Mr. Hartley (Alternate Places Book 1)

by P. S. Power

  Claire came back with a cup of brown liquid twenty minutes later. It was unsweetened and tasted a bit like leaves, with no strong aftertaste in particular. So, as far as cups of things like that went, not too bad. He downed it in a few large swallows. Hilda got a chair from the back and sat for a time, then asked what needed to be done around the Candle shop. Clearly bored. He related his morning routine, sweeping and such and suffered watching her do his job for him. That was harder than he thought it would be. She did a good job too, working hard the whole time and being very exact about it all. While looking cute.

  In all Zack couldn't help but think she was actually better at it than he was. It was the good looking part that did it.

  Hilda was mopping when Lisa came in around ten-thirty. She smiled when she noticed who was working on the floor and that Zack sat behind the counter.

  “Did you hire extra help?” She quipped, a small smile on her face as she watched the larger woman sweep.

  “Nah, Hilda just feels bad because her older brother accidentally bumped me into a wall, so she's insisting on doing my work to make up for it. That's all. We don't get to keep her or anything.” He smiled and realized that the pain medication had taken effect and that he actually didn't feel anything except a little buzzed.

  “Oh? Too bad. It looks like business is going to pick up soon. We have orders to fill, due to those deals you made, or at least we will in the next week or so." There was a big pause then, and Lisa looked at him a bit blankly. "So, um, Deidre is coming for lunch, so you can meet her?” Her Shadow looked out of her and said, I want you to like her. She's my life.

  "I wouldn't miss it." Looking over at Hilda he called out the whole situation. It got the woman to stop for a second in her mopping endeavor and walk over.

  She seemed more somber about it than Zack would have thought, and Lisa seemed a bit worried. Like they were going to judge her or whatever it was that people did when they were being stupid?

  “So this woman is Lisa's? Her girlfriend? I got that right, because she is a girl, yes?” Her brow furled, wracking her brain for the needed information. “And this is two girlfriends, right? Neither is a boyfriend?”

  "Exactly. Lisa wants us to like her, but that should be easy. Anyone that's with her is probably a cool person, right?" She'd at least be all right, he didn't doubt. If she knew that Mages were real, then even a person as weird as he was might seem normal enough. As long as he didn't say anything annoying or too invasive.

  Zack managed to get the ordering catalogs from Lisa and organized them so that people coming in could look at them if they wanted the store to do a special order for them. He didn't feel any pain yet, which was nice. That meant he did enough work to not really feel like a total waste of space. At about one Claire came in with the next dose of pain killer.

  “What's this?” Lisa asked pointing to the cup.

  “It's a powerful pain killer. Did you see his back?” Claire asked the other woman.

  Not asking permission, Claire rounded the desk and lifted his shirt carefully. Lisa gasped in horror at what she saw.

  “Oh my god! Why didn't you tell me. I didn't know! You should be at home, not sitting here. Or a hospital. I'm so sorry, Zack...” Tears came to her eyes briefly.

  “He has a concussion too.” Hilda added blithely from across the room. “He rescued my brother from an army, getting injured in the process. Then carried my brother across hundreds of miles and came back from the Trolleinkein lands in time to open the store on time! And he's modest about it and turned down a huge reward, too. Because I'm his friend... It's a great story. The village bard said he'd be writing a song about it. I'll have to get in touch with him, so he knows to add the part about opening the store.”

  Lisa looked up as a slightly round woman came into the store. She smiled at Lisa, then looked around, noticing first the store and then the other people in it.

  “Hi!” She said brightly. Staring at Lisa a little. Her inner self, clearly Human or possibly Mage, which could sometimes look Human, depending on what they were doing at the moment, came to the surface and raised her eyebrows. Who are these beautiful women and what are they doing around my Lisa?

  “Deidre, this is Zack Hartley, who I've mentioned, this is Hilda, Zack's friend and Claire from the shop across the way. Everyone, this is my friend Deidre.” Lisa smiled, but knew that Deidre might be a little jealous.

  “Nice to meet you all.” Deidre said brightly, even as her Shadow growled and looked around suspiciously. The others Shadows presented themselves, but no one spoke on that level. Claire's growled back, probably feeling Deidre's reaction to be a challenge on some level. Which, Zack considered as he watched it all unfold, it was. The woman held together well on the surface, but deep down... Not so much. Jealousy and insecurity streamed out of her. That was odd, since it wasn't needed, but he doubted that telling her that would help, would it? After all, he had a lot of the same things going on almost all the time, and managed to ignore even the kindest of statements about him, didn't he?

  “I had a bit of an adventure last night, so Hilda's helping me out today. Claire just came over to bring me some pain medication. Herbs actually, but they work pretty well.” The new woman didn't seem to really trust this and said as much on the deeper level.

  “Hey, Claire, could you lift up my shirt for me, I want an unbiased opinion about how bad this looks. Deidre won't baby me like you all are. I can't see behind me, so all I'm getting is the girlish cries from these three. I think they might be telling me it's worse than it is so they have an excuse to make me do what they want.” Zack wrinkled his nose at them, hoping it seemed playful. Claire complied clearly feeling slightly riled by the curly haired newcomer.

  Deidre looked at it and said “My god... did you get hit by a truck?”

  She looked slightly horrified, but did accept then that the girls weren't there trying to swipe her girlfriend, at least not at that moment.

  Lisa suggested that they postpone the planned lunch date due to Zack's injuries. He wouldn't hear of it. Besides, he told them, here he had two lovely and highly talented ladies to watch over him, while at home he'd have one, most likely sleeping, roommate, that needed him to boil water for ramen half the time. Troy was great, but not a chef by any means.

  Mollified, they left after only a few more minutes of protesting.

  “What was that?” Claire asked sharply when they were out of Human ear shot. “She acted like we were poachers or something!”

  “Well, yeah, that's pretty much what she was thinking. Only about you two. No worries about me at all. I should probably be concerned that I'm not seen as a romantic threat, but there you have it.” He sighed gustily, then regretted it as his ribs twinged suddenly. So... no sighing for a while, he decided.

  After that, people started coming by in ones and twos, as word apparently leaked out of the last night's events. At first he didn't understand it, but Claire explained when she brought him a small, plain, frozen yogurt, and two large, far more complex dishes with extra toppings for Hilda. Clearly a concussion meant he couldn't eat whipped cream or chocolate sauce? It was still pretty good though, so Zack didn't whine about the slight.

  The Vampire looked at the door, and nodded a few times. Very precisely.

  “Yesterday you were a new thing, powerful, with a new talent, that had helped some Humans in trouble, your own kind. Today you're a person that might help anyone, of any race, in a pinch. It makes all the difference to some, your helping a Trolleinkein. That you took damage in the event and didn't use it as an excuse to strip Karl's land of wealth and populous is, well, it's huge, Zack. We should probably put someone in charge of these things for you so that you don't have to deal with a hundred pleas for help per day. We'll talk to Lisa about it when she gets back.”

  No one approached Zack directly, though a lot of new faces started showing up. When Lisa came back, with Deidre in tow, the store had eleven people milling around, most of them trying to get a glimpse of
Zack without it being obvious. But some bought things, which Zack managed to ring up, if more slowly than he liked.

  Valerie and Patty came in hard on their heels, followed by Riley the Trickster and Ghurian, head of the Djinn a moment later. Apparently they'd all followed Lisa when she came back from lunch.

  Claire made a phone call, then came over and suggested to Lisa that they meet in the back room, if that was possible.

  They all moved to the back, a few of the would-be patrons of the store following as if invited, which since they weren't asked to leave, seemed likely.

  Merle came in the door, and Hilda ushered him to the back too, where she stayed as well.

  Zack for his part, managed to make several sales and helped a nice older woman pick out some scented candles for her Christmas decorations. She apparently made centerpieces using real holly and evergreen branches for friends and family. They decided that apple cinnamon evoked the holiday best to both of their minds. It meant that he had to move to help her do this and then bring the twenty large candles to the front. He ran to the back... well... slowly hobbled to the back, and grabbed a box that he hadn't thrown out yet to put them in. Then waved to Hilda, who came with him and carried the candles out to the woman's car for her. He gave her a thirty percent discount, since she'd bought so many. It made her smile, and her Shadow self thanked him for the kindness.

  When Hilda came back she waved to him without making eye contact, and went straight to the back again. That wasn't a great sign, he didn't think. The part where she hadn't even glanced at him. It was pretty purposeful too. Like she was hiding something.

  They stayed for hours, Claire coming out only to get the next dose of herbs for him and make certain he drank it all.

  Master Wu-Li and Dan came in and checked on him, then also moved to the back. A few people came in with chairs, and later several pallets of food came from the food court. The small man from the Chinese place, Mac, separated out a box for him and a container with sweet and sour sauce before he went into the back rolling the food cart.

  By five he figured fifty people had gone into the back. The thing there was that he didn't quite understand why that would be. It had to do with him, he thought. The thing there was that he didn't even know fifty people at the mall yet. Why would anyone care about him?

  Which probably meant he was being silly and it was about something else that he simply hadn't gotten, because he was Zack, and reality rarely managed to mesh up with what he saw. At least parts of it might be that way.

  At six-thirty Beth and Barbara showed up as well. They didn't just walk by him, but stopped to talk first.

  “Mr. Hartley!” Beth moved to hug him and he held up a hand.

  “Sorry, injured myself a little. Do you want to see?” He was so bored he actually took a slight bit of pleasure at their horrified reactions to the bruising. “Don't worry, Master Wu-Li gave me some really strong painkillers. I'm not feeling much. How's Jennifer?” He asked belatedly, realizing he should have asked that first thing.

  The women tried to be positive, but it seemed clear that the little girl would have issues for a long time. Maybe forever. Her father had tried to kill her and had been killed for it in front of her. That would leave a mark on her mind.

  When they'd thanked him again, about five or six times each, he showed them into the back, claiming, truthfully, that all the praise made him feel uneasy. This made them laugh for some reason Zack didn't really understand. One of those social things he didn't really get most likely. Their Shadow selves couldn't explain it to him either. Or wouldn't. They went silent rather than trying to speak to him, so that was interesting. Especially since they both did it. Normally at least one of them should have explained it all.

  When Claire came out again to make another dose of Wu-Li's herbs, he gestured toward the back and raised his hands, trying to silently ask her 'what's up?', she answered with a grin and put a finger in front of her mouth signaling silence, then went off to make the herbs.

  After he drank the whole cup she said, “Almost done, I think,” then promptly left again.

  Half an hour later everyone came pouring out, most looking at him, some smiling, some just nodding to him as they passed, leaving quickly. They seemed happy enough, in general, with only a few people frowning, and none of those doing so in his direction particularly. The collective inner selves murmured and spoke in hushed tones, mainly about him, but with so many people it was hard to filter things out enough to understand exactly what the situation was.

  When everyone except Lisa, Hilda, Claire and Valerie had left he turned to them and finally asked. It was starting to bug him a bit, though he didn't let that show. “If I'm allowed to know, what happened back there today? Is something wrong?”

  They all looked at each other a little guiltily for a few minutes, until Claire finally spoke, waving her hand in the air as if dismissing the events as trivial.

  “Oh, that...We were all just planning out your future, that's all...”

  Chapter sixteen

  They insisted on taking him home before telling him what exactly they meant by planning his future. Not that he actually had plans for the future per-se, at least not past taking Hilda to her mother's in two weeks. Zack had just always imagined that he'd be the one planning it, or at least would have some kind of input into the scenario, if an actual plan were to be made.

  It wasn't comfortable, but Claire stuck him in her car for the ride, instead of letting him simply walk back and take them all through. The car had tiny seats and even his head hit the ceiling a few times as they drove. A Volkswagen bug from the sixties, he thought, not knowing cars well enough to be sure. They claimed it had to do with needing transportation later, but their Shadows all clamored about needing to buy time for something.

  Claire drove, saying nothing and trying to think of nothing except driving as they went, causing her inner self to mainly reflect that they thought he'd be angry with them regardless of the fact there hadn't been a lot of choice ultimately. It had been making some concessions now, or facing a possibly huge war later.

  They drove in silence for the most part, since Zack didn't actually know how to get from the mall to his house using the roads. It meant he wasn't needed to give directions. He decided to take some time to practice not thinking or remembering anything, especially if a betrayal might be coming. He'd been betrayed before, after all, so knew to expect it now. It hurt more than he wanted to recall. So for the moment he chose not to remember it.

  Half an hour later, four vehicles pulled up in front of his house when they did. Valerie didn't, even having left at the same time everyone else did, but Betty, Claire's servant showed up in a rather smart looking electric car. Much newer and nicer looking than Claire's, for some reason. She pulled several bags out of the seat next to her and carried them into the house as Zack made his way toward it a little stiffly.

  Hilda came up behind them, hanging back a little. Her Shadow kept telling him that she felt very sorry... and happy all at once. At least her main worry was about the damage Karl had done, the happiness... that came our garbled and barely made sense even to her.

  Once inside he made his way to the ratty old couch and sat down carefully. Zack knew that he should offer the couch to the ladies, but he didn't think he could get up again if he sat on the floor right now. Even sitting on the sofa was a bit of a risk that way. Exhaustion covered him, but he knew he had to fight it, so he did. It took focus, but by concentrating firmly, sleep and even drowsiness were pushed back.

  Claire went into the kitchen to prepare the next dose of pain herbs. She found the new pots and exclaimed admiration for his having purchased them. Then stated that the quality could be better, on the Shadow level. She told him that heavier pans with copper bottoms were more durable and heated more evenly. He filed this away for later, in case he ever needed to buy cookware again.

  Troy came out of his bedroom wearing only pajama bottoms. His lean torso had abs that seemed almost like h
e worked out, rather than just being too skinny like Zack was. He rubbed his eyes, looked at the room and nodded as if it all just made perfect sense. Then he went to the bathroom without speaking. Sounds of hand washing and face splashing followed and he walked back to his bedroom, coming out fully dressed in a relatively short time.

  “Zack, you okay, bud?” He asked this carefully, looking around the living room at the out of place faces. They were all women, so he didn't start out defensively, but he clearly felt a little uneasy at the same time.

  That just made perfect sense to Zack. In the year that he'd been there, he'd only had a handful of people come over, and all of that in the last weeks. This seemed strange and out of character, didn't it?

  “Troy, isn't it?” Claire asked, rhetorically it seemed, since she began to speak almost immediately. “Pleased to meet you finally, though I believe we've seen each other at The Tarantula before? At any rate, your friend Zack had an unfortunate run in with Hilda's very large brother and is in some pain. He has a mild concussion and isn't allowed to sleep, and also has some bruising on his back that will probably leave him uncomfortable for some days to come. He'll be all right, but he needs constant care for a day or two, so we may have to invade your privacy, I'm afraid. People will be coming and going and we're going to have to bring in some furniture so everyone can be comfortable. Is this all right with you?”

  She said all of this with no coercion or force behind it, just a simple statement of fact.

  Troy nodded his face closing down a bit.

  "Why did your brother beat him up?"

  “Karl didn't beat him up. He just accidentally threw him into a wall, really hard. It was dark and Zack kind of dropped in right next to him. Karl feels horrible about it.” Hilda spoke quickly so Troy wouldn't think Karl meant to harm anyone. That was a big deal in her world, it seemed. At least her Shadow kept claiming Karl's innocence over and over.