by P. S. Power
They sat, discussing plans for a while, until a knock came at the door. Don opened it, but just stood there, gaping a little at the girl in the hallway. Kate looked past him trying to see who was there.
“Yoga girl?” Don proclaimed, then realized she probably had a real name and didn't answer to that one at all.
Kate saw it then, the thick link from her to Don, ropy, purple and silver intertwined, a bit like the one between Glen and Charli had been that day at the food court, when Riley warned them about his aunt. Kate just asked the woman in, not knowing if she was the one or not. If so, she'd certainly picked a nice shape to present herself in.
She didn't have to wait long at all for an answer, since the woman looked at Don and spoke, bluntly for her kind.
“Hi Don... Yes, I guess I could be called that, here in this time and place. I'm... I don't know how to explain this quickly, but we have a deadline here, we have to do this tonight and I don't have time to get you to do the right thing the normal way, you just have to do it. I didn't know what to start doing until about an hour ago when everything fell into place, so I have to pray Riley wasn't trying to trick me somehow, or if he is, it will allow the universe to stay in balance.”
The woman didn't ask to sit, standing in front of Don and then looking around at the others. She seemed incredibly uneasy for some reason.
“Um. Well. I guess I should explain, but there isn't time...” Yoga girl closed her eyes, as if trying to come up with some way to say the next words. To Kate it seemed clear that she wasn't having a lot of luck, making small gasping sounds under her breath, almost like little sobs. Don wouldn't be able to hear this at all, but he could see part of what she did inside, kind of like Zack could, reading her mind. What she actually thought deep inside. He looked at her and shuddered.
“Fuck!” Was all that he would say for about a minute. He just kept repeating it over again as the woman went on, finally explaining out loud what was needed.
“Right. Fuck. These killers are going to leave here soon, tomorrow at the latest. If we don't catch their attention and hold them here. No one else can do it Don... I'm so sorry...” Tears came to her eyes, one escaping and running down her cheek. “I'm so sorry.”
First Don started shaking, cradling his arms against his chest weakly.
“Fuck. Right...” He took a huge gasp of air into his lungs, exhaling fully.
“So, I need to become a girl and do that stuff? There's really no other way?” His look seemed resigned, but he looked at the trickster anyway, not giving up hope yet.
She shook her head and swallowed, “No. No one else would survive it and if they get away, the world will be... Affected. Not quickly, but the balance will change and tilt in ways we may never right again.”
Don stared at her, not blinking or moving, for a long time, she looked back, still crying, but not breaking eye contact with him. Finally he nodded weakly.
“Let's do it then.” He said weakly his voice dark and sounding a little sick.
The Trickster explained what they needed, tracking devices from Willet, or more exactly his strange friend that came the first day, a change for Don, and one for Nikki into Dwayne, as soon as she woke up.
“Blaine, you'll need to do that, because Kate has to go and do something else...” The woman turned to her and handed her a piece of paper with three addresses written on it.
“Go to the first one and find the man there and take him to the other places. You'll understand when you get there. You need to leave now though. We'll need you back here as fast as possible. Change Don though. He needs to be cute, but not like your kind of person. More average. Can you do that?” The question wasn't really a question at all. Kate thought for a minute and then moved to Don, who had stripped out of his clothes and laid on the bed, Britney directing him. He looked... Sad and more than a little scared, but he wouldn't say anything other than to laugh weakly and tell them all not to worry.
"It's... I just might end up being a little uncomfortable. That's all. Nothing to whine about. I'll be fine."
He smiled at them, trying to be reassuring, and failing. Given what they were doing, Kate got the general idea, she thought. She just hoped that he really knew what he was doing. That the Trickster in their midst was playing things straight with them, unlike the stereotype that hung around them all. If he was hurt and it was all just a gag or prank, then Yoga girl was going to find herself in a very uncomfortable position. Her kind were powerful, on a level that very few could match, but that wouldn't protect her for long if the Line-Walkers all decided she needed a lesson of her own.
After about fifteen minutes of working, the girl that was left on the bed looked... cute. Probably good enough to get a job in television as the best friend of the hot girl on a sit-com. The kind that would eventually take off her glasses, shake out her hair, and suddenly become beautiful. The Trickster looked at the girl and then nodded to Kate.
“Good enough. I'd have liked it if she were a little less pretty, but we don't have time to quibble and this will work. Now go Kate. Your task is just as important. Hurry!” She didn't push at Kate trying to get her to move, but it felt like she wanted to. “Run fast friend. Lives depend on you today. More than you know.” She called out as Kate moved into the rift that would take her into Don's room at the house back in Washington.
She made the step over well, and on the first try, which surprised the heck out of her, but instead of stopping to wonder at how she'd managed it, she ran, looking at the paper in front of her. The address, the first one, seemed familiar. Not like she'd been there before, but still, like she'd been close by.
It hit her that it was very close to Zack's old house. The one he and Troy had shared for years and that they finally bought a little over a year before. Was it a year and a half, yet? She knew how to get close to it though, from the mall.
She headed to Something Wonderful, running through the back door, out of the kitchen, and stuck her hand out, seeking the rift there, a big one that Zack had made, so it was really straight, she realized suddenly. Easy to use compared to the natural ones. She recalled what the others had done each time easily once she got that part of it. It didn't take a twist or side-step, just walk through, hitting the right spot and making a slight, almost imperceptible shift of weight to the right as she moved.
The scent of fruit potpourri hit her as she entered the basket shop. Charli worked the front desk. Kate almost shot by, but something stopped her when she saw the girl, who looked more professional than she'd seen her before. No jeans and t-shirt today, but a skirt and blouse with a matching jacket over it, all in black. It took Kate a bit to remember that Charli was the Assistant Ambassador, not just a store clerk anymore. Right. She was even more important than she always had been. Not just a Human to keep in the dark, but one of her people.
“Charli! We need to gather all the walkers, and any fighters we can. I think something is about to happen at Lesser Shia, but it could be nothing. I can't take that chance. A Trickster is involved... I have to go, but I'll be back if I can. Just in case though, get everyone you can?”
She didn't wait for an answer, just ran, her sneakers pounding the red brick tile floor as fast as she could go, passing all the stores and not even bothering to stop and warn anyone else. Charli would do it, and she couldn't spare the breath to talk right now. In the parking lot she hit the natural rift that would lead to Zack's old place. Trying to remember what he'd always done, she moved to step through, trying to twist and shift in a pattern she must have seen hundreds of times.
Nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.
Not knowing what else to do, she focused as tightly as she could, concentrating her mind to a point where the world around her nearly stopped moving, or she thought that might be the case with the last bit of her mind that wasn't purely committed to the problem at hand. Then that bit locked in too place as well.
The links were there. She couldn't walk this rift, it was wild and shifting, to
o much for her meager skills. What did she have that would allow her to make it happen? She looked inside, searching every part of her being for the key, and finally found it. The single greatest strength that she had as an Alede and even as a being. Her friends.
She turned and ran back to Candles and More, hitting the door so fast that the glass cracked as she opened the door. Zack was at the desk eating a sandwich, which didn't shock her too much, he ate a lot now, after his link had been formed to Claire. It looked good, but didn't seem like something Merri would have made him, Xan's work then, probably. It had cheese and vegetables on it and smelled of a tangy sweetness.
“Zack! Help... Your old house, now!” She didn't wait for him, just turning and running again, not hard enough to hurt herself, but moving a lot faster than she normally would. Claire followed them from her store, at the rift Kate turned and saw her, matching them all easily, her light blue skirt swirling around her legs as she moved. Her shiny black slipper like shoes tapping the pavement softly compared to the clomping sound her own feet made at these speeds.
“Claire, organize with Charli.” She called, holding her arm out for Zack, who jerked her through the rift so suddenly and hard it almost dislocated her shoulder. She shrugged it off as they stood under the tree, in the yard across the street from the little white house that hadn't looked like it had changed at all since she'd last seen it.
She looked at the address and cast about, explaining the numbers to Zack.
“It's odd, and that side,” She pointed to his house. “Is even. So it's this side of the street...” It took them about five minutes to find it, walking down the street several houses before they realized they were going the wrong direction. They cut through the yard with the elm tree they had just appeared under, so they could see the front side of the houses where the numbers were. They walked up and down the street twice before seeing that the green house, the same one that they'd trespassed into the yard of just moments before was the house they were looking for.
Kate shrugged, “Look, this could just be to get us out of the mall or something. It's info from Riley's aunt, but I don't know how trustworthy she is. She may have just been getting rid of me... I know she has Don doing something that he really doesn't want to, but no one told me what it was. That can't be good, given the situation there at school.”
Zack shrugged too, and pointed at the door.
“We're here. Should you knock?” He said this with a flat sound to his voice. She noticed that they were both moving faster than normal still, and tried to slow down enough that whoever answered the door, if anyone did, might have a chance of understanding her. She thought Zack did the same thing, but she couldn't tell for sure. He always seemed a little out of step, and like he wasn't exactly meshing with the world around him. He smiled at her as they moved up the front walk and matched her speed.
From inside the house, Kate heard a strange sound, like popcorn popping. Staccato beats, without timing or rhythm, but faster than that and louder. She couldn't place the sound at all. She went to the door and knocked firmly, hoping that this wasn't just a wild goose chase. Nothing happened for a time, so she knocked again and called out, “hello?”
Just as she was about to turn and walk away, Zack put his hand out and the door handle started turning. The door opened slowly, tentatively. Shyly a head peeked around it staring at them. Kate felt it then, that fear, a desire to run almost over took her then, but she held her ground. Zack actually took a half dozen steps back.
The man in gray. No longer wearing gray at all, but shirtless and wearing spandex exercise shorts, covered with sweat, looked at them both and smiled sweetly.
“Hi! I... Didn't think I'd see either of you again. I was just exercising...” He didn't seem to know what else to say and just stood, obviously feeling a little awkward. He invited them in, telling them that he needed to throw on clothes if he were going to have guests.
Inside the house the whole thing felt humid and smelled vaguely of sweat. It wasn't stale though and the smell underneath it showed that the place was scoured with cleansers regularly. The living room was a gym. There was no sofa or even chairs in the place, just heavy punching bags and weapons along a wall, a wooden man, something Kate recognized from her own training, but had never used herself, stood in the far corner. The floor was hardwood and worn to a dull smoothness instead of polished.
The man left them standing and called out to them to make themselves at home with a chuckle, clearly knowing how strange that idea would be to anyone other than him. He came back a minute later, looking a little drier, wearing a t-shirt that hugged his lean form and a pair of loose pants. He sat and slipped on a pair of soft looking shoes that looked like slippers that had a single separate space for his big toe on each foot, kind of like mittens. Kate swallowed and tried to overcome her desire to flee from this place.
If the man had felt deadly at the party in the open room, this place seemed a thousand times worse. She took a deep breath and nearly choked. The pheromones weren't right, she could tell, not signaling sex, but violence and danger. She took a second and started again, humid air tickling her skin.
“Um, hi. I was told I needed to come and get you and take you to someplace really far away. I wasn't really told why, but I'm guessing that if we're getting you it isn't to going to be about eating cotton candy, you know?” Kate found herself shaking a little bit, but tried to hide it. No need to insult the man after all. As things stood, she, they, owed him already. Probably more than they could ever repay. The man kept smiling.
“OK. I guess I can see that, but why you'd need me I can't guess. I don't suppose I have time to shower first?” He smiled and made eye contact with them both. Zack shook his head, but stayed back as if trying not to close with the being in front of him at all.
The man locked the door on their way out, just following him as they walked to his back yard. Zack took Kaitlyn's hand, standing in front of the elm on the street side, she reached out for the man's arm, but he took her hand instead. Panic raged through her, her breathing becoming shallow and she had to force herself to not try and shake his hand off.
He looked hurt, it showed in his eyes, but he followed them through the rift to Underwood without comment.
“You're the ones that kept walking into the tree? I'd thought I'd lost it there for a while. So you were going to a mall? OK.” He chuckled a bit when he said it, trying hard to show them both that he was friendly. Zack stepped away as soon as he could, but Kate held her ground, even though she felt a bit like she might wet herself.
She knew that the effect he had must be powerful, since she didn't even start sending sexual signals to placate him first. Her own biology had realized that wouldn't work and simply tried to get her to flee. Her only hope of survival here, it screamed at her, ordering her to run from the gentle looking smiling man.
She opened her hand and he let go instantly, as if dropping a burning ember, rather than the hand of a soft looking girl. They jogged to Candles and More without speaking. It was tense, and scarier than it should have been, Kate thought.
They found a crowd in the back, near the node, ready to go. Into a war, it looked like to her.
Alfric standing in two lines, each in shining armor. Next to Hilda and Troy stood a wall of Trolleinkein. Riley stood in combat armor that looked like something a swat team member would be wearing, standing next to his sister Rose, who was dressed in armor too, but hers looked more like chain mail. Near the back of the decently large node room stood three Djinn.
They walked in, Zack first, then Kate, followed by the smiling man. When he entered everyone in the room moved back, away from him, except Ghurian. The ancient Djinn held his ground and moved forward after a beat. He bowed to them all.
“We were told by the Tricksters and by the Lady Charlotte of your embassy that there may be need of us, but no one knows more than that. Is there more information you can provide?”
Kate hated to tell them no, but she really didn't
know more. She shared exactly what Riley's aunt, Yoga Girl had told them. Riley laughed when she referred to the woman that way, but didn't share a name, just letting her talk.
“So, all I know is that I have to take this man,” She pointed to one standing between her and Zack. “To Lesser Shia and then to an address near the college I go to.” She shrugged.
Everyone agreed that she and this being next to her should go first, just in case that turned out to be important, but promised to follow with Zack hard on their heels, just in case.
She took the man's hand, shaking a bit more noticeably this time, and stepped into the node, then out of the void to Lesser Shia. Booming sounds came from the market place, and screams. She dropped the hold and ran, as fast as she could then. She outpaced her friend, but not by as much as she would have thought she might, knowing that in her rush she'd pushed herself into a blurring speed for a bit. Faster than the quickest Human sprinter by far.
When they got outside, it looked like a war was taking place. Being a simple market place, it didn't have any defenses, except for the guard, a group of beings that were more used to clapping a being on the back and suggesting a different course of action than even slapping them into shackles. If they saw three fights a year it would have shocked Kate to no end. Today they bravely moved into the streets, trying to protect the citizens of the city. And died.
The man, if he was Human at all, started fighting without hesitation. Whirling away and making things, both visible and not, fall with loud impacts. Unlike the last time she'd seen him fight, this time he didn't hold back. The idea that he had before shook her. She didn't let it stop her, summoning the energy lines around her hands, trying to form blades like before. She went after the closest thing she could find, a being that looked familiar, a bit like the invisible ones from the party, only smaller and helpfully enough, visible. A soft silver color that was nearly translucent. She cut it in half and moved to the next one.
