Scales (Avery Rome Book 1) Read online

  Her Vampire friend slapped her on the back, if gently. She could tell that, since her face didn’t meet the wall across the room. In fact, she barely moved at all under the ministrations.

  “Exactly. See you then, Troy. Right now… I need to get this generator to Mars. That’s right, Eve Benson, space traveler.” She looked at Avery from the side of her eyes, grinning, then moved toward the back room again.

  In the right hand corner, almost in front of the back door to the shop, a heavy blue-green painted metal thing waited for them. There were ripples of mild electrical current and magnetic energy running through it. Probably because it was right next to the ever shifting node. It was incredibly easy to see now. Before she’d thought it had been, but it practically glowed, seeming as solid as anything else in the room.

  Benson winked at her.

  “I’ll pass the information about location over to you. It’s in a different reality, but that’s no harder to find or go to than anyplace else. When we go inside, you’ll need to wrap both me and the generator with your being. Holding us inside you. You have to do that when you take anyone through the void, by the way. Otherwise they’ll die. That can be uncomfortable, losing people like that, so try to avoid it.” There was no sense of teasing this time, just orders about what to do.

  That part, wrapping things up, was harder than the rest of it. Mainly because of the large metal box. It wasn’t too big for her, since she was pretty huge inside the void. It just didn’t mesh as easily with her information as Eve did. There was new work, recalling the meaning of the tingle that Eve had touched her arm with as well. Interestingly she could follow the trace from that to a weakness in the void pretty easily. The whole thing was made up of such points, but this one was the correct one. The line going to it was thick, ropy, solid and of course, not there at all.

  Opening the node to the other side wasn’t hard, though it did take some care, since she had to rearrange the generator, while tucking Eve over to the right hand side of the small space they ended up in.

  Once she moved through into real space, the world turned red. It was a brilliant glow that came from almost all directions. Before she could panic, fearing that she’d made a horrible mistake, Eve reached forward and tapped the wall in front of them, making it vanish.

  “Perfect! This is the right Mars and everything. The Yoghurt World is down to the left. It’s more of an embassy here than not, though we do make treats, too. It’s even becoming kind of popular. Here, grab the top end? I’ll walk backward, since it’s my project. Try not to ram this beast into my shins? It won’t hurt, but I don’t want to scuff my trousers up. They’re expensive.”

  The design of them was a bit plain, but the material was very heavy and the work seemed to be reinforced in places. Meant to be worked in by a being with greater than normal powers. Avery could do something similar for herself, if she ever had access to a sewing machine again. At least now that she’d seen a version of the design. That had been one of the modern things that had been allowed her mother. It really did make the work go much faster, so the entire clan could have new clothing as materials became available.

  Outside of the box she had a better sense of the world around her. It was mainly in pale yellow, carved stone everywhere she could see. The hallway was the size of a highway, though there was a ceiling above them. Energy played in different places, but it was just light, or in some cases a different kind of thing that felt much like the void to her, for all it looked real and solid. They had gravity, but it was being pushed out at them from a field in the floor, rather than the planet below them. That had gravity as well, but it wasn’t as powerful.

  Taking her end of the heavy device, a thing that felt light to her, if awkward, as promised, they moved at a decent pace down the way. Where, true to Eve’s word was a Yoghurt World shop. It had a sign and everything. A place which, on the outside and in, seemed very much like the one they’d just left. That meant it didn’t match anything else there at all. Which seemed to mean that there was an actual line of people there, trying to get food from the rather agile seeming tiny woman behind the counter.

  She was great looking and a bit familiar.

  From the briefing packet she’d been given on Greg. This woman looked a few years younger, but was, very clearly, his mother.

  Rutha Samson. Except that she’d been described as being a difficult person to manage, unlike the leader himself. That was why there had been information on her. It could come up that the woman would intercede, trying to bring Gregory home to her. That or do other things that were almost as disruptive. They were in a different reality however, which clearly meant a lot.

  This woman smiled at her, seeming to mean it.

  Then she spoke in gibberish.

  “Hala, Sorlee! Didja F’anly git on wit der na’peple?” She glanced at Eve, smiled again and then bowed. Her words switched to English instantly. She had an accent, but it was soft and pleasant. A bit German sounding, but nothing too heavy to understand.

  “Eve! Work has been brisk today. You’ve hired Sorlee for a task? She’s… One of my people. A… Spy for County Thomson? Also a good worker, I just don’t want you to think that I’m attempting to pry information from you that way. We should avoid that between us and our worlds, if we can.” She seemed a bit concerned, but kept working so that the line that was going out the front door could be met with wonderful looking concoctions.

  The Vampire smiled.

  “This is Avery Rome. She’s the newest line walker. Also a shape shifter. She can turn into a giant Dragon. Probably other things as well, though I haven’t asked about that, yet. So she’s a spy here? Neat. Not as cool as this reality’s version of me, who’s either an energy being or the Queen of the Moon. Either way that one is hard to beat.” She sounded pleased enough about it. As if it were a good thing.

  Hearing all of that the small thin woman, who was in a light blue outfit with a frilly white apron over the top, stopped working, stood back two full steps and bowed.

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Avery Rome. Line walker. I… Don’t know if you have any other titles?” She glanced at the clothing, but clearly didn’t get what it meant. It wasn’t much anyway. Not knowing what to do, she bowed back, hoping it wouldn’t be insulting if she got it wrong.

  “Avery will do fine. I…” She looked around, not certain what to say. So she didn’t say anything, Eve jumping in for her after a moment. It was clear that the Vampire was looking out for her that way. Like a clan member would have.

  Her voice was very smooth sounding.

  “This is Tamerlane Thomson. She’s actually in charge here, since I have to be in a different reality most of the time. I don’t know who she is in our world, but here she’s a Countess. Well, on Earth she is. Here on Mars she’s probably a bit more important than that, being our de-facto ambassador. We need to get more of a staff in. That’s up to you though, Terlee.” The last bit was spoken to the woman who got right back to work, smiling. She didn’t use the machines that were arrayed there, which were large and silver, merely touching a square recessed into the wall, or at least there was energy projected from that side. That seemed to communicate with her lightly, bits of data moving back and forth between the stone and the woman, then created the treats instantly. Out of nothing but energy and bits of dust.

  Which explained why they were all in nice glassware, with real silver spoons, instead of paper and plastic. So the place looked similar to the one on Earth but was operating in a very different fashion. It was a lot busier as well. Probably because everything was being given away for free.

  No cash was changing hands at all.

  Avery didn’t comment on it, working it out for herself. If they could make anything, just by tapping a space on the wall, then money would be worthless. What was really being traded then was the work being done. The creative aspect of things as well. That had value too, but not a lot, given the speed which things were being created. On the nice side, the people that sta
yed to eat, rather than taking the confections away all appeared to enjoy the things they were given. There were effuse thanks as well, Avery thought. It was a little hard to understand what was being said. Not impossible though.

  It was similar to English and German, with bits of French and Spanish thrown in. The language was a lot different than what Tamerlane had spoken to her when she’d first walked into the room. Why that was, she had no clue.

  Speaking with a smile, she shook her head a bit.

  “On our world she’s Rutha Samson. The Shifter President’s wife. I wonder if Gregory is her son here?” She nearly added what her real mission was, but didn’t know if she should at the moment. After all, it was supposed to be secret from him. The best way to assure he didn’t find out directly was probably by not speaking of the idea to anyone. It sounded clever in her head, but was just what she’d been schooled in at camp for years. Operational security required that sort of thing from time to time.

  That started a conversation about who was who in different places. Most of them were, interestingly, people that were clearly famous in both worlds, but who she didn’t know at all. One of them, Clemance, sounded like he might be Gregory though. Not that it mattered. She was there to protect the one in her world, not this other one. Not yet anyway.

  They broke off a few minutes later, since the kind, slightly shy seeming Countess was really busy at the moment. There were a lot of people in the main hallway, but now that the machine was in the shop, toward the back, she was being looked at a bit more closely. Not Eve, who was dressed in an equally strange fashion, but who was prettier. It wasn’t even that she was part black. There were people in the hallway who were much darker than she was. Many of the rest matched her in coloration fairly well, so it wasn’t about race or anything silly like that.

  A few even wore brown clothing that was darker, about like tree bark, but had similar boots on their feet. They were all younger, too. Some were about her own age, it looked like, so while she didn’t really fit in, she didn’t truly stand out either. It wasn’t her clothing, hair or anything like that in particular, then.

  “Did I… do something wrong?” The faces weren’t hostile or anything, but most of them were paying too much attention toward her. It left her feeling uneasy. Like the world might collapse on her at any moment.

  Her oldest friend winked at her, playfully.

  “Nope. This is what you’d always get here. Probably on our Earth as well. You just notice it more now. It’s the curse of being a pretty girl. You should know that one by now. I’ve met Shifters. They aren’t horrible that way, but they do seem to enjoy attractive people as much as anyone else.”

  She shook her head, slowly. Feeling every muscle lightly tense on each side as she did it. The momentum starting, then relaxing and being slowed by the countering fibers on the far side. There was a bounce at the end of the movement, as things stretched and tightened. It wasn’t elastic really, but felt strange to her for the moment.

  “Oh. Why aren’t they looking at you as much? You’re prettier than I am.” It was true, even if Eve was going to be nice about things and make such claims for Avery. It wasn’t even close, really.

  “Familiarity? Look over there.” Eve pointed, her hand moving gracefully enough that Avery felt herself being nearly mesmerized in the moment. Following the finger outward, a line of very gentle energy, all pink this time, stopped at a woman not too far away.

  One who, once noticed, was exactly like Eve. Only made of energy, as had been mentioned earlier. The odd kind that made her think of the void again. Then, surprisingly, Eve’s identical twin sister was joined by another. Making them triplets. After a moment, they both turned and walked toward Avery and Eve as they moved, clearly planning to intercept them both. On the way they were joined by another energy person. This one was a blonde, who thankfully seemed nothing like Eve at all.

  Her friend waved at them, starting to speak as they all got there.

  “Avery, these are Eva and Samantha. The hot one is Sam, of course. Gotta love the light colored hair, right Eva?” She was teasing, but it seemed right, since claiming Eva was the good looking one would be saying the same about herself. It was more or less the truth, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t seem like pride.

  Instead of explaining why there were four girls and only two names, Avery worked it out for herself. The energy connections were very solid for the identical ones. Enough so that they felt like a single being. A very large one, but only that. Not individual people.

  Samantha was the same, even though she didn’t have an extra copy right there with them at the moment. It was clear that she was simply keeping the rest of her in different locations.

  “Eve!” Both the multiple Eva’s and Samantha took turns hugging the Vampire then. After a minute of rotating through people, Samantha smiled at her.

  “Hello! We were wondering if we could send someone along with you to your world, Eve? We can still communicate, but it would be interesting to see a bit more, if it’s available.” There was a rather matter of fact tone to the words. As if it only made sense to take girls to a different reality on a whim.

  Eve apparently agreed.

  “That sounds fun. Are either of you up to going to a war zone? Avery has a mission coming up in a few hours. Guarding some people and cooking. The real kind of making food too, not just using a magical device. It sounds like it might end up being messy, brutal and highly entertaining.”

  Interestingly, the girls all smiled. It wasn’t exactly the same for each one or anything, either.

  “Goody! Is that all right with you, Avery? We don’t eat or sleep. We’re basically made up of magic, so you know, we aren’t a lot of hassle. We can fight, learn different kinds of weapons and all that? Cooking is new, but learning is part of what we’re going for.” Then Samantha just stopped, waiting to be told yes or no.

  In any real world situation, she should have told them not to come. Not without clearing them first. In this special case she actually had the ability to hire them, if she wanted. At full rates. Whatever those were. It was in the documents that she’d looked at earlier, five hundred years before. There was a strange overlay that way. As if she were both incredibly old already and still sixteen.

  “All right? I may have to bring you back here, but maybe not. If so I can do that. Welcome to the team? We’re going to a war zone though, in a rather hellish and notorious location. Even I’ve heard of it, which is saying something. My mother… She was part of a strange group. So was I. Until they tried to kill me and I ate a few of them.” She stopped, not wanting to bother these new people with her story, but the words had simply flowed out.

  Eva grimaced.

  “They were starving you?” It sounded like it simply made sense to her. As if that had to be the case. Eve leaned in a bit, looking suddenly interested.

  Avery shook her head.

  “No. They were attacking me, with guns. Rifles and handguns. It was mainly the Elders. The men that led us? It was my time to change for the first time. Instead of becoming a Raccoon, like I should have, I was a Dragon. The Gray hold that kind of being to be the most cursed of all, nearly. Even more so than Humans. About the same as Demons.” Interestingly, the energy girls would probably have gotten along fine with her people. They didn’t have two shapes, but they were clearly gifted in strange ways that could be seen as positive. In a way, having many bodies each would probably be a sign that they were truly blessed.

  Eve looked at her, smirked and said only one thing.

  “Hmm.”

  That was it. It wasn’t until she started walking toward the red hut like booth that she spoke up about what she was thinking. “I knew that some Shifters were a bit prejudiced, but hadn’t heard about anything like that. I thought it was all just that Humans didn’t rate as cool enough for some of them?”

  That got a nod as she moved along the light yellow stone hallway.

  “Yeah. I think for a lot of them it isn’t even that
bad. Calley Hale scolded me for pointing out that I was unclean. I don’t know if she was being kind to the stranger or not, however.” Lying, so that Avery could work with her and do her bidding.

  The Vampire started nodding, just as they reached the red hut. It had that same not really there feeling that Eva and Samantha did. After the door was open, they piled inside, without speaking about anything. The women hadn’t even stopped to get clothing or toothbrushes.

  As the door closed, Eve the Vampire line walker glanced at her solidly for about ten uncomfortable seconds.

  “If Ambassador Calley Hale told you that, you can bank on it. That sounds pretty fucked up, to be honest. How you were raised? Believing that others are less than you are… Even when it’s true it damages the person who thinks that. It makes them less able to see what’s really there in front of them. A line walker can’t really afford that kind of thing. You’re going to meet too many different kinds of people. None of them are inferior or less than anyone else. You aren’t either.” She seemed really serious, but smiled suddenly. “Not that we don’t all have our moments.”

  Avery didn’t know what to make of all she was being told. Except that it was clear she was expected to accept all others, no matter what her life had taught her, from then on. It was difficult to even consider, but was, if nothing else, part of her new job.

  “I’ll do that. Treat everyone as an equal. If I can. Even if part of me has to look up from the mud to see them.”

  Samantha put an arm over her shoulders and squeezed her gently.

  “That’s the spirit. Why, at this rate you’ll be dating a lizard man from Neptune in no time!” She paused, looked at Eva and then shook her head. “Not that we have those. Not that I know of. The closest we have are the Ysidril. They do have pretty scales, but it ends about there. Really nice people, however. The High Leader here is one of them. We drafted him without his consent, since when called on that type has to serve. It’s one of their rules. He’s doing a good job, too. About half the people here are aliens, more or less. Born on planet ships. Anyway, Eva and I should shut down now, for ease of carrying.” She didn’t explain what was up, both women simply blinking out of existence.