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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 8
 

The ride home was uneventful. I mostly I dozed in the back. It was already dark out, and everything was quiet except for the muted sound of the tires on the highway and the soft conversation of my parents in the front. I didn’t listen in; I figured the odds were good they were talking about me and everything that had happened, and I didn’t what to hear any more about it. Or hell, what do I know, they could have been talking about the neighbor's new garden petunias. Like I said, I didn’t listen in. My sister was also asleep, or at least she was pretending to be; her eyes were closed. From the soft doggie snores in the back, I could tell that Harvard was also stacking Z’s. I closed my eyes and drifted off into the realm of shifting shadows and phantasms.

~o~O~o~

I was walking with Brook after the big game. Our school had won, and, while I didn’t care that much about football, I did love watching the excitement on Brook's face as the game went down to the wire. She was so animated, grinning and grimacing each time something happened on the field.

I tentatively reached out my hand so it brushed hers as we walked. She didn’t say anything, but a moment later our hands brushed again. Butterflies were dancing in my stomach; I think they were forming a conga line. Taking my courage in hand, I let my hand slip into hers. She didn’t pull away, and I felt the butterflies all kick out their feet in unison and yell ‘hey!’

We walked like that for a while, not talking, just holding hands until we reached a park bench. Brook tugged my hand, and we sat down on it. The moonlight washed out her golden hair, turning it silver in the sun's reflected light. We didn’t do anything for a time; finally, Brook grinned at me.

“This is the part where you kiss me, you know?”

“Oh, uh, okay.”

I leaned in, and my lips gently pressed against hers. It was the sweetest thing I had ever tasted. The congaing butterflies went still, and I just lived in that moment.

Suddenly there was chanting all around me, and I felt my body being reshaped into something different from who I was. I broke the kiss and screamed in agony as my skin seemed to crawl. I looked down at myself and saw my body turn female, losing its masculine lines for feminine curves. I grabbed at myself, trying to hold on to my body, trying to somehow keep what was male from slipping away. The only thing that happened was my clothes started to dissolve into nothingness, leaving me naked before Brook.

Brook’s eyes were wide as she stared at me. She reached out a trembling hand as if to touch me, but pulled back before she made contact. “Adam? You’re not Adam! Who are you?” I tried to explain that it was me, but nothing would come out of my mouth. She stood up and looked at me in panic. “What have you done with Adam!”

As she stood there, my body began to change again. This time my skin began to wrinkle and sag. My breasts drooped and became leathery-looking half empty sacks attached to my front. My hair moved on my head like a nest of snakes, rearranging itself into the buns of an old woman. I brought my hands up in front of my eyes and watched as they turned into withered claws.

I could finally make noise as I screamed into the uncaring heavens.

“Nooo!”

With my scream, Brook and the peaceful bench of my first kiss faded away, leaving me alone in an endless vista of mist and shadow. I ran.I ran until I could run no more. I ran until my side hurt and I couldn’t get my breath. I bent over panting, trying to get my breath back. I noticed that my body had returned to its normal shape, that of a male. After a moment, I looked up, trying to get my bearings and see where I was, and as I did, the mist cleared some and I found myself back in the cult's hidden stronghold with all the cultist gathered around chanting. No one seemed to be able to see me and as I wandered among them, I finally got to where I could see the focus of their attention.

Tied to the stone altar was a naked young woman. For a moment, I thought I remembered her, that she and I were connected somehow,but my mind seemed to be muddled and my thinking was slow. I stood numbly watching as the ceremony continued and a man in a white fuzzy bathrobe with “Holiday Inn” embroidered on the front gestured and did strange things. Suddenly, above the girl a trapdoor into nothingness seemed to open and a cat peered out of it.

Barking erupted behind me, and Harvard came charging in. The cat jumped down from its high perch, and Harvard began to chase it around the room, knocking over cultists as he ran into them. I turned to follow them with my eyes and found myself facing Kent as he played the guitar. On his chest was a larger than life tattoo of Darth Vader and he had started to sing in the voice of James Earl Jones.

As I was staring in some bemusement at this sight, bright lines began to appear in everything, forming into thousands and thousands of different characters. And as my vision become filled with these shapes, words and names began pouring into my mind, silently thundering what they were.

~o~O~o~

I awoke with a start, and for a moment the characters sill filled my vision, and their names sang in my ears.

“Kids, we’re home,” said my dad from the front seat as he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door.

I got out of the car and stretched out the kinks I got from trying to sleep while slumped against a door. Harvard gave a bark, letting me know that he too wanted out of the vehicle. I opened up the back, and he jumped out and immediately made a dash for a tree in the yard, where he cocked a leg and watered the grass. I waited impatiently for him to get done with his business.

“I told you not to drink all that water right before we got in the car, you know.”

He ignored me magisterially as he finished up, then kicked at the grass with his back legs.

I was surprised when we went inside, but in a good way. The place had been wrecked right before those goons had kidnapped me, but now it seemed to have been put back to rights, or at least mostly. There were some things that had been broken that weren’t around anymore, and I saw a number of other objects stacked on the kitchen table.

“When did you get a chance to clean this all up?” I asked my dad, who was going through the things piled on the table.

“I got Jim and Sandy, two of the interns at work, to come by and clean this up. I promised to help finagle them some time off, come the holidays, as well as paying them,” he sighed, “I had them throw out whatever didn’t look salvageable and put everything else on this table. I didn’t expect there would be so much.”

“It looks a lot better than before dad; I’m glad you didn’t see it before,” I said, going up and hugging him, since he seemed to need it right then.

He returned the hug and gave another sigh. “It’s just stuff. We can replace anything that is broken. The important thing is that everyone made it through this alive.”

In the meantime, Harvard had gone straight away to the water bowl where he was lapping up a large quantity of water.

“Ah, come on, Harvard! Now you’re going to have to go out again in the middle of the night!” I said.

He raised his head and looked at me, at the same time dripping water all over the tiled floor from his muzzle. —I’m thirsty! And it’s not my fault you have to let me out. You should have doors that paws can open if you don’t want to have that problem.-

I rolled my eyes. “You always have a smart answer, don’t you? You did even before you started talking. Try not to make a mess out here, I’m going to go take a shower. Most of the dried mud came off when…during that ceremony, but my skin still itches.”

“Alright kiddo, I want you to go straight to bed after that. You need some rest after today,” dad said, giving me another hug.

When I was undressing to get into the shower, I finally got my first good look at the girl I had become in the mirror. She was pretty, no, she was beautiful. She could have easily been a teen model that graced the cover of magazines, no airbrushing needed. Her skin was pale, but not in that sickly, doesn’t get out enough kind of way. And she was slender, very slender. Those magazines she could be on would have gotten complaints that it gave girls unhealthy expectations. Her breasts were high and small with round pink nipples. Her neck was slim, and the hollow of her throat was clearly pronounced. Her face was lovely, with the copper of her glowing eyes and wavy hair almost metallic in appearance.

I got to the toilet just in time to toss my cookies, and after my stomach was empty, I sat there against the wall and let my tears drip. How could this have happened to me? What had I ever done to deserve this? I didn’t know. I guess what they say about life not being fair was true enough.

It was a good thing I was so tired, because taking a shower was not fun. Oh, the water on my tired muscles felt good, and it was nice to get clean, but psychologically it was sheer hell. It was just wrong. Everything about it was wrong! I’m not going to go over what it was like to soap up a female body, if you want to read something like that go get a Playboy. I cried some more in the shower, the tears mingling with the hot water as they trailed down my cheeks.

I got out of the shower and dried myself off. For some reason, the normally fluffy towels felt a little coarser than usual. It wasn’t as if they felt like they were made of steel wool or anything, but they didn’t feel as soft as they used to. Maybe some starch had gotten in with the towels or something. Whatever. I just finished rubbing myself down.

My hair was giving me some trouble. I tried drying it off with a towel like I always did but soon found that vigorous scrubbing was not going to turn the trick. It was at this point that I heard crying coming through the door to my sister’s room. And it wasn’t the 'a boy didn’t ask me out' kind, it was true deep down sobbing like her heart would break. I knocked on her door but didn’t get a response, so I said 'what the hell' and went on in.

“Hey, Kelly, what’s wrong?” I said, standing in her door way.

She took one look at me and turned her face into the pillow and sobbed all the harder. I went and sat down on the side of her bed and pulled her up into my arms, which, by the way, was more difficult then I had been expecting, damn it. For the next five minutes, I just held her and said what comforting words I could think of.

After she had calmed down some, I held her away from me a little bit and asked her what was wrong.

She hiccupped a few times but finally sobbed, “I-I want my b-brother back!”

“Hey sis, I’m still here,” I said, pulling her back to me.

“B-but your different n-now! Th-they took you away a-and changed you, and you’re going to l-leave to some school, And n-nothing is going to be the same again!

“Is that what has been upsetting you? That you think I’m not the same as I was before this all happened?”

She nodded against my shoulder and clung to me. I gently pushed her away so I could look her in the eyes. “Sis, I am the same person I have always been. Just because my body is different doesn’t mean I am any different, not deep down where it matters,” I said though I was still trying to work it all out in my head myself. I was telling her the truth wasn’t I?

“B-but…”

“No buts. I’m me, and that is never going to change, and neither is me loving you, even if you are a brat at times. I don’t like what has happened either, but I’m not going to let a bunch of jerks in bathrobes mess up my life. I’m not going to let them mess up my relationship with my family. Now, I don’t know what silly notion you have in your head, but you can drop it right now, or I’ll have Harvard sneak into your room in the middle of the night after eating union rings.

She made a face. “Not that again!” Then she leaned back in and hugged me tightly. “I was worried that you wouldn’t be the same person, that they had somehow changed who you were. I-I guess I was being kind of silly.”

“Yes you were, but that’s what I would expect from someone with only half a brain. I’m glad I could convince you I am still the same person.”

“Yeah well, it didn’t hurt that you were stupid enough to put on a towel the way a boy would. That’s something that Adam would definitely do.”

I looked down at myself. “Uh, oops?”

“It’s okay, it’s not like you have much up top than anyway,” she said, poking my left boob. “I have all kinds of new stuff I can tease you about now, don’t I?”

“Hey, cut it out!” I said, fending off another poke.

Kelly gave up on her attack and instead pointed at my hair. “What did you do to your hair? It’s a mess!”

I reached up and touched the damp curls on the top of my head. “Uh, tried to dry it off?”

Kelly shook her head disgustedly. “Let me guess, you tried to do that the way a boy would too? Let me get a brush. But let me warn you, it’s going to hurt getting those tangles out.”

I briefly remembered when my sister was younger and our mother would brush her hair. Mostly what I remembered was my sister saying ‘ow’ and my mother repeating ‘I have to get this tangle out, hold still’ over and over again. I cringed.

“Ow!” note to self, learn how to dry hair properly. “Ow! Do you really need to pull that hard?”

“I have to get this tangle out, hold still.”

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you?” I asked as she pulled on another tangle. Her only response was to giggle.

She sobered after a bit. “Do you really have to go to this new school?”

“It’s the best chance I have to get back to my real body.”

“I know, but I don’t want you to leave. W-when mom and dad told me that you had been taken I was so scared I’d never see you again,” she said, stopping the painful brush strokes for a second.

“I’m sorry sis,” I said, giving her a quick hug. “The people that took me aren’t going to be messing with anyone again. The Watchers took care of that. And going to this school is different. I’ll be safe there, and with any luck, I’ll be the real me again.”

“But it’s some stupid boarding school. We won’t see you again for like forever.”

“It won’t be that bad, sis. I can call you all the time up there, and I’ll be home when there is a break, and this summer,” I said.

Kelly went back to pulling on my hair. “Do you promise you will be okay up at this Whateley school, and that you’ll come back safe?”

“I promise I’ll come back home safe. I’m only going to a new school. You’re acting like I’m going someplace where there are pitched battles every other day. And besides, I’ll have Harvard there to watch my back.”

Kelly shook her head. “I’m still not sure I believe you when you say Harvard is talking in your head. It isn’t some kind of prank you are pulling on everyone is it?”

“Would I do something like that?”

Kelly raised her eyebrows and looked as if she was itching to say something before I headed her off. “Okay, maybe I would do something like that, but I’m not this time. Harvard really is speaking too me. It freaked me out the first time, but after I got used to it happening, it didn’t seem so strange. Of course, I have always kind of understood what Harvard wanted to say. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem so odd now.”

“I guess I shouldn’t expect anything else. You and your dog have always been weird. There, that should take care of your hair. Let me get my blow-dryer and show you how to finish drying your hair,” she said, grabbing my hand and leading me into our shared bathroom.

I got a quick lesson on proper hair care from my little sister and then went to my room to get ready for bed. Harvard was already in there, lying on my bed with all four paws up in the air, gently snoring. I had a frustrating time going through my clothes trying to find something I could wear to sleep in. Finally, I ended up wearing one of my old shirts which hung down past my hips now and a pair of boxers that fit a little too snuggly over my now wider hips.

There was a knock on my door, and I hastily pulled my shirt down. “Who is it?”

“It’s dad, can I come in?”

“Uh, yeah sure,” I said, checking one more time to see if my shirt and boxers were alright.

“I just wanted to tell you good night, kiddo,” he said, coming over and giving me a hug. “I can’t get off of work tomorrow, but your mother will be off. You’re getting up early to go get testing done with the Watchers, so I want you to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Alright dad, I’m pretty tired anyway.”

He gave me one last hug, then left, closing the door behind him. I heard him make his way to Kelly’s room to tell her good night as well. I turned off the lights, then got in bed, kicking and shoving Harvard with my feet until I had enough space to lie down in. I had thought I would go straight to sleep. I certainly was tired enough. But for some reason, I just couldn’t sleep, my mind wouldn’t rest. Maybe it was the fact that I had be knocked out or drugged so many times today that my body just didn’t need the sleep, even though my mind sure did.

I don’t know how many hours I lay there just staring up into the darkness and trying to get my mind to stay still. I know that one of my parents checked on me at one point, but I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep when they did. I had just decided to get up and get a glass of water when I heard the front door open and then close downstairs.

Curious about who could have arrived this late at night, I walked to the top of the stairs and looked down. My dad was holding my mom’s hand as she glared with fierce intensity at Kent standing awkwardly in the entrance way.

“What do you think you are doing here? You’re not welcome in my home!” said my mother in a venomous hiss.

“Easy Veronica, I invited Kent to come over so we could talk,” said my father in a calming tone.

“We have nothing to talk about! Look what he let happen to Adam! I should have never called him.”

“Veronica, you are smarter than that. You know that if it wasn’t for him Adam would probably be dead or worse. And Adam is the very thing we have to talk about. Things have gone too far for us to pretend it never happened,” said my father.

What were they talking about? I eased back so I was hidden in the shadows on the landing and perked up my ears as it were. Hey, if they were going to talk about me, I didn’t feel that bad listening in.

“Let’s sit down honey, this will be easier if we are comfortable, and it might take a while,” said my dad, pulling my mother to sit down on the couch and gesturing for Kent to take a chair.

There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Kent spoke up. “I’m glad to see you are doing well Veronica, the recent uh, difficulties notwithstanding.”

All Kent got in reply was an icy glare from my mom.

He sighed. “I’m sorry Veronica. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for what I did to you. I was…” he shook his head seemingly at a loss for words for a moment. “…I made a mistake, and nothing I can do can make up for that. But, please, I’m a different person now. I finally woke up and saw what I had become. I know I have no right to ask this, but I want to be part of her life now.”

“Damn right you have no right! You left the two of us. You were more interested in your damn drugs and parties than being responsible. You didn’t care about us. You only cared about yourself!”

Kent didn’t seem to have anything to say to this, but my mother seemed to have opened a floodgate.

“How many times did you promise me it would be the last time, that you were going to change, that you would give up on the drugs and the girls and the crime! How many times did I come home to find you passed out in our bed with some bimbo you found at a party! I trusted you! You said you loved me, but all you ever loved was yourself!”

Wow! Kent and mom? I was stunned. I had not expected anything like this. I had no idea that my mom had any kind of a past like that. I guess you never really think of your mother as having been anything other than a mother. And Kent, he had seemed like such a nice guy. I had liked him. But if he had treated my mother like that… But could he have changed?

“I know,Veronica. I was a fool. I was worse than a fool. If I could make it up to you I would. I would give you everything I have and still that wouldn’t even start to make up for how I treated you. There is nothing I can say. I can only hope that you will give me a chance to show I’m not that person anymore. Even though I know I don’t deserve that chance.”

“You had your chance, Deathknell! You could have come after us. Instead, I see the next night on the news that you had another one of your ‘concerts’ in the middle of Time Square. You seemed to be having a good old time with your music and stealing and kissing whatever girl caught your eye.”

Deathknell? Suddenly, it all clicked. That was where I had seen Kent before, on the TV show about Deathknell, only it was a younger Kent. That’s why I hadn’t remembered any superhero with Kent’s powers. He was a villain! I didn’t know what to think. I had thought that Deathknell was pretty cool from what I knew of him. But he was still a villain; he had robbed people and done other things against the law. And that was Kent, the guy that had tried to save me. Who had gotten shot up and almost killed doing so. And my mother had dated him? I shook my head, this was just too much.

Kent seemed to close his eyes and rub his head. “I know, Veronica, I screwed up. If I could do things over, I would, but it’s too late for that. But damn it, you called me. You asked me to come out here and help our son. You can’t expect me to come here and meet her and not want to be part of her life. To just walk away like it never happened. Please, Veronica, I know what I did to you was wrong and I can never make up for it, but don’t do this to me. Give me a chance to try and make up for my mistakes.”

Holy. Fucking. Shit. My mind was a blank. I literally couldn’t think of anything. The implications of what Kent had said were just too big for me. My whole world seemed to be turned upside down and then shaken by a giant. I must have made some sound because my parents and Kent turned to look up at where I was standing at the top of the stairs.

“Adam?” my mother asked in a tone of dismay.

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To Be Continued...