by P. S. Power
"This is disorienting. Am I still being tricked and mesmerized? Would I know the difference if I wasn't? How do I do that? More to the point, if anyone tells me now, how do I know it isn't part of a trick to keep me under control?"
"Gwen? Can you see me now? I've been so worried. You left with the Lorrie driver for some reason. We found you standing in front of the wall on the far side of the Count's estate."
She stood, her legs shaking and noticed that she wasn't in a dress at all herself, but her blue outfit. Things had morphed around her too many times in the last bit to trust it, even if this was real now. It was like she'd always thought LSD must be like. On the good side she hadn't had to deal with giant spiders.
She had thought she could fly however. Hopefully not on a rooftop or anything silly like that. If so, someone had helped her down. She felt fine, except a bit sore where someone had clearly been slapping her. She rubbed at her cheeks, which got her friend to look a little chagrinned.
"I'm so glad to have you back. You were acting very strange, what was it like? I tried to read your mind, but it was all going so fast..."
The recounting didn't take long at all. With a few minutes of sharing they were both up to date.
"So, the boy was real, and dead like that? The girls and the Count... but the rest of it, the flying, Peter Westmorland, Heather being me from this world, that's all fake?"
There was a slow nod from her friend, it looked slightly hesitant however, as if she were thinking, not being in the way she used when she was planning on hiding things from her.
"Well, there is a Peter Westmorland, but he isn't a boy, he must be nearing fifty now. Nice man, if you can get past the pipe smoking. I... don't know about Heather, that could be something that was put in place, or something that your own mind provided. Either way, we need to look into that, I think. The flying... Well, no one really flies that way. It's incredibly hard to learn and not overly useful. You certainly wouldn't have mastered it like that without training. It comes down to what your deeper mind can accept, of course. You might be able to do it however, given time. Again, it really isn't that needed of a skill, a thing used in performances mainly." There was a palm flip to go with the words as they started walking out into the hallway.
Central was a huge place, but had a lot of tiny rooms, about ten by ten, most of them office spaces in this part of the structure. When they got outside it was clear that it wasn't just one building, but a walled base, nearly the size of a small city. It wasn't a lovely place either, the whole thing made of brick, which was nice enough, and the lawns outside were well cared for, but there were no decorations, or statues, which the place kind of needed, just to dress it up. It had a very institutional feel to it really.
The whole thing bugged her. Gwen looked around and noticed that there was a clearer sense of reality now, a thing that she hadn't noticed before. It was a bit like having been in a dream, and she still felt like she could fly, almost. She shook her head a little and spread her arms, feeling the air moving over them. The light breeze pushed at her sleeves, and tickled a bit. She didn't really try to lift off, and just focused on the air flowing over her skin. That, more than anything else was a sign that things were, at the very least, more real again.
"But the part with the boy, I really found him? The girls are well though, or, at least alive and Count Kavas is dead? Will there be fallout from that?"
Bethany shook her head, her left arm hugged across her body as they stood on the grass.
"I don't think so. The story will be put out that there was a simple fire and that the children were found. I know this must all seem a little disorienting, but you did well Gwen. You figured out what was happening, and fought, which given your low level of training is very impressive. We really need to set that up for you. Today if possible, or early tomorrow if not."
Gwen sighed, but nodded. Everything she'd gotten done in the last few days was totally fake, wasn't it? There was no flying, or mind blasts, but she could live with that. She also didn't have any tutors set up, or a girl coming to hang out with her and make sure no one took "liberties" with her. That part kind of sucked, since it was a good idea, and now she'd have to go and do it all over again. If she even could.
It took time, but over the next few hours Gwen came back to herself more fully, and now that she wasn't being screwed with, her mind could tell the difference between what she had been dealing with and what was real. There was a sense of solidity and clarity to it all now.
It sucked though.
In movies she'd always hated that kind of thing. Where you get to the end of the show and found that every single important event was invalid, because it had all just been imagined, or a hallucination. Her life wasn't all a dream, and it pissed her off that someone had made her go through all that stuff for no reason.
"And why?" The words, coming out of nowhere, got Bethany to stop walking, but before she could ask about it, Gwen explained. "Why try to grab me that way? And, for that matter, if you were going to bother, why do it for half an hour and then dump me? They could have killed me, or kept me for a lot longer, so that I'd be a real secret agent for them or something. I guess they might have done that somehow anyway... so we should get it checked out, if we can. Maybe Grainger has a machine for that? Still, what would the point be otherwise? I don't know anything of note... It might have just been that I guess?" It made a rough kind of sense to her at least.
If the bad guys had thought that she'd known things, and wanted to check, then let her go when it hadn't turned out to be the case... No, that left too many unanswered questions. She just didn't know enough and guessing probably wasn't going to help anything, until more facts came in. It drove her crazy in a way, not knowing, but letting herself become too worked up over it wasn't going to give her answers. It would just make it all worse. She could feel acid churn in her stomach already, eating at her.
The next bit was a little strange. Gwen kind of wanted to go home, to Park Street, but Adam Westmorland came out and suggested that she make herself at home there for the night, trying, very clearly, not to explain why. It didn't take a lot to come up with a theory there though, did it?
"In case they succeeded in turning me into some kind of assassin or something? Or a spy?"
Bethany gave it all away with a hard glance to the side, making a face that pretty much spelled the whole thing out. The sour looking old man in front of her half sneered, but then let his face soften.
"Exactly. Even keeping you here is probably too risky. If it was allowed I'd move you to one of the outer sheds and put a guard on you for a day or two, until we can examine you closely enough to be certain of your mental state. I doubt the King or your parents would be too pleased about that however..."
Gwen shrugged. Then just because she wanted him to get the idea, she flipped her palms up.
"Alright. Get me a bed and something to read I guess. We can't take chances with this and I know that I'd feel better not being the one to deliver all our plans to the bad guys, if I can help it. I can't say I love the idea of being placed under guard, but that could be due to some kind of programming, um... Orders to follow under mesmerism?" These people didn't have the word programming, at least not in a sense that meant the thing she wanted to convey.
For some reason Adam went still, as Bethany nodded firmly a few times, not looking at either of them. Her voice was a bit sharp when she spoke.
"I have to agree. I hate it, of course, and yes, Ferdinand and the Vernors will as well, but we must be certain of this. It is, like it or not, a war for the fate of the entire world. At least in potential. Gwen, I'll stay with you, so you won't be scared or lonely." The words were very heartfelt and warm sounding.
The very idea made the whole thing sound a lot less like prison to her, but she shook her head, even as she felt a wash of warmth and... love, for the woman wash over her.
"Nope, me getting close to you right now could be part of the plan too. I saw you as Doctor Debussey ea
rlier and thought you had a knife. That might have just been me projecting things that would seem scary to me, since the woman had nearly had me killed with a knife once, but it could also have been aimed at you. I'm pretty sure that she thinks of you as her arch nemesis after all. We need to make sure that I don't try to hurt you by mistake." Or to Debussey's plan.
Or that of any of her friends or minions. For all Gwen knew it could even be some kind of outside group doing it. If that was the case, it didn't make a lot of sense given the information she had, but that didn't mean it wasn't possible. There was a sudden and frustrating feeling that she just didn't know anything at all about this world. It left her feeling half panicked and breathless for a bit.
"So, yeah, we need people that don't have any useful information, that can fight if they have to and don't know me, so that if they have to kill me in order to keep me from hurting anyone they can. Adam, not to give you orders, but this is your idea. I don't suppose you can see to that and maybe some history books? I might as well make good use of my time. A lamp too. And water, that kind of thing..." She grinned at the man who made a face, looking more than a little displeased at first, but he didn't growl at her or call her names.
No, he looked away and didn't speak for about ten seconds.
"I'll see what we can manage. I don't suppose you'd be willing to contact the King and claim this is all your own idea? It would make my life ever so much simpler. Well, nothing for that. It's my idea, so I'll take the blowback from it." He really didn't seem to want to do that, but Gwen didn't totally get why that was. OK, so she was going to be a prisoner, after a fashion, but it was more of a protective custody, and didn't involve being beaten or anything. Unless it did?
Well... That was the only way they knew of to really break through the new mesmerism, wasn't it? Telepathic questioning while a nice beat-down was applied. It would be less then fun if that was the case, but she'd dealt with pain before. As long as they were careful it wouldn't kill her.
The shed she was led to, by Adam himself, Beth in tow, was an actual shed, filled with gardening tools. In other words it was a room full of uncomfortably sharp things that she could easily use as a weapon in a pinch. The man wasn't stupid, so had her stand outside while it was cleared by about twenty young people in blue uniforms. Kids about Peter's age.
Or what it would have been, if the boy hadn't been a hallucination or whatever that whole thing had been. It was a shame, since she'd kind of liked him. Even if he was a bit of a demented psycho when it came to training. The cleanout of the space took about an hour, and not one, but four glow lamps were brought in and placed on the walls, so the small wooden structure was very well lit. Then a latrine was dug out behind it and a tent put up so that she wouldn't be exposed the whole time. It wasn't a marvelous thing, but it was better than a bucket in the corner of her own room, so she decided not to complain. A real mattress arrived, but not a full bed, since she wasn't going to be there that long.
At least that was the plan.
Then, almost as if having read her mind about the questioning techniques they'd have to use, Adam excused Beth and all the kids, then had a team of five people she didn't know come in for the actual work. Adam looked at her and smiled. It didn't touch his eyes, but also didn't have a feeling of evil about it.
"Miss Farris... I... This form of questioning is rather extreme. I believe that you've seen it done yourself before?" Now he actually seemed hesitant. Probably because beating an heiress was kind of a no-no, regardless of the world you were in. Since she was the one about to be hit, she kind of liked the idea, but couldn't really hide behind it, even if she wanted to.
Instead she nodded.
"Seen it, helped do it twice. I get the drill." She focused on the woman that was near the front, a hard looking person that pulled a lacquered billy club from her belt near the back. She wore regular Westmorland blues, and didn't seem to be too happy about the whole idea at least. Gwen waved to her and took a deep breath, not really wanting to do this anymore at all, but knowing that it was the fastest way to uncover anything that might have been hidden in her mind. "Try not to cripple me."
The woman seemed a little taken aback at the words, but gave a single slow nod.
"I won't. It will hurt though. I..." She looked away then and after a few seconds turned back to Adam. "Is this a good idea? I really don't want to have the world fall in on us. Torturing one of our own..."
Gwen felt a little heartened by the statement, since this woman who she'd never met seemed to think she was one of them, part of the group, or at least someone on her side. It was nice.
She didn't let Adam speak though. This had to be her game, or it really might mean a good bit of fallout. Even she could see that. The King actually seemed to like her after all. He was smart, but very few people thought twice about the Westmorlands, so trouble for them might just seem an easy solution if complaints came later.
"My orders as... um, well, I don't have a title really, do I? Make something up. It has to be done and you're the one here with the club. So, Adam, you should take off and let these nice people get to work."
The man stared at her for a long time, then shook his head.
"It would be improper for me to avoid seeing the pain that I'm having done."
Gwen grimaced and then decided to be blunt with the man. He already wasn't her number one fan, so it probably wouldn't matter.
"Yeah, but later when you're trying to justify this to Ferdinand, it will be a lot easier if you can tell him honestly that I ordered you away and you went, because this is happening under my command. I'm in charge here, not you, so head on out. That's an order Adam. Do it now." Gwen didn't add, or else, since she was faking the whole thing and they all had to know it, didn't they?
The man didn't move for a long time, but when he finally did, he muttered something to the man guarding the door. It didn't sound happy, and Gwen wanted to ignore it and pretend she didn't know what it meant. She could make out too much of it though.
He'd told that man, who had a matte silver power conduit in his right hand, to kill her if she started to escape. It made sense, but it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, to be perfectly honest.
After all, what if she had to go to the bathroom? No allowance had been made for that at all.
Then, after the man that was doing the reading of her mind was placed in the right state, one of the Westmorland Detectives, she thought, a man that she recognized, but wasn't in charge of anything as far as she knew, the woman with the stick hit her on the inside of the right knee, hard enough to knock her to the floor. It hurt pretty badly, even if it wasn't the worst thing she'd ever felt.
Another man yelled at her suddenly, leaning in to do it, so it would shock her enough to force her subconscious mind to react, giving up the information she might be holding.
"Who are you!"
This was followed by another blow, this one to the sternum.
After a few repetitions, with her gasping out that she was Gwen Farris each time, the telepath spoke, his voice low and relaxed, almost as if he was drugged.
"Katherine Vernor." The man went totally still, as did everyone else in the room.
So did Gwen, between the gasps of pain.
Then he spoke again, "Inside, she's Katherine Vernor, and Gwen Farris. They're both there."
That got Gwen to go still. They were both there? Katherine was trapped in Gwen's real body, in a different world... Wasn't she?
Was it even possible?
Chapter nine
The beating was doled out rather deliberately, since it really didn't take a lot to shake a person's mind and concentration. Plus, Gwen wasn't fighting it, having nothing to hide consciously at all. Katherine on the other hand did, and was trying to stay as far back from the Westmorlands as possible. It wasn't something that could be managed easily, it seemed, given the way that Regina Westmorland was going after her. Regina... Like the girl in her hallucination? It might have been a coincidence,
or something else. They'd never met before, but here she was, helping her out anyway.
"Come on, no need to hide... Be a good girl and come out now." She coaxed, then slapped the billy club very neatly against one of the two nerve clusters on Gwen's chin. It stung badly and had to have been hard enough to leave a bruise. For a few seconds she thought that she could taste blood, but this wasn't some wailing on from an uncontrolled animal, it was carefully done, to create pain and fear without actually risking too much serious damage. The words weren't for Gwen at all, she got that, so didn't try to speak at all.
That being the case the words surprised her quite a bit.
"Ow. Stop that! You're hurting me!" The accent was different than the one Gwen used trying to sound like what she imagined the girl would have. More petulant, slightly huskier and colder at the same time. "My parents will be most displeased when they hear of this, I assure you!"
There was a hiss when Regina struck the top of her kneecap. It was odd, since Gwen could see and hear everything just fine, but she didn't actually feel it at all this time. Much nicer that way, all things considered. It was baffling though. Had Katherine been in there the whole time, watching like this? As far as she could tell, the other girl wasn't there at all, except for the fact that her mouth was working and seemed to be a bit of a bitch. Not that it wasn't warranted, since she was being tortured, if lightly. That wasn't exactly the kind of thing that made anyone all bright and cheery most days.
"My family is very well connected and won't stand for this mistreatment of their daughter, I'll tell you right now. I demand you release me right this instant!" She sounded regal enough, entitled even. Also more than a bit scared. Nearly enough to excuse the rest of the words, once you put it all together.
"Who are you?" The man that had been asking the questions before said the words softly, not trying to seem intimidating now at all. "May I ask your name?"