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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 7
 

It won’t surprise anyone that knows my dog that we were in the small cafeteria that supplied the meals for the Watchers in not too short a time. Even before he could speak into my head, he had his ways of letting it be known that he wanted food, and he wasn’t putting up with any delays. And I have to admit that dinner was growing on my mind as well. I hadn’t eaten since that morning, and it was getting on towards evening as it was. So as soon as Steelfist come back with the school packet, we moved all conversation to where we could get our bellies filled.

The Watchers' cafeteria wasn’t that big when compared to the food factory that was my school's but what it lacked in size, it more than made up for in comfort. It was an odd shaped room with a couple of curved walls and tiled floors. On the far side of the door from us was your standard cafeteria buffet line with glass sneeze guards and a kitchen seen on the other side. There were a number of round tables arranged around the room with comfortable looking chairs, and there were a couple of flat screen TVs on the walls. All and all, the room looked like a place to relax as much as it did someplace to eat.

Cardshark led the way over to the buffet line, and we were met there by a tall, lean man in a spotless white apron who smiled at us.

“Hey Cardshark, how did this last mission go? I heard you came back with some guests,” he said in a thick New York accent while eyeing me and Kent. “And what are you doing bringing a dog into my kitchen? People got ta eat in here.”

“Relax, Reg, the dog is a hero, and plenty of the guys that come in here after a day’s work are dirtier than he could ever get,” said Steelfist.

“That’s true enough. I spend as much time cleaning this joint as I do cooking to feed those slobs. You guys are a little late for dinner; I just got cleaned out. We got a few toasted sandwiches left and a bit of meatloaf as well as some fresh veggies and fruits,” he said while walking around and gathering said food.

It turned out that there were enough sandwiches for Kent, Cardshark, and myself, and Steelfist had the last of the meatloaf. Unfortunately, this left nothing but rabbit food for Harvard. Harvard of course started to produce whine number twenty-three, pitiful starving puppy. Everyone else who had not previously been exposed to Harvard’s wide range of pitiful whines was reacting with the typical concerned dismay to his theatrics; I, of course, just rolled my eyes.

It wasn’t long before Harvard had his own plate made with pieces of meat from Kent’s and Cardshark’s sandwiches and half of Steelfist’s meatloaf. Yeah, Steelfist was a soft touch. Okay, okay, I also gave him part of my dinner too; I was sort of responsible for him after all. So as we all settled into one of the round tables, Harvard had a respectable portion heaped onto his plate. I could almost swear he looked smug.

“So you said you would tell me why you all looked so excited when I got back to the lab once we got here, so spill it,” said Steelfist.

“Oh yes, well, first off, as far as I can tell, Harvard is not possessed by a demonic entity but, it turns out he is a magical creature, though I have never seen one like him before. Damn near blew my brain when I used my magic on him; shows what you get for not listening to a warning,” said Cardshark.

“A warning?”

“Yep, Harvard warned us that it wouldn’t be a good idea to use that spell on him,” said Cardshark with the calm manner of someone that expects what they say to surprise someone and they want to seem coolly unruffled by the event.

For her trouble, Cardshark only got a raised eyebrow from Steelfist. “Really? I never heard of a talking dog before, except in Disney movies. Do you think you can get him to say something?”

“He only speaks in Adam’s mind, at least so far,” said Kent, smiling a little at Cardshark’s irritation at not getting much of a reaction out of Steelfist.

“Does he have anything to say right now?” asked Steelfist, turning to me.

Harvard looked up from where he had been scarfing down his food. —Tell him thank you for the food, even if you are an easy mark,- said Harvard into my mind.

“He said thank you for sharing your food,” I told Steelfist, tactfully leaving the last part out.

“He’s welcome.”

Cardshark gave a disappointed sigh at not being able to get a reaction out of Steelfist, then pushed on with the explanation of what happened earlier. “It turns out that Harvard is really Adam’s familiar.”

“Do familiars normally talk to their people?” asked Kent after taking a bite out of his sandwich.

“That’s kind of a hard question to answer. Most people with familiars seem to be able to communicate with them somehow, but they are generally closed mouth about the relationship. The bond is normally considered a very personal one,” explained Cardshark.

“I remember you had a familiar for a time,” said Steelfist, grinning.

Cardshark scowled at him, “Sergeant Earth Mover said last year for everyone to lay off that joke. That mouse that found its way into my lab was NOT my familiar, it was not named Mickey, nor was it named Scabbers, and it most certainly was NOT what happened to my ex-boyfriend, so just drop it okay!”

It sounded like there was a story behind all that, but I thought it was probably better that it got interrupted; besides, something in what they said had caught my attention. “Since I have Harvard, does that mean I’m some kind of wizard?”

Cardshark gave one last glare at Steelfist, who was still grinning, before she turned to me and answered. “Most of the time, having a familiar is a good indication that you have some talent in magic, so there is a good chance that your talents lean that way, and that mud golem you told us about raising earlier makes it seem even more likely.”

Hmm, me a wizard, that didn’t sound too bad. Of course, I was never going to hear the last of the Harry Potter jokes from my little sister, but that was to be expected. If I had turned into Champion, I would still be getting jazzed by her. Note to self, learn how to turn annoying younger people into toads. “So what is involved in being a wizard anyway? Do I just point and say abracadabra and stuff happens?”

“Mostly what’s involved in magic is a lot of hard work and studying. If you have the wizard talent, you will have an easier time gathering in essence, but that still doesn’t make it easy. There are a few different magical disciplines I know of, but I’m only versed in my own. Whateley is probably the best place to learn magic out there,” explained Cardshark.

“Speaking of Whateley, here is the packet I was talking about,” said Steelfist, handing over a manila envelope.

Inside the envelope were a number of brochures and a thick registration form. I put that to one side and looked at the brochures. The top one was glossy, with a picture of a group of students on the cover all dressed in school uniforms and smiling at the camera. It was only after looking closely that I saw there was something different about this picture.

It was a group of seven students grouped around a park bench. The first thing that my eye was drawn to was the stunning redhead that was sitting in the center of the bench. She had to be one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen, and that included in all the airbrushed pictures of models. Wow, now she is a definite reason to go to this school if I have ever seen one. The next thing I noticed was that there was a black girl balancing on the back of the bench with one hand and, looking closer, balancing two pencils end to end with the other. Okay, there had to be some kind of visual trick going on with that image.

The weirdness in the picture didn’t stop there because, if my eyes weren’t seeing things, it looked like one girl with a really weird hair style was actually floating in midair above the others. And so was the hot guy to the left of her! The rest of the students looked normal enough except for being really good looking; well except for the little Asian girl with a stuffed animal on her lap; she was more cute. And did the other Asian girl to the far right actually have a sword with her? Any school that let students have swords had major coolness points going for it. My school wouldn’t even let you bring a steak knife for lunch.

I opened up the brochure and quickly read through the introduction. It was kind of like the information packets the councilors at school had been giving out about some colleges. It talked about where it was located, New Hampshire, which was apparently very scenic, and the wonderful cottage accommodations for newcomers. It also apparently had an illustrious history and distinguished alumni. The list of some of the classes offered raised my eyebrows some. It’s not every day you see nuclear physics offered as a course in high school. It was when it got to the price that I started feeling disappointed.

“There is no way my folks can afford a school like this, my dad is a lawyer but it’s not like he is winning against big tobacco or anything,” I said dejectedly.

“Don’t worry about it, Adam; if you read a little further, you’ll see that they offer hardship scholarships for people that can’t afford it,” said Steelfist.

“Yeah Adam, don’t worry about it, I’m sure paying for it won’t be a problem. Whateley is a really good school. Some of the best moments of my life were at Whateley, and you get a top notch education there too,” said Kent with a smile.

We talked for a while about Whateley; it really did sound like a pretty cool place. Some of it was kind of hard to believe. They really let students form teams and fight each other? Secret tunnels and labs under the school? A giant crystal dome for a cafeteria?

“Course, that was after my time,” said Kent. “They built the Crystal Hall as the senior legacy in eighty-five. When I was there, we were all crammed into Dunn Hall if we wanted to eat.”

“What was the senior legacy in your year Kent?” asked Cardshark.

Kent made a face. “We didn’t have a very good senior legacy in nineteen eighty. No one really got along that year, and there wasn’t really any one group that was powerful enough to ram their idea down everyone’s throats, so there ended up being a lot of little things done as each group or club hared off with their own thing. My friends and I ended up putting in new lampposts all along the paths to the schools,” said Kent with a fond smile at the memory.

“Well that sounds…useful, I guess, but I would have figured you for doing something a little less mundane,” said Steelfist.

Kent chuckled. “Our motives weren’t as pure as all that. We ended up hiding speakers in each of the lampposts as well as cameras and microphones. Back at our hideout, we could spy on everyone, and if we felt that things were getting too dull, we could force the whole school to listen to us rock out.”

Just then, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see the door to the cafeteria open and Sergeant Earth Mover come in. And following right behind him was…

“Mom! Dad!” I jumped out of my seat, actually knocking it over in my rush. I took a few steps before I froze, suddenly awash in feelings of panic. I had been longing for my folks to show up all day, but now that they were here and I had to confront them in my new body, I didn’t have a clue of what to do. Fortunately, my mother knew exactly what to do. She flew across the room and buried me in a hug that was hard enough that I was afraid I might crack a rib.

“Adam, I was so worried about you! Thank god you’re alright!” It felt good being hugged by my mother, real good. I felt a weight I didn’t even know was there lift from my shoulders as I hugged her back.

“Mom I...” I wasn’t sure what I was going to say, there were so many things that I wanted to tell her all at once. I love you. I was worried about you too. Will you accept me after what has happened?

“It’s okay kiddo, we are here,” said my dad as he too put his arms around me. They were both crying and, for some strange reason, that helped me keep my own tears in check. Maybe it was that I wanted be strong for them since they were so obviously distressed.

Eventually, we separated and my dad looked down at me. Damn it! I was shorter now. “I know what has happened to you is hard, but we will get through this as a family.”

“That’s right, honey, no matter what has happened to you, we love you,” agreed my mom.

Kent must have made some kind of movement because he drew my mother’s eye and her expression changed from loving to one filled with anger. She stalked over to where he was seated and slapped him hard across the face. He rocked back under the blow, putting a hand up to rub where the fresh outline of a hand now glowed red on his cheek.

“I trusted you to protect Adam, and you let him almost die! I had to have Sergeant Earth Mover apologize for his team not moving when they first had news of what happened. No one can trust you, and that almost got my son killed!”

Kent took this harangue with a strange expression. I wasn’t sure if he was upset about my mother’s accusations or if he had expected them or what.

My dad intervened before anything else could happen. He pulled my mother back and tried to calm her. “Veronica, stop that! He did everything he could to help!”

I didn’t understand what had come over my mom; she is normally such a put together person, who was always in control of herself. “I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for Kent, honest,” I said, trying to explain.

“It’s okay Adam; your mother has every right to be angry with me. I’ll just wait outside; you should have time to be with your family now that you are together,” said Kent, standing up and leaving the cafeteria.

“Mom, what was that about?!” I asked, bewildered by what had happened. Everyone was silent for a moment, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Is that really you, Adam?” asked a small voice from behind my parents.

I turned from staring at my mother to see my sister looking at me with big eyes.

“Yeah, sis, it’s me,” I said a little awkwardly, then added, “Just, you know, in really good drag,” which got a smile from her, even if it was a little uneasy.

“Steelfist, Cardshark, if you are both done eating, I think we should let the Oaksons have a bit of privacy to catch up,” said Sergeant Earth Mover, gesturing at his two subordinates to leave with him.

“Right, boss,” said Cardshark as she and Steelfist picked up the trash and left over food from the table and disposed of it. She paused at the door and turned to look at me. “When you all are done and ready to leave, just pick up the phone over there,” she gestured to where a couple of phones were set up on a wall, “and press zero. Tell the help desk that you are ready for me to come get you; I’ll be here in a jiffy.”

Once all the superheroes had left, it was just me and my family. We settled in at the now cleared table. Harvard demanded and received pets from the rest of the family. My dad shook his head while scratching Harvard behind the ears, “I still don’t understand Harvard’s part in all of this. We heard some of what happened from when Kent called and told us you were here, and a bit more when we got here and Earth Mover talked to us, but we would like to hear you tell us what happened,” said my dad.

So I told the story one more time. I started from when I left the house for my morning jog with Harvard, and told them briefly about my run in with the mud monster. This was something they had no clue had happened from their earlier talks. Both my mom and dad looked upset about this manifestation of my mutant powers, and my sister, while she didn’t look weirded out, did look to be upset about something.

My account of the time I spent with the crazed cult people had them worried. It turns out Sergeant Earth Mover had told my parents that they never found Whippoorwill; he must have slipped away when the Watchers were storming the place. I tried to explain how if it wasn’t for Kent, I wouldn’t have had a chance of surviving, but my mother just frowned at that, though my dad gave me a reassuring nod as if to say he understood.

There was silence after I finished as my family tried to take in what had happened to me.

“So Harvard was the one that led the Watchers to you? How did he get up there in the first place?” asked my mom.

“It turns out that Harvard is what is called a familiar,” I explained. “We found this out once we got back here, and Cardshark was running some tests on the two of us. So I guess Harvard did all that through magic or something,” I blinked as a thought occurred to me. “You know, I can just ask Harvard how he did it. I know this sounds really strange, but he seems to be able to talk in my head now,” I turned to my dog and posed the question to him. “So how did you do it, buddy? How did you get all the way up where I was?”

Harvard cocked his head as he looked at me. —I was worried about you, so I went to where you were. I couldn’t get in so I found the nice man that smells like the ground to open a way in.-

“Yeah, Harvard, but how did you get up there?”

-I just did- said Harvard in the same tone as a person explaining to someone a little slow that night follows day.

“Is he really speaking too you?” asked my sister, “In your mind?”

“Yep,” I said absently scratching at the back of my neck. My now long hair felt like it was tickling me; I was going to have to get a haircut or something. “At first, I thought it was someone talking out loud, but once I got used to it, I can kind of tell that it’s just in my head.”

My dad slowly shook his head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We have always know that Harvard was special, more intelligent than any dog I have ever seen, so finding this out doesn’t shock me as much as it should. Or maybe I have just had too many shocks today for it to have that much of an effect.”

At least you didn’t suddenly grow breasts, I thought, as Harvard doggie grinned and pushed his head under my dad’s hand for another scratch.

“And he still seems to be the same Harvard we have always known.”

“When are they going to change you back to be Adam?” asked Kelly.

I gulped. “I don’t know, Kelly. Both Cardshark and Kent tried to use their power to change me back, but it didn’t work. Cardshark said I’m going to have to find someone really powerful and skilled to help me fix this. They said the best chance I have of finding someone like that is if I go to this school for mutants, Whateley, and even then there might not be a way to reverse this.”

My dad put his hand over mine, which was trembling slightly. “It’s okay Adam, we will love you as much as our daughter as we did as our son if it comes to that.”

My mom covered my other hand and gave me a warm smile. “Besides, it’s not all that bad being a girl. I certainly enjoy it. Look at this as a chance to see how the other half lives.”

“Yeah right, a full body foreign exchange trip,” I said sarcastically.

My sister, who had appeared upset by this news, seemed to reach a decision. “You know, Adam, that if you’re a girl now, we can’t keep on calling you Adam; people will think it’s weird.”

“I don’t want a new name!” I said, a little indignantly.

“You know, she is probably right, Adam. If we keep calling you that, it will only cause trouble. Do you really want people giving you a hard time about your name?” said my mom.

I didn’t like the idea, but when she put it like that, I didn’t like the idea of constantly being hassled about my name by people even more. “Maybe,” I said, still not wanting to give into the idea, “What kind of name where y’all thinking of?”

“Well, we can’t go with the name we were going to give you if you had been born a girl, since we ended up using that with Kelly. What about Eve?” my mom tried.

“Oh come on! Going from Adam to Eve? That is so corny! I would be embarrassed if I had to go around with a name like that.”

“How about Bella? It’s a popular name right now,” offered my sister with a grin.

“Girl or not, I can still murder you in your sleep,” I told her with a glare.

“Your great-grandmother was named Eden. What do you think of that one?” asked my dad.

Eden, that wasn’t too bad. It was loosely connected to my real name at least, and a certain something about it appealed to me. “That might work, I guess,” I said, still not too sure I liked the idea of getting a new name.

“What about your middle name?” asked my mom, “I always liked Annette, or maybe…”

I interrupted my mother, “Uh-uh, I’m not changing my middle name. Changing my first one is bad enough; I’ll be damned if I change my middle one too.”

“But what will people say when they hear your middle name?” my mom asked reasonably.

Of course, I was in no mood for being reasonable. “I don’t care what they say. I’m not changing any more names. If they don’t like it they can go…uh, away,” I said, hastily amending what I had planned on saying at the end.

“It’s okay Ad-Eden, we won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to,” said my dad.

“That’s right, honey, we are here to help you all we can,” said my mother, squeezing the hand she was still holding.

“Does that mean I don’t have to do chores anymore? Because I really don’t want to do them,” I joked while squeezing my mom’s hand right back.

“Trying to take advantage of us, are you kiddo?” said my dad smiling at me. “But what’s this school you were talking about?”

“Oh yeah, I got these brochures and things. Take a look,” The whole family crowded around my dad so they could look at them over his shoulder.

“Is that hot guy floating in the air?” asked my sister.

“Well, it is a school for mutants. I know it sounds expensive,” I told my folks as they got to the tuition section, “but Steelfist said that they offer scholarships to people who can’t afford it.”

“I don’t know if I like the idea of sending you all the way to New Hampshire for school,” said my dad, frowning slightly.

“From everything I hear, Whateley is one of the best schools out there,” said my mother.

“You have heard of Whateley before?” I asked her, a little surprised.

“Yes, Kent told me about it a long time ago.”

“What’s up with you and Kent?” I asked, now that I had an opening. “I thought you were old friends.”

“We are not friends!” my mom said eyes blazing. “He owed me, and I had no one else to turn to for help for you.” My dad gently took hold of her hand, and this seemed to calm her down some. “We are not going to talk about Kent today; it has been hard enough as it is.”

My dad sighed, “Yes, it has been a hard day; we will answer your questions, Eden, but not tonight. Can you get hold of Cardshark like she said? I think it’s time we went home.”

I grumbled a bit, but I could tell I wasn’t going to get any more out of them about the subject. I really didn’t get it; Kent seemed like such a nice guy. Why was my mom so upset with him? I would be dead right now if it wasn’t for him, probably worse than dead, I thought with a shiver.

Dad seemed alright. A little tired, but he was taking everything in stride, just like he always did. That was one of the things I most looked up to him for. He seemed to be centered in life, and nothing could shake him up. It didn’t matter what the crisis was, he always seemed to be able to deal with the situation, or at least face it calmly. I really hoped I could be like him one day, but it seemed like I was always panicking and making the wrong decisions when it was crunch time.

I wish I knew what was going on in Kelly’s head. It might not show to most people, but I could tell she was upset. She seemed sad and unsure around me, for all that she was trying to act the opposite. It made me sick to think that, on top of everything that had happened to me today, that my relationship with my sister might be affected. If even my sister couldn’t accept what had happened, how would everyone else I knew react? How would Brook react?

I shoved these thoughts aside, unwilling to face them right now. I called the duty desk and told them to let Cardshark know we were ready to leave. It wasn’t that long of a wait until she showed back up to guide us out of their base. She and my parents exchanged small talk, which I mostly ignored. I was suddenly very tired and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. It wasn’t until we got to the ground level parking lot that I finally remembered something.

“Um Cardshark, I almost forgot, how do I get your clothes back to you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Adam. You can keep the clothes; they hardly fit me anyway.”

“Adam is going to use the name Eden now,” said my sister with a bright false smile.

“That’s not a bad name, kind of interesting. I’m glad you’re starting to adapt to your new situation.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I replied noncommittally, “Thanks for all the help, and thank Steelfist for me.”

“I’ll tell him, but if we’re lucky, he will be around tomorrow and you can tell him yourself,” she said.

“Tomorrow?” I asked blankly.

“Eden, weren’t you paying attention? We are coming back here in the morning for testing,” said my mother.

“Oh, um, sorry, I must have missed that.”

My mother looked at me concernedly. “Are you feeling alright? You don’t feel sick or anything do you?”

“No, no, I’m just a little tired is all.”

Cardshark gave me a one-armed hug. “I’m not surprised, after the day you’ve had. Get some rest, and I’ll see you in the morning, unless some emergency comes up, of course. If that happens, the Footies will take care of you.”

“Okay, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, a little embarrassed by the hug, even though it felt nice. I guess it was one of those girl things; my sister always seemed to be hugging her friends. It might not be so bad if they are all as pretty as Cardshark was.

Of course, Harvard being Harvard wasn’t satisfied until he had received a proper good bye from her as well. After that, we make our way to the family SUV, which was luckily parked on this level. I opened the door in the back, and Harvard jumped up into it, then turned around so he was facing me at about eye level.

-I’m your buddy, right?-

“Yeah, you’re my buddy,” I said, giving him a good scratch behind the ears.

-And you’re my buddy. As long as we are buddies, everything will be alright.- Harvard said, while placing his head on my shoulder.

I smiled some as I hugged my dog. I guess something good at least had happened today. Harvard had always been my best friend, and I had often wondered what he would say if he could talk. Now I don’t have to wonder anymore.

-You don’t think there are any dog snacks in the car, do you?- he asked in a wheedling tone accompanied by a soft whine.

“No I don’t think there are, and you just ate anyways.”

Harvard let out a big sigh, his breath warm against my ear. —Oh well, it was worth asking,- he said, then proceeded to happily lick my ear and face.

I laughed at him doing this. It was not a giggle, no matter what anyone says. Eventually, I got him to stop and lay down, and then closed the back of the SUV. The rest of the family had already gotten into the car, so I slid into the back seat next to my sister and watched out the window as we left the Watchers' base.

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To Be Continued...