Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel (41 page)

Except
that, when caught, they
asked
for death, to release them from their
vows. Even probably knowing they could have gotten free of it all.

Which
had sealed the Count's fate too. Not that she'd planned to leave them alive
anyway, but they hadn't known that.

Really
though, she didn't think she could kill Chris. Not even if he were a murderer.
If that turned out to be the case, then she was simply stuck. All she could
think of was that whoever had come up with that plan, even if it required the
death of young women, had probably meant to help people, in the end.

To
save them all from a horrific death, at the hands of terrorists and monsters.
That was honorable too, except that in order to take away magic, they had to
kill people and countless more would die, when all transportation stopped and
everyone that used any kind of machinery just couldn't anymore. She'd seen how
helpless the people here were without their normal tools. Most would live, but
it would be a disaster of epic proportions while they worked out exactly how to
do that.

Then,
she realized something at least. She wasn't using magic herself at the moment.
This wasn't some kind of prescient blast of information, just her own nerves
running away with a few facts. Because... she really expected Chris to leave
her, or be taken away.

Shaking
herself she realized that she'd just been standing there, and thinking, for
long enough that Adam had started to speak, actually sounding reasonable for
once.

"Fine,
come in the morning and I'll have the proper Teletransport spheres ready for
you and Peter. Say, nine, our time?"

She
nodded, knowing that it wouldn't be heard.

"On
it, then. See you at nine."

Then
she left the room, only to be followed by Clara, who was still her maid, after
all.

At
least she thought that was the case.

It
was so hard to keep track of things like that lately.

Smiling
just a bit, and feeling better for having worked out that her own low
self-esteem was probably the real issue, she moved off to find something to do.
She really needed to take up a hobby. Then she remembered that she had that
book to write, and went to see about that. It wasn't too bad, so far. She
didn't think.

Bethany
Westmorland looked at the collection of killers on the train. There was no
movement, and her eyes were locked on the large man in front of her. The menace
poured off of him and his goons, all of whom held enough muscle to easily lay
waste to her, and her small friend, Gwen.

"If
you do this thing, if you take away magic from the people, you'll kill
millions. I can't allow that to happen. It ends now." The words were brave
and her chin was held high, as she went for the PC in her shirt pocket. That might
not be enough she knew, the magic in the area having been washed out, running
only about half the time, as waves of radiative instructions stopped it all
from taking place.

It
didn't matter. Outmatched or not, she and Gwen would have to stand. There was
no one else, and protecting people was, in the end, the job of a Westmorland.
Even if it meant dying.

Gwen
set her pen down, and smiled.

It
was a better ending to that scene than the real one had been. In the bit before
it, she'd gotten a chance to show Beth having a long conversation with the bad
guys, who were, in the end, a lot worse in the story than they had been in real
life. Carter Palmer was a puppy dog of a man after all. Or had been. Sally...

Well,
conveniently enough, Gwen had left out the part about her paying the woman to
blow Carter. She was dead after all, and in this place no one would look at
that and think
more
of her for being that dedicated to her job. Gwen
kind of admired her for it, to tell the truth. She would have freaked out and
said no, giving away the fact that she wasn't who she claimed to be. Sally had
sold the whole thing well enough that everyone, even Carter, had really thought
she was a professional that way.

It
was nearly like she'd been a real spy.

The
idea that both of them would take their lives, rather than talk, that was
strange though, wasn't it? How dedicated did you have to be to an idea to give
up your own life like that? Especially after the plan had failed already? That
part didn't make sense. The people here were brave enough, but no more than
back home, so people wouldn't be expected to really protect a
failed
plan like that. They couldn't have had a long time to become personally
committed to the cause and hadn't really known who all the players were in the
project. That meant whoever had put it all together was the kind of person that
could command that kind of... loyalty.

Here,
that basically meant they were a noble, didn't it?

Blinking
she put her papers away, then went to use the Telestator again. It was late,
but the person she wanted at Westmorland Central wasn't asleep yet. In fact,
eerily enough, he was standing right at the device when the operator put the
call through.

"Hey
sis, what's up?" Billy spoke without preamble, not even being told who was
calling, since the young female operator clearly didn't believe that Gwen was,
in truth, Gwen Farris. As if being her was that big of a deal?

"Billy!
Just the person I was calling for. I need something checked out. I'd ask
through official channels, but I need this looked at by fresh eyes that will
see the links that are there. If any are. The people involved in the train
murder, can you find out where they're all from? Originally or otherwise. I
want links, that kind of thing. I also don't want to prejudice you in this, so,
if it's all right, I won't say more." She nearly felt smug then, having
worked out that Billy was a good person to go to, being that they were family
and all that.

Until
she realized that most people would have thought of it all a good week earlier.

"I'll
need names." There was a bit of sound then, which Gwen worked out to be
that of paper being brought around. She had to get her own pad out to get all
the names right, but she listed them off, along with everything she knew. It
could take a while to find out information like that here, since it wasn't just
online or anything.

Then
again, while they didn't have the world wide web, they did have Billy, and
while he might not have instant access to everything, he was particularly good
about finding things like that, using a form of remote viewing that he'd
actually learned as a child, when their crazy mother was trying to build the
perfect soldier to sell to the government. Apparently what it had taken for him
to do that at all in their original world made it so that he was the master of
that kind of thing here. However that worked, Gwen realized she'd gone to the
right person, even as he suddenly hung up.

Hopefully
that was so he could run off and do what he did. It was always hard to tell
with him, since he just didn't think like a normal person. Not even for this
place. Gwen wasn't one to speak about that however, but... Yeah, Bill was
strange.

Also
her family.

Given
everything it worked, more or less.

She
hit her bed hard enough that she figured sleep would come pretty easily. Gwen
was totally wrong about that, because as almost always happened lately she
ended up lying in the dark, with waves of fear running over her. It wasn't
fair. They'd beaten the monsters, and it took so much energy and magical
potential to break through to the voidic planes that every single magician and
expert that had been brought in on the topic agreed that there was no way,
short of another massive effort like Debussey had tried, for anything like that
to happen again. It simply couldn't.

So
the sense that Gwen had, that at any moment she was going to be grabbed and
pulled into the void, was just that, a feeling, built up by her own
subconscious mind trying to come to grips with what she'd seen. It left her
trembling in the dark, yet again, with sleep only coming in the wee hours of
the morning, which meant she was grumpy and tired when a very loud pounding
came on her door, early in the morning.

There
was some early summer sun coming through her window, which meant it was about
six or so. She didn't really have to be up yet, she didn't think. Sighing and
ready to hit someone, she stood up and moved to the door, throwing it open to
find Peter standing there, dressed for a work out. Because, her fuzzy and foggy
mind puzzled out, he didn't know it was a work day for them, so he naturally
defaulted to what they were supposed to do on off days. Which was run and
practice basic magic.

She
didn't give him a chance to speak, since a nice run would be good, given
everything. It wasn't like she was getting back to sleep anyway, not knowing
she'd have to be up in two hours anyway.

"Hey
Pete. Meet me out back in ten minutes?"

He
looked at her as if slightly disappointed in her, for not being already
dressed, and then closed the door somberly. She couldn't tell if he was walking
away or not.

Her
mind spun with all they had to do, but she got dressed at the same time and
tried not to think about the case yet. She didn't have enough information to
jump to conclusions, and even if a nobleman was involved, that didn't mean it
was anyone she knew. What were the odds of that anyway? Hundreds to one? More?

If
she were writing the story, this would be the red herring. The fake line that
she was supposed to follow, to mislead the reader. Or, if it was a Bethany
Westmorland mystery, she would have used her precognitive abilities to work out
that it was actually...

Lisa
. The secretary.

She
blinked and shook her head. She really didn't have enough information for that
to be the case, did she? But someone like that, who worked with Duke Aubry all
the time, having his stationary and official stamps or whatever was used, right
there to hand...

There
was a bit of pressure then, which she got. That was, she knew, what had
happened. Of course her
feelings
weren't admissible in court. Lisa
Wendell wasn't even a real suspect yet, was she? Gwen knew she was right, but
that had to be proved, or else it didn't mean anything. That meant collecting
data, working out who had access to what, and...

Or,
she realized, she could just go and have Beth check it out for her.
Her
feelings would be admissible in court, after all. She decided to get on that
after she ran though. Lisa was already tied up, being in prison still...

Unless
Gwen had gotten her free already.

Crap.

Still
it was too early to call and check on that, she was nearly certain, so,
distracted as she was, Gwen went through her morning routine, and ran, then did
exercises with Peter, practiced hand to hand, shot targets with her mind, while
he used a little toy Crin, and then she went to get the spheres they needed for
later that day.

It
required her to teleport on her own, but she knew where Central was, having
gone there a dozen times or more in her training already. It was close enough
to an emergency that she thought she could get away with it. If not, then Mona
the trainer would probably make certain she paid for it, one way or the other.
Gwen really disliked the unpleasant woman. Worse, she knew that it was all
about the pain, and not the lady herself at all, who was professional, but not
angry or mean really. Not even dour. Just the source of all that discomfort.

Adam
wasn't around, but there was a girl, who looked to be about nine, standing in
front of the building, holding a box that was big enough for four of the
spheres, meaning she was holding it in both hands.

"Miss
Farris? I was told to give these to you?" It was strange, hearing a little
girl speak so professionally. She sounded like a miniature adult, but looked
like she should be staring in a Geranimals commercial. She even had the
slightly round face of a child star. In fact, Gwen realized, that wasn't just
her imagination. The girl in front of her had
been
in commercials, back
home. Several of them, she thought. National ones.

Blinking,
she smiled and took the box, not mentioning the likeness. There were bound to
be crossovers, and really, even if she were right, that didn't change anything
for the little girl in front of her at all.

Gwen
just tilted her head a bit instead.

"Thanks.
I'll have these back later today." That was the plan at least. Things
might, she realized, get in the way.

Again
there was a feeling of pressure in her head that told her it was prescience.
That was both helpful and annoying. She couldn't get enough to make it all
worth having, could she? It was all just vague things, coming from relatively
close in time. All she really knew was that she needed to find Lisa Wendell and
make certain she was held for questioning in this matter. Even at that, she had
to get with Bethany first.

Focusing,
she got back to the front lawn of Park Street under her own power. Her head
felt fine still, though it was a lot of work, transporting herself like that.
She was more than a little breathless when she got to the front door, to find
Beth and Clara both coming out already.

Gwen
nearly grabbed them, even if there was no apparent means of transportation
there for them to take. That probably meant they were getting ready for an
adventure in public transportation.

"Beth!
I..." She nearly couldn't say the words, since it was embarrassing really.
She had a feeling? One that she thought was real enough for her friend to check
out using her real powers? She actually blushed and bit her lips. It was a
faked up move, but hit about the right expression she wanted. "I... think
I figured out who was really behind the whole thing. On the train."

It
was a bit odd, but Bethany stiffened and glared at her.

"I
think I know who you believe that to be, but Duke Aubry isn't-"

"
Not
Chris. I need you to check out Lisa Wendell for me. His secretary? A person
that handled all his communications..." She wondered if that would still
make her friend mad, since she frowned, but then slowly flipped up her palms.

"That...
makes some sense. I guess. How good is your information?"

Frowning
she wrinkled her nose at her friend and then looked at Clara.

"Honestly?
I think it's solid, but prescience is always suspect in a newbie like me. It
felt right. If I got it right, that probably means..." She really didn't
know, to tell the truth, but her friend did, being smart that way.

"Right,
that we're about to know it for a fact, probably within the day, or you
wouldn't have picked up on it at all. Well, if you could get me into the right
state?"

This
wasn't addressed to Gwen, but Clara, since she had that job for the day. The
woman wasn't very good at asking the right questions, but she finally got
around to it, and had Bethany in the right state for a good answer.

"Is
this Wendell woman the one that's behind the attempt to... wipe out
magic?"

Bethany
was a bit blank, purely focused and not emotional at all.

"Yes.
We will find it was done to protect her love."

Which
made a lot of sense, didn't it? Gwen thought so, and ran to the Telestator,
instead of anything else, as soon as Clara asked her to go back to her
"A" state. That was normal consciousness, Gwen knew. She normally
phrased it differently, but Beth had actually run over the proper names for
things with the slow woman, so she sounded a lot more professional about it
than Gwen ever had. Less friendly however.