Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4)

by P. S. Power

  Zack shrugged, not caring at the moment if it was a bad habit.

  "Sure? We always should do our best that way. That doesn't mean you have to work with people that tried to kill you. Not all of them were part of that, but... Well, the people that you're talking to today, did. I can see you not thinking all that highly of them."

  She hugged him, smelling of soap and water still. It was a fresh thing, but mild. A lot of Shifters didn't wear perfume or anything like that. Too many of their people had keen noses, and would be left feeling ill if they were hit with anything too strong.

  She patted his arm, and left, leaving him to get ready. That meant combing his hair, which was still short and dark, and making sure he didn't have any hair coming out of his nose. Which he didn't. It was still really early, but when he walked out for breakfast, Libby was already gone. The Shifters were kind of military that way, Zack thought. Plus their headquarters were in a different time zone, an hour ahead.

  Merry was still there, needing to be taken to work after a bit, and the kitchen table, where he normally ate with Hilda in the mornings, was loaded with toast, oatmeal, and butter. Over by where the large woman would be seated was a plate of fried bacon, and about a half dozen cooked eggs. Also, today, a seat for Troy. That part was interesting and different, but it was there. Charli came in when they did, but didn't eat anything.

  Instead she made a cute face and shook her head.

  "How can you people eat in the morning? I always feel sick if I do. It's probably low blood sugar."

  Merry moved quickly, settling the food in the correct places, though Zack noticed that Troy got a bowl of oatmeal, too. There was no sugar on it, but it was very well spiced.

  He noticed that Troy didn't look at the tiny red head, though he smiled.

  "Hey, thanks. I'm normally asleep now. Holding down three jobs is getting to be a bit much." There was no talk of him quitting one of them, Zack noticed. Not until Claire got into the room.

  She faked a sigh, and sat down next to Zack, close enough that her left leg brushed his. She was in a skirt that day, which was a bit heavier than what she normally wore to man her embassy.

  "Well, if I get a say, I think that having you at the shop several times a week is more valuable than at the dance club. We can hire another bar manager, after all. It's harder to get good daytime help that can also line walk. Evenings? That way you can continue on at Lesser Shia, as their primary person?"

  They chatted about the idea, but Zack just ate, not really being able to care that much about the little things. He smiled and nodded at the right times however, and when he finished took his bowl to the sink, and rinsed it. Merry grabbed it, like it was a snake that was about to bite him, and looked scandalized by his actions.

  She didn't say anything about it. Instead she ran to grab the dishes from the others as they finished. Almost panicked seeming. About Zack having accidently done her job for her. Washing the dishes. Because that might have been him saying that Merry wasn't needed anymore. Rather than him trying to make her day a bit easier.

  It was an Elth thing, and the correct response was, difficultly enough, to say nothing about it, as if it weren't an issue for him. It wasn't really, but apologizing would make her feel worse. Like she was being demanding and trying to control him by being needy.

  So he hugged her instead, when she was done. That seemed to work all right, her inner self being mollified, and understanding that he was just being absent minded and had done that horrible thing, rinsing his bowl, by mistake.

  He smiled at the thought, and patted her back a little bit.

  "Shall we get everyone off to where they need to go?"

  That day it was vastly easier than it had been before. Charli helped Claire through the shortcut, and Troy did Hilda. So instead of making six trips, Zack just made the one with Merry, into the back of Something Wonderful. It was still a bit of a mess in the large back room, the work tables filled with wicker baskets, bottles of wine, jams, jellies, cheeses and a few stacks of things from Lesser Shia. Those weren't all recognizable to Zack.

  It was early still, but Troy was off to Lesser Shia directly, and Charli had baskets to make up. Hilda had an early client coming at the power lifting gym, which wasn't that unusual for her, since people worked out before work a lot. Claire had her day planned out, which meant she could use the extra time for cleaning, and making sure her shop was taken care of.

  "Luthor is set to call at nine. I need to get off for the day then." She leaned in and kissed Zack on the lips, her own being cool and dry. Charli moved to let them out into the front of the mall, so they could walk to their shops.

  Merry smiled at them all, and looked at Zack.

  "I'll have your meal at eleven?" She didn't wait for him to tell her yes or no, just assuming that her husband needed to eat, so would be around. That was a bit early, but it was the busy season, and the food court might even have people in it at noon now. Probably not, but it could happen, so Zack went for his food early.

  Candles and More didn't need to open up until nine, so nothing was scheduled for him until after that. He smiled anyway, and started to clean and tidy things up. The place wasn't horrible, but he'd been neglecting it for a while, being busy. That wasn't a great excuse not to keep on top of things however.

  So the candles were all dusted and faced, and so where the other items, including the rack of horrible shirts in white, red, and black. They all said "I heart Hartley" on them, and made him wonder who'd come up with that horrible phrase. It was almost certainly someone that he'd never met.

  If he had, then he was going to give them a crummy Christmas present that year. Jam. He'd give them a jelly of the month club membership, but would make sure to get the cheap one, so they'd get apple jelly three times in twelve months. That would show them.

  Smiling he opened the door and made certain all of the lights were on. Lisa wasn't in yet, but that wasn't too odd.

  The store opened at nine, as a rule, but Lisa Penbroke rarely did mornings well. That meant that rolling in at about ten or so wasn't that uncommon for her. Most days she didn't even try to book things until about then.

  Still, that day a large group of people, all looking rather square and blocky, being both short and wide, pushed into the place at about nine-thirty. That wouldn't normally have been a big deal, but there were nearly three hundred of them. The store wasn't nearly big enough to hold them all comfortably.

  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 shou
ld 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.