Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (24 page)

One of them, an older looking
woman wearing a blue-gray robe-coat thing in heavy fabric, waved at him
pleasantly.

"Hello! We're the group going
to Lesser Shia? We're a bit early. Our flight got us here at six, so we came
from the airport. We can just wait here?"

That wasn't happening, not
comfortably, since the people were packed in nearly shoulder to shoulder.
Worse, people were messing up his shelves. That wasn't too big of a problem,
but no one was going to be buying anything, except for those stupid shirts,
which the square people seemed very interested in getting, as if
that
made any sense at all.

Still, they sold the evil things,
and Zack had to ring people up, between running to the back and finding Lisa's
list. The travel manifest for the day, which didn't have an eleven o'clock trip
at all. Well, there were
three
people that were supposed to come in
then, but they weren't going to
Lesser Shia
. In fact it was the Elth
ambassador and two others, who needed to go home for some reason.

Merry hadn't mentioned that to
him, but then, he also hadn't asked.

The people listed were Xan, Mae
and Lief.

He checked the date several
times, including on Lisa's computer, and he was
certain
that it was
Tuesday, the seventh, that day. Working behind the counter, reading and
flipping through the pages, Zack got what was going on, after a while. The
people there weren't supposed to be in for nearly two weeks. It was just a
timing snafu, that was all.

Thankfully Lisa came in a bit
later, and picked up on the whole thing without needing the list. It was her
job, after all, so she knew who should have been there.

"No. No, no,
no
!"
She was shouting a little bit, but looked half freaked out, and half ready to
fight someone. "You aren't supposed to be here!"

Nellie, the older woman, ran over
to her, as Lisa fought through the crowd.

"What? Sorry? Tuesday at
eleven? We're a few hours early, but..." The woman seemed concerned,
especially when Lisa shouted at her.

"You aren't scheduled for
today. Two weeks from now! Two weeks!" She grabbed the list from Zack,
which was behind the counter. It involved pushing some robed people out of the
way, which was a bit more violent than was needed really. "I confirmed
this with you
twice
, how did this happen?"

Zack watched it all unfolding,
and worked out what the issue was first. The Impreciise, the square looking
people, used their own calendar. It was different than the one that Lisa was
using, which was the same one that Zack had grown up with, being they both
lived in the U.S. So did the Impresiise, but they were a bit difficult that
way. A lot of their culture insisted on running just a tiny bit off of everyone
else. Then they insisted that they were the ones that were correct.

Which is what Zack watched
unfolding there, at that time. It was why they were early, too. For their kind
of people, it was a matter of pride to be pains in the butt. Lisa growled
menacingly, and actually pulled a small crystal that was wrapped with silver
wire and infused with power.

A weapon, if he recognized the
type of thing.

He just waved his right hand a
bit, not caring anymore. No one even noticed that for a while, since there was
yelling going on, which was getting louder, instead of becoming softer and more
manageable the way it should.

Finally, he yelled. That actually
worked, since no one expected it.

"Quiet!" There was a
smile with it, and he had to do it more than once. Finally everyone looked over
at him, where he stood behind the front counter. "Line up. We need to get
you out of here. In the back. Hurry."

Then, a bit less than carefully,
Zack dumped them all in Lesser Shia, having to work them past Troy, who was
actually doing what he was supposed to. They didn't seem all that happy, since
the people were being pulled from the room faster than was comfortable for
them. They were in the way however, so it had to be done.

When Zack finally got things done
it was nearly eleven, and the Elth were there. Looking concerned, since Lisa
was still upset, even if it wasn't with them. It was hard to tell, since the
woman looked a bit wild eyed about the whole thing still.

Zack covered for her, by smiling
and waving.

"Hey! You're all going to
the main node?"

Mae nodded, but then looked down.
She was tall for an Elth woman, being nearly four foot something. Xan and Leif
were bigger than that, and they were all dressed up in rather nice clothing, to
travel.

Leif spoke for them, his face a
bit cool. That was because, as his shadow expressed easily enough and in a
friendly manner, he didn't want to be questioned on the whole thing. They'd
been requested, by name, and no one had told them why they had to go home at
that point. Just that they were needed.

The Ambassador made sense, and
even Mae, who was a seer, and therefore of great value in her own right, but no
one understood what
Xan
was needed for. Mae hadn't had a vision about
it, which left them all feeling uneasy. She would have it if were a death, or
major happening. Most of the time. That part worried her a lot, because even a
free trip home for the boy should have triggered her ability. It was a major
deal for any of them, but him most of all.

Zack didn't need to know about
that however, which he assured Leif of on a deep level.

That got the taller man, who was
in a metallic green jacket and trousers, to step forward, smiling a bit.

"That's right. I know that this
is short, as to time. Bless you both for allowing us to travel this day."
He was uneasy still, since Lisa seemed upset. It wasn't even hard to see,
though why was, the Impresiise being gone already. The store was a mess again,
but that happened a lot, so it wasn't too different than most days.

Zack started toward the back,
sighing.

"We had an unexpected group
in earlier. Three hundred of them. It was... Interesting?"

The explanation made the Elth all
relax, getting that Lisa wasn't upset about
their
sudden travel, which
had been done correctly, days in advance. What they didn't have was a return
date set up.

Leif looked away as they got to
the node in the back, and got ready to beg, which wasn't a thing that a being
of his position loved doing. There was no real help for it, his shadow said,
glowing a bit. After all, they didn't know how long they would be there, or if
any of them would be allowed to return at any point. So they couldn't schedule
a pick up.

Which meant that they'd have to
pass a message to one of the others still there, and hope that Zack would allow
them to return without going overland, which would take many years.

He just turned to Leif before
they went to the node, which was marked by an inlaid silver circle on the
floor.

"Can you get in touch with
Mac or Merry? That way they can tell me when you need to come back."

There was a bow then, which all
three of the brightly dressed people did, nearly as one. Leif stood back up and
smiled happily.

"Ah! That would be best, if
allowable? We can set things up that way, easily enough. Very good. Would it be
close to time to leave, do you think?" Unlike the others that morning,
these three had gotten there almost on time, and didn't expect to leave until
Zack
was ready. Even if it meant standing there, poised to go, for days.

Luckily it was easy to get to the
Elth main node, since he'd been there several times before. Even with a single
bag each the smaller people were easy to transfer. On the far side of doing
that, after Xan was through, Zack actually got a break, for lunch. It meant
going down to the food court, and eating Italian food that day, since Merry was
running that store for the day. Which made sense, Mae being gone suddenly.

It was good however, and he got a
lot of pasta, along with a salad and some garlic bread.

Merry again, seemed worried,
though this time it was about how Zack would like the food, since he normally
had Chinese for lunch. The honest truth was that he didn't care, but it worried
him that his wife was that concerned about things like that all the time. Her
life was, it seemed, a constant stress for her, as she sought to please him
without end.

The part where she was planning
to cut his head off at some point he could see as being a big deal for her, but
not
every
little thing. The part of things where she was upset so easily
about things that he didn't care about was one of the biggest stresses in his
life.

So he smiled at her.

"This is great. I noticed
that Mae was going to be gone for a bit? Are you taking over for her?"

There was a shy nod, as her inner
self suspected that her husband was about to become enraged at the idea. Why
that would be even Merry didn't know. It wasn't the truth, however.

"Aye? Is that...
Allowable?" She was actually asking his opinion about that part of things.
Then, in her world, he had a right not only to order her not to work there, but
not to do so much as leave the kitchen, if he wished.

"Sure. It makes sense to me
anyway. Why wouldn't it be? You do good work. Everyone says so." Which was
true, more or less. Even the other Elth thought highly of her skills, and were
impressed with her high marriage.

The woman was
good
at her
job.

Merry smiled, and looked away
shyly.

"But the food? What if you
grow displeased with the heavy pasta dishes?"

"Then I can get something
else? Mac does a decent job with the food too. True, he isn't
you
,
but... Really, a change every now and then doesn't hurt me. I think that humans
enjoy more variety in what we eat than Elth do."

Rather than get upset there, she
smiled, and nodded at him.

"Young Troy was saying much
the same thing the other day. I've been concerned since, that my cooking is
lacking in that. Variety. He showed me how to find new instructions on line? I
can read them now." She seemed slightly proud of that fact. Which she
should be.

After all,
he
couldn't
really read anything but English. Given how widely he traveled each day, that
seemed to be a mistake on his part. Still, he was proud of Merry, who had
earned her skill through hard work over time.

Zack nodded, then hugged her.

"I know! Isn't that great?
You're so wonderful. You know that right?" For a moment he worried that it
would be some kind of social taboo area, where praising her would be forbidden
or make her afraid. Instead she beamed at him, and let her chin come up.

"I was thinking... Maybe I
could try some different recipes? I know that you don't eat meat, but there are
many good things that can be made from other things. Would that be
allowed?" Her shining inner self was still smiling, knowing what he'd
think about that.

"Of course. Anything you
want. Now, I need to finish eating and then... Really, I have a light schedule
today. I should probably go and check on everyone? Then... Find a hobby? Maybe
straighten and clean the store again. It got a bit trashed earlier." He
told the story of the mistake made, and added in how the people had sort of
done it on purpose, being that way in general.

They were all pleasant enough,
but the Impresiise were kind of hated by almost everyone that met them, sooner
or later. In a way they were the trolls of the outer world. They made things
harder on everyone else pretty much just to get a response. Then they'd act
indignant when they got one.

Merry thought it was funny, but
had to run and help a customer, since she had a real job to do. Not that his
wasn't real, but he'd managed to get in help faster than they had increased the
work load. At the rate he was going he could take off for a week or two.

Not that it would really happen.
Though, thinking about it he had to wonder if that would be all right. Not for
weeks or months, but a few days. Zack thought about it for a bit, but didn't
mention the idea yet. After all, there was always something happening around
him. The idea that he'd be allowed to do something as frivolous as have fun
seemed nearly alien to him now.

Eating quickly, since he was just
used to do it that way at work now, he hurried back to the candle shop. Then
mainly tidied up. There were about twenty people in, but Lisa was much more on
top of that, though he did have an hour, between four and five, in which he did
nothing but go and shift more pilgrims around. It was harder on him, but he
took two at a time, and managed a thousand people by the end. It would take
nearly a month to get them all done at that speed, but would save them years of
travel. Then eventually, he'd have to go and get them on the other side, but
that would be in about six months from when they got there. The snake beings
weren't lazy in their devotions, it seemed.

Then he ended up staying late,
even though Lisa didn't have anything else for him to do for the day. She tried
to send him home, but he shook his head.