Dragon Queen (Avery Rome Book 3) Read online

  “I should get back to work as well. Not that this doesn’t count. It was nice meeting you, Line Walker Rome. I hope we can meet again sometime?”

  She nodded, since that was a polite way of putting things, if a trace formal.

  “Very soon, I think. I’d visit now, but I have to get home. It’s election day, and I haven’t voted. One of my friends is running for President of my people, so I need to be there to support her.” It was too much information, but just got a grin.

  “Tell her I wish her luck? Be in touch. All of you.”

  The thing went dark then, and Countess Thomson put it in a pocket of her fine dress. It hadn’t been there, but simply appeared as the device closed with the fabric.

  “Well! That went better than I’d thought. Tiera is a dear, of course, but can be a bit annoyed when people demand her time. Do you desire more to eat?” She seemed concerned, but didn't need to be.

  The amount had been vast. It was gone already, but her body could only hold so much at a time, which had already happened.

  “I’m finished, thank you. Very much. All of you. I should collect Lydia and get her back home. Her friends will miss her soon, if I don’t.”

  That got the tiny woman to move toward the door, leading the way. Avery had to hop up quickly, feeling bad about leaving her dishes just sitting there. No one complained however, so she did it, and then recalled that she needed to get back into her ready uniform for the day. Her high heel shoes and little red dress.

  Her hair was probably fine, if a bit unruly, but her makeup was going to be totally gone. Shifting did that. Every single time. That was sitting in the front room, so she simply changed there. Everyone had already seen what she had to offer that day, anyway. Not that it made things less embarrassing. The Countess didn’t comment on her actions, just helping her situate the dress properly, without needing to be asked. Like they were old friends.

  It had Avery nodding at her, after a bit.

  “Thanks. I should be back here in a few days? Maybe more than that, your time? Is that all right? I could…” Honestly, she couldn’t. She only knew how to get to two locations in the reality. One of those was one a different planet. Mars. She just didn’t want the woman to feel like it was her responsibility to care for Avery every time she stepped foot on her world.

  “That would be wonderful. You can stay here, if you wish? We have the space and I know that Dumas would love to have you. We all would.” She seemed to mean it, which was only a little strange. It took a rare kind of person to open their home to others like that.

  “That sounds fun. I have to work though. I’m off school for the summer, but I have to start taping a television show soon. Um, I have a side job, acting? We have these screens that…” It was hard to explain, but she waved her hands, and picked up her purse. Leaving it there was going to make doing her makeup harder when she got back to Tyler’s.

  The Countess blinked, but then nodded.

  “I’ve seen that! Cindy showed me, in her world. Is your home similar to the IPB world, then?”

  “You know… I think it might be. The technology is about the same, it looked like, from the little I saw. So, anyway, I have to go and do that. I’m playing a Dragon Shifter, so it shouldn’t be too hard for me. I think I get weekends off, which is two days in a row, though, out of every seven?”

  There was a clapping sound then from the doorway. Everyone else had come back, it seemed. It was Dumas who was making the noise however.

  “That should be plenty of time, if the time difference is similar, between the worlds. We seem to run faster than most of the other places. Not all of them however. That would probably be ten days to two weeks however, if I understand things correctly. Perhaps closer to sixteen? I need to speak to Cousin Will about that. I believe he’s been to your world. He has a job as the courier between far places, so ends up going almost everywhere.”

  Avery thought that the name was familiar. Actually, she knew it was, since Eve had mentioned the man several times to her. They’d never met that she recalled, however.

  Lydia came in, dressed in her tan outfit, except that it was dry now, as was her hair. Her makeup was gone too though, which was nice to see. Thinking of clothing, Avery stepped forward and passed the tile that Dumas had given her back. He was dressed now as well, his own hair damp but doing better than most of the others.

  “Thank you for the loan. My people, the ones who raised me, were very modest. To a fault, actually. It’s still hard for me to do things like… Well, you saw.” She meant everything, but the boy just took the tile back and bowed.

  “It was no problem. Are you leaving already?” He glanced at his mother, seeming troubled by that idea, but the Countess just gave him a sly look. As if she thought the boy was trying to keep Avery for his own reasons. If so, it was probably line travel.

  That seemed to be what most wanted from her, most days.

  “The line walker has duties to attend to, Dumas. I did hear that Queen Tiera intends to have her back soon? As well as her being here, of course, on her off times?”

  It was a different way of saying things, but instead of explaining, Ambassador Sin moved in and waved at the doorway that should lead them all out.

  “Hey, Avery… Could I get a lift back? I know it’s extra work. We’ve actually finished up here for now. I’m trying to help with some research into various things. I should get back home for a while, before Sara decides she doesn’t need me anymore.”

  That didn't make sense, but the part about going back did. That was kind of her main job in the world. Moving people around between places.

  “We can do that. Is it all right to leave quickly? I really don’t want to miss the voting. It’s my first time.”

  That got a laugh, running away and a woman coming back at a jog half a minute later, holding a full pack. It was a field duffle, in tan, to match the IPB outfits. Then, all of them, including Prince Gerent, walked to the transport booth. Hugs were passed out, with everyone doing that with both her and Lydia, for some reason. Dumas did it twice with her, though didn’t grope her or press in too closely, so his point wasn’t anything too adult, she didn't think.

  There was no whispered message or anything like that. What his meaning was passed her by then. It was clear that he knew he was doing it.

  From deep inside her ancient memories came a soft thought. That the boy was trying to bind her to him. To force her to think of him as a friend. Probably not in an unkind fashion, merely wishing to do so before he lost the chance. Physical contact could be a way to do that and he was too young for sex, so that was out.

  That meant things like extra hugs were in order.

  On the good side it would probably work the other way around, just as well.

  It took her a minute to get them back through the void to the IPB base. Then fifteen to take a letter from Director Turner, along with a mission. That was to get the missive to Eve as soon as possible.

  “After your election. Unless you see her first? In that case, pass that for me?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll see to it as soon as possible.”

  That seemed to be the correct answer.

  “Great. Now, we expect you to come back, at least every week or two. We need to work out trade and things like that between our worlds. Try for a week day? Not that I get weekends off, but I like to sleep in occasionally.”

  That got her to yawn, cover her mouth and nod at the commander, embarrassed about it.

  “I like to sleep as well. It doesn’t happen nearly as much as it should most days. It’s the problem of living with busy people. They always expect you to be doing that as well.” Not that Dragons were lazy. They just seemed to either need to sleep a lot or eat mass quantities. She’d had a good bit, and was still full, but the rapid changes had left her feeling tired.

  The woman smiled at her then, looking a bit more like Kait than not, for a moment.

  “See, we have things in common already. Talk to you soon. Now, git.
Go do your civic duty.”

  Avery left then, feeling like the woman had actually been nicer to her than would have normally been needed. She was the commander of her own base, after all. If she wanted Avery to do things, she could just order it. Even if she wasn’t from there.

  It wasn’t a bad thing, though.

  Not at all.

  Chapter five

  It took time to get back to the meeting at Tyler’s house. Avery had no clue how long she’d been gone, either. It hadn’t really seemed to be anything at all to her, time wise. Nothing really ever did. Worse, the watch she had, in her purse, would only give her the passage of time where she’d been. Standing in the yard, the patch of green with the plant hippo sculpture behind her, she glanced at the thing.

  It claimed that she’d been gone for a little over four hours.

  She walked up to the door, ready to apologize for being gone all day, only to be met by Calley herself, opening the door before she got up the front stairs.

  “Hey! That didn’t take long. I thought that you might not be back before lunch.”

  Avery tilted her head, then smiled.

  “That’s about right. I was gone for about four hours. They did feed me though. How long did it seem to you, here?”

  Calley was smart, so got the idea instantly.

  “About forty minutes? Why were you gone so long? Weren’t you just taking some man back to his own world? Did you have to walk between nodes or something?”

  That could happen, Avery knew. Most node travel wasn’t like that, if you had a chance to plan it out ahead of time. People traveled overland to where you could easily pick them up. It saved a lot of money. In emergencies, that might not happen.

  “Nothing like that. He, Dumas is young. Ten, I think? He was ready right away, but there was a bridge collapse when we got there, so we went to help save some people. I had to transform. On the good side, the people there didn’t think that it was a big deal. Impressive, I think? They didn’t run away or become scared. Some of them even thanked us for doing it. It was my large form too, so that was different.”

  There was a blink then a sudden grin.

  “Neat! We should make a point of seeing if they want to be friends then. Not everyone is that cool about Shifters. Do they have them there?”

  Avery had to recall everything she’d seen, then shook her head.

  “I don’t think so. Not exactly. They do have magic though, and it’s just a part of their society, so I think that’s kind of conditioned them to seeing strange things. I’d need to spend more time there to find that out for certain. There’s also another world. That one is more like us, I think. That’s where I did the pickup. It was a military base, I think. The IPB. Their commander, Director Turner, is setting up a meeting with people from other worlds. I have an invitation for Eve to that.”

  Not one for Calley, but she wasn’t the President yet.

  That got raised eyebrows but a small head nod.

  “That sounds interesting. We should get with Tyler on that. He’s in charge of Sparks after all. That’s an embassy for different groups. Most of them are from other realities, so it relates to his job pretty solidly. I’ll let you do that? If you want, I mean. I don’t have the right to boss you around, after all.”

  There was a tone to the words that was a bit passive. Not like Calley normally was at all. In other words it sounded very fake.

  Avery didn’t get it, but nothing from inside of her jumped forward to tell her how to work it out, either. Not even Tarsus. Given that he was practically her imaginary friend, if she understood the idea at all, that was a bit different. She smiled though and shrugged.

  “Okay, you’re acting weird now. Of course you can’t order me to do it, not if I’m not on active duty. Still, suggesting things is fair. You do it all the time…”

  That got a small laugh, and the front door pushed shut. Then Calley moved forward and put her hand out, to take Avery on her upper arm. The Bat’s hand was small and pale, compared to her skin.

  “Right. Right. The thing is that people have mentioned that I shouldn’t abuse your good will. Especially since I might need it later, for our people. It’s been a talking point from Ben Peterson today. That I arranged for you to come and take the winner to the command center later? Jahn mentioned that you volunteered all on your own, but… I was kind of there at the time, so…”

  It seemed like she felt bad about it, which was silly of her.

  After all, Calley was one of the Elect. Of course Avery would help her whenever possible. Just like she kept the fact that she felt that way quiet, since it came across as bigoted to the others. Which it was, really. The Gray had taught her to think of certain people as being less than others. It wasn’t really true, but it was so hard to shake the idea. At least deep down.

  So she had to hide all of it, as best she could.

  “I was kind of there, too. I help people, when I can. That’s all. If Benny came to me, I’d help him, too. Even if he doesn’t win today, I’d still do that. I mean, I just went to two other realities to help people that I’d never even met. Just because Troy is hurt. Which… I should go and check on him as well. I don’t want to miss things here.”

  She just didn’t know how to do it. Or even if she really should. The truth was she didn’t know Human Troy well enough to run to his side. Even Vampire Troy from her world would be a bit strange for her to treat that way. Shaking her head, Avery tried to seem like an adult, if only for a few moments.

  “I should at least send a note. Anyway, we should go in? Or, if you want, we can sit out here and avoid the people inside? I like that one, personally.”

  Calley snorted a bit, then pushed her thick glasses up her nose with two fingers.

  “You mean you don’t want to play with all the cool kids in there? I… you aren’t fighting with anyone yet, are you? I haven’t heard anything like that. Is…” The woman stopped, then rubbed at her short red hair.

  They were both standing there, waiting for Avery to speak, or the world to change in some way. Nothing did though. Oh, possibly little things, like a gentle breeze and some clouds flying overhead, but that was all. The Bat even managed to hold nearly still for a moment.

  So Avery shrugged.

  “Well, you know, John Fellows is my father. He got my mother pregnant, then left me there, knowing that I’d have to kill a lot of them later, when I changed. That, or die. I have his memories in my head, so I know it was his initial plan, for a fact. That… I can’t really forgive that. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out, but I don’t know what he has on who I am, right now.” There had been talk, in an open room, about line travel, but what the man had heard or worked out was an unknown.

  That got Calley to nod.

  “Yeah. I mean, Merisy mentioned that part to me. That Dragons always breed true, making you either her niece or half-sister. I don’t really know much about John. He does work for the Nation, but whatever his function for us, it isn’t common knowledge. I mean, I was an ambassador and can’t find out. Not that I tried that hard. That would explain why he’s here then, wouldn’t it? To meet his now famous and powerful daughter?”

  It did make sense, but she really didn’t know the answer. Short of looking at his old memories again, a thing she tried not to do with anyone she knew closely, to save their privacy a little, Avery had no way to understand a being as different as a cursed Death Serpent who was also a father.

  “That could be. I’m not certain I care. My best guess is that if it gets brought up, we’ll probably end up fighting. I was trying to avoid that earlier. Maybe I should just go?” That got her to shake her head, instantly. It was a bit too weak, thinking things like that. “Or I suppose I could pretend not to be a backward girl of The Gray, afraid to be beaten for every transgression against one of the men. I need to be here for you today.” She stopped for a moment, a chart slipping in front of her eyes.

  It was like the ones that Bente had her learning to build, to keep her tho
ughts clear and tidy enough to work with. The only issue was that, this time, it wasn’t her mind creating it. No, from the signature at the bottom of the thing, it was memory Tarsus doing the work.

  Which was interesting. Also, not what any other memory had ever tried to do. It was well done and rather complete, but about a topic she would have never thought about trying to categorize that way. That being data about Calley Hale and how likely it was for her to lose. Or, given the tally on the right-hand bottom side of the glowing blue and green mental image, how likely it was that she might win.

  The issue there was that new data had come in.

  Except that Avery wasn’t aware of that having happened. She had to read the whole thing, focusing hard on it, before she smiled, getting it. The data was that Benny the Wolf, one of the other people in the race had tried to virtue signal, using her. The poor little Dragon line walker. His goal had, most likely, been about knocking Calley, claiming she was abusing Avery, who was still only sixteen. Old enough to vote, but young enough that she might need protection.

  The thing there was that the Shifters also knew that, as a line walker, she was hundreds of years old. True that was time spent inside the space between worlds, which was kind of a fiction, but to many that meant Avery was an adult. Not to the state she lived in or the Human government, but to her own people, most of them saw it that way.

  It wasn’t helping her grow up much, past her improved meditation and line walking skills, however. To do that, she needed to live and learn, just like anyone else would. In the real world.

  Given that, though, the idea that most Shifters saw her as a full-grown adult, regardless of her looks meant that Calley was suddenly going to seem a lot more powerful and influential than she would have been otherwise. She’d been taken to a lot of places in the last months to campaign and attend meetings, using line travel in a way that almost no one could afford. Pointing out how far that went, even to the point of possibly getting it done for whoever won, would have a small, but real, mental impact.