Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5)

by P. S. Power

  Which didn't mean they'd stay that way over time. Not with constant fear and stress beating them down, on top of their actual duties. All of them were in their positions for life, too. Except the Premier of Europa. He could get out of his job at any time, just by resigning. Hopefully he would.

  Gwen didn't know the man at all, but no one that had to live through what they had should be given any sort of power, she didn't think.

  Which made what she was doing just then nearly insane. That wasn't lost on her, but Gwen didn't know what else to do. The Westmorlands needed to be free. That couldn't happen as long as they were needed to blow themselves up. No one else that had the power to learn what was needed was going to be willing to do it. That meant it fell to her.

  The idea was just too hard, for the moment.

  So she waited, then laid down and let Peter and the now jump-suited Rhonda work on her, until Mona got there with a little box.

  It was all she could do not to run away.

  Then, after the others left, she hashed out what they needed to do. To her surprise the old woman nodded along.

  "That sounds like an ambitious plan. I will make this harder on you. Are you certain you want to try it?" There was pity in her words, and pain. It shouldn't have been there, but it was.

  "Nooo. I want to go and sleep, then find the people that set up the hit on Ethyl and deal with that, so she'll be safe. I just... I don't think I can do this again. Not on purpose. I can't take it, so we have to do this all now. No one will make me do it, if I can't get myself to, and... Even now I want to Teletransport away." She meant it, but instead of slapping a pain device on her, the woman looked away, her face wrinkled and hard.

  "Sensible. We'll do it then. I just hope we can both survive it. It's an ambitious plan, Miss Farris."

  She nodded. It was also foolish. There was a time schedule though, since she didn't know how long Kate was going to leave her in charge of the body. Someday she'd decide she was bored, or lonely. Maybe just hungry, and take over for good.

  On that day, they'd both have to die.

  There was no way she was leaving the snotty brat of an heiress walking around with the power to rift in her head.

  Chapter three

  Five days later, Gwen was seriously considering killing herself.

  Mona had done her job, and done it proficiently enough that Gwen could now teletransport with not just one, but two extra people. It was awful each time, but could be done, if she had ten to twenty minutes to lay around recovering once it was over. That was just a thing though, compared to how she felt about Mona now.

  It was a combination of pity, real and heartfelt, and desire to kill that nearly overwhelmed her. Hence the thought that killing herself might be a good plan. She was going to hurt the bitch, if she could. The thing there was that now she doubted anyone in the world could really stop her, if she wanted to get the job done.

  Almost as an afterthought Heather had suggested that the woman have Gwen learn to move people from other places, shifting them around at a distance. She had the power for it, and it was potentially useful, since she could do some great things as far as rescue missions went that way. It also meant she could do other objects, and since what she'd been working on was doing several at once, to different locations, that meant she could rift now.

  That part wasn't lost on her, either.

  If she could move herself in three directions at once time, then she could rip space and time open catastrophically. In short, she was incredibly lethal now, and even though no one seemed to get the idea, not only could she rift, Gwen could do it at a distance from her own body. In theory. She was never going to try it, but even without the proper Westmorland training for it, she knew, deep inside that she had the power now.

  It was another reason not to live. She needed to think about it.

  There was danger if Katherine, the horrible troll that lived in her head, managed to take over. What she could do with that kind of power boggled the mind. True the girl had managed to stay pretty quiet over the last month or so, mainly thanks to the fact that Gwen had told her flat out that if she even started to get the upper hand, they were both going to die.

  Worse, they'd kind of done things out of order. Gwen could see why that was, it having been her own plan, as she sat in her bedroom. Resting finally, after her ordeal. The being stabbed one, not the actual trial, which had been the sudden and unexpected training. Everything inside had been replaced, so that she wouldn't have to look at the same flower vase that had failed to defend her, or something like that. It had shifted while she was off working, from a pale white and cream theme, to a peach colored one that was cheerier. Better for healing and staying upbeat.

  The walls had even been re-papered in silk that color, making the walls shine just a little under the white light of the glow lamps. There was just enough difference in the various shades to keep the whole thing from becoming truly oppressive on her. Thankfully the new desk and chair were wood, since that helped to break things up a little. Not that there had been anything wrong with the old ones. They hadn't even gotten blood on them. It was because she'd trashed the poor and noble nightstand that the rest had been altered. May it rest in peace.

  It was light out, and had been for hours, so she stood up, not really wanting to.

  They'd made a mistake, and given that she'd been in training, she couldn't tell them no at the time. Gwen was dangerous now.

  Okay, she'd been pretty bad-assed before, but now she, in her own person, could take out most of the world, if she wanted to. She didn't, and never would, but the constant fear inside her still niggled a bit. Gwen had forgotten that Katherine was part of the equation. The stupid little girl in her head had tried to take out the whole world once already. Now she had, in her own person, the ability to do just that. Just grab a person at a distance, or even an object, and put it in three different places. Then...

  Boom.

  The world ended.

  In a local space, at any rate. It was too much for one person to hold, if they didn't have to answer to someone else. Even a good person. The thing there was that, on overview, Gwen had two problems. The first was the mistake the others had made, trying to condense the training for her. Allowing her to move people at a distance. That would have been fine really, if she were a normal person. They also hadn't taught her to make radiatives first.

  If they had, she could have, possibly, produced the new devices they needed right then, that very day, and figured out how to part the manufacturing of them out. Then the Westmorlands could be freed, and she could stick the business end of a crin in her mouth and end the threat.

  She didn't have that option though. Not if she wanted to make it all pay off for her friends.

  The second problem was that she really didn't think she was going to be able to learn to make radiatives the speedy Westmorland way now. If she ever saw Mona coming, she'd escape now. Possibly doing it using precognition, so the old lady couldn't close with her. It had been so horrible, the pain so great, that she was pretty certain that she'd nearly died from that part alone. More than once, too.

  That meant that Gwen had a real problem. One that she was either going to deal with right then... Or that she'd deal with... Right then. There was a crin in her new wardrobe. If she needed to, she could make it so neither she nor Katherine left the room they were in.

  "So, Kate, you see the problem here?" Gwen was talking to herself, her new nightgown, which was clean still, having been slept in only once, and not having a hole from an ice-pick, draped nearly to the floor. It was a lousy way to sleep, but everyone here insisted on it. Even the men wore baggy floor length gowns to sleep in.

  It made them all look like Ebenezer Scrooge.

  For a long time there was no answer, but her mouth finally moved, smirking a bit, she thought.

  "I don't think it's as large of an issue as you might imagine, Gwenie." The words were slightly British sounding to her, as far as an accent went. A lot like Eth
yl and Robert, which made sense.

  Arching an eyebrow, she winced. "Gwenie? That's not even a word, I don't think."

  "Well, you can't stop me from calling you that. Not short of killing yourself. Both of us. Like an idiot. I didn't ask you to come here and steal my body, you know." She sounded snotty and entitled. Not just a little either.

  Worse, she was wrong.

  "No, you didn't ask. That's true. You killed me, and forced me into your body. Totally different. The thing is, it is your body. I have no doubt that you could take over, if you really tried. I'm the one squatting here. The possessing ghost, I guess. I know that. So, we need to make sure that doesn't happen. I won't let you kill people. There's no way for that to be any clearer, is there?" It made sense. To her anyway.

  Katherine snorted. She did it really well, too. Hitting a tone of disdain that Gwen had never managed in this body. Not her own, either. She'd simply lacked the range for it. The woman was a master of being herself, it seemed. That was her point though. Kate could take over, because she knew the hardware of this body better than some other person ever could. It was her. The other girl matched herself at a level that Gwen never could. Heck, she felt awkward and unsteady, most of the time. It didn't show too much on the outside, but she always felt just a tiny bit off. Wrong.

  The voice that spoke then was hard and properly British, even though that wasn't truly a thing in this world. The islands off of Europa had held out for a long time, but they'd eventually become part of the Mongol empire.

  "I could. You're a frightening and awful person, Miss Farris, but you aren't wrong. This is my body. But your skills aren't mine. You know how to produce forces and how to teletransport. My skills always set closer to the telepathic. I can no more do that, than you can arrange a color scheme for your wedding. Which, after you find the person responsible for sending those most unwelcome assassins at my mother, should be what you set your mind to. You have only a year until the day. Less than that now, and you haven't been working on it in the slightest. I'd think you were being lazy, but I know you to be incapable of that. Do you know what goes into a state wedding?"

  Talking to herself could have been fun, she decided, if Katherine hadn't been evil. Almost like having a friend that was snooty, and abused her. Once that probably would have been enough for her, but now she had Beth to hold up as an example. She wasn't perfect, but she meant well, most of the time.

  "Well, if we don't leave the room, we don't have a problem, do we?"

  The ceiling was in view then, as her eyes rolled against her will.

  "That's my focus here, Gwen. You seem to think that you learning something gives me skills in those areas. It simply isn't the case. If I want to fly, I'd need to rent an airship, or perhaps book passage. Maybe get you to levitate us? Not that I wish any of that. I hate flying. The point is, I can't do it. If you need ceremonial magic done, then I could do that, perhaps? If it isn't too complicated. I don't know why you can't see it. I could no more Teletransport than I could... I don't know, fight like a man? Dress myself in fashions that are three years old? Let my cuticles get into the horrid shape you let them reach?"

  "Hey, funny. I hope that's actually the case, Kate. How do I test it though? How can I know that you haven't learned to rift? You've been right there the whole time."

  She made a loud, rather miffed sound.

  "First, I haven't. How could you even imagine that I would? I hid from the pain you were in while you learned, like a sensible person. You see Gwen, I'm not insane, like some people. Second, all you have to do is get your friend Bethy to read my mind. I don't really know why you haven't yet. Afraid that you'll have to kill us? She could tell that kind of thing, you just have to ask the right questions. You know what? Let's go do that now. Then you can stop acting like a madwoman all the time. Not that you will, but you could do that, if you wished."

  Gwen started to move then, collecting a set of clothing, which was a jumpsuit, but a new one that was all in blue. Gwen hadn't even worn it yet, and had figured that getting into a dress would be more Katherine's style, but the woman didn't comment on it. Then, as if she were riding along instead of making the choice to do anything in particular, they moved off to the shower. That was in a joining room, which was nice.

  Gwen's old house, in her own world, didn't have that, even for the master bedroom. She did have two rooms though. It still felt small and poor, by comparison to Park Street. This place was a palace. Close to literally being one, lacking only the nobility to live there to give it that designation. They had their own ballroom, for instance. A great expanse of polished wood that was larger than the high school gym that she'd never been allowed to really use back in the day.

  Oddly enough, Katherine didn't mock her for that lack, even when Gwen thought about it. She just moved them into place, taking control of the whole thing. Easily, even as there was a bit of struggle from her passenger over the whole thing.

  Gwen got that one. It was clear on a level that nearly stung across her mind as it happened. She was doing it to prove she could. To show Gwen that, if she wanted, whenever she chose to bother, Kate Vernor was the one that would live her life.

  That really wasn't impossible, Gwen knew. She'd known that since in the cave, to be honest about it. At the time she'd hoped that it had been a trick and had even gotten herself to believe it for a while. That it had only been about Erin Debussey having added magical power to the whole thing. That was part of it, but not the whole picture. Kate was showing that so clearly in the moment that it wasn't funny. So not humorous that Gwen decided to kill herself as soon as she could. Acting suddenly, and without warning.

  Some people had to be controlled, and a certain heiress was always going to be one of them.

  After they showered, the warm water falling in a curtain over the body they shared, there would be a trip back to the room. Once there, Gwen would be able to get to her wardrobe, and then...

  Kate sighed, arching her back as the warm water fell, caressing her body.

  "This shower head of yours is brilliant. You should set up James and his wife, Eline, into making them. No one else holds the right to do it, and they'd sell. I know that you told them that you'd front them some lucre for anything they wanted, but if you don't push them, they won't press in. The underclass never does, which is what keeps them down, as often as not. As it is his lady is probably going to wonder if you're sucking his cock when he's supposed to be taking you places. I know I always did." There was a tone to her words. A snarky, naughty thing meant to get to her, Gwen thought.

  Gwen was good at telling when people were screwing with her. Not that Katherine was hiding it all that much.

  She shrugged, and was shocked when the body moved to actually do it. Even more so when she could actually speak. So either Kate wasn't as in charge as she was acting, or she was sharing with Gwen now.

  "Ella. Not Eline. I don't think so anyway. Also, James couldn't stand you. I don't know if he'd let me do that with him or not, but I'm nearly certain he wouldn't let your teeth that close to a sensitive spot on his body." She kept herself from yelling take that, mainly because she wasn't totally certain what she'd said was right.

  Gwen was a scary, body stealing, invader from another world. More than that, she didn't know how everything functioned there yet, especially in social situations. It could be that Kate, who knew how things worked, and wasn't an alien, might have a better shot of getting that kind of thing done than she would have.

  There was soaping then, the other girl spending a lot more time on the process than Gwen ever had. She scrubbed, but this was almost a creepy self petting thing, compared to what she did every morning. Except that it was most likely what most people did in the shower. She'd made a concerted point of shutting off anything dealing with sex, back when she was about fourteen and it became clear to her that no amount of surgery was ever going to fix her enough for that to be a real option. Not even booze and pills could have gotten a man stoned enough for it to
work.

  Kate giggled. At first it seemed like it was about what Gwen had been thinking, but then she spoke, explaining herself.

  "Oh, I'm just teasing. I didn't even know their names until you came along. You're a better person than I am, that way. Learning the names of all the underlings, and help, like you do. It makes it seem like you almost think of them as people. Poor form, of course, for people in our circle, but it seems to be working for you, so far." More snoot infected the words.

  It was enough that Gwen jerked control back, annoyed.

  "How in the fuck did you manage to become such a self-centered cunt? The entire time I've been here I've wondered that. Ethyl and Robert are good people. Okay, rich, but other than that, they aren't bad at all. Your Uncle Thomas is a great guy, hard working and everything, and Cousin Reggie is practically a Saint. He let himself be publically tortured to show people what we've been doing to the Westmorlands. You're-" Well, she's already said what she thought there. It wasn't lost on the girl.

  There was a hand going up, a single one, the palm flipping up, under the water.

  "I'm a realist. That's all it is. People simply aren't created in an even fashion, and they don't all have the same privileges or skills that we do. That makes us better than they are. That's all it is. I'm smart. I know that you don't think so, but consider the idea for a moment; when I learned that the world was going to be taken over by the Elder Gods, I made certain to be on the winning side. If you hadn't come here, if we'd picked someone else to sacrifice from your world, or another, then I'd still be me right now, because I picked correctly. Even now, I'm still here. Stuck being hidden most of the time, and doing that dreadful running all the time, and fighting, but it took skill to make it happen. Discipline that no one ever considered me to have."

  Gwen washed them then, doing it a good bit faster than her body-buddy had been. They got clean, but that was all. She didn't speak when she was done, just walking out of the room as soon as she was dried and dressed, not thinking about what she had planned. That way it could be a little surprise for Kate. After a bit Gwen was dressed, but could use a hat, she decided, so got back to her room and headed to the wardrobe.