On the Line (Alternate Places Book 3) (17 page)

Don stared at the wall, which was plaster board covered with
a brown paint. Lines of attention coming from his eyes sharply, clearly cutting
through the near dark in the room. He looked at dust and specks that clung to
things, energy bouncing to the wall and back again, making slow ripples in the
lines. His concentration was intense she knew, because she could
see
it.
Zack moved in beside her, taking her hand.

“How did it go? I see you're still alive, which I knew
already, but how do you feel?” He didn't look worried at all, just interested
in her response. Lines of green and blue danced around and through him,
following circles in the air.

“I feel pretty good actually. I can see a lot more now, and I
think I know what more of it means. I...
Believe
I can read emotional
connections more easily, too. Plus the thoughts carried with the emotions. I
can see the energy circulation around you now. Though I think it must look
different for me, because I just see a few lines running around like this.”
With her finger, she traced lines in the air.

Don had turned to stare at them.

“That's what I see, but it's moving all around you,
constantly, flowing like water, not just in single lines, I think I can follow
what she's seeing too, a little. Odd. They look like gaps in the greater
pattern.” He sounded flat, emotionless. She remembered that in herself, the
first few times she came back from the void.

“How long were we gone do you think?” The boy, no longer a
boy in any real sense, though his body still looked the same as when they'd
gone in, which couldn't have been long. He addressed this to Zack, who he now
shared a strong, blue line with. Energy passed from one to the other easily. As
she watched it started fading, but it told a story of closeness and familial
ties.
She
shared a line like that with Zack as well, though it looked a
little different, maybe because she was an Alede?

“I think a little over four hundred years for us. I think
Kate's experience would be about the same, as the focus that set it in motion
came from me originally, unless you changed it, Kaitlyn?” Moving toward her he
reached out, taking her by the shoulder, establishing contact so that she'd
remember to speak out loud, she understood, since he sent this information to
her directly on a line of focus.

“No, I just rode what you started. Well...
that
took a
while. We'd better be getting back now, don't you think? I have work to do
tomorrow, and so does Don.”

They went back to the house quickly, traveling in silence,
but moving eerily as one, walking in step, moving left and right as a group
without thinking. When they walked back into the kitchen, Merri stared at them,
watching them all carefully. She pointed to the stacks of boxes and baskets on
the table, which was enough food to last them for several days, the four of
them, she said.

Don walked to her and took her hand. Instead of saying thank
you, he bent over and kissed her on the cheek. Then he took a large stack of
boxes and walked into the living room and waited, holding the large packages
without moving. After a moment the other two followed, also carrying large arm
loads.

It took three trips to get everything across, but they did
it. Before leaving, Zack bent over and whispered to the other man for a long
while. Soon circulating forces moved into and around him, just like they did
Zack, though weaker and more shallow seeming.

The Line Walker gave her a kiss good night, then left them
both there, staring at each other.

She made herself smile.

“Remember to go to class and eat. Especially for the next few
days. It's going to take time to readjust to this world. I've never been gone
for this long either. It's... Interesting, isn't it?”

The boy, the ancient boy in front of her, told her it was and
promised to do his work, brush his teeth and keep on top of things. Then, after
giving her a hug that lasted for several minutes, he left her alone, saying
that he needed to go and get some sleep.

She envied him that right now, sleep.

He could walk away from the world for a while, find rest, at
least she hoped he would, and come to terms with things later. She had to do it
all right now, and find activities to keep her busy while she waited. She finished
her paper, then wrote another, the words coming easily, the sources pulled from
memory with near perfection, so that she could easily look them up online. In
six hours she'd written nearly eighty pages on specific examination of Etruscan
art, and how it influenced trade and even monetary practices throughout not
only the Etruscan region, but the later empire of Rome.

The lines she saw in her mind painted a clear picture,
including some things she didn't bother to mention, such as how the Etruscan
religion with its negative presentation of Gods influenced the Christian attitudes
that came later. The god of the old testament had clear links going back to
that time period.

She bound it up and went to her classes as usual. After art
history, she waited for Professor Eilis, and asked him if he'd look over the
longer paper for her.

“I know it's not on the syllabus, and may not be very good,
but if you could check and make sure that I'm not just smoking crack on the
theories, that would be great!” She put her hand on his arm, hoping he'd take
it as flirtatious, he grinned at her instead and thumbed through it quickly.

“Sure, but if it sucks I'm making you rewrite it until it's
at least readable, all right?” He put his hand out to be shaken, the lines
coming off of him showed interest in her. Honest interest in her
mind
,
not her body. How unusual, she thought, while she shook his hand, trying to
make herself seem normal externally.

Dinner tasted of nothing, as she and Don waited for their
friends. Jelly sat next to her and kept trying to hold her hand, which was
fine, since she didn't want to eat anyway. The twins finally walked through the
door carrying trays and scoping out the room, neither of them settling for a
while, as they searched for other kinds of food in the crowd around them. She
hadn't realized just how preoccupied they were looking for sex all the time
until now. She didn't
blame
them, of course, but she also wondered how
they missed all the interest they caused.

They moved to practice fighting like normal. Don surprising
them both with his new focus. He wasn't untouchable, but he moved cleanly now.
At least as well as Blaine did and slightly better than Brit. Kate however
had
become nearly untouchable, the others trying to chase her around the room,
punching and kicking at her, all of which she avoided easily, without anyone
even coming close.

She showered and changed quickly to make her meeting with
Jelly. That was already off to a promising start for her, she knew. The hand
holding had been sweet, but also worked to move them past that portion of
things. Now she just had to get the girl back to her room later, and start in
on taking things
much
farther.

The Geology Museum was actually fascinating. After a while
she realized that Jelly had grown bored, even though geology was her major.
Kate took her by the hand, and led her back to her room, which wowed the girl
nearly as much as it had Britney, a little over a week before. It impressed
Jelly so much that she hardly even noticed as her clothing came off. Kaitlyn
harvested the energy from her as they had sex, trying to help the girl reach as
much pleasure as possible. Without cheating at least. An Alede could pump
excitement, and pure pleasure into a person pretty easily, but she just used
her skills, not wanting to addict her friend. After several rounds of this, she
remembered to orgasm herself, since the other girl's ego was involved in it,
she realized.

They cuddled in the afterglow. If Jelly noticed how distant
Kate felt, she didn't mention it. From the lines coming off of her, the other
girl just seemed very happy, and a little in love. Not so much that Kate needed
to worry. Not yet. It could happen here, in this situation, she knew, but all
life held risk. You couldn't avoid it perfectly and still live.

After Jelly left, a mere walk to another floor in the same
building it turned out, Kate sat and did nothing for a while, but stare at a
wall. Her mind relaxed and her focus increased over time. Eventually she sent
out a tendril of color toward the wall. Red... did nothing. Black made a small
thumping noise. Blue and green had no effect, not on the wall. Silver did
something
,
it made the wall glow for a while, but nothing else happened as far as she
could discern.

Having nothing else to do, she finally masturbated, laying on
the bed and thinking of Zack. Her fingers working quickly, finding her clitoris
as she'd learned in school and the spot slightly to the left of it where the
main nerve line actually ran in her personally. She triggered an orgasm after a
few minutes and just kept it going while she kept working on herself. Finally,
ten minutes later she grew bored with that too, and moved to school work.

The only thing she had due soon was math, but there was no
reason she couldn't work the problems that hadn't been assigned as well,
checking them to make sure she did the other work right, since the answers to
them were in the back of the book. She got most of them right the first time,
but had to recheck a particularly tricky one for a while before she found that
she'd simply forgotten to carry a two in the simplest portion of the thing.

The next day went by in the same fashion. Everything clear to
her, the lines of force and emotion speaking to her constantly. Not just from
people, but objects and even ideas, at least the ones in her own head. It was
fascinating in a way. Everything seemed so new and different, even though it
was all the same as it had been before.

When she came out from math class, a sound hit her from
across the commons. It carried with it a line. One that got her attention
instantly. It was red, but also held fear, not just anger.

First there was a small cry. It sounded familiar to her, from
somewhere. Then a thud, followed by the sounds of kicking. She saw where it
came from, and started running toward it as fast as she could. There, on the
ground, lay Blaine, a few spots of blood coming from him already, decorating
the white snow.

She ran as fast as she dared, her feet landing flat, shifting
her weight over them with each step, as Master Wu-Li had taught her to do by
oiling the smooth floor in the back room of his herb shop. As slow as it felt,
running this way would get her there a lot faster than falling down would. She
pushed herself, trying to make her feet move faster. Focusing as she ran, she
slowed time. It didn't go into that deep, slow crawl that Zack assured her
would be possible. Not yet, so she concentrated on moving, feeling her own body
slow, her limbs feeling heavier until she almost reached the scene of the
attack.

One man, large and beefy, sat on top of Blaine, punching at
him, though not too effectively. Two others stood, one kicked at her friend's
side and stomach when he could, the other stood back, ready to kick, but not
moving in yet. The greatest danger, she saw, came from the man actively kicking
him. He landed heavy blows repeatedly, and didn't seem to be getting tired at
all yet. She kept running at him and made herself not slow down, even though instinct
screamed at her to stop. To turn aside, or at least protect herself by
hesitating. She ducked her head and raised her right elbow instead, driving it
into the man's neck as she ran into and then through where he had just been.

The guy went down hard and didn't get back up. Unconscious it
seemed, since his life energy still moved. She turned to the next most
dangerous man in this situation, the one punching Blaine in the face and head.
The Incubus had protected himself, pulling the other man toward him and trying
to throw him off. The cold snowy ground acted against him though, his feet
sliding, not allowing purchase as he tried to push the large man sideways,
slipping again as he tried to work his way free. The men screamed at him as he
worked to escape. There were words in there somewhere, she could tell. She
heard them, but couldn't be bothered to make note of it.

She dealt with the next man by simply kicking him in the back
of the head. A simple stomping motion, which nearly made her feet slide out
from under her. Doing it again, ready for the slide this time, she knocked the
man out, then turned to defend against the third man.

It turned out that she didn't need to though, as Jelly had
run up and pointed something at him, making him fall down, screaming in pain.
Kate saw what it was, a small crystal, about the size of her thumb. A lot of
Mages used similar things, she knew. A shiny band of silver shot out of it,
hitting the man. The first attacker tried to get up, so she kicked him in the
groin as hard as she could, hoping that it would both keep him down,
and
prevent any breeding he may do in the future.

“Jelly, don't let that guy get up!”

The girl looked around, cupping her hand by her side, keeping
the small object held pointed toward that man, leaving him writhing. Kate moved
over to Blaine, who rolled to
his
side, and put a single hand out, so
that she could help him stand. Like all Alede men, he was small. Light compared
to the other men on the ground at the moment.

“Only three of them? Man I'm embarrassed.” Blood poured from
his mouth as he spoke, something white, a tooth Kate thought, got pulled from
the bloody mess of his face and quickly put away in a pocket. A different man,
dark skinned and even shorter than Jelly, so something under five two or so,
came over and handed Blaine a handkerchief, so that he could sop up some of the
blood. Just as they were about to leave, not knowing what else to do, campus
security drove up in a little cart.