On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (43 page)

Kate went to see what Merri had done with Chris, leaving the
others to make plans, since they seemed to have that in hand, even though they
didn't think about any of the
important
things. Such as friends and lovers
for the boy. She realized, of course, that at fourteen he'd be considered too
young for the latter, which seemed
mean
to her, since he was clearly
interested in that kind of thing. Still it
was
the custom for his
people, so they needed to try and hold to that, for now at least.

He seemed to get on all right with Hawk, so far, and if a
human boy his age didn't like the Alede women, she'd have to rethink what she
knew about reality all together. The Alede would all like him of course, his
looks were good, if slightly awkward and a little geeky, but that had its
charms too, Kate knew. She'd introduce him to Blaine, and possibly Britney... The
rest would come to her, she hoped. She didn't even know what he'd be interested
in. Sex, of course. When he thought he'd died, he mentioned lamenting doing so
as a virgin after all. Too bad Felicia wasn't around anymore, having gone back
to school. A thirteen year old Alede girl would probably be just about right
for him. Well, maybe they could have her visit over the summer?

In the kitchen Merri had given the boy a muffin that seemed
to be filled with strawberry jam and topped with something that smelled of
cinnamon and sugar, the boy ate it, looking around the room as if considering
something.

He saw her and smiled, “Hey, um, I wanted to thank you, you
know, for healing me and all? That really sucked. So, um, what do I owe you for
that...” He asked, sounding nervous, like he expected her to ask for his soul
or maybe more than that.

“Can I have one of your muffins?” She pointed to the plate,
so he wouldn't get the wrong idea and think she wanted his girlfriend
or
his
behind. She didn't know that muffin would be slang for either of those things,
but Humans had so many meanings for simple words that she always just assumed she
didn't know some of them.

Passing the plate over he watched her closely, like he
expected her to do something very interesting.

“I'm not a Vampire, I'm Alede, so we don't bargain and deal
as much. Not like Claire and Hawk or the others. Plus, I'm one of the people in
the Line-Walker government now, so it would be tacky of me to charge you directly,
right?”

In the kitchen, where Merri bustled from one task to another
using a lot greater than human speed, a soft chuckle came. She said, before
Kate could explain, that Alede were those that eat sexual energy and that normally
they'd ask for a return in
that
way. Her grin looked devilish as she
darted about. Kate watched Chris, who didn't react outwardly, but who sent a
tendril of interest toward her then, and one only a little less strong toward
Merri.

Sticking her tongue out at Merri she turned to explain before
the kid started getting naked.

“That would
normally
be true for my kind, we need that
kind of energy to survive. Right now though I get all the energy I need from
Zack and your brother. So I don't need to have sex in order to keep going.”

“Hmm, so you have sex with Zack and my brother? At the same
time? Cause
that
sounds a little kinky.” He grinned at his teasing,
probably thinking that his words would make her blush or feel a bit
embarrassed, instead she just answered with the full truth, since the boy had
to catch up fast, as the power structure of the world would be descending here
inside fifteen hours.

“Zack no, Don yes, and doing them both at the same time
sounds fun to me. But they aren't feeding me using sex, they both have the
ability to take energy from the area around them and pass it into other people.
Alede and Vampires at least. This is important, since I think you may be able
to do it too, eventually, and it's
rare
. If you can do that you might
also be able to walk the void in a few hundred years. That sounds like a long
time and it
really
is, but you'll do it in the void, so even though you
have to practice and work for hundreds of years, maybe longer, it won't make a
big difference in time here and you won't age. So people here will think you
haven't even been gone a day, even though you'll be a lot older. It's hard and
for a long time, but it should be easier on you, because you're younger than
Don was when he did it.”

He took this in giving it all some thought.

“Is it scary?” He asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. In some ways it's terrifying. You're sitting
in this totally empty space, without even a body. No one to talk to or anything
to see, focusing on a single thing for days, sometimes years at a time. The
better you get at it though and the harder you try, the faster it all seems to
go. On the good side, no one will be able to hold you easily once you learn to
use the nodes, and you might be able to use the rifts, like what we went
through earlier? I can hardly do it, but Don can, and there's no reason you
shouldn't be as good or better than he is at this stuff. I won't lie to you,
you can die trying it, or go insane if you don't hold your mind together or
even dissipate into the void. I don't even know if Zack will take you in. He's
the best at it, so you want him for that. You'll have to ask, if you want to
give it a shot.” She didn't say any more.

The boy finished eating his muffin and stood, started to
thank Merri, who turned on him instantly, fire in her eyes. Kate slapped a hand
over his mouth and explained the Alfric traditions as quickly as possible.

Chris paused and swallowed, “I mean... I appreciate your
feeding me. Those are the best muffins I've ever had.”

The small woman, nearly a foot and a half shorter than the
boy moved in and hugged him suddenly. He hugged her back, with a little more spirit
than he meant to, and pulled away embarrassed. Kate turned him around so that
he could find Zack and the others, back the direction he came from and gave him
a push.

Before she could finish two more muffins, one had an apple
spice filling that made her mouth water dramatically while eating it, Zack and
Chris came back in and walked straight to the back door.

“I'll be back in a while to get everyone for work.” Zack
called out, then they both took a few steps and disappeared.

Don went to bed, not realizing that Chris had left the house,
which, she figured, would be the best possible thing. For the boy to go from
one deadly peril to another inside a single day seemed like a little too much,
even to her, but it would probably give the kid the best protection possible,
since anyone, even his own parents, trying to take a potential Line-Walker
would probably find themselves blocked by nearly every government in the real
world. Claire had the mother locked down, sure, but the father seemed like the
kind that would try to kill the kid one day, then demand him back the next. If
she had anything to say about it, that wouldn't happen, ever.

Just before nine Zack came back and took everyone through to
work, asking Kate to cover the scheduled work, going off into the void before
she could answer. That's when she realized that Chris had to have been left
sitting there the whole time Zack had been gone, alone.

Just before noon, Zack walked through the node into the back
of Candles and More. Seconds later Chris followed him, on his own. Looking kind
of strange, but more animated than she or Don had been at first.

He looked at Kate and smiled sweetly, “That took a
lot
longer than a few hundred years!”

Then he laughed, manically.

Zack shrugged and smiled at the boy who looked at everything
around him like he was seeing it for the first time.

Taking the boy along with him, just by putting a hand briefly
on his shoulder, they walked to the front of the store, as they walked past
Jelly, Zack called back to her.

“Kate... See you tonight! Could you do Lesser Shia too?” Then
he walked out without pausing to see what she'd say.

“Fine,” she said to no one in particular. “But I'm getting
lunch
first
.”

She came back from the Lesser Shia node tired, but almost
caught up, having managed to hurry enough that she didn't feel too bad about
leaving early. She explained to the blue garbed translator that stood in the
room with her about the party and how she kind of
had
to be there, being
a head of state now, technically. The translator passed the word along and
asked her to wait briefly. Hathe came in quickly, nearly running it looked like
and looked down at the ground, almost mincing as he closed with her, the
translator doing the same.

“Ah... Kaitlyn, if heads of state are to meet, would it be
inappropriate for us at Lesser Shia to be there as well? It would be
advantageous for us. If it is allowable.” Hathe asked, almost seeming as if he
felt guilt about even daring to bring the idea up.

Kate threw her hand to her mouth, realizing the oversight at
once.

“Hathe! God! I totally forgot... It's all my fault... Lesser
Shia is perhaps the
most
important of our friends and I forgot to ask
you... Please come. I'm so sorry... All I can do is beg forgiveness and claim
being new as a reason. I'll take you myself... Please? Bring a friend or date
or whoever you'd like. Well, remember that I am new so taking
too
many
people would be hard, but a couple is what everyone else will be bringing, so
that should be doable.”

She didn't have to fake her mortification, since some sixty
percent of their business went to Lesser Shia,
not
including the half
days spent there doing business. And the translators. They should be
represented too.

She didn't know how to ask, so she just did and hoped that no
one would be offended. Hathe, being half businessman, half diplomat himself,
merely smiled and bowed to her, telling her that they would be ready within the
hour, if that would serve? She impulsively hugged the man, hoping that wouldn't
be too big of a breach of protocol for his people. He just smiled and bowed
again.

She got back to the candle shop, to find it empty. The rest
of the Mall nearly deserted as well. Something Wonderful had left the door
open, but no one worked inside. Instead of fighting with the rift, she called
home to see if Zack could come get her and got hold of Troy, who answered the
phone sounding incredibly professional.

“Line-Walker National, how may I help you this evening?” He
spoke smoothly, as if he'd been practicing the line. Which, considering Claire
had probably got him to man the phones, he probably had. The woman held great
store in practicing things like that.

“Troy, I'm in Something Wonderful and need a pick up now to
the house and to come back inside an hour. A bit of a snag...”

He calmly asked for a moment and a young voice answered.
After about thirty seconds a breathless Chris popped into being through the
rift next to the node.

“Hi! I think we're almost opposites Kate. I almost
died
getting out of the void earlier, but these short-cuts might as well be open
doors to me!” He put out his hand carefully, to take hers and walked her
through into the house. Where he turned and grinned up at her.

“I should be able to do that feeding thing though, which Zack
said might be pretty important too. He thinks I can do the line stuff too. That
doing it once shows that I
can
do it, so I get to be a government big
wig too! Tonight though, I have to play footman, because I promised Hawk.
Eugene
...
I'd go by Hawk too.”

His response to the centuries in the void seemed odd. Different
from hers and Don's at least. He came out with a constant stream of chatter
instead of being nearly silent. It made him seem more Human, rather than less,
a good thing over all in her estimation. Tastier, for one thing. Who wanted a
boring meal?

Changing clothes quickly, a dark red dress that Claire
assured her looked both stately and cute enough to get her laid, she headed
back to the rift in the living room, so that she could go to Lesser Shia and
pick up Hathe and whomever he chose to bring.

She waved to Claire and explained that she'd need Chris.
Claire snapped at her and said no rather firmly, they both froze, and then
burst out laughing.

“Claire, I need him to help me get Hathe and the
representatives from Lesser Shia... We kind of forgot to invite them...”

The Vampire gasped, her hand going to her mouth.

“Right, take Chris if he'll go then. We need to fix this.
I'll get with Merri and Britney, we'll make special arrangements for them.” She
ran off, blurring as she left the room.

She grabbed Chris, who stood talking to Don. Who... lectured
him about disappearing for hours like that. The boy just agreed and asked
forgiveness. It seems that Don hadn't been updated yet.

“Sorry to end your fun Don, but I need to steal Chris here,
he's going with me to Lesser Shia, we forgot to invite them! I can't believe we
all forgot them, can you?” She took the boy by the hand and walked off with
him. There, she hadn't given away too many clues, so the boy could keep having
his fun for a while when they got back.

Hathe looked shocked when
another
new line walker
appeared behind her to pick them up. There were three of them. Hathe and two
translators. Kate was ready to take them all back with her, one at a time, but
Chris volunteered to take one. She went over how to do it quickly, holding her
breath until he walked out of the node with the translator right behind her and
Hathe. She had the other Translator within moments, then the boy offered his
arm to each in turn and escorted them through the rift, acting very proper as
if this was simply
normal
here. She realized he looked cute in his
little footman's outfit, even if it did look like something that you'd see in an
Italian renaissance painting. Complete with hose, half pants and a velvet
jacket done in black with a bright red belt around his middle and little
slippers instead of shoes.