The Mask of Omegon (Gwen Farris Book 6) by P.S. Power

always the way things were done there.
So she had a small sandwich, apple wedges, and carrot strips. There was a dip
for those, which was made from oil and vinegar. It wasn’t inspired food, being
too bland, but it was filling enough. She wasn’t eating to reward herself or
anything.
    Just to kill time and try to make
sure she gained a bit of weight.
    As it was she’d gained about
fifteen pounds and still could pass for anorexic back home. In her
world. Or could have, back when she’d lived there.
    That had been weird, when she’d
gone back. The world there was incredibly different now. The times didn’t match
up for one thing and it was over a hundred years later than when she’d left.
After the zombie war. Apparently that was both a real thing and had started the
day after her body had died. Killed by Katherine Vernor. Murdered. The
idea was still insane, but when she’d gone there everything had been very
different. Her old home was gone. So were most of the people.
    Eaten to death a century before.
    The rest of the place was pretty
much not recognizable to her now. It was nice, for one thing. Pretty. The
technology was futuristic on a level that barely had made sense to her. So
she’d come back after a day there. To a world where she should have been
shunned and reviled. Where she honestly expected to be killed.
    Then, clearly, she had a bit of a
death wish still. No one could doubt that.
    Well, no one that lived inside her
head could. Katherine wasn’t going to speak on the topic though, since if she
did, Gwen would cut her off, as for her daily fix. Possibly by just teleporting
straight up in the air and refusing to fly out of the move. Not that day. She
had a date. Killing herself right before it would be rude, she had to think.
    Even after she was stood up would
be a bit too dark for her to go.
    That would probably scar poor Tomas
for life, if she wasn’t careful. There was no real reason for him to even show
up, of course. Not that she wasn’t going to go down to the lobby and wait at
six, made-up and dressed for a walk in the park. Eagerly standing there, while
nothing happened.
    She got herself ready, showering
again first. Then she did her hair and makeup, several times each. She wasn’t
great at those things, but had enough practice to manage to put her hair up in
a twist that looked all right, she figured. Her makeup was actually better,
since that was more like painting, which was a thing she’d had classes in back
when she was in high school.
    So, at six, promptly, she was in
the lobby. Her life flowing out of her as she waited for a person that wasn’t
going to come. At about three after the hour Tomas came into the space
regardless of her plans, looking bright and cheery. He even had a small
arrangement of flowers in his hands. Then he locked his eyes on hers.
    “You’re here! I wasn’t certain. Um…
here?” He handed the bunch of flowers over to her, seeming a bit bashful
suddenly.
    For her part, she nearly cried. No
one had ever given her something like that before. They were lovely. Daisies
with little white flowers mixed in with them. Dried ones in with the fresh. Wrapped
in very thin green paper. Meaning that he’d probably spent cash on them. She
smelled them, but didn’t get anything from it that way.
    “These are wonderful ! Now, I
was promised a romantic walk in the park?” She smiled, holding the flowers,
since they were going with her.
    Mainly so she could show them off
to the world. Someone had thought to give her flowers. Gwen wondered if
making a sign saying that would be too obvious. Which it would be. So she held
the things and started to walk to the door. From there she had no clue which
direction to go. It turned out that she needed to head to the right.
    Tomas smiled at her, ducking his
head a bit.
    “I don’t recall promising romance .
I’ll be lucky not to trip over my own feet.” Then, playing, he pretended to do
that. It was cute.
    Gwen nodded.
    “Hey,