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Image Credit: Modified from Quizilla.Teennick.com - Eden. ~Landing

Author's Note: There is no connection between the novel by Harlan Ellison and my story except perhaps that we both just chose something simple that describes the story. :)

This is a fan fiction, the Whateleyverse and all canon characters are the property of their respective writers. If you find your life being depicted in this story you it is purely accidental and you have a hell of a lot more to worry about than suing me. No canon characters have been hurt in the writing of this story...yet.

Many thanks to GinnCaster5 for the editing help, without Ginn this story would probably be unreadable. And to Pmanpman and Rozarius for their read through.

This is a Whateley Academy fan fiction story, you can find the Whateley stories at http://www.crystalhall.org/ I highly recommend them. ~Landing

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Chapter 6
 

The world started coming back to me in fits and starts, and I had decided that I was getting pretty tired of these forced vacations from reality. I got through most of my life without losing consciousness, but the last day or so was really bucking the norm. It felt like there was a weight on my chest holding me down, and my head hurt too much to open my eyes, so I just lay there waiting for the world to make sense.

“…Some of them made it out through those damn tunnels before we could block them all. I saw three cars going west on an old dirt road and let Racer know so he and Quickshine could head them off. I caught three of them hoofing it out of here and took care of them. They are about a half mile from here tied around a tree. My little friends are checking the rest of the area and will let me know if they find anyone else,” said a deep voice.

“Good work Birdseye, I’m glad we had you along this time or we would never have had a chance of finding them once they scattered. Hey CardShark, how is Mr. Rock Star doing?” This voice had a distinct Spanish accent to it and had the tone of assumed authority.

“I am doing fine Arturo; I would be doing even better if you had gotten off your damn ass when I first asked for help,” said a weak voice that almost sounded like Kent. But that couldn’t be right, Kent was dead. I had seen great holes blown in him with my own eyes.

“It was more important that we remained in place to back up the rest of the team while they fought the Vicar. We gave what assistance we could and we came once the Vicar had managed to escape,” said the Spanish voice that had been called Arturo.

“That’s a damn excuse and you know it!”

“To hell it is, I wasn’t going to put the team at risk on what might have been just some fucking mind trip you were on after one of your binges,” said Arturo with a thick layer of contempt.

“I’ve been clean for four years, you son of a bitch; don’t try that crap on me. You have had it in for me ever since Whateley, and you were overjoyed to have a chance to screw me over. Some hero you are. I bet the only reason you are out here now is that your mage told Sergeant Earth Mover I had showed up. I’m sure it would have slipped your mind if you had been the only one that knew.”

There was the sound of a door opening, and a new voice overrode whatever Arturo was about to say.

“I think that is enough out of both of you,” said a voice of real authority. “We came to help as soon as we could, Mr. Kent, and we were lucky enough to show up in time, it seems. It was tricky there for a bit when we lost the signal from the card Cardshark gave you. What happened to it anyway?”

“The card got eaten by some kind of acid along with my pants.”

“Ah that explains you only wearing yellow ducky boxers. I had been wondering if this cult had been trying some kind of horrible rite on you,” the voice said with amusement.

Kent snorted weakly but then grew sober. “They were doing enough horrible rites as it was. How is Adam? Is she alright?”

“That the girls name? Kind of unusual. I thought it was a boy you were here for. How is she, Cardshark?”

“As far as I can tell, she is okay, but the dog won’t let me get close to her, so I don’t know for sure,” said a female voice.

Dog?

“Harvard?” I said weakly. The weight on my chest moved slightly, and I felt a wet tongue run up my face. I opened my eyes and I was greeted with the sight of my dog’s large brown face grinning at me.

“Adam, are you alright?” said Kent, stumbling over to me. He looked a mess; he was covered in blood, and his shirt had holes all through it. His face was pale and drawn, and he looked like he had been sick for a month.

“You’re not dead?” I said in a blank tone.

“Nope, rock and roll saved me again.”

“But I saw you get shot about a hundred times!”

“Nah, couldn’t have been more than a half dozen. When I was singing my powers up I made sure to add some regen. I’m just lucky they missed any vital organs. That would probably have taken me out for good. As it was, it was pretty close; without Cardshark here I would have been a goner,” said Kent in a casual tone that was belied by the faint trimmer in it. “But enough about me, are you all right?”

“Uhm, yeah I guess so. What happened? Where did these guys come from? The last thing I remember was that thing right above me, then what I guess must have been Harvard, then nothing. What in the world is my dog doing here?” I said rubbing the ears of the oversized mutt that was half lying on top of me. I shifted my weight and got my dog to move off me so I could get up. I didn’t want to spend any more time on that alter and besides, it didn’t feel right to be talking to the leader of the Watchers, Sergeant Earth Mover, for that’s who the authoritative voice belonged to, while lying on my back. Despite everything, getting to meet the premier Houston super hero team was just cool, and my sister and Brook were going to turn green with envy. I wondered if I could get them to take a picture with me.

“You don’t know? Didn’t the dog get taken up here with you or something?” asked a tall woman in a costume that was part robe, part combat armor in the brown and black colors of the Watchers.

“No, at least, I never saw him while I was here,” I said, mystified.

“Huh, add another mystery to the list. But I have to admit, we would be looking at a much different situation if it wasn’t for that dog,” said the Sergeant.

“And you were the one that just knew that the dog had to be a trap,” said Cardshark, ribbing her leader a little.

“Okay I admit you were right this time about the dog, but really, the whole Lassie routine? That’s so clichéd that it almost has to be a trap.”

“You’re just a cynic.”

“I’m guessing there’s a story here?” asked Kent.

“Like we touched on earlier, the card we gave you to find Adam had its own tracking spell so we could find it,” said Cardshark. “We were almost to this dump when it stopped working. This place is buried underground and quite hard to find from the surface, so we weren’t having an easy time finding where you were. Then out of nowhere there was this dog doing the whole ‘come help, Billy is trapped down a well’ thing. The boss here just knew it was a trap or some kind of distraction, but since we didn’t have any better idea we followed it. The dog lead us right to the front door of this place.”

I looked at my dog, who just doggie grinned at me. I wasn’t one to look a gift dog in the mouth, but there had to be something going on here. I looked around at the room and noticed a number of dead or unconscious cultists lying around, as well as three more of those insect crab things. Well, I think it was three, it might have been four since one of them was kind of scattered all over the room. There also looked to be blasts and gunfire marking the walls, and around one of the monsters, the stone floor was gaping open and half consuming it.

When my eyes got back to the people in the room, I became uncomfortably aware of my nudity. Arturo, who I know from plenty of news reports went by Sobrehumano, was staring at me with hungry eyes. This really creeped me out and brought back the awareness of what had been done to me.

Cardshark must have noticed my unease because she casually stripped one of the cultists lying on the floor and gave me this mystic robe to wear. I was thankful that this one seemed to have come from one of the cultists that were only unconscious. I would really have hated to wear something someone had died in.

“So y’all found the entrance; what happened after that?” I asked.

“We busted it in and kicked some ass!” said Cardshark.

The Sergeant snorted. “We were a bit more disciplined than that. We had Steelfist ‘knock’ on the front door while I used my power to open a passage into the place from another direction. But for all my worrying, it really didn’t turn out to be a trap. They had a number of guards at the door, including some kind of mystic or psychic fungus right inside the opening. We took care of the opposition and started making our way down to where all the noise was coming from. As soon as we had made a way in, that dog left us behind. He was on a real mission. Haven’t seen a dog move like that since my beagle got too old to run after squirrels. When we got down here, your dog had just jumped up on top of you. I guessing he must have upset something because everything seemed to go to hell even before they noticed us.”

“He sure did!” said Cardshark excitedly. “From what I can piece together from the residue of magical energy, this cult was trying to summon down a demon or devil to possess you, Adam, when that dog jumped in the way of it! There was a horrible flash of blackness and a wailing sound. When the light was back, the whatever it was had gone and everyone gathered here began to panic. Then they saw us and really started to panic. One of the guys in more elaborate robes than the others killed a few of his own men, shoved something into them, and out pops these monsters.

“That sounds like Bathrobe Dude; he used the same tactic when I got here. I dealt with the monster, but BD got me when I was distracted.”

“Bathrobe Dude?” asked Cardshark, raising an eyebrow.

“Our private name for the leader of this insane asylum; he really goes by Whippoorwill, but since he is always in a robe…” said Kent as he turned over cultists, looking for one that was about his size. I guess he felt uncomfortable standing around in his underwear.

“Ah, I see,” said the Sergeant grinning. “Too bad we didn’t find him here after the dust cleared; I would like to have a few words with him.”

“I have to warn you, though, he is some kind of mutant, I think. At least he has powers. What the extent of those powers are, I don’t know,” said Kent.

“He said he steals souls when he was monologuing at me earlier,” I added.

“Sarge, I want to get both Adam and this dog back to the base to run some tests on. I’m not sure what kind of magic they were performing but since Adam was the focus of it and the dog got in the way they might both be in danger, or be a danger to others.”

“Good thinking Cardshark, have Steelfist fly you back in his toy. We’ll take care of things here until the police show up,” he sighed, then added, “And I better get started on the paperwork. Damn stuff, even more of it than I had in the military.”

“I’ll help you out, Sergeant, if you want,” said Arturo, seemingly causal.

“Good man,” said the Sergeant in a jocular way. “That’s what I keep you around for.”

Cardshark lead me, Kent, and my dog over to one of the doorways on the far wall after Kent had picked up his guitar from where it was still lying in the corner. I eyed it speculatively; it had done some weird things since Kent had showed up. I didn’t know if that was Kent’s doing or if there was something special about that guitar. I would have to ask Kent about it later.

I had some difficulty following, since the robe I was wearing was overly long on my body and I had to gather in handfuls of it at my waist in order not to have my feet tripped up. Even after that, I had trouble; my balance seemed to be off. It seemed that everything moved differently, from my gait, to, very disconcertingly, my hips swaying, and even more disconcerting were the jiggling masses on my chest. Every step I took, they moved. I tried not to think about it. Too much had happened in too short a time and my brain felt like it was in overload.

Once we were out of earshot, Cardshark snorted with laughter or disgust; it was hard to tell.

“Sarge wasn’t joking when he said that was what he kept Sobrehumano around for. He always uses him to avoid paperwork.”

“Why does Sobrehumano want to do it? I would think the reports would be pretty boring to fill out,” I said.

“Probably has something to do with his ego,” said Kent, while rolling his eyes.

“Got it in one. The news media gets all the paperwork about whatever happens from the police and use it to write up their articles and news reports. So by filling them out, Sobrehumano gets the chance to write himself as the hero,” said Cardshark.

“Nothing I wouldn’t expect from him,” said Kent.

Cardshark looked at Kent and me quizzically. “I know for a fact that when you came asking for help that you were looking for a boy named Adam. The Sarge might overlook that fact, though I doubt it, but I won’t. What happened?”

Kent looked at me, clearly letting me take the lead on this matter.

“They did something to me to make me this way. Some kind of ceremony or something.” I looked at her with hope. Kent had said that since magic did this that magic might be able to undo it, and Cardshark, while young, was supposed to be pretty good at magic. “Can you change me back?”

Cardshark stopped and looked at me appraisingly. “I don’t know; my specialty isn’t transformational magic, so I’m not sure what to do. I have heard about a few spells that can do something like that. And I think I remember some old stories about Native Americans who would trade their masculinity for power. I would really have to get you back to the base and my workshop before I would know for sure if I can help.”

I was disappointed with her answer. Well, just saying I was disappointed is a bit of an understatement. Saying I was royally and totally depressed by her answer would fit better. I tried my best not to cry and instead focused on blocking all thoughts about what had happened to me out of my mind.

“Before we go any further, I need to do a little magic on you and your dog, Harvard, wasn’t it? It a kind of binding that will keep any kind of evil spirit that is in you 'asleep', as it were. It’s just a precaution, since I am pretty sure that whatever they were summoning down into you went back to wherever it had come from when the magic failed.”

“You think I might be possessed?” I squeaked in a high girly way.

“No, like I said, it’s just a precaution. Possessions that get interrupted almost always fail.”

She pulled out a card from one of the two large worked leather pockets she had on her belt and held it up before her eyes. I couldn’t see what was on the front but the side facing me had a large ornate letter ‘C’ on it. With a whisper of words and a flick of her wrist the card disappeared in a puff of bluish smoke. I felt a warm sensation flow over and seem to settle into me. I shivered, and beside me Harvard did the same before he reached up with one hind leg and scratched at his collar, causing it to jingle noisily.

“There, that wasn’t all that bad,” said Cardshark with a smile. “Now we can go on, and you can see Steelfist’s toy. Make sure to ooh and aah at it and Steelfist will be your friend for life.”

We walked the rest of the way up out of the maze of tunnels and chambers in silence. I think the others felt how upset I was about the whole being a girl thing and didn’t know what to say. I was relieved when we finally got to the wide open doors leading to the outside. The tunnels had felt oppressive, and the occasional body of some cult member or monster really didn’t do much for the atmosphere either.

We were met at the door by a huge black man that looked like he came straight out of a calendar titled ‘Military Hunks of the Month’. He was wearing a black and brown cameo that left his arms from shoulder to wrist bare. On his hands were a pair of thick gloves that looked to be made out of liquid chrome with black technological looking bands around the wrists. These were the famous steel gauntlets of Steelfist the Devisor. With these gauntlets, his punches had as much force as any Brick superhero.

“Look like someone is ducking out of the after-action work,” said Steelfist, grinning at Cardshark.

“And it looks like someone else is also getting out of the grunt work so he can fly his toy around,” she said, grinning back at him. “This is Adam, Kent, and the dog is Harvard.”

Steelfist looked at Kent with a big grin and shook his hand. “Wow, it’s great to meet you; my kid is going to be so jealous when I tell him.” He seemed reluctant to let go of Kent’s hand until a bark from Harvard distracted him. “And it’s good to see you again, too, Harvard.”

Harvard raised his paw, and Steelfist dutifully shook it. My dog is such an attention hog. I had to wonder what was up with Kent though; was he someone famous? I didn’t remember any heroes that looked like him or had his power. That was something I was going to have to check into. But not now, now something far cooler was going to happen. I was going to get to fly on a helicopter, and not just any helicopter, I saw, but a heavily modified Black Hawk! Brook and my other friends were going to have to listen to me bragging about this for a long time to come.

Cardshark helped Kent and I get strapped down in the back of the helicopter while Steelfist went through the pre-flight checklist. They didn’t really have a way to strap down Harvard, so I just had him lay down by my feet. When the engine started, I could feel it deep in my chest, the thrumming starting a sympathetic racing of my heart. The doors were slammed shut, and blades started to swoosh though the air. I heard Steelfist asking for clearance and telling his flight plan over the headphones we were all wearing, and suddenly we were lifting off into the air!

Flying in a helicopter is a little different from flying in a plane, at least, flying in this helicopter was. For one thing, the take-off was like being on a roller-coaster; you have the same feeling in the pit of your stomach. Also, it was loud! The headphones we were wearing blocked some of the noise, but it still sounded like we were in the middle of some industrial equipment going full force. I had my face plastered against the left side window, and I saw the cedar dotted clearing the Black Hawk had been landed in get smaller as we went up. It was impossible to see the entrance we had come out of from up here. All I could see was hill country for miles around.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“We are a ways west of Austin, in the middle of God damn nowhere! If it wasn’t for that dog, we would never have found this place!”

-Finding it was easy.-

“I thought you said it was hard to find the place?” I said.

“I did!”

“Then why did you…never mind, it must have just been static.”

It took more than an hour to fly from the cult’s hideout to the Watchers base. I loved every minute of it. I don’t know how fast most helicopters go, but Steelfist’s must have been going hundreds of miles an hour.

During this time, Cardshark quizzed me about what happened. She had me start with when I first manifested signs of being a mutant, and then went all the way through the kidnapping and consecutive ceremonies of the cultists. Steelfist would interrupt with a question of his own now and then, and I got a little break from talking when they asked Kent what he knew. Just as we were finishing up, we arrived at our destination.

The Watchers base wasn’t much to look at from the air; it looked like an extra-large tree covered hill had sprung up in the middle of nowhere and someone had put a thirty foot thick wall around it and a big fat square building on the top of it.

“Watcher one, this is Watcher seven requesting clearance for landing with two Watchers, two passengers…and a dog,” said Steelfist.

I heard a female voice from my headphones saying “Watcher seven, please state today’s password.”

“Watcher one, today’s password is…” static erupted over the intercom, and I didn’t catch the rest of what was said.

“Welcome home, Watcher seven, you are cleared for landing.”

The helicopter was maneuvered over to the top of the building, which I could now see must be some kind of landing zone. The touchdown was smooth, and the engine and blades wound down until they came to a stop and everything was silent. I expected us to get out then, but Steelfist didn’t make a move, so I stayed still. There was a lurch, and suddenly I felt the helicopter going down. I looked out the window and saw that the area the helicopter had landed on was moving into the ground like it was a giant elevator. Of course that’s what it actually was, a giant elevator.

We went down for a couple stories before the shaft we were in opened out into a large cavernous space. There were a number of bays around the side of the chamber; some had large roll up doors blocking them from sight, but some were open, and I could see a number of other helicopters and other strange things that might have been vehicles of some kind.

We settled on the ground with a solid ‘clunk’ of machinery locking into place. Steelfist took off his headphones and started unbuckling from his seat.

“We’re here, guys, welcome to the home of the H-Town Watchmen,” said Steelfist.

My dog got up from between my legs and did his usual stretching of forelegs then hind legs before doggie grinning at me and wagging his tail. He at least seemed to be glad to be done with the fight. I was able to unstrap myself from the seat while Cardshark was helping out Kent. I don’t think Kent actually needed any help, but Cardshark didn’t give him a chance. I was definitely sensing some interest in Kent coming from Cardshark. Kent, if anything, seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with it.

The door on the side of the helicopter was opened by a man in grease-stained overalls who gestured for us to get out.

“You didn’t damage my black hawk this time did you Steelfist?” he asked in a gruff manner as we all got out of the helicopter.

“No, your helicopter is fine. It was pretty much transport only this time,” said a grinning Steelfist.

“Come on guys, let see about getting you two something else to wear besides those damn silly robes,” said Cardshark, leading them to a more traditional elevator where she placed her hand on a scanner, which after a few beeps and boops opened the doors.

“I thought it was your helicopter, Steelfist?” I asked while we were heading down again in another elevator.

“Ah, that brings up an age old question, who really owns a vehicle. Is it the one who builds it, or the one who maintains it, or the one who flies it?”

“Since you're two out of three of those, shouldn’t you win?” asked Kent.

“He tried using that way of looking at it once with old Scott. Scott told him he could do the maintenance himself if he really thought that was how it worked,” said Cardshark with a chuckle.

Steelfist put on a mournful expression. “I might be a great devisor, but nothing bores me more than doing maintainance on something that is already complete. So I’m stuck putting up with Scott’s comments,”

When we got out of the elevator, we divided, with Kent and Steelfist going one way, and Cardshark and I going another. The hallway she led me down didn’t really fit my idea of what a secret base should look like. It didn’t look like it came out of a spaceship, nor did it look like some kind of dungeon; instead it looked like a hallway you would find in any suburban house in America. The walls were textured and painted a beige color, and the floor was carpeted in a light gray. The only real difference was the lack of windows.

“We really aren’t that close in size, you’re a lot skinnier than me and a bit shorter, but I have some old sweats that you can wear if you pull the drawstring tight. And here is my room; don’t mind the mess, it’s always like that.”

Cardshark’s room was indeed messy, but since my room back home could have put this one to shame for sheer untidiness, I didn’t say anything. She started rooting around in the closet while I stood there and waited, unsure what to say or do.

“Uh, so do you live here? I thought that superheroes were supposed to have secret identities?” I said, grasping for something to fill the silence.

Cardshark came back out with some gray sweatpants and a T-shirt in her hands as well as a pair of sandals. “Some of us Watchers live here, but some of us don’t. I got a small apartment in Houston for when I want to be normal, but I mostly live here,” she said.

She handed me the pants and shirt, and I looked at them. The sweats looked like any other pair of sweats I had seen before, but the shirt was baby blue. I looked at the shirt with some distrust. I had worn shirts that color before, it wasn’t like it was pink or anything, but it just looked so girly. It was so much smaller than any shirt I had worn since I was 10.

“Well, go ahead and put them on,” said Cardshark.

I hesitated again. “Uh, can you turn around or something?” I asked.

“You don’t really have anything I haven’t seen before, but if it will make you feel better...” she turned her back to me but continued, “Still I got a better room here than some of the Footies do. Unless you got some rank, you end up bunking up in the barracks with a dozen others while you’re on rotation here.”

“Footies?” I asked, delaying for a moment.

“That’s the nick name for the ex-military that works here; its short for foot-soldiers. It’s what they call themselves, so don’t think I’m insulting them. Can’t really run a base or team this size without auxiliary troops doing some of the grunt work to get things done. A lot of them are old friends of the Sergeant from back in his military days.”

Finally, I got out of the robe and stood there in the altogether. There was nothing for it; I had to put the clothes on.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Cardshark reached back into the closet. “You need these; can’t have you running around without any underwear now can we? You’re lucky I still have these; they are from back when I was much thinner, they were my favorite pair.” She handed me a pair of lacy white panties that felt like silk when she gave them to me. “Don’t worry, they are clean.”

The horror that she offered me shocked me so much that I didn’t even squawk about her seeing me undressed. She wanted me to wear lacy silk panties? Dear god, what had I done to deserve this? She looked at my face, which was probably bugged out in horror.

“I know this isn’t what you are used to, but you can’t run around without any underwear on. So grit your teeth and just bear with it; it’s really not all that bad,” she said.

Was that a glint of amusement in her eyes? Augh! So I did what she said and gritted my teeth. Don’t let it be said that Adam Oakson panicked in the face of adversity. Okay, maybe I did a little, but I overcame it!

I stepped into the little lacy things and pulled them up. Let me tell you, panties don’t feel anything like the boxer brief underwear I had been used to wearing; for one thing, they felt cold and smooth against my skin. I guess that should be expected with silk. For another, they were tight against me. Not tight like they were a size too small, but tight in how they clung to every contour of me. Okay, I’m not going to think about what those contours are. And if I ever hear a guy talking about how if he turned into a girl he would waste no time going and playing with himself, I will punch him. Being in a body not your own with no idea if things can be reversed makes the idea of doing anything with those new body parts, even just looking at them, turn your stomach.

“There, that wasn’t so bad now, was it?” said Cardshark.

I just glowered at her and put on the sweatpants. That was a lot easier; it was a lot like putting on any pair of pants. Putting on the shirt was another trial, though a lesser one. With boys' T-shirts, they are made to be loose on you. Unless you are one of those jocks that likes to show off his muscles. They don’t hug your figure like girls' do. It made my breasts very noticeable to me. They might not have been very big, but since I was used to none, even that small amount seemed huge to me.

“You really should wear a bra, but I don’t have any that would fit you. Hang on a sec, one of these will help you keep your hair out of your eyes,” she said, handing me one of those scrunchy things girls wear. I tried getting my now longish copper hair into the thing, but after a few tries Cardshark took pity on me and did it herself.

Looking suitably presentable, uargh, we left to meet back up with Steelfist and Kent. We had to go back up a couple levels on the elevator (what is with all the elevators anyway?) to get to some kind of lab, though not the Bunsen burner and petri dish kind. This was the kind that had a pentagram inlaid in silver in the floor and shelves filled row after row with different sized glass bottles. I swear that one of them might have been labeled ‘eye of newt’.

Kent, who was wearing some kind of running pants and an oversized t-shirt emblazed with the words ‘Wise’ in bold blue letters with a picture of a donkey under it, smiled at me and told me I looked nice.

I glowered at him, I did not want to look nice, I wanted to look like a rather awkward sixteen year old boy. My dog, who had been patently following me up until now, grinned and hit me with his tail, obviously agreeing with Kent. I glowered at him too.

“I, uh, called your father,” said Kent awkwardly, “And told him about what happened. He is on his way with your mother and sister. The hospital said your mother was okay, even if they would have liked to keep her overnight for observation.”

“You told them about what happened to me?”

“Yes, your father said that they could deal with anything just as long as you were safe.”

My eyes welled up with tears. I felt relief hearing that my folks were on the way. It was like a weight had been lifted off of me. I felt that, somehow, when they got here, everything would be okay.

Cardshark put her arm around me, “Let’s see what my tests find out about your condition; who knows, maybe we can have this fixed before they even get here.”

I nodded, feeling a little hope. First, she had me stand in the center of the pentagram while she shuffled though a deck of cards. She must have found one that she liked because she held it up at eye level and seemed to concentrate on it.

“What is that?” I asked, but she waved me to silence. After a moment, she sighed and let the card fall. Before it hit the ground, it turned into smoke and slowly dissipated.

“That was me trying to use my divination card to see what the magic had done to you.”

“So what did you divination card tell you?”

“W-ell this card is for stuff I can do while on a mission, so mostly what it tells me is that I need to try some more involved magics in order to get a better picture of everything.”

Was that a look of uncertainty in her eyes? Did her bearing seem a little stressed? Maybe I was just looking too hard for a reaction and everything was just as she said.

She told me to stay in the pentagram and took different bottles and boxes off the shelves. She went over to a work table and started mixing things while muttering chants under her breath. In just a little while, she was back and had me drink a concoction of some kind of poison. I say it was poison because nothing that wasn’t poison could taste that bad.

I started feeling a little funny, kind of like I was drunk, not that I have ever been drunk of course; it’s not like Brook, me, and the love birds had ever spent an interesting night experimenting or anything. Cardshark then took what was left of the poison in the mixing bowl and smeared it over an ivory wand with which she proceeded to point dramatically at me and yell strange sounding words. With one last forceful gesture and a word that probably had too many consonants in it, there was a flash of light and the feeling of being drunk left me.

“What was that?” I asked, as I blinked my eyes trying to clear the sparkles from in front of them.

When I could see again, I saw Cardshark on the ground, Steelfist supporting her.

“It’s okay, she just overdid it in the magic department, she’ll come around in a moment or two,” said Steelfist.

It was just as he said; in a moment, she was stirring again. She clutched at her head and moaned.

“Goddess that hurts! It feels like my brain has gone skydiving without a parachute!”

“It’s okay, Cardshark, your brain is too soft for a landing to do any real damage,” teased Steelfist.

“Humph.” She got up and rubbed the bridge of her nose between two fingers. “I have good news, and I have bad news. Which do you want to hear first, Adam?”

“Uh, the good news?”

“Well, the good news is you are not possessed by any evil entity nor have any malign influences on you from that final ceremony.”

“And the bad news?” I asked, bracing myself.

“The bad news is that it is completely out of my power to fix whatever happened in the first ceremony. The spell, or whatever that did this to you, is still in you and is holding everything the way they are now, and it is way, way outside my skill level to pull out of there.”

I let the news sink in. I wasn’t going to be able to change back; I was stuck as a girl. What was I going to do? I couldn’t go back to school like this; no one would understand. They would all think I was some kind of sexual freak who did this to himself, and those would be the good reactions. The whole H1 crowd would take one look at me and start shouting about evil magic infecting everyone, and that was even without them knowing I was a mutant.

I thought desperately, trying to figure some way out if this. “Kent! Can’t you try using your powers? You said they just make some things happen when you sing about them, can you sing me back into a boy?” I looked pleadingly at him.

He looked uncertain for a moment, but then his jaw firmed with determination “Let’s see what I can do.” He unslung the Guitar from around his back and thought for a moment, then started playing it.

♪To heart and soul his body untrue
Changed by dark forces from what it should be
But there’s hope in the world since nothing’s forever
Undone by the music dark spells can fade♪

My body started feeling weird again, but this time, it wasn’t like I was drunk, it was like every cell in my body was being stretched. It didn’t hurt exactly, but it wasn’t pleasant either. Kent finished singing, and, with an almost audible snap, the stretching sensation stopped. I looked down at myself. Nothing had changed. It was still a girl.

I didn’t even realize I was weeping again until I felt Kent’s strong arms around me.

“I’m so sorry Adam, I wanted to help you, I wanted to be there for you when you needed me.” I felt something warm and wet land on my arm and looked up, Kent was crying too.

“It’s okay, Kent; I know you did your best,” I said, drawing myself up and getting control of myself. “If you can’t do it, then maybe there is someone else who can. I’m not done trying yet; an Oakson doesn’t give up.”

“You know, there is one place that you might be able to get some help,” said Steelfist slowly, sharing a look with Cardshark.

“Where?” I said, jumping on the comment.

“Whateley,” said Cardshark, “You would probably be headed there anyway, what with just manifesting as a mutant. They have some of the best magical arts teachers in the world there. If they can’t help you, I am sure someone has the contacts to bring in someone that can.”

“Is Whateley some kind of magic school?” I asked.

“Whateley is a school for all mutants, not just those with magical powers.”

“A school for mutants, really? Is it run by some bald guy in a wheelchair?”

“No, it’s run by Ms. Carson. You might know her better by her old superhero name of Lady Astarte,” said Kent. “I went there back in the day.”

“We have a packet about it here at the base, since we make sure to help out new mutants in this area. This lab is actually one of the places we use for testing new mutants, among other things, that’s why it’s in the more public section of the base. Let me go get it,” said Steelfist.

“Adam, there is a chance that those at Whateley may be able to help you, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high. It’s not a certainty that they can help you or that it will be an easy or quick fix. You may have to get used to being a girl for a while,” said Cardshark.

I nodded to her to acknowledge that I understood what she said, but a part of me couldn’t do anything else but hope with all it had that someone could fix this. Of course, there was another part of me, a part that really bugs the hell out of me sometimes, that just knew that I would never be cured and I would be stuck this way for the rest of my life.

“While Steelfist is getting those papers, why don’t I check out your dog, to make sure everything is okay with him? He hasn’t acted like anything is wrong, but you can never be too careful.”

Harvard wagged his tail, recognizing that he was being talked about.

“Do you really think something could be wrong with him? I mean, he has been acting perfectly normal so far,” I said, a little worried for my dog. All I needed now was for my dog to die for my life to turn into one of those 'cry a tear in my beer' country songs.

“I think if he was possessed by something or otherwise affected by the dark magic that was going on, I would have detected something by now. That charm I put on him before we left should have notified me of anything happening, and I haven’t gotten so much as a tingle from it,” reassured Cardshark. “Adam, see if you can get him to stand in the center of the pentagram for me.”

I whistled and Harvard trotted over to the pentagram with me. I had him sit in the middle of it and backed out over to where Kent was leaning against a table. Cardshark drew out her card again and held it up at eye level while looking at my dog. She blinked after a moment and looked puzzled.

“That is odd, when I look at your dog through my spell, all I see is him.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Means there is nothing wrong with him right?” I asked.

“No when I look at something living with this spell I am supposed to be able to see all the energies affecting them. I have never seen anything that seemed like it wasn’t connected like this dog is.”

This got me worried; if those bums had done something to my dog, I was gonna, well I was gonna do something, and it wouldn’t be pleasant.

“I guess I will have to do the more advanced spell again,” she said, grimacing. “My head is going to hurt like the blazes tonight.”

-Tell her not to do that.-

I looked over my shoulder for whoever had just entered the room, but there was no one there.

“Where did that voice come from?” I asked, looking around.

“What voice?” asked Kent, looking at me concernedly.

“Someone just said, ‘tell her not to do that’, y’all didn’t hear that?”

Cardshark shook her head. My dog barked, and I looked at him.

-Tell her if she tries the more advanced spell, she might hurt herself.-

Oh. My. God. That voice wasn’t coming from my dog was it? It did have a kind of doggie quality to it and it seemed to be coming from that direction. At least if a soundless voice in your head could be said to have a direction.

“Um, guys I think my dog is talking in my head,” I said a little worriedly, after all, dogs aren’t supposed to be able to talk unless it was to say ‘I rove you’ on Youtube, where they would get millions of views, and, besides, that was out loud.

“What is he saying?” asked Cardshark carefully.

“He said if you try the other spell, you might hurt yourself.”

Cardshark and Kent shared a look.

“Do you think it’s some kind of possession of the dog?” asked Kent.

“It could be. Adam told us that the thing that was supposed to possess him was only half demon, maybe that’s why I didn’t sense anything before.”

“What! You mean that thing that was over me on that stone altar has gotten inside my dog!?!” Oh man, this is worse than the time Harvard got fleas!

-No, I am not a demon; I’m your dog, same as always. There are some things you just don’t know about me.-

“He says he’s not a demon and I don’t know everything about him,” I told the others.

“It’s probably lying trying to keep itself safe. There is no help for it; I have to do the spell. That is the only way we can know what has happened. I’ll need that kind of information if we are going to be able to banish it. If we can’t banish it, we might have to…”

“No!” I said.

“Adam, it might be the only way, we can’t let a demon run around. Even in a dog’s body,” said Kent, eyes full of compassion.

The voice in my head sighed. —Don’t worry, Adam. Let her do what she wants to do. It’s probably the only way to get through this.-

Cardshark did the same kind of rigmarole that she did for testing me. No, you don’t want to know how we got the poison down Harvard’s throat; small children or those of a delicate disposition might read this, and I wouldn’t want to disturb them.

“I thought you agreed to go along with this test!” I said, struggling with my dog.

-Yeah but this stuff tastes horrible! And I should know! I have been eating dog food for years.- My dog said, his ears back in disgust.

Cardshark had just finished the gesturing and chanting part, when suddenly she collapsed in a dead faint. Kent sprang to her side and held her, checking her pulse, then gently slapping her till she woke back up.

“Are you alright?” I asked, kneeling next to the two of them.

She looked a bit blurry eyed, but she nodded her head. “I’m okay, oh man, that was not good.”

“Is my dog…” I asked.

“I don’t know what that dog is!” she said with some awe. “When I ‘saw’ him, it was like nothing I have ever seen before in my life! I was beginning to be totally overcome from seeing him, when he somehow shut himself off from view. If he hadn’t, I don’t know if I would still be here.”

“So the dog is possessed somehow,” said Kent grimly.

“No, he isn’t possessed, I could tell that much from what I saw. He isn’t a demon or anything that is made up of malign energy.”

-I told you it wasn’t a good idea for her to do that.-

“What are you?” I asked my dog.

-I’m Harvard, your buddy- he said in an aggrieved voice, as if I shouldn’t even have to ask.

“But dogs aren’t supposed to be able to talk!” I tried.

-Well,- he said drawing out the word. —I guess you could say I’m a bit more than your typical dog. I’m your familiar.- His tail started wagging like mad, and he left the pentagram to come over and madly lick my face. —This is so great! I can finally start talking to you! I have waited so long for you to start manifesting!

My dog settled back down on his haunches and gave me a soulful look. —First things first, we have got to talk about what I get for dinner.-

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To Be Continued...