Free Shared Skies by Josephine O Brien Page B

master.
I’m one of the Five and we’re nearly there, we nearly have it
perfected. No melding’s spawn will stop us.”
    “ If you thought that was
true, you wouldn't be here tonight trying to kill Gaiah.” Kaley
spat out the retort and turned her attention to Alasdair, who was
stirring on the ground. The intruder's clothes were dripping blood,
soaking down his trousers and trailing on the ground as he shuffled
from sight.
    Gaiah’s legs wouldn't
support her; she collapsed trembling into the wooden armchair. She
wanted to throw up, and much as she was scared and worried about
her grandfather, she just couldn't get her legs to move. “For
Christ’s sake!” I can't believe this. I'm
sitting in a picture-book house, the sight and smell of a delicious
meal all around me and my grandmother has just shot someone outside
the kitchen window! When the hell did I go through the looking
glass?
    She sat in the chair
fighting off nausea. She was vaguely aware of Kaley helping
Alasdair past the kitchen and into the bathroom. Okay Gaiah, get a grip, either all this is real
or you’re mad, locked up somewhere dribbling and hallucinating. If
it’s real, well, Alasdair and Kaley aren’t bad people, they’d never
do anything wrong–although shooting someone does rather seem to
fall into that category.
    Her black humour seemed to give her strength
and she got to her feet just as Alasdair appeared at the kitchen
door. He looked pale and worried, but apart from the blood on his
sweater he seemed unhurt. Gaiah couldn't believe her eyes.
    “ Have you got super
healing powers?”
    He smiled. “No, not really. If I had such a
violent accident on Gaiana, I probably would have to spend time in
a curing centre, but our Earth forms do respond quickly to Gaianan
energy focused on healing.”
    “ So, why didn't Mr.
Attacker guy do the same?”
    “ Because he wasn't in his
Earthways form, he was inhabiting a human.”
    Gaiah flopped back down into the chair. It
looked as if a whole new level of weird was about to be added to
what she had already discovered.
    Alasdair made three mugs of hot chocolate
and generously added some Glenmorangie whisky to two of them. The
sounds of scrubbing and hosing carried in from outside. Gaiah
thought of what her grandmother was doing.
    “ Oh, God. How
gross.”
    “ Here, drink this,” said
Alasdair.
    She gulped, and the hot, sweet chocolate
warmed its way inside her, heating and soothing. They sipped in
silence; there were no coherent thoughts in her mind at this
moment. She looked up as Kaley came in, her hair escaping from its
plait and her face flushed, her cotton trousers and white jumper
stained and splattered with...
    Stop! Gaiah didn't even want to think about
it, so she wrapped her hands tightly around the 'I love Inverness'
mug, and drained the cooling chocolate.
    “ Is there any normal way
of explaining any of this?” she asked hopefully.
    Alasdair smiled ruefully. “No, and we’re not
even going to try!”
    Gaiah looked at them in amazement. “What?!
That’s a biiiith…I mean...a bitch...a...a bit...oh…whaat?” And her
voice slurred into silence. Alasdair and Kaley were moving to catch
her when her legs became useless and she collapsed into their arms.
They carried her into her room, which had been considerately
reconstructed at almost twice the size as the last time she lived
there. She hazily felt them lay her on a bed, carefully remove her
boots and socks and pull the thick, squishy quilt well up over her
shoulders.
    “ Let’s leave the light on
and the door open, just in case she wakes in a panic,” Kaley's
whispered voice carried.
    Alasdair's voice came faint and wavery.
“There’s no way that’s going to happen, after the dose I gave her,
she’s out for twelve hours exactly–she won’t stir ‘til nine
tomorrow.”
    “ She looks so like Nia.
It's difficult, isn't it?” Kaley spoke gently.
    “ Yes, but it's also
wonderful.”
    “ Poor girl! That was an
awful