Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel Read Free

going to happen, and pretty much couldn't. It had
taken the fear of a good chunk of the world's population, and a lot of human
sacrifice to get it nearly done that one time. She and the others, mainly
Westmorlands, had closed the rift themselves. It wasn't an easy thing to do,
either way. Some man or woman in their basement wasn't going to manage it by
accident. Her fear wasn't going to accidently cause it either. She'd checked on
that with experts, several of them, and they all agreed. They were safe from
that.
    "Ah. Well, part of my new wardrobe
should be in tonight. We'll need to travel light, and be ready to leave
anything that's too heavy, if we're going to have to walk. Are we going in as
innocent travelers, or as Special Service? The uniforms at least don't have a
skirt. Well, at least if we don't get invited to a fancy dinner." She was
joking, a little, since it was well known that she wasn't wild about dresses
and skirts. Some of her new clothing reflected that, being what people called women's
suits .
    Wearing one pretty much told the world
that she was either a magician or a lesbian, but Gwen didn't care about either
of those things. They were a lot more practical, if you had to fight, which
always took top billing in her own mind. The uniforms were even better, and
while hers were tailored, they were still cheaper. All in a nice dark blue too.
It worked, as a color for her now. Not that she was getting vain , but
Katherine was only in her early twenties, and her face and body were
attractive. Like the plucky sidekick on the vampire detective show she used to
watch. So a real world eight or so. Solidly good-looking.
    Beth nodded, almost making Gwen blush,
fearing the woman had been reading her mind or something. She could do that,
with work. The Westmorland protocols had been used to help make that difficult
for her, to protect her mind. She didn't do it often however, which was nice.
They had a signal worked up, in case Gwen needed to tell her something in
secret, which was touching her left temple. She hadn't done that though, so it
was probably safe.
    "My thought as well. We'll go in as
officials, in working uniforms. If nothing else it will keep the mashers off of
us. A bit at least. There are always some. Well, that can't be changed today.
What do you have planned for the afternoon? More writing?"
    She shook her head and put the pad away,
though she was going to take it with her on the trip. That was one thing she'd
learned about this place. You learned to keep busy. If you weren't actively
working on something you had to make some kind of entertainment. That or go to
a show, or, as a last resort, listen to the Telesar. That was basically radio,
but if it was built by mean spirited hate mongers to spread their message. Not
all of it, but the majority was that way. Even the nice stuff could be a bit
catty at times. Some of the music was catchy enough however.
    As long as you listened to the right
stations. She liked the instrumental things. It was sort of reminiscing of big
band music from the nineteen thirties or forties, she thought. Back home she
hadn't listened to a lot of things like that. She was more of a modern pop or
classic rock kind of girl. You adapted though, or died. She was pretty certain
that was a real thing too. She had to keep learning the rules, or she just
wasn't going to make it.
    "I was thinking of practicing in my
armor for a few hours, going on a run and then seeing if you and Charles wanted
to spend a bit of time on unarmed combat? We need to keep in practice. That and
go over my own magical studies later." That last part was new. She had
some tricks, thanks to a bit of brainwashing, and they were very cool ones too,
since she could just point her finger at someone and blast them with a bolt of
energy, and fly. Not that far, only a few miles, and not that fast, but
still, flying . It was awesome and she couldn't claim otherwise. Even if
it had been forced on her.
    The magical practice