Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5)

by P. S. Power

  Then everything went away, until she opened her eyes. Bethany stood there, looking at her, hopefully.

  "Gwen... Are you all right?"

  "Um... Yes?" She felt fine, actually. Normal, and more than a little bit relaxed. She was sitting on the same sofa that she had been and the king was there.

  Still wearing the same grass stained trousers, which meant it hadn't been all that long, she didn't think. He was the kind of person that would change, and probably burn the clothing if it couldn't be cleaned well enough. More to the point, his people would do it for him. Ferdinand wasn't that wasteful by nature, she didn't think.

  After all, he hadn't thrown her away.

  Beth clapped happily, and then leaned in to hug her.

  "It worked! I told Katherine that if she let you back out for a full day, I'd give her ten minutes of reward time. You truly feel no effects from this? I could give you a jolt, too, if you want? I have the device right here..." She was being leading, and testing her, Gwen knew. It was a bit tempting, she realized, having felt it once before for about ten seconds.

  She managed to shake her head however, which wouldn't be able to take place if she were truly hooked.

  "Nope. I'm good. Perfect really. So, does this mean that I'm free now? I mean, other than when Kate has training to do? I really do think we can work out a shield for rifting. Then..." She stopped and looked at the king, understanding she was about to go all subversive on him. He got that too, and so did Count Goebbels, who was still there, watching her happily enough. "Then, once we have that, we should give the plans for it to anyone in the world that wants them. It will take rifting off the board as a real weapon, or at least as more than a hit and run tactic, but Kate probably wasn't wrong. Eventually everyone is going to have it. This world doesn't need that kind of thing. You can't use it without destroying the whole planet anyway. Not in any kind of massive way."

  The Count looked annoyed then, "we can't? Why not?"

  Ferdinand looked at the man, and grimaced a bit.

  "Dust winter. We've known that for some time. If we use more than twenty rifters at one time, we could set off a new ice age. Well. I can't promise that we'll be that unselfish, Miss Farris, but if you provide the shield techniques, I think we might be persuaded to at least consider it. In the mean time, you should work on this new method that might come of this here. Imagine, being able to train a portion of a person's mind with pleasure, and leave them free the rest of the time? Amazing, if possible."

  He glanced at Beth, and winked, warmly.

  "I'll see you soon? If this is stable, then Gwen can be assigned to guard my queen, which should work nicely, I think. Unless the two of you are planning to go to Aubrey?"

  Gwen looked away, feeling a bit guilty. She probably needed to see to that one. Poor Christophe had been left hanging, for years.

  "He already got married, right? It's been several years, so I just kind of assumed that would be the case. He's a catch, and didn't need to leave himself off the market, what with everything." She tried to get ready for the news, and still winced when she heard it.

  Bethany told her, seeming sad about it. Like it was the worst thing to come of what Kate had done, by far.

  "Duke Aubrey did marry. He also provided guards for the Vernors to make certain they wouldn't be harmed by anyone seeking to punish them for Katherine's misdoings. It would be a good idea to go and see him, I think. Also a very hard thing to do, as it represents loss." She actually glared, for almost a whole second, at the king. Given that she had actual training that prevented that kind of thing, it meant a lot.

  The man gave a single hard nod.

  "Understood. I'll leave that up to you, but, Gwen, my cousin holds you no ill will. Even though things didn't work out for you, it would do no harm to make sure you remain friends. I give this only as friendly advice, since I think of you as a friend as well." He bowed, since obviously that was what you did with your pals.

  She rolled her eyes, but grinned at him.

  "Great. That will go over like a blanket made of bricks I bet. Still, I should at least send a letter. Then I just get some cosmetic surgery, and change my name and boom, presto, I won't be the single most hated person in history anymore. Booya." She tried to work out how to do that one, but Count Goebbels flipped a single palm up, as if to say that wasn't a huge problem.

  "Leave that portion to me, dear? It will help if you have a working shield ready. Shall we call it a year? I don't wish to push, but the sooner we're on this, the better. Then we'll simply reintroduce you as the savior of mankind. I think any past connections to a body thief and traitor might be mended that way, rather nicely. Particularly if it can be arranged before a rift war happens. Taking that fear away can, perhaps, be made to look like what was happening the whole time. Like it was a mere trick, to allow you the resources needed to save the world. Again."

  She nodded.

  "Yep. Now all we have to do is survive until then, and make it actually happen. Piece of cake."

  Bethany looked at her funny and touched her arm, gently.

  "You mean to say that it's simple, even if it truly won't be?"

  "That's it exactly! Though... Now I actually do want a piece of cake. I'm starving." She rubbed her middle, and rose, to float off toward the kitchen. Everyone else followed along.

  It was nice. Almost like having friends, or something.

  Chapter fourteen

  Gwen got a surprise the next day, since she'd kind of figured they'd go and get to work, almost immediately. At least the guarding the queen portion of things. It didn't happen, and the reason was obvious, as soon as she thought about it for half a second.

  She had a freaking broken ankle. Guess who the Special Service didn't need watching for deadly threats? Gimpy her, stumbling around in pain. She smiled as Beth tried to say that without being too harsh about it.

  "Adam mentioned that you might need to... Rest for a while? Rebuild a little, perhaps?"

  Gwen snorted, "okay, I get you. I'm not doing a lot until I fix some things. Anyway, we can go over what's needed for the new techniques? I think I have the basic concept down, so it won't be too hard. It's a combination of different things, null radiatives, but I want to catch only teletransport instead of everything at once. I haven't seen anyone do it, but I think we can. It will be useful for making secure zones, too. No one will be able to go in that way. Here..." She outlined the basics, her eyes squinting after a little bit, waiting for the hold Katherine had put on herself to break.

  A shattering and world ending co-opting of Gwen's reality. Once again.

  Beth didn't get it all, but that wasn't important. All she had to do was learn how to get Kate to be able to do it. Gwen still needed to work it all out though. In the end that led to several days of experimentation, culminating in her sitting in the front room while three different Westmorlands she didn't know tried to teletransport out of the room to the back yard. She actually managed to stop them from going anywhere, as long as they were all within about ten feet of her. Further away than that was a problem.

  Kind of a big one, though that evening she got a visit from Adam. It went differently than she expected.

  Beth was polite about it, but Gwen kind of figured there was going to be belittling, and screaming. Instead the man smiled at her. It was creepy, because she instantly had to think it was part of a trap.

  "I hear that your plan is working already? I have to say I didn't really imagine you'd have any success at all, much less manage anything this soon."

  She smiled then and shrugged, her blouse pulling over her chest a little, since it was an old thing that Kate had worn years before, when she'd been a teen. It very nearly fit, but it wasn't exactly perfect. Someone had gotten bigger across the chest since she was fifteen. Lucky her.

  No one noticed that though, since it would have been rude.

  "I know, go figure, right? It isn't perfect yet. But yes, if I was right next to a rifter, I could stop them. The range has to
be increased, by miles or more, and ideally it needs to be attached to a radiative that can be turned on and off. Otherwise it will stop teletransport too, and I learned how to do that the hard way, so I don't want to ruin it."

  The man nodded, as if they weren't enemies. Frenemies. They weren't going to try and kill each other after all. It was important to keep that kind of thing in mind.

  "Understood. Keep me informed as to your progress? Also, Miss Farris, I... hear that your family is returning to Wessington? How do you feel about that? I was instructed to ask, in case it's going to be an issue."

  The name of the city there took her off guard for a moment, then she had to work out who her family was. The man didn't mean Billy, since no one was ever going to be ready for him. That was his thing. Even the Westmorlands thought he was a weirdo, and that was saying something. Part of that was the thing where most of them couldn't really understand that he was an alien. They all just thought of him as Darren, the Westmorland version of himself, who'd traded places with him while learning to teletransport.

  No, Adam meant that the Vernors were coming back. To their own home. It was a bit nerve-wracking to find that out, because they might be mad at her. For not keeping Kate reigned in enough. Under control and managed, so that the girl couldn't get out of hand. That was kind of her fault, even if she couldn't have done it really. It was hard to admit, but true.

  Luckily the trick they were using now was holding. More to the point, the trick that Katherine was using. She got her reward each day, as long as she locked Gwen away tightly first. Eventually that part would become nearly automatic, Beth hoped.

  "I didn't know they were coming. Well, that's a treat? I hope they aren't too mad at me? If they kick me out, I'm moving in with you, Adam, so you know, keep your fingers crossed for the best." She demonstrated the superstition, and earned a smile from the man.

  "I doubt it will be needed, but you can sleep at the foot of my bed if it comes to it. There was a time I would have taken the floor, but I'm too old for that now."

  It was kind of cute, for him, so she chuckled a bit.

  "I'm sure it will be all right. Anyway... My hope is that we'll have something ready to go in a few months. Rift shield wise. I'm going to be a few more weeks before I can walk. Five or six. Other than that, I have nothing. I can't really leave here for the time being."

  Bethany shrugged, copying what she always did, and then looked away.

  "The sentiment is rather against you, on the telesar, at the moment. Some are rather still calling for you to be imprisoned. It isn't fair."

  It wasn't, but she understood what people were thinking. It was really hard for most people to imagine being so powerless inside their own bodies that someone else could take over at will. Gwen had been inside Kate for nearly a year before being locked down like she was, and if someone had asked her before that if it was even possible, she would have thought she could have fought at least a bit.

  So, of course most people would be having a problem with her. A lot of them probably always would.

  "I mean the ankle. That isn't a bad point, either, I suppose. I should skip out on eating anyplace I can't see them making the food for a while." Since who knew what would end up in it otherwise. Oddly enough both of the Westmorlands understood that part without her having to explain. They were, in the end, Westmorlands.

  Adam gave her a bit of a nod then, still standing there, taking a single step back to indicate he was about to leave.

  "Very well, then. As long as you have no issue with the Vernors coming, the king won't have to arrange for them not to do so. They did offer not to come, but it was decided that checking on it with you would be superior."

  Why Ferdinand hadn't just used the telestator to chat with her about it she didn't know. It wasn't like she was going to be out of the house all the time. It niggled at her a bit, but no one spoke about it, until after Adam left and she asked.

  Beth covered a smiled with her right hand.

  "I think, and this is conjecture, that the King didn't want to have to tell them that you didn't want to see them. He should have known better, of course. You know, if you really don't mind, you should probably contact them this evening. Or... Right now? We have a break in the work schedule for the moment, so it would fit in nicely. I need to go and run for a bit, and you should rest anyway, don't you think?" It sounded efficient, though Gwen wanted to go with her, rather than sitting around all day. Her body still hurt a bit, from inactivity.

  "Go. Do the fun stuff without me, why don't you? I'll see if I can get the right code from Winslow. That way I can warn him that people might be coming at the same time. If he doesn't already know." She managed a small grin to go with it.

  After all, her ankle would heal, eventually, and for the first time since she'd gotten to this place, it felt almost right to refer to it that way. Her ankle. At the end of Gwen's leg. It wasn't really the truth, and never would be, but she didn't feel like she was going to lose it all, at any moment.

  Plus, Kate had given this to her. On purpose.

  Before it had always been that she was simply there, and didn't want to give back the rightful life of someone else. Now, well, Katherine was doing this because she felt that Gwen deserved a life. It wasn't a very good one compared to what would have been there if the other girl hadn't fucked up and gone over to the enemy, but it could be made to work out. With enough luck, and effort.

  Beth smiled back, her face nearly loving, and then left, without saying anything more. It was how things were done there. Goodbye could be empowered as a curse, or so the legend went. It probably wouldn't be one, unless a person really tried to make it happen, but every society had their own superstitions, as far as she could tell.

  Taking a moment to look around the palatial estate, she rose, standing on her left leg, then slowly focused, and continued upward a bit, until she was about four or five inches above the hard wood floor. It had to look neat, she decided. No one just floated around here, because it was really hard work. It took a level of power that only the best and strongest had, as well as the will to use it. She had that. Both of those things. It was why she was so cool.

  Laughing at herself a bit, she moved from the room, down the hallway to the right, where the main Telestator was kept. They had something like five of them at Park Street, which was a status symbol, more than something needed day to day. Like a rich man that had ten cars, even though he could only use one or two at a time. In this case it was a rich man that could only be in one room at once, but the idea was the same.

  It was a move meant to impress visitors.

  "Winslow! Are you around here? I need the code for the Vernors..." She didn't have to yell that twice, before the man bustled over, his thin body fit, and looking good in his tailored black uniform.

  "I can call that in for you, Miss?" It was proper sounding, but he looked concerned for some reason.

  Gwen didn't have a clue why that was, because like everybody in this place he was playing his real issues close to his chest. It would be up to her to work out what they really were, if she cared enough to do that kind of thing. Which of course she did. Only an a-hole would have left a friend hanging if they had the power to do something about it. She'd been a lot of things in her life, but she tried to be good, when possible. Normally it came out wrong, but she did her part, as well as she was able.

  While she stood there waiting, she listened to what Winslow was saying.

  "Hampton, seven-seven-nine, if you please, operator?"

  "Hampton, seven-seven-nine, please hold." The voice was high pitched, and slightly nasal, which made the woman sound exactly right for an old timey phone operator to Gwen. She didn't know if that was correct for her world, in the past, but television had always painted a very similar voice for all of them.

  The person that answered the telestator wasn't anyone she recognized at first. After a bit she realized that it was Carlisle, the big Native American looking footman. The one that had helped h
er out a few times, when things had gotten a bit too real.

  Gwen didn't get to talk to him, since he called for one of the Vernors to come as if it were an emergency, nearly screaming that there was a communication. That got bodies to move, wherever he was. One of the country houses. That was another thing that they had extras of, to impress their friends.

  Shaking her head, Gwen pushed in alongside the butler, her chest accidently rubbing along his arm in a way that would have probably gotten her a date in her own world. She was a nice and symmetrical C-cup after all. She didn't shake her head when she thought about it though. After all was said, she was still herself, no matter what she looked like. No one was going to want her, in the end, would they? She was a monster.

  That didn't mean she needed to act like one though.

  As soon as Ethyl got on the device at the other end, she spoke, her voice tentative and slightly shy sounding. It wasn't right. Ethyl Vernor was nice and polite, but a social tiger. She shouldn't be sounding like a little kid expecting a beating. Especially if she didn't know who was on the line for her.

  "Hello? This is Ethyl Vernor." It really did sound off.

  Which was probably her fault, having let Kate win like she had.

  "Ethyl! It's me, Gwen. I got word from the king that you and Robert think I'm going to steal your house? You do know that's silly, right? You should both get back here, as soon as possible, so we can plan how we're going to take over the local social scene. Plus, it looks like I get the body full time now, nearly, which is a good story. In the end, after a fashion, Katherine is kind of the hero. Things have changed, but it isn't all bad, I don't think." She said it all in a rush, not giving the other woman a chance to even think too much.

  Which explained her answer, which was confused sounding.

  "I... What? Gwen?"

  She chuckled, actually meaning it.

  "That's me! I'm back, like I said. When can we expect you and Robert? Winslow wants a few days, so he can open the house up properly." She looked at the man who gave a nod, but didn't seem to be relaxed at all.