“The correct name for them are Demos. They do not look like your idea of demons, but they love to use glamour to change their appearance.”
“Are you one of them?” She finally turned her ahead to acknowledge Charon again.
He smiled that wicked smile which would have been sexy if she had not met Paul first.
“No, I am not. Many different people have wings. My race simply shares that trait with them. We had thought you might develop wings, but that seems unlikely now.”
“So I am a shield? Does this mean I should give up being a doctor and hire myself out as a bodyguard?”
Tara was impressed. Between her glare and Charon’s she really thought Paul would end up on the floor like a burnt piece of bacon. Instead, he just sat there looking proud of himself.
“What’s a doorway?”
“Now that’s the real question. You already saw Paul in action, although his talents are still growing, but you have no idea what you can do. A doorway is just what you think it is. It’s an entryway into another place or in your case another planet. When you master it, you will be able to use it on your world also. Remember, there is always more than one way to get somewhere. Your world wants to explore outer space, so they create ships with the ability to go faster than the speed of sound.”
He decided to sit. “I want to explore a different planet, I take a doorway.”
Standing Charon walked over to Tara. “Let’s take your abilities for a stroll.” Grabbing her hand he pulled her up from the couch. “There’s no right or wrong way to open a door, but I have learned that everyone seems to have their own rituals when doing it. It’s like driving. Some people hate the radio while others blast it, some wear sunglasses while others prefer the visor. No right or wrong way, but what makes you comfortable is very important when getting it done”
Tara threw Paul a look that said, I kept the hospital in one piece the least you could do is help me with the tall crazy alien. Seeing his look of helplessness she decided to tackle it on her own. “How about I figure what rituals I prefer and get back to you later?”
“Paul take her hand, we are going to need a shield.” He waited until Paul moved closer and held her hand firmly. Tara, some of your favorite retreats are on other worlds. I would take you there, but you would never believe it’s not your mind playing tricks. Instead, I will take you some place that will amaze you.” Taking her hand he literally reached out and grabbed at space as if it were a doorknob and twisted. Pulling back, a scene appeared as if a door had been opened.
Tara and Paul gasped at what was before them. There was a big expanse of water. It had to be an ocean, but not the surface of an ocean. It was the bottom or maybe even the middle. Large forms swam. They were dolphin like, but not quite. There were lots of smaller fish swimming around, but that’s not what had them gasping. There were humanoid forms swimming in the water. They had on very little of what would pass as clothing and they were not going to the surface for air. Charon tugged at them and the door closed. They were in the water and they were wet.
“How can we breathe?” Tara’s voice came out panicked as she felt the water surround her.
“Charon what’s happening here?” Paul echoed her trying to keep his voice firm and steady.
“This is an open world. They encourage visitors. Their whole planet is under water. There is no surface land. It is argued that at one point there was, but the inhabitants of this planet deny that. They breathe the air in the water and as you can see are humanoid in shape.”
There was a large group of children playing tag with some of the other fish as if they were pets. Their laughter was contagious. They would tap one and then swim in different directions taunting it with you can’t catch me. Tara found herself lost in the joy of just being. It reminded her of sitting at the playground and just listening to the joy of life. Fighting the urge to grab her chest as she felt pain stake her, she ignored the kids and swam, not wanting to be left behind. After passing couples and parents and what she was sure were grandparents, Charon finally stopped.
“My friend Lia lives here.” He walked up and touched what looked like a large rock and a sound that vibrated the water could be heard. “I hope she is home.”
What looked like a shimmering curtain was pulled back and they were greeted by a humanoid resembling a female. She was tall, maybe six feet, with eyes a shade of color Tara had never seen before. They were a pale yet shimmering almost blue color. Sea blue being the closest she could come to the color. She had a small chest and two arms, but her legs were different. She had two of them, but they seemed to sway in the water.
“Charon.” She screamed happily and then threw herself at him.
“Lia, it’s nice to see you again. Sorry to come unannounced, but as you can see, I have a door and a shield with me. They needed proof of what they are.”
“Charon you are always welcome. Come in.”
“The door is Tara and the shield is Paul.” He said, pointing them out before moving into the structure behind Lia.
“This is where I live.” She pointed out what looked like a series of caves. “From the looks of you, I am guessing you are humans. That is interesting, since you’re on the endangered species list. This is what you would call a house.”
“How did you guess we were humans? I mean just because we are on the list does not tell you what we look like.” Tara asked as she examined the room.
The room was bigger than she expected. She had to stop short of calling it a cave. The walls were decorated in a form of artwork she had never seen before. The furniture was made of out a combination of plants and another hard looking material. The seat and the back looked as comfortable as the new sofa Charon had provided for them. As much as she hated to admit it, this was not earth.
“Please have a seat.” Lia sat on one of the comfortable chairs and indicated for them to sit. Following her lead they sat. “Any world that makes it onto to the endangered species list is studied. So we are given pictures of the different inhabitants in case we come across them. Although you are humanoid, there is just something about you that screams savage.”
“Lia’s right. Although the galaxy is big, you will not be able to hide in it. Unlike some races that are so similar that telling them apart can be hard, humans seem to stick out.”
“Charon, how can Paul and I be here?” He lifted his head and looked at Paul.
“Tara, I think it’s because I am here. I know that makes no sense, but I feel like I am keeping us safe.”
“Very good Paul. When Tara activated that door with a push from me. You came online sort of speaking. Now every time she opens a door and you are there, your gifting will be activated without having to think of it. A door and a shield were always meant to work together.”
“That’s why, although I can tell the water is cold, I don’t feel the cold?”
“Yes, Paul’s shield is providing whatever you need. So not only do you not feel the cold, but you can breathe like you are a native here. As his shield grows, he will be able to do much more.”
“Why did you bring us here?” Paul asked curiosity lacing his voice.
“When I promised you something that would amaze you, Tara decided what it was she wanted to see. What would make her believe me? It was this and then she opened the door to where she wanted to go. Lesson number one: a Door can go anywhere they want to.”
“Lia we have time for a brief tour. Would you lead?”
Chapter Four
“Exactly what do you expect us to do?”
They had gone to the water planet yesterday. As hard as it was for her to believe, there was no way that could have been faked. She had seen the children and had even been given a chance to play a game of tag with them. Lia had pointed out the plant life as well as the variety of fish not seen on Earth. They had met her friends and even been given a tour of her home. When Charon had brought them back, they had collapsed on the couches he had provided and slept the night and most of the next
day through.
“I don’t expect you to do anything, Tara. Ok maybe I expect you to eat since you slept for so long.”
He sat on the couch with two plates of food across from him. He had pulled it out of the air the same way he had pulled the furniture out. Now that’s the kind of power she wanted. It would be more useful than opening doors to other planets. She had never wanted to be an astronaut, but she had dreamed of being Uhura as she watched old reruns of Star Trek. Come to think of it, the new Uhura was kick butt and she got Spock. Maybe she should start looking for her own spaceman.
“Tara, let’s eat. The two of you can have a staring contest after we are done.” Paul sat down and started to eat followed by her.
After eating everything on her plate, she eyed Charon again and waited. “It’s time for me to go.” Paul said standing as he looked at his watch. “My shift starts soon.”
“No.” Tara and Charon said at the same time. Tara shouted hers in panic, while Charon said his with authority.
“You can’t go back there, Paul.” Charon’s voice was matter of fact.
“Of course I can go back. I work there.”
“You’re right. You can go back, because that’s where they are looking for you. Why don’t you go back there and see if your shield will hold up under the attack of three Demos.” Charon tried to hide his growing impatience as he patiently explained the facts to Paul.
“Why would they be looking for me?”
“Because you were with her.” He said pointing at Tara. “Now you are a marked man. There’s a bounty on your head.”
“How do you know this?” Paul queried.
“Some of us did not sleep all day.”
“So you think we can stay here forever and be a happy little family of three?” Charon frowned and shivered when Tara said that. “Or do you think we will just go exploring and never come back?”
“No, I don’t expect you to hide out here forever. I simply don’t expect you to admit defeat and walk to your doom either. If either of you go back there, you will be dead. If one of you dies let’s just say the other is not too far behind.”
“I don’t understand. They want to kill me because I am a door? That’s ridiculous. If they kill me, what’s to prevent someone else from being born a door? Will they kill them too? Why did they not go after Paul before he ever worked at the hospital, since he was a shield?” She was ignoring the part about if one died the other would. Why? Because she was still convinced Charon was slightly off his rocker.
“They do not want to kill you, because you’re a door. There are thousands of doors on your planet right now. There is always a shield for a door. Sometimes more than one shield. Your planet is developing nicely as far as that goes.”
“Then why me?”
“Because you’re more than a door.”
That caught her attention. What could be going on that she knew nothing about? In the back of her mind she could hear her mother’s voice whispering something to her. No matter how she tried she couldn’t increase the volume on that whisper.
“What am I?”
“Now there’s the real question. When you discover the answer let me know.”
She advanced on him, directing all her anger and frustration on one target. She was going to have black wing angel soup tonight. Paul caught her around the mid-section and lifted her off the floor as she kicked and flailed her arms.
“He will not always be here to protect you.” Charon almost fell on his butt he laughed so hard.
“That’s what I love about you humans you’re so entertaining.”
“Let’s go for a drive.” Paul said putting her down away from Charon. “You can call me off in the car.”
With one last glare at Charon she turned and headed for the door.
“Kiddies,” Charon called after them. “Stop in the Tea room on Penn avenue.” Your second lesson is waiting for you there. He said before they were out of range.
‘Hi may I speak to Dr. Michaels?”
“Speaking.” The deep voice on the other end of the phone managed to get her attention for a minute.
“I am calling to say Dr. Paul Charles will not be in for his shift tonight.”
“Why isn’t Paul calling?”
“He’s under the weather and just woke up enough to have me call him off. He wanted to come in tonight, but I think he has something that is catchy and I wouldn’t want him to pass it around.”
“Have him call in later when he feels better.”
“Will do. You have a good night.”
“Btw, tell him I am glad he found a woman, but I never realized it was catchy.” He hung up on her with a laugh.
“Did you hear that?”
“I did. I never realized it was catchy either.” They are laughing at me. She tried to be mad, but a smile tried to creep onto her lips.
“You realize this is not funny. What if they came back for you and killed innocent people. That would be catchy.”
“I totally agree with you. It is never funny when death is catchy.”
Turning in her seat she glared at him and put her arms over her chest. She burst out laughing catching herself by surprise. “I guess you don’t say catchy in the medical field?”
“No Miracle, we do not say catchy, but if you keep smiling like that I will start a campaign to change that fact.”
She sat back with a silly grin on her face, reminding herself that she did not like him. Heck, she didn’t like anyone including that pompous fool Charon. She should have been dead by now. She had tried hard enough. She even managed to ignore that voice in the back of her head that said then she would have not met the hot Dr. Paul.
“Where are we going?” Conversation was better than listening to her oh so reasonable voice. Who had let that voice out of her sound proof cell anyway?
“Nowhere really. I just thought a drive would make things better.” Closing her eyes she nodded. Getting out was a good decision.
“Tara, have you met any aliens that are good?”
“Yes, I have met some. At the time I refused to believe they were aliens. In fact I thought I was losing my mind.”
“Tell me about some of them.”
“There’s this race with a name I can’t pronounce, so I call them the rocks. They look more like big boulders. It seems impossible for them to be intelligent, but they are. I stumbled onto their world one day when I was looking for escape. It may have saved my sanity, even as I was questioning it.”
“One day you will have to take me there.” He pulled up to the curb and stopped with a sigh.
“Where are we?”
“The Tea Room.”
“Why did you come here?”
“Seems I did not have a choice. I would say I was compelled to come, but that’s not right. There was simply no choice. No matter what I did I could not change our course. So I went with it.”
“You think someone wants to kill us?”
“Well, trouble does seem to follow you. Come on, let’s go fight for our lives.”
The Tea Room sat on a very popular street, although that street was deserted for some reason. It was a simple and unassuming store front painted in pink. The sign was white with pink swirls in the corner. There was a five star rating in the corner of the window, stating it was safe to eat there. They walked in and saw that there were several booths and a door to the kitchen. The other door seemed to be to the unisex bathroom. The walls were dingy and the booths had seen better days, but the place seemed to be clean.
A woman stuck her head out from the kitchen. “Take a seat. I will be with you soon.”
“Pick a booth.” He smiled at her as she picked one against the wall. “Why didn’t you pick the one closest to the door?”
“I thought about it. I figured if I could pop in anywhere, I would make sure the door was cut off. Then I would have my friends pop in behind the poor unsuspecting human. With our backs against the wall, we have a better chance of fighting our way out.”
The waitress came out and handed them some menus.
“Can I bring you something to drink while you look at the menus?” The waitress asked with a smile.
“I just want a cup of tea.” She tried to hand the menu back.
“I insist you look at the menu.” This time the waitress’s voice was not friendly.
“You think she doesn’t get any business or is she just that rude?”
“I think you have to look at the menu.” She looked up to see Paul’s head stuck in the menu. Reluctantly she opened it.
This was definitely not a menu meant for the normal human. It was filled with specials. There was the special for the door. The special for the shield as well as specials for other things that seemed interesting. What caught her attention was the specials for the Demos of destruction.
“We are neutral. We cater both to the good and the bad. We take no sides. We simply watch.” The waitress came back into the room looking as if she had never left.
Tara took her time looking the waitress over. On first inspection, she looked human. She was about five foot nothing with slightly slanted eyes and straight black hair. She looked oriental in origin, until you looked at her eyes. They were brown, but they seemed to go on forever. She acted as if the human skin she wore was a disguise, not a good one, but a disguise none the less.
“You should order fast. Order now.” The waitress’s voice had turned urgent and demanding.
“I will have a gatekeeper with a healthy portion of doorway with the Saturday surprise.” The more she talked the bigger her eyes got.
“I will have the shield combo with a side of badass. I will chase it with forever.”
The smile on the waitress’s lit up the room and the dingy walls shimmered for a minute with brightness that made Tara feel uncomfortable. Two steaming cups of something appeared in her hands. Her shape had briefly changed as she acquired the cups. The look Tara caught was definitely not human.
“Drink now.” Not knowing what else to do, they drank it down. They choked it down. She would not be recommending this place to any of her nonexistent friends.
Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) Page 3
