Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel by P. S. Power Page A

toward me. You're over the house right now. A little further... And
down." There was an amused quality to her words, until Gwen landed,
touching soft Westmorland arms before her feet hit the lawn. That was good,
since it gave her something to judge things on. The world was still just a
blurry mess, though it was already clearing.
    Beth
actually giggled.
    "You
really wanted that scone with jam, didn't you? I think it can be arranged. I'll
ask Charles to see to it." Then she was gone, leaving her friend to wipe
at her face for a few minutes alone.
    She
got her scone however. The jam too. Both on a tiny silver tray, which was
presented by Winslow himself, as if it were a reward for winning the race. The
man stood there, ready to take the whole thing back, even as she broke the
scone in half and gave part to her friend. Sharing. It was a thing here too,
and Beth didn't argue about the idea. She ate hers plain though, not slathering
on jam like Gwen did.
    After
they finished and James was pulling in at what was a breakneck speed for a Lorrie,
going until he'd reached the goal, even if the race was over, Beth finally
spoke about what had happened.
    "That
was a good deal faster than I expected. Very good. Normally we'd have you do
that again, several times, so you could remember how you managed it, but we
don't have time right now."
    It
was a good idea, but Gwen didn't love it at all.
    "It
hurts. A lot. I hate to say it, but I'm probably going to have to do more of
that awful negative reinforcement training to force myself into the top speeds
again. That and get some goggles. I could breathe, barely, but the wind just
ripped at my eyes. I won't lose how to do it however. It's just making myself
perform that's going to be rough." It was too. There had been too much
pain lately.
    At
this rate she'd end up with no quality of life at all.
    Beth
flipped her palms up.
    "Well,
if you can manage it, you should train the ability. Even going half that speed
will make you faster than almost anything we have however. We should start you
on Teletransport soon."
    Those
words came as a surprise to her. She'd known that it was possible to do, since
Darren Westmorland had been learning how when he'd been pushed too hard or
something and ended up trading places with Billy. Hopefully he was safe and
snug somewhere in her world, making a living as a Wal-Mart employee or in a
similar capacity. Billy had kind of been the lucky one there, since everyone
had simply thought he was a bit loopy and broken at first, so had found a job
for him in data acquisition. Darren had been dumped into a totally new world
without any help at all. Billy was on the run from the law too, at the time,
and they were identical.
    It
really hadn't been anything that she'd thought of before at all. It seemed like
a handy skill to have. Then she wouldn't have to keep borrowing preprogrammed
spheres for it.
    "Cool.
Not this moment however, please. My head is killing me. I think I need one of
those magical rest breaks that Pete was talking about. If I didn't just do some
damage to the inside of my head just now, then I'm the new god of magic and you
should all bow down before me." There was no weight to the words, and for
a second she wondered if Beth would be insulted by them.
    She
wasn't. The Westmorlands weren't allowed to be religious. That would have
potentially taken power away from their commanders, which wasn't allowable.
    Instead
she nodded.
    "Rest
is very likely in order. We don't have to do everything in a single day, or
even a single week. We have, oh, whole months to see to things." It
was very dry and her face didn't give any indication that she was joking at
all, until a small flash of a smile came, ten seconds later.
    Thinking
about it, Gwen nodded.
    "Right,
well, that and a force field and I'd be set, combat wise, wouldn't I?"
    Then
she had to explain what a force field was to the woman, who simply shook her
head softly.
    "Shields
like that have been tried, but they