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

only work in the roughest sense. You can
push physical objects away, but not magical ones. Most of our weapons are in
the latter grouping too, so the idea was shelved decades ago, as not practical."
    James,
dressed in his formal attire, as if they weren't just hitting a train station
early in the morning, but were going to be parading around a group of nobles
later, took and secured Beth's gear for her, tying it to the top of the Lorrie.
That meant they needed to get inside so they could leave. It was a large step
up, but they were both light and fit enough not to really need help with it. If
they'd been in a dress, instead of uniform, James would have hopped up on the
runner board and helped them, even if it meant being late.
    As
it was they were going not two minutes later, which was speedy for this place.
Probably the last quick service they were going to see for a while too. She'd
miss James.
    It
was a strange thought, and not really personal just to him. She was going to
miss everyone at Park Street. For the first time in her life there were
actually people that she wanted to be around enough that she was going to feel
a loss when she left.
    How
interesting.
    For
the moment though, she rode in silence, trying to recover from the mistake that
putting the pedal all the way down had turned out to be. She had no clue
how fast she'd been going really, but given the distance and the time it took,
she was willing to bet it was about eighty miles per hour. Now she was kind of
regretting it. The night before hadn't helped either and she was having to
fight the desire to sleep. Her eyes kept trying to close on their own and her
head bobbed in a way that had to make her look good. People on the train would
probably laugh at her behind their hands. That or look away in embarrassment.
    Using
magic took energy though, and she was just nearly out, for the time being. Some
rest would help, she knew. Not that it was going to be coming anytime soon.
When she looked up, Beth was sitting upright, with her own eyes closed,
probably working on something or other. At least she wasn't snoring at all yet.
Gwen decided to do the same, which meant waking up with her buddy gently
shaking her arm.
    "We're
at the station."
    What
Gwen felt like saying was " gah ! Tentacle monsters have me!"
since that was what the hand felt like to her at first, gentle or not, but she
went with a much more subdued statement.
    "Ah."
She didn't claim to be awake or anything, since she wasn't totally positive she
really was yet, but she straightened and got out of the Lorrie, patting the
seat once, as if to reward it for its good work. Then she managed to actually
speak to James like a real human being, and not a half dead zombie would have.
    "Thank
you, James. We'll try to call ahead to let you know that we're coming on the
return trip. Send my love to Ella." That was his wife. She was a sweet, if
slightly run down woman. Tired from caring for her three kids all the time.
They were little. Exhaustingly so, it seemed.
    James
smiled, a huge and genuine thing.
    "I
will, Miss. She wanted me to ask after you and Miss Westmorland as well. I
think she's planning a bit of a party soon. This week? I can't say that I'm all
that certain we should be inviting the Vernors over for supper, but it seems to
be happening anyway."
    Gwen
knew this one. She'd heard the answer on Agatha's Telesar program once.
    "It's very proper however, since they had you and Ella over. It also makes
good business sense, for both of you. Having wealthy friends can't hurt, as far
as introductions or ideas that way. The other way around has to be true too.
You hear a lot of things, and see the going-ons in the city, in a way that most
people never really do. In Robert Vernor's world, knowledge is power and you're
a more powerful person than you probably know."
    She
blinked, and then slapped the side of her head with her left hand, it hurt, but
she was also signaling Beth to read her mind. She calmly thought