Without any threats to her physical safety currently in the room, Cat relaxed and finally noticed she was basically naked in the chilly room. She shivered and went deeper into the closet to find a comfortable set of synthetic fleece robes to wear over her transparent nightgown. She returned to the bedroom and checked the result of the fight. Fortunately, no designer shoes were hurt.
“And whose fault is that?” Cat rolled her eyes and remembered to not speak out loud. She could only hope nobody heard her shouting. The ghost didn’t push the argument further.
After cleaning the blood and raising the thermostat to humanly habitable levels, she sat by the desk. She turned on the laptop, glad it was plugged in the external power source. She didn’t expect any of Catherine’s battery-powered electronics to work after almost a year away. It was early autumn and she cringed as she thought William would almost be celebrating his first anniversary with Dahlia.
[Anytyhing embarrassing you want to be deleted from the computer without me looking?] She sub-vocalized. Speaking in an almost-mute whisper with the specter in her head was almost second nature now.
[Dunno. Any My Little Pony memes, Twilight fanfiction, K-pop nudes, or even (gasp) Porn?]
Cat chuckled, [I know. I’m teasing you. What about the others?]
Cat opened the file explorer and ran some file type searches, one for videos, another for pictures. She couldn’t believe a teenage girl wouldn’t have something to geek or fawn about.
[If I’m going to live pretending I’m you to the world, I need to pick your brain, Catherine. What are your interests?]
[Anime? What kind?]
The search didn’t come up with anything incriminating. Just some videos and pictures of Catherine’s travels. Most of them with the few friends she had, and none with her progenitor.
[Did you ever do cosplay?]
[We can still fix it. Maybe buy some online.]
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After browsing the news and the local area map, Cat lowered the computer’s screen and checked the drawers for accessories. She found a lot of stuff, but nothing related to computers.
[Do you have a webcam?]
She intended to produce incriminating evidence and then screw the abusing parent in court. Catherine was dead, long live Catherine the second. She truly wished to divorce herself from the biological mother.
[I don’t want to keep the screen on or even open. The camera will have to do. I hope I can hide it well.]
She took the camera and checked it. After months of disuse, the battery was dead and wouldn’t even turn on. After fiddling with the cables, she put it to charge.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
[What else do you have that’s battery-operated? We better plug everything in their chargers now.]
Following Catherine’s instructions, she also set her new iPhone to sync with the backup on the computer and a few other devices to charge, including an electric shaver. Catherine was adamant they needed to get rid of any and all hairs below the waist.
[Nothing in particular, why?]
[I guess I need to, right?]
She sat in front of the marble countertop and Catherine spent the next hour explaining to her every type of makeup product she had. After several instructions including what to put on depending on the estimated day of her menstrual cycle, she started to teach her to do the basics. Cat felt she wouldn’t be allowed to leave the suite unless she passed this small ordeal. Fortunately, Catherine helped by directing every little movement and pointing the small mistakes. Sharing all the sensations of their body helped identify them before something catastrophic happened.
Jewelry was next. Catherine favored long dangly earrings but Cat still had William’s preferences for small cute ones. Now that they were out of the hospital, Catherine swore their ears would never be naked even if everything else was.
[I could go out to eat. Maybe a burger? Do you have any pocket money?]
Cat got the envelope and checked the contents. Catherine’s emergency money stash added up to five hundred dollars.
She was postponing a long talk about the family trust fund. Cat really hoped her new family’s financial situation was stable because everything pointed the other way. She had a firm grasp on Catherine’s personal finances as part of her inheritance from her late father was placed on a trust fund under her name. The rest was in the family’s dynasty trust, the one she had to go through a few rites to take control of, the first of them graduating from high school.
But her wastrel of a mother could have the family neck-deep in debt. While the debtors couldn’t go after the ironclad secured trusts, they could still make their lives miserable by demanding money every time the trust distributed cash to their beneficiaries. She knew it very well because William had to do exactly that at the bank a few times. With living expenses as high as the Wallenstein's had, a sudden cut on the cash flow could hurt them. However, she was in the dark about that situation. Maybe they were ridiculously wealthy and could spend that much money. Cat wouldn’t bet on that.
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Taking the robe off, Cat did a full set of stretching and warm-up exercises. Catherine’s body was lithe, nimble, and very flexible. She wondered if she could be a contortionist and had some spicy thoughts about seeing how flexible she really was. Her body had recovered completely. No foreign implants remained and her bones were stronger than before, according to the physicians. They were also a bit heavier and that showed. During these months, she didn’t gain much weight as most of her energy was spent on recovery and restoring the little strength she could.
However, one of Cat’s goals was to get stronger. She was used to having a tall man’s strength and the idea of being a frail damsel didn’t sound very enticing. While she couldn’t do much regarding her body’s natural constitution, there was still room for growth.
She changed out of her nightgown into workout clothes and sneakers and walked out of the suite. Like a bloodhound, Esmeralda intercepted Cat before she could find her way out of the maze of corridors. Catherine refused to help her navigate her own house.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The housekeeper/nanny asked with arms akimbo.
“On a short walk. Get some air, stretch, exercise a little.”
Esmeralda shook her head, “I don’t think so. You can barely stand straight. You won’t go out.”
“I need to buy some things.”
“The nearest convenience store is two miles away from here. It’s too far. Look, Jake came back while you were sleeping. I can send him to buy what you need.”
Cat poked her teeth in the code to have Catherine explain.
“It’s woman stuff. I won’t feel comfortable having him buy that for me.”
Esmeralda checked her phone for the time. “You can buy it online. Amazon has same-day shipping and it will be here before the sun goes out.”
Cat felt she was losing the fight. “Can I take the car?”
“You don’t have a driver’s license,” Esmeralda pointed out with a victorious smirk.
She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought to ask, “I don’t?”
Esmeralda looked at Cat with pity. “You should go back to bed. You are not thinking straight, Cathy.”
“Can’t Jake drive for me?”
The housekeeper set her foot down, “You are not leaving this house today, young miss. Lunch will be ready in an hour. Go back to your room now.”
Resigned, Cat sighed and nodded. “Sorry, Esmeralda. I spent five months in the hospital.” Only after she finished her line she noticed how she’d sent Esmeralda on a guilt trip.
“Oh, Cathy. I’m so sorry I didn’t go visit you. But your mother forbade us.”
She shook her head as she went to hug the housekeeper, “No, Esmeralda. Don’t worry. I’m not upset with that. Look, I’m going back to my room. I’ll be a good girl, okay?”
Esmeralda beamed and hugged Cat back. “That’s all I ask.”
Cat gained a kiss on the forehead before she was free to return to Catherine’s gilded cage. She found a spot to hide the camera among the few stuffed animals Catherine had, then made sure the laptop was recording the video feed with a motion capture software. She spent the rest of the day talking to Catherine about the girl’s life, friends, and small stuff. She had to learn how to impersonate her new identity perfectly.