Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) (40 page)

"She
doesn't look like Maria at all. Hi, Glenda. Troy Lopez. You need to get
home?"

Zack
nearly said something, but it was clear that his friend was prepared to find
the right world from her shadow, and that was enough. He'd gotten pretty good
at that kind of thing, over the last weeks.

Nodding,
Zack realized that he only needed to make a few more trips then, if Troy had
this one. He patted his friend on the shoulder, and then, on a whim, did the
same with Glenda, who didn't drop her large plastic wrapped bundle to hit him.

Her
voice was smooth, and pleased.

"This
might well help. I hear that you're paying for it all? Hathe here said that was
fine." There was a grin that spoke of her knowing that couldn't be true.
She also didn't think that she could pay for it, herself.

"Sure.
I hope this works. If it does, we can probably get more for you. I'll check in
with you, when I can. Things are about to get pretty busy around here. In
my
life, I mean."

She
seemed to think that sounded
fine, very happy about the weapons she had to try out, and followed Troy into
the node, not handing the gear off. Hathe held out the bill, the translator
behind him speaking almost at the same time that the man in charge did.

"It's
for three thousand gold coins. Rounded down greatly, since the shop keeper was
more than happy to haggle, given that it was for you. There are more battles to
come?"

Zack
nodded, slowly.

"Almost
certainly. We'll try to draw them away from here, but that isn't up to us. This
is... Kind of a big thing, in the end. There is a thing coming that..."
Shaking his head, he noticed that the slightly square man was becoming fearful.
"Well, it's
always
been coming. It's just our turn to address it.
I'll bring the gold here, in a day or two? That's a lot to move around all at
once and I doubt Lisa has it in the office."

Hathe
understood that, and was actually willing to simply take it out of the amount
that they owed him and Troy, which to his mind was the same thing, all of it
going through the node anyway. That would mean the debt was settled that day,
so Zack agreed.

Then he
patted the man, who was an old friend of his now. From a long time ago.

After
Troy came back, he waved, and spoke to his friend. It was an effort to make it
feel warm enough and genuine, but he tried, since Troy was worth the effort.

"I
need to get back and spend some time with people. Later, you and I need to
talk. There are things going on, and if I get removed from the playing field,
you might have to take over. Not that it will happen easily, or here, but just
in case."

After
all, Zack knew that his personal line wasn't going to end. Not unless all
reality, everywhere, was undone. Then all bets were off. Given an infinite
number of chances, it
would
eventually take place. It was his job to
stop it now. If he, and the others that were slightly like him, and not his
doubles, could pull it off, then that would be done for a small time. How long,
he didn't know, but it was enough.

His
part, theirs, was just that. Their part.

Nothing
else was needed, or could help.

Thinking
about that, he went back to his people. There was a lot to explain, and more to
figure out.

If
they could. If not, then, well,
it wouldn't matter, since nothing that existed would any longer. That, in the
end, was the real point. They either won, or not only did they die, no one else
would survive. More to the point, if the insane beings from the end of reality
had their way, none of them would ever have existed at all.

Including
all of the people that had no clue that any of this was even possible. That was
most beings, so Zack kind of wanted to avoid that.

The only
thing was, he really didn't know if that was even possible. They had to fight
the most powerful beings in existence, who had infinite chances at bat. Sooner
or later, that meant they were probably going to lose.

So with
that cheery thought, he made the rounds, recalling only pain for a while, and
wondering if never having been would be better than carrying that around
forever. It pained him too that he could see the idea of destroying all of what
was as valid, in some ways, just to stop that part from having taken place.

It
lingered with him, like a haunting melody, until he went to the Frozen YoGhurt
and found Claire there, smiling at him.

Then
he recalled why he couldn't let
that happen. There were things that were worth endless suffering, to make
certain they had a chance to exist in the first place.

Knowing
that, he understood why he had to go on, and protect them all. For the sake of
one undead woman.

It was,
for the time being, enough.

Other
books by P.S. Power that you might like
.

(All
books are in the suggested reading order by series.)

Young Ancients: (The First Cycle)

The Builder (Tor's first book)

Knight Esquire (Tor)

Knight of the Realm (Tor)

Ambassador (Tor)

Counselor (Tor)

Slave Line (Tor)

The Dark Half of the Sun (This is the first book with Timon as a
main character)

A Simple Darkness (This one has Tiera)

Ancient Kings  (Tor)

Lord of the Sky (Timon)

The Silence Within  (Tiera)

Kingdom of Stars  (Timon)

Goddess of the Moon (Tiera)

Envoy to Earth  (Gerent)

 Strange Land (Sara)

Young Ancients (The Second Cycle)

Lineage (Dareg Canton)

The Infected:
(The super-hero stories)

 (The Beginning Arc)

Proxy (Brian)

Gabriel (Denis)

Cast Iron (Marcia)

Proxy: Reunions (Brian)

Cellophane (Penny)

Goblin (Tobin)

Reunions (Brian)

 Ghost Girl (Becky and Scott)

Impulse: A Whole New Day (Bridgette)

War Day (Brian)

Dead End:
(Zombies, people with powers and the end of the world. Everything
Jake!)

A Very Good Man

A Very Good Neighbor

A Very Good Thing

A Very Dark Place

Dead End: Stories from the End of the World the Definitive
Collection (This has all of the above books, plus a load of short stories from
other perspectives.)

Gwen Farris:
 (The story of a woman who wakes up
in a magical steampunk world. Into a better life than she ever dreamed of.
Which is still pretty darned dark and gritty.)

Abominations

Monsters

Strangers and Lies

Tremble in the Dark

Friends and Enemies

Keeley Thomson:
 (The Greater Demon Universe, in
suggested reading order. There are several sub series, marked in bold below)

Demon Girl

Keelzebub

Mistress of Souls

Demon Trap

Demon Bait

Related works
: 

Christmas of the Vampire

Friendzoned (Becky Hoader. This book takes place in the Greater
Demon Universe, but isn't supernatural, and is instead a coming of age novel.
You'll recognize a lot of other names however! Also there are some things that
will be very different once you know what's going on...)

Other Places:
(Zack Hartley)

Shortcuts

Road Blocks

Detours

Alternate Places:
(Zack Hartley, but a totally
different one! These were the first three books written by P.S. Power. Then
everything changed.)

Mr. Hartley

Between

On The Line (Kaitlyn's first book.)

Eve Benson:
(Everything Eve!)

Finally Dead

 Dead and Everything

Dead Certain

Tyler G.:
(All Tyler!)

Living Proof

The Living and The Dead

Among the Living

The Lament:
(This is a stand alone, complete
series.)

Without Rhythm

Off Center

Missing Elements

The Greasepaint Chronicles:
(Mystery series. It's
about a clown that solves crimes. The whole thing is rather dark.)

A Fear of Clowns

Stand Alone Novels:

Josh and Amy: Something to Think About (Soppy author insertion
love story, clearly, as written by a person that clearly has issues with their
past, and a strong fantasy life.)

An Unrelenting Terror (The worst book that P.S. Power ever wrote.
An experimental horror novel. I'd skip it, or at least read it in a dark room,
all in one go.)

Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Tale  (Because Thanksgiving has no other
good stories. Now it has one!)

Cheat (A science-fiction novel. Strong MGTOW over tones.) (MGTOW-
Man Going Their Own Way.)

Countess of Desire (Young Ancients Romantic Moments) (Um, this one
is Young Ancients porn. So if you don't like that kind of thing, just give this
one a pass. On the other hand if you
do
like that kind of thing...)

Ijime: The Bullies (As Dan Abe) (Literary novel with an
anti-bullying theme. Very different.)