Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) (34 page)

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 her 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.

So it wasn't just
that
bothering him.

"Oh? I think we can be back in four or five days then, if that will serve? We hadn't planned on coming back until fall, but we were given word of your return. I should have reached out to you before this, but I was rather afraid you'd be upset with us. Everything you had planned was ruined... Your engagement..." The older woman sounded worried as she said the words, like pointing it out now was going to be the first time Gwen had realized that.

"Yeah. Still, it isn't the first time in my life that things didn't go the way I thought they should. You don't always get the win. When you don't, you stand back up and keep fighting, if you can. That's all. Besides, none of this was your fault. In the end it was mine. I should have... Well, there's plenty of blame to go around if you want some of it. You can have it on alternating weekends?" She giggled, which was a forced thing, since she had to fake it. She'd been a bit too somber for that when she was a girl and it would have been allowable to her way of thinking back then.

"We'll be there, then. Five days? Is that all right?"

It was, so she nodded, "perfect. Then we'll work out how to take back...
Everything
. Say, did anyone lock up Brenda Holmes yet? She was the one working with Katherine to have you killed."

There was silence, and Gwen winced.

"Ah, also, Katherine was the one that tried to have you killed. I don't know if you were told that part." She felt like a heel, suddenly. The whole thing was going to be harder than she thought.

"I knew, of course. About my daughter. No one told me about Brenda. Are you certain? That beast has been trying to ruin us for
years
, socially and otherwise. She actually tried to have me assassinated?" A bit of spark came into her voice then. Real anger.

It was better than the shy thing she had been doing.

"Yep. Kate confessed to it, under telepathic reading. Beth did the work there, so you know the information is correct. I take it that Mrs. Holmes is still out and about, making trouble then? Well, we can fix that. Either by having her arrested or..." Gwen was going to suggest that killing her was on the table, but that wouldn't really fix anything. The woman had to be torn down, and
publically
, or else everything she said would carry even more weight. It would look like her enemies, the Vernors, had finally taken her down, if she just died or vanished.

Besides, plotting murder on an open line, with people listening on both sides of it, was foolish. Gwen wasn't going to be
that
amateur hour if she could help it.

Winslow didn't blink, even though he was smart enough to understand what the next words would have been if she'd said them.

Then it hit her. Why he was worried. He had his boyfriend living there, in his room with him. In this place that was some kind of big deal. To her it just seemed like a good way to save on rent.

Gwen shrugged, her right hand sticking out at shoulder height, balanced on her left foot. It was stable enough, though she'd get sore if it went on too long. Every part of her was out of shape now.

"Well, we have some resources we can use. I've gotten Will Werner to come stay here, so I can push him around a bit. As my personal newsie. Can we get Agatha in on this, too? It will look better if we have more than one source to feed that way."

There was a sudden intake of breath on the other end of the connection.

"That Werner man is working for you? After that tear down piece he did last week Robert and I contemplated having him removed from the station." She sounded cold then.

"Oh, yep, he's my buddy. What he put out wasn't pleasant, but it
was
the truth. Exactly as I told him to do. Now everyone hearing him on other matters regarding any of us will assume that he's just telling it as it is, which of course, he
will
be. Really, it will probably work best to have him seem a bit adversarial for a while. I'd heard that you and Robert took over WGN, so having one of your own people seem to have the freedom to speak out about you two without fearing removal... Well, that will make you look like you're very honest and freedom loving, won't it?"

That wasn't a big thing in the Western Kingdom. No one had ever made a vast thing about being
free
, because they weren't, and knew it. The only people who did whatever they wanted were the nobles. Everyone else was pushed into ever smaller boxes, the further down the scale of power you went. Just like back home, except no one bothered to play pretend that it wasn't the case.

Ethyl sounded very firm suddenly.

"Five days then. Please let Winslow know to expect us?"

"Will do, mom. I'll be here for the next few days, full time. I have a
bit
of a broken ankle, so I'm kind of housebound for the next month or so. It makes me easy to reach if nothing else!" Fake cheer counted. Gwen was nearly certain on that one.

"Excellent, dear. I'm sorry to hear about you infirmity of course, but it's good to know that you still feel that Park Street is a safe place for you. We'll be there directly, I promise."