Shield of Innocence (Alternate Places Book 4) by P.S. Power Read Free Book Online Page A

that she
meant the back yard, which was nice, and big enough for the wrestling and heavy
lifting that she had in mind.
    He shook his head though.
    "I think... First, we should
take people into the void. The one that lasts longest will earn the opportunity
to try first?" That got a glance at Claire, since they were her people,
and then Eve, who was offering that training.
    No one even moved for a bit,
except Hilda, who went serious and nodded somberly.
    "That is a most dangerous
and hard testing! My people will have many ballads to sing about it. Those
brave enough to risk death, to gain the prize of power and aid their people to
greatness..."
    Still, no one moved for a long
time, until Troy stood.
    "I... I don't know if I can
do this, but I'll go first?" No one else had even moved, and his shadow
spoke of going in, to show the others that it could be done. A lot of them had
turned down the offer to try, from fear, including him.
    He wasn't a coward however, and
could see what this might mean for the rest of them. If they took the chance.
    For some reason, Eve Benson, vampire
from another world, smiled and started to nod.
    "Great plan. You can go and
learn the line walking stuff first, too. I don't know, but I bet that if you
can do that, you'll make the early training with no problem. It really does
save a lot of time and effort. You know, after you change into a vampire? We
should go get to that first, then the rest of you can try it."
    It was funny, but a small trickle
of silver and pink flowed from her, to Troy then. It was different than what
he'd seen or noticed before, but when she spoke the next line, there was power
to it, that impressed itself onto the human she was looking at.
    "You can do this, Troy.
Learn to walk the lines, and the rest. I have great faith in you."
    Zack stood up, and waved then.
    "Come on then. We'll be back
in a day or two. Or, actually, a few hours. I'll start out in distorted time,
so that it won't take that long. I want to make certain we have all the new
line walkers off to work in the morning for training and practice. If we aren't
back though, the rest of you can cover my shift for me?" He smiled, since
there were five people that could give it a try now.
    If they couldn't manage it
working as a group, then he'd have to find a hat to eat.
    His oldest friend looked at him,
a bit of fear in his eyes, which he hid by walking toward the kitchen. Troy
didn't speak at all, and there was no shaking, even though the whole thing was
about as insane seeming to him as anything ever had been.
    Zack walked firmly, and took him
by the arm to lead him from the shortcut that was just outside the kitchen door
into the back of Something Wonderful, which was still opened. It would be until
nine that night.
    Maryl and Libby were working it
at the moment, since it was near Christmas enough that people were actually
there trying to arrange massive amounts of baskets for people. In the back, at
a long work table, Charli sat, working at filling orders. Making the actual
baskets from people. That meant the place was a mess now, and would be for the
rest of the month.
    Without speaking to her, he
turned to Troy, and let his inner self rise up, becoming huge. Like the
vampires did when they compelled people. Then he spoke gently on the outside,
making sure his friend would do the best he possibly could.
    "All right, Troy. I want you
to focus, and stay that way. Your mind won't stray and if it starts to, you'll
instantly come back to a single point. Over and over." On the Shadow
level, his giant, angry seeming self screamed at the poor, unsuspecting human
man.
    DO IT! DO IT NOW! IF YOU FAIL,
YOU DIE!
    Troy took a single deep breath
and nodded. "Got it. You do know that I'm afraid of the dark, don't
you? I mean, it isn't like I need a night light, but... Yeah. This void sounds
like the exact opposite of what would be fun for me."
    The thing there was that he both
meant it, and was willing to go and do what had to be