"This
is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the
timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To
see the canon Whateley Stories, check out either Sapphire's Place (http://www.sapphireplace.com/stories/whateley.html) or the Big Closet (http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/taxonomy/term/117)."
The
following story may contain adult themes and mature language. It broaches
controversial topics like suicide, religion, sex, homosexuality and
transsexuality. These topics are sometimes handled in a humorous fashion that
may seem inappropriate to some. If any of the above is unacceptable to you or
against the current laws in your geographical location I ask you not to read
the story.
If you
liked this story, or for constructive criticism please feel free to contact me
at c.o.l@gmx.net.
I want to
thank the folks at the Whateley boards for giving me some pointers so I could
identify the most glaring problems with my writing and hopefully fix them. Any
remaining faults are to be blamed on me.
Chancing Changes
by Rhodes
Part 2
“Hey Girl, why so down?“
The friendly voice nearby
pulled Lex out of his stupor. He looked up to see whom she was addressing when
he found himself face to face with a young, pretty Native American woman. She
was standing slightly bent forward, hands on her shapely hips smiling at him.
Not at something behind him,
not at someone next to him no at him. He was baffled.
“Wha... How... Who...“
Her expression changed from
friendly to concerned. “You alright? No offense but you look like crap, girl.“
Finally Lex managed to wrestle
his brain back under control.
“You can see me?“
She stood straight again eying
him up, seemingly confused. “Uh... yes, aren't I supposed to?“
“Yes! Err... no! Ah well, you
are the first person I met on campus that can see me!“
“Funny, you just look like
anyone else to me, well no, not really, dressed like that. But I guess I'm a
special case.“ Looking over her shoulder she got an annoyed expression “Ah
gotta go, Mrs. Tanner is giving me the eye already, was nice talking to you.“
“Wait! You have to help me!“
“Huh?“ She stopped midturn.
“I mean please, I have no one
here I can talk to, could we maybe meet some time later when you are done
here?“ Lex pleaded desperately.
“Oh, ok. I guess we can talk
when the lunch crowd thins a bit. I have afternoon classes though, so I won't
have that much time, 'k?“
“Great, thank you so much!“
“Sure, gotta run now, see ya.“
She giggled at that and dashed off towards the kitchens.
Lex looked after her, feeling
hopeful for the first time in several days. He hadn't noticed before, but the
Girl had the same uniform on that all the people working the cafeteria wore.
There had been something odd in her manner, but he was too elated to pin the
feeling down. She seemed somewhat old for a student though, but she had
mentioned having classes. She might be a senior.
Savoring the feel of the
moment, Lex leaned back in his seat pondering the vast array of new
possibilities that had now opened up to him.
-------------------------------
Making use of his roommates
absence, Walter Simmons was sitting in their room in Emmerson writing his
bi-monthly report on the PDA that had been handed to him for this exact
purpose. Working with the small display was awkward, but using it had been part
of the deal. He was actually somewhat early with the report, but his charge's
actions last weekend seemed unusual enough to merit the changed schedule.
Maybe this would even get him
a bonus. You never knew what might or might not be important to his 'employer'.
Why anyone would pay to keep
tabs on that pompous dork was beyond Adonis' understanding, but as long as he
was payed in a timely manner (and he was) he would not ask questions.
A sudden creak made the young
man flinch and he reflexively tucked away the incriminating device, looking
around quickly. But he was still alone in the room. It probably had just been
the wooden shelf shedding some tension again. The rickety thing had come with
the room as far as he knew, and it being overstuffed with Hillman's wizarding
junk didn't really help things.
He wasn't afraid of the
scrawny little jerk, despite the tales about what had happened to Hillman's
previous roommate. Obviously no one had been able to prove anything, but that
had never kept the rumor mill from doing overtime. Still he decided that there
was no reason to dally, so he wrapped up his report and collected his bearings
for the afternoon classes.
-------------------------------
Lunchtime was about to end in
a few more minutes when the girl came over to Lex' table again, this time
wearing the standard Whateley school uniform. It wasn't tailored but seemed to
be a pretty good fit. She was tall, about his own height and her build screamed
'exemplar'. She was well endowed and curvy, the shoulder length black hair,
that framed her oval face, was gathered in the back in a single braid. While
she had the overall complexion and features that one usually associated with a
strong Native heritage there was something in her appearance that did not seem
to fit the overall image. Lex wasn't able to discern what it was though. She
appeared to be in her early twenties, but the fact that she was a student
probably meant she was younger.
Lex had spent the time since
their last conversation ordering his thoughts and planing what he was going to
tell her. So when she arrived at his table he stood and offered her his hand,
which she took with a curious expression. Her hand was warm and she had a very
firm handshake.
“Sorry
about before, I was kind of overwhelmed. I didn't even introduce myself. Alex
Jenkins, but please call me Lex, most people do.“ He smiled at her broadly,
trying to make her feel at ease.
”Oh yes, Kathie Smith. So
whats up, you look a lot more chipper now.“ She smiled back at him and took a
seat. “Also whats with this whole invisible thing you were talking about
before? Are you a student here? I don't think I've seen you around before. You
know, what's with the outfit? No offense, but you look like you raided a
Salvation Army outlet.“ she giggled softly at that.
Lex was kind of surprised by
this barrage of questions and tried to get back to his planned out explanation.
“Well, the short version is
that I woke up near Emmerson cottage on Saturday morning looking like this,“ he
vaguely gestured at himself at that “with no memory of the past twelve hours
and a monstrous headache.“
Her eyes went wide. “You got
mugged or something? On the school grounds?“
“I don't think so, but I was
... err... naked when I woke up.“ He was feeling himself actually blush at that
which embarrassed him even more.
“Sounds like you were either
on a real great party or a real bad one.“ Kathie was grinning broadly by now.
“But what was all this talk about being invisible? I can see you just fine.“
Getting a little annoyed at
the fun she obviously got out of his story Lex decided a demonstration was in
order. While lunch time was almost over there were still several students sitting
around the cafeteria. Much to Kathie's astonishment he climbed on the table
and, after standing up, clapped his hands loudly.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I
have your attention for a moment? Hey come on, take a look at the weird chick
shouting around in here!“ naturally not even a single head turned in his
direction. He whistled as loud as he could for good measure and did an
impromptu tap dance before he climbed down and took his seat again, suppressing
a sigh.
“Convinced?“ he raised an
eyebrow at the baffled young woman sitting before him.
“Wow! Is this your power? Some
psychic invisibility? And you said you can't turn it off anymore?“
“Um no. See, I'm not a mutant.
At least I wasn't a week ago. When I woke on Saturday, I was like this. No one
will notice me or even realize I exist, unless I almost strangle them. Even
then they forget about me almost as soon as I let go of 'em. Hell, I had to
sleep out in the open for the last nights, because I have no way getting home.“
“Oh, that sounds rough. And
you say that you don't remember anything?“
“Nope, at least nothing
between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.“
“This is like... so weird.“
she suddenly grinned broadly “Think about all the wicked stuff you could pull
off, being invisible and everything, Security wouldn't stand a chance!“
Lex slowly became doubtful of
his new friend's usefulness. “Well, I would much rather go back to normal than
exploiting my situation. Also it would hardly be proper.“
“Huh? Not proper? Why that?“
“I am, or maybe was, a member
of security. I've been working in one of the squads for the last two years.“
She got a sheepish look, the
smile vanishing from her face. After a moment she eyed him doubtful. “Security?
I'm pretty sure I have never seen you around here, you know, you are
kinda memorable.“
“That's the other thing.
Before this happened to me I did not look anything like this.“
There was an awkward silence
while she looked at him expectantly. But he didn't really want to talk about
this one.
“Hey, you can't just stop
there. Come on, fess up, what did you look like? Were you like totally
ugly or something?“
Lex let out a heavy sigh. He
guessed from her look that she would not give in easy and she would learn
sooner or later anyway.
“Let's just say that 'Alex' is
short for Alexander.“
Watching her face was almost
worth it. It went in rapid succession from slightly smug to confused to
unbelieving until it finally arrived at amazed.
“You are a GUY?!?“ Obviously,
whatever kept him from being noticed did not extend to her part of the
conversation, since that last exclamation turned some heads.
“You might want to keep it
down a little.“ He pointed smirking at her audience.
Kathie, noticing her audience,
dropped her voice down to a whisper and leaned in close to him.
“Whatever did this to you
changed you into a girl?“
Lex just nodded at that.
“Wow, that's weird. How are
you feeling? This must be the strangest thing for you.“
“To be honest, I try not to
think too much about it. I can't really complain about not having enough other
issues.“
“You have still more
bombshells to drop?“ She was taking this well so far and seemed to actually
believe him, Lex did not know which of the two amazed him more.
“Well I haven't eaten in five
days, didn't drink anything either. I had just convinced myself that I was dead
and haunting the place when you spoke to me.“
He was surprised when she
barked a quick laugh.
“Hah! No chance of that, girl.
I doubt there is anyone 'round here that is less likely than me to see ghosts.“
“Why is that?“
The black haired girl seemed
suddenly uncomfortable, as if she had said to much “Uh ... it's kinda part of
my 'condition'...“ glancing at her watch, she stood from the table.
“Sorry Lex, but I'm getting
late for class. Why don't you come over to my room later? We can plan what to
do about your problem then.“
“Ah... sure“ Lex stammered
wondering what had brought about this sudden change of her mood. “Which
cottage?“
Once more Kathie got an
expression like she wanted to slap herself “Hawthorne, “ she mumbled “room
305.“
Lex raised an eyebrow at that.
Usually Hawthorne housed students that were either a danger to themselves and
others around them or had just so little control over their powers that it came
down to the same thing. But before he could say anything Kathie had hurried off
towards the exit.
-------------------------------
Sitting in the staff canteen
in Schuster hall by himself David pondered the progress of his investigation.
It was not much, not to say nothing at all.
He had been talking to his
colleagues all morning about Lex and if they knew of anyone holding a grudge
against his friend, but he had come up with nothing. Even though most of the
guys seemed to believe Lex had run off chasing some girl the majority decided
to humor the rookie. Especially if it meant to brag about their accomplishments
at Whateley. But not even the members of Lex' former squad could offer any
pointers. As it seemed students usually were mad at security in general, if at
all, not at one specific officer.
He was running out of options.
Knowing no one in the area really well, he more ore less stood alone. He had
exhausted the few contacts he had from his time in Boston, not that there had
been many to begin with. All he could do right now was keep his eyes open and
wait for further development. He would try and go through the files on Lex'
computer on Saturday, maybe something would turn up but his friend had never
been the diary keeping kind of guy.
Sighing, he picked up his tray
and took it to the rack holding the dirty dishes.
<Time to do the job they
pay you for.>
-------------------------------
Lex was leaning on the wall
next to Nathaniel Hawthorne's bust in the entry hall of Kathie's cottage. He
had first considered going up to her room to wait for her there, but aside from
it being improper, walking around in this special cottage basically invisible
would probably be downright dangerous.
So he had settled to wait for
Kathie here and watch the traffic in and out of the building. He was getting
bored wondering when her classes might be over, when a bunch of people arrived
at the door. Lex was surprised when he recognized some of that lot.
They were 'Alphas', belonging
to that gang of snotty, rich kids that styled themselves the top dogs of
Whateley's social pecking order. He wondered for a moment what they were doing
here, but then remembered that they were still serving detention at Hawthorne
for the brawl they got into with some kids from Poe. He rather enjoyed seeing
that haughty lot taken down a peg or two.
Most of them were dressed in
durable, cheap clothes, so they probably expected to get dirty, which widened
Lex' smile. They tried hard to ignore everyone around them, but especially the
girl in their middle. She was a pretty thing, but wearing an apron dress did
not do much in the ways of showing it off. She had her hair tied back with a
white kerchief and guessing from the thick rubber gloves and protection goggles
she held clutched tight in her right fist, she was expecting some heavy duty
cleaning. She wore the same stony expression like her companions but her eyes
were burning with barely suppressed rage.
Lex was just trying to
remember where he had seen her before, when Ms. Cantrel swooped in on that
chair of hers and herded the convicts into the cottage.
A few moments later a familiar
figure entered through the front door. Kathie came in, a yellow book bag slung
over her shoulder. A nervous smile appeared on her face when she saw him
waiting.
“Hi.“ she muttered, waving at
him slightly.
“Hi again.“he returned the
greeting, smiling at her.
“You were waiting in here?
Didn't you run into Ms. Cantrel?“
“Actually I did just now, but
remember? Invisible?“ Curiously Kathie seemed to be rather nervous.
“Oh yeah, I forgot, sorry.
Well come on in.“
She led him up the staircase,
all the while babbling about trivial things, collecting quite a few odd looks
from passing students. Lex followed her silently, wondering what had left her
so flustered.
“...would have had to work
too, but Glen was nice enough to trade with me on short notice. There we are!“
She had stopped in front of
one of the doors on the third floor. It looked exactly like the others in the
hallway, except for a small sticker in the top right corner. It was the same
kind Lex had seen on the microwave ovens in some shops, warning people with
pacemakers not to use the device.
He was about to ask Kathie
about it, when she practically ripped open the door and bundled him inside.
The room was a bit surprising
to Lex. The walls were plastered with posters of various stars and movies.
There was one of Kristanna Loken, right next to some generic boy group, which
was flanked by a faded Robocop movie placard. Some kids on a Dragonball Z
poster were having a permanent staring match with Sigourney Weaver and Winona
Ryder across the room. One corner was hidden from view by a curtain sporting a
rather loud flower print, the bed was probably behind there. On the floor next
to the door sat a big bean bag, partly obscured by cushions and various stuffed
animals. The desk standing at the rooms only window was cluttered with various
electronics. Some of the stuff looked similar to the devices he had seen
Erickson, the resident tech geek of security, lug around occasionally.
The most unusual feature he
noticed was an open wire mesh cage standing on the ground next to the desk that
seemed to hold some more electronic equipment. Now that he looked closer he
noticed that the plaster on the walls had a mesh like structure too. The
stuffed animals and posters seemed somewhat out of place to him considering the
apparent age of their owner.
Lex' musings were interrupted
though when he heard the door close with a slightly metallic sound. He looked
around and found Kathie looking at him with a guarded expression, she was
actually biting her lower lip and absentmindedly fidgeted with the strap of her
book bag.
“Nice roo....“
“I'm not dangerous!“ she
exclaimed suddenly and vehemently.
At once Lex understood why she
had been so nervous. While the girl groaned and slumped down into the bean bag,
holding her face with her hands, he pulled the chair out from under her desk
and sat down facing her.
“Let me guess. You had a few
negative reactions from people when they learned which cottage you were in?“
She looked up at him wearily
and just nodded.
“Well, I'm sure they wouldn't
let you loose on campus if you turned everyone touching you into a pink gerbil,
would they?“ he asked with what he hoped would come out as an encouraging
smile.
She actually smiled at that.
“It doesn't bother you?“
“No not really, unless it's
really that gerbil thing.“ he added, still smiling. “Doesn't mean I'm not
curious though. What is it you do? If you don't mind telling me that is.“
The young woman sat up looking
more relaxed by the minute.
“Oh I'm dabbling in
gadgeteering and can do some energizer stuff, electricity and fields and such,
but all pretty unfocused. I have something similar to REMsbd though.“
“Sorry, REM... what?“
“Uh that's REM sleep behavior
disorder. You know when people sleep and their muscles and such like shut down
while they dream so they don't move around and stuff? It's like that's not
working for me. If you tend to have bad dreams and can throw around lightning
bolts and EMP blasts, that's usually pretty uncomfortable for other people.
That's why I have to sleep in this conductive goop instead of a real bed and
the whole room is more or less a Faraday cage.“ She was gesturing vaguely at
the curtain and the walls, looking somber again.
“Sorry to hear that, must be
tough.“
“I manage.“ Suddenly her face
lit up again. “Hey but why am I moaning about my problems when we are here to
discuss yours! So what exactly happened?“
The quicksilver change of mood
caught Lex off guard again, so it took a moment for him to collect his
thoughts. He leaned back in his chair studying the meshed structure of the
ceiling plaster.
“Well, I remember being on
duty last Friday evening....“
--------------------------
Sitting over some homework at
his desk, the first thing Richard noticed was a faint smell of burning wood.
Sniffing he sat up.
<Is someone burning fallen
leaves outside? No it is too late in the evening.> He glanced out of the
window seeing nothing out of the ordinary on the dark campus outside. About to
return to his studies he noticed a faint wisp of smoke rising up from the shelf
where he stored his arcane supplies.
In a bout of panic he rushed
up to it and began pulling the most valuable books out of the danger zone
frantically trying to rescue his treasured tomes.
When he had cleared enough of
the rack it became obvious that the smoke was originating from the Chimera, or
rather from the wooden board it was standing on. He grabbed the figurine and
almost dropped it immediately, unable to suppress a yelp since it was searing
hot. After putting it down on the floor carefully but fast Richard hurried to
his closet and pulled out a bronze brazier that he kept in there. He carefully
placed the Chimera in its center, this time foresighted enough to use one of
Simmons' discarded shirts instead of touching the spell focus directly.
The boy was stunned when he
examined the place the piece of glazed terracotta had occupied on the shelf.
The wood was blackened and burned in an area of more than two inches around the
spot and it probably would not have been much longer until the whole shelf
would have been set ablaze.
How had this happened? A
reaction like that was completely unexpected. Puzzled he moved the brazier to
his desk and sat down in front of it. Calming himself he began to shift into
the state of mind that allowed him to perceive the structure of the universe,
the very veins of creation that his gift allowed him to manipulate.
What he saw shocked him so
badly he almost lost the concentration necessary to uphold his spiritual
vision.
There was the well known link
between himself and the focus, a faint amber line connecting him to the black
piece of pottery in the brazier before him. But instead of a slightly
shimmering pattern of energy, slowly drifting across the surface of the
Chimera, representing the spells it was sustaining, there was a multicolored
vortex of raw, seemingly chaotic magic churning around the object in front of
him. It seemed contained in a faint green shimmer that Richard recognized as
the remains of one of his non-detection wards. From the looks of it the ward
was barely holding up.
There must have been more of a
feedback from his mistargeted transformation spell than he had expected, and in
his hurry to vacate his ritual place that night he had not noticed. He had been
sure the whole of the built up energy from the spell had been released into the
security goon, but obviously he had been mistaken. The Chimera had shielded him
from the backlash though like it was supposed to. It had apparently not been
able to shed the accumulated energy, which was really odd. The feedback must
have been pent up between his involuntary subject and the focus in some kind of
loop. A loop that was in dire need of breaking it seemed.
Richard studied the whirling
patterns for a few more moments until he noticed something. The torrent was
getting stronger, very slowly, but there was no denying it. It would soon
shatter the sole remaining ward and become a beacon to every single sensitive
in a three mile radius. Even worse if it continued drawing power like this....
His face went pale.
<It might... no it will
break through the Chimera's protection. This much power rushing in at once will
burn me to dust in mere seconds!>
The young Wizard slumped in
the chair finally loosing his arcane sight. But it did not matter. He still
could see the raging maelstrom vividly in front of his inner eye biding its
time till it was strong enough to consume him utterly. He had to do something
and fast.
--------------------------
“Magic!“ Kathie exclaimed
confidently.
“What makes you think that?“
Lex wanted to know.
She began counting points with
her fingers. ”First, this 'no one-notices-you' business smells like some Psi
thing but that doesn't explain the shape change. Second, it was too quick for
something technological except maybe a high order devise. These things don't
just drop out of the sky and I haven't heard anything about anything that could
do all this. So the most convenient explanation would be magic or like some
kind of demon, but that comes down to the same thing. You piss off any mages or
unholy abominations lately?“
That made him think. “But couldn't
it still be purely mental? Like making everybody including myself believe I was
transformed?“
Kathie shook her head. “No
wouldn't work on me, I'm pretty much immune to all this weird mental stuff.
Part of the package.“ She sounded very certain of that.
During the last few hours his
new friend had mostly dropped the airhead routine, which made Lex suspect it
was mostly an act. She had raised some valid points, but all the talking had
left him somewhat weary. On the other hand he actually felt like he was doing
something for a change which was a great thing. He had to struggle some to
carry on a meaningful conversation though. “Magic, hmm. I don't know the first
thing about magic. Do you?“
“Uh not really. I think there
are supposed to be lots of rules and stuff but they didn't really cover this in
Powers Theory so far. They have special courses for that I think. Maybe we
could like hit the library tomorrow?“
“We?“ Lex asked, somewhat
surprised.
“Well, I mean I join you when
classes are over.“ She was smiling at him broadly.
“No, I mean, don't you have
better things to do than babysitting some gender baffled security man?“
She got serious again. “To be
honest... no, I haven't. And it definitely beats sitting in my room and messing
around with my... my electronics... project.“ She seemingly was as tired as he
felt, stumbling over her own words like that. He wanted to say as much but he
was interrupted by a violent yawn.
“Oh my, we totally talked
through dinner. And you look like you need some sleep.“ Kathie looked at him
almost worriedly. But then her expression brightened. “You know? You have to
relax, and Aunt Kathie has just the thing!“ Somehow her mischievous grin made
Lex really nervous.
--------------------------
Kathie led him down the hall to
another dorm room. Checking for watchers left and right she opened the door and
hustled him in. Inside it was dark but he could make out some of the room in
the little light that was coming in through the only window.
From what he could see, there
was barely any furniture. Mainly a big couch that had seen better days and a
desk below the window. Curiously the floor and walls were tiled, their steps
echoing like they had entered some kind of bath. Judging from the empty shelf
and desk and the plain walls it seemed that the room wasn't occupied at the
moment. But the most remarkable feature was some kind of big, about waist high
metal tank that took up most of the free space.
Kathie closed the door behind
them and walked over to the window, closing the curtains before switching on
the small lamp on the desk. She spoke in a low, secretive tone.
“This was Lisa's room. She
graduated last year. She is like partly amphibious or something, needs some
special gear. Once they have installed something they usually don't rip it out
unless they really need the room, just in case they get another student with
similar needs. So this left us with a real life jacuzzi.“ She giggled madly at that.
“We are not supposed to use
it, but some of us sneak in occasionally since it's like a million times better
than the showers. I'm pretty sure Ms. Cantrel knows but as long as we clean it
up she wont say anything.“ She seemed barely able to contain her glee. “Isn't
that the coolest thing.“ She grinned at Lex, who had a hard time sharing her
enthusiasm.
“I'd rather just crash
somewhere, I'm really tired.“
“No way! Look at you. You need
a bath and while everyone would hear the showers going and wonder about it this
late, this beauty here has its own working boiler.“ The young woman
lovingly caressed the rim of the tub at that. She bowed down and opened some
valve on the back of the thing and water began streaming into it from a faucet.
“You get in there and clean up while I check my closet for something to wear
for you. Can't have you run around campus like you were fishing your clothes
out of a dumpster while being colorblind to boot.“
Lex had the distinct feeling
that arguments like “But I did fish them from a dumpster!“ and “Why
bother? I'm invisible!“ would probably not help him any and he was too tired to
put up a fight anyway. Besides she was probably right on the bath thing. He
would feel better clean.
So he started pulling off his
sweater when he noticed that Kathie had made no move to leave. She just stood
there watching him, that stupid smile still on her face.
“Would you mind?“ he motioned
towards the door with his head.
“Aww, come on no need to be so
prissy. Nothing new there for me. I'm just curious.“
“No way, Kid.“ He strode
towards her, grabbed her by her arm and maneuvered her towards the door. “I
will not flash a student, regardless of what I look like at the moment.“ His
other reasons were somewhat betrayed by the very noticeable blush on his face.
Kathie did not really resist though and he easily shoved her out of the door.
When he had it almost closed on her she turned around and held it open for a
moment.
“Hand me your stuff through, I
will put it in the laundry.“
Lex sighed “Alright, one
moment!“ and closed the door.
He was just stepping out of
the skirt, surprised at how bad it looked, all wrinkled, with small pieces of
bark and dirt caught everywhere in the cloth, when he heard Kathie speak up
again outside.
“Oh evening Sue, I err... was
just... on my way to my room. Yeah that's it, my room.“ - nervous laughter
followed by an awkward pause - “Ah... good night.“ Then he heard steps hurrying
off in the direction of Kathie's room.
An unknown girl's voice stated
“Whatever....“ and he heard a door close nearby.
Lex had just finished
undressing, when a soft knock announced Kathie's return. He passed out his
dirty clothes through the door crack, keeping himself from view behind the
door.
“I have some supplies stashed
in the bottom of the closet. Just take what you need, I'll be back later with a
change of clothes.“ she whispered to him through the door, while stuffing
everything into her laundry bag. Then she was off again.
Checking the closet he found a
small plastic tub filled with various bottles and a few unused towels. He only
grabbed shampoo, conditioner, a cake of soap and one of the towels, intending
to keep things easy. He had some experience with long hair from his
try-to-piss-off-Dad-as-much-as-possible phase back in high school. Enough
experience to know that hair this long would be a pain. Too bad there
were no scissors in that closet.
The big metal tub had filled
up nicely by now and he shut the water off. He considered for a moment to turn
on the water jets but decided against it. <Just a nice, quiet and calm
bath.> he thought when he slowly eased himself into the hot water.
Naturally it felt different.
Nothing had really felt the same during the last week. He valiantly tried to
ignore the strangeness as much as he could and just savored the feeling of
weightlessness as the heat loosened muscles and tendons, some of which hadn't
been there a few days ago.
“Oooh, that's great!“
--------------------------
An unfamiliar sound startled
Lex up from the brink of sleep where he had been drifting along. The water was
still warm, but not as hot as it had initially been, so he had apparently not
been dozing that long. The room was dark though, the small desk lamp that had
illuminated it before no longer burning. Only the dim light coming in through
the curtains from the outside made it possible to discern the outlines of
things in the room. He had just started to wonder how someone could have turned
off the lamp without him noticing when he heard the sound again. There were
some heavy clacking noises outside the door as if someone was walking along the
hallway wearing lead filled tapping shoes. Now that he focused on his hearing
he noticed some heavy, labored breathing out there, reminding him of a huge
animal.
The noises seemed to stop
right in front of the door and to Lex' horror the door knob rattled softy as if
someone unused to handling one turned it slowly from the outside. Hadn't Kathie
talked about demons being involved? Suddenly, all alone in the darkness, the
whole idea didn't sound all that absurd anymore. He knew of the things that
happened in this school on a weekly basis. Maybe who or whatever got him a few
days ago had now returned to finish the job. Lex involuntarily slid deeper into
the water, instinctively trying to hide from whatever was on the other side of
that door.
A faint shimmer of light
spilling in from the hallway focused his attention on the gap between door and
frame, that was now widening ever so slowly. The light was soon obscured by a
hulking shape filling up the doorway.
Lex was frozen in terror,
staring at the hideous thing ducking through the door. Unable to make out any
details of the intruder it was none the less obvious that it had way to many
limbs to be considered human. The hallway light glinted off a carapace which
seemed to cover the demonic creature's whole malformed body and the clanking
steps were reminiscent of the sound of hooves on the room's tiled floor. A
large fleshy rag was hanging from one of the creature's limbs. As it slowly
made its way towards Lex it wheezed heavily, sounding like it was not used to
breathing at all.
The abomination finally
reached the metal tub, towering over it and its resident, the beast's head
seemingly brushing the ceiling. The door had closed again, so the only
illumination was provided by the sliver of moonlight shining through the gap in
the curtains. It bathed the creature in an eerie silver sheen that played over
an inhuman face rife with mandible-like blades. When it suddenly bowed down
towards him, making rasping, chittering noises Lex could not retain it any
longer and screamed.
He could not tell if it had
been years or nanoseconds, but he was still screaming, between a few gulps for
air, when the door to the hallway slammed open, almost being ripped from its
hinges. The room's ceiling light flared on, nearly blinding him, but sadly not
dispelling the horrible vision still looming above him. The infernal
monstrosity reared up screeching, its abysmal scream of rage reverberating off
the tiled walls. Lex was just preparing another world class shriek when he was
rudely interrupted by Kathie starting to shout at the intruder.
“KATSUO! What the fuck do you
think you are doing in here!?! You can't simply barge in on everyone! What were
you thinking?“ The hideous demon actually shied back, holding up its four arms
protectively, and retreated from the raging young woman that advanced on him
from the doorway. If Lex hadn't known better he would have thought it was
trying to hide from the onslaught behind the big salmon terry cloth towel it
was clutching in its claws.
Kathie had not stopped piling
verbal abuse on the poor thing and had the at least eight foot tall insectoid
backed into a corner when finally understanding hit Lex. And he lost it.
Completely.
He was laughing so hard that
he was struggling not to drown in the tub. Kathie looking at him like he had
gone stark raving mad didn't help matters any.
“And what's the matter with
you all the sudden?“ She was obviously still pissed, but now unsure who should
be the target of her wrath. Lex, still only barely able to get enough air into
his lungs between bouts of laughter, didn't even try to answer.
Some chittering noises turned
Kathie's attention back on her former target that was now slowly trying to edge
past her towards the door. “No not you, I was talking to Lex!“
More clicks and chitters.
“What do you mean? She is
sitting right there in... oh.“ Finally remembering some details of Lex'
situation she became flustered. “Ah look Tsuo, I'm not done cleaning here. Err
you can use it tomorrow, ok?“ She shoved the boy (?) into the hallway and
closed the door behind him. Leaning against it she closed her eyes, exhaling
heavily.
“Now would you please get a
grip and tell me what's so damn funny?“ she shot at Lex with a glare.
--------------------------
As the door slammed shut
behind Katsuo he softly shook his head. He knew that Kathie was a bit weird
occasionally but today she seemed to be after some record. She had scared the
crap out of him, bursting through the door like that. If he hadn't known better
he would have suspected she was on something. It was a miracle that Ms. Cantrel
hadn't shown up with all that shouting and screaming. Shrugging he carefully
started to make his way back towards his own room. He wasn't really keen on
trying to squeeze into one of the shower stalls, and waiting till Kat was done
in there with whatever she was doing was probably pointless.
<Hmm, might as well fire up
GEO again....> he thought as he lumbered slowly down the hall.
--------------------------
“... and then it hit me that
this must have looked exactly like a scene out of some bad horror flick. The
hideous monster approaching the unsuspecting stereotypical blond bimbo in her
bath... just that this time the devilish abomination was after the tub and not
the chick.“ Lex snorted again, but he managed to control himself. Kathie had a
hard time staying serious herself and almost managed not to smile while shaking
the desk lamp's blown bulb next to her ear.
“You shouldn't call him such
things, you know? He has a real hard time with it already.“ said Kathie in a
more serious tone, putting down the bundle of clothes she had been carrying on
the sofa.
“Yes, sorry, I can imagine
that. He a friend of yours?“ Lex busied himself trying to rinse his hair out
with the sprinkler, back turned towards Kathie.
“Yeah, we both started here
together one year ago. He hadn't nearly bulked up that much back then and was
still in Twain, could still talk pretty understandable too. We share some
classes, and both of us not really knowing anybody we became friends pretty
fast.“
Lex was still struggling with
his hair, there was simply too much of it, when Kathie came up, rolling up her
sleeves.
“Let me help. I promise not to
look too hard.“ Not being able to see her face, he suspected she was grinning
again. He let her help anyway.
“So how did he end up in
Hawthorne?“ Lex asked to cover the silence while they worked.
“Oh, about halfway through the
year he developed this huge crush on Lisa, the one whose tub you are sitting
in. She was a senior and more amused by his advances than anything. Then there
was this total asshole Partisan. He like thought it was his own god given right
to pick on anyone weaker and less popular than him, which sadly included a lot
of people. So this bozo plays this totally stupid and cruel joke on Lisa and
makes her cry in the hallway. Now Katsuo steps up to him, not saying a single
word and throws the jerk out of Schuster Hall.“
“Oh, I think I remember that
one. He didn't exactly use the front door, right?“
Kathie snickered. “Nope, the
jerk broke through like three walls and only that old oak tree next to the
building stopped him. A shame the tree didn't survive that.“ She sighed. “After
that, Administration decided Tsuo was too dangerous and hadn't enough control
over his powers and stuck him in here. Partisan spent like two weeks in the
infirmary. No need to say, no one bothered Lisa after that.“
“Is he Japanese?“
“Because of the name? No,
that's like his hero name. He never told me his real one and I doubt anyone
outside admin knows. He like never talks about home or what happened before he
got here. Sore spot I guess.“
She helped Lex out of the tub,
being nice enough not to peek while he wrapped himself in one of the towels.
Wishing him a good night and
dropping some pointers on hair care he did not really need she left, after
telling him where to find some sheets for the sofa.
Having managed to get his hair
dry, which actually took even longer than he had feared, he sorted through the
clothing Kathie had left him. It appeared to be one of her spare school
uniforms. Deciding to have a serious talk with her in the morning on the
subject of what kind of clothing he was comfortable with, Lex pulled out the oversized
tee shirt she had left him for sleep wear and put it on.
The sofa smelled somewhat
musty but it felt heavenly compared to what he had slept on the nights before.
It did not take him long at all to fall asleep.
--------------------------
October 13th ,
Friday
Yawning, David parked his bike
and got off. He had not slept well, worrying himself sick about Lex. It was a
week now since he had last seen his friend and he had not had a single word
from him since then. He still had to come to work though. At least, since he
was having the weekend off, he would have some time to look over Lex' files.
The parking lot was rather
empty since he was a bit later than usual and most of night shift had already
left. He was just about to head towards Kane Hall, when a silver-metallic car
caught his eye. There were a lot fallen leaves on top of it, but it still
looked like Lex' Saturn.
Rushing over to it Dave peeked
inside the car. It was definitely Lex'. Several of his favorite CDs were strewn
about the back seat and the upholstery had popped open at a few seams. From the
looks of it, it had not been moved in a few days, probably since Lex'
disappearance.
Leaning against the car David
started thinking.
<If his car is here, then
how did he leave campus last Friday. And if he didn't leave, then whoever
abducted him did it directly on campus. I need to get my hands on the security
records for last Friday. If it happened here it's on tape somewhere.>
For the first time really
grateful for Whateley's paranoid approach on security and surveillance David
hurried towards Kane Hall.
--------------------------
Some particularly nasty
nightmares had dragged Lex out of deep sleep, but he only woke completely when
he rolled over and ran out of sofa. He dropped to the tiled floor in front of
his makeshift bed still partly tangled in the sheets, unfortunately landing on his
chest. Blacking out for a moment he started swearing like a trooper as soon as
he was able to form a coherent thought again. He had to struggle to get up
since his legs were tightly wrapped in the blanket. By the time he finally had
managed to untangle himself from the linen's death grip the pain had given way
to a dull throb and his mood had improved to something you could call 'bad'
without lying too much.
Still grumpy, he trudged
towards the window opening the curtains. He had to blink at the painful glare
falling in from the campus outside. Brightly lit by an inappropriately cheerful
morning sun already high above the horizon the school grounds glowed in their
colorful autumn splendor. Needless to say, a proper thunderstorm would have
fitted Lex' mood a lot better at the moment. There did not seem to be much
traffic on the walkways from what he could see so he suspected that classes had
started already. Remembering their plans from last night, Lex turned away from
that all too cheery scene to look around the room for something to wear. All he
could turn up was the school uniform Kathie had left him last night though.
<Well, she's probably in
class now. No one I can complain to, so I will have to bite the bullet
again.>
He was sure she was doing this
kind of thing on purpose. But having no choice he started to get dressed. The
clothes weren't a really good fit since it seemed Kathy was a lot more...
comely... than he was right now, which he was more or less glad about. His new
'girlfriend' had also supplied another sports bra, one of hers obviously since
it felt a lot looser on him than his own.
<God! Don't tell me I'm
actually missing my 'own' bra.... Think happy thoughts boy. Happy
thoughts are good for you.>
Rooting through Kathie's
bathing supplies for a hairbrush he discovered a small hand mirror. Not able to
resist he peered into it. The face staring at him from the thing was still
alien. Not Ridley Scott - Alien, just nothing he could identify with. He
wouldn't have minded dating that girl but he was not ready for a relationship
this close, nor would he ever be. Putting back the mirror along with that
strange girl's face, he started attacking his mane with the brush he had found,
struggling with knots and tangles for some time.
After finishing with the hair
he cleaned the tub since he had skipped it last night. He had to scrub for a
while to get all the dirt out that had settled along the waterline. There was a
lot of it. Finally being content with the state of the room, he put on some
kind of jacket that obviously belonged to the outfit he wore and started for
the library.
Lex hardly met anyone on his
way, no wonder since the clock he could see inside Crystal Hall showed a few
minutes past nine. Morning classes were well underway. When he entered the
library the space between the multitude of shelves was mostly deserted. The
only one around at the moment seemed to be Miss Henderson who was doing some
cataloging work at her desk in the central part of the library. He went past
her and began looking around for the occult section which wasn't hard to locate
due to its size.
Walking along the shelves he
studied the titles on the spines, looking for something basic. There seemed to
be a jumble of different books, from old tomes that reeked of ancient dark
knowledge to businesslike textbooks that would not stand out in any students
book bag. There were even some novels in between that he would have thought
would belong in the fiction section. One thin volume, standing out due to its
bright yellow color caught Lex' eye.
<Now look at that! Can't
get more basic than that I suppose.> Shaking his head at the fact that a
book like this even existed, he pulled out the copy of 'Magical Theory for
Dummies' and looked around for a place to start reading.
--------------------------
The library had filled up some
with students trying to get in some study time before supper, so Kathie had to
look around a bit until she discovered Lex. He was sitting at the very back of
the occult section at a table piled high with books. Holding his head in both
hands, fingers unconsciously entangled in the pale blond hair he had his elbows
braced on the table's edge. He did not notice her approach as he was staring
intently at some sort of textbook he had propped up open in front of him.
“Hi, how's it going?“
Lex looked up with an annoyed
expression until he recognized her.
“Oh, hi Kathie, good you are
here. Maybe now they will leave me alone.“
“Leave you alone? Who? They
can see you?“ she asked looking around confused.
“The exact opposite actually.
The library staff tries to put away the books every time one of them comes by
since they can't see me.“ The blond woman's scowl deepened again. “As if
understanding that stuff wasn't hard enough already.“
Kathie took a chair opposite
from Lex at the table and started looking at the books piled in front of her,
dropping her own bag on the floor.
“'Conjurations and Abjurations
in modern Wizardry', 'Enchanting 101', 'The Big Book of Curses', 'Channeling
Aids across the Ages', 'Grainger's Field Guide to the Supernatural', 'Tobin's
Spirit Guide'.... Wow, you read all those?“
“Only skimmed through 'em for
the most part. Most of them are way to specialized on one subject, but I think
I found some interesting pointers in some of them.“ Slapping one of the larger
stacks with his hand he continued. “The rules are mostly rubbish, or at least I
don't see how they would apply to me. What most of the books agree on, is that
what has been done to me is not easy to do, so I'm dealing with someone who has
an awful lot of power.“ Lex slumped in his seat somewhat and sighed. “This one“
- he said pointing at the book he had been reading when she came in - “suggests
that there are items of power that could amplify a mage's ability. If one of
those was involved I'm pretty much fucked, since they usually have nasty side
effects.“
“Did you, like find anything
that gives you an idea how to break that spell?“ Kathie asked while frowning at
one of the diagrams in the book, trying to decide which side was up.
“Well killing the mage might
work. Destroying any magical objects involved sounds like a pretty safe way to
be stuck as I am, in conjunction with every secondary effect imaginable, my
painful death in screaming agony being one of the more enjoyable ones.“ Seeing
Kathie pale at his recital he decided to omit the third option, besides he
didn't feel desperate enough to actually kill himself... yet. “Basically my
best chance would be to find the culprit and convince him or her to lift the
curse, or find a mage of equal or greater power to do it. But the second option
is probably out considering the power involved.“
“What if it was, like some
demon or something?“ Kathie was clearly anxious by now.
Lex' grim expression actually
brightened at that. “That is one of the few pieces of good news. Several of the
books mentioned markings or stigmata that pop up on a victim of demonic magic
and I didn't find any on me so far. Also while my dreams are surely no fun,
they are not hounded by demonic visions, so I'm pretty sure demons are out.“
“So all we have to do is turn
up this person who did this and like convince him to do the decent thing and
turn you back? Now that sounds easy.“ Kathie smirked.
“Yeah, I know it's
hopeless....“ Lex looked rather subdued.
“Oh come on, I didn't mean it
that way. You know what? You need some distance. How about we go down to
Dunwich tomorrow and shop for some clothes for you?“ The young American Indian
put up her most virulent smile.
“I don't know. I probably
shouldn't leave campus. Something here might trigger my memory about that
night. Besides you would only try to stuff me into skirts again. What's up with
this anyway?“ - he tugged on one of his sleeves for emphasis - “I feel pretty
stupid running around in a girls school uniform.“ He started blushing again and
hated it.
“Nonsense, I just don't have a
lot of pants and they wouldn't fit you anyway. Besides we could get you some
nice pants in Dunwich, don't you think?“
“But....“ Lex started but was
cut short.
“Let's put away the books and
discuss this on the way to the dorm, ok?“ She got up grabbing a stack of books
not waiting for his reply. Sorting them back into the shelves she paused
frowning at one of them. “'Magical Theory for Dummies', now this is just
wrong....“
--------------------------
Sara watched the two girls, or
rather young women, as they left the library. One of the two seemed strangely
dead to her enhanced senses, while the other was particularly vibrant, at least
in comparison. Actually, wondering what could possibly confuse her perception
in such a way was what had made her really aware of the two in the first place.
Not that they were eyesores, quite the opposite, even though the blond could
use a better fitting uniform.
The pale skinned girl pondered
if she should follow and talk to them, when a look on her watch reminded her
that Toni had asked them to meet over supper. There was still some planning to
do for tomorrow's trip to Boston apparently. She picked up her bag and set out
for Crystal Hall.
--------------------------
“No! And this is final. I'm
not going!“
“Oh come on, I have honestly
no idea why you're so stuck up about this.“
“I just don't want to go, is
that so hard to understand? I don't want to discuss it either, ok?“
“If you're so keen on not
discussing it why did you come over in the first place?“
Lex mumbled something.
“What was that?“
“Katsuo is using the tub at
the moment and I didn't want to....“ he uttered turning red again.
“Uh... you are aware that he's
running around like naked all the time anyway? It's not that he has any
embarrassing parts left to cover up. Jeez! He's a giant beetle.“
“I know, it still feels wrong
though.“
“So, back on topic. Tell me
one good reason why we shouldn't go shopping tomorrow?“
“Argh!“ Lex threw up his hands
in despair. Then he got an idea. “Oh I have one. You mentioned yesterday that
you're a sophomore, right? So are you even allowed to go into town on your own?
I doubt they would count me as a chaperon.“ He beamed a smug smile at her,
leaning back in her only chair, arms folded behind his head.
Kathie just returned the
smile. “Never needed any chaperon. Most people take me for a senior anyway so
getting on the shuttle bus was never a problem. Besides if they catch me what
are they going to do? Give me detention in Hawthorne?“ She smirked.
“Now that you mention it, I
took you for a senior too when we met first time. How old are you actually?“