A Whateley Academy Tale
Welcome to Poe
by Babs Yerunkle, Bek D. Corvin, ScramblerJ, Starwolf,
and Maggie Finson
Sunday September 3rd
Dunwhich, New Hampshire and Whateley Academy
outside of Dunwich
The three teenagers getting off the train noted each other
immediately. Everyone else, not many, who had gotten off either had people
waiting for them, or headed toward the parking lot once they had their
luggage. Leaving the kids staring at the now mostly empty platform and each
other.
"You guys going to Whateley?" the slender black
girl questioned the others with a smile.
"Yes," the cute boy responded with a tentative
smile of his own. "I'm Hank Declan, by the way."
"I'm Toni Chandler," the girl answered
cheerfully, then turned to the other occupant of the platform, a slender,
pretty girl with flame red hair cut in a nape length bob whose violet eyes
appeared almost huge in her delicate face. "Are you here for Whateley,
too?"
"Yes," the other returned her smile almost
hesitantly. "I guess you can call me Fey."
“So...any idea of what we’re supposed to do? Do we wait
for someone to come get us, or do we call the school?” Toni asked brightly.
“I’m not sure. How about this - you go ask at the counter,
while I watch our stuff,” Hank answered with an expressive shrug.
“A man with a plan. I like that! C’mon, Fey!” Toni
strolled into the depot building, not really paying attention as to whether the
other girl was following or not. She walked up to the ticket window and gave
the desk bell a whack.
A rather sour looking middle-aged man came from out of the
back and glowered at her. “Let me guess - you’re here for the Whateley
Academy, right?”
“Right!” Toni chirped back at him, refusing to be
intimidated in the least.
“The school should be sending a van for you pretty soon.
There are a couple of kids already here, waitin’ on ‘em. You can wait in
there.” He pointed at a wooden door with a pane of frosted glass in it. “They
got a special waitin’ room, just for you Whateley kids, with refreshments an’
everything. You can leave your bags and stuff on the hand-truck out on the
landing.”
“Thank You!” Toni sang back at him. She hurried
back to Hank with the news. Fey trailed behind, like a dinghy tied to a
speedboat.
As they loaded the bags and trunks on the hand truck
together, Fey and Toni both noticed that Hank barely struggled with the heavy
trunks. 'I know what his power must be,' the redhead thought while watching
the guy move things with which grown men had strained.
The ‘special waiting room’ consisted of three ratty
plastic covered couches, and couple of even rattier looking plastic covered
chairs, a coffee table with magazines that the local dentist had probably
thrown out, a pay phone, and some vending machines for hot drinks, soft drinks,
candy and snacks. The sole provision for keeping school age kids from dying of
boredom was a very old pinball machine, which two boys were busily monopolizing.
They were dressed for travelling. Hank found a not too dirty seat and gingerly
seated himself while wondering what the pinball wizards had that was sending
them to Whateley, too.
One of the other couches was occupied by a lovely Hispanic
girl with a strip of scarlet down the center of her dark hair. She looked up
from the hardback book she had been leafing through without real interest and
gave the newcomers a dazzling if quick smile. Her ice blue eyes were filled
with lively interest in both her surroundings and fellow travelers as she
greeted them with a velvety voice in a the accents of the west coast. “Hi.
You’re for here the Whateley School?”
Toni, of course, was the first to respond with an
infectious grin of her own and an enthusiastic nod of her dark head. “Yeah.
Any idea of when the bus for the school is due?”
“Well, when I got my travel arrangements, they said that
they were expecting me at 4, so I don’t think that they’ll be here much sooner
than that.” The girl shrugged.
Glancing at the wall clock, Fey noted that it was 3:15.
Wondering what to do with herself for forty-five minutes, she decided to trace
the lines in the place and try to determine which was to what, or who. Toni
let out a sigh and waved around the room, “Okay crew, grab a seat and settle
in, we’re gonna be here for a while.”
“Ooops! My bad! Hank Declan. And that’s Fey.”
Toni smiled expectantly at the young Latina while gesturing to Fey.
“My name is Elena Neva Natividad Amicella Lucita Obregon,”
the blue eyed girl replied with another of those brief, almost blinding smiles.
“You got extra luggage, just for that name?” Toni
questioned with a chuckle.
The other girl smiled faintly, but amusement danced in her
eyes. “You can call me Rip.”
“Rip?”
“Short for Riptide!” With a wide grin on her face, ‘Rip’
cupped her hands in front of her, and a mist formed. The mist quickly
condensed into water, formed a tiny wave in Rip’s hands, and then dispersed
into mist again.
“Hiisst!” Hank hissed at Rip. “I don’t
think it’s a good idea for us to go flaunting our powers, at least not until
we’re sure of what the score is around here.”
“Aaahhh...what’s the use of having special powers, if you
can’t have any fun with ‘em?” Rip looked at the three of them. “What
can you guys do?”
“Well...let’s see what I can do without upsetting the
locals...” Toni’s face grew thoughtful. Her attention appeared to center on a
row of shabby hardback books on the table with the magazines. There was a gap
in the row. “Did you get this book from that table?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Toni took the book and hefted it to get an idea of its
weight and balance. “Let me shelve it for you.” With a brisk snap of the
wrist, Toni threw the book at the table. The book flew unerringly to the gap
and fit exactly in. Okay, the spine stuck out a bit, but what do you want?
Toni plopped down on the couch, kicked her feet up, folded her hand behind her
head and grinned in a ‘That’s right, I’m BAD!’ pose.
"COOL! How did you DO that?” Rip looked from between the now
replaced book and Toni.
Toni gave Rip a thumbnail sketch of her Chi abilities,
which was information Fey hadn‘t heard yet, either. The Latina leaned toward
Toni with a halfway eager expression on her pretty face. “Y’mean you can do all
that ‘Matrix’ stuff, with running along walls, dodging bullets
and hanging in mid-air when you’re about to kick the shit out of someone?”
“Uhm, run along walls- Yes; dodge bullets- I dunno; hang
in mid-air- Get Real! I can’t stop bullets in mid-air, either.” Toni
shrugged.
“Oh well, y’can’t have everything.” Rip turned to the
other two. “How about you two?”
Hank looked around. “I don’t see anything that I can do
without blowing our cover.”
Rip and Toni looked at Fey, who blushed under the scrutiny.
“Me neither, at least not without causing more excitement than this poor old
building could take. And probably emptying it out while I did it,” she
mumbled.
Another train stopped at 3:30, and disgorged five more
students. Long-distance buses also stopped, dropping off a few students. As 4
o’clock rolled around, there were about twenty or so Freshman age kids milling
about the waiting room. Most of them looked normal enough; well, except for
the chubby kid who wouldn’t take that weird looking knit cap off, or the gangly
boy who was at least 6’6” tall and all of ninety pounds, or the girl with weird
blue-gray hair that grew up in spiky clumps that sort of crested back along her
head. Most of them had obviously never been away from home for very long, and
they were either very subdued, or they were enjoying being loose for the first
time. Somebody had a boom-box, and Toni, Rip and a curvy black girl named
Vanessa were dancing along with the bubblegum pop.
Toni tried to get Fey to join in, but she was far too
engrossed in some activity only she was able to follow as the extra people
filled the waiting room.
At 4:00 on the dot, a tall Asian woman came in. She
walked over to the boom-box and shut off the music. “Okay, listen up! I am
Mrs. Shugendo, I’m the Dean of Students at Whateley Academy. There are two
shuttles here to take you to the school. I’m going to call off your names
alphabetically. When I call out your name, let me know who you are, and then
go out to the vans. Now, I know that you have a lot of questions - but, unless
it’s an _Emergency_, save it for when we get to the school.”
As their names were called, the kids gathered whatever
they were carrying and filed out to the waiting busses. It wasn't exactly done
quietly, or even close to as organized as it sounds, but eventually all of them
were seated and the vehicles got underway.
The scenery was fantastic, and a few of the teens actually
paid attention to it through the windows they were seated by, or at least
near. They passed through a smallish town that the drivers informed them was
Dunwich and the closest thing to real civilization there was in Whateley
Academy's immediate area, but most were unimpressed with the tourist trap the
almost sleepy little town appeared to be.
They passed the entrances to several summer camps, and
other roads winding through the Presidential Mountains of New Hampshire before
turning into one such road that was better maintained than most they had seen.
Shortly following that, the busses passed through a large
stone gate in an equally imposing stone wall. A few noticed the bronze plaque
announcing that this was Whateley Academy, but all knew they had almost arrived
at their destination.
The busses passed a number of colonial style red brick
buildings, several which had decidedly un-colonial architecture added on,
before pulling to a stop in front of a three story building made of the ever
present red brick.
Getting off the busses went without mishap, except for the
boy dressed in Gangsta style. He let out a sudden yelp of pain, then glowered
at the slight redhead as if he would broil her with nothing more than his
eyes. Fey grinned at him for a moment, then gathered her luggage and entered
the building without giving him another glance.
A small sign beside the entryway told her this was Poe
Cottage, and once inside there was a bust of the old time writer/poet holding a
place of honor where all who entered would pass by it.
After getting their luggage inside the entryway, Mrs.
Shugendo called them into a large common room. When the kids had arranged
themselves on the sofa and chairs, Shugendo called three seventeen-year-old
kids wearing school uniforms and a middle aged woman over to her. Then she
addressed them all.
"Well! Welcome to Whateley Academy! Now, you’ll get
the formal Welcoming speech from the Headmistress along with all the other
Freshmen, but this little talk is just for YOU. Now, the reason that you were
all told to come here a day ahead of the other Freshmen, and the reason that
you’re being put up in this dormitory is that you all have something in common
that sets you apart from the other students, even beyond your individual
mutations. You are what is currently called ‘Alternative Lifestyle’ types.
You are Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered, or so aggressively Bisexual that it is an
issue for you. We don’t condemn you for this; you didn’t really have a choice
in it, any more than you chose to be mutants. We realize that it’s hard going
through adolescence. We realize that it’s even harder when you’re a mutant.
You have enough to put up with already, you don’t need the extra aggravation of
being branded a -quote- sexual deviant -unquote-.
“Unfortunately, homophobic bias is so deeply ingrained in
the American, Canadian and British school systems, and to a lesser extent in
the European schools, that letting you go around openly declaring that you’re
Gay or Lesbian or Bi or Transgendered is just asking for trouble. So, we
have Poe Cottage, a place where you don’t have to worry about the kids down the
hall finding out, because they already know about you, and you already know
about them.
“Now, while we are very proud of the fact that you were
brave and honest enough to admit your... persuasion during on your
admittance forms, I’m afraid that we’re going to have to ask you to curb that
honesty. I’m afraid that it’s a matter of your continued safety. There are
students here who have been victimized quite cruelly. And, unfortunately those
who have been hurt that way tend to be the cruelest of all, when they find
someone that they can pass that pain onto. And in our society, homosexuals and
‘fellow travelers’ are still considered fair game for that sort of thing. Given
the abilities that students at Whateley have, a ‘Gay Bashing’ could turn
deadly, even Apocalyptic. It is, simply said, easier for all involved,
if it simply doesn’t become an issue. If your sense of pride demands that you
come out of the closet, then you have a right to. But please, have
consideration for the other people here at Poe, and don’t reveal the overall
status here.
“The reason that you were brought here a day before the
more... mainstream Freshmen, is twofold- to give you a day to get used
to the campus before the others get here, and so that you will sort of be part
of the background when they get here. This will give you a certain... credibility
that should allow you to make connections more easily Yes? You have a
question?” She pointed at the tanned blonde girl Fey had noticed sitting next
to Toni on the van.
“Ma’am, you’ve just pointed out that everyone here is
queer or something like that. So, how is that gonna affect how we’re paired up
when it comes time to choose roomies? I mean, the brochure kept mentioning
roommates like it was a given. So, like, are you gonna put us in Boy/Girl-
which would make my mother, like, shit, fart and die!- or are is it
gonna be Boy/Boy- Girl/Girl, which would be, really, like the same thing, but
for real?”
Mrs. Shugendo cleared her throat nervously. “It will be
Boy/Boy- Girl/Girl. To have it otherwise would advertise that there was
something unusual going on at Poe Cottage to everyone who looked at the roster.
However, I must remind you that Carnal Relations involving
students, whether between opposite sexes or the same sex, is Strictly
Forbidden at Whateley, and any homosexual student caught breaking that
rule will be punished as severely as any heterosexual student doing so!” In
other words, she knew that they didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of
really stopping them, but she had to say the words, for form’s sake.
Hank raised a hand. “What are the rules about using your
powers openly, like flying for instance?”
“That question, along with many others, will be handled by
the Headmistress at her Freshman’s Orientation speech in two days. In the mean
time, just try to keep a low profile. If nothing else, it will keep you from
tripping into some of the more senior students.”
Shugendo then introduced the middle-aged woman as Mrs.
Horton, the ‘house mother’ for Poe. Mrs. Horton said the expected pleasantries,
and then explained the layout of the cottage: there were three floors, the
bedrooms were built for two, there was a bathroom for each sex at each end of
the hallway, there was a community room and a library for studying. There was
also kitchen, but meal were to be served at the campus dining room. Food left
in the kitchen was more or less open game, but there were ‘studio coolers’ in
each room. There was a laundry room, and the students was responsible for their
own laundry. “In other words, it’s your own fault if you stink”, she finished
up. Mrs. Horton looked like many suburban matrons that Toni had met. And yet,
there was something about her impeccably maintained person that suggested that
she was completely unfazed by the prospect of keeping an eye on a group of
super-powered teenagers.
Mrs. Shugendo took over again. “So, if your heads are quite
ready to explode from information overload, let’s get you broken down into
groups that we can actually work with. These three-” she indicated the three
uniformed teenagers, “are Steve Rossiter, Belle Forbes, and Rosalyn Dekkard.
They’ll be your Student Guides for today. You can also go to them for help
after today, but you do so at your own risk. They’ll show you around, answer
your questions, and get you sorted out as to your sleeping arrangements. And
so, I’ll leave you with these words- Don’t destroy anything.”
Steve Rossiter was a buff looking seventeen year old
blonde guy who looked like he could audition for the lead in a Captain America
movie. Belle Forbes was a svelte seventeen year old girl with sapphire blue
eyes and ravens wing black hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Her face was
long and angular, with a long straight nose. She might have been harsh looking,
if not for a touch of wry humor about the mouth. Rosalyn Dekkard was
also seventeen, and had the lush curves of a homecoming queen. Her eyes were
emerald green, and her hair was also ravens wing black, but it hung loose in
waves past her shoulders down to her waist. Her triangular face also held
humor, but it was more of the amusement of a pantheress regarding a flock of
tender young lambs.
In turn, they started reading off names from clipboards.
Belle Forbes called Fey’s name, sending a thrill of something down her back.
She also called out Hank’s, Toni‘s, and names of the girl with odd spiky gray
hair, and a girl with short spiky black hair and dark green eyes, who dressed
like a punker. She also called a girl who Toni hadn't seen waiting at the
depot. The last girl didn’t look like a teenager, she looked to be about 12 or
so. She looked Asian, with long straight dark hair, large dark eyes, and a cute
upturned nose. The girl with the odd gray hair called herself Billie, the girl
with the punker look was called Ayla, and the kid was called Jade. And, Toni
did a near double take when Fey answered to Nikki.
The two other groups finished pairing off. Fey and Toni
both noticed that all the boys had gone with Steve Rossiter (and were looking
up at him like he was a centerfold), and all the girls were clustered
worshipfully around Roslyn Dekkard. The division complete, the guides started
to shoo their charges off in different directions. Fey saw Rip give Toni a
‘call me later’ hand signal, but didn‘t think much of it. The pair had seemed
to hit it off very well from the start, so their wishing to continue the
budding friendship came as no real surprise.
Rosalyn took the girls upstairs, Steve took the boys off
in one direction, and Belle took her charges off towards the main building.
“Very well, Fresh-things,” Belle sang, “Here’s what’s going to happen. We’re
going to have to discuss some rather personal things, and we don’t want the
others listening in, and vice-vicious. So, Rosalyn will show the Dykes in
training around the 0cottage, Steve will show his little nancy-boys around the
grounds, and I will show you changelings the school buildings.”
Changelings... Each of the gathered teens gave each other
a very careful looking over as the meaning of that word sank in.
"You mean we're all...?" The Asian girl called
Jade questioned without finishing.
"Ah the light dawns at last." Belle chuckled
with real humor as she nodded. "Yes each of you is going over to the
other side in the ages old battle of the sexes.
The punker gritted her teeth and grated, “OR, were drafted
by the wrong side!”
"That's all in how you look at things." Belle
shrugged, then waved her charges along. "Come along, we have a lot to
cover in not much time. Don't dawdle, please!"
While Belle guided them in the direction of the
Administration building, she assured the punker girl. “Yes, yes, I’m sure that
it was all very traumatic. Now keep up, keep up! We ARE on a schedule!”
As they walked, Toni looked over at Hank. “You are
getting more feminine?”
<Heh> “Wrong Way.” Hank blushed.
“Y’mean- you’re really a girl?”
Hank reddened even more. “Well... I was born a girl, but
right now, I’m what the doctor called a ‘bilateral hermaphrodite’. I sort of
have both sets of equipment. But the doctor also says that my female equipment
is shutting down.”
“Hey, Dewwwwd! Not to worry! You got the
recipe for Studmuffin, and all the makin’s!”
“You’re doing it right, then, Hank.” Fey agreed with a
tentative smile that grew into a near dazzling show of even white teeth, then
giggled. “And you’re sooo cute when you blush!”
He blushed again, and Fey kicked herself mentally for
acting like that. Sheesh! I’m teasing him like I was the girl and he was
the boy I’m interested in getting to know better! Gonna have to watch that
kind of stuff. I have enough to worry about without throwing in a Boyfriend to
complicate things here.
Hank actually grinned back at her, with an endearingly shy
look on his face that had Fey worried that he might be getting ideas along the
same lines as she had just caught herself thinking along.
The path outside was a winding brick walkway, overhung by
stately trees and bracketed every so often by a pair of antique gaslights.
They followed the path up a small hill until they came to the top, where
another cottage stood, dark and unihabited.
“Melville,” their guide said, scornfully, gesturing at the
empty building. “Don’t worry, we’ll be treated to their presence starting
tomorrow morning. They fancy themselves to be rather our social superiors.
*Everyone’s* social superiors, if it comes down to it.”
From the top of the hill they could now see clearly down
into a hollow that held the majority of the campus buildings. The dominant
architectural style seemed to be a sort of classical brick, with ivy climbing
up the sides in many places. But there were oddities here and there. A wing
of one large building was dominated by a glass geodesic dome. And there was a
round brick smokestack, or perhaps a tower, attached to another building.
Except that the smokestack was capped by a white metal dome. Ignoring all
that, though, their guide pointed to two different hills on the far side of the
campus. Each of those was crowned by its own large cottage.
“Dickinson and Emerson,” their guide explained. “Which
will also be filling tomorrow.” She gave a theatrical sigh. “I suppose the
quiet was nice while it lasted.
“There are more cottages behind those, and another out
behind us. Basically, it’s like three big arms. The girls-only arm, the
boys-only arm, and this one.” She grinned at them. “And face it - you can’t
get much more co-ed than our little group, can you?”
That comment elicited a number of groans, giggles, and
growls from the small group.
They continued along the pathway until reaching a wider,
flagstone paved square in front of the imposing, if strange looking building.
There were stone and metal benches scattered all around the square, and a small
fountain occupied the center. Fey felt her skin crawling as they passed one of
the benches and avoided it.
Looking up, she saw Belle watching her with a speculative
expression, then the older girl simply smiled reassuringly at her and tilted
her head towards the main building while mouthing. “We’ll talk later.”
“Damn!” Fey thought, that girl didn’t miss much at all,
did she? The others in the group hadn’t seemed to notice, though, which was
some comfort anyway.
Belle took them up to an old bronze statue in the center
of the field. It was some old guy with a beard and long hair, hands resting on
a cane, gazing off into the distance.
This is the statue of Noah Whateley, the man who founded
this school back in 1878. They only put this thing up because a school is
supposed to have a statue of its revered founder. Actually, the school that he
founded was mediocre at best- the highest that any graduate of the original
school ever reached was a Congressman for Vermont. Anyway, after about eighty
years of producing complete non-entities, the original Whateley Academy shut
down and was foreclosed on by the bank. Then it was bought by a group of mutant
superheroes in 1966, because they wanted a remote place to train emergent
mutants in how to use their powers. They kept the name, mostly so that the
school would appear to have a long and presumably illustrious history.”
Belle took a long breath and regarded her charges. “Very
well, now that we have that tiresome bit of trivia out of the way, let’s get
down to it, shall we? First, we’ll tour the Administration and School
buildings, so that what we have and do here won’t be a complete shock to you.
Also, this will give the girls a chance to get their luggage upstairs and
choose their rooms, without tripping over us. After a decent interval of
viewing the torture chambers, we will return to Poe, and you will lug all of
your stuff up the stairs and pick your cells. When all of that’s settled, we’ll
thrust out again, this time to tour the grounds, athletic fields, and the
Combat Training Areas.”
Combat Training Areas? The entire group stiffened.
Belle grinned as she savored a direct hit. “Yes, Combat
Training Areas. you haven’t been kidnapped by a Mutant Terrorist Cell, or
drafted into the military. Whateley’s policy is that the students are left
completely to their own devices to make up their minds as to things like
politics and philosophy. HOWEVER, given the nature of many mutants powers, the
bellicose nature of humanity in general and the viciousness of Anti-Mutant
militants in particular, it is quite likely that (whether you want to or not)
you will be faced with situations where you will have to fight. And it would be
a criminal waste of all this expensive education if we let you graduate, just
to let you die a week later because you couldn’t defend yourself.
“And here we come to one of the reasons that we split up
as we did. Young ladies, Gentleman, we are a group apart. Even more than being
a mutant or being *ahem!* of ‘Alternate Sexuality’, we have yet another
distinction. Whether as a matter of deep-felt conviction or as a matter of our
mutant forcing it on us, we are all changing into members of the sex opposite
from that which we were born in. Others, even the Gays and Lesbians, may
sympthatize, but they don’t really understand. So, while we’re here,
we’re going to have to rely on each other much more heavily than the other
students do. I have to admit to you all that having Six transgendered
students is a trifle unusual, especially at the beginning of the year.
Normally, we only have one or two TGs at the beginning of the year, maybe with
one or two showing up later in the year. Still, the rule is that the TGs room
together and help each other out. With Six, we have the makings of a nice
little team. At least, that’s what we’re going to try for.
“So, while we’re here, out of earshot, I’d like each of
you to introduce yourself, tell the others about your background, how you feel
about your change, what you want to make of that change, and- Whateley’s
version of ‘what’s your major?’- what your mutant power is. Let me start
off.
“My name is Kendall Forbes, and I was born in the
outskirts of Bristol, Yew Kay. My family was a perfectly respectable
Professional class one. And in keeping with sacred tradition, my parents packed
me off to a ‘decent Boys’ School’ the first chance they got. What they didn’t
realize was that I wanted to be packed off to a decent Girls’ School. At
any rate, I was in my Second Form, I started seeing wispy things floating
around. I started having nightmares about a ghoul that I called ‘Gnashitty
Rippit’, a foul thing with a wide befanged mouth and grasping betaloned hands.
Then one night, I woke up in my bed, and Lo And Behold!, there was Gnashitty
Rippit, floating over my bed, licking his chops. The demmed thing chased me all
over the school before it cornered me. Then I screamed at it to go away. And
strike me down, if it didn’t! It turned out that not only did I have
complete control over Gnashitty, but I had actually created him, out of
that wispy stuff floating around. That ‘stuff’ is called ‘Ectoplasm’, and I
have the power to gather it up, mold it into whatever form that I want, and set
it to doing things.
“I, being a sane, stable, responsible young man of
Twelve Summers, immediately started one of the most horrific hauntings in the
history of England. Severed heads floating down the halls, blood dripping down
the walls, gawd-awful screams in the dead of night, horrible things
turning up in the Masters’ beds- Lord it was wonderful!
They wound up sending the Gray Wizard, one of Britain’s foremost superheroes
(AND a bit of All Right, if I must say so!) in to investigate. It took him a
solid week to figure out that it was me! I’ll give him this, he was a
sharp one- the only reason that it took him that long was that his scryings
indicated that a Girl was behind it all. Y’see, I’d discovered
that I could also use the old Ecto to disguise myself-” Belle swept a hand down
in front of her, and suddenly turned into Marilyn Monroe, dressed as she was in
that scene in ‘The Seven Year Itch’ where the gust from the grating blows her
skirt up. ‘Marilyn’ cooed at us, and swept that hand back up, and Belle was
grinning at us.
“At any rate, the Wizard took me aside, explained that I
was going about it all the wrong way, and set me up with an interview with an
agent from Whateley. He even explained it all to the Mums and Dads, which went
a LONG way towards me not getting my backside shellacked. When they sent me to
the doctor, to see if anything else unexpected was growing in me- you know,
forked tail, cloven hooves, unspeakable writhing mass, that sort of thing- the
doctor discovered that I was showing the first signs of puberty. A Girl’s
puberty. It seems that by disguising myself as a girl, I was affecting my body
so that it was conforming to the image that I was projecting. The doctor told
me that if I kept disguising myself as a girl, that it could affect the
progress of my puberty.
"So, naturally, I started disguising myself
Twenty-four/Seven. They had no choice to enroll me here at Hogwar- I mean,
Whateley as a girl at Poe.” Belle finished with a grin.
“Now, just to wrap up, as I said before, I can gather up
or generate Ectoplasm- though just gathering the stuff up is a lot easier- and
I can mold it into various things and animate them.” To demonstrate, she cupped
her hands in front of her. A pale gray mist gathered in her hands and congealed
into a white dove. The dove cooed and then spread its wings to take flight. It
flew for a few moments, then dispersed back into a gray mist, which faded.
“Now, it’s your turn.” She looked at Hank. “Well, you’re
the odd man out- and in this group, that’s saying something!- why don’t we
start with you?”
All the others in the group turned to look at Hank, who
blushed at bit. Then he stood up straight and squared his shoulders. “Okay, my
name is Hank Declan. It used to be Hannah Declan, but that doesn’t really fit
anymore. I’m an Army Brat, I was born at the Military Hospital at Fort Dix, and
I’ve lived at four different postings. That I can remember. I’m the oldest
child-”
“Oh, don’t tell me it’s the old ‘my father always wanted a
son’ gag!” The punk girl Ayla interrupted.
“Ahhh, No, Dad was always happy with a daughter. He never
saw anything wrong with a girl going out and roughhousing with the boys-
especially not with some of the female Non-Coms that he’s served with! As a
matter of fact, I didn’t have any real problems with being a girl! It’s just,
when my body started changing, and my testicles dropped, it just seemed so... right!
Y’know, it was like, of course! That’s the way that it’s supposed to
be!”
“How did your parents take it?” Belle prompted.
“Well, they were weirded out, all right. All their ideas
of what the rest of my life was gonna be like kind of went out the window. The
one that was really weirded out was my little brother. And he really went nuts
when it turned out that I could lift five tons without even straining, let alone
when I found out that I could fly!”
Billie, the chick with the weird gray hair asked, “You can
fly?”
“Yeah. It came in real handy when my little brother went
to one of the Sergeants at Bragg who had a hate on for mutants a foot wide a
mile long, and told him that a mutant was holding his parents hostage.”
“Your own little brother did that to you?” Toni asked
incredulously.
“Well, it was a lot more involved than that. A lot of
melodrama went down before that happened. Anyway, Lennox came at me with an entire
squad armed with assault rifles and LAWS rockets. I managed to get away, and
there was a lot of noise, with Lennox screaming that there was a dangerous
mutant terrorist at large, and my Dad screaming back at him that that ‘mutant
terrorist’ was his daughter, and Lennox screaming back at my Dad that he was
under some kind of weird mutant mind control, and Jay -that’s my brother-
backing him up.”
“Dear, that’s two ‘Ands’ too many.” Belle gently
corrected.
“Anyway, after a week of dodging Army helicopters, a
Ranger team caught up with me and convinced me that Dad had convinced the
Colonel that Lennox had his head up his ass, and they brought me in. While they
weren’t going to press any charges- I sort of had to wreck a couple of patrol
jeeps and a tank getting out of the Camp- it wasn’t a very good idea for me to
stay at Bragg. Y’see, while Lennox didn’t exactly follow procedure, he was
using proper initiative in a High Risk situation, so he was still on base and
he still has his stripes. Then some people from the Academy showed up, and did
some weird tests and stuff, and they talked my Dad into signing the papers so’s
I could come here.”
“Still too many ‘Ands’, Hank. Remember, Grammar always.
You said that you could lift five tonnes and fly. What exactly are your
powers?”
“Well, they said that I was a ‘High Level Functioning
Non-Ranged Psychokinetic’ or something like that. I sort of generate this
telekinetic field. I can lift stuff with it, includin’ myself, and it can stop
bullets and things with it. Oh, and they said that I was a ‘Level 3 Exemplar’,
whatever that means.”
“Well, you see, Hank,” Belle explained, “There are some
terms like ‘Energizer’, ‘Warper’, ‘Shifter’, ‘Deviser’, ‘Wizard’ and of course,
‘Exemplar’ that describe the basic function of what a mutant does. The more
powerful or extreme the traits are, the higher the level. This is not
necessarily a good thing. You see, the further you stray from the baseline
human mean, the higher the likelihood that you will develop gross physical
deformities is, and the higher the chance that your mutation will turn lethal.”
“Gross physical deformities?”
“Lethal?”
Belle nodded and said. "I hate to be the one to
break it to you children, but being a mutant isn’t all fun and games. The more
powerful the mutant ability that you have is, the greater chance that
something’s going to go wrong with your body. Last year, five students died
during training. Some of them burned out, some of them had seizures during
practice. One guy just upped and died in class. Nobody noticed anything until
everyone got up at the end of class and he didn’t. The girl who sat next to him
had a panic attack that laid her up for a week.”
Thier guide waved that morbid topic aside. “Now, where
were we? Oh yes- Exemplars. An Exemplar is a mutant who has the power to slowly
shape their body according to an ideal that they’ve formed somewhere in their
subconscious. They make their bodies stronger, faster, tougher and usually
cuter. Hank, when they say that you’re a Level 3 Exemplar, that means that your
power pushes your strength, agility and so on to a level that is just above the
maximum that a normal, unaugmented human can achieve. Anything more, Hank?”
Hank shook his head. “Very well. Next--- let’s see---
YOU.” She pointed at Toni.
Toni turned to face the group and bounced on the balls of
her feet a bit. “Hi! I’m Toni - that’s Toni with an ‘I’- Chandler. I’m
fourteen- I’ll be fifteen in February- and I’m from Pleasant Oaks. That’s a
suburb of Baltimore. I come from a big family, and I don’t have any really
traumatic ‘trigger’ stories or anything. I was practicing at my Aikido dojo,
and I was facing off against Danny Mancell, who’s a 14 karat jerk, and
he was giving me shit about being a wimp and stuff. Anyway, I was trying to
focus my Ki-” Toni gave them all a thumbnail description of Ki and what
it does “Anyway, I was trying to focus my Ki like Mister Colliard- he’s
my Aikido sensei- told me to, and suddenly *Bang!* I feel this force
flowing through my body, and I hit Danny with it, and he goes flying across the
Dojo and smacks into the wall on the far side.”
“Too many ‘Ands’, Dear.”
"Sorry. Anyway, at first, I just think that I’m
really hot shit with Aikido. But then my eyes changed from plain old Brown to
this-” she pointed at her Amber colored eyes, “and they got the clue that
something might be up. So, they took me to a doctor, who referred us to another
doctor, who referred us to the Academy, and well...”
“So, basically, your shtick is Super-Martial Arts.”
“Well, sorta, but there’s a lot more to it than that. I
can see how Ki flows in other people and how it flows through the Earth and the
stuff around it-”
“Wait a minute! The Earth doesn’t have Ki!”
“Of course it does. Or at least it has a sort of magnetic
field that’s somehow related to Ki. And beside marital arts moves, I can use it
to increase my strength and speed and toughness even beyond what being an
Exemplar makes me, I can use it to increase my running speed and how far I can
jump, and--- well, let’s just say that if you saw it in Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, I can probably do it.
"And it's all tied in with this Ki you're telling us
about? What exactly is that, if you don't mind me asking?"
“Ki? Well, that’s kinda hard to explain. Ki is this real
big deal in Asian mysticism. It’s supposed to mean ‘breath’, or ‘strength’, or
‘life’ or a whole bunch’a things. I think that the best word that covers it in
English might be ‘Vigor’. It’s sort of this energy that runs up and down your
body in currents, like water or electricity. My doctor says that it’s
bio-electrical, but my Aikido Sensei, Mister Colliard says it’s a lot more
involved than that. It’s sorta like a life force that runs through everything
that lives. In China and like that, they’ve been studying how to concentrate
that life force into really tight areas, to do stuff like make their arms
stronger, or to resist getting stabbed, or to heal their bodies. Only, with
most people, they gotta train real hard for years, just to do the tiniest
thing. Me? I just do it, like it was second nature.”
Belle nodded then turned to Fey. “Your turn, hon.”
Fey drew in a breath, then started out softly. “Well, my
name is Nikki Reilly, That's short for Nichole now, but it used to be
Nicholas. I was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and was a pretty normal kid up
until recently. My mom is a mid-level executive for The Edwards Cable conglom
and makes pretty good money, though we aren’t exactly what anyone would call
rich. My dad left when I was ten, moved to Cleveland and took my little
brother Andy with him. He works for a company that does R&D for the
government, so is pretty well off, too. Between what Mom makes at her job, and
the money Dad sends her, we were doing pretty well.”
“Could you speak just a bit louder, dear?” Belle
questioned with an encouraging smile. “You have a beautiful voice and
shouldn’t be ashamed of it at all. Plus, your grammar is pretty good so far, by
the way.
“Ok.” Fey answered in firmer tones and with more volume.
“So my powers are related to Ley lines, the energies of the earth gather into
these lines and intersect at various places, sending out secondary lines.
Every thing on Earth has these lines in one form or another and I can see them
as different colors. One day I just kind of reached out to feel one and got a
near electrical shock when I did. I discovered that I was able to tap into
these lines for power, energy, whatever you want to call it, and use that
energy to kind of weave the lines I wanted to affect into different things.”
“Wow!” Toni grinned. “You can see those lines like I see
Ki!”
“Yes I can.” Fey continued with more confidence. “I can
also tap into anything natural and use it for power, like flowing water, rain,
wind, they’re all lines I can see and use. As I learned all this stuff about
what I could do, I started to change. Physically.”
“I never was what anyone would call ’Jock Material’, but I
was at least pretty average as a guy. Once the changes started, I got thinner,
a little shorter, and started filling out like a girl. My face went from kind
of squarish to the oval it is now, my brown hair turned into this Flame red,
then got thicker, softer, and lot’s fuller. All my features more or less
rearranged themselves to what you see here within a few months.”
“Wow, that was kind of fast.”
“It caused problems for me at school like you wouldn’t
believe, or maybe you guys would.” Fey gave another weak grin. “I became a
target for bullies, and had promised my Mom that I wouldn’t use my powers to
get back at them. Until some guy literally ripped my shirt off in the hall one
day.”
“What did you do then?” Jade asked with a serious
expression that was also filled with curiosity. “Zap him?”
“Not exactly.” Fey blushed. “I really let loose. But
was so angry, and humiliated, that I didn’t really exert any control over the
magic. When I don’t control it very carefully the energy kind of takes on a
life of its own, the doctors and wizard I got examined by call these pieces of
loose energy hobgoblins. These hobgoblins take off when they get
created and spread mischief and mayhem that is usually pretty harmless, but
annoying.”
“So you ended up turning a batch of these hobgoblins
loose in your school?” Belle asked with a grin.
“Uh huh.” Fey actually giggled. “They came out as
psychedelic colored squirrels, believe it or not. Two of them crawled up the
bully’s pants and started discussing whether they wanted to eat the nuts they
found there or take them home for later.”
“Kewl!” Toni was laughing at the picture that brought to
mind, and the others were starting to obviously enjoy the story as well.
“The others just kind of scampered off in different
directions.” Fey went on. “One shorted out all the equipment in the metal
shop, another had the appliances in the kitchen animated and doing really weird
stuff. The chief cook ran off when that happened and I don’t know if she’s
gone back yet. Another ran into the air conditioning system and that blew up,
sort of. At least there was funny colored smoke coming out of the vents when
it quit. All the busses parked by the school ended up with flat tires, and
several of the hobgoblins took over the office and started singing an old Alice
Cooper song into the PA.”
“You mean you shut down the whole school?” Hank
questioned with wide eyes.
“I guess I did.” Fey answered with a shrug. “Anyway, I
got thrown out of school, but was allowed to finish my school work at home, so
did manage to get through my freshman year. My doctors and the wizard
contacted Whateley about me, and here I am.
"I am also classed as a wizard, but in a rare
sub-class they call Faerie, like the mythological elves of Britain and
Europe. I’m a level one exemplar, so am not physically strong or anything, but
my powers make up for that most of the time, or will once I learn to control
them properly.”
“Oh, I am, obviously, turning into a girl.” The redhead
finished with a little moue of resignation. But it’s my power doing it, not
any exemplar effect. I’m told that I should be completely, functionally female
by the time I’m about seventeen. But as the power changes me I keep getting
more and more inhuman in appearance.”
“You look just fine to me, dear.” Belle soothed. “You
are going to be an exotic beauty, that’s pretty clear, and the outward physical
changes are just about finished up, aren’t they?”
“Except for the part about my body maturing into that of a
woman instead of a teenaged girl.” Fey agreed. “Another thing. I wear all
these silk, satin, and linen things because I’m allergic to synthetic
materials. I break out in a nasty, bumpy rash and turn bright red if I wear
any of those and it itches like crazy. As if that isn’t bad enough, for some
reason connected to my power, plain iron gives me mild burns, like a sunburn.
Steel and other alloys don’t seem to bother me, but don’t expect me to
sit on any wrought iron furniture or handle cast iron skillets.
“Well, that sure explains why you call yourself Fey,
doesn’t it?” Toni quietly put in, almost subdued for a change.
“You say you weave the lines you see into other things?”
Belle was showing interest. “Then make those into something else, like a
natural spell caster. You don’t have to use books, diagrams, or anything like
a prop to do this, right?”
“That pretty well covers it.” Fey agreed.
“Is there anything else?” The older girl questioned.
“Yes.” With a sigh, Fey nodded her head. “I can hear
things. Everything, actually, unless I shut it out. That almost drove me
nuts, hearing the walls, trees, and even grass talking, singing, or just
droning on and on. But I can pick and chose what I listen to now, thanks to
the wizard teaching me how. I also seem to be able to communicate with animals
on a very limited basis. It’s more empathic than telepathic, but I get their
general moods and feelings, while I’m able to send them mine.”
“Now that’s interesting.” Belle smiled. “I’d say you
have lots of potential there Fey. But you’re going to need to work hard to be
able to use it right. Fortunately, we have teachers here at Whateley who can
work with you on that kind of thing.”
"That's why I'm here." Fey agreed.
Belle smiled at her and turned towards Ayla. "And now for a few words from are cranky punker
girl," Belle said as she locked eyes on Ayla.
Fixing the older girl with a look that
promised she would pay for that little remark. No matter how true it might be
Ayla started her own story.
Belle just stuck her tongue out at her.
"Well my story isn’t as action packed as
Hanks or Nikki's story. But here we go anyway," She started out with.
Her voice cracked a little as she spoke. Ayla wasn't used to spilling her guts
out to others besides her sister. Hell, she had even given Beth and Daisy the
watered down version of her life story. But for some reasons she felt the
need to tell them everything.
Well almost everything. Some things just
needed to be left alone!
"I was born Trevor James Goodkind.."
"Your not related to THE GOODKINDS are
you?" Toni tossed in.
Sighing, Ayla put her left hand behind her
head and nodded that she was. Nikki and Toni gave out a low whistle.
"Go on dear," Belle said after a
moment of silence. Her tone was no longer teasing. In fact there was a trace
of fear in it.
Closing her eyes at the thought of what her
family name did to people she decided to go on with her tale.
"Well as you might guess I'm what you
call a she-male, but I was born just as male as most of you," She said and
heard Hank chuckle.
"Okay, like MOST of
us!" She added in a playful voice as she rolled her eyes. She noticed
that Toni was sharing her eye rolling at Hank's chuckle.
"Any way about a month and a half ago my
powers suddenly appeared. I was heading down the stairs for breakfast and was
about to walk by one of the maids when suddenly I got the feeling that I was
completely naked..."
She stopped when she noticed everyone looking
at her funny. Then she recalled she hadn't told them what her power was.
Turning on her power she shifted into her ghost form, taking on a faint blue
tint as she became transparent. Ayla often wondered why she took on that
strange blue cast when she went into her ghost form. Her sister's doctor and
Janet both seemed confused about that one. Nikki's eyes somehow grew to three
times their normal size when she looked at her. Then the red head narrowed her
eyes and Ayla felt a slight tickle in the back of her head. For a second she
saw those weird green and red lines around everything. It was enough for her
to loose her hold on her power and shift back into being solid.
"As you can see I can become transparent
at will," She added and saw Hank smile and chuckle even more.
"You walked right out of your
clothes!" Toni said in a loud shriek of a voice as she pointed at Ayla and
then fell into a fit of giggles.
Ayla's face burned bright red.
"Let her finish," Belle said in a
firm tone, but it was clear she wanted to join in on the laughing.
"Bingo!" Ayla said with a smirk on
her face as she looked at Toni wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Any way the maid screamed and started
shouting in Spanish as she started to fall down the steps. I reached out to
grab her but ended up phasing right through her before I became solid again
behind her. We both ended up crashing down the stairs. Me naked as a
jay-bird,"
"Well once the world stopped crashing
down around me the maid took off in a run as fast as her heels would carry her,
while I tried to figure out how I ended up naked. I looked up at the top of
the stairs and saw my older brother David holding my clothes and looking at me
with a pale look on his face,” She said and felt tears starting to build in her
eyes.
"Then his face turned all dark and he
shouted freak and ran down the stairs and passed me. I scrambled to
get up the stairs and dressed again before he came back. When he did, David
brought my mother with him. He explained what he saw and I watched, as she
grew as pale as he had. When I moved to hold her, she backed away and screamed
not to touch her. Then she ordered me to my room,"
"Wow,” Hank said in a stunned voice.
"Oh, it gets better," Ayla, snapped
her voice getting dark as she tried to hold her tears in, but it was a loosing
battle.
"A few hours later my father comes home
but he wasn't alone. He brought a doctor from one of the labs he runs. That
bastard jabbed me with a needle and I woke up on one of his damn tables a few
hours later. Dr. Hammond spent the next day studying me like I was some damn
test animal!" She shouted. At the mentioning of Dr. Hammond's name she
saw Belle's face darken. It was clear the upper classmen knew about the famous
mutant research doctor.
"Thankfully my other brother Paul made
the mistake of calling my sister Gracie. She must have gotten a hold of mom
and dad because the next thing I knew I was back at the mansion watching two
maids pack me a bag to go stay with Gracie."
"Now Gracie is like me a she-male, only
she isn't a mutant. I hadn't seen or talked to her in nearly six years as my
father had disowned her and told us never to mention Greg's name in the house
again. Greg was Gracie's male name before she took the drug that made her into
a she-male. She took it at the age of 18 just after graduation from college.
Gracie had been the heir to the running the family business, but once she
became a she-male, father and the others in the family disowned her. Paul was
the only one left who would talk to her as far as I knew,"
"Well I didn't know all that so you can
guess my surprise when I get off the plane in L. A. to discover my brother is
no longer male and is now my sister. I confess that I behaved very badly
towards her that first day. Then I learned something more shocking than my
mutant power. For some reason every time I phased my body grew more feminine
looking. Gracie took me to see a doctor friend of hers and I learned that my
power was making me into a girl."
"By the time I was at Gracie's for three
days I was going by the name T.J. rather than Trevor as I no longer looked like
a boy named Trevor. I was still fighting tooth and nail that I was turning
into a girl, but by then I was starting to have small budding breast growing.
So it was a losing battle."
"A few days later Gracie got sick of me
moaning about changing and hiding in the spare room she and her wife Janet had
made up for me. She came into the room and sat me down for about an hour and
gave me a piece of her mind. By the end of the day I was in panties, bra and
a dress. And hating every second of it. Thankfully Janet went out and got me
some jeans for girls and the rest was history. From that moment on I dressed
as a girl. Janet even renamed me Ayla to try and help me deal with the
changes in my body."
"All that in a few days?" Nikki said
with awe in her voice.
"Yep! And it gets better," Ayla
said with faint smile before she went on with her story.
"By the end of that first week I had
given in to the fact that I was turning into a girl or at least into a she-male
like Gracie as her doctor had said it was doubtful I would become a full
female. On my tenth day with Gracie she came down to the beach were I was
sunbathing with her roommates Tiffany and Amy, two other she-males, when she
told me that my parents wanted to talk to me,"
"Now understand by this time I had
learned all about Gracie's story and how Dad had disowned her and left her
penniless. It was only due to her finding Janet and making her life in the
Square that she was able to rebuild her life."
"The Square,” Jade asked.
"Sorry. The Square is where Gracie
lives. It is an area of L.A. near the ocean that is home to transgendered
males and those that love them,” She explained. Belle offered more info to
them by saying it was basically a tiny part of L. A. carved out by the
transgender community in the 70's. It was rumored to be the best party zone
for she-males in the States.
"It seems my Uncle Theo had talked Dad
into seeing that me being a mutant wasn't that bad. Uncle Theo didn't seem to
have the dislike of mutants both my parents and other relatives had. Gracie
however didn't trust him for some reason. Anyway Gracie talked me into putting
on a dress and wig as well as getting a makeover at the salon before we went to
met them. I was a little worried how they'd react to seeing me as a girl, but
Gracie said they would have to see me at some point as that was what my power
was making me become,"
"Well Dad freaked out and started yelling
at Gracie about turning me into more of a freak, Uncle Theo tried to calm
everyone down but it was no use. Mom, well she freaked out and began crying
saying her baby was dead or some crap like that. That was when I missed the
needle by Dr. Hammond again. The jerk whisked me out of the room while Dad’s
bodyguards restrained Gracie and Janet. I spent the remainder of the day as
Hammond's lab rat again. He confirmed that I was becoming a she-male when Dad
and Uncle Theo joined him in his lab. Uncle Theo gave me a strange look, but
that was beside the point as Gracie came storming in the door with ten
lawyers. She and Dad started screaming again while Janet gave me my clothes
back. When all was said and done Dad gave Gracie custody of me but not before
he made me penniless,"
"You mean you’re broke?" Toni asked
while Nikki let off a low whistle.
Ayla smiled.
"Well I won't say completely broke.
Gracie learned her lesson after what Dad did to her, so instead of my 12.5
billion I was to get at the age of 21, she got me 300 million to live off of.
So I won't want for much as long as I watch how I spend the cash,” She added
with a smile. Then she wiped the tears from her face that she hadn't noticed
had fallen as she told her story.
"Is that all dear,” Belle asked.
"Nope," Ayla said as she thought
about her trip back to the Square.
"I was still messed up in the head about
what I was and still fighting what I was becoming. To add to my troubles the
second we return to the Square we get attacked by some loser bitch named
Sparkler."
"Oh god what did Sarah do now,"
Belle said with a weary sigh at the mentioning of Sparkler. Ayla couldn't
help but giggle.
"Well she threw this giant sparkling
fireball at me that burnt all my clothes off but my panties and bra. I wasn't
sorry to see the dress go, but if I hadn't been standing if front of Gracie she
would have been killed,"
"Wait a second, Sarah can only create
light shows. None of her firecracker effects can do damage," Belle said
with a confused look on her face.
"That is what Janet told me later.
Regardless of what you know about her, Sparkler got an upgrade to her
power somewhere, because she burned three cops and nearly killed the bank
teller of the bank she had just robbed. Well I was seeing red by then and
began fighting the ditz, which ruined the street we were on."
"Wait a second. How can you turning into
a ghost do any damage?" Toni asked in a puzzled tone.
"Oh, I forgot," Ayla, said as her
face turned bright red. "I can also increase density to the point that
it is diamond hard. When I do that I also get really strong and can lift
about a ton with little effort. Janet thinks that I'll be able to lift more
as I get older,"
"Anyway I'm tossing around cars like
basketballs while Little Miss Firecracker is making the street explode. After
she ruined my bra I ran at her and started hitting her really hard, but her
skin was as hard as mine so I did little damage there. Then an idea hit me.
Since she was firing those damn fire blast of hers from the gauntlet on her
wrist I phased my hand into them and shorted out the circuitry in them. But
she was still kicking and managed to clock me in the balls,” Ayla added and saw
everyone flinch at the mention of that. It seemed even despite everyone's
current form and Hank's limited time as a male, each recalled what that could
do to a guy.
"After I was able to see straight again I
ran after her and this time phased my hand into her back. My hand tingled and
she went limp in my arms. Janet told me I was lucky that I didn't kill her
pulling that stunt without knowing how it works. So after the cops hauled
Sparkler away and Gracie talked them into letting me go home, Janet told me
about Whateley and informed both me and Gracie, that I was heading here. And
since Gracie does whatever Janet tells her and I seem to do whatever Gracie
tells me that is how I ended up here," Ayla finished with a shrug.
"No offense but your parents are
assholes," Hank quietly put in after she was done.
She just shrugged her shoulders at him and
felt her bare shoulders slide out of her shift, Showing her lacy bra straps.
She pulled it back up before the others noticed, but Hank raised an eyebrow at
her and she couldn't help but blush.
"Thank you Ayla," Belle says as she
turned towards Jade. "Next, we have the kid of the group."
Jade put her hands on her hips and leaned
forward to yell, "Hey! I'm as old as the rest of you! I'm fourteen, by
two months!" Her mild tone took any sting out of the protest though.
"But we're telling everyone about our powers, right? Well, the day I got
my powers, my old man was drunk and he..." She trailed off, looking down
at the ground and unable to meet their eyes. More quietly, she said,
"Well, the details don't really matter, do they? What's important is what
I can do." She took a pair of gloves out of her pocket, along with what
looked like a quarter, wrapped in aluminum foil.
"Oh, might as well add my jacket."
She pulled off a pink vinyl jacket that didn't really match the rest of her
outfit. "So anyway, what I do is, I'd guess you'd call it, I bring stuff
to life."
She let go of the items but they didn't fall
to the ground. The gloves filled out, showing clear evidence that someone's
hands were inside. The gloves reached up the jacket and shrugged in into place
around an invisible body. The foil-covered quarter floated about where a
throat would be, on a visible person.
"How do I look?" the empty clothes
asked. The voice was similar to Jade's, perhaps a touch higher and a bit more
tinny.
"Is it telekinesis?" Belle asked.
The jacket shrugged, saying "How should I
know?" while simultaneously Jade answered "You're the experts."
The girl looked at the jacket in embarrassment. "You first," Jade
said.
The jacket held out a hand, gesturing.
"I'm my own person. The body-me isn't in charge of me-here - not once I'm
charged. Oh yeah, 'animated' was the word you used. But we can go our own
way, do separate things. I've got a complete life of my own. Well, until my
time limit expires. I'm up to just over sixty minutes on a charge. When that
happens, or when I let go of the last piece of whatever I was 'charged' into,
then *poof*, I'm gone."
As if to demonstrate, the jacket suddenly fell
limp. The gloves, still floating as if worn by an invisible person, caught it,
then helped Jade put her jacket back on. Then they handed her the foil-covered
throat disk, then, one by one, the now empty gloves.
"And as soon as she vanishes - I call her
'Jinn' by the way - her memories are instantly back here." Jade tapped
her temple. "It's like I've just been two places at once, and now both of
me are back here." She shrugged again, looking at Belle. "So you
tell me. Is she 'ectoplasm'? You said you could bring things to life. Or is
she more like one of Fey's hobgoblins?"
"I didn't see any ectoplasm about
her," Belle said. "For that matter, I didn't *feel* anything,
either." She looked toward Fey with a questioning look.
"Hey," Fey said, "I'm still
figuring this stuff out, too." She frowned in thought. "I don't
really know enough to say whether it is or isn't like a hobgoblin. But when I
was looking at it - at her - she seemed to have a thread like a normal person.
Only fainter. It was a lot like yours, Jade, only different, if that makes
sense. And... I couldn't quite see it, but there was a hint of another thread
connecting the two of you."
Jade scrunched up her face. "Huh.
Weird. Anyway, I got examined for traditional telekinesis and stuff, and I just
charged up Jinn and let her do it all. So the school entered me as a mid-level
PK subject with clairvoyance and clairaudience, whatever that is. Level two, I
think they said. But they haven't given me any real in-depth examinations yet,
like the rest of you guys have had."
Jade finished talking, but Belle continued to
look at her.
"What?"
"Were you going to share anything with us
about your sexuality, dear?"
Jade was looking at the ground again.
"Do I hafta?"
"At least enough to let us know what
you'll be becoming. It's only courtesy."
"Nothing!" The vehement outburst
was surprising, considering how shy she'd been a moment before. "I'm
turning into nothing! I'm just frozen, and I'm probably not even going to have
puberty, which is FINE with me, because what if I turned into a boy? But I'm a
girl!" Her voice switched to a sudden pleading. "Didn't anyone see
me? Could anyone see Jinn? She's a girl! She's me! That's what I am,
inside! I -" She had that alarmed deer-in-the-headlights look of someone
who suddenly realizes that perhaps they've said too much.
"That's all."
"All right, dear." Belle nodded with
an encouraging, sympathetic smile for the girl. "That's all we need this
time around, and thank you for sharing it with us. I'm sure that everyone here
would be more than willing to help you as you need it. Please remember that all
of us are here to help each other whenever and wherever it may be needed."
"Thanks." Jade nodded with a flush
of embarrassment. "I sure hope so."
"I know so." Belle answered softly
while moving forward to give the smaller girl a hug. "And so do the
others here."
That pronouncement was followed by a chorus of
agreements and individual hugs for the young looking girl/boy who so
desperately wanted to be a real girl.
"Ok, now that we have that part of the introductions
over..." Belle waved at the building they stood in front of. "Let's
get moving, shall we?"
“What about Tennyo?” Asked Jade.
Tennyo stood there, getting a little red in the face.
“Well, Tennyo?, is it?” Said Belle. “I thought your name
was Billie?”
“It is. Billie Wilson. I also go by Tennyo. It’s the name
my Sensei gave me. Uh, if you don’t mind, I would prefer going by that name
most of the time.”
“Okay. Tell us about yourself.”
"Uh, my name was William Wilson and I was the second
son of my parents Larry and Cher Wilson. We live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I have two brothers, Larry jr. and Thadeus. Larry is older and eighteen. TB, as
I call him, is eleven. I’m sixteen and was going to be a junior at
Cascade High School this year.”
“You’re not going to be a junior here?” Belle asked.
“No. Everyone thinks that, because of all the changes I am
going through and the fact that I am going to be training really hard, I should
try to take the learning side off a little and concentrate on the important
things right now. It will also help keep some people who shouldn’t know where I
am from finding out too easily.”
“Someone’s trying to find you?”
“My family has some enemies that have tried to kill me,
and I was kidnaped at the same time that this happened to me.”
“They tried to kill and kidnap you?”
“Well, It’s kind of complicated and I hope none of you
will tell anyone this, OK?”
Everyone nodded.
“It all started when TB gave me some fudge to make me do
what he wanted me to do.”
Toni broke in, “You can be controlled with fudge?”