Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (19 page)

The rolls were really great
however, and he managed to eat four of them before his body was telling him
that he had to stop for a while. They weren't little after all. Merry had kept
busy, setting up five plates of the things, along with large plastic
containers, storage bins really, filled with things to eat for each of them.
They had their names written on them, in English. That hadn't been the case
until about four weeks prior to that, when it had suddenly changed. Merry
hadn't mentioned it, but it was clear that her writing in English was getting a
lot better. She practiced almost every night, so it seemed right to him.

"I, will get these wonders
to the right places, directly. The kids will need to have things to fuel them
for their finals, and all that studying they have to do."

Each of the rooms he needed had a
shortcut to it. Ones that he'd made himself, so the other end points were in
different bedrooms at the house. The ones that the college kids used when they
came to visit.

That meant he only had to make
five trips to get it all done. Merry didn't pack light when it came to food.

"Ooooh,
yeeaahhh
!"
Blain, looking like his normal self, a very good looking young blond man that
probably should have been a stripper, instead of a college student, smiled
hugely when Zack made the first trip through into his room. He was an Alede,
and shared with with Don.

Also, after a fashion, Zack's
son. Adopted, but they'd spent nearly a thousand years in the void together at
one point. Blain wasn't a line walker, but he had managed to develop other
powers. The main one for him being that he didn't need to absorb sexual energy
any longer. His ability to fight, physically, had also increased dramatically.
On a level that indicated he'd mastered the ability to slow time in his mind,
allowing him to see what was coming as if it were in slow motion.

Zack could do that too, and he
thought that Chris and Kate had some talent that way as well, so it wasn't
exactly novel, but given that the boy wanted to be a fighter, as well as a
lover, that wasn't a horrible skill for him to get. His mind just lacked the
flexibility to enter the void alone. He could survive there however, which
was
another power, even if Zack hadn't considered it before. Alede didn't do well
in isolation normally, but if this one was ever dumped in a black cell for a
week, he not only wouldn't die, he'd be fine.

At first, when they'd come back,
he'd seemed quiet and a bit dark, but over the last months, it appeared to be
fading. That, or being fought off. The kid seemed like a real college boy
again. Only now he was one that actually did his homework, instead of trading
sex for grades.

"Yep. Merry was worried that
you'd all starve to death if she didn't send you two week's worth of food.
How's the brain work going? Learning all about math, and um..." Zack had
never really learned what it was they were taking. Any of them, other than
Kaitlyn. Considering he'd taken over their bills, that was a poor idea.

Don looked up and him and smiled
a bit. It was a little sad around the edges, but his inner self was still
focusing on the text in front of him.

"History for me. I should
have come and talked to everyone, I just got busy." He waved at the paper,
and then grimaced, wondering if his priorities were right, at the moment.
"How are the new people? Eve, and alternate Kate? Uh, Lyn?" He was
just pretending that he didn't know what to call her, it was clear. The concept
of there being two of his girlfriend seemed to be throwing him off.

Zack grinned.

"Back home, setting up our
new network over there. Chris is covering that for us. Troy is doing Lesser
Shia, and Charli and Libby are starting a new concern at Something Wonderful. I
don't want to move them before Christmas, since we have all those baskets to
make up. Really, after finals we should have you and Kate work on that part,
too. Get your basket making groove on, using that human creativity and all
that." He was teasing a bit, since the real money, and use, was in the
line walking portion of things, and Don would probably spend his whole break
going to different places, working.

Which sounded like it would
suck
.
Zack nodded, smiling, and decided that everyone was getting some time off, over
the holidays. Even if they weren't Christian, it was only fair.

Don looked at him, but simply
nodded, working out that there were more people trained up now without it being
stated explicitly. There was a slight widening of the eyes however, which
indicated that he was impressed.

"I can do that. Need help
bringing things through?"

Zack waved that away, and shook
his head after a moment.

"I'm good. Here, let
me..." He stepped through, grabbed the package for Blain, since he'd taken
Don's in first, and set it in the middle of the small dorm room. "There.
Now, I just have to find the others. What time is it here?"

Blain moved to look at the bright
red digital clock to the side of his small study desk.

"Um, eight-forty, in the
morning, in case you're turned around."

Zack nodded.

"Great. So only a
fifty-fifty chance of me walking in on your sister having sex, Blain?"

That got a chuckle, and a big
smile from the boy, who was, after all, an Alede.

"Not that she'll care. She's
still
trying to work out how to get Hartley into bed, by the way. On the
good side, she's taken to actually trying to study, since Don has been feeding
her every day. It's a deal they made. I say risk the invasion. She needs the
food, if nothing else."

He was still doing Kate first,
who was, like the boys, actually doing her school work. Or, more exactly, was
writing something like a doctoral thesis on her classes, instead of doing the
study that she'd already committed to memory. Not that it was going to be
turned in, but it was good practice, no doubt.

"Zack! With food. Thanks. I
was just about to come and see if I could beg some from Merry. I've been so
hungry lately. I blame all the extra practice Blain has been having us do. Not
that it will hurt anything." She took the top box, which had the plate of
still warm rolls on it, covered with plastic wrap, just to prevent the things
from getting frosting all over the place.

The rest was settled on the
floor. There was a small, somewhat inconvenient throw rug there, but he moved
to the far side of it. The room was only about twelve by fifteen, but Kait
didn't have to share, Claire having bribed someone in the head office for it.
That, or she'd used mental powers to get it done. It was hard to tell,
honestly. Either way, it had worked.

Then, Claire would have probably
killed people to get what she wanted done, if that was what it took. It was a
hard thing to remember, since all the vampires he knew were so nice to
him
,
but they killed without worrying about it. If you got in their way and weren't
powerful enough, they would end your days. Even the good ones that he knew had
to fight against that kind of thing. Not that his vampire had done that in this
case. There would be no need to. Not given the kind of money and power that she
could bring to bear on the situation.

Kaitlyn gave him a quick hug, her
mind focused on her work, and her plans to actually study for her tests again
soon. Those were the right ideas, so he gave her a hug, and then move back into
the line. It was Britney's turn then, and she was just trying to do school
work, too. So absorbed into it that she didn't notice he was there at all. She
was working at a computer, which was just a laptop, but was new looking. Zack
didn't interrupt the attractive and youthful seeming blonde girl. That would be
rude and he really didn't want to have sex with her.

At least that was how he was
presenting it to himself.

The truth was, deep down, that he
really
did
want to have sex with her. The basic biological urge was
there, her form perfect for calling to him that way. That was just what she
was, however. There was an innocence there too however, that drove him away. It
felt like he'd be defiling her, in some fashion. Even if she'd had more sex in
her life than he probably ever would.

So he snuck out, feeling a bit
too pleased for having managed not to be caught by Britney, and walked a moment
later into Jennifer's room. She however wasn't sleeping. The girl was in bed
however. Working with something that vibrated under the covers.

Worse, unlike Brit, she looked
directly at him, her eyes going wide. Her inner self panicked, but Zack waved
at her, pretending he didn't get what was going on.

"God, I'm so
embarrassed." She started to turn red, even as he shook his head.

"Nope. You're
fine
,
I'm the one that didn't knock. Anyway, food? Also, can you get away
later?"

The girl took a deep breath, and
then turned the vibrator off, but didn't pull it out.

"Um... Sure? What for?"

Zack nearly said for sex, but
that would be a bit mean at the moment. She was cute enough, but like Britney
she was too innocent for him. The kind of person that it would feel wrong for
him to be with that way.

"I want to take you to meet
someone, then, if we can, I'd like to take you into the void for a while. We
seem to have a really good way to train line walkers now. It
might
not
work, but I think mages should be naturals at it. Someone needs to go first,
and out of all your kind that I know, you seem the best suited to get the job
done. It will only take a few hours. Even if it doesn't pan out, it's a good
thing to try. People tend to benefit from it."

She didn't get up, looking
nervous, but nodded.

"I have a class at four? I
can be around at six, I guess?"

"Great. Now, I'm going to
get out of here. Later." He nearly told her to have fun, but that, again,
would be mean. Especially after throwing her off like he had. That was
his
fault, for not looking first.

Instead he went back to the
house, then got off to work, taking everyone with him. There wasn't anything
all that new or interesting, except that at about noon, he got an hour off, and
didn't have to run off to have sex for once. That meant he was able to get away
into the void, and try to find his pal there.

Big Shadow.

It wasn't that hard, since his
friend was there, waiting for him, or so it seemed.

Little friend. You have
questions? It is getting close to the beginning then.

Zack smiled, or at least set that
general idea, not knowing what to say. After a while he just went, and asked
the stupid sounding things first.

Are you... Me?

There was a sense of something
like mirth that spread through him, infecting the void itself with its power.
There was no derision in it however.

I am not. I am simply the
Gatekeeper. That is not meant to confuse. I was never you, little friend. Nor
any that you know. Other than myself, that is. Why do you ask?

That started a conversation about
many things, including the nature of Tricksters, time, and the prophesies of
the Elth.

Ah! Right. I recall that portion.
It isn't what it seems. Your Merry will kill none in that event, and what she
is to say is not meant for you, or any living or dead being. Only me. It was
what told me my true task. Now, I will go and likely not see you again as I am
now. You will meet me again, but... Well, I won't ruin it for you. If you see a
being that is me, but isn't, then run from the void. You have met him before.

He had. The being had tried to
kill him at the time. That got him to cast around then, as well, but there was
suddenly nothing but void around him. It was peaceful, and a temptation to just
stay for a while, waiting.

Still he got back and went
straight to work, having been gone longer than he would have thought, in real
time. Most of his lunch hour.

Lisa came out of her office,
hearing him it seemed.

"Hey Zack. We have a rather
big transfer coming in? Eloise asked me to set it up. The Mythelion Coalition
needs to send a lot of their people to the Renthel lands, for a pilgrimage.
Normally it takes about sixty-three years for them to do it, but the travel isn't
the point, just the destination. We won't be paid much for it." She looked
apologetic for that part, but he
had
gold, jewels and cash.

"How many?"

That got her to look down, and
whisper.

"About twenty thousand? We
can do it over the next year, but..."

He shrugged, making it a quick
thing. There was no reason not to do it, other than it being hard.

"I need to be done by six
today. Let's see what we can get done before then?"

The Mythelion were, it turned
out, snake people. They were a pretty iridescent pearl color, but didn't have
arms or legs. It made the transfers interesting, but they didn't have luggage,
in the main. They
could
float in the air however, and did as he touched
them, to get through the lines.

That let him get about five
hundred done, worked into his regular schedule. That made for fifteen hundred
transfers in about six hours. Then he called a halt to it, gave Lisa a kiss on
the cheek, which was returned, and moved back to Jen's room.

This time there was just a girl
sitting there, dressed to travel, in jeans, a white blouse and a tan corduroy
jacket. She was sitting on her bed, which was made, and looked embarrassed.

"Hey! We should go, since I
don't know the schedule where we're going, so we might need to look around for
a while."

The girl looked worried, her
shadow wondering if she needed to change into something nicer, but he wrinkled
his nose at her a bit.

"No worry here. It's just a
mall."

Jen smiled then, "I can do
that. I thought it would be some kind of big thing. Ambassadors and all
that."

He nodded at her, and put a hand
out to help her up. It was soft, warm and oddly pink. A little moist too, but
from lotion, not flop sweat. It was, most likely, due to the girl feeling far
more worried about him having walked in on her in a private moment rather than
the fear of being alone for centuries. It was hard to know how that was going
to go, from the outside however. It was really different for everyone.