Free Friends and Enemies (Gwen Farris Book 5) by P.S. Power

size of an orange, instead of being a person like she normally was.
    "I do not like this, Sam I am." The words came out loud, and earned a third derisive snort for the day.
    "You, are a most odd person, Gwen Farris. That anyone in the press believed you were me, even for a few moments, is beyond consideration. The only good part there was that Deborah at least managed to see through your act. What if you'd stolen my body and life, instead of being the one wronged? No one would have known about it for months! You have to admit, that would have been far more likely under most circumstances. The ugly and poor woman stealing the life of the attractive young heiress."
    Gwen didn't respond, since the reason for that wasn't too hard to figure out. The girl was just being whiney and venting about old matters. Chatty now after months of not saying anything, most likely.
    People saw, and heard, what they expected to. As long as a person fit inside the normal social expectations, more or less, everyone, probably regardless of what world they were in, was trained to go along with it. In that way she'd been easier to fit into things that way than the spoiled heiress had, at times.
    Deborah was even one of those things that Gwen had right, where Kate didn't.
    Among other things, the woman was a reporter, an openly gay activist, and as it turned out, had once been Katherine's girlfriend . The thing there was that in this place, that kind of relationship was as forbidden as it would have been back home in the nineteen-twenties or so. Not so unheard of that people couldn't understand it existing, but more than enough to raise eyebrows and have you shunned socially.
    Gwen wasn't into women, she didn't think, and it was pretty clear to her that Kate was more open than not that way, liking everyone that fit her model of being worthy enough. Gwen's own, probably under-sexed and prude filled manners were far more acceptable however, day to day. That kind of thing had helped her fit in, a lot.
    Then there were the other things.
    Like being willing to help out when it came time to work. Including at a soup kitchen, with Ethyl. It had been pretty strange for the spoiled heiress to be doing, but everyone seeing it wanted it to be true. They'd all kind of wished that the girl had started to fix her life, so they'd let it go, no matter how weird she was being otherwise. Even her hanging out with super soldiers was better than smoking and drinking, so people in the press let it go for the most part.
    Right up until Erin Debussey had outed her to the media. Then, because Gwen was a fighter, she'd struck back, accusing the woman of having basically brainwashed and raped Katherine Vernor, then getting her killed. It had struck close enough to home that the older woman had fled the telesar, rather than defend herself. It had made her look incredibly guilty.
    Then, no matter what Kate said now, Gwen had always wondered if it wasn't a bit closer to the truth than not. Erin really did brainwash a lot of people, and Katherine hadn't been a hard target that way. It was just possible that a bit of mesmerism had been used on her, that the other girl didn't really know about. If that was the case, then the whole thing was just not fair.
    They walked together, with Katherine in charge, down the rich and splendid hallways. The theme for this wing was a golden silk hanging on the walls, instead of wallpaper. With lots of light colored polished wood. It was kind of a common theme for the entire place, wood and silk, but it did look good. There were no throw rugs on the floors though, since the whole thing was meant to be walked through, and those things were a tripping hazard as often as not. If you were out in the halls, you were supposed to have shoes on. Slippers at the very least.
    They found the needed bodies in the casual sitting room.
    Heather looked up at her and smiled, which was friendly enough, though Beth seemed concerned for some reason. Ethyl looked