I looked around the Heap, hardly able to believe that I was back here again so soon. Then again, this was the perfect place to practice my abilities and train, which was why I’d suggested it to Cassandra in the first place.

“This place is a dump,” Laura exclaimed as she looked around. “Literally…”

Lauren had come with Cassandra, saying that she was just there to watch. However, I noticed a bulge in the side of her purse and was pretty sure that she’d brought a gun. The real reason she’d come was that she didn’t trust me yet, and wanted to watch her friend’s back. I could certainly understand that, and even respect it.

“I haven’t been here since I was a kid,” Cassandra commented. Then she smirked and added, “Though my brother used to come here all the time to smoke weed with his buddies…”

“There are better places than this for that,” Lauren said with a look of disapproval.

Cassandra nodded at that, then looked at Matt. “It’s like a fucking class reunion around here. If Nadine shows up too, I’m shooting her in the head.”

“If that bitch shows up,” I responded with a scowl, “I’ll help you.”

Lauren gave me an odd look. “I seem to remember you and her being real close…”

I gave a bitter snort. “That was a long time ago...and well before she burned me to death.”

Lauren shuddered at that, probably imagining either how much that would hurt, or just how horrible a way to die it was. Whatever she was imagining, the real thing was even worse.

“Maybe we should get started,” Matt suggested. “I have to work a short shift this afternoon, so I’d like to get as much out of this while I can…”

“Good idea,” Cassandra said, giving him a disapproving look. Maybe it was because she was a champion and he was only a companion. Or maybe, it was just the fact that he was a nerd.

Cassandra shimmered and sparked, and a moment later, she was now dressed in the leather armor I’d seen her in before. She had the bow in her hand, which actually looked pretty wicked. Its style was a little more fantasy themed than what you’d usually find people using in the real world.

Following Cassandra’s example, I switched over to my own armor and summoned my staff. Admittedly, I didn’t look nearly as dangerous or impressive as my goth ally.

“You know,” Cassandra said, giving Teri a skeptical look. “I don’t know why you made her into your tank. No offense, but even with your boost, you’re still not tough enough to be a decent tank…”

“Hey,” Teri protested, flipping Cassandra off. “I’m a great companion…”

“Maybe for the Doctor,” Matt responded wryly. “As comedy relief.” Then he told Cassandra, “Jeri bound her by accident.”

I blushed a little in embarrassment. “I was trying to figure out my abilities…” Then I defended Teri by pointing out, “She really helped me out against that latex guy and his fetish brigade…”

Cassandra and Lauren both snickered at that. “Maybe,” Cassandra responded with a faint smirk. “But Shwartzman is the weakest champion…unless you tie him up. He gets some kind of weird bonus whenever he’s in bondage or something. Don’t ask.”

“I won’t,” I promised, shaking my head.

“Gary and Dave were pretty tough,” Cassandra said, skeptically glancing at Teri and Matt. Obviously, they didn’t match up to what she expected of a companion.

“Dave was Heather’s boyfriend,” Lauren offered with a pained expression. “And Gary was his best friend… They were…good guys.”

“They were meat heads,” Cassandra added with a snort. “But they were good in a fight.”

Matt just met her skeptical look without blinking. He might not have a lot of experience in real fights, but he knew how to play a stealthy type character, and more important, he was loyal. If I’d ever doubted that, one look at his loyalty bar would have fixed that.

“Well, let’s get this going then,” Cassandra announced, looking at me.

With that, Cassandra pulled back her bow and an arrow just appeared in her hand, already notched and ready to fire. I’d seen that kind of thing in video games, where the inconvenience of having to carry a ton of arrows was often ignored, but not in real life.

Cassandra fired her arrow at me, but she’d gone slow, giving me time to form a shield wall. Matt and Teri ran to opposite sides, obviously trying to catch Cassandra when she couldn’t focus on all three of us at once. However, she fired two arrows in rapid succession, one at the feet of each of them.

“If you’re going to fight, you two are going to need weapons,” Cassandra pointed out.

Lauren, who’d backed off to keep from getting hit, said, “Dave had this huge hammer…”

I remembered seeing the hammer that she’d been talking about. “The cleaner probably has it,” I said, thinking about how the Cleaner had returned Heather’s purse to me. “Unless Nadine or this Morgan guy looked his body first…”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Cassandra said.

“Especially Nadine,” Laura added with a clear note of anger. “That bitch once broke into my locker and stole everything I had in there, just to piss me off…”

“That sounds like Nadine,” I agreed.

“You’re right about us needing weapons,” Matt said thoughtfully. “Unfortunately, the only thing I have at home is a kitchen knife…”

Teri made a show of rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner. “Why couldn’t you be like every other nerd, and have a collection of ninja swords and throwing stars?”

“Enough with the chit-chat,” I announced, trying to channel my old football coach. “We need to focus on why we’re here, and not waste this good practice time…”

“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” Teri responded sarcastically as she snapped to attention and gave me a salute.

After this, we actually went to work with some serious practice and training. Due to the drastically different nature of our abilities, it was difficult for Cassandra and I to really go against each other. She was a sniper who would keep back and shoot arrow after arrow at me, while I just threw up one shield after another. That didn’t really do either of us much good, though admittedly, I did get better at timing when to throw up my shields, so I could get the most out of them.

Matt and Teri took turns going after Cassandra and me, without much success. With my shields, neither of them could get near me. Cassandra didn’t have my defense, but she had a few tricks of her own, and was able to avoid them.

I watched in amusement as Matt activated his stealth ability, which worked something like turning him into a chameleon. His entire body blurred and blended into the environment so that it would have been easy to miss seeing him. Then he tried sneaking up on Cassandra, while Teri was charging straight at her.

“I don’t think so,” Cassandra announced, firing an arrow into the ground in front of Teri, where it exploded, knocking my companion back. An instant later, she snapped around and fired a second arrow into the ground, right in front of the stealthed Matt, knocking him back as well. “One of my gifts gives me really high awareness. I can see you coming a mile away…”

“That stinks,” Teri grumbled in annoyance. “I mean, you’ve got that bow, and I can’t even get near you…”

“That’s the point,” Cassandra pointed out.

“But why a bow?” Teri asked. “I mean, wouldn’t a gun be even cooler…”

“Certainly more modern,” Matt added, annoyed that Cassandra had seen through his special ability so easily.

Lauren laughed at that. “They do have a point.”

“One,” Cassandra said, holding up a single finger, specifically, her middle one. “I have a couple abilities that work with my bow. Two…” She held up a second finger, the middle finger of her other hand. “Guns aren’t allowed. Apparently, the gods think that having guns is too much like having extra abilities, so they’re banned…”

“Too bad,” I said with a shrug. “But I guess it makes sense. I mean, the gods want all the champions to rely on them for their powers…”

“Pretty much,” Cassandra agreed. “They’ve all got these enormous fucking egos…”

“Including your patron?” Lauren asked with a smirk.

“Especially her,” Cassandra responded with a smirk of her own. “Anyway, the rules are, absolutely no firearms.”

“What about crossbows?” Matt asked curiously.

“Oh, those are allowed,” Cassandra told him. “There’s one asshole who likes to use one…”

“Well, thanks for all the help,” I told Cassandra. “And the advice. Maelyne didn’t exactly give me the players guide or anything when she dumped me in this, so it really helps.”

“No problem,” Cassandra told me. “We are allies, after all.”

I nodded at that, fully aware of the fact that Lauren and Cassandra were both uncomfortable with me. It was no surprise since I looked like Heather, and was a constant reminder that their friend was not just dead…but truly gone.

“It’s been very interesting, learning how to use these new abilities,” Matt said almost apologetically. “I’d like to practice a little more on my own, to get a better idea…but I’m out of time. I have to get going if I want to get to work on time.”

“I am SO glad I don’t have a job,” Teri said.

“No,” Matt responded wryly. “You just use Mom and Dad’s credit cards... But one day, they are going to cut you off…”

Teri gave her best cute and innocent look, which was harder to pull off now that she’d had her growth spurt. “I’ll just have to make sure that day never comes…”

“What about you?” Cassandra asked me. “What are your plans for this afternoon?”

I hesitated a moment, then admitted, “I was going to go out looking for a new job and apartment… I kind of lost my own when this happened…” I gestured down at myself.

“But you’re staying with us,” Teri protested.

“Not for much longer,” I pointed out with a sigh. “Your parents only said I could stay for a few days, and your mom is already starting to hint about my leaving…”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed with a scowl. “Dad said something about that to me too…”

Teri looked annoyed at that, then looked to Cassandra and Lauren. “Then maybe Jeri can live with you guys… I mean, Heather was your roomie…”

Lauren and Cassandra immediately shared a look while I quickly said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Heather…I mean, Jeri is right,” Cassandra responded.

Matt stared at me with an expression of sympathy, maybe even pity. “As far as everyone outside of us is concerned, Jeri is Heather. She has Heather’s body, which includes her fingerprints, DNA, and legal identity…” Then, he told me, “For all practical purposes, you ARE Heather…”

“But I’m not,” I reminded him, tapping my temple. “Not in here…”

“Maybe not,” Matt said. “But we’re the only ones who know that…”

“He’s right,” Lauren grudgingly admitted, giving me a look of sympathy too. “From what you’ve told us, your old life is totally gone, and now you’re stuck with Heather’s…”

I let out a sigh and shook my head, then ended up brushing the strands of hair out of my face. “Trust me, I’ve already thought about that. Why do you think I tried to find where she lived, and what she did for a living? I can’t use my own birth certificate, diploma, or driver’s license. I HAVE to use hers… But I don’t want to take over her entire life. It’s… It feels kind of creepy, like I’m a psycho stalker or something…”

“Well, I guess you can take over her identity without taking over her entire life,” Cassandra said, almost grudgingly.

“Heather was our friend,” Lauren told Cassandra, “and even if she’s gone, we still owe it to her to help. I mean, do you want to let Heather’s body end up homeless?”

Cassandra winced at that. “Nice way to turn up the guilt. Are you a Jewish grandmother or something?”

“Heather’s share of the rent is paid up for the next two months,” Lauren continued, this time talking more to me. “And all her clothes are in her room. I guess it makes sense for you to come live there…at least until you figure things out a bit more.”

I could hardly believe what we were all discussing. Sure, it made a lot of sense, but there would definitely be problems with me moving into their house.

“That would be really weird,” I pointed out. “For all of us.”

“My whole life has gotten pretty fucking weird lately,” Cassandra said with a wry smile. “How is this any different?”

“And those living arrangements would make it easier for you two to work together,” Matt pointed out, looking between me and Cassandra. However, he let out a sigh and admitted, “But it will make it more difficult to work with us…”

“You know,” I said, gesturing around the Heap. “I came out here to get a little practice in, not to find a new place to sleep…”

“Well, it looks like you got both,” Cassandra told me with a smirk. “And by the way, Heather did all the cooking and cleaning at the house, so you’ll need to take care of that now…”

I just gave Cassandra a skeptical look. “Now, why do I doubt that…?”