat in her hands, eliciting a pained whimper from Sebastian.

"Just come this way and we'll fight. I promise," Aarti coaxed.

Euphemis scoffed. Even as she took a step forward, a long arm reached from behind her and grabbed her shoulder. She paused, her eyes widening in delayed surprise.

Even as she paused, more hands reached for her, pulling her backwards.

"Euphemis!" Aarti cried, taking a step forward before being halted by Sebastian.

"The door's about to close," he said. True to his words, as soon as Euphemis cleared the doorway, it started closing up. "The hat controls the door."

"Don't!" Aarti blurted out too late. She saw a glint in one of the guard's eyes at Sebastian's quiet comment. The guard probably was one with enhanced hearing.

They stared at the closing door and then at the empty spot it'd occupied.

"This is so bad," Aarti said. "This is worst than me filching a week's worth of roasts from the kitchens."

"It's worst than worse. That was just a temporary key, but she can still be used to open doors anywhere in this dimension. Let's hope they just think it's for this world," Sebastian explained.

"What do mean?" Aarti asked. She felt as if she couldn't catch her breath.

"I told you. I work for the Dime Store. We go around fixing breaches and sending people home. I messed up a few months ago, and accidentally formed a temporal loop. My punishment was to help breed Cerebuses to guard Undergrounds in new realities. If not for this," Sebastian shook his head.

"No, it's worst that that," Aarti interrupted. "If that's true, then it's no wonder you weren't surprised to meet me. Here, in this here and now, I'm a product of genetic tampering."

Sebastian looked at her in surprise.

"We're in the midst of a silent war with alien invaders," Aarti informed him drily. "Their weapon of choice is biowarfare, and their nom de plume, so to speak is to use genetically enhanced and created soldiers which they prefer to raise themselves for the research."

"And that place?" Sebastian asked, starting to frown.

"Looks like one of the creches they rescued me and most of the others from five years ago, only a whole lot newer than it should be."