Haley scrunched up her face, “That’s not really nice. They’re people.”
Amy shrugged, “Most of the time I’ve spent in this world was in Florida. I’ve heard that the benefits for working at Waffle House aren’t bad, but the dental care some people got before working there wasn’t great.”
Haley shook her head. “That’s restaurants. The full time staff get benefits, but most jobs are part time and they don’t get benefits at all. Are things different in your world?”
Amy stared out the window.
I’d lifted off by then and we were flying across the ocean, the rising sun on our right, darkness to our left, and the ocean everywhere in sight. I activated our cloaking device and the sunrise dimmed.
It was best not to be targeted by any defenses the island still had. Plus, it might allow us to avoid any leftover Dominator commands among US air defense staff.
“It’s different,” Amy said. “We have physicians, but we also have magical healers of different kinds. It depends on where you are and who you are. The tribes and tribal confederations in North America take care of their own. In our colony cities there and back in Europe, most people pay physicians and healers out of their own pockets, but the unions and guilds have arrangements that make it cost less or nothing.”
She stopped, staring out into nowhere, but then said, “I should know more, but I don’t. I’m literally a princess and my family rules most of our planet. I never had to worry about it until I came here. I should go home. I’d like to stay for a month and say goodbye, but I know something was wrong back home and I need to do something about it.”
From further back in the jet, Vaughn asked, “Weren’t you supposed to wait ten years before going back?”
Amy sank into the chair and for a moment, I saw the smaller, thinner version of her in the armored warrior she transformed into. “It’s not that simple. Father said that I should wait ten years, but he also said that I needed to find out what was going on and to use my best judgement.”
Placing the Bloodspear on the floor, she said, “The timing isn’t cut and dried. My father was making his best guess that they could calm down the Bloodlords on and off the Council and solve some other problem by then, but it was only a guess. Anything could have happened by now and I haven’t been contacted by anyone in any way—not even threats from the assassins that are supposed to kill me if I appear to be coming home to try for the throne.”
Sitting a couple of rows back, next to Vaughn, Marcus said, “That’s a good thing, right? If they’re not gunning for you, it might mean they’re okay with what you’re doing. Everyone knows you’re working with us if they pay attention to social media. If they wanted to kill you or even talk, they’d be in Grand Lake.”
“Maybe, yes,” Amy said, “and maybe someone summoned them home to handle whatever’s going on there now. I checked in on the house we lived in after I arrived. It’s empty. There’s no forwarding address. They left three years ago. Our neighbors didn’t know anything. Nothing special happened. There weren’t even any movers.
“When I checked government records, the database hadn’t pegged them as inter-dimensional visitors or even unusual and worth watching. I checked with Reliquary. He’s the one who recruited me for Stapledon. He didn’t know anything either and couldn’t find out more even with clairvoyance. It had been blocked somehow.”
Amy frowned. “Harcourt and his wife are powerful blood magic users, but I don’t think they’re better at blood magic than Reliquary is at magic. Someone else blocked the spell and I need to make sure my family is safe.”
A few seats to Amy’s left, Jaclyn said, “If you need help, we’re with you. Maybe I shouldn’t speak for everyone, but I think I do.”
From the back of the cabin, Tiger gave a small bark that passed for agreement in my mind, followed by everyone else except we used words.
“Even Mr. Sparkles wants to help,” Cassie said, “but I think it’s mostly because he wants another shot at killing a dragon.”
Turning around, Amy’s eyes glistened, but her voice stayed calm, “Thank you. Bringing powerful friends from another world is exactly the kind of thing that would confirm the Bloodlords’ worst fears about my intentions, but if they confirm my worst fears, I’ll take you up on it. For now, I’m going to start small. I’ll go myself, find out the situation, and then make plans.”
Vaughn held up his hand, “I know it shouldn’t be me, but maybe someone should go with you. Stuff happens. You shouldn’t go into this alone. It’s really big.”
Nodding, Marcus said, “This has a Nine Princes in Amber and Dune feel to it—that, or maybe Yona of the Dawn. Epic, you know? Anyway, a second set of eyes won’t hurt.”
“I’ll think about it,” she said. “I’m not leaving yet.”
The jet hurtled through the air toward home, flying over Florida without anyone scrambling jets (or missiles) to intercept. Thinking back to what she’d said before I went through the portal, I couldn’t help but wonder how much this was about me. I knew she had more to worry about. She had to go back for her family, not to mention the alternate version of me that made whatever connection that might be between us one step weirder.
Still, it didn’t feel good. I’d miss her even though I knew from talking to her in the future that she didn’t regret going and we’d see each other again.