This is a fan fiction taking place in the Whateley Universe.

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The flight from Seattle to Boston had been extremely long and uncomfortable, even with the two hour delay in Chicago where I got to stretch my legs and change flights. My book had given me something to do during the countless hours in the air, though admittedly, Collin had been my largest savior from boredom. The two of us had ended up talking for over half the flight, and by the time we finally landed, I was even starting to consider him as a friend.

“And then, Adam goes and scrambles up this wall like he was a damn squirrel or something,” Collin said as we got off the plane, still in the middle of telling me about how I’d escaped him the last time he’d actually chased after me. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that, at least not until I saw the way you were running from those guys…”

“It’s called free running,” I told Collin with a faint smirk. “It’s all about being able to move around your environment as fast and efficiently as possible.”

“It was like something out of an action movie,” Collin said with a sigh. “I mean, are you sure that moving like that isn’t part of your powers?”

“Pretty sure,” I responded. “I learned to run like that well before I manifested.”

“And Adam is a baseline,” Collin mused to himself. Then he paused to give me a curious look. “Your brother is a baseline, isn’t he?”

I didn’t bother answering Collin since I didn’t want to lie to him, but I didn’t want to tell him that I actually was Adam either. Instead, I just smiled and let him stew in the question that was sure to annoy him for awhile.

“I guess I’m probably lucky that Mike and I couldn’t catch him,” Collin finally said with a wry smile. “I mean, the one time I did get your brother to fight, he kicked my ass before I even threw one punch.” He shook his head at that and muttered, “Who knew the runt had it in him?”

“I did,” I responded in my best innocent tone. Then I added, “Adam and I learned to fight from the same guy. We just…prefer not to.”

At that moment, something made me look up and I saw a black woman in a black suit coming straight towards us. As she got close, she suddenly held out a badge and announced, “I’m Grace Winslow of the MCO.”

We stopped at that and Collin’s eyes went wide with a look of fear. I kept my expression as calm as possible and said, “Yes?”

“Are you Gwen Wylann and Collin Reynolds?” she asked, giving me a look that suggested she was already pretty sure of my identity. When I nodded, she smiled and told me, “Your father asked me to come pick you up from the airport.”

“What?” Collin asked, looking vaguely confused.

“Thank you,” I told Grace with a faint smile of my own. “But I kind of need…”

“Of course,” she responded with a chuckle. “Miles told me that you’d need a pass phrase in case someone approached you like this. The phrase he gave me is Gozer lost the squirrel.”

I couldn’t resist grinning at that, especially since I was the one who’d given Dad that pass phrase to use. “Dad told me that he’d have someone pick me up at the airport, but he never said who.”

“I’m here to drive you both the rest of the way to Whateley,” Grace explained pleasantly. “Miles and I used to work together, so he asked me to pick you up and keep an eye out for you.” As we began walking to baggage claim, with a stunned Collin following behind, she continued, “One of the conditions for the program you are in, Gwen, is that you will have to put some hours in at the Berlin field office, though only once or twice a month. There are a couple agents there who are…shall we say…distrustful of mutants, but I’m the one you’ll be reporting to.”

Collin gave Grace a suspicious look, then commented, “I didn’t think the MCO let mutants join.”

“There aren’t many,” Grace admitted, giving Collin a curious look. “The program Gwen is part of was created to bring a greater mutant presence to the MCO, partly to increase trust with the mutant community, and partly to help curb some of the more extremist elements of our own organization. Needless to say, there are those who disapprove of the program and may try to discredit it.”

Though Grace didn’t say anything specific, the message was there. Don’t trust everyone within the MCO. Dad had also made that point quite clear with all the trouble he’d gone through to protect me from some of his own people. I was getting the feeling that there was a quiet civil war going on within the MCO itself, something that I never would have guessed before all this.

Once Collin and I had our luggage, we went out to the parking garage where Grace was parked. As soon as we were there, I opened my pet carrier and released my two faeries, both of whom immediately began flying around overhead. Grace watched the faeries in silence, though she clearly had an expression of fascination.

“Sorry little one,” I said, looking at the oldest of the faeries, who was also full of glamour energy. I willed her to fly away from us and then self-destruct, safely releasing the glamour energy in the process, well away from where anyone would get caught in it. Then I snapped my fingers and released enough energy to create two new faeries. “Much better.”

“That is an interesting power,” Collin stated with a nod of approval.

“Thanks,” I responded, blushing slightly.

At first, the drive was fairly quiet, especially since Collin was nervous in Grace’s presence. It was strange since he’d always seemed so tough and confident back in school, but I guess he was pretty wary of the MCO. Once he realized that this wasn’t some kind of trap, he began to relax.

“I know the MCO has a rather unpleasant reputation,” Grace said, speaking more to Collin who was sitting in the back seat than me. “And unfortunately, a lot of that reputation was well earned. Our purpose is to work with local law enforcement, including super groups, in order to deal with mutant criminals and ones who are a threat to public safety. The problem is that there are too many who join with the assumption that all mutants are dangerous threats. They make it difficult for the rest of us to do our jobs.”

“I can imagine,” I said, having seen a bit of that from my short time with the MCO. There were a lot of people in the Seattle office who were professionals who didn’t seem to have anything against mutants, but there were also those who had definitely been hostile.

“I spent a year working as a liaison for a team called the Liberty League,” Grace said with a sigh. “Then a few weeks ago, one agent let a personal issue ruin it all.”

“A personal issue?” I asked curiously.

Grace let out a sigh at that. “When he was a teenager, a mutant killed his sister in front of him. I don’t know if it was intentional or an accident, only that it left him with a sever dislike of mutants. He joined the MCO to fight ‘the mutant threat’.”

“Honestly,” Collin said almost apologetically. “I kind of thought that was how everyone in the MCO was.”

“And that is one of the problems we face,” Grace responded with a scowl. “Owens became obsessed with a couple suspects who kept slipping away from him and led an entire assault team after them. When he found that the Liberty League had the suspects cornered, he attacked them too. In the end, someone was killed, Owens was arrested for murder, and half the assault team is facing charges. And as a direct result, the Liberty League no longer trusts me so a whole year of working with them was flushed down the toilet.”

I thought about what Grace had said as we drove in silence, wondering how any organization could possibly function with people like that in it. That was exactly the kind of thing that gave the MCO a bad reputation among mutants, and why people like Grace and my Dad had to work extra hard just to maintain their credibility.

I let out a sigh, wondering what I’d gotten myself into when I’d agreed to work for the MCO. After hearing this, I was even less inclined than before to make a career out of it. But for now, at least I could get then to pay for an expensive private school, and all I’d have to do was occasionally fetch coffee.

After spending so many hours in the plane, the last thing I wanted to do was spent another couple hours riding in a car. Still, it was far better than having to catch a bus, so I wasn’t about to complain about the fact that my butt was starting to get numb.

We eventually arrived in the small town of Dunwhich New Hampshire, where we stopped briefly in order to stretch our legs. Then from there, we took a scenic road the rest of the way to Whateley Academy where we finally stopped in front of the large iron gates.

“We’re here,” Grace stated as she parked the car and we got out to check in with security.

I stared at the gates nervously, remembering how my hand had burned the last time I’d touched iron bars. I shuddered at that, making a mental note to be very careful not to touch the gate. After a moment, I shook my head and followed Grace and Collin to the security stand.

After Grace showed the guard her badge, he gave her a suspicious look than a clearly fake smile before asking, “What can we do for the MCO today?”

“I’m just here to drop off two new students,” Grace told him in a professional tone. “Gwendolynn Wylann and Collin Reynolds.”

“Here they are on my list,” the guard responded, giving me and Collin curious looks, probably wondering why we had the MCO dropping us off. “If you’ll wait here a few minutes, I’ll contact the Dean of Students…”

While we waited, Grace handed me a business card with her name and number on it. “Once you get situated and settled in, give me a call so we can schedule your visit to the office. Just make sure you call in the next couple days.”

I nodded at that, knowing that I’d really be reporting back to Dad and the Seattle field office, but that Grace would effectively be my onsite boss and reporting official. The idea of actually having a job of any sort was still kind of weird to me. I’d always thought my first job would be something like flipping burgers or bagging groceries, not working for the MCO. At least they weren’t really expecting much of me.

Eventually, two students arrived, both wearing uniforms. One was a beautiful blonde girl while the other was a tall and muscular black guy, both of whom had the too ‘perfect’ look that practically announced they were exemplars. Collin was quite noticeably giving the blonde the once over, which annoyed me just a little for some reason.

“Hello,” the blonde announced with a pleasant smile. “I’m Zenith.”

“Tektonix,” the black guy responded with an easy grin. “And in case you’re wondering, the name is because I’m a devisor with a specialization in geology and plate tectonics.”

“He makes earthquake machines,” Zenith said flatly.

“And earthquake detectors,” Tektonix said defensively. “And subterranean borers…”

“I’m Absinthe,” I said, introducing myself by my codename since that was what they’d both done. Collin followed my example and did the same.

“I’m going to get going now,” Grace told me with a smile. “And don’t forget to call me.”

Once Grace was gone, Tektonix and Zenith both gave me an odd look before Tektonix asked, “How did you two rate the MCO giving you a ride?”

Collin snorted, then said, “Her Dad is with the MCO.” Zenith and Tektonix both gave me a look as though I’d grown an extra head. I was just glad Collin hadn’t told them that I was working for the MCO too.

“Anyway, I’m assuming that you’re Gwen Wylann,” Zenith said, looking at me. “And you’re Collin Reynolds.” She looked at Collin.

Tektonix just chuckled and said, “It would probably be pretty awkward if it was the other way around.”

For a moment, Zenith had an odd look on her face and something flashed across her aura that I couldn’t quite make out. “Absinthe, you’ve been assigned to Poe Cottage, so I’ve been sent to escort you there and show you around. Flytrap, you’ve been assigned to Emerson, hence Tektonix will be escorting you.”

“But first,” Tektonix stated. “We need to make a stop at Schuster Hall. One of the school’s largest contributors put in a requirement that we show every new student his portrait within their first twenty-four hours on campus.”

I nodded and began picking up my luggage, but the security guard shook his head. “You can leave your bags here. We’ll make sure they get to your dorms.”

With that, we began our walking tour around campus while Zenith and Tektonix pointed out various objects of interest. I was just thankful for the chance to finally get out and really stretch my legs after having spent all day sitting down.

Tektonix pointed to a large crystal dome, that looked incredibly impressive, and said, “That’s Crystal Hall…the cafeteria.”

We finally arrived at Schuster Hall, a large building which Zenith and Tektonix immediately led us into. Then we went through an honest to God secret passage and into a large room that looked almost like some kind of super hero museum. There were ray guns, some kind of robot, mannequins with super hero costumes, and even a pile of gold bars. Neither of our guides seemed very interested in the various artifacts, only in a large painting that hung from the wall. It was of a man, who was staring at a really old fashioned painting of another man.

“This is Lord Paramount,” Zenith stated in a flat tone.

I stared at the portrait, immediately recognizing the name of the world famous super villain and dictator. Dad had told me that Whateley Academy was considered neutral grounds, supported by both heroes and villains. I hadn’t really considered what that meant until that moment.

Once our tour was over, Tektonix told Collin, “Emerson Cottage is this way. Come on, I’ll show you to your room and give you the house rules.”

“I’ll see you later,” Collin told me with a grin as he followed after Tektonix.

Zenith started leading me in a different direction, and once we were alone, she asked, “So, from your body language, I’m guessing you used to be a boy.”

“What?” I gasped in sudden fear, wondering how she could have possibly known that.

“I used to be one too,” she admitted with a wry smile. “That’s why we’re assigned to Poe Cottage. It’s where they house the gay, transgendered, and changeling students like us. However, this is a secret and you can’t share that fact with anyone outside of Poe. Trust me, most of the residents don’t want to come out of the closet and would take it VERY personally if you outed them that way.”

I just stared at Zenith, still trying to absorb what she’d said. “You mean, there is an entire dorm just for…?”

“Students with alternate sexualities,” Zenith finished with a faint smile. “And those who have changed or are in the process of switching sides in the war of the sexes. Poe is a place where we can be ourselves without being judged. Mutants in general, tend to be a bit more open-minded than baselines, but there are still homophobes and others on campus who wouldn’t hesitate to make things difficult for us. We prefer to avoid giving them that opportunity, especially since most of us already have enough to deal with as it is.”

When we reached Poe Cottage, a large brick building, Zenith introduced me to Mrs. Horton, who was the ‘house mother’. I’d never heard the term ‘house mother’ before, but I gathered that it just meant she was the adult in charge of supervising the entire building. I had a feeling that with as large as that building was, she’d have to be a very busy woman.

Zenith led me down a hallway to a room and unlocked the door before handing me the key. I opened the door and looked inside, seeing that it had two beds and some furniture, but the only sign that anyone was actually living in there was my luggage, which was piled in the middle of the floor.

“You’re lucky,” Zenith told me as she gestured at the room. “You get a room to yourself, though I wouldn’t expect it to last long. Mrs. Horton likes to have changelings room together so we can help each other out, so you and Dana will probably end up rooming.”

“Okay,” I said, not sure what to think. I was actually feeling just a little lost, so I looked to the faeries flying above me and smiled faintly. At least I had some familiar company. They might not be much for conversation but they were great listeners.

“Now to introduce you to some of the motley crew of misfits who live around here,” Zenith told me, taking me down the hall to a common room where six people were sitting around, doing homework, or just talking.

In one corner, a pair of girls were holding hands in a romantic manner while talking. One of them was a very pretty blonde girl who was just below exemplar standards, but the hot looking red head she was with was definitely an exemplar. The girl was tall, athletic looking, and had breasts that were a bit too large for most girls our age. Two boys who also appeared to have romantic interests in each other were on the opposite side of the room.

Suddenly, one girl jumped up and ran to my nearest faerie, exclaiming, “Oh my God, they are so cute…” She was a cute Asian girl who appeared to be about twelve years old, and she was actually wearing a ‘Hello Kitty’ T-shirt. Then she turned to stare at me with a look of surprise before asking, “Are these yours?”

“Yeah,” I responded with a grin, showing off by making a couple more faeries suddenly appear. The Asian girl clapped excitedly.

“Everyone,” Zenith called out loud enough to get the attention of all the students in the room. “This is Absinthe. Absinthe, this is everyone.”

“I’m Jade,” the Asian girl introduced herself.

“Gwen,” I responded, having one of my faeries land on her shoulder, much to her obvious delight.

“In spite of appearances,” Zenith told me with a faint look of amusement. “Jade is a sophomore.”

I gave the girl a look of surprise, wondering how someone who looked three or four years younger than me could actually be a grade ahead. “Really?”

“Watch out for her and her Kimba friends,” someone else called out with a laugh. “Last year, they got into more trouble than everyone else in school combined.”

“It wasn’t our fault,” Jade protested, sticking her tongue out at the other girl. “Not mostly…”

After this, the cute blonde came over and said, “I’m Amanda, but most people around here just call me Jinx.”

“She’s bad luck,” one of the boys in the room chimed in.

“I’m a probability manipulator,” Jinx stated proudly. “And I have full control over my powers…”

Jade grinned mischieviously and asked, “Then how come every bathroom in Poe got backed up at the same time?”

“That’s what happens when you put a power mimic in with a probability mangler,” the previous boy added again. “The bad luck gets amplified.”

The red headed girl blushed brightly and said, “Hey, I haven’t copied her powers since then. You know I’ve learned not to copy someone unless I want to…”

That resulted in a round of teasing and joking among the students in the room. I noticed that Zenith had taken the opportunity to excuse herself and leave, probably because she seemed to be a senior, just a little older than everyone else in the room.

Once the joking quieted down, the red head held out her hand and said, “I’m Dana. And it’s nice to not be the new girl around here anymore…” Then she paused and had an odd look on her face before admitting, “Well, I’m still sort of new to being a girl, but at least not the newest one around here…”

“You too?” I asked in surprise. She was so hot looking that I never would have guessed that she used to be a guy. And even from her comment, I probably wouldn’t have realized what she meant if Zenith hadn’t already told me that I might end up rooming with a changeling named Dana.

Just then, an athletic looking black girl with amber eyes stepped into the day room, moving with such an easy grace that my eyes were immediately drawn to her. “I came to meet the new girl,” she announced with a cheerful grin. Then she spotted one of my faeries and called back down the hallway, “Hey Nikki, your hobgoblins are running loose again...”

With that, the girl poked my faerie, and suddenly my faerie popped, releasing all the stored up glamour energy in one burst. The girl staggered as she was hit with a full doze of hallucinations, making me groan as this wasn’t a great way for me to make a good first impression. But then she shook her head and was suddenly acting fine.

“What was that?” she asked, looking surprised.

“What are you talking about?” another girl said as she came into the room as well. “I haven’t created any hobgoblins in over a month.”

All I could do was stare at the latest newcomer into the room, who was probably the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She had long red hair, almond shaped eyes, pointed ears, and features that were very much like what I saw every morning when I looked into the mirror. A single look was enough to tell me that she was Sidhe.

“Oh my God,” someone joked. “Another faerie princess…”

With my mage sight, I could see her aura, and nearly gasped as it wasn’t quite like any aura that I’d seen before now. And there was a lot of magic tied to it…a LOT. Whoever this girl was, I could instantly tell that she had a lot of power. She was even radiating her own glamour, one that was stronger than mine. And if it wasn’t for Mrs. Lauriant teaching me how to shield myself from outside magical influence, I was sure I’d be feeling it already.

“Hi, I’m Nikki Reilly,” she greeted me pleasantly, though she was giving me an odd look as well.

“Gwen Wylann,” I answered nervously, feeling a chill run down my spine.

Something about this girl tickled the back of my memory, making me think I’d seen her before, though I couldn’t remember where. Then her aura and body language suddenly shifted and she stared at me with a different expression. There was now something about her that almost seemed…regal.

“It can’t be,” Nikki said with a look of surprise.

Nikki’s glamour had become stronger and now broke through my defenses. I suddenly felt extremely attracted to her…and wanted to obey and protect her. There was some part of me that even thought about bowing before her. Then I felt a surge of fear and anger as I suddenly realized where I knew her from. Nikki looked a LOT like the elf queen from one of my barely remembered dreams, the one who’d ordered my dream self into exile.

“Hey Aung,” the black girl demanded. “What’s going on?”

At that moment, I felt an instant of panic and suddenly the air around me exploded into new faeries. This was the first time since my crash course in magic with Mrs. Lauriant that I’d lost control and created hobgoblins by accident. However, I didn’t stop right then to consider this mistake as I was rushing out of the common room as fast as I could, getting to my new room and slamming the door behind me. Only then did I collapse to the ground, realizing that my first day at Whateley was a complete and utter disaster.

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I awoke to the sound of girls talking in the hallway, along with what appeared to be a playful shriek. I groaned and sat up in bed, knowing that it was Saturday, and even if it wasn’t, I still wouldn’t have to go to class. After all, I still had a lot of in-processing to do, not to mention getting a class schedule and uniforms. Last night, Mrs. Horton had given me a list of things I needed to do before classes started again on Monday.

I was still debating about whether or not I should get up when someone began pounding on my door. “Hey Abbie, time to get up,” a voice called out a moment later. “You’d better hurry and get showered if you want to come to breakfast with us.”

“Who said I wanted breakfast?” I called back, though my stomach grumbled and told me that it did. “Traitor.”

After climbing out of bed, I began digging through my luggage for the bath robe that Mom had bought for me. It was green, which seemed to have become ‘my’ color. As I put my new bathrobe on and gathered up my shower kit, I made a mental note to get everything put away today.

When I opened the door a minute later, I was surprised to find Dana still standing there. “About time, Abbie,” she said. “I was afraid you were gonna make me late for breakfast.”

“My name is Gwen,” I corrected her. “Not Abbie…”

“Abbie,” Dana pointed out with a grin. “Short for Absinthe. Now hurry up.”

Dana was fully dressed and appeared to have already taken her shower, so it looked like she really was just waiting on me. I appreciated that, especially since I’d just arrived yesterday and hadn’t really made any friends yet. Still, a lot of the other people had been friendly, even after I’d had my little freakout.

I carefully looked down the hall, relaxing a little when I saw no signs of Nikki. Yesterday evening, I’d done my best to avoid running into her again, something which was made easier by the fact that she was a sophomore and lived on the floor above my own. However, we lived in the same building so I wouldn’t be able to avoid her forever, though that had never stopped me from trying to avoid a confrontation before.

As Doug once told me, sometimes if you’re able to delay a fight long enough, the problem with solve itself. Of course, he’d also said that sometimes delaying a confrontation will only make it worse. As I thought about Doug, I smiled faintly, still finding it hard to believe that my meek and mild mannered self-defense teacher was really a badass mutant who worked with the MCO. Actually, Doug had never been the least bit meek or mild mannered, but it was still surprising.

I went down the hall to the communal showers and hesitated at the entrance, not quite sure if I should go in. Then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that some of the girls in there were former guys like me while the rest were lesbians who were probably busy ogling each other. With that in mind, I stepped inside. Several girls glanced at me, but none stared in horror or yelled at me to get out.

There was a short line for an available shower stall, so I stood behind a pretty blonde with long hair. I’d been introduced to her last night, though I had to struggle to remember her name. “Cinderella, right?”

“Yeah,” she responded with an easy smile. “But everyone just calls me Cindy.”

I nodded at that, remembering the brief demonstration she’d given last night when she actually made a glass sword appear in her hands. She was a manifestor who could summon clear glass swords and armor, though she’d assured me that the armor could be as flexible as she needed and none of it was nearly as fragile as I’d imagine.

I glanced to the flip-flops she was wearing and asked, “No glass slippers?”

“Not today,” she responded cheerfully, in a tone that left me wondering if she was serious or joking.

The girl standing behind me was rather pretty as well, with a tall and slender build. Her hair was shoulder length and brushed back, however, it was also a brilliant blue color with green and purple highlights. “Hi,” I greeted her, not having met her yesterday. “I’m Gwen.”

“Lina,” she responded in a musical voice, though she was scowling as she said it. “But my codename is Peacock.”

I looked at her hair again and nodded. “Definitely peacock colors there.” Then I paused to point out, “But the only peacocks that look like that are boy ones…”

Lina gave me a look that suggested I’d just said something stupid, then pointed out, “Peacocks are all male. The females of the species are called peahens.”

“She’s a little touchy,” Cindy told me, giving Lina a quick look. “The spirit she’s bonded with gave her a little something extra down below, if you know what I mean.”

“Okay, he gave me boy parts,” Lina spat out bitterly, though her voice was still very melodic and feminine. “And he made me like girls too. But I’m still a girl…”

It seemed that Lina was an avatar, and apparently not a very happy one. I couldn’t help but feeling a bit sympathetic. “I went through a whole body change,” I admitted, blushing as I quietly added, “Just a couple weeks ago, I was a guy.”

“I know some girls who’d kill to have changed as fast as you did,” Cindy told me.

Just then, one of the stalls opened up and it was Cindy’s turn. She took off her bathrobe and stood there completely naked in front of me, not seeming to care that I was there. I stared in surprise since the closest I’d ever come to having a girl get naked in front of me was when Mom and I had been at the spa.

“You’re staring,” Lina pointed out with a scowl.

“Sorry,” I muttered, looking away awkwardly.

Cindy just laughed at that, not appearing to be bothered. “At least we’re not sharing the showers with Phase. I heard he really ogles all the girls…”

“He?” I asked in surprise.

“You do too,” Lina responded with a faint smirk.

“True,” Cindy agreed. “But at least I have the grace to be subtle about it.” Then she gestured to Lina, who had a noticeable bulge in the front of her bathrobe. “Unlike some people.”

Lina turned bright red while Cindy laughed and then climbed into the shower stall. Another stall opened up just seconds later so it was my turn. I hesitantly took of my bathrobe, feeling extremely self-conscious. No one laughed, but Lina was obviously watching me, still having the bulge in the front of her robe.

The shower had some odd equipment and nozzles in it, and though I wondered about the purpose of all this extra stuff, I didn’t bother messing with it. There’d be time enough for questions later on. Right now, I just focused on getting showered.

As soon as I was done, I stepped out of the stall and dried off while Cindy did the same a short distance away. Lina had already gone into a stall as well but came out just as I was finishing up. Though I wasn’t trying to look, I couldn’t help but catching a look of her naked and then gasping. She definitely had guy parts between her legs instead of girl parts.

“I didn’t ask to grow this thing,” Lina said defensively, quickly covering herself up with a towel.

“Sorry,” I muttered in embarrassment, feeling bad for making her uncomfortable that way.

Once I finished getting dried, I put my bathrobe back on and then stood there while some of my faeries undid any tangles in my hair and began brushing it for me. Several girls watched me in amusement.

“Fey has a spell that lets her dry off instantly,” Cindy told me. “You should ask her to teach it to you.”

“Fey?” I asked curiously.

“Nikki,” Lina added with a smirk. “The red head you ran away from yesterday.”

“I don’t think so,” I responded with a scowl, not wanting to spend any more time around that girl than I absolutely had to. I really didn’t like the way she made me feel, either with her glamour or with that dream she reminded me so much of. As it was, I’d already boosted up my magical shields, just in case.

A minute later, I left the showers with a small cloud of faeries trailing behind me, much to the amusement of several girls who giggled at the sight. I returned to my room and got dressed, then met up with Dana and Jinx to go to breakfast.

Crystal Hall was the most amazing cafeteria I’d ever seen, or even heard of. It was a huge crystal dome with three stories of seating, each of which actually had waterfalls and pools on them. And for the food, there was an enormous buffet, as well as an area where the chefs were handing out ‘specialty’ items. One reptilian girl walked away with a small cage containing a couple rats, making me shudder at the sight.

“I love this place,” Dana told me as she began loading her tray up with enough food to feed a half dozen people. She gave me a somewhat embarrassed look as she added, “Ever since I manifested, my appetite has been through the roof.”

“You can say that again,” Jinx responded with a roll of her eyes.

“My appetite has been through the roof,” Dana repeated with a smirk, only to have Jinx punch her in the arm.

One of the servers looked up and said, “Hey Dana, we might need you in a little early tonight for some help with the prep.”

“Sure thing,” Dana responded with a grin. “Just remember to have my go juice ready.”

“What was that about?” I asked, putting some waffles onto my tray along with some strawberries and whip cream.

“I used to work in my Dad’s diner,” Dana explained, “so when I got here, I took a job helping out in the kitchen. I mean, I’ve got a lot of experience doing dishes and helping with food prep, so it sort of made sense.”

Jinx laughed and added, “I think her real reason for working there is that they give her some of that good coffee they usually save for the faculty.”

“That might have something to do with it,” Dana admitted. “It’s hard getting a good espresso here otherwise.”

Once we’d loaded up on food, we sat down at an empty table and were soon joined by several other Poe freshmen, including Lina and Cindy. Cindy took the opportunity to show off a bit by making a glass knife appear in her hand, then using that to cut her pancakes and breakfast sausage. I glanced at Lina, who was actually the subdued one, being a little surprised since I figured that someone with a codename like Peacock would like showing off.

Also at our table was a slender and somewhat feminine looking black boy named Shawn, whom I’d briefly met last night after coming out of my room. According to him, he used to be a girl and was more than ecstatic about turning into a boy. However, he was still in transition and it would probably be a year before his body was finished with the change. At the Moment, Shawn was in conversation with Cindy and Lina while I was talking with Dana and Jinx.

“Wait,” I said after Dana had made a comment that caught my attention. “You two knew each other before you manifested?”

“Yeah, we used to go to school together,” Jinx told me with a sigh, looking rather sad. “Then my so called best friend outed me and my family had to move. After that, they sent me here.” She shrugged at that.

“I didn’t even know she was here,” Dana told me with a grin. “Not until I got here and found out we were roommates. Talk about a weird coincidence.”

“Those tend to happen around me,” Jinx said with a shrug. “Before I came to Whateley, some guy nearly ran me over with his car. When we got to talking, it turned out that he was my Dad’s brother. Apparently, they lost touch when I was just a baby and hadn’t seen each other since.”

Dana took a sip of coffee, then told me, “It was pretty awesome getting here and finding out that I was rooming with the girl I liked…” Jinx smiled at that while Dana added, “And I was afraid that I wouldn’t know anyone here…”

I nodded at that, then told them, “I came here with someone I went to school with before too… We even sat next to each other the entire flight.”

“Yeah?” Dana asked curiously. “That should make it easier.”

I just chuckled, then explained, “Yeah, but he doesn’t know who I am. As far as he’s concerned, I’m actually my own sister.” I shrugged at that. “We weren’t exactly friends before I manifested.” Then I snorted at that bit of understatement before adding, “He used to chase me around, trying to beat me up.”

“And you sat next to him the entire flight here?” Jinx asked, giving me a look of surprise. “What did he have against you? Or was this just typical bully stuff?”

“Actually, he’s a pretty decent guy,” I admitted wryly. “He just thought I was a mutant hating bigot or something, because of what my Dad does for a living.”

Jinx gave me a curious look before asking, “Okay, so what does your Dad do for a living?”

“He’s with the MCO,” I answered.

Suddenly, all noise at my table stopped and everyone stared at me as though I’d suddenly grown another head. For a brief moment, I wondered if someone was going to jump me so I prepared to deal with that if I had to.

“I’d be tempted to beat you up too,” Cindy said.

“Those MCO guys are assholes,” Dana spat out bitterly, giving me a suspicious look. “They beat the crap out of me then chased me all the way to Whateley, trying to kill me. Hell, one of them shot down my neighbor and even a super hero…even if he was a piss poor excuse for one.”

“My Dad isn’t like that,” I protested, never having imagined that I’d find myself in the position of having to defend the MCO. “He’s trying to clean up the MCO.”

“Everyone with the MCO is like that,” Jinx stated as though it was a simple fact. “You don’t join the MCO unless you’re an evil scumbag.”

“Do you think I’m an evil scumbag?” I asked grimly. At her blank look, I set my MCO employee ID on the table. There were several gasps of surprise as they saw it. “The MCO is paying my tuition here. You might not believe it, but there are some good people in the MCO who are trying to fix things.”

With that, I grabbed my employee ID card and got up to leave, but Dana said, “Wait… I know, you can’t really judge a person by their job…not all the time.” She had a wry smile at that. “I mean, my big sister robs banks for a living, and she’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet.”

Lina and Shawn were still giving me suspicious looks, but the others appeared more curious. I settled back down into my seat and took a bite of my waffle, trying to calm down a little. My faeries continued to circle overhead, still ready to dive down as a distraction so I could escape of necessary. Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“I know the MCO has a pretty bad reputation,” I said carefully. “And I’m pretty sure most of it is well deserved. But not everyone in the MCO is a mutant hating bastard. In fact, most of the people in the office back home are pretty professional and were friendly to me.”

“I’ve heard some pretty bad things about the MCO and how they make mutants disappear,” Jinx told me carefully. Dana nodded agreement. “I find it hard to believe that it’s a case of a few bad apples.”

“More than a few,” I admitted wryly. “But there are also a lot of people in the MCO who are actually trying to stop things like that. You could say, there’s sort of a civil war going on inside the MCO, with one side actually trying to make things better for mutants. I mean, I’m here as part of a program to try recruiting more mutants into the MCO in order to make things better.”

“Then how come I’ve never heard anything like that before?” Lina demanded.

“Because the people who are doing their jobs don’t make as much noise as the ones who screw everything up?” I asked.

Jinx nodded at that, saying, “That does kind of make sense.”

I shrugged and let out a sigh, remembering what Grace had told me on the drive from the airport. “Some people in the MCO are trying to work with hero groups and law enforcement, but others kind of sabotage it. A few weeks ago, some agents went off on some personal vendetta and ended up attacking a hero group called the Liberty League. They even killed one of them. Before that, an MCO agent had been working as a liaison with the Liberty League and trying to build a professional relationship, but this whole event ruined everything. You might not believe it, but this really pissed off people in the MCO. They’re even making sure that the agents involved are facing some serious criminal charges that they can’t just slip out of.”

“Wait,” Dana blurted out, staring at me in surprise. “You mean they’re not just letting Owens go?”

I blinked in surprise, then gave Dana a curious look. Grace had told me the name of the head agent involved, but I hadn’t mentioned it just now. Then I realized that just a minute ago, Dana had mentioned that she’d watched the MCO kill a super hero.

“You were one of the suspects they were chasing,” I exclaimed. Dana just gave me a defiant look, almost as though daring me to do something about it. I just shrugged and said, “They only hired me to fetch coffee, not to find their suspects.”

“Fetching coffee is a noble and worthy occupation,” Dana told me with a deadpan expression before she began giggling.

After this, the mood lightened again and we returned to more lighthearted topics. Lina and Shawn both gave me a couple more suspicious looks before they relaxed as well. I was just glad that my new friends hadn’t decided to lynch me, because that would have been an even worse start to my new school than running away from Nikki had been.

When breakfast was over, most of our group returned Poe, though Cindy took off to meet up with one of her friends for a trip to Dunwhich, the closest town to Whateley. “You’ve got to check out this clothing shop they’ve got there,” she exclaimed before running off. “Celia is almost like my own personal faerie godmother…”

I still had some time before I had to go to Schuster Hall to do my in-processing paperwork, so I took advantage of the opportunity to sit down in the common room and read through one of my magic books. Other students kept coming through and making noise, so it was difficult to focus, but I actually kind of liked the company. It actually made me feel a little more like I belonged here.

I was in the middle of reading an interesting chapter on familiars when I heard someone yell, “You get back here…”

A moment later, a little stuffed Hello Kitty doll came running through the room, followed a short distance behind by that girl Jade. To my surprise, the doll called back, “Catch me if you can.”

Out of curiosity, I shifted over to my mage sight and saw that the stuffed animal actually had an aura, one that looked almost identical to Jade’s. And more than that, there was actually a very solid threat tying it back to Jade.

“It’s not fair pranking me like that,” Jade told the stuffed cat, standing there with her hands on her lips in a way that nearly made me want to burst out laughing.

“Someone has to,” the cat teased back. “Besides, I couldn’t resist the opportunity. You know that.”

“Arguing with yourself?” I asked, wondering if this was some kind of telekinesis.

Jade and the doll both froze and Jade gave me a faintly worried look before saying, “I’m a devisor and one of my artificial intelligences here decided to get a little too independent.”

I could see both the aura of the stuffed animal as well as Jade’s, so I could see the flickering colors that I’d learned meant she was being deceptive. However, I didn’t bother to challenge her obvious lie. Whatever she was up to, it was her business.

“I see you’ve got a thing for Hello Kitty,” I commented wryly, gesturing to the stuffed animal as well as the pink Hello Kitty bow that she had in her hair.

“And I see you’ve got a thing for the color green,” she pointed out smugly.

I looked down at the green hoodie I was wearing and shrugged. “You’ve got me there.” I remembered the way she’d reacted to my faeries yesterday so I let them come down and fly around her. She watched them with a look of fascination.

“Your hobgoblins actually do what you want them to,” she commented as she watched one land on my shoulder. “Even Nikki can’t get hers to really obey…”

“Yep,” I respond, feeling rather proud of the fact that I could get my hobgoblins to do things that other people couldn’t. “Anything I want.”

With that, all of my faeries came and landed on top of the Hello Kitty doll and actually picked it up off the ground. The doll struggled a little, or at least played along and pretended that it was struggling, as my faeries dropped it right into Jade’s arms.

“Anything,” Jade asked, though she had a mischievious grin that suddenly made me think she was up to something. I kept an eye on her aura, which also convinced me that she was up to something, though I had no idea what.

“Very interesting,” the stuffed cat commented before letting out an ‘evil’ laugh, “Bwa ha ha ha ha…”

“I don’t know what you’ve got against Nikki,” Jade abruptly said. “She’s really nice and feels kind of bad about what happened last night. I mean, I know she can get a little intimidating sometimes, but that’s no reason to avoid her. Besides, I think you two have some stuff in common.”

With that, Jade left the common room, carrying the stuffed cat that was actually singing something that sounded like it might be some kind of Japanese pop song. I shook my head, muttering, “That is one strange girl.”

A few seconds later, I settled back into my seat and returned to my book. After all, I’d just been reading something really interesting about familiars, something that was giving me some ideas that I’d have to test out.

--------------------

Nine children occupied the courtyard, spread out in front of me in the shape of a crescent moon, each having positioned themselves to get a clear view of me as I played my flute. A beautiful melody filled the air, one inspired from the sound of the wind blowing through a chime tree. The dryad girl sat with her eyes closed, slowly swaying her body back and forth as though picturing the wind flowing through the leaves of her own tree.

The parents of these children were lords and ladies of the Court of the West, though one child belonged to an ambassador from the Court of the South. Today it was my pleasure to entertain them, to keep them occupied while their parents were here in conference.

After having spent time serving my queen as a scout, it was nice to be home where I could turn my talent to more amusing pursuits. Admittedly, I had enjoyed leading enemy scouts and advance forces off course and into traps, but there was nothing quite like seeing joy in the eyes of an innocent.

When I finished with my tune, I set my flute aside and then decided to entertain the children with some other tricks. I formed several balls of phantom fire and began to juggle them in the air, earning some clapping from the eager eyed young ones. Then I stepped back and began clapping along with the children as the balls continued to move as though being juggled by invisible hands.

I cast several more simple spells in order to entertain the children, then I realized that I had another in my audience that I hadn’t noticed until then. It was a pixie, keeping her appearance shrouded as her kind were wont to do. When she realized that I’d seen her, she ceased her hiding and came out, floating in clear view. The tiny thing had green skin, and to my amusement, hair that was nearly the same shade of green as my own.

The pixie darted to my hair and grabbed hold of it for a moment, holding her own hair up beside it as if for comparison. Then she darted away, appearing to be laughing. It was hard to tell what was going through her mind though as pixies were such silly creatures.

I woke up with a faint smile on my face, wondering why all of these strange dreams couldn’t be as nice as this one. Then before the dream could fade, I grabbed a notebook and began scribbling down what I could remember of the spells that I’d cast in the dream. I was pretty sure I remembered enough to duplicate at least a couple of them.

It took me a couple minutes to get out of bed and get my bathrobe and shower stuff together, then I hurried down the hall, hoping I could get a stall before any lines built up. Fortunately, unlike yesterday, no one else was there.

When I finished with my shower, I stepped out of the stall just in time to see Jinx walking in, wearing nothing but a towel around her. I’d seen the way she and Dana were when they were together, and Dana was a lucky girl.

“Morning,” Jinx greeted me cheerfully. “How’s the water this morning?”

“Wet,” I responded with a self-conscious smile. I grabbed my towel and began drying myself, covering myself up in the process.

“I’ve had a couple times when the hot water went out on me,” Jinx admitted. “Let me tell you, I can usually control my powers, if not the effects, but whenever I slip up…” She shuddered.

I just nodded at that, remembering quite well what it had been like to make people around me sick without being able to control it. Not having control of your powers was a pretty scary thing.

Once I returned to my room, I sat down and began going through the exercises that Mrs. Lauriant had taught me. When I was finished with those, I began to actually practice several of my spells, creating faerie fire and then practicing with my illusions.

I’d discovered that with my illusions, the secret was to clearly picture what I was trying to create and then hold that image in my head. The book Mrs. Lauriant had given me said that once I got better, I’d be able to preprogram the illusions and then just let them go without having to keep focusing on them, but that would take practice.

Before long, Dana started knocking on my door, calling out, “Hey Abbie, you ready for breakfast?”

“I’m coming,” I responded, letting my illusion fade away and then going to the door.

As I joined her out in the hall, I saw Cindy was standing outside her room with another girl. The other girl was a slender Asian girl with dark blue streaks in her hair and a literal raincloud over her head. The floor was getting wet as the rain fell on her and Cindy.

“Oh no,” Jinx said as she joined us. She was looking at Cindy at the other girl with a worried look.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“That’s Downpour,” Jinx told me with a grim look. “She has clinical depression and weather manipulating powers. Whenever she loses control and starts raining on herself like this, that usually means we need to keep a suicide watch.”

Cindy was hugging Downpour, obviously trying to comfort her. The rain slowly faded away but didn’t stop entirely. Jinx hurried down the hall to join them.

“I don’t really know what Downpour’s story is,” Dana told me awkwardly. “But she’s a nice girl. She just has…issues.”

“You guys go on,” Jinx called back, right before going into Cindy’s room with Cindy and Downpour.

“We might as well go,” Dana said with a sigh.

She was clearly worried, but like me, had no idea of what to do to help. I guessed that being empathic and comforting was something you learned, not something that automatically came with being female.

Dana and I went to breakfast, though unlike yesterday, it was just the two of us at the table. And since it seemed to be a lazy Sunday morning, Crystal Hall was also fairly empty compared to what it was like at dinner.

I watched in amazement as Dana ate a huge breakfast, wondering where she had room for all that food. She noticed me watching and just grinned, taking another big bite.

“I’m an energizer,” she started to explain.

“And energizers often have enormous appetites,” I finished for her. Then I asked, “What exactly are your powers? I mean, I thought you were a power mimic…”

“I am,” she responded cheerfully. “It’s just that the first time I copied someone’s powers, I imprinted on her. I got all of Jackie’s energizer powers, her regenerator abilities, and I even became an exemplar like her.” She gestured down at herself and added, “But I also got her BIT, hence my current appearance.”

“Wow,” I said, thinking about those abilities. “All that and you can copy powers too…”

“Yeah, but my mimic abilities are pretty much used up,” Dana admitted. “Whenever I copy someone’s powers, I get a weaker version of them. I can’t get more than a level one or two at most, except for some energizer abilities…”

I gave her a curious look, then asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, I guess I had natural energizer abilities of some sort along with my mimic powers,” Dana explained. “I can make force fields like Jackie can, but I can also do a few things she can’t. And when I copy an external energizer, I can usually copy their powers at about the same level. I don’t get that bonus for internal energizer abilities though, only external ones like energy blasts.”

“Still, that’s an impressive mix,” I told her. “I’m a magic user, so I’m still learning what I can really do.”

Dana and I continued talking about our powers while we ate, until someone called out, “Hey, Gwen.” I looked up and saw Collin standing there with a tray of food in his hand. There was another boy with him.

“Collin,” I responded with a grin, happier to see him than I would have expected. This was the first time we’d seen each other since our tour with Zenith and Tektonix. “This is Dana.”

“Nice to meet you,” Collin said. Then he asked, “Do you mind if we sit here?”

“Go ahead,” Dana responded.

The boy with Collin was lean with a mop of auburn hair. “I’m Fixx,” he introduced himself.

“Nice purse,” Dana commented, gesturing to the fact that Fixx was wearing some sort of purse slung over his shoulder.

“It’s a satchel,” Fixx responded defensively. “Lots of guys use satchels…”

“Name one,” Dana teased.

Fixx sat down at the table before answering, “Indiana Jones wears a satchel. Chewbacca uses one too.”

“Fixx is my roommate,” Collin told me, then looked to Dana. “Is she yours?”

“No, I’ve got a single for the moment,” I responded a little smugly.

Dana stared at Fixx for a moment before asking, “Aren’t we in English together?”

Fixx nodded at that. “Yeah, I sit on the other side of the class from you.”

“I’m still pretty new here,” Dana told him apologetically. “I’m still trying to remember who everyone is.”

“So, what do you do?” Collin asked Dana curiously, obviously checking her out in the process.

“Mostly force field bubbles,” Dana answered with a grin. “Hence my name Sphere.”

“She’s also an exemplar, has regeneration, and is a power mimic,” I added. Dana got impressed looks from both Collin and Fixx. “I’m just a magic user who barely knows any spells.”

Collin snorted at that, then told Fixx, “Don’t let her fool you. I’ve seen her take on like a dozen mutants by herself.”

“If you call running away as taking on,” I pointed out with a grin.

Dana snickered at that, then asked, “So, what do you two do?”

Collin just smiled pleasantly and answered, “I’m an exemplar two, and I can stick people in place so they can’t run away.”

“Or even teleport,” I added, remembering Slippery.

“I fix things,” Fixx responded with an easy grin of his own. “Basically, I’m really good at finding ways to either fix or work around mechanical problems. I used to do most of the maintenance work in the apartment building where I lived.”

I nodded thoughtfully at that. “So you’re a devisor?”

Fixx just shrugged. “Low level. Technically, I’m a devisor one, gadgeteer one, wizard one. Not really all that impressive compared to some of the people like Loophole or Generator.”

“I didn’t know you were a wizard too,” Collin said, giving Fixx a look of surprise.

Fixx shrugged again, then admitted, “I don’t consider myself one because I can’t do any spells or anything. As far as magic goes, all I can do is enchant things…basically just amplify their properties so they’re better at what they already do. Still, that’s pretty useful when I’m fixing or building something.” Then he paused for a moment with a thoughtful look before abruptly asking, “Have you ever seen reruns of those old shows A Team or Macgyver?”

“My little sister absolutely loves the A Team,” Dana said with a chuckle. “I guess that just last week, my Dad caught her as she was about to cut her own hair into a mohawk so she could be more like Mister T.” Then her expression turned sort of sad at that for some reason.

“Well,” Fixx said with a grin. “In the A Team, they can go into a garage full of junk and just throw together a tank, and in Macgyver, he can take a shed full of yard equipment and build an ultralight, or take a bunch of household chemicals and build a bomb. That’s the kind of stuff I can do. It’s not exactly ray gun or power armor level.”

“That’s still better than me,” Collin told him. “I can barely put together a model car.”

We all continued talking about our powers for another fifteen minutes, until Collin paused to exclaim, “What the hell is that?”

I turned to where he was looking and saw a stocky black kid with dark glasses and one of those white canes that blind people use. However, what caught my attention wasn’t the fact that he was blind, but that that his clothes were the most bright and garish I’d ever seen. He was wearing a pair of yellow and orange plaid golf pants, a shirt that was pink with lime green spots, and he had on a white golf cap that probably would have looked perfectly normal on any normal golf outfit, but which somehow stuck out all the more when compared to the rest of his outfit.

“That’s Jericho,” Fixx explained wryly. “A brilliant devisor, but a horrible fashion sense. Hell, I don’t have any fashion sense and even I can tell his is bad.”

“The first time I saw him,” Dana commented with a grin. “I had to ask Amanda if she’d cursed his wardrobe. Anyone who gets that combination has to have REALLY bad luck.”

“Or he’s doing it intentionally,” I mused, thinking that dressing like that would be a great way to distract people and make them underestimate you.

Our conversation finished up a short time after that and we all got up to leave. “What have you got going on today?” Collin asked me curiously.

“Well,” I answered, “I did most of my in-processing yesterday, and bought most of my uniforms and stuff, but I’ve still got to meet with my faculty advisor and get my schedule.”

“Maybe we’ll see each other at dinner,” Collin told me, sounding rather hopeful. I found myself blushing slightly at that, actually looking forward to it. After all, I told myself, it would be nice having someone else around from my home town.

After this, we went our separate ways with Dana and I returning to Poe. We were met at the entrance by Mrs. Horton, who said, “Dana, I need to talk to you about...”

“Dana,” Jinx exclaimed as she came rushing in. “Downpour is doing a lot better, but we’re going to be taking turns keeping an eye on her…” Then she paused, apparently realizing that she’d interrupted Mrs. Horton. “Sorry…”

“This concerns you as well,” Mrs. Horton said patiently. “As I was saying…”

Just then, the phone in Mrs. Horton’s office started to ring. The house mother looked back at the phone, gave Jinx a faint glare, let out a sigh, and then went to answer the phone. She shook her head as she did so.

“I’m going to see about getting some reading in before my appointment,” I told Dana and Jinx, who seemed to want to spend some time by themselves. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

I stopped off at my room to grab one of my books, then went back to the common room to sit down and read. The four faeries that I currently had active continued to flitter around the room, doing what they usually did when I hadn’t given them any specific commands. The other kids who were using the room kept looking up and watching my faeries with amused looks.

“Too bad you guys can’t just go and fetch me a pop,” I told one of my faeries, who shrugged in response. They didn’t really have enough intelligence and initiative to do much unless I actually controlled them the entire time, and it would probably take all four of them to really fly the pop to me. Still, as I considered it, I realized it might actually be possible.

A moment later, I realized that someone was coming straight towards me, and I looked up just in time for her to demand, “I hear your Dad is with the MCO.”

The girl was tall, about six feet, with the kind of solid muscular physique that made her look like a fitness competitor or professional athlete. She had tanned skin and Hispanic features, and I might have thought her beautiful if it wasn’t for a nasty scar across her cheek and the fact that she was completely bald, not even having eyebrows.

“Well?” the girl demanded with a cold, angry look. “Is he?”

I let out a sigh, realizing that someone had been talking. It could have been any of the kids I’d shared breakfast with yesterday, or even the security guard at the gate. I guess it didn’t really matter who told her, only that she was obviously unhappy with the fact.

“My Dad does work for the MCO,” I responded carefully as I slowly got to my feet.

“Hey Rose,” Lina asked from the other side of the room. “What’s going on?”

I didn’t take my eyes off the girl in front of me, but I had noted that Lina called her Rose. I’d heard someone mention a girl on our floor who was called Iron Rose, so I guessed this had to be her. She just glared back at me with a look of near hatred.

“Her Dad is with the MCO,” Rose stated, then reached up to the scar on her face and told me, “The MCO gave me this…”

“I’m sorry about that,” I told her, not sure what I could say. I suddenly felt a strong sense of deja-vu as this reminded me a great deal of how Collin had reacted after he first found out what my Dad did.

The other kids in the room were staring at me in surprise now, except for Lina who’d already heard the news. I felt the temperature drop several degrees and I squirmed uncomfortably under the suddenly hostile attention.

Rose snarled, “I’m gonna make you sorry…”

Rose telegraphed her punch well before she made it, easily giving me time to dodge to the side. Lina jumped to her feet and demanded, “What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna give this point eared bitch a message to send to her Dad,” Rose answered, making another swing at me.

This time, I dodged her clumsy punch and moved back, sending my pixies in as a distraction. Three of them grabbed her hair and began pulling while the fourth one hit her and self-destructed, giving her a good dose of my glamour.

“Let me tell you,” I commented with a sigh. “This kind of thing is really starting to get old.”

“What the hell,” Rose yelled, looking around with an expression of surprise and confusion. She swung a punch at something that only she could see, then her skin actually rippled and changed so that her entire body was now made of a dark gray metal. As she made another punch at the air, I turned and hurried down the hall to the safety of my room.

When I emerged from my room again an hour later, I was relieved to see no sign of Rose. However, I did find Cindy and Lina in the day room, both of whom gave me odd looks when I came in.

“What did you do to Rose?” Cindy asked me curiously. “She was going on about alien robots…”

“I can make people hallucinate,” I told her cheerfully. “These faeries of mine are good for more than just looking cute.”

Lina stared at me for a moment, looking just a little hesitant before she asked, “Can you show me how you do that? My power messes with people’s minds too, and if I can learn to do more than just make people stare at me…”

“You make people stare at you?” I responded.

Lina let out a sigh and then scowled. She stepped into the middle of the dayroom, and suddenly there was a giant glowing peacock tail behind her, though I was sure it was just illusion. Still, her entire body was glowing and there was something almost hypnotic about her. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Then her tail and the glow vanished and I snapped out of it.

“That was…kind of cool,” I said, earning a blink of surprise from Lina.

“You really think so?” Lina asked me, looking almost like she thought I was messing with her.

“Sure,” I insisted with a grin. “I mean, it looked really cool, and if you can do that when you’re in a fight, the other person will be way too distracted to chase you or fight back.”

“I never thought of it that way,” she said with a thoughtful look. “I just kind of though my power was useless…”

I shook my head at that and insisted, “No way. Your powers are great for distraction. I’d love to learn how to do something like that.” I thought about it for a moment, then told her, “I probably can’t teach you how to do the hallucination thing since its part of my glamour, but I can try.”

Lina got excited at that and we spent ten minutes talking about her powers and how she might be able to make use of them. Cindy watched with an amused look, not really adding anything to the conversation. By the time we were done, we’d agreed to meet up sometime this week to see if we could possibly learn how to do each other’s tricks. After this, I returned to my room for my book bag and a few items, then left for my appointment.

A short time later, was in an office meeting my faculty advisor, a matronly woman named Mrs. Chulkris. The moment I saw her, I had to blink and then try hard not to stare because she had vines and flowers growing all over her body.

“Ms. Wylann,” Mrs. Chulkris greeted me cheerfully. “It is my understanding that you will be studying in our magical arts program.” Then she looked to the faeries that were floating ahead and smiled. “Of course, the hobgoblins are a good indication. Don’t worry, we’ll teach you how to control your magic so you won’t be creating any more of those things.”

“Actually,” I responded self-consciously. “Controlling them is part of my power.” With that, I had all of my faeries land on her desk and sit down in a polite fashion, which seemed to amuse her.

“I see,” she said, looking at them more closely before nodding faintly. “Very interesting.” Then she stared at me for a moment before asking, “Have you had any magic instruction?”

“A little,” I admitted. “Witchling of the Seattle Supers recommended a teacher for me and she’s been giving me lessons.” I glanced at the vines and flowers that ran all over Mrs. Chulkris’ body and couldn’t resist adding, “She’s a nature mage.”

“Anyone I know?” she asked me curiously.

I hesitated a moment before answering, “She used to be called the Woodwife.”

Mrs. Chulkris blinked at that, and then smiled. “Now that is a name that I haven’t heard in quite some time. So, how is Victoria doing these days?”

I was a little surprised by her reaction since I hadn’t expected any real recognition, much less such a friendly tone. “She never told me her first name,” I finally responded. “But she seems to be doing all right.”

“She’s always been a bit of a stick in the mud,” Mrs. Culkris told me in an almost conspiratorial tone. “But a very capable teacher.” Then she frowned and said, “It is a shame about Walter though. He’d been such a kind man.”

I assumed that she was talking about Mrs. Lauriant’s husband, the Woodsman. Until now, I’d never heard any reference to his real name any more than I had to Mrs. Lauriant’s first name.

“Which reminds me,” Mrs. Chulkris said, giving me an odd look. “I see in your records that you are here on an MCO paid scholarship. I imagine that this may create some difficulties for you, but I hope you don’t let them deter you. I think this program may be just the thing the MCO needs. But for now, please tell me what Victoria has been teaching you.”

We probably spent half an hour just talking about what I knew and the spells that I’d learned so far. Mrs. Chulkris asked me a lot of questions, some of which left me scratching my head since I didn’t know enough to even guess what she was actually asking. However, by the time we were done with this, she seemed fairly satisfied.

“Now to the matter at hand,” Mrs. Chulkris told me. “We need to set your class schedule. Of course, you’ll be taking my class Introduction to Mystic Concepts, and you’ll need Principles of Magic as well. In addition, we recommend Powers Theory for all first year students.”

“So, just four regular classes?” I asked, a little surprised. I’d known that going to school here would be different, but I hadn’t expected so much of my class schedule to be focused on power related classes. I’d thought there would be a little more math, science and English. Then again, I supposed that Power Theory was a kind of science class, one that would be a little more relevant to me than something like marine biology.

“We also have a very strong recommendation that students take either martial arts or survival,” she added with a faint smile. “Being a mutant can be very dangerous these days, so we like to help you learn how to survive a hostile world.”

I frowned thoughtfully for a moment before musing, “Survival sounds kind of interesting…”

Mrs. Chulkris gave me a wry smile before saying, “Actually, your father sent the school an e-mail specifically requesting that you be assigned to a martial arts class.” She held out what appeared to be a printed off version of the e-mail, then held it out to me.

I read the e-mail, specifically noting the last line. ‘PS, tell Gwen that Doug strongly recommends she take the martial arts class as well.’ I blinked in surprise at that. Doug didn’t have a lot of respect for traditional martial arts classes, saying that they focused too much on style but not enough on practical substance. If he was recommending one, I wasn’t quite sure what that said about the class, but it did catch my interest.

After this, it only took a few minutes before Mrs. Chulkris handed me a sheet of paper with my new schedule along with another one that contained a list of class supplies I was going to need to purchase. I saw that a martial arts gi was on the list and groaned. I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to be the casual self-defense environment that I was used to.

When I left Mrs. Chulkris’ office, I decided that it was time to take care of something that Mrs. Lauriant had asked me to do. I began walked around campus, looking for an out of the way place that would suit my needs. There were lots of trees surrounding the school, including one area where I’d been told was strictly off limits to students. I was definitely going to have to check the place out and see what the fuss was all about, but not right now.

I found a cluster of trees that looked to be just about perfect for my needs. With that, I reached into my book bag and pulled out something that Mrs. Lauriant had given me, a knot of wood that was a little bigger than a soft ball and shaped something like an almond. After setting the knot of wood on the ground, I pushed a little of my magical essence into it, just like Mrs. Lauriant had shown me. A moment later, the knot started to unwind and roots started to dig into the ground. At the same time, it began to sprout and a small sapling began to grow from it.

“That should do it,” I said, knowing that I’d have to wait a week before I could do anything else.

Mrs. Lauriant had visited me for one more lesson the night before I’d left for Whateley, and she’d also given me this seed. She said it came from the big tree in her yard, the one that she used to store her magical energy. Because of that, this seed was tied to that tree and she’d be able to use it to communicate with me, even though I was on the other side of the country. Apparently, her intention was to use this as some kind of magical Skype so we could continue our lessons. I was definitely curious to see how it worked.

I was finished getting my class schedule and performing this errand for Mrs. Lauriant, but I still had to call Grace as well as make another stop at the school store. Buying school supplies was turning out to be pretty expensive, so it was a good thing the MCO was giving me a stipend to take care of those kinds of expenses. And since Mom and Dad were giving me an allowance as well, I wasn’t hurting for money, at least not as long as I didn’t get carried away.

When I was finished shopping at the school store, I returned to Poe, eager to try out a couple of my spells. I’d been doing a lot of reading and practicing on my own, so I felt confident that I was actually starting to get a handle on this magic stuff.

Just as I reached the door to my room and began to unlock it, I heard a voice from behind me exclaim, “We want a word with you.”

I turned around, startled to see that it was one of my faeries speaking to me. “What?” I gasped in surprise and confusion. Until now, none of my faeries had made any noise at all.

“We’re tired of you bossing us around,” my faerie stated as he hovered in the air with her hands on her hips. Two more faeries hovered behind her, nodding agreement. “And we want a raise.”

“A raise?” I asked in even greater surprise and confusion.

Suddenly, three more faeries descended from the ceiling and hovered in the hallway in front of me, each of them holding tiny picket signs. They began marching back and forth through the air, while the one who appeared to be their spokesfaerie gave me a steady glare.

“We’re on strike,” she called out loudly. “Pixies of the world unite…”

There were several girls in the hallway who were staring at us and laughing. I just stood there, feeling confused and more than a little embarrassed as I wondered what was going on. This didn’t make any sense.

It wasn’t until then that it dawned on me that I only had five faeries out at the moment, and I could feel all of them around me. I couldn’t feel these striking faeries at all, which meant that they weren’t mine. I finally shifted to mage sight and saw that all these new faeries shared a single aura, a familiar looking aura which tied them all together and had a thread leading off down the hallway.

Just then, I heard loud giggling from down the hallway, in the same direction that the threads led, coming from the person responsible for this. “Jade,” I muttered, recognizing the aura of that strange girl. “I’ve been punked.”

I scowled in annoyance at being the target of such a joke, feeling embarrassed for the fact that I’d fallen for it. But after a few seconds, I had to admit that it had been kind of funny and I couldn’t resist laughing as I went into my room, slamming the door in the faces of the still marching faeries.

--------------------

I felt extremely nervous as I took my seat and slowly looked around the classroom. When I’d come to Whateley, I’d known that I’d be surrounded by other mutants and that some of them were bound to be pretty strange, but even after spending a couple days around campus, I was still caught by surprise.

There was a girl on the other side of the classroom who had dark blue skin, four arms, and glowing red eyes. There was a huge and ugly looking boy sitting next to me, who looked almost like he could have been an orc from the Lord of the Rings, but when he talked to the girl on the other side of him, he spoke with a French accent that completely threw me off. Then a large fox with three tails came racing into the room, going straight to a desk and then suddenly transforming into a girl, who still had three tails.

Though I’d been at Whateley since late Friday afternoon, this was actually my first day of attending classes, and my very first class. The class was Introduction to Mystic Concepts, which was being taught my Mrs. Chulkris. The fact that I’d at least met the teacher before let me relax just a little.

“Great,” the girl sitting behind me said, giving me a look of hostility. “Another pretty.”

The girl was…scary looking. She had black skin, slitted yellow eyes, fangs in her mouth, and a pair of large devil horns growing from her forehead. I could even see some kind of devil tail swishing around behind her. But in spite of that, she was actually kind of cute in a scary sort way.

“I’m Gwen,” I introduced myself, trying to be friendly.

“Fuck you,” she responded bitterly.

“Don’t mind Darqueheart,” the orc boy told me with what I assumed was supposed to be a friendly smile. “I’m Jean, though most call me Orc.”

“Gwen,” I told him, relieved to see no hostility in his aura, though there was some obvious interest which made me a little uncomfortable. “I’m called Absinthe.”

When class started a minute later, Mrs. Chulkris announced, “Class, you may have noticed our new student. This is Absinthe.”

“Damn, she’s hot,” one boy on the other side of class exclaimed, giving me a leer. I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat at the attention.

“Just what the school needs,” Darqueheart muttered. “Another fucking pretty…”

“Absinthe,” Mrs. Chulkris told me, gesturing towards a boy who had dark skin and black hair who looked Native American. “Wendigo is my TA and he will be able to help answer your questions.” Then she said, “Orc, if you will help get Absinthe caught up in class.”

“Oui,” Orc responded. “It would be my pleasure.”

Just then, a pretty blonde girl with pink ribbons in her hair exclaimed, “Look…” She was pointing to the faerie that I had floating near the ceiling above me. “Absinthe brought a hobgoblin…”

There were some laughs from around the room at that, reminding me that most magic users thought of hobgoblins as being mistakes. From that perspective, it had to look like I was walking around with a mistake actually following me wherever I went.

“I can take care of that thing,” the blonde announced in a smug tone. She pulled out a magic wand, the kind that looked like a little girl’s toy with a star on the end. Then she said something and suddenly my faerie was pulled right to her, as if by some invisible tractor beam. “Say bye bye…”

“No,” I called out in warning as I realized what she was about to do. However, it was too late as the blonde girl touched my faerie with her magic wand and destroyed it, only to get a face full of my glamour energy in the process. Her eyes went wide and she started to look around with an expression of confusion. I let out a sigh and said, “The hallucinations will fade in just a minute or two.”

“What did you do to her?” someone demanded, giving me a suspicious look.

“I have a glamour that makes people around me start hallucinating,” I explained, feeling self-conscious about admitting this in front of everyone. “Unless I have one of my faeries to transfer it to, everyone else feels the effects instead.” With that, I created a new faerie and began sending my glamour to that one.

One boy gave me a strange look and even odder grin before saying, “Awesome… Instant high…”

“I think you made a new best friend,” A girl sitting on the opposite side of me as Orc said. She gestured to the boy and said, “Ripple is with the Dylans.” At my blank look, she let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “The stoners.” I nodded in understanding at that.

“An interesting demonstration,” Mrs. Chulkris said, then looked around the classroom. “And a lesson in what may happen if you interfere in someone else’s magic before knowing its purpose.”

After this, Mrs. Chulkris went into a lecture and I paid close attention, though I also followed along in the book. I was pleased to notice that the class book we were using contained a lot of the same information as what was in one of the books Mrs. Lauriant had given me, and which I’d been reading on my own. Because of that and my previous lessons, I wasn’t nearly as far behind as I’d feared.

My second class of the day was Powers Theory. Since all my powers were related to magic, and I was already taking two magic classes, I technically didn’t need to take Powers Theory as well. However, I’d been interested in mutant powers and how they worked even before I’d manifested, so if I’d been given the choice, I probably would have taken this class as an elective anyway.

When I stepped into the classroom, I grinned at the sight of Collin already sitting at a desk. He was right next to Fixx, so I went over and took an open seat next to them, saying, “Fancy meeting you here.”

“I know,” Collin responded with an easy grin, the kind all the girls at our old school had gone crazy for. It wasn’t until that moment that I suddenly realized just how cute that smile actually was.

“At least I know a couple people in this class,” I told them with my own grin.

“Yeah, I didn’t know anyone last class either,” Collin told me.

Just then, I noticed another girl walking towards us, or at least towards the seat next to me. Her body and hair appeared to be made of white ceramic, giving her the appearance of being a living doll. Even her face was made of this material, looking just as blank and expressionless as a porcelain doll. She moved slowly and carefully as she sat down beside me. I watched as she sat, noticing that her joins actually cracked when she moved, leaving cracks all over her body which immediately began sealing up again when she stopped moving.

“Hi,” I greeted her, feeling self-conscious about staring. “I’m Absinthe.”

“I am called Porcelain,” she responded in a quiet and slightly muffled voice. Her mouth didn’t move when she talked and her entire face remained a blank mask. “It is nice to meet you.”

“Hey, Porce,” Fixx greeted her.

Porcelain turned to look at him, or at least she appeared to since it was hard to tell where she was looking. Her eyes appeared to be made of the same white porcelain as the rest of her. “Please do not shorten my name in that manner.”

“Sorry,” Fixx responded, looking embarrassed. “I forgot.”

Class started a few minutes later and our teacher, Dr. Quintain, began a lecture on various warper effects and the difference between internal and external warpers. He was obviously extremely knowledgeable, but he was also pretty boring to listen to. It was a real struggle to stay wake and pay attention.

Then before class ended, Dr. Quintain announced, “This week, we are going to perform a class project. I will split the class into teams with one warper on each team. Each team will work with their warper to discover at least one new use of their power, if possible. At the end of the week, each team will turn in a report as to what ideas were suggested, how they were tested, and what the results of these tests are.”

With that, Dr. Quintain made every warper in class stand up, which included Collin, then he began assigning teams to each warper. Dr. Quintain seemed to pick the teams based merely off who was sitting closest to their warper, so I ended up with Collin, along with Fixx and Porcelain.

When the teams were picked and the class ended, we stayed behind for a minute while Collin admitted, “My powers aren’t really that impressive…”

“Impressive enough to hold a teleporter,” I reminded him with a smirk. “One the MCO had spent months trying to catch without success…”

Fixx didn’t seem surprised by that comment, so I assumed that Collin had told him about what happened. However, Porcelain looked at him, though she didn’t have any expressions to give away what she was thinking. I tried looking at her aura, but something about her mutation was blocking it, giving faint hints of curiosity but nothing else.

“I can make people get stuck in one place,” Collin explained to her. “Like being caught on fly paper.” Then he grinned, “But once someone is caught, they are caught good.”

“Then it should be interesting to see your powers in action,” Porcelain said politely before she left.

Collin, Fixx and I all had English together next, so we continued towards class together. “Porcelain seems…odd,” I commented carefully.

“She’s usually pretty shy and doesn’t talk much,” Fixx said, giving a wry smile. “That’s not too surprising though since people like to mess with her. We both hang out with the Underdogs…”

“The what?” I asked, deciding that I was going to have to get a cheat sheet on all these clubs and cliques that seemed to be present here at Whateley. So far I’d heard of Team Kimba, the Grunts, the Alphas, the Dylans, and a couple others.

“Kids with pretty weak powers,” Fixx admitted. “A lot of them are pretty easy targets for bullies, so we’re sort of considered bully bait. Most don’t bother me too much, but Porcelain looks pretty odd so she gets a lot of teasing.”

“So,” I asked, half joking, “What kind of club do you think I’d be a good fit for?

Fixx stared at me for a moment before answering, “Maybe Venus Inc. That’s the fashion and modeling club.” I snorted at that since there was no way I’d go for something like that. Then he added, “And Fey is one of the members. She’s an elf girl like you…”

“Hell no,” I said, now even more determined than before to avoid them. As if I’d have anything to do with modeling, other than to watch the models that is.

“I don’t know,” Fixx said, giving me a shrug. “I don’t exactly know you well enough to know what you’re into.”

“Good point,” I agreed.

“The funny thing is,” Fixx told me with a grin. “After I hooked up with the Underdogs, I found out that they used to have another guy with the same codename as me, and similar powers too. Good thing he graduated last year or I might have had to change my name.”

“That would have been awkward,” I responded with a grin, surprised that more people didn’t end up trying to use the same codename.

English passed without much problem, and other than the fact that the girl sitting in front of me had snakes for hair, it was almost like a normal English class. The fact that I shared the class with Collin, just like in the English class in our old school, made it feel all the more normal. Of course, he had no idea that I’d been in that class with him, but I knew.

After English, Collin, Fixx, and I went to Crystal Hall for lunch where we met up with Dana and Jinx. Even though I’d eaten several meals with Dana, I still found myself watching her eat in disbelief, wondering how anyone could eat so much. Fortunately, Collin was just amazed as I was, but not as good as being subtle about it.

“I’ve got martial arts next,” I complained, definitely not looking forward to the class.

“Me too,” Dana and Collin blurted out simultaneously.

“Really?” I asked, looking at Dana and wondering how I could possibly be in the same martial arts class with someone who could bench press over half a ton. Dana had bragged about that yesterday at breakfast, so I was a little nervous.

“Oh yeah,” Dana said, pausing to take a sip of coffee.

I absently wondered how Dana could possibly drink so much of the stuff. I mean, I was from Seattle where there was a Starbucks or two on every corner, and I could only handle a mocha on rare occasions. Dana, on the other hand, always seemed to find the coffee.

“On my way to Whateley,” Dana explained, “I got into a fight with a super hero…” She paused before adding, “Don’t ask.”

“But what if I really want to ask?” I teased her, knowing full well that her trip to Whateley included a fight with the Liberty League and the MCO.

Dana stuck her tongue out at me, then continued, “Anyway, I was a lot stronger than Twist, but she still kicked my butt. She was way better at fighting. Well, it turns out that this martial arts class is where she learned to fight.”

Collin stared at Dana with a confused look. “Wait a minute. You fought a super hero?”

“What part of don’t ask don’t you understand?” Dana joked. “It’s a long story. But anyway, this class will really teach you how to fight. I’ve only been here for a couple weeks and I’ve already learned a lot.”

“I’m just glad I took survival instead,” Jinx said with a shake of her head. “I mean, you’ve got regeneration to take care of all those bruises, but not all of us are that lucky.”

“So speaks the girl whose power is luck,” Dana responded with a grin.

Fixx nodded at that, then said, “Survival is pretty interesting. I mean, where else are you going to learn the best way of getting away from someone chasing you?”

“Oh man,” I grumbled, wishing that I’d been able to take survival instead of basic martial arts. It sounded right up my alley. “I’m gonna have to take that one sometime.”

“I’ve done my share of running away,” Dana said with a scowl. “I prefer fighting back.”

“I prefer to avoid fighting when I can,” I stated.

Collin nodded at that, then said, “Yeah, her brother is the same way. They’re really good at running away, but you don’t want to corner them.” He winced and admitted, “I found that out the hard way.”

“The last time someone actually tried hurting me,” Jinx added with a smirk. “He slipped on his own shoelaces and ended up breaking his ankle. And that was without my even having to actively use my powers on him. I did that to a car once and the transmission went out, the engine block cracked, three tires blew out, and that was before the semi crashed into it.”

The rest of us at the table all stared at Jinx for a moment before Fixx said what we were all thinking. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

When we were done eating, Collin, Dana and I went to our martial arts class. I quickly changed into my gi, feeling extremely annoyed as I did so. So far, I’d been wearing my school uniform all morning, and that came with a skirt. As with the dresses that Mrs. Lauriant made me wear, that was just part of the price I had to pay in order to get the education I needed. I’d made an effort to do that without complaint. The gi wasn’t nearly as embarrassing as a dress or skirt, but it still bothered me for some reason.

“Doug would laugh his butt at this,” I muttered.

I’ve disliked traditional martial arts because they were always about following rules and traditions that didn’t make any sense to me. Wearing a gi had been a part of that, so this almost felt like I was betraying my own beliefs.

“But Dad said that Doug recommended this class,” I reminded myself, knowing that Doug wouldn’t do that without good reason. And if Doug thought this class had something worth learning, then it was worth putting up with this in order to learn it.

“Just like wearing a dress,” I said, realizing the irony of that statement.

I went out into the dojo where all the other students were sitting on the mats. I sat down beside Dana, and a minute later, Collin came in and sat down beside me.

In front of the class was a short old Asian man, who was obviously the teacher. At first glance, he appeared small and weak, but something told me that he was anything but helpless. For one thing, anyone who’d teach martial arts to people with super powers had to be pretty dangerous.

There was a woman standing up front as well, a six foot tall black woman who was wearing a black spandex body suit instead of a gi. Dana leaned over and whispered that she was sensei Tolman.

The old man came to where Collin and I were sitting and gestured for us to stand. “I am Tatsuo Ito. You may address me as sensei, Ito sensei, or soke,” he instructed us. Then he asked, “Has either of you had previous martial arts instruction?”

Collin shook his head while I said, “I’ve had self-defense lessons, but not martial arts.”

“Absinthe and Centurion,” Ito sensei abruptly announced, gesturing for us to get into a circle on the mats. “You will spar without using your powers. You lose the match by submitting, being unable to continue, or being knocked outside of the circle.”

I got up and went to the circle, immediately realizing what Ito was doing. He wanted to see what I was capable of by testing me against a student with known capabilities. Doug usually did the same thing whenever he got someone new in class.

“Poor girl,” someone called out, indicating what they thought my chances were.

Centurion was a tall and muscular boy with long black hair and a hawkish nose. He had a confident look about him and a faint smirk, making it clear that he didn’t think this would be any kind of fight at all. He was obviously a lot bigger and stronger than me, but that was absolutely nothing new. Doug specialized in teaching his students to defend against people who were bigger and stronger than them.

As soon as Ito indicated for us to begin, Centurion came straight towards me, obviously intending to get this over with quickly and show me as fast as possible just how outmatched I was. I kept backing away from him, but when he lunged and threw a punch, I grabbed his fist and used his own momentum to roll him over my body and slam him to the ground. A moment later, I was on the ground with him, using a grappling move and some leverage to keep him pinned and unable to move. Ito called the match.

“You caught me by surprise,” Centurion said as we got back up. He glared at me, obviously not happy about losing the first match to a newcomer, especially one who was a pretty girl. “It won’t happen again.”

Ito told us to continue and Centurion came after me again, this time more slowly, being a bit more cautious. I just kept backing away from him so the two of us moved around the circle until he lost patience and lunged at me again. This time, I slipped to the side, avoiding his punch and then I grabbed his hair and pulled as I moved, knocking him completely off balance. I kicked Centurion in the back of the knee, then slammed him to the ground. However, this time, he slipped from my grip and got back to his feet before I could pin him again.

“You grabbed my hair,” Centurion snarled angrily. “You cheated…”

“If you’re not cheating, then you’re not trying hard enough,” I said, half sure that Ito would call the match from that move. After all, in traditional martial arts, that kind of thing was considered cheating. However, he just watched from the side with an unreadable expression.

“You pointy eared bitch,” Centurion exclaimed, coming at me again.

This time, I jumped to the side and dodged him, playing defense as I kept moving around and avoiding his attacks. Centurion was obviously getting frustrated, then I saw my opportunity. I kicked at Centurion’s shin to make him lose balance, then I drove my fist as hard as I could into his solar plexus. However, it didn’t have the effect I was hoping for and Centurion slapped me, sending me flying back where I hit the ground hard.

Ito suddenly called an end to the match, then said, “You were instructed not to use your powers.” I realized that Centurion had a faint shimmering glow around his body, suggesting that he’d decided to follow my advice and do a little cheating of his own. I certainly couldn’t complain about that, though I mentally cursed myself for not expecting it. “Again. This time, powers are allowed.”

“Watch out,” Dana called out to me. “He’s strong and tough.”

“I noticed that,” I commented, not taking my eyes off my opponent as we began once again.

If Centurion had looked cocky before, he nearly radiated arrogance now. There was no doubt in his expression or aura that he was going to win this. That just made me smile faintly since I always seemed to do best when people were underestimating me. Sure, Centurion’s powers made him a lot stronger and tougher than me, but almost everyone I ever fought was bigger and stronger than me, so this was nothing new.

“You can’t possibly beat me,” Centurion stated. “I’m as strong as a hundred men.”

Centurion came straight at me, not seeing the faeries until one of them was in his face, trying to grab at his eyes. That kept him too distracted to notice the one that hit him from behind, giving him a full dose of my glamour. He began staggering, looking around with an expression of stunned disbelief and confusion. I had no idea what he was seeing, but it was obviously distracting him, just like I’d intended. I took full advantage of that distraction to begin casting my spells.

“What in the…?” Centurion exclaimed, taking a swing at something only he could see. Then he punched at something else.

Just then, I released my first spell and the air was filled with a burst of bright sparkles that would momentarily blind Centurion and give me yet another distraction while I unleased my second spell. When the sparkles cleared, there was now another me standing in the circle with us. The illusion looked identical to me.

Centurion’s eyes widened at that and he gasped in surprise. “Now there are two of you…” He snarled and swatted at something else that only he could see. I kept my own expression completely flat and emotionless while my copy began laughing. “So that’s the real you,” he exclaimed triumphantly.

With that, Centurion rushed to my copy and went to grab her, only to have his hand go right through the illusion. While he was standing there in surprise, I rammed him from behind, shoving him right outside the circle and winning the match. There was some laughter and cheers from the other students, but Centurion glared at me with a look of hatred.

“You CHEATED,” he snarled furiously.

“Enough,” Ito stated, giving Centurion a flat look that immediately stopped the large mutant. “You may take your seat again Centurion.” Then he turned to me and commented, “You said that you had no martial arts training…”

“I took self-defense lessons for a year and a half,” I told him honestly. “But our teacher was very clear that it wasn’t martial arts.”

“I see,” Ito said in a tone that gave nothing away. “Did your teacher have a name for this style?”

I shrugged at that before responding, “I don’t know… Frankenstein style? He just taught us bits and pieces of anything he thought would be useful.”

Ito nodded at that, and though his expression was hard to read, his aura suggested at least some approval. “We will work on your form to make your moves more effective.”

With that, I was sent back to the mat while Collin was told to spar with someone called Teke. I was a little surprised to realize that Teke was actually Shawn, the changeling from Poe. Because of that, I wasn’t really sure who to cheer for.

Collin was bigger and stronger than Shawn, and for the first match, he simply used his larger size to overwhelm his smaller opponent. For the second match, Shawn changed tactics and moved more quickly, though it ended in a tie as Collin tried to shove the smaller boy out of the circle but they both ended up toppling out together at the same time. For the third match, they were allowed to use their powers, so I watched in fascination to see how this would play out.

As soon as the match began, Collin activated his powers and I saw the shimmering effect along the floor that indicated his powers were on. Shawn immediately tried backing away, only to find that he couldn’t. His feet were effectively glued to the floor.

“This should be pretty easy,” Collin said as he confidently walked up to Shawn, not affected by his own powers.

“Don’t count on it,” Shawn said, right before Collin was suddenly flying through the air and out of the circle. “Telekinesis. I don’t need my feet to win.”

Collin got up and grumbled, “Now you tell me.”

After this, Tolman and Ito began pairing people off to spar, except for Collin and myself. Tolman took the two of us to the side and began teaching some forms. This part sort of bored me, especially when I watched the other students spar, often using their powers in the process. By the end of the class, I’d decided that wearing a gi and doing these forms would be well worth it if I could learn how to defend myself better against people with powers. After dealing with Slippery and that crew of fanatics, I’d seen just how relevant that could be to my life.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and after the final class was over, I hurried back to Poe where I found Dana in the common room with a large package she’d received in the mail. Jinx stood beside her, watching Dana open it with a curious look.

“Come on,” Jinx urged. “Let’s see what it is…”

“It’s from Jackie,” Dana said with a cheerful grin. “So it could be just about anything.” Then she finished opening the box and stared inside for a moment before suddenly jumping up and exclaiming, “Oh yeah…”

“What is it?” I asked.

Dana just grinned excitedly as she pulled out an espresso machine. “She knows me so well. And look, she even sent me the receipt…”

“So you can take it back if you don’t like it,” Lina commented from the other side of the room.

“Hell no,” Dana responded with a shake of her head. “So I know she didn’t steal it.”

Cindy was sitting beside Lina and asked, “Is that a common problem?”

“Well,” Dana said with an almost innocent look, which didn’t really work for her. “Considering that the first time I met her was when she was robbing a bank…”

“I have GOT to meet her,” Jinx said with a giggle. “She sounds like a lot of fun.”

Dana shrugged at that, then said, “She told me she’d come visit when she could, but she’s laying low for awhile. We got a little too much attention a few weeks ago so she’s trying to avoid any excitement for a couple months.” Dana hugged the espresso machine as though it was her new favorite possession, and considering the way she seemed to drink coffee, it just might be.

I watched Dana for a moment and shook my head, definitely agreeing with Jinx. From what I’d heard about Dana’s adopted sister, she definitely sounded like someone I wanted to meet some day…even if she was a super villain.

Then I looked to Lina and asked, “Hey, did you want to try that experiment we were talking about?”

Lina gave me a blank look for a moment, then grinned as she remembered what we’d been talking about. A minute later, we went into my room since I didn’t have a roommate yet, which meant that we had a bit more privacy. We started off by demonstrating our powers, with Lina becoming absolutely fascinating so that I couldn’t look away from her, then I hit her with one of my faeries. I would have let her get a slower dose of my glamour the normal way, but that would have taken too long.

“Wow,” Lina exclaimed as she staggered around my room, looking as though she was having a hard time standing. “I’m assuming that the floor isn’t really rolling…”

“Nope,” I responded cheerfully. “The effects should wear off pretty soon though. As long as I’m not actively hitting someone with my glamour, the effects fade in just a minute or two.”

“This is definitely distracting,” she told me, moving around as though she was badly drunk, though she wasn’t slurring her speech at all. “I’m an avatar, not a mage, but I hope my spirit and I can learn to do something like this…” Then Lina paused and tilted her head, as though listening to something I couldn’t hear. After a moment, she said, “He thinks that maybe we can do something like this…”

Once Lina’s head had cleared, she demonstrated her power for me a second time, with me paying close attention with my mage sight. The way the energy flowed around her aura was interesting, and not something that I thought I could do myself. However, it did give me something to think about. Lina and I spent an hour with this, and by the time we were done, neither of us could duplicate the other’s effect, but we’d both gained some ideas that we wanted to experiment with.

“Now to go get dinner,” I announced when we were through.

I opened the door to leave, only to find myself staring at another door. I blinked in confusion, looking to the door that I still had in my hand, then at the closed door in front of me. I pulled that one open as well, only to find a third door behind it.

“Okay,” I said, beginning to get annoyed. “Something is a little fishy…”

“Belle,” Lina announced in exasperation. At my blank look, she said, “Beltane.”

“Ah,” I said in sudden understanding. A couple of the girls had warned me about one of the Poe seniors named Beltane, who was apparently one of the biggest practical jokers on campus. I’d even been told that as the newest Poe resident, it was likely that Beltane would give me her own version of a greeting. “Great.”

I opened the third door, followed by a fourth. Then when I opened the fifth door, I found myself staring at a brick wall.

“Come on,” Lina snapped angrily, kicking at the brick wall though it did absolutely no good. Then she yelled out, “BELLE!” I heard a girl laughing from the other side of the brick wall, but nothing changed.

Lina and I kicked at the brick wall and called out for someone to let us out for nearly twenty minutes before the brick wall and all the doors vanished. By then, we were both more than a little annoyed. Lina stomped off down the hallway, muttering a constant stream of profanities while I was a little more rational about my response.

“First Jade, now this,” I muttered with a scowl, deciding that I was really getting tired of being everyone’s practical joke punching bag. Then I grinned as an idea began to form and I mused, “Of course you know, this means war.”

--------------------

It was Wednesday afternoon and the last class of the day had finally ended, much to my relief. It had been a long and frustrating day so I was more than happy to be done with classes, though unfortunately, as I’d learned over the last few days here at Whateley, the line between being in class and being out of it tended to blur. But that was to be expected when you lived on school grounds with all your classmates, and half of them continued wearing their uniforms after the official school day was over.

This morning, I’d woken up from another of those strange dreams where I’d been an elf…a Sidhe. In this one, some nasty looking soldiers had been chasing me through a dark forest, though oddly enough, my dream-self had actually been having fun. I couldn’t remember many of the details, only that I’d been playing the role of bait, leading a small group of advanced enemy soldiers into a series of traps.

“At least I got a new spell from that one,” I mused with a faint smile, remembering that in the dream, I’d used some kind of spell that let me see in the dark as well as if it had been in the middle of the day. I’d actually been able to remember enough of that spell that I was sure I could duplicate it.

Last night’s dream might not have been as bad as some of the others, but it still left me very worried. These strange dreams kept coming and I’d already come to the conclusion that they were far more than mere dreams. I had a lot of questions as to what was really going on, but I was actually a little scared about asking them…and what the answers might be.

Of course, that dream hadn’t been the worst part of the day. In martial arts, Ito had made me spar against Dana in some kind of game where we took turns trying to get each other into of cage. When it was my turn to play offense, she merely formed a golden force field bubble around herself and then floated up into the air where I couldn’t touch her until time ran out. Then when I was playing defense, before I could do anything, I suddenly had a bubble around me, which had flown me straight into the cage. It had been humiliating to get beaten so easily, though I’d congratulated her afterwards. What it meant though, was that I would have to figure out a way to be more effective against someone with that kind of power.

At the moment though, it wasn’t my powers and abilities that I needed to be concerned with. Class was out for the day, but I hurried to Crystal Hall to meet up with Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain so we could work on our project for Powers Theory. So far, we’d talked a few times about what Collin’s actual powers were and how they worked, but this was the first opportunity that we’d have to actually do this outside of class without any distractions.

When I arrived, Collin and Fixx were both already sitting at a table and waiting, and just a couple minutes after I sat down, Porcelain came in. She moved with the deliberate slowness of someone who had a fragile body and was afraid of accidentally falling and getting injured. She sat down with the same care.

“Everyone,” I stated in mock formality. “I have gathered you here today because one of you is the murderer.”

“Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the pipe wrench,” Fixx said with a deceptively serious expression.

There was a pause before Porcelain quietly asked, “What was the time of death?”

“And what about motive?” Collin added with a chuckle.

We continued joking for several minutes before we finally got down to business. On the surface, Collin’s powers appeared to be very simple, he just created an area around him that became super sticky and kept anyone from being able to move their feet. However, Collin had explained that the people who’d tested his powers, who were actually the very same ones who’d tested mine, said that he created a warp field along the ground that fixed anything that touched it in space.

“Doctor Oswald called my power an anti-teleportation field,” Collin said. “Instead of moving things from one place to another, it keeps anything touching it from moving at all.” Then he looked at me and grinned. “I didn’t think he meant that it was literally an anti-teleportation field…not until I caught Slippery.”

Collin and I both chuckled at that, which earned a curious look from Fixx, who’d heard the story already. Still, Collin and I repeated the story for Porcelain’s benefit, adding a few more details in this time.

“The MCO captured these people,” Porcelain said when we were finished, looking at Collin and then me with her expressionless face. “And the MCO did not arrest either of you?”

“Her Dad was the MCO agent in charge,” Collin pointed out, earning what I was sure would have been a look of surprise if Porcelain had been capable of giving one. “Of course he let her go, and she talked him into letting me go.”

“I can’t believe your Dad is with the MCO,” Fixx said, giving me an odd look. “I mean, the MCO…”

“You cannot choose who your parents are,” Porcelain said quietly. “Nor should you be judged by their actions.”

Fixx nodded at that, then continued, “I keep hearing stories about how they make mutants disappear…”

“I’ve heard them too,” I admitted with a sigh. “And trust me, I know there a lot of assholes with the MCO, but not everyone is like that. Some of them are just trying to do their jobs right. In fact, most of the ones who are just trying to be professional are actually pretty pissed off at the ones who are using the MCO to hurt mutants.”

Collin nodded at that, no longer seeming to really doubt that after having met both my Dad and Grace. Of course, he hadn’t become a big supporter of the MCO either, but then again, neither was I and I actually worked for them. There were still too many of those assholes in the organization for my taste.

“My power isn’t really very complicated,” Collin said thoughtfully. “I mean, it spreads out from me along the ground in a five yard radius. If I lose contact with the ground, my field turns off. There’s not really a whole lot I can do with it other than turn it off and on.”

“Can you direct your field in one direction rather than in all directions equally?” Porcelain asked.

“Let’s go somewhere he can actually practice,” Fixx suggested with an easy grin.

A few minutes later, we’d left Crystal Hall and found an open area that would be perfect. We tested Collin’s powers, seeing if he could expand the range so his field could go out further than five yards, which it could, though only very briefly. He could also make it smaller. After a number of attempts, he could even manipulate the shape his field spread out along the field, making it longer and more narrow so it was shaped like an oval instead of a circle. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely an improvement on his control.

“We’ve already made enough progress with my powers to get an A,” Collin said happily.

By this time, we were getting hungry and began heading back to Crystal Hall, this time for dinner. I thought about how Collin was using his powers and remembered how easily Shawn had taken him out during their sparring match a couple days ago.

“Do you think you can use your powers on yourself?” I asked Collin thoughtfully. “I mean, could you stick yourself in place so that someone couldn’t fling you away?”

“I’ve never tried using it on myself,” Collin admitted, suddenly looking thoughtful. “I’d just always assumed I was immune to getting stuck. I’ll definitely have to test that…”

“But later,” Fixx said with a grin. “Right now, I’m hungry.”

We got in line and got our food together, but afterwards Porcelain said, “I should go…”

“Come on,” Fixx urged her, “Come on and sit with us. We can keep talking about the project…”

Porcelain hesitated a moment before admitting, “Most people do not like to watch me eat…”

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Fixx assured her, giving Collin and I a quick glance so we nodded agreement. After several seconds, she gave a faint nod.

A minute later, we were all sitting down at a table to eat. It didn’t take long to see what Porcelain meant about people not wanting to watch her eat. She held her food and her porcelain skin actually cracked and shattered around the lower part of her face as she opened her mouth. It looked gruesome and painful, and when she stopped chewing, the cracks all melted together and vanished as though they’d never existed. When she took a second bite, her face cracked again.

“Doesn’t that…hurt?” Fixx asked, looking worried.

Porcelain stopped eating to look at him. She was silent for a moment before answering, “This is not my skin.”

“It isn’t?” Collin asked in obvious surprise.

“In spite of the obvious assumption,” Porcelain said carefully, “I do not have GSD.”

I stared at her in realization as several pieces of information suddenly came together. “You’re a manifestor,” I said carefully. “That’s actually a manifested shell of some kind.”

Porcelain nodded at that. “Correct. I have a manifested shell which covers my body and which I cannot turn off.”

“That’s rough,” I said sympathetically. Then I hesitantly said, “When I first manifested, I started making everyone near me sick. Everyone got dizzy and started hallucinating. I was really afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get near anyone without that happening…”

“Yet you no longer seem to have that problem,” Porcelain pointed out.

With that, all the faeries that I kept nearby landed on the table in front of me. I gestured to them and said, “I learned how to use these girls to control it. Every other magic user thinks that they’re just mistakes, but without these girls, I’d constantly be making everyone around me trip out.”

“I’m sure you’ll learn to control your shell,” Fixx stated confidently, giving Porcelain a reassuring smile. “Maybe we’ll cover manifestors in class so we can work on your powers next…” Then he paused for a moment before saying, “Heck, who says we even need the class to try working on your powers?”

“Thank you,” Porcelain responded, actually sounding happy through her muffled voice. “But that is not necessary. My powers and their limits have already been thoroughly tested. I am able to control them as much as I will ever be able to. I appreciate the sentiment, but it is not necessary.”

Just then, an arrogant voice snarled, “If it isn’t the pretty little cheater…”

I looked over and saw Centurion had come up behind us and was glaring at me. As I’d seen earlier today, his long hair had all been cut off and he now had short hair that was very closely cropped. Obviously, he didn’t want someone to beat him by grabbing his hair again. I couldn’t help but finding it funny that he’d cut his hair just because of me.

“She beat you fair and square,” Collin said with a note of warning in it. “Accept it and move on. You’ll get a chance to spare against her another time.”

“You cheated,” Centurion accused me.

“Of course I did,” I responded with a roll of my eyes, earning a look of surprise from him. He probably hadn’t expected me to admit it. “So did you. I was just better at it.”

Centurion looked angry and took another step towards me, or at least he tried. He suddenly stared down at his feet in surprise as he realized that Collin had stuck him in place.

“Back off,” Collin said in a firm tone.

“Do you have any idea how strong I am?” Centurion demanded, slamming one of his fists into an open palm in a threatening manner.

“I heard you say you were as strong as a hundred men,” Collin answered, not looking the least bit impressed. “Doesn’t do much good when you can’t get close to me though, does it?”

“Is there a problem here?” Dana asked as she came up with Jinx by her side. Dana gave Centurion a cold look, which seemed to have at least a little more impact on Centurion than Collin’s threat had. After all, Dana was a little closer to Centurion’s power level.

“We’ll settle this in class,” Centurion stated, giving me a cold look before he turned and walked away.

“I wonder what he’d do if you copied his powers,” I told Dana with a grin, imagining her with all of his powers added to her own.

Dana laughed at that then sat down at the table before admitting, “It wouldn’t work. If I copied his powers, I’d only get a weakened version of them, enough to give me a small boost to my strength and stamina…maybe enough to match him.”

“She can’t really copy another exemplar,” Jinx explained.

“True,” Dana agreed, “but Centurion isn’t an exemplar. He’s a faux exemplar. He absorbs ambient energy to increase his strength, stamina and regeneration. Centurion is actually an internal energizer.”

“And you told me that you couldn’t copy internal energizers,” I said thoughtfully.

“Well, I can,” Dana responded with a shrug. “But I get a weakened version, just like I do with most other powers. I found that out when I tried copying a speedster the day after I got here. It turns out, the only other powers I can copy at full strength are compatible energizer ones. Things like energy blasts, force fields, and some other external effects that my own natural energizer abilities are able to synchronize with.”

Dana actually sounded a little disappointed by her limits so I just laughed. “Quit being so greedy. You’ve already got more than enough power as it is.”

Dana just grinned at me and said, “Remind me to learn a couple low level spells for the next time I copy a magic user.”

We all continued talking about our powers for the rest of dinner, taking a hint from our class project on warper powers and offering suggestions for each other on things to try. I noticed that Porcelain offered several interesting suggestions, but seemed uncomfortable when anyone tried talking about her abilities. Considering that she couldn’t turn them off, it was no wonder she was sensitive about the subject.

Eventually, dinner was over and we all began leaving Crystal Hall. Porcelain excused herself and promised to see us tomorrow in class, then she hurried off, or at least left at her usual slow and careful pace.

“Since it’s a green flag day,” Dana said cheerfully as she put an arm around Jinx, “I promised Amanda that I’d take her flying.”

With that, a golden bubble appeared around the two of them and they lifted up into the air and then floated off. I watched them for a few seconds, feeling just a little jealous of Jinx. After all, flying around in a bubble like that looked like a lot of fun.

“You want to hang out with us?” Collin asked me, almost eagerly.

“I’m afraid I can’t,” I told him, actually regretting it a little. “I have some things I need to take care of.” Then on a sudden impulse, I grabbed him in a hug and said, “Thanks for standing up to Centurion for me.” I let him go and grinned as I added, “I didn’t really need the help, but I appreciate it anyway.”

With that, I waved goodbye to Collin and Fixx, then started back to Poe. I hadn’t gone far though before I noticed that someone was standing in my path, obviously waiting for me. Centurion stood there with his arms crossed and a cocky smirk on his face.

“I decided that I don’t want to wait until class to settle this,” Centurion stated. He gave me a steady look and announced, “There are two ways this can go. You can apologize for cheating and make it up to me with a kiss, or we can go again right here and now. No referee and no stupid circle to get knocked out of.”

“I choose option three,” I responded cheerfully, right before I started to run.

“Get back here,” Centurion yelled at me, though I only laughed as he began to chase. I could have hit him with my faeries and given him a good dose of glamour, but that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun. “You green haired bitch…”

Centurion quickly proved himself to be faster than I’d expected, which meant that I needed to get creative. I hit a bench and vaulted over it, then led him down to some stairs, leaping over the whole bunch. He continued after me, moving fast but not nearly as efficiently. I was definitely having fun, enough that I was almost tempted to slow down in order to prolong the chase a bit more, but I did have other plans for the night so started for Poe instead.

“Got you now,” Centurion cried out as he jumped, and to my surprise, actually landed right ahead of me.

“Holy Hulk leaps,” I blurted out in surprise.

When Centurion charged at me, I jumped to the side and avoided him. He tried several more lunges, but I was able to dodge and avoid them. At this point, I was losing interest in this as a game and was starting to get just a little worried. Not too much since I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, but enough to know that I’d actually have to take this guy seriously.

Suddenly, a new voice called out, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I looked up and was surprised to see Zenith and Iron Rose coming towards us from the front door of Poe, neither of them looking happy. Centurion stopped and watched them curiously, especially Zenith. Rose glared at Centurion and then her body rippled and she was suddenly made out of metal.

Centurion didn’t look afraid at suddenly being outnumbered, but he did look annoyed. “We’ll deal with this later,” he told me before he turned and walked away.

“Thanks,” I told my rescuers, especially surprised by Rose since she’d previously tried attacking me herself.

“Poesies stick together,” Rose responded with a grunt. A moment later, her body returned to normal and then she turned and went back into the cottage without saying another word.

“I saw the way you were running,” Zenith told me with a speculative look. “Have you ever done any parkour?”

“A little I responded curiously. Then I watched Zenith for a moment before adding, “I’ve been doing it for about a year and a half.”

Zenith smiled at that and said, “Then I think you need to meet the Hooligans. If you’re interested, we’re going for a run this Saturday. We’re meeting up in front of Schuster at nine.”

After Zenith had walked away, I mused, “Hooligans? Is this some sort of soccer club?” I shook my head as I went into Poe, deciding that I was curious enough to at least check it out.

I went to the common room where Cindy, Lina, and Downpour were playing some kind of card game with one of the guys from the boy side of the cottage. Ricardo was so flamboyantly gay, I couldn’t help but wondering how they’d possibly kept Poe’s secret for so long.

“You want to play?” Cindy asked me, gesturing to the card game.

I stared at the cards, seeing one card had a picture of a teddy bear with a machine gun while another card appeared to have a little girl on a motorcycle. I shook my head, deciding that I really didn’t want to know any more about the game than that.

“No thanks,” I responded.

I glanced at Downpour, who hadn’t even looked up at me. A quick peek at her aura revealed that she was fairly depressed, but not as bad as I’d seen her before. For Downpour, this seemed to be the equivalent of a good day. I couldn’t help but feeling a surge of sympathy at that.

Lina stood up and absently ‘adjusted herself’ in the same way I’d seen countless boys do before. In fact, I used to do it myself back when I’d had the parts to adjust. I didn’t say anything as I didn’t want to embarrass her, though I hoped she was a bit more careful about doing that in public or she might be as big a threat to Poe’s secret as Ricardo.

“I’ve been working on my power,” Lina said with a grin. “I’ve figured out how to use it to make people a bit dazed and confused… It’s not a whole lot different than what I did before, but it’s definitely something…”

“Congratulations,” I told her with a grin. “You’ll have to show me sometime.”

I left the girls to their game and went back to my room where I immediately pulled out the laptop that Dad had given me. After pulling up the right program and entering my password, I then typed Centurion’s codename. A moment later, I had his MID open in front of me.

Since I as now technically an MCO employee, Dad had been able to get me access to the MID database. I had access to every MID that the MCO had on record, though I didn’t have access to anything more than that. I couldn’t see police records, power testing results, or anything else, only the MIDs, which didn’t even include a real name. Still, as long as I had someone’s codename, I could look up their MID and see what their powers were…or at least what were on record. As I knew firsthand, an MID didn’t necessarily tell the whole story.

“Yep, he’s an internal energizer,” I mused as I looked over Centurion’s MID. According to that, it looked like he was the equivalent of an exemplar five, which was a pretty impressive rating. Then I saw his weaknesses and laughed. “Strong allergic reaction to strawberries. I wonder if I should start carrying some strawberry jam.”

I studied Centurion’s MID for a minute, making some mental notes, then I searched the MIDs of a few other people. As Dad had obviously intended, being able to get an idea of what other people were capable of was a nice advantage when it came to protecting myself from them. In Centurion’s case, my best bet was to simply keep out of his reach, which I’d already guessed on my own.

When I was finished, I shut down my laptop and decided to get to work. I released a surge of magic and created a couple dozen new faeries, then I opened my bedroom door and released them to do their work. I settled down on my bed and closed my eyes, focusing on one of the faeries that I was linked to.

“Got it,” I announced as I was suddenly seeing through the eyes of my tiny spy. I shifted my attention to a second faerie and then a third, quickly getting glimpses of nearly all the public areas of Poe.

Mrs. Lauriant had told me that a magic user could often use the eyes and senses of their familiar as though they were their own, and after reading up on how to do it in my book, I’d discovered that I could do that with my hobgoblins. At that moment, I could really only see from one of my faeries at a time, but I was confident that with a bit of practice, I’d be able to expand that number.

When I found myself looking down at the common room of the sophomore’s floor, I paused, noticing that there were three girls sitting there doing homework. One of them was a beautiful blonde girl that I’d heard referred to as Bunny, one was the graceful black girl Toni, and the last was the one that sent a chill down my spine. It was Nikki.

“Oh look,” Toni said, pointing straight at my faerie. “Another hobgoblin. That new girl has these things all over Poe…”

“They’re so cute,” Bunny said with a grin. “I wonder if we can talk her into joining Wondercute…”

Toni just laughed, flipping backwards and doing a handstand on the back of her chair, which she was tipping so only one leg was on the floor. “She’s kind of weird. I mean, she runs away every time she sees Nikki.” She grinned at Nikki and asked, “Come on, what did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything to her,” Nikki said defensively, looking a little hurt. “I don’t know why she’s afraid of me. I went to talk to her, but a bunch of her hobgoblins distracted me, and when I looked back, she was gone…”

“Why don’t you just go to her room?” Bunny asked. “I mean, you do know where she lives…”

Nikki let out a sigh and admitted, “I’m afraid that would just scare her more…”

“Poor thing,” Bunny commented sympathetically.

Toni nodded and then did a flip before catching herself on the chair in a handstand again. “Yeah, I hear her Dad is with the MCO. That has got to be awful. It’s no wonder she’s so traumatized…”

“She’s Sidhe,” Nikki said with a sigh. “So it probably has something to do with Aunghadhail or the whole queen to come thing.”

The name Aunghadhail sent another chill down my spine and I almost lost contact with my faerie. This conversation was a distraction from my mission, but I couldn’t resist listening in.

“Well, Unga-Dunga can be a little intimidating,” Toni said. “I mean, being the ghost of a dead elf queen who lives in your head…”

“She’s not a ghost,” Nikki said in annoyance. “But Absinthe didn’t freak out until Aunghadhail took over…” Then she paused with a scowl and admitted, “Aunghadhail says that Absinthe looks just like someone she knew before the Sundering, but she won’t tell me anything more about it. I think Absinthe is making her a bit uncomfortable too…”

I listened for another minute but then their conversation shifted to something else. I let out a sigh and pulled back from my faerie and then shook my head.

“Aunghadhail,” I said, testing the name and somehow ‘knowing’ that was the name of the elf queen in my dreams. And they’d said her ghost was inside Nikki’s head. I gulped and whispered, “It was real… It was all real…”

I remained where I was for several minutes, feeling stunned and shaken by these revelations. Someone from my dreams had actually appeared in the real world. I’d actually felt her presence the first time I’d met Nikki…had seen her aura. It was no wonder she’d freaked me out so badly. Nikki didn’t just remind me of the elf queen from my nightmares, she was the elf queen.

“But if she was real,” I whispered to myself. “Then what about me? About my dream-self?”

I definitely had a lot of questions and not many answers. And after thinking about it for a little longer, I realized that I could remain distracted by this or focus on something of more immediate importance. After all, I’d spread my faeries out around Poe for a reason.

It was with some difficulty that I turned my attention back to the task at hand, quickly locating the person that I’d been looking for. Once I knew where she was, I decided that I was ready.

“Step one completed,” I said. “Now for step two.”

I stepped out of my room and looked around the hallway, making sure there was no one else there to see. Then I cast an illusion spell that I’d been practicing over the last couple days, one that put the illusion over myself. To anyone else, I no longer looked like Absinthe. Instead, I looked like someone else entirely.

“I can only hold this for a couple minutes,” I reminded myself, knowing that I had to hurry.

With that, I quickly made my way up to the sophomore’s floor, then went to where my faerie was watching my target. Less than a minute later, I had my target in sight. Jade was in the hallway, talking to the strange girl with the spikey silvery blue hair that I’d seen floating in the halls.

Since I didn’t want to waste any time, I cast the spell that I’d prepared and a moment later, Jade was covered in an illusion, much the way I was. However, where my illusion made me look like someone else, hers merely made her clothes look different.

“What the…?” the spikey haired girl blurted out, staring at Jade in horror.

“What?” Jade demanded, looking down at herself and then screaming.

She now appeared to be wearing a pair of hideous yellow plaid pants, a pink and lime green polka-dot shirt, and a jester’s cap. The whole wardrobe had been inspired by the eye aching clothes I’d seen Jericho wearing.

Jade’s expression was enough to make me burst out laughing, immediately drawing her attention to me. She glared at me with a look of anger and screamed, “BELTANE!”

I just waved at Jade and ran off, letting my illusion drop once I was out of sight. “Steps two and three complete,” I said with a laugh. Not only had I retaliated against Jade, but I’d also placed the blame on Beltane.

I was feeling quite satisfied with myself, but I still wasn’t done. I returned to my room to grab the supplies that I’d left there, an empty pie tin and a can of whipped cream. I quickly made a whip cream pie, then a minute later, three of my faeries flew out of my room while carrying the pie.

“Now to keep concentrating,” I said with closed eyes, focusing on not only controlling the faeries while seeing through one of their eyes, but also on maintaining the illusion that I’d cast on them.

My faeries flew up the stairs to the top floor, the one where the seniors lived. They went straight for target two, finding Beltane in the common room and smacking her right in the face with the pie before they quickly flew away.

A moment later, Beltane confirmed that my illusion had worked. Instead of seeing my three faeries, she’d seen a flying ‘Hello Kitty’ doll because she yelled out, “JADE!”

I willed almost all of my faerie spies to pop and vanish, all except a couple which I kept to watch my two targets. I sat there with an evil grin as I watched the results of my plan unfold. After several minutes, I opened my eyes and burst out laughing.

“I love it when a plan comes together.”

--------------------

A sense of calm tranquility pervaded my dream as I sat within an empty courtyard, sipping on a glass of wine. I slowly looked around my surroundings, which were framed with tree branches and magic, providing such a serene beauty that I nearly didn’t mind that the one I was to meet with was quite late.

Then she finally arrived, Aunghadhail, Daughter of the Burning Oak, Paramount Queen of the West. She was stunningly beautiful as always, with long red hair, piercing eyes, and a flowing dress that was more magic and illusion than actual fabric. The queen radiated such a sense of power and beauty that it could easily overwhelm any who were not prepared.

I bowed down and gave her a proper formal greeting, adding “Welcome my queen.” Then with a smile, I teased, “You’re late.”

“A queen is never late,” Aunghadhail responded with an amused look. “Nor is she early. She always arrives when she intends.”

With that, Aunghadhail sat down while I poured her a glass of wine. Only after she had taken a sip and had given permission did I sit down as well.

“I would have been here sooner,” Aunghadhail admitted, “but my meeting with ambassador Rythax took longer than expected.” It was not an apology as a queen never apologized, though it was more of an explanation than I was owed.

“Affairs of the state must always come first,” I replied, remembering that my mother had been fond of reminding me of that when I was a child.

Aunghadhail didn’t respond to that, though she took a sip of her wine and then said, “You have completed your training and will depart to serve our forces tomorrow. I wished to see you before you left in order to wish you good fortune.”

“Thank you,” I responded, pleased by the personal attention. As a queen, she was very busy with more responsibilities than I could fully grasp, so it was a great honor that she would put aside even a few minutes like this to meet with me.

For a moment, she stared at me, then said, “With your lineage, I am surprised that you choose to serve as a scout…”

I bowed my head at that, then admitted, “I do not have the strength of magic of my mother, nor the strength of arms of my father. I merely wish to use my talents where they will be of the most use. Whether it is glorious or not, I must do my part.”

“As we all must,” Aunghadhail agreed with a note of approval. She was silent for a moment before saying, “The loss of your parents to the enemy is a great sadness to me, so fulfil your duty with care. I do not wish to see you fall to the enemy as well.”

“Yes, my queen,” I responded with smile.

It was at this point that I was woken up by the sound of my alarm going off. I sat up in bed and turned off the alarm, then shook my head as I tried making sense of the quickly fading dream. This was the first dream that I’d had like this in several days and one of the few that had actually been pleasant. What was most surprising though, was that this elf queen Aunghadhail, who had previously been a figure of fear in my dreams, had actually been…friendly.

For a brief moment, I considered looking for Nikki and asking her about Aunghadhail, but I’d been avoiding her for the last week and the idea of actually talking to her now just seemed…awkward. I was a bit embarrassed about how I’d been acting towards her, but even after this latest dream, she still sent chills down my spine.

I glanced at my clock, wondering if I could get a little more sleep in but then deciding against it. It was with some reluctance that I climbed out of bed, grabbed my bathrobe and shower supplies, and then started down the hall to the showers.

It was Saturday morning so the showers weren’t nearly as full as they were during the week, but I still had to wait for one of them to open up. The girl in front of me was a petite black girl named Breakdown, who was one of the lesbians on the floor. I didn’t know much about her beyond that, other than that she was rooming with Downpour and was apparently some kind of devisor or gadgeteer. I hadn’t talked to her before, but she seemed to have a vague contempt for magic and little interest in me personally.

Cindy came into the showers, surprising me since she actually had green hair and skin, or at least partially green. “Let me guess,” Breakdown said, giving her a curious look. “You got caught by Jade or Belle?”

“Yeah,” Cindy responded with a sigh. “Those two have been going at each other like crazy… This time, its water balloons filled with paint…”

“I like the hair color,” I said with a wry smile, feeling just a little guilty.

When I’d retaliated against Jade and Beltane last Wednesday, I’d triggered a practical joke war between the two girls. And unfortunately, a few innocents had inadvertently been caught in the crossfire. I had no problem with turning my two attackers against each other, though I couldn’t help but feeling bad for those who’d been caught between them.

“I just hope Thorn doesn’t decide to get involved,” Cindy pointed out. “Can you imagine a three way war?”

“It might be fun to watch,” I said thoughtfully, thinking about the boy whom I’d been told was another huge joker. “From a distance.”

Once I finished with my shower, I quickly got dressed and went to Crystal Hall for breakfast, not even waiting for anyone else. After all, I had an appointment at Schuster Hall at nine, and I didn’t want to be late. After Zenith had invited me to meet up the Hooligans, I’d done some asking around and found out that she meant the Parkour Hooligans, a school club for parkour runners. That sounded right up my alley so I didn’t want to miss out.

I arrived at the meeting place with more than enough time to spare, finding that several other students were already gathered. Zenith was there, obviously dressed for running, as was everyone else. She actually smiled when she saw me.

“Everyone, this is Absinthe,” Zenith introduced me. “She’s a new froshie in Poe.”

“Call me Gwen,” I said self-consciously.

“Nice to meet you,” a brown haired girl with a squirrel siting on her shoulder exclaimed. “I’m Aquerna.”

“I’m Thrasher,” a slender boy announced. Then he asked, “Have you done much running?”

“I’ve been free running for about a year and a half,” I answered, suddenly feeling like I was being given an interview.

“We’ll see what you’ve got,” a tall and athletic looking boy said, looking a little skeptical.

“Don’t mind Slapdash,” Aquerna told me. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“And here comes the last member of the Parkour Hooligans,” Zenith told me, gesturing towards a very odd looking girl who was coming towards us. “Or at least the last one coming today. This is Caitlin.”

Caitlin was beautiful and statuesque, with metallic black hair, white skin that looked almost like marble, and she was covered with glowing blue tattoos. Her clothes were just as odd as the rest of her appearance, mostly because they had runes sewn into them, perhaps relating to the weird sparks that were going off around her. Then out of curiosity, I glanced at her aura and winced, quickly looking away. It was filled with powerful magic…and was very strange.

“This is Absinthe,” Zenith introduced me to Caitlin, who stared at me with a strange expression.

“Pleased to meet you,” Caitlin finally responded. “Forgive me if I don’t offer to shake hands. That doesn’t work well for me.” She held up her hand and snapped her fingers, releasing a small pop of energy. At my look of surprise, she said, “Trust me, this isn’t as bad as it used to be.”

After another minute of general introductions, we started on our run. Caitlin took the lead and everyone else followed her path, which led halfway around campus, hitting steps, benches, and walls, all before we finally reached a back area that contained some kind of an obstacle course. Whateley didn’t have nearly as many places to use as Seattle, but the obstacle course made up for it all. It was a challenge, which meant that it was also a lot of fun.

I strongly suspected that at least part of the obstacle course had been set up for exemplars and others with enhanced physical abilities, which only made it more interesting to work around. There was one high wall, which Aquerna scrambled up as easily as a squirrel climbed a tree. I couldn’t help but being a little impressed with the ease in which she’d done that.

When we paused to take a break, I told Aquerna, “That’s pretty cool the way you climb. You really are like a squirrel.”

She gave me a suspicious look, as though sure I had to be teasing her. “Okay…”

“I like squirrels,” I assured her with a grin, thinking about the ones that were always teasing my cat Gozer. “We have some back home that are always messing with our poor cat.”

That got the squirrel girl to start laughing. “Yeah, squirrels are great…” Then she grinned at me and said, “You’re the one Fixx told us about, aren’t you? The girl with the pet faeries?”

“What makes you say that?” I asked with my best innocent look as a half dozen faeries, who’d been following me around from above landed on my shoulders.

Aquerna’s eyes suddenly went wide and she blurted out, “They’re so cute…”

I chuckled at that as we all got ready to continue our run. I noticed that Caitlin was staring at me with a strange expression, though she quickly looked away and once again took the lead in creating our path. Several times after that, I caught her looking back and giving me odd looks, which were starting to creep me out a little.

When we finally finished with our run, I was feeling a bit sore and tired, just like I should feel after cutting loose like that. I had a feeling that if I continued running with these guys, I’d get plenty of opportunity to improve my free running skills, especially with the way Caitlin moved.

“It was good running with you,” Thrasher told me with an approving nod. “We’re running again next weekend, if you’re interested.”

“We’d be happy to have you,” Caitlin added while Slapdash nodded agreement.

“Yeah,” Aquerna said excitedly. “We need more girls…”

Slapdash and Thrasher looked at each other before Thrasher responded with a grin, “We boys are already outnumbered, but we don’t really mind…”

Zenith stood back with a somewhat smug look. I wasn’t sure if this was because she got some kind of ‘finders fee’ status boost for finding me, or if she just liked the idea of not being the only one from Poe who was interested in parkour. However, it was obvious that she was happy that I’d agreed to come back next week.

While everyone else was starting to leave and go their separate directions, I turned to Caitlin, who was once again giving me an odd look. “Okay,” I finally said, giving her a wary look. “Why do you keep giving me the stink-eye?”

“Sorry,” Caitlin told me with a wry smile. “You just have an…an uncanny resemblance to someone I’d met a LONG time ago. It…it wasn’t a very good time for me.”

“Oh,” I responded, not sure what to say to that.

Caitlin just grinned, suddenly seeming like she was in a better mood. Then she nodded towards me and said, “See you next week,” before she left as well.

“Weird girl,” I muttered with a shake of my head. From her messed up aura, I had a feeling that I didn’t know the half of it.

I took my time returning to Poe, enjoying the nice leisurely pace after having gone for the long run. And when I saw Centurion in the distance, I formed a quick illusion around myself, making me resemble someone else until he was no longer looking in my direction. I made it back to Poe without any trouble or incidents, much to my relief. I wasn’t sure I had the energy for another run so soon.

I had nearly reached my room when I noticed Mrs. Horton standing in the hallway, talking to Dana and Jinx right outside their door. “Now, about this room situation,” Mrs. Horton started to say.

Suddenly, Rose yelled, “Get back here,” and ran down the hallway, chasing a cute little stuffed white lion toy, which was laughing as it ran away from her. I would have been surprised, but the lion had the same aura as Jade. Ever since I’d moved in, I’d noticed a number of supposedly inanimate objects, all moving around Poe with the same aura. It was obvious to me that there was something more going on with Jade’s powers than what her MID said.

At that moment, another figure suddenly descended from the ceiling, revealing that it was a sophomore girl who I thought was named Phase. I hadn’t met her yet, but as soon as she landed on the floor, she turned and walked right through the wall as though it wasn’t even there and quickly vanished from view.

Then there came a loud crashing sound from the next room over, making me jump. Mrs. Horton looked around with an expression of surprise, and when the chaos had faded away, she turned back only to find that Dana and Jinx had both slipped away during the excitement. I just laughed, wondering how much of that had been due to Jinx’s powers.

“Those girls,” Mrs. Horton muttered with a shake of her head.

I chuckled at Mrs. Horton’s reactions, then went to take another shower. Sure, I’d already taken one just a few hours ago, but after that run, I was definitely in need of another one. Besides, I had another appointment scheduled for immediately after lunch and I needed to be clean and presentable for that one.

A short time later, I left my room and was immediately greeted with a wolf whistle. I snapped around and saw Dana in the hallway with a broad grin on her face, while Jinx glared at her and then elbowed her in the side.

“What’s the special occasion?” Dana asked me curiously.

I looked down at myself and the dress I was currently wearing. “I have a class to get to,” I told her, earning a curious look in response. “Let’s just say, my teacher’s dress code is a little more strict than what the school has.”

“I think it looks nice on you,” Jinx told me with a nod of approval. She turned to Dana and demanded, “Why don’t you wear dresses?”

“For one,” Dana responded with a roll of her eyes, “I don’t own any. And for another…I REALLY don’t want to wear something that girlie. It’s bad enough having to wear a skirt with the school uniform.”

“You are such a tomboy,” Jinx teased her while Dana and I both nodded.

“Let’s see how well you’d adjust if you suddenly turned into a boy,” Dana muttered.

“Been there, done that,” Lina commented as she came over. “Don’t like it.”

“As far as I’m concerned, you’re still all girl,” Cindy told her with an appreciative look, earning a smile from Lina as well as a blush.

The five of us went to lunch together and the conversation somehow remained stuck on what was appropriate fashion for girls, as well as what worked for tomboys. It was a strange topic as far as I was concerned, but we were a strange group, especially considering that two of our group were former boys, two were natural lesbians, and one was a girl with boy equipment.

Unfortunately, I had to finish eating and then excuse myself early because I didn’t want to be late. After saying some quick goodbyes, I hurried on my way, going straight to the cluster of trees where I’d previously planted the seed that Mrs. Lauriant had given me.

The last time I’d been to this spot, there had been a small sapling, but it had definitely grown. In place of the sapling, there was actually a full sized tree, one with a trunk more than a foot across.

“Wow,” I mused as I looked over the tree. “That thing sure grew fast.”

After a few minutes, I checked my watch and decided it was time. With that, I put my hand to the tree trunk and released a little magic, just enough to signal that I was here. I immediately felt a return pulse so pulled my hand away and backed up.

The bark of the trunk suddenly began to ripple and change shape until it looked as though a statue of a woman had been carved into the trunk. It didn’t look like just any woman though, it looked like Mrs. Lauriant, wearing the Woodwife armor that Dad had shown me a picture of.

“Hello Gwendolynn,” Mrs. Lauriant said from the tree. The statue, which she was somehow possessing, actually moved as she spoke. However, her feet remained where they were, part of the tree and rooted to the ground. “It is good to see you are punctual and dressed appropriately.”

“Of course,” I responded with a wry smile.

“To start with,” she began, staring at me from her wooden face. “Please tell me what you have been learning this past week.”

I was about to answer her, then paused, remembering that there was something I really wanted to talk about. “Actually, I have something I need to ask you first…”

“Go ahead child,” she encouraged me gently, apparently noticing that I was nervous.

I took a deep breath, then said, “Ever since I changed, I’ve been having dreams… Dreams of being an elf…I mean…a Sidhe…”

I told her about my dreams and how I’d begun to realize that they were more than just dreams. When I told her about being able to cast some of the spells that I’d learned in the dreams, she suddenly became even more interested.

When I was done, I hesitantly asked, “Is this some kind of reincarnation thing?”

“That is possible,” Mrs. Lauriant told me thoughtfully. “From what you describe, these dreams certainly do sound like they could be memories. However, this may also be less a matter of past life regression and more a case of ancestral memories.”

“Ancestral memories?” I asked curiously.

“We know that one of your distant ancestors was Sidhe,” she explained gently. “I believe that when your mutation awoke your Sidhe DNA, you not only became Sidhe…you also became a copy of that ancestor. That would explain why you changed genders.”

“What?” I blurted out, surprised that she actually knew about my sex change when I’d never said a word about it to her.

However, Mrs. Lauriant didn’t stop and explain how she knew about my sex change. Instead, she continued, “I believe you are physically an identical copy of your Sidhe ancestor, and that because of this, you may have inherited some of her memories along with her form.”

I thought about that for a moment, and in a way, I actually found the idea somewhat comforting. If I’d turned into a copy of my ancestor and was simply seeing some of her memories, that would explain so much. And as weird as it was, it was actually a bit less creepy than the idea of actually having been that woman in my dreams and living through those horrible events.

“So, I’m not seeing some past life,” I said with some relief. “I’m just seeing my ancestor’s memories…”

“Perhaps,” Mrs. Lauriant admitted with a frown. “I have no way of knowing for certain. And to be honest, it is possible that both explanations are true.”

“Do not worry about this overmuch,” Mrs. Lauriant told me gently. “The events in your dreams occurred a very long time ago, and even if you had lived through them in a previous life, you are not that person. You have a life of your own now. Learn from these dreams, but do not let them direct how you live your life.”

“Thank you,” I told her, feeling a little reassured.

“Now then,” Mrs. Lauriant said with a faint smile. “About your lessons…”

--------------------

It didn’t matter if you were at a normal school or one filled with super powered mutants, the one inescapable fact of school life was that Mondays sucked. As I sat at what had become my normal table in Crystal Hall, Dana grumbled pretty much the same thing, apparently having been caught by surprise this morning with a pop quiz. I was in complete sympathy since my morning hadn’t gone very well either.

“I hate mornings,” Dana grumbled, taking a sip of her coffee. “And I have to work tonight during dinner, so I won’t be able to sit with you guys.”

“You know, you didn’t have to get that job,” Jinx pointed out. “Didn’t you say Jackie would happily send you spending money?”

Dana nodded at that, then admitted, “Yeah, but I’m not exactly thrilled about where that money comes from and I don’t want to give her any more excuses than she already has to get into more trouble.”

Just then, I noticed Fixx and Porcelain slowly walking towards the underdogs table. Porcelain was moving slowly as usual and Fixx appeared to be keeping her company, which wasn’t really surprising. I’d noticed that he was a little protective of her.

“Hey,” I waved to them. “You guys want to sit here with us.”

I’d already invited Collin to sit with me, so he nodded. “Hey Fixx, how’d you do on that quiz you were studying for last night?”

“Not bad,” Fixx responded as he joined us, gesturing for Porcelain to do the same.

“This is Dana and Jinx,” I told Porcelain as I introduced her to my friends. Fixx had already met them previously.

“We have some classes together,” Porcelain said after a moment.

“Survival, for one,” Jinx told me cheerfully, once again reminding me that I really wanted to check out that class sometime.

“Algebra,” Dana added with a sigh, obviously depressed since that was the class where she’d gotten hit with the pop quiz this morning.

Porcelain looked around the table, then hesitantly said, “If you do not mind my eating in front of you…”

Dana laughed, then told her, “Trust me, you can’t be nearly as bad as my little sister when she starts playing one of her games.”

Porcelain was a little hesitant before she began eating, but when no one began teasing her she seemed to become a little more confident about eating in front of us. It was a bit weird to watch, so I tried not to stare at her. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable or think she wasn’t welcomed here.

A few minutes later, Dana groaned, “Oh no. Not them…”

What?” I asked, then noticed two boys were coming towards us. One had a smirk on his face and a microphone in his hand while the other boy held a video camera and had hair that appeared to have been greased back with motor oil. “Who are they?”

“Peeper and Greasy,” Jinx stated with a look of distaste on her face. “Looking the way you do, I’m surprised you haven’t run into them yet.”

“They got me on my first day in classes,” Dana muttered in obvious annoyance.

“We’re here with the new beauty at Whateley, Absinthe,” Peeper announced into the microphone, staring at me chest with a leer that made me VERY uncomfortable. Greasy just stood back and pointed the camera at me.

“Go away,” Dana told them in a cold voice.

“Leave me alone,” I said, starting to turn away from them.

“So,” Peeper continued, completely ignoring the fact that we didn’t want him there. “All the guys out there are wondering, what are your turn-ons?

I’d though that the way he was staring at me was bad enough, but this line of conversation was even worse. I made an effort to try ignoring him, but Greasy moved to keep pointing the camera at me and Peeper stuck, the microphone in my face.

Suddenly, sparks came from the camera and Greasy jumped back, exclaiming, “The camera isn’t working…”

A moment later, Peeper started shaking the microphone muttering, “This stupid thing isn’t working either.”

Jinx just sat there with an evil smile on her face, saying, “Wow, all your equipment broke at once. That’s just bad luck.”

“You’ll pay for that,” Peeper exclaimed, in what I thought was a threat, until he added, “I’m sending you the bill…”

Peeper and Greasy hurried off, but they hadn’t gone far before three separate students all tripped and their trays went flying, right at the two pests. Peeper and Greasy stood there for a moment, covered with food before they ran away as fast as they could, with all the nearby students laughing, including everyone at our table.

“Won’t you get in trouble for using your powers on other students like that?” I asked Jinx.

Jinx just grinned and asked, “Who can prove that I used my powers? After all, bad luck and coincidences happy all the time…”

“Good point,” Dana agreed with a broad grin of her own.

After a few minutes, we got up to leave and go our separate ways. Collin, Dana, and I were going to martial arts, but the others had different classes to get to. As we were leaving the table though, I suddenly noticed Caitlin. She was standing halfway across Crystal Hall, right next to a garishly dressed Jericho and what appeared to be a velociraptor from the old Jurassic Park movie. Of course, I’d learned from one of my teachers that real velociraptors weren’t anywhere near that size, but that was still my impression. However, what caught my attention wasn’t the dinosaur but the fact that Caitlin had been staring at me with an odd look.

“Come on,” I told my friends as we started to leave the cafeteria.

Dana, Collin, and I had nearly made it to the exit when we suddenly found our path blocked by three other students. The one in the middle was Centurion, who still seemed to be holding a grudge against me for my first day in class. The two people who were with him were ones I’d never met, though I had paid enough attention to know who they were. The lean looking boy with the cocky grin was called Switchblade while the hot looking brunette girl was Slingshot. From what I’d gathered, these were Centurion’s best friend and girlfriend.

“We have business to attend to,” Centurion stated grimly.

Switchblade looked to Dana and Collin, adding, “We’re just here to make sure you two don’t interfere…”

Slingshot gave me an angry glare, and when I glanced at her aura, I could see the jealousy radiating off her. After Centurion had begun his campaign of harassment against me, I’d made sure to check out who his friends were and ask about them, not to mention look up their MIDs. I knew that Switchblade was a low level speedster who could also manifest small bladed weapons, and Slingshot could absorb kinetic energy, then release it as force blasts. Both of them were pretty dangerous.

“This slut thinks she’s all that,” Slingshot said, giving me a sneer.

I just smiled faintly and told Centurion, “I take it that you didn’t tell your girlfriend here that you tried to make me to kiss you?”

“She’s just making that up,” Centurion quickly told Slingshot, who gave me another glare.

“It looks like this is going to be fun,” Dana said with an eager grin while Collin nodded.

I let out a sigh, definitely not wanting to fight them, much less here in the cafeteria. “You’re starting to get on my nerves,” I told Centurion. “Is your confidence really so bad that you have to throw a hissy fit like this just because I was able to beat in in class? You know, that’s pretty pathetic.”

Dana snickered at that, then told me, “After facing down the Liberty League, and a bunch of MCO goons at the same time, I don’t really think these three are going to be much of a problem.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Collin warned her with a grim expression.

Switchblade held out his hand and a small glowing blade appeared in it. A second later he tried to lunge, probably just trying to intimidate us, though he found his feet were stuck in place. Unfortunately, so were mine and Dana’s too.

Since things had already begun, I had two of my faeries fly around and hit Switchblade and Centurion from behind, releasing all the glamour energy that I’d had stored. I didn’t have any faeries to hit Slingshot with, or at least none that contained glamour energy, but she wasn’t a threat yet. From what I understood, she wasn’t really dangerous unless you started to hit her.

Switchblade screamed and began to frantically grab at his clothes, yelling, “They’re alive…”

“What is up with you?” Slingshot demanded, apparently not noticing that Centurion was starting to look around frantically as well.

“Let’s get out of here,” I whispered to my friends, hurrying past the three confused students before they could regain their senses. I looked back just long enough to see Switchblade tearing off his clothes in front of the cafeteria, laughing at the sight but having a feeling that I’d be paying for it later. “Come on, let’s get to class.”

We arrived at class then went and got changed and took our places on the mat. It didn’t take much longer before Centurion came in, looking extremely pissed. He glared at me but made no efforts to attack me, not with Tolman and Ito being present. However, I just hoped that they didn’t ask me to spar against Centurion today because I had a feeling that could end up badly.

After some initial exercises and practice with forms, Ito and Tolman began splitting us up into pairs to spar. I was put up against Vulpine, a girl with three fox tails who was in my first period class. There was no doubt in my mind that I could beat her in a straight fight, as I could anyone else in this class, but once powers were thrown into the mix… As I’d learned, powers were the ultimate cheat, changing all the rules. I just needed to learn how to be better about using mine.

Vulpine and I sparred back and forth with punches and kicks, though I had to hold back a bit since I didn’t want to hurt her while we were just sparring. But then Tolman told us to use our powers and everything changed. Vulpine reached into a pouch she had strapped to her waist and pulled out a handful of papers, ones which contained magic spells that had previously been cast on them. Because of that, she suddenly flung a fireball at me, formed some kind of force field around herself, and then blasted me again with another fireball.

“Damn,” I exclaimed as I dove to the side, not even getting time to cast a single spell. I pushed out raw magic, creating a couple dozen faeries that suddenly began to fly into her face to distract her. That finally gave me the opportunity to cast a spell of my own, one which created two illusion copies of myself.

“I hate when you do that,” Vulpine exclaimed as she punched at one of my illusions.

I took full advantage of her confusion to kick her feet out from under her, then knock her to the mat where I pinned her with a grappling move that Doug had taught me. With her pinned like that, she couldn’t fight back, nor even reach any of those spell papers she kept in her pouch. After a minute of desperately trying, she gave up.

Tolman came over and watched as I helped Vulpine back to her feet, then told me, “I don’t see jujitsu techniques used in here very often.”

“My old teacher used to compete in mixed martial arts,” I told her with a grin. “He always said that in those tournaments, no matter how good you are at punching and kicking, if your opponent gets you on the floor and you don’t know how to deal with a lock, you’re done for.”

“Understanding how to deal with opposing techniques is definitely important,” Tolman agreed. “And knowing techniques they can’t defend against can be quite useful.” Then she smiled in a way that made me a little nervous and said, “Absinthe, you’re going to spar with Flytrap. Powers are allowed.”

Collin and I ended up facing against each other and I groaned, realizing that Tolman was trying to teach me something about dealing with techniques I couldn’t counter. Specifically, I couldn’t do anything to counter Collin’s powers. As soon as she told us to start, the ground shimmered and I found my feet effectively glued in place.

“Sorry about this,” Collin told me, his expression indicating that he was taking this seriously. I couldn’t help but be pleased at that, by the fact that he considered me enough of a threat to not treat with kid gloves. Unfortunately, it also meant that he wasn’t going to underestimate me as much as I’d like.

I’d seen Collin do this in class several times before, trapping an opponent with his powers and then coming up and hitting them when they couldn’t dodge or move out of the way. It was a good way of turning people into sitting ducks, just like he’d like he’d done to me. One of my best weapons was my glamour, being able to make my opponents hallucinate so they couldn’t focus. And unfortunately, I’d already used all my stored glamour energy on Switchblade and Centurion.

I gestured at Collin and released my raw magic, which erupted from my hands as a huge swarm of faeries that rushed into his face. They picked at his eyes, grabbed at his hair and clothes, and generally made a huge nuisance of themselves. And while they were doing that, I cast a spell to create two illusion copies of myself.

Though I would have loved to take further advantage of Collin’s distraction, my options were extremely limited. My feet were glued in place so I couldn’t reach him, and I didn’t have any offensive spells at all. The most I could do was lure him away from me.

Collin kept swatting at my faeries, and each one would pop and vanish when he connected with them. Before long, I only had a couple left, not enough to really keep him distracted. He looked straight at me, not seeming to be distracted by my illusions for even a second.

“That won’t work,” he said with a cocky grin. “I can actually feel where you’re touching my field.”

“Why didn’t you say that last week when we were testing your powers?” I demanded in annoyance.

I would have created some faerie fire as a bluff, but he’d seen me use that move several times and knew that it was nothing more than an illusion…just like everything else I had in my arsenal. I muttered a couple quiet profanities, realizing that I was going to have to add some new moves…and get more devious.

“Sorry about this,” Collin said with a grimace as he finally got close enough to punch me.

My feet might have been stuck, severely limiting my options, but my hands were still free to move. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to me, then caught him completely by surprise and kissing him right on the lips. However, this was not only a distraction, but a countermove of my own.

When I’d been trying to learn how to control my glamour, I’d found that I could only hold it back for a very short period of time, but at the same time, I’d discovered that I could briefly increase the strength of my glamour as well. I’d just done that, cranking it up as far as I could, then pushing all my glamour energy straight into Collin, instantly hitting him with a full doze of dizziness and hallucinations. When I pulled back, he was staggered and confused, enough that he lost concentration and his power deactivated. I wasted no time at all before knocking his feet out from under him and slamming him face first into the mats, putting one foot into the middle of his back and twisting his arm back so that he couldn’t do anything.

“Absinthe wins,” Tolman said with a faint smile.

“Yeah,” Collin added with a goofy grin after I’d released him. “But what a great way to lose…” Then he stared off overhead and mused, “Oh look…stars…”

I blushed furiously, embarrassed at having kissed him, even if it had just been a trick to let me win. Then I suddenly realized, I could have focused my glamour through my hands just as easily as though my lips, if not more easily. That just made me turn an even deeper shade of red, especially since a part of me had actually kind of liked it.

When class was over, I raced into the showers, quickly changed clothes, then hurried on my way so that I didn’t have to face Collin. I still couldn’t believe that I’d done something like that with him, and I didn’t know what to say to him about it. I just knew that the next time I saw him, I was going to die of embarrassment.

As soon as classes were done for the day, I started back to Poe, letting out a long sigh of relief. Since I knew that Centurion was after me, I decided to take some steps so that he didn’t catch me by surprise again. I sent some of my faeries up, then used their eyes to look over my surroundings. Getting a faerie’s eye view of everything should give me plenty of warning in case anyone tried sneaking up on me.

Through my faeries, I did notice something odd, a blurring in the air a short distance behind me. I paused and turned to look at it, but didn’t see anything. When I began walking away, I kept watching the spot from one of my faeries, and the blur in the air began moving again.

“Ripple,” I said with a sigh of annoyance.

Ripple was one of the students in my Introduction to Mystic Concepts class, and he’d been just a little too interested in my faeries and how I could use them to give people hallucinations. Ever since he’d seen a demonstration in class, he’d been following me around, trying to steal one of my faeries. Several times he’d gotten close to one, but not any of the ones that were holding glamour at the time.

Ripple annoyed me just on general principle, but I had to admit that he definitely had an interesting power. He could bend the light around him to make himself mostly invisible, though when he moved, it resulted in the appearance of a ripple in the air. After thinking about it for a moment, I stopped and let out a sigh.

“I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” I muttered, thinking about the session where Lina and I had tried learning more about each other’s powers. Neither of us could actually copy the other, but we’d both benefitted from it anyway.

With that, I turned to my mage sight so I could see Ripple’s aura, in spite of the fact that he was invisible, then I walked straight to him. When I stopped in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes, he was so startled that he dropped his power.

“I’ll tell you what,” I told Ripple. “I’ll make a deal with you.”

Ripple grinned at that, watching me with a shifty expression. “So, you’ll sell me a couple of your pixies?”

“Not quite,” I told him, quickly adding, “It won’t do much good because they can’t survive long away from me, and most of them don’t have any of my glamour. But I would be interested in learning a little more about how your power works. How about we meet up after classes later this week. You give me a good demonstration of your invisibility and let me study it a little, and I’ll give you a good demonstration of my glamour.”

“Deal,” Ripple quickly agreed. I took his hand and shook it, then he turned and walked away, looking quite pleased with himself.

I let out a sigh, feeling just a little guilty for making that deal. “It’s not like I’m selling drugs or anything,” I told myself, knowing that my glamour wasn’t addictive, wasn’t harmful, and had no longer term effects. “I hit people with my glamour all the time, and this isn’t any different than the trade I made with Lina. If he wants to just experience the hallucinations instead of trying to learn from it, that will be up to him.”

When I returned to Poe, I found Breakdown, Jade, and one of the freshman boys who was named Hardwyrd sitting in the freshman common room, talking in the kind of technobabble that seemed common for devisors. I hadn’t been at Whateley for very long, but I’d learned that most devisors loved throwing in technical words and explanations that only they could understand.

“Anyway,” Breakdown continued with some story. “I told Blackbox that I could dismantle and reverse engineer anything, even that puzzle box he’s so proud of, so we ended up betting ten bucks over it. But then when I’d disassembled it, he totally dricked out on me and refused to pay...”

“So that’s what he was going on about,” Hardwyrd said. “I thought it was because Monkeywrench stole something from his lab again.”

I sat down on the other side of the common room and began doing my homework, deciding to just get as much of it done and over with as possible. While I did this, the devisors continued talking about Blackbox, Monkeywrench, and several other students in the devisor classes. I tuned most of it out since half the conversation was gossip and the other half was indecipherable technobabble.

After fifteen minutes or so, Bunny came in and joined them, announcing, “Jade, we need to talk about that project we were working on…”

I looked up at Bunny, who was every bit the blonde stereotype, except for the fact that I’d heard her talking technobabble just as readily as the other devisors. I’ve heard a few people around Poe making jokes about how all of her inventions look like Easter eggs, but in spite of that, the other devisors seemed to take her pretty seriously. In fact, I’d even heard the word ‘brilliant’ used to describe her, though I’d certainly never guess it from looking at her.

“We were just talking about whether or not Monkeywrench really is building a banana gun,” Jade said with a grin. “I hope he is because that would be so fun to shoot…”

Bunny laughed at that, then said, “And I thought the big news was Eldritch.”

“What about her?” Breakdown asked curiously.

“Right after lunch, Eldritch went into one of the devisor labs and locked herself in,” Bunny announced cheerfully.

Hardwyrd blinked at that, then said, “But Eldritch isn’t a devisor. I thought she was some kind of magic user…”

“She is,” Jade agreed with an emphatic nod. “And Caitlin has the BEST guns too… She once let me shoot one that…”

After this, Jade went off into some kind of excited discussion about guns while Breakdown and Hardwyrd nodded along with polite smiles. I just wondered if this Caitlin she’d mentioned was the same one from the Parkour Hooligans, the one who’d been giving me the stink-eye for some reason.

I finished my homework as much as I could with the distraction, then got up to go change out of my school uniform before dinner. It annoyed me to realize that I’d continued wearing this skirt even after classes ended, and I hadn’t even thought about changing out of it until now. That was yet another bruise to my battered and weakened male ego. Admittedly, a lot of old classmates had called me a wimp and a coward, and would have insisted that I’d never had much of one anyway, but it was still the principle of the thing.

As I stood up, I suddenly felt something warm and wet running down my thighs. I froze, feeling surprised and more than a little worried that I’d peed myself without even realizing it. But when I looked down, I was shocked to see blood running down my legs and into my socks.

“Oh shit,” I blurted out as I felt my leg and pulled back my hand, with blood on the fingers. “I’m bleeding.”

I felt a surge of panic at the sight of blood on my fingers, with my first thought being that I must have gotten hurt in martial arts without realizing it. However, my second thought was the realization of what else this could be, and that thought sent a cold chill all down my spine.

I started running down the hallway while Jade called out, “Hey Gwen, what’s wrong?”

Seconds later, I burst into the bathroom, nearly knocking Cindy down in the process. I barely even noticed her, being too caught up in the surge of panic that was filling me. And when I got into a stall and pulled down my skirt, I saw that my panties were completely soaked through with blood. My heart felt like it stopped beating at the sight.

“Are you okay?” Cindy demanded from outside the stall. “Gwen?”

“Oh God,” I whispered, staring at my bloody panties and the blood which was running down my leg, which was coming out of me. And it wasn’t even coming out of a good healthy cut or injury. This was just…wrong… “I’m bleeding…”

“Gwen?” Cindy asked, sounding worried.

Ever since I’d manifested and turned into a green haired elf girl, I’d known intellectually that I’d eventually be going through a period. After all, every girl went through them. However, knowing that it was going to happen eventually and being emotionally ready for it were two different things entirely.

“GWEN?” Cindy demanded again, this time more insistent.

I was bleeding…having a period. That meant I really and truly was female now. That meant I could get pregnant and… My stomach knotted up at the very thought of what it meant. I was a girl… I couldn’t be a girl…but I already knew I was one. I was confused, and scared, and starting to hyperventilate. My emotions were on a downward spiral and I felt myself being drawn further and further into a panic attack. Tears began pouring down my cheeks.

From outside the stall, I could hear voices, ones that I tried not to listen to. Breakout exclaimed, “She left a trail of blood down the hall…”

“Is she okay?” Jade asked.

“Gwen, please,” Cindy urged. “Talk to me…”

“What’s going on in here?” Dana’s voice asked.

“I think she’s having her period,” Cindy answered. “She’s totally freaking out…”

Jade’s voice was serious as she demanded, “How long as she been a girl?”

“A few weeks,” Dana answered, then blurted out, “Oh shit…”

“It’s her first one,” Jade exclaimed.

“It’s okay, Abbie,” Dana said awkwardly. “I know what you’re going through…”

“We all do,” Cindy added. “Trust me, it’s not the end of the world…”

Then someone opened the stall door, revealing me as I sat there on the toilet with my blood soaked panties on the floor in front of me. I gasped, feeling a surge of shame and humiliation. “Leave me alone,” I blurted out frantically. At that, dozens of faeries suddenly exploded from me, rushing out and attacking everyone else in the bathroom. I dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball while girls ran screaming from the bathroom.

“The walls are melting,” Dana cried out.

“Monsters,” Breakout exclaimed in obvious fear, making me vaguely aware that my glamour was now radiating out at full strength. I didn’t care though, other than that it meant I’d be left along. Nor did I care that more faeries were continuing to come into existence around me.

Then from the hallway, Cindy yelled out, “We have a Downpour protocol for Absinthe!”

I just remained curled up on the floor, whimpering and wishing the entire world would just go away. I had no idea how long I was there before there were new voices. One of them I vaguely recognized as Toni, the sophomore who roomed with Nikki.

“No one can get near her,” Cindy said. “The pixies attack anyone who gets close, and then there’s the hallucinations… I’m still seeing blue rabbits and I know they aren’t really there…”

“At least she’s not making storm clouds in the hallway,” Toni joked.

“Don’t remind me,” Nikki said grimly. Then a moment later, I felt a strong wave of magic and all of my faeries popped at once. “Absinthe,” Nikki said gently. “Gwen…” I curled up tighter and in a moment of fear, another surge of faeries exploded around me, but they were immediately wiped out as well.

“I don’t think this is working,” Toni said.

A moment later, Nikki bent over me and put a hand on my shoulder, which only made me panic even more. “Calm down child,” Nikki said, though I instinctively knew that it wasn’t Nikki who was speaking to me.

There was a sudden pressure against my magic shields, the ones that I’d put up to protect me from outside magical influence. They held for only a moment before being casually torn aside. Another presence touched me, then all the fear, shame, and confusion all faded away, leaving me calm but more than half asleep.

“I’ve soothed her for now,” Nikki said, and it was definitely Nikki speaking this time. “But she was pretty upset.”

I was in a daze as several girls got me up, undressed, and then into a shower. Before I realized it, I was back in my room, sitting on my bed while wrapped in a blanket. I was slowly coming back to myself and realized that Dana, Jinx, and Cindy were all in my room helping me while Nikki stood at the doorway, watching me with a worried look on her face. My emotions were coming back enough for me to get a little worried, so she backed off and left.

“Here,” Jinx said, putting a cup of hot chocolate into my hands. “This always helps me.”

“I didn’t think you’d feel like going to Crystal Hall tonight,” Dana told me awkwardly. “So I got you a ‘to go’ box for dinner…”

“And I kept her from eating it for you,” Jinx added, sticking her tongue out at Dana.

Cindy gave me a worried look, then hesitantly asked, “How are you feeling?”

I stared at the floor for a moment before quietly answering, “Embarrassed. REALLY embarrassed…”

To my surprise, Cindy gave me a hug, followed a few seconds later by Jinx. “The first time is always the hardest,” Cindy told me. “I can only imagine what it’s like when you didn’t grow up knowing that you were going to go through it.”

Dana nodded at that, then muttered, “It’s really gross…” She was blushing pretty brightly, reminding me that she was in the same boat I was. She’d grown up as a boy, the same way I had. Being a girl was just as new for her as it was for me.

“It…it’s not just that,” I said awkwardly, unable to look anyone in the eyes. “It’s just… I guess everything hit me all at once.”

Dana nodded again, giving me a sympathetic look. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sometimes, I look in the mirror and panic for a moment until I remember it’s just me…” She gave me a wry smile. “It’s still pretty weird a lot of the time, but it is getting easier.”

“We all have our issues,” Jinx told me with a gentle smile. Then she looked at Dana and added, “And some of us have a whole magazine stand.” Dana stuck her tongue out at Jinx in response.

I looked back and forth between them, feelingly oddly thankful for their presence since I didn’t really want to be alone at the moment. Then I realized that I didn’t have even a single faerie left. Nikki had destroyed them all.

“How come you guys aren’t hallucinating?” I had to ask.

Cindy gave me an easy grin and answered, “Fey told us that she did something to suppress your glamour for a few hours.”

“Half the girls on this floor came to see what was going on and got a dose of it,” Jinx added. “It was actually kind of funny. I mean, I actually saw the yellow brick road and a bunch of munchkins were welcoming me to the Lollipop Guild.”

“And Bunny started chasing some invisible kittens around the hallway,” Dana added with a laugh. “She was determined to catch one too.”

I took a sip of my hot chocolate, forcing a faint smile. I was still really embarrassed over how I’d freaked out like that, but there was something comforting in knowing that these girls weren’t blaming me for it or making fun of me. Instead, they were here keeping me company and trying to distract me from why I’d freaked out in the first place. And if there was anyone who appreciated the value of a good distraction, it was me.

--------------------

I sat up in bed, shaking my head a little to clear it from the strange dream that I’d just woken from. It had been the normal kind of strange dream, the kind that simply didn’t make a lot of sense rather than the kind that appeared to be the memory of some long dead Sidhe. I was thankful for that as the second kind always left me with the feeling that I was intruding on someone else’s life.

“You’re up,” a voice announced from the other side of my room. “How are you feeling?”

I nearly jumped in surprise and looked over to the other bed, where Dana was climbing out of it. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, shaking her head and letting out a loud sigh before muttering something about a mocha.

“What are you doing in my room?” I asked suspiciously.

Dana shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. “Well, after yesterday, we decided that someone should stay with you for the night.”

I groaned at that, feeling extremely embarrassed about the reminder of how I’d freaked out yesterday and how no one had left me alone since then. Now that Dana reminded me, I even remembered that I’d been so exhausted from the way I’d lashed out, and perhaps even as a lingering side effect of whatever Nikki had done to me, that I’d fallen asleep early with several girls still sitting in my room.

“Great,” I muttered, glancing up to the faerie that was sitting on top of my book shelf, dangling her legs over the edge. It struck me that it was a good thing that I’d thought to summon her last night or Dana would have had some really trippy dreams. Then again, that might have been kind of fun.

“How are you feeling?” Dana asked me carefully, looking as though she was a little worried I’d freak out again.

“About as good as you’d expect,” I responded with a sigh. “I feel like crap.” I’d been pretty grumpy all day yesterday, but I’d just thought it was because I’d had a bad morning. Now, I wondered how much might have been due to my body doing these weird girl things.

“I should be starting my second one again pretty soon,” Dana admitted with a look of dread on her face. “Amanda is great and all, but she’s always been a girl so there are some things she just doesn’t get. I mean, she grew up knowing that she’d go through this kind of thing and had time to get used to the idea. But for us, it’s just BAM…here you go.”

I nodded in complete understanding and exclaimed, “Surprise!” We both chuckled faintly at that. Then I shook my head self-consciously and told her, “The really embarrassing thing is, I knew it was coming. Not now…but that I’d have to go through it sooner or later. My Mom even sat me down and gave me the whole speech about how to…how to use that stuff.” I shuddered at the humiliating lesson, now wishing I’d paid closer attention. “Then when I saw it I just…”

“Freaked out,” Dana finished for me, giving me a look of understanding.

“It isn’t even the period,” I told her, staring down at the floor awkwardly.

“Yeah,” Dana agreed. “It’s everything it represents.”

Most of my old friends and classmates wouldn’t have described me as being really manly, but I had been a guy and had been quite happy as one. After my change, I’d mostly just continued as best I could, acting as though the change in my body didn’t really change who I was inside. But having a period had been a huge smack in the face, the kind of reminder that I couldn’t ignore, that I was now female. I would be for the rest of my life. It was a massive bruise to not only my devastated male ego, but also to my very sense of self.

In a very short time, nearly everything that I thought I knew about myself had changed. Instead of being a boy, I was now a girl. Instead of being a baseline, I was now a mutant. Instead of being human, I was now an elf…a Sidhe. My entire self-identity had been shattered and I hadn’t even realized it until now. I’d been living in some kind of denial until I couldn’t deny it anymore.

“I don’t even know who I am anymore,” I burst out, suddenly crying again. I felt humiliated to be crying in front of Dana like this, but I just couldn’t stop.

“It’s okay,” Dana told me, giving me an awkward hug. “I know exactly what you mean.”

We just stood there for several minutes, and to my surprise, her hug actually felt rather comforting. I finally stopped crying enough to get ready for my shower. No matter how much of an emotional mess I was right now, I still had classes to go to.

“At least you still have your family,” Dana told me almost sadly. “You have no idea how lucky you are.”

After this, I went to the showers while Dana went back to her room to get her own shower supplies. I felt extremely self-conscious as I stepped into line, embarrassed over what had happened and that everyone in Poe probably knew about it by now. My cheeks were burning and I just stared at the floor, unable to meet anyone’s eyes.

“How are you feeling?” Lina asked me with a worried look.

“I’ll live,” I responded with a forced smile.

Rose looked at me, but instead of glaring at me like she usually did, she gave me a look of sympathy instead. She didn’t say a word though, for which I was thankful. I didn’t know what to say to anyone.

I was relieved when I got to climb into a shower stall and wash off, especially since I could let my tears flow a little more and no one would be able to know. By the time I climbed out, I felt a little better, but then when I was done drying off, I had to stick a tampon up my yoo-hoo and pad into my panties. It was uncomfortable and embarrassing, but I knew none of the girls would say anything about it. They were all trying to be comforting while simultaneously giving me plenty of room.

When I was fully dressed and leaving my room, I ran into Downpour in the hallway. She gave me a faint smile and asked, “How are you doing?” I winced slightly, wondering just how bad my situation was that I was getting sympathy from Downpour. Then again, if anyone could understand what it was like to have an emotional meltdown, it was her.

“A little better,” I told her honestly. I’d gotten most of it out of my system yesterday.

She hesitated a moment, then in a meek voice said, “Yesterday when you were doing that thing…I saw butterflies in the hallway.” She paused at that, then gave me another faint smile before adding, “I haven’t seen any butterflies in a long time. Thank you.”

With that, Downpour went down the hallway and joined Rose and Cindy while Dana, Jinx, and Lina came and joined me. We started heading to breakfast together, but Mrs. Horton stopped me at the door and gave me a sympathetic look, which reminded me that I vaguely remembered her being there while I was dazed and under the influence of Nikki’s spell.

“How are you feeling, Gwen?” she asked me gently, making me wonder if every single person in Poe was going to ask me that before the day was over.

“I’m doing better,” I told her, feeling embarrassed by all the attention.

Mrs. Horton nodded at that, looking relieved. Then she handed me a piece of paper with the name Dr. Bellows on it, along with a place and time. It was an appointment slip.

“I’ve made you an appointment for this morning,” she told me in a gentle but firm tone that left no doubt that I’d better make it. “It may help to talk about things.”

“Thank you,” I told her, feeling a little depressed. Now on top of everything else, everyone thought I was crazy. Of course, after the way I’d lost it yesterday, I didn’t blame them one bit.

“Come on,” Dana told me, putting an arm around my shoulder. “Cheer up. You’re a very lucky girl.”

“Why is that?” I asked suspiciously.

Dana just grinned and responded, “Because you get the pleasure of my company.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Jinx told me a roll of her eyes.

Breakfast was about the same as usual, with Dana eating a ridiculous amount of food and washing it down with at least half a pot of coffee. Several other freshmen from Poe joined us at the table and we ended up having a couple different conversations going on at the same time. I barely joined either of them as I didn’t feel like socializing much at the moment.

About halfway through breakfast, Jade came over with an older Asian girl whom I’d seen around Poe. I hadn’t actually met the other girl, but someone had pointed her out to me as Jade’s older sister Jinn. Or at least, she’d been pointed out as the ghost of Jade’s older sister, who apparently went by the codename of Shroud.

“Hey everyone,” Jade greeted everyone at the table, looking so childish that I never would have guessed that she was actually a sophomore, a grade higher than everyone else at the table. She settled her eyes on me and asked, “How are you feeling, Gwen?”

“If anyone else asks me that question,” I proclaimed with a sigh, “I think I’m going to scream.”

Just then, Jinn had a mischievious grin on her face that was far too much like what I’d seen on Jade. “So,” she asked with a mock innocent look. “How are you feeling?”

Instead of screaming, I simply asked, “How would you like to start seeing things that aren’t there?”

“Like her sanity?” Lina asked with a snort.

“We just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Jade told me with a worried look. Then she leaned over, and in a conspiratorial voice, added, “Nikki was a lot worse during her first time.”

I stared at Jade for a moment, then shifted my vision to look at her aura. Her expression was definitely sympathetic, but to my surprise, her aura was actually tinged with jealousy. It was as if she was actually jealous of me for having a period. I was a little confused by that, but then I looked at Jinn and blinked in even greater confusion. Her aura was the same as Jade’s…and tied to Jade with a thread. It was just like with that pixie joke, that Hello Kitty doll, and even those devices that Jade had shown off to some of the freshmen.

“Well, we’ve got to get going,” Jade told me with a mischievious grin. “We’ve got an appointment with Belle…”

“Of course, she doesn’t know about it yet,” Jinn added with a giggle of her own.

Jade nodded agreement and said, “This is gonna be so fun,” as she and Jinn hurried off.

“Is it bad of me for wishing I could watch?” Jinx asked with a chuckle.

“Maybe,” Lina responded with a smile of her own. “But I’m curious to see how Beltane will retaliate this time.”

Breakdown shook her head and muttered, “I just hope it’s nothing like that last time. Jade’s room is right above mine, and let me tell you, it isn’t any fun waking up to polka music cranking from above at two AM.”

“Try Brass Monkey nearly every morning,” Lina added with a grimace. “I have Phase above me.”

“And that explains why everyone thinks poesies are all crazy,” Dana commented with an exaggerated sigh. I winced slightly at that, feeling just a little sensitive since I had an appointment with a shrink in just a couple hours.

A short time later, I entered my first period class, feeling just a little nervous, as though everyone would be able to tell that I was having my period just by looking at me. I knew that it was stupid and foolish, but I couldn’t help the way I felt. I was beginning to think that maybe I really did need to see a shrink after all, even if I wasn’t being given much choice about it.

Mrs. Chulkris started off the class by saying, “Yesterday, we talked about several different methods of storing pre-cast spells for later use. For the rest of the week, we’re going to split into teams with each time doing a report on one of these methods…”

I nodded at that, thinking that it sounded quite a bit like what we’d done in Power Theory class last week. After we got split up, I found myself teamed up with Vulpine and Orc, the two people in class that I actually would have picked for my team if I’d been given the choice.

Orc had been helping me catch up in class, and in spite of his scary appearance, he was actually a very polite and friendly person, though he did like to talk a little too much about his home in Quebec. Vulpine was cute, a little shy at first, and a bit mischievious once I’d gotten to know her. She’d also already mastered the whole thing about storing a spell for later use, which meant she was just the person I wanted to work with.

“I really want to learn how to do that paper thing you do,” I told Vulpine, thinking about the way she pulled spells out of her pouch during martial arts. It was a lot faster than having to cast the spells from scratch right there on the spot, though admittedly, once I’d gotten the hang of it, I was able to cast my illusions pretty quickly. Mrs. Lauriant had told me that it was a Sidhe thing.

“My Grandma taught me,” Vulpine told me proudly. “Using magic runs in my family. Most of us aren’t really very powerful, but we’ve got a lot of tricks to work around that.”

“Cool,” I said, definitely interested in learning any tricks I could.

“I fear that my form of magic may not work that way,” Orc told us. “I control the elements and it takes a direct and immediate force of will.” He paused to scratch at his ugly chin before adding, “But this will still be interesting.”

Orc was right in that the whole subject was interesting, and one that might save my butt someday. I was so engrossed in the topic that I was able to briefly forget the fact that I was not only bleeding from a place I shouldn’t even have, but by now, everyone in Poe knew it.

After class was over, I went to Powers Theory where I sat in my usual seat next to Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain. Dr. Quintain was also his normally charming self, meaning that he was so monotonous and droning that he was able to make even a subject like super powers seem boring. By the time class was over, I was actually looking forward to seeing the shrink.

The time for my appointment finally came and I found myself in front of an office with the name Dr. Alfred Bellows on the door. A minute later, I found myself meeting the middle-aged man who owned that name.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Dr. Bellows said as he shook my hand.

I just smiled nervously at that, then looked around his office, noticing some kind of genie bottle siting on the bookshelf. Then I asked, “Is there a couch I’m supposed to sit on for this?”

“If you’d like,” Dr. Bellows respond with a chuckle. “But I find most of my patients prefer to sit in a chair. Trust me, it’s very comfortable.”

At first, I just sat there uncomfortably, feeling extremely self-conscious. Dr. Bellows talked when I wouldn’t, making it clear that he knew about my gender change, though he didn’t seem the least bit judgmental about it.

“I’ve talked with others in your situation,” Dr. Bellows assured me.

“You’ve talked to other guys who turned into elf girls?” I asked wryly.

Dr. Bellows just smiled at that and responded, “Actually, yes.”

Before I realized it, I began talking, telling him about what happened yesterday. It was embarrassing, but he listened in understanding, which made it easier to keep talking.

“And it’s not just being a girl,” I told him quietly. “It’s this whole Sidhe thing too… I keep having these dreams…”

When I was finished, Dr. Bellows nodded. “There are several other students on campus who’ve changed and become Sidhe as well. You might want to talk to some of them to see if they’re having similar dreams.”

“I know these dreams are memories,” I said with a shake of my head. “I just don’t know if they’re memories from some past life or if they’re memories from my ancestor. Maybe both. It’s…confusing.”

“Whether these dreams are memories or not,” Dr. Bellows told me. “They belong to another life…another person. You can learn from them, but don’t let them control your life. You have a life to live in the here and now, and that is what you need to focus on.”

By the time our session was done, I actually felt a little better. I wasn’t suddenly happy with the idea about having my period or possibly being the reincarnation of some Sidhe woman, but at least I’d gotten my problems off my chest and that had helped more than I’d expected.

As I started towards Crystal Hall and lunch, I smiled faintly at the thought that I’d be eating with Collin again. Then I suddenly remembered the way I’d kissed Collin yesterday and my heart jumped in my chest. I groaned, realizing that I had something else to talk to Dr. Bellows about during our next appointment.

--------------------

In my dream, I was sitting cross-legged on the ground while I played a beautiful melody on my flute. My friend and companion X’rxi flittered about nearby, dancing on the wind with abandon, clearly enjoying the tune. It was a joyous piece, which was just what was needed to restore the spirits after the long and haunting one I’d played before.

When I had finished, I slowly lowed my flute and looked to X’rxi, who landed on my shoulder as she often did. Then I looked at my surroundings and the massive forge which was spread out before me. This was the largest forge I had ever seen, and the only one I’d heard of which exceeded its size was owned by the Mountain People…the Dwarves. However, it was not the forge itself which drew my attention, but the being who worked it.

The Artificer was a strange being with white stony skin, black metallic hair, and glowing runes which covered her body. Common knowledge said she was a construct, forged by magic with no will or soul of her own, existing for the sole purpose of serving her owner. However, that did not strike me as being true. When I stared at this being, I was certain that there was more to her than this, that deep inside, she held a soul and an ember of true life. Others laughed when I spoke of this belief, yet I knew I knew it to be true.

I watched silently as the Artificer continued her work, not hesitating or showing the slightest indication that she’d noticed my presence or the music that I’d played. The Artificer had been given the task of forging magical armor for the queen, and she did so with the single minded focus of a construct…or one who had been bound and enslaved at the in the deepest levels of their being. While watching this, it was easy to see why she was believed to be a construct, but I was not fooled.

Every day for the past cycle of the moon, I have come here to this spot, to speak with the Artificer and play music for her. Once, I had been staring at the Artificer when I’d seen a brief flaring of her soul, little more than a spark, yet enough to tell me her true nature. She had a soul. She had a true life buried deep within. The thought that a living being could be enslaved in this way offended me to my very core, so I had come here since, attempting to stoke this spark into a fire, to awaken her soul and free it from this cold slavery. But as of yet, the Artificer had yet to even acknowledge my presence, much less show any signs of her soul.

“A name,” I exclaimed to the Artificer in realization. “What you need is a name of your own.”

The Artificer continued with her work at the forge, not responding to my comments, though that was no surprise as she hadn’t responded to anything I’ve said yet. Still, I held out hope. I would give her a name, a name would help her form her identity, to give her something to stand apart as an individual rather than a mere construct.

X’rxi whispered suggestions into my ear, though none of them seemed right to me. I finally went to the Artificer and told her, “I shall call you Ashtea. It means hope…”

The Artificer…Ashtea did not respond to me, though I had hoped she might finally do so. Still, that did not deter my own hope, nor my determination to awaken her soul. I would continue visiting Ashtea, in spite of the ever growing risk of being found out.

The queen had given strict orders that none were to approach the Artificer or interfere with her work, yet I had done so thirty-one times already, and would continue to do so as long as I was able. As a child, I had often been called willful and disobedient, yet disobeying my queen was a far more serious matter than disobeying my parents. If I was caught before I had awoken Ashtea, the punishment would be severe.

But for the moment, I turned thoughts of getting caught and punished aside, feeling confident in my own cleverness and ability to avoid being discovered. I had a great deal of experience in both leading enemies astray and in entertaining children, and I turned every bit of that skill towards the goal of trying to awaken Ashtea’s sense of curiosity and wonder. If anything could awaken her sleeping soul, that would be it.

When I awoke from the dream, I groaned and immediately sent my will out to one of my faeries, ordering it to come closer and then activating the weak light spell I’d cast into it last night. With that, my faerie began to glow, acting like a nightlight and letting me see enough to do what I needed to. I grabbed the notebook from the nightstand beside my bed and began to quickly write down the details of my dream before I lost them.

Ever since my transformation, I’d been having these dreams of that other life, most of which faded almost as soon as I woke up. Most of the time, I barely remembered anything about them at all, so a couple days ago, I’d begun keeping this dream journal. I hoped that this would let me purge the dreams from my mind as well as let me get back to them later on. So far, this was the first one of THOSE dreams that I’d had since I started the journal.

I scowled as I thought about this latest dream, holding onto the details a little better now that I’d written them down. The thing that stuck with me the most though was the Artificer…Ashtea. Though I hadn’t known it in my dream, now that I was awake, I realized that she’d looked exactly like Caitlin. The only real difference in their appearances had been the color of their glowing tattoos.

Just then, a pillow hit me alongside the head and Dana exclaimed, “Turn that thing off. It’s Saturday morning, so at least let a girl sleep in…”

“Sorry,” I told my new roommate, letting the spell in my faerie fade away so that it went dark again.

Even in the darkened room, I could still make out Dana’s silhouette as she rolled over in her bed. Last Tuesday, after we’d returned to Poe from classes, Mrs. Horton had announced that Dana would be moving into my room with me. Jinx had been running interference on that decision since I’d first arrived, but apparently, even her luck hadn’t been enough to deter the house mother forever.

As an only child, I’d never had to worry about sharing a room with anyone before and I was finding it difficult to adjust. It was weird, always having someone in my bedroom, intruding on my personal space. But of course, Dana’s situation wasn’t really much different since she had a room of her own until the time she’d arrived at Whateley. And to make it worse, she went from sharing a room with her girlfriend to sharing one with me. This was definitely a real bummer for her.

Since I was already awake, I decided that I might as well make use of the extra time. I got dressed in my robe, then quietly left the room, bringing my faeries with me. I only had three of them currently out since one had faded away and vanished during the night. When I reached the bathroom, I released a small burst of magic, just enough to bring four more faeries into existence.

“Not to get THIS out of the way,” I muttered bitterly as I went into a stall and removed my used tampon and replaced it with a clean one. It was gross, disgusting, and uncomfortable, but at least I wasn’t freaking out at the very sight. Still, it did make me feel awkward and embarrassed, not to mention depressed when I thought about the fact that I’d be dealing with this for the rest of my life. “This is definitely the worst part about being a girl.”

I grumbled some profanities under my breath as I did my business, cursing the aching and cramps that came along with this as well. And then there was the moodiness and the fact that over the last few days I’d start crying at the drop of a hat… All in all, I HATED my period and everything that came with it. After this, I would NEVER make jokes about a girl’s period again.

When I was done in the bathroom, I went into the common room which was empty at the moment. I knew that a few girls were already up since I could see light under some of the doors and had even heard someone in one of the bathroom stalls, but so far most of the girls were still either in bed or at least hanging out in their rooms.

“Now for my morning routine,” I said, wishing that I could do this in the privacy of my own room, but having a roommate meant I had to make certain compromises.

With that, I willed my oldest faeries to all vanish, then I began transferring my glamour to one of the new ones. I’d gotten into the habit of doing this every morning so that the faerie that was holding the glamour wouldn’t fade away and pop in class. That had happened a couple days ago, much to Collin’s embarrassment and the amusement of everyone else.

Once that was done, I turned my attention to another new addition to my routine. I cast a spell, then pushed it along the link to one of my faeries, much the way I did my glamour. In this way, I was able to have my faerie hold a finished spell, the same way Vulpine stored hers on a piece of paper. It didn’t take long for me to cast some of my spells, but having a couple of them already prepared and ready to go in an instant was even better.

It took me a few more minutes to finish with what I was doing, then each of my faeries was storing a single spell. These weren’t large and complicated spells, just ones that would help me out if I got into any unexpected trouble. With the way Centurion and his friends had been following me around, anything I could use in an instant would be extremely useful.

“Thank you Vulpine,” I thought aloud, knowing that without her help, it probably would have taken me a bit longer to figure out this trick.

Of course, it had taken me half the week and a lot of attempts to figure this out, and that wasn’t even taking into account the ‘accident’ that occurred shortly after my first success. I found out the hard way that when one of my faeries was destroyed, the spell it was storing was automatically released. Fortunately, this only resulted in one of the Dylans getting blinded for a few minutes after having a flash of light in the face, but it had taught me the importance of putting in a safety. Now, if the faeries were destroyed before I was ready, the spell would just dissipate and vanish harmlessly.

I remained in the common room, practicing some of my other spells until Lina came in a short time later. She was wearing a blue robe with a peacock covering most of the back, so it definitely matched her hair. Since my robe was green, I wasn’t in any position to really say anything. For a moment, she just stood back and watched me, then she actually sat down and continued to do so.

“I usually only see you creating those faeries and hallucinations,” Lina said, gesturing to the two illusion copies of myself that were walking across the floor. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you do this other stuff.”

“The faeries and hallucinations are pretty easy,” I told her with a grin. “They’re kind of automatic. The illusions actually take a lot more effort to learn.”

“They’re pretty cool,” she agreed, looking impressed.

I grinned at that and couldn’t resist showing off a few more spells I’d learned while Lina clapped along happily. It suddenly reminded me of one of the dreams where my dream-self had been entertaining kids. Fortunately, that had actually been one of the dreams I didn’t mind remembering.

When I was done, Lina abruptly announced, “My turn.”

With that, she stood up and went to the middle of the common room and activated her powers. Suddenly, she had the giant glowing peacock tail behind her and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. This was just like the other times I’d been exposed to her power, but then things changed. Everything else around me seemed to fade away until she was all that was left, then she changed, appearing to be the most attractive person I’d ever seen in my life. Then just as suddenly as it had started, it went away.

I staggered for a moment, shaking my head to clear it. The effects of her power were very much like a glamour of some kind, and even with my magical shields, that had still been quite a punch. I could only imagine what that would be like for someone who didn’t have my protection.

“Very impressive,” I told her honestly. “You’ve gotten more powerful…”

“Yeah,” Lina agreed proudly. “We’ve been working on it, especially after you helped us realize we could do more.”

Then Lina paused, suddenly looking extremely nervous. Then before I realized it, she grabbed me and kissed me on my lips. I was caught completely by surprise and began kissing her back for a moment, realizing that I could feel a bulge pressing into me from the front of her robe.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lina whispered when she pulled back, looking self-conscious. “I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you.”

“I…I don’t know what to say,” I whispered, feeling a shaken to realize that after that, I didn’t feel turned on in the least.

“What’s wrong?” Lina demanded, her expression turning to one of hurt. “Don’t you like me?”

“Lina,” I started awkwardly, blushing brightly and feeling confused. “I…”

Lina backed away from me, staring at me with a look of anger and demanding, “It’s because I’m a freak…isn’t it?”

“I think I like guys now,” I blurted out in shame and humiliation. This was something that I’d only come to realize in the last couple days and didn’t know what to think about it.

Ever since I’d come to Whateley, I’d been taking showers with all the other girls, but I hadn’t even been checking any of them out since the first couple days, and that had been more out of habit than anything. The other girls, I could still tell they when they were hot and when I should be drooling over them, but I just didn’t feel those things towards them anymore. Instead, my thoughts had been turning towards guys.

“You’re not a freak,” I pleaded to her, hating the look of hurt and anger on her face. “You’re beautiful, but I don’t think I like girls like that anymore…”

“It’s because I’m a freak” Lina exclaimed, tears starting to flow down her cheeks.

“You’re not,” I protested again. And since I didn’t know what else to say, I turned bright red and blurted out, “I think I like the guy who used to bully me at school. I don’t want to be like this…”

“LIAR,” Lina yelled before turning and running out of the common room.

“Lina,” I called out, staring after her but she’d already run to her room and slammed the door. I winced, feeling horrible about what had just happened and wishing I’d done things different. “I wish I could like you like that,” I muttered, staring to cry myself. “I would have killed for a girlfriend like you before…”

With that, I shook my head, wiped the tears from my cheeks, not that it did much god, and cursed my hormones. Then I slowly started back to my room, deciding that I should get showered and go to breakfast. I’d talk to Lina again when she’d calmed down and apologize.

When I got back to my room, I found Dana was already up and in the middle of drinking her first espresso of the morning. Or at least I assumed it was the first one. With her, it might very well be her third.

“This is the best invention ever,” Dana exclaimed as she lovingly patted her espresso machine. “You want one?”

“No thanks,” I responded with a weak smile. “I don’t really like coffee.”

“But you’re from Seattle,” Dana said with a look of mock horror. “Blasphemer…”

I snorted at that. “So I’m not a big fan of the taste…”

Dana just gasped at me, then dipped her finger into her drink before using that finger to make the sign of the cross and saying something that sounded vaguely like it was supposed to be an exorcism. I just shook my head, wondering how Jinx had put up with her for that long. Then I looked at Dana’s rather generous curves and had a pretty good idea.

“Now drink three lattes and call me in the morning,” Dana finished up.

I shook my head at that, then grabbed my shower supplies and went to get washed up before breakfast. However, I had barely entered the showers when I found myself confronted by an angry looking Cindy.

“What did you do to Lina?” Cindy demanded. “She came in here crying…”

I winced at that, then told her, “I didn’t do anything…”

“She wasn’t crying for no reason,” Cindy pointed out, giving me a suspicious look.

“She…” I started, feeling awkward and embarrassed as I admitted, “She kissed me…”

Cindy looked a little surprised at that. “And?”

I was blushing badly as I quietly added, “I told her I’m not into girls like that anymore…”

Cindy just stared at me in silence for several long seconds before shaking her head and letting out a sigh. “Ouch…” Her expression turned from anger to sympathy. “How are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” I responded quietly. “I’m a bit confused about it…”

“I can’t imagine what that’s like for you,” Cindy told me gently. “I mean, I’ve always known I liked girls. I can’t imagine how weird it would feel for me to start liking guys instead…”

“I didn’t mean to hurt Lina,” I said quietly.

“Poor girl,” Cindy muttered with a shake of her head. “She was crushing on you a bit, so this won’t be easy on her… I’ll talk to her.”

A short time after I was finished with my shower, I went to breakfast with Dana and Jinx as I did every morning. We usually had Lina, Cindy, and one or two others from Poe with us as well, but not this morning. After all the drama, I wasn’t surprised that Lina didn’t come, and it appeared that Cindy had decided to keep her company. Of course, this meant that I had to tell Dana and Jinx about what had happened…and admit that I was starting to like guys.

“I don’t know what to do,” admitted self-consciously. “It feels wrong to feel this way…”

“I’m lucky I don’t have to go through that,” Dana told me with a sympathetic look. “I mean, it’s tough enough just getting used to these…” She stared down at her breasts and then added, “And everything that goes with them.”

“That might change,” I pointed out to her, but she just shook her head.

“I only look like this because I copied Jackie’s BIT,” Dana responded. “And even if I copied her sexuality as part of it, she’s a lesbian…”

“I just feel sorry for Lina,” Jinx said with a worried look. “I know she usually acts tough, but she used to like guys before she bonded with her spirit. She’s had a really hard time dealing with her changes…both the physical ones and suddenly liking girls. And now, the first time she openly shows interest in a girl she gets shot down…”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” I protested weakly, still feeling guilty.

Jinx nodded at that, “I know, and I think she’ll realize it too once she calms down. I just can’t help but feeling sorry for her.”

But even as Jinx was worried about Lina, I could tell that she was actually kind of relieved by my admission as well. Though she didn’t say anything about it, it was obvious that she’d been a little worried about me being roommates with Dana. At least now, she didn’t have to worry about Dana and I messing around behind her back.

“I get a hot girl as a roommate,” I muttered under my breath. “And I can’t even appreciate it.”

“So, what do you have planned for today?” Jinx asked me curiously, obviously attempting to change the subject, much to my relief.

“This morning, I’m going on a run with the Hooligans,” I told her with a grin, happy to have found a group of people that shared my interest in free running. “Then I’m going to be spending most of the afternoon with Mrs. Lauriant.”

Dana smirked at me and added, “And didn’t you say something about doing some homework with Collin?”

I blushed brightly at that, still having hard time believing the things I’d been thinking and feeling about him. He was the guy who used to chase me around trying to beat me up, and now I kept staring at his butt and thinking about his cute smile… I shook my head at that, not sure what I was going to do about all this.

“It’s just homework,” I insisted, though my thoughts immediately turned to the time I’d kissed him as a distraction. I blushed even brighter at that while Jinx and Dana both burst out laughing. “Besides,” I protested weakly. “Fixx and Porcelain are gonna be there too…”

“Oooh,” Dana teased me with a grin. “An orgy…”

Dana continued teasing me all through breakfast, so I was actually glad to say goodbye and leave Crystal Hall on my own. I had my faerie scouts out and about, so I easily spotted Ripple, who was trying to follow me along with some other boy from the Dylan’s. Thursday after school, I’d given Ripple a good dose of my glamour in exchange for a thorough demonstration of his powers. I’d thought that would get him off my back, but instead, he’d told the other Dylans and now I was having more of them follow me.

“It’s like feeding a stray dog,” I muttered to myself. “A bad idea.”

I went around a corner, then created an illusion of myself, which I sent walking back towards Poe. Ripple and the other boy followed the illusion, so I continued on my way towards Schuster Hall where the Hooligans were going to meet.

“Glad you came back,” Thrasher told me when I met up with the Hooligans.

“Thrasher was afraid we’d scared you off,” Slapdash told me with a chuckle. I just watched Slapdash for a moment, startled to realize that I actually thought he was cute. I shook my head, not wanting to think those kinds of thoughts.

When everyone had arrived, I saw that there were two people who hadn’t been there last week. One was a cute, but slightly geeky looking girl named Molly who was a sophomore in Poe. The other was some green skinned boy called Ribbit, who was in my Powers Theory and Algebra classes.

“Where’s Caitlin at?” Aquerna asked, pointing out the one notable absence. “Is she coming?”

“No idea,” Slapdash answered. “But I wouldn’t count on it. She’s been locked up in one of the devisor labs all week, and from what I heard, she’s only been coming out occasionally for food and materials.”

“Do you know what she’s working on?” Zenith asked curiously.

Slapdash just shrugged. “No clue. I mean, I’ve heard she’s a devisor, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen her act like it. I mean, she takes magic classes, not devisor ones.”

“Caitlin is a little weird,” Aquerna told me almost conspiratorially. “And sometimes she can be kind of intimidating…”

I just frowned, thinking about that dream I’d had this morning, the one with the Artificer who looked an awful lot like Caitlin. I’d been wondering whether I should mention it to her or not, so maybe it was a good thing she wasn’t here today. I could just imagine her reaction if I did tell her about the dream. After all, that would probably come off as pretty creepy. And if she’d been giving me the stink-eye before…

We started off on our run a few minutes after this, with Slapdash taking the lead this time. He took us on a different path then what we’d run last week, much to my relief since it gave me some fresh obstacles to play with as well as gave me a tour of parts of campus where I hadn’t gone yet. By the time we finished, I was breathing hard, covered with sweat, and was in a great mood. Nothing helps you take your mind off of drama like a good run.

I made my way back to Poe so I could shower and change before going to meet up with Mrs. Lauriant. I still had plenty of time before my appointment, so I decided that I’d look for Lina. Hopefully she’d have calmed down enough so that I could talk to her and apologize. I certainly hadn’t meant to hurt her, especially since I had a pretty good idea of what she was going through. I was really confused by my own new emotions and could only imagine how much it would hurt if I bared myself to Collin and he turned me away.

“I still can’t believe I’m even thinking that about him,” I muttered with a shake of my head. There was no way I could tell him how I felt. It was too…embarrassing.

After I was done showering and had changed into a dress, I went looking for Lina but found she was gone. Since I couldn’t talk with her, I decided that I should probably take care of something else that I’d been meaning to do for the last few days. In fact, it was something that I’d been thinking about doing ever since my talk with Dr. Bellows, though I’d been finding one reason after another to put it off.

My legs felt oddly heavy as I slowly climbed the stairs to the sophomore floor. I sent my faeries ahead so that I could see through their eyes, so when I reached the next floor I knew to go straight to the common room. When I arrived, I found a group of sophomores sitting around talking, ones who belonged to the group called Team Kimba.

“We totally need to do that for the next sim,” Jade exclaimed excitedly, waving her arms around as she added, “It will be Condor Girl two…the sequel.”

Jade’s sister Jinn was beside her, nodding emphatic agreement. “Yeah, it will be great…”

“It will be Insano Girl part one hundred,” another girl said.

I recognized this girl as Tennyo, Jade’s roommate. She had silvery blue hair that was spikey and seemed immune to gravity, as did the girl herself. She was sitting cross legged while floating in the air.

My eyes swept over the rest of the group, taking it all in. Toni, the graceful black girl was actually doing a one-handed handstand from a swinging hammock, however that was even possible. Lancer was the muscular blonde boy, and he appeared to be the only guy in the group. However, I’d heard that Phase, the girl with the spikey black hair was technically male as well, though in the same way that Lina was.

Of course, I’d also heard that Phase was part of the Goodkind family, which I found hard to believe. They were a family of billionaires who were notorious for hating mutants, so I just couldn’t imagine one of them ever coming to a school for mutants, even if they did manifest as one. More likely, she just had the same last name.

Then my eyes settled on Nikki, who was staring at me, obviously surprised that I’d willingly come so close to her. I took a deep breath and braced myself to speak, but before I could, Tennyo asked, “Aren’t you the girl who made all the freshmen see pink elephants?”

“Is it true your Dad works for the MCO?” Lancer asked me.

“Actually,” Phase stated, giving me an odd look, “her father isn’t the only one who works for the MCO. She works for them too. She’s even here at Whateley on an MCO scholarship.” In spite of the words, I got the impression that she wasn’t condemning me for this so much as showing off how much she knew.

“Ayla,” Nikki snapped at the other girl. “Leave her alone…”

“I’ll come back another time,” I muttered as I turned to leave, obviously not being welcomed here.

“Yeah,” Jade added, glaring at Phase. “Leave her alone. She’s nice…”

I started out the common room door, but Nikki called out, “Wait,” and hurried after me. She gave me a curious look, obviously wondering why I’d go through the trouble of looking for her after I’d gone through so much more effort trying to avoid her. “What is it?”

“I just wanted to thank you for what you did Monday,” I told her self-consciously.

Nikki nodded and gave me a gentle smile. “I’ve been there myself. Don’t feel too bad about it. You certainly aren’t the first changeling to react that way.”

“Thanks,” I responded quietly.

Before I could turn to leave, Nikki abruptly asked, “Why are you so afraid of me?” She gave me a worried look, actually looking a little hurt.

I hesitated for a moment, knowing that she deserved an honest answer. “It’s not really you I’m afraid of,” I finally said, unable to meet her eyes. “It’s Aunghadhail.”

Nikki seemed a little surprised at that. Then she stared at me with a thoughtful look before saying, “Aunghadhail is…concerned about you. She says you look like someone she used to know…before the Sundering, but she won’t tell me anything more than that.”

A faint chill went down my spine as this conversation was running too close to my dreams for my comfort. However, I’d already made a decision to be honest with Nikki and get everything in the open. I just wasn’t sure how to do that.

“Do you have Aunghadhail’s memories?” I asked Nikki. “Or is she like a voice in your head?”

“Most of the time, she’s like a presence in my head,” Nikki answered carefully. Then she said, “But we’re… I’m a part of her and we’re slowly merging. One day we’ll be one person.”

I felt that cold chill again, as well as a momentary urge to hurry away. Instead, I asked, “Then can she hear us talking?”

Nikki nodded at that. “She knows what I know. But I don’t know everything she does.”

I was silent for several long seconds, then I let out a sigh. “When I manifested,” I started to explain, feeling self-conscious as I did so, “I basically turned into a clone of one of my ancestors.”

Nikki looked startled at that, and for a moment, her aura flashed as though Aunghadhail was about to take over. However, Aunghadhail’s presence held back, which was fortunate as I didn’t know if I’d be able to continue if she had come.

“Continue,” Nikki urged me.

“A really distant ancestor,” I admitted wryly, gesturing down at myself. “And ever since I changed, I’ve been having dreams…and nightmares.” I paused to lick my lips before adding, “They’re memories…her memories.” I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to keep my voice steady. “I don’t really know if I’m supposed to be some kind of reincarnation of her…or if I just have her memories because I’m her clone. But in my dreams, I’ve been living her memories. I remember a monster killing my best friend in front of me and then tearing off my arm. I remember dying…” My voice choked at that.

Nikki gasped, giving me a sympathetic look. “That sounds horrible.”

I nodded at that. “Aunghadhail was in some of these dreams,” I continued quietly, a note of bitterness slipping into my voice. “In these memories, she was the one who took everything I had away from me. Who banished me from my home.” And then I looked Nikki in the eyes as I added, “She’s the one who sent me to my death.”

“What?” Nikki exclaimed, looked stunned at that statement.

“You look just like her,” I continued grimly. “The first time I saw you, I literally came face to face with my worst nightmare.”

“That…that explains why you’ve been avoiding me,” Nikki said quietly.

“I don’t know everything that happened,” I admitted, no longer looking at Nikki. “My dreams are only bits and pieces of that life, and in some of them, Aunghadhail almost seemed like a friend. But in others…” I paused at that, my voice going dry as I remembered the sense of loneliness that I’d felt in the dream, so much so that dying had almost been like a release.

With that, I turned to walk away, but then a voice said, “Wait, child.” The tone in the voice was not Nikki’s, nor was the presence I now felt behind me. I paused, my heart jumping in my chest, though I didn’t look back at Aunghadhail. “You are not the one from those dreams,” she told me, sounding incredibly sad. “Your spirit is very much like hers…so much so that I believe this is why you inherited her form, power, and even memories. You are her heir…her true heir, but your soul is your own.”

I felt a sense of relief at her words, which seemed strange since it came from the same being who’d caused me so much fear and worry. But in spite of the source, it was a great weight off my shoulders to know that I wasn’t actually that woman from my dreams. Those horrible things hadn’t actually happened to me. Without saying a word, I nodded in understanding and then continued on my way.

--------------------

I sat up in bed and stretched, thankful that I’d had a peaceful sleep without any of THOSE dreams. I think there had been a dream about Collin, which left me warm, tingly, and embarrassed, but at least it had been my own dream rather than a remnant of someone long dead.

After a minute of just sitting up in bed and trying to wake up mentally, I looked across my room at the faint silhouette of Dana’s bed. I fought back the impulse to just turn on the light so I could get up and get dressed. I didn’t even activate that weak nightlight spell that I’d tried out yesterday morning. Instead, I sent a mental command to one of my faeries and activated a different spell that I’d prepared before going to bed. A moment later, the room suddenly lit up as though it was the middle of the day, though I hadn’t created any light at all. This was due to the night vision spell I’d just used, one of the spells that I’d learned from my dreams.

“Very nice,” I whispered, feeling quite pleased by the results. “This is even better than night vision goggles…”

With that, I got up and put on my robe, then grabbed my book on illusion magic. I hesitated a moment and then grabbed one of the two notebooks that I kept next to my bed. One of the notebooks was used as a dream journal, but this one was where I wrote down the details of spells I remembered. It was the start of my very own spell book, though it wasn’t very impressive as of yet. One day, I was going to have to get a real journal to start writing them down in.

I left my room and went to the common room, noticing that I wasn’t the only one who was up and about. That was no surprise though as it was the same time we normally got up for classes, and not everyone was able to sleep in on the weekends the way Dana did.

“Morning,” I greeted Downpour, who was sitting in the common room with a sketch pad. She looked up and barely acknowledged my presence before she went back to drawing, not bothering to show me what she was working on. I didn’t feel offended though as I knew she wasn’t a very social person. I suspected she had a bit of social anxiety to go along with her depression.

I started off by creating some new faeries and then casting spells for them to hold onto. I knew that there had to be a way to simply transfer the stored spells from my old faeries to my new ones, but I didn’t know how to do that yet. I was definitely going to have to figure it out though, because that would probably save some time and effort. Either that, or figure out how to keep my faeries around for longer.

Once I was finished preparing those emergency spells, I went to work practicing on a couple new ones. As I’d been repeatedly reminded of during martial arts class, I had no offensive abilities at all. Everything I had was distraction and evasion, so I was trying to figure out some way to add a little more punch to my power. I found a couple spells in my book which still fell into the illusion category, but which might help fill in that weak spot.

“Maybe I can get Mrs. Lauriant to teach me how to throw a fireball or something too,” I mused.

After practicing one of the spells a couple times, I found myself getting distracted and doing research instead. There were a lot of cool looking spells in the book of illusions that Mrs. Lauriant had given me, and I definitely wanted to try all of them. Some of them would let me do the whole ‘look at me’ think that Lina did, or even turn invisible like Ripple.

I thought about all the spells in the book, knowing that some of them were very long and complicated. In fact, the book even noted that some of those spells would take years of study before someone would even be ready to attempt them, though I had a feeling that I’d be ready to try those ones quite a bit sooner than that.

Yesterday, Mrs. Lauriant and I had spent quite a bit of time talking about the Sidhe and what it meant for me to actually be one. After my talk with Nikki and Aunghadhail, I’d had some questions, and Mrs. Lauriant had done her best to answer them as thoroughly as she could. However, at the end of it all, her recommendation was that I talk to the world’s foremost expert on the Sidhe…Aunghadhail. Even after my heart to heart with Nikki, I didn’t think I could do that.

One of the things that Mrs. Lauriant had told me was that Sidhe had a genetic advantage when it came to manipulating magic. According to her, they…WE could manipulate magic directly, without all of the ceremonies and rituals that human magic users often required. She’d described it as a built in magical shortcut, and once she’d mentioned that, I realized that I’d seen the effects myself. The spells I’d learned from my dreams had been very simple to perform, but when I performed ones from the book, they tended to be complicated and required a lot more effort. I found myself instinctively altering parts of the spells from the book as I cast them, simplifying them and making them more like the ones from my dream. And in spite of those shortcuts, they still worked fine for me.

I was reading through one of the spells when Breakdown came into the room, carrying an odd looking device about the size of a large toaster. She gave a quick greeting to Downpour, then sat down in a corner and began dismantling the thing she’d brought in. She had a notebook open beside her which she took notes in.

“I thought most devisors liked to make things,” I teased her gently. “Not take them apart.”

“Well I’m not most devisors,” she responded a little smugly.

Just as I was turning back to my book, Lina came into the room and stopped at the doorway, staring at me with a grim look. “I thought you’d be here,” she said, her voice shaking a little as she came towards me.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I quickly told her, feeling bad that I hadn’t been able to find her yesterday in order to apologize. “I didn’t mean to hurt you…”

“I know,” she responded, staring at the floor in clear embarrassment. “I’m sorry I overreacted… If anyone knows how hard it is to suddenly switch orientations like that, it’s me…”

“It’s pretty weird,” I agreed awkwardly.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she said with a sigh. “After I first bonded with my spirit, I kissing a guy I used to like, but I didn’t feel anything for him anymore… I guess that’s what yesterday had to be like for you…”

“Yeah,” I agreed sadly.

Linda stared at me for a moment, then asked, “Can we still be friends?”

“What?” I asked in mock hurt. “Yesterday you were asking me out and now you’re giving me the ‘just friends’ speech….”

Lina burst out laughing at that, then grinned smugly. “Pretty much.”

“Sure,” I responded with a grin.

“Well, I’m gonna go take my shower,” Lina told me before she started to leave again. She paused to stare at me for a few more seconds and mused, “You know, it’s a real shame you’re straight now,” before she continued on her way.

“Yeah,” Breakdown agreed, looking me over. “I’m not really into white girls, but it is a damn shame…”

Even Downpour nodded agreement to that, which made me blush in embarrassment. I was suddenly struck by the irony of the situation, that I had turned into a girl, was in a dorm with some hot lesbian girls who liked me, and I had to go and start liking guys instead. I was starting to think that God really had a twisted sense of humor.

A moment later, I saw something moving from the corner of my eye and jumped in surprise. A girl descended from the ceiling as though she was a ghost, quickly revealing herself to be Phase. She landed on the floor a short distance away and stood there for a moment, wearing silk pajamas and holding a laptop close to her body. She also looked pretty annoyed.

“Decided to come slumming in freshmen land?” Breakdown asked her with a faint smirk.

“Something like that,” Phase answered, somehow managing to put a lot of attitude into that simple statement. Then she let out an exasperated sigh as she explained, “Beltane decided to hit Jade early this morning, so half the floor up there is covered with cockroaches and shrieking girls. I came down here so I could get some work done in peace.”

“Cockroaches?” Breakdown asked with a look of disgust.

“Neon green ones,” Phase added wryly. “Apparently, Jade was taking her shower when they started climbing out of the drain…”

“Ooooh, gross,” Breakdown exclaimed while Downpour and I just nodded our heads.

Then Phase stared at Breakdown for a moment, or at least the pile of parts that were spread out around her. “Isn’t that one of Blackbox’s lock boxes?”

“Yeah,” Breakdown agreed cheerfully. “He likes to brag that they’re impossible to crack, but I’ve found a design flaw that’s sure to send him back to the drawing board.” She looked quite smug at that.

“Interesting,” Phase commented with a thoughtful look on her face.

I just shook my head, deciding that I’d let Dana sleep in long enough. I went back to my room, where I found my roommate worshipping her espresso machine, or at least that was my impression considering the amount of attention she was giving it. I didn’t say a word though as I grabbed my shower supplies, then paused with the sudden worry that I might run into some cockroaches. I had a bad feeling that the image of cockroaches in the shower would haunt my imagination for some time to come.

It was almost two hours later that I went to the front gate of the school, dressed in nice slacks and a blouse. I felt a little self-conscious dressed up like this, but the truth was, it was actually less feminine than the dresses I wore for Mrs. Lauriant or the skirts I wore on an almost daily basis. And I had to admit, I did look pretty nice like this. Almost professional.

I didn’t have to wait long before a familiar looking car pulled up and Grace Winslow stepped out. Like the one other time I’d seen her in person, she was wearing a very professional looking suit. She might have come off as a bit strict and intimidating if it wasn’t for the pleasant smile on her face.

“Hello Gwen,” she greeted me, looking me over as she did so. “Are you ready for your first day of work?”

“Not really,” I admitted, feeling nervous about the idea walking right into an MCO field office. Of course, I’d done it a couple times back in Seattle, but then I’d been with my Dad. However, this was part of the agreement to have my education paid for.

“Don’t worry,” Grace assured me. “We’re just people, the same as you… I’ve already warned everyone to be on their best behavior.”

“And I’m sure everyone there was delighted to hear that they’d have a mutant coming in,” I pointed out with a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

“Everyone is looking forward to it,” Grace told me, though there was a shift in her aura that told me she was lying. “Or at the very least, everyone will act professionally if they know what’s good for them.”

I climbed into her car, along with the half dozen faeries who were accompanying me. Grace watched the faeries for a moment, then she shook her head with a chuckle. When I gave her a curious look, she said, “I have a seven year old niece who would absolutely love to see those things.”

The nearest MCO field office was in Berlin New Hampshire, which was where Grace began driving us. While we drove, we engaged in a little small talk, with her telling me about a few of the times she’d worked with my Dad, mostly I think to assure me that she really did know him. Of course, I’d already verified that myself. After I first got to Whateley, I’d called home to let my parents know that I’d made it, and while I was doing so, I’d asked Dad about Grace. He hadn’t said much, other than that she was both a consummate professional and a good person, which was high praise coming from him. He’d also assured me that I could trust her.

Then Grace began asking me a little about myself and how I was doing at Whateley, and I tried being polite but a little vague with my answers. In spite of the fact that Dad trusted her, I didn’t really know her all that well yet. There were a few too many things that I didn’t feel comfortable with sharing, nor did it seem like a good idea to tell anyone in the MCO too much about what was going on at Whateley.

Grave gave me a faintly amused look, obviously noticing that I wasn’t being very forthcoming. Then she commented, “Miles told me about your gender change. That can’t be easy to deal with.”

I was a little surprised that Dad had told her about that, though if Dad trusted her with that knowledge, it was yet more confirmation that I could as well. Then again, if she and Dad really were old friends, she’d probably have questions about why Dad was asking her to look out for a daughter that he’d never had before, so Dad probably wouldn’t have had much choice but to tell her.

“It isn’t,” I finally said, after several long seconds. “It’s…kind of weird.”

Grace smiled faintly at that, then told me, “Then just wait until you have to go through your first period…”

I winced at that, clearly remembering my initial reactions and how I’d completely freaked out. “It…wasn’t fun.” I was just glad that I’d stopped bleeding yesterday. Grace gave me a curious look so I turned bright red and added, “Well, it wasn’t…”

“I see,” she responded carefully. “I guess you really are getting the whole experience then…”

All I could do was nod at that, then mumbled, “They’re making me see a shrink at school.”

Grace merely nodded at that, giving me a sympathetic look and saying, “Sometimes, that’s the best thing we can do for ourselves.” Then she smiled and admitted, “I talk to someone on a regular basis myself. Sometimes, it’s just nice having someone you can talk to.”

After this, the conversation became lighter, and it was easier to talk with her, especially as she went back to talking about some of the things she’d done while working as a liaison with the Liberty League. Then, she finally asked me, “Do you know a girl named Sphere?”

“I’ve met her,” I responded carefully, not mentioning that she was my roommate.

“I’ve told you about the clash between the Liberty League and some overzealous MCO agents,” she said with a scowl. “A girl called Sphere was there and was heavily involved in the incident.”

I nodded at that, not trusting myself to actually say anything there. Dana had told me all about what had happened, and she still nursed a pretty good grudge against the MCO over it. I was just glad that she didn’t blame me for any of the things that those people had done while trying to catch her.

“I’m not asking you to spy on your classmates or anything like that,” Grace assured me, apparently guessing my worries. “From what I understand, one of the rogue agents became obsessed with Sphere and caused several other incidents leading up to the one with the Liberty League. While we were investigating the incident, a member of the Liberty League suggested that Sphere may be at Whateley. If possible, I’d like to speak with the girl and take her statement.”

“Take her statement?” I asked in surprise and just a little confusion. “You mean arrest her?”

“No,” grace responded, shaking her head but not taking her eyes from the road. “From what I understand, Sphere was an unwilling accomplice at most. And even if I wanted to arrest her, I don’t have the authority to do so at Whateley. My interest is in the MCO agent who went rogue, so I’d like to interview both Sphere and a villain called Pinball who was also involved. But at the moment, Sphere is definitely the easiest of the two to locate.”

“And you just want to talk to her?” I asked, just a little suspiciously.

“I just want to talk to her,” Grace assured me. “And get a written statement we can take to court.”

I hesitated a moment, thinking about what Dana might say to this. Then I finally told Grace, “I can tell her you want to talk to her, but I can’t promise anything.”

Grace nodded at that. “If she agrees, I can make arrangements with Whateley and we’ll hold the interview on campus so she’ll feel safe.” She paused at that, then admitted, “After what happened, I’m sure she won’t be comfortable talking to anyone from the MCO.”

“Probably not,” I agreed almost cheerfully. “But I can put in a good word for you.”

Grace chuckled at that and then changed the subject to the kind of welcome I could expect and what I’d have to do today. It didn’t sound very difficult, but I was still a little nervous and knew I would be until I found out what the field office was like for myself. In fact, I suspected that I’d feel nervous until I was safe and sound back at Whateley.

When we arrived, Grace gave me a serious look and said, “Only use your codename while here. As you are already aware, there are some people in the MCO who don’t need to know any more than that.”

“Yeah,” I said, remembering that Dad had given me several similar warnings.

A minute later, Grace took me into the building through the front door, into an office that looked very much like the one where Dad worked. There were people in suits and ties, others in MCO uniforms, and there were a lot of desks. At first glance, this might have been able to pass for an office in the corporate world, though of course there were lots of small signs that hinted that this wasn’t a corporate office. The MCO logo was quite visible on coffee mugs, on the carpet, and even painted on one wall. And I knew that if this place was anything like the one where my Dad worked, there would be another area loaded with power armor, heavy weapons, and soldiers who were trained to use them.

“Everyone,” Grace announced loudly, reminding me very much of my introduction in Dad’s office. “This is Absinthe. She’ll be working here occasionally as an intern, learning how the MCO operates.”

There were several looks of surprise as well as a few that were clearly hostile. I quickly looked around the room, using my mage sight and making mental notes as to who might be a problem later on. Unfortunately, there were more of those kind here than there had been back in Seattle, so I had a feeling that my time working here wouldn’t be very welcoming. But thankfully, not everyone was hostile. I made sure to note those who seemed curious and friendly as well as those who weren’t.

Grace began taking me around, giving me a quick tour and introducing me to people, some of whom stared at me quite openly. Other than my green hair and pointed ears, I pretty much looked normal, so I could only imagine how they’d react to some of the GSD cases back at Whateley. These reactions were enough to make me suspect that most of these people hadn’t run into many actual mutants before.

The introductions and tour took almost an hour, and when we were gone, Grace gestured around the main office and said, “Why don’t you see about getting everyone coffee for now and we’ll find more for you to do in a bit.”

With that, Grace hurried off, leaving me in the main office with a lot of people I didn’t know. I had a pretty good idea of what she was doing, besides feeding me to the sharks. She wanted me to meet up with these people without her standing over my shoulder. So with a sigh, I decided to get to work.

“Can I get you a coffee or something?” I asked a woman at the first desk.

She stared at me for a moment, seeming just a little nervous of me…maybe even a tiny bit afraid. I was a bit surprised at that since I certainly wasn’t very threatening. “Sure,” she finally said, giving me a weak smile. “I’ll have a coffee, heavy on the cream and with a touch of raspberry syrup.”

I nodded at that, then realized that I might have a hard time remembering the orders. “Can I borrow a pen and some paper so I don’t forget?”

“Sure,” she responded, still giving me a wary look but not seeming hostile about it.

I didn’t remember her name, but fortunately, she had a name badge on her desk so I wrote down Marlene and then went to the next desk and took another order. Since I could only hold a few cups at a time, I decided to get a few orders, run and get the drinks, then take a few more. It made sense to me, but I still heard some grumbling.

“Stupid mutant,” one guy grumbled to another, perhaps not realizing I could hear him or maybe just not caring. “Making me wait…”

I overheard another guy commenting, “Finally, a mutant who knows her place…”

I was getting angry and blushing at those comments, but fortunately, not all the comments were like that. Another guy told one of the complainers, “She seems nice and friendly to me…”

One woman pointed to the faeries that were floating near the ceiling and asked, “Are you a manifestor?”

Her question seemed nice and innocent, and it was delivered in a pleasant enough tone. However, I noticed an edge to her aura which warned me that she was up to something. Then I realized what it was. She was trying to find out more about my powers. She could look my MID up in the database…and very well might already have done so.

“No,” I told her as pleasantly as I could, deciding to be honest but vague so she wouldn’t have anything to call me out on. “I’m a magic user. Whenever a magic user makes a mistake with a spell, it creates hobgoblins…little creatures like these. They’re harmless and don’t really last long.” With that, I willed one of them to pop and vanish in order to emphasize that.

“Well, I think they’re very nice,” a middle-aged woman said, watching my faeries with an indulgent smile.

When I went to pick up the next batch of orders from the break room, I made sure to leave one of my faeries behind, just so I could listen in and see what they were saying about me when I wasn’t there. One guy who’d been friendly to my face, made a few racist mutant jokes while another guy who’d been grumpy and had come across as unfriendly, had actually defended me. My spy was definitely helping me learn more about the people in this office and what I could really expect from them.

“I have to deal with these freaks whenever I issue MID’s at that school,” one man complained while I was out of the room. “Now Winslow brings one of them HERE?”

Grace had introduced this man to me as Agent Whells, and I remembered him giving me a look of hostility at the time, though he hadn’t said anything. But now that Grace and I were both out of the room, he seemed to have no hesitation in making his views known.

“Just think of this as a learning opportunity,” a dark skinned woman told him. I vaguely remembered her as being introduced as Vanessa Brown.

“A learning opportunity?” Whells demanded with a snort of disgust.

“Know your enemy,” she told him firmly. “You can bet your ass she’s studying us for weak points too.”

“How right you are,” I muttered in agreement. Then as I looked at the coffee that I’d picked up for her and Whells, I silently wished that I knew a curse to give them diarrhea. Then again, it was probably a good thing I didn’t or I could get myself into a lot of trouble. “Just smile and deal with it,” I silently told myself. “It’s only for the next four years.”

When I got back, Whells gave me a look of disdain and said, “You screwed up my order. How stupid do you have to be to screw up something that simple?”

I bit my tongue at that, knowing quite well that I’d gotten his order right. I’d even made sure to write it down and pay special attention because I knew he’d be a problem. However, he was just looking for an excuse to vent at me, and if he didn’t have one, he’d make one up.

“I’m sorry,” I said, trying hard to keep the sarcasm from my voice. “I’ll get you another cup. If you write it down this time…”

Just then, Grace came over and said, “Absinthe, I have a project for you…”

I let out a sigh of relief as I walked away from Whells, thankful that I could avoid him for a bit longer. I was pretty sure that Grace knew exactly what she was doing when she’d chosen that moment to interrupt us.

“Sorry about subjecting you to all that,” Grace told me, actually looking a little sympathetic. “But I’m afraid it won’t be the last time.”

I just nodded at that, definitely not happy about having to do that again. Getting coffee might not be so bad if it wasn’t for the people like Whells and Brown, who clearly didn’t like the idea of a mutant being in the office at all. Fortunately, there had been a couple pleasant people to balance things out. And at least, when I did this next summer, I’d be doing it in the Seattle office where I had a few more allies.

“I learned a lot from that,” I admitted, though most of what I’d learned had been about who I couldn’t trust. Still, at least I had a better idea of who I needed to keep an eye on.

Grace gave me a knowing smile and said, “I thought you might. But for now, I’ve got something a little less exciting to do…”

Grace’s new task for me was little more than taking a large stack of papers and breaking it down into four smaller piles, each of which was going to be dealt with in a different way. I didn’t really even understand the papers I was working with, only that I had to look for certain things in the headers that would tell me which pile to put them in. This task was long and boring, but at least I didn’t have to deal with anyone insulting me to my face. The faerie I’d left in the office assured me that a couple of them were still talking about me behind my back.

I spent most of the day taking care of the files and performing similar easy jobs, and in the afternoon I did another round of gathering coffee for everyone. The entire time, Grace kept her distance, giving me the jobs but letting me deal with everyone in the office on my own, only stepping in when Whells started to get too insulting again. When my work day was over and it was time for me to leave, I was more than ready for it.

“It was nice to meet you,” Marlene told me, surprising me a little. I glanced at her aura, which no longer had the edge of fear in it. There was still a little nervousness, but there was also something that I thought was warmth or fondness. She gave me a smile and told me, “I guess I’ll see you again next month.”

“It was nice meeting you too,” I told her pleasantly.

“Thank God she’s leaving,” I overheard one woman mutter while several other people seemed to have similar sentiments. However, there were others like Marlene, who were noticeably friendlier than when I’d arrived. One man, who’d been rather hostile at first, was still wary of me, but nowhere near as much as he had been when I’d arrived.

As I left the building with Grace, it dawned on me that this was really one of the main purposes of the program I’d been recruited for. A lot of people in the MCO thought that all mutants were criminals or threats, and my presence gave them exposure to one who wasn’t. It let them see firsthand that I was just a person, the same as they were. And even after having been here for only one day, I could see that I’d already had an effect on several people.

“I’m sorry you have to spend so much time driving me around,” I apologized to Grace, feeling bad that she had to drive all the way to Whateley to pick me up, and then do it again to take me home.

“It’s no problem,” Grace told me with an amused smile. “If it was, I’d find other arrangements for you. Besides, I really don’t think your father would be happy if you had to ride the bus back and forth on your own.”

“I think I’d be able to handle the bus on my own,” I responded wryly, though I certainly wouldn’t want to have to do that. Riding in a car was quicker and more comfortable.

We had just reached the parking lot when Grace’s cell phone began to ring. She answered it, listened for a moment, then scowled. When she hung up, she let out a sigh and told me, “I have to go back in and take care of something.” She handed me her car keys and said, “You can wait for me in my car. It shouldn’t be more than ten or fifteen minutes.”

I nodded and continued to her car, and just as I reached it, I suddenly had a bad feeling. I’d been keeping my faeries out of sight as much as possible so that I wouldn’t draw attention, but with that I sent them out to check my environment for danger, much the way I’d begun doing at school. A moment later, I saw that there was indeed a problem, but by then it was too late.

A large man stepped out from behind a car where he’d been crouched down and hidden, then he stopped right in front of me, holding a tire iron in his hand. If his entrance and weapon hadn’t been enough of a warning about his intentions, the ski mask over his head and Humanity First pin on his jacket gave further evidence.

“You’re kind of far from the ski slopes,” I said, already aware of the fact that he wasn’t alone.

“Shut it, genescum,” he responded gruffly.

Several other men with ski masks began to appear from their hiding places as well, four of them in total. All of them were armed, and I noticed that two of them had guns. I felt a surge of fear, but pushed it aside as Doug had taught me. Survival came first.

The moment I realized my situation, I activated one of the spells that I’d stored in a faerie, suddenly creating a flash of light to blind my opponents. I followed that up sending out a raw wave of magic, creating dozens of faeries, and then running as fast as I could while my faeries created a diversion.

As I ran, I realized that there were two more men in ski masks, and these two jumped out at me before I could get far. One slashed at me with a knife and I dropped to the ground, kicking his leg out from under him. Then I rolled to the side and kicked him in the wrist so he’d drop the knife.

“Damn freak,” the other man said as he pointed a gun at me. I released another stored spell, one that created three illusion copies of myself. He shot at one of them while I jumped behind a car.

I was terrified and angry at the same time, knowing that I had to get away from these men but realizing it wouldn’t be easy. My faerie spies in the air confirmed that there were only the six of them, but all were armed and three had guns. All they needed was an opening. Fortunately for me, there were a lot of cars to hide behind.

The men were spreading out and coming towards me, but I had a few seconds to think, thanks to the illusions they were chasing. I quickly began casting another spell, trying something that I’d been meaning to test out before this. However, now seemed the perfect opportunity.

I’ve used illusions to disguise myself as other people on several occasions, and what I was doing now was no different. Or at least it was no different in principal. What was different, was that I cast my spell on three of my pursuers, making each of them look like me.

“There she is,” one of the men yelled as he opened fire, shooting one of his own people in the chest. I might have felt a little guilty about causing that man to get shot, if he hadn’t been trying to kill me too.

For several seconds, there was complete chaos as my pursuers targeted each other, resulting in two of them getting shot before the illusions faded. I didn’t know if they were alive or dead, nor did I really care.

“You shot me,” one of the men screamed, revealing that he wasn’t dead yet. However, the other one remained silent and didn’t move.

“You killed Frank,” another of the men yelled frantically.

I was trying to use this distraction to slip away, but one of the men had continued searching and saw me as he came around the car. It was the one with the tire iron. I immediately launched myself at him, swinging a punch at his face. He went to block it, probably out of instinct, which was just what I was counting on. A swift kick later and he was rolling around on the ground, grabbing at his groin and groaning in pain. Several more kicks later and he had a broken nose and probably a concussion as well. And what was more, I now had a tire iron.

Until now, I’ve been holding back with my hallucination so I hit one of the men with the faerie and unleashed all of it on him. He began shooting his gun wildly, hitting another of his own people before he ran out of ammunition. I just grinned at that.

“At this rate,” I muttered quietly, “they’ll take each other out and I won’t have to do anything.” Of course, that was a bit of an understatement since I was having to work quite hard to make sure they took each other out.

I snuck up behind the man who was hallucinating, waiting until he was out of ammunition before I hit him in the back of the head with the tire iron. After he hit the ground, I hit him a few more times for good measure, giving one of his knees a serious hit and breaking his wrist for sure when he tried blocking.

At this point, Grace suddenly yelled, “What the hell?”

Grace was running into the parking lot with a gun drawn, pointing it at one of the men who’d been attacking me. At the same time, the last man who still seemed capable of fighting or running had decided to do that, running away as quickly as possible. I didn’t bother chasing after him, though I did shift to my mage sight. To my surprise, I actually recognized his aura.

“I can’t believe you’re protecting this genescum,” the man Grace had caught snarled at her bitterly. “You’re a traitor to your race…”

“Not a word from you,” Grace told him grimly, her expression grim and tense. Her aura actually radiated with anger, showing that she was really pissed. However, when I came out of hiding and she saw that I was unharmed, there was a flash of relief as well. “I’m glad you’re all right.”

“Me too,” I responded wryly.

“Look what she did to my friends,” the prisoner snarled, gesturing to the man who was spread out on the ground in a pool of blood with a bullet hole through his chest.

“In case you forgot,” I spat out bitterly. “I’m not the one with the guns.”

Grace looked at the dead man and then at the other men I’d managed to take out, either directly or indirectly. Then she gave me a speculative look before commenting, “You don’t play fair, do you?”

“Not if I can help it,” I answered, feeling a little shaken now that the excitement was over.

Grace grabbed her prisoner and slammed him to the ground, then quickly tore off his ski mask and slapped on a pair of handcuffs. She looked at the pin on his jacket and scowled, still looking pissed.

“Humanity First,” she spat out in disgust. “I’m half surprised these idiots aren’t running around in white sheets with pointy hoods.”

“The one who got away,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and steady. I looked Grace in the eyes and said, “I recognized him…”

“You saw him without his mask?” she asked in surprise, seeming pleased by that.

I shook my head at that. “No, but I still recognized him anyway.” I hesitated a moment, then I quietly told her, “It was Whells.”

“Whells?” she gasped in surprise.

I nodded at that, absolutely positive it was him. Auras were like fingerprints and I’d seen enough of his in the office today that I definitely remembered it. I didn’t recognize any of the other men, but there was no mistaking him.

“That’s how these guys knew when and where to ambush me,” I pointed out angrily.

“If he didn’t have his mask off,” Grace said, giving me a questioning look, “then how did you recognize him?”

For a moment, I hesitated to say anything, then I gestured for her to move further away from any of the Humanity First people. Once we were far enough away that they wouldn’t be able to overhear, I whispered to her. “Part of my powers is that I have mage sight… I can see magic around me. And I can also see people’s auras. That guy who ran away…that was definitely Whells’ aura.”

Grace was silent for several seconds before she asked me, “But you didn’t see his face?” When I shook my head, she muttered, “Damn. Then we don’t have any evidence. We can’t accuse him without at least something solid…”

I noticed that Grace didn’t show any indication of doubting my claim, only of being able to prove it. I felt extremely frustrated at the realization that she was right. Unless I could prove it had been Whells, it would just be my word against his. And I seriously doubted that would work out well in my favor.

“But he doesn’t know you recognized him,” Grace told me quietly. “That means he has no idea that we’ve linked him to this. For now, we’ll have to be quiet and keep an eye on him. With a little patience and investigation, we’ll find something we can nail his ass to the wall with.”

I let out a sigh and nodded at that. I definitely didn’t like the idea of keeping quiet when I wanted to go right into the office and accuse Whells of trying to murder me, but Grace was right. Unfortunately, as much as I disliked it, this was one of the situations Dad had warned me about, where my best weapon would using the rules.

“I hate it when Dad’s right,” I muttered, earning a curious look from Grace.

“I’m afraid that going back to Whateley is going to have to wait,” Grace told me with a grimace, gesturing to Humanity First people. “Unfortunately, I need to call the police, then we both need to fill out a lot of paperwork.”

“Oh no,” I groaned at the idea of filling out paperwork. I stared at Grace in resignation and said, “You really do know my Dad.”

--------------------

Crystal Hall was busy, just like it always was during the lunch rush. I was sitting at my usual table, eating with my normal lunch crew, which consisted of Dana, Jinx, and Collin. Fixx and Porcelain were sitting with us today, as they frequently did, when they weren’t with the Underdogs. And today, Cindy and Lina had both joined us as well.

I carefully watched the people walking past as I ate, feeling a little uncomfortable as I did so. There was one boy with nice muscles who made me feel sort of warm and gooey as I watched him. Another boy had a butt that drew my eyes to it, just as much as a nice pair of breasts used to. I let out a faint sigh, then turned my attention back to the table, and Collin. He was definitely a cutie, and it still felt wrong to think that.

This morning, I’d had my second appointment with Dr. Bellows, and this time we’d talked a lot about how I was starting to like boys. I’d acknowledged this fact, but that didn’t mean I liked it. After growing up as a guy and liking girls, it still felt wrong to me. Dr. Bellows hadn’t made any judgments either way, though he had suggested that I actually pay more attention to boys and try to determine what it was that I found attractive.

“Understanding your own interests is a part of learning to understand yourself,” he’d told me.

I looked around the table, noticing that Lina and Cindy were having a hard time not holding hands or giving each other ‘goo goo’ eyes. After I’d accidentally hurt Lina’s feelings and Cindy had gone to comfort her, it seemed that they’d become something of a couple. I felt happy for both of them, though I couldn’t help but feeling a faint stirring of jealousy as well, even though I no longer found either of them sexually attractive.

Cindy was showing off with her powers, revealing a beautiful glass figurine in her hand that looked like an eagle in flight. I couldn’t help but being impressed, as well as thinking it was a shame that anything she manifested tended to vanish just moments after losing contact with her. Because of that, she could create that beautiful art, but as soon as she set it down or tried to give it away, it would disappear.

“That’s incredible,” Lina told her while I nodded agreement.

Porcelain was watching as well, though her expression was unreadable through her porcelain face and she wasn’t saying anything. However, I imagined that she was probably jealous since they were both manifestors but Lina had much more control over her power.

“That is pretty cool,” Fixx said with an easy grin. Then again, Fixx was always quick to smile.

Porcelain looked at Fixx for a moment, then she held out her hand. To my surprise, the white porcelain of her palm actually began to melt and flow, forming a porcelain figurine that looked like a bear with a salmon in its mouth. Then without a word, she set the figurine down on the table in front of her, as if to say, ‘see, mine doesn’t vanish’.

“That’s great,” Fixx exclaimed, giving Porcelain an even broader grin. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“You never asked,” she pointed out, earning a chuckle from Fixx and a smirk from Jinx.

Dana just grunted and took a bite out of her hamburger, her fourth one. She was in a bad mood and I didn’t blame her one bit. She’d woken up this morning by slapping her alarm clock and accidentally breaking it. Then a few seconds later, she’d let out a long and loud stream of profanities due to waking up in a puddle of blood. She’d started her period in the middle of the night, and it had left quite a mess for her to clean up this morning. Jinx and I were both tip-toing around her today, though at least Dana was handling it better than I had.

I looked at Collin again, noticing that he was a little quieter than usual. I shifted to my mage sight and looked at his aura, seeing that he was somewhat depressed. “Are you all right?” I asked him after a moment.

“Yeah,” Collin responded with a grin, his mood lightening a bit. “Just thinking about my situation.”

“Your situation?” Jinx asked curiously.

Collin shrugged at that, looking a little self-conscious. “At my old school, I was always fairly popular…even before I manifested as an exemplar.”

“I remember,” I said, earning a curious look from Collin. I gulped and quickly added, “I mean, I remember Adam mentioning that.”

Collin was athletic, good looking, and he was usually a pretty outgoing and friendly person. He’d definitely been one of the most popular people at our old school, and that very popularity had protected him once rumors began going around about him being a mutant. If it had been one of the unpopular kids, they probably would have been bullied because of it. And of course, Collin had been especially popular with all the girls. I frowned, suddenly feeling jealous, though I tried to push that emotion away. Just because I had green eyes, that didn’t mean I had to be a jealous bitch.

“I know this sounds completely vain and narcissistic,” Collin explained, “but back there, I was probably the most athletic and best looking guy in school.”

“You are an exemplar,” Fixx pointed out with a shrug.

“A big fish in a small pond,” I said in sudden understanding. “And now, you’re a small fish in a big pond…”

“Pretty much,” Collin agreed with a sigh. “Here, I’m not really anything special. I guess it’s just a blow to my ego.”

“What brought that on?” Fixx asked him.

“This morning, I got an email from my old buddy Mike,” Collin answered. “He was talking about how he’s started dating Suzie Quentin…”

“The most popular girl in our grade,” I explained for the benefit of everyone else.

Collin turned bright red and gave me a quick glance, protesting, “It’s not about Suzie or anything like that… Mike was just telling me about some of the things that have been going on back home and it just made me realize that I can’t get involved in that kind of stuff around here.”

“I wish that was the biggest problem I had,” Dana commented with a snort while the rest of us nodded agreement. That just made Collin look even more embarrassed, and I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty since I was the one who’d asked.

“That reminds me,” Collin said, giving me a curious look. “Mike mentioned that Adam hasn’t come back to school. Did your brother drop out or something?”

That question caused me to freeze while Dana and Jinx quickly gave me a worried look. Lina and Cindy both knew that I used to be a guy, but they didn’t know what my old name was so didn’t seem to catch the reference. However, they obviously noticed my reaction and suddenly had worried looks as well.

“Did you hear that Humanity First jumped Gwen the other day?” Dana blurted out.

“What?” Collin gasped in surprise, giving me a worried look and appearing to completely forget about the previous line of conversation. “Here at Whateley? How is that possible?”

“I was in Berlin,” I answered awkward, giving him a wry smile and adding, “For my job.”

“Oh,” Collin responded in understanding.

“What happened?” Fixx asked, looking shocked.

“A group of six guys in ski masks jumped me,” I explained with a grimace.

Then I had to tell them the story, leaving out the fact that I’d just come out of the MCO field office, but giving a good description of the actual fight. They all started laughing when I described how I’d used the illusions to make a couple of them look like me, so they ended up getting shot by their own friends.

“Serves them right,” Cindy said with a look of satisfaction. She absently formed a glass dagger in her hand and made a gesture as if cutting off an organ that was very important to any guy. “I would have given them a bit more.”

“Hell yeah,” Lina added with a smirk. “Fucking assholes…”

Porcelain stared straight at me and said, “You fought six baselines, leaving at least one dead, and the MCO did not come to capture you?”

“The MCO was there,” I admitted, deciding not to mention that it had been an MCO agent who’d been leading those assholes. Grace had her own plan for how to deal with Whells, and I’d agreed to keep quiet until then. “She came and helped me, then called the police and made sure they were all taken into custody. Well, all except the one who got away.”

“Hard to believe the MCO would ever help a mutant,” Cindy said while several of the others nodded agreement.

I turned to Dana and said, “That reminds me… About what I asked you…”

“I don’t want to talk to the MCO,” Dana responded almost in a pout. “No way, no how…”

“But if this is the same woman who helped Gwen…” Jinx pointed out.

“And it can help keep that Owens guy in jail,” I added.

Dana scowled at that, then exclaimed, “How dare you confuse me with reason.” She shook her head before saying, “All right. But it has to be here at Whateley…and YOU have to be there.”

“Me?” I asked in surprise.

“Or no deal,” she stated firmly.

I thought about it for a moment before nodding, “Fine. I’ll call Grace tonight and let her know you agreed…and your conditions.”

“So,” Fixx asked, giving me a curious look. “You’re acting like some kind of go between for the MCO?”

I just let out a sigh. “Something like that.”

When we were done eating, we all split up to go to classes, and usual, Dana, Collin and I started for martial arts together. It wasn’t until we were leaving Crystal Hall that I noticed the ambush that was set up ahead of us. Before I had a chance to do anything, Peeper and Greasy started towards us.

“Ladies,” Peeper announced with a lecherous smirk and far too much attention on my chest.

“Assholes,” Dana responded, trying to go around them though Peeper stopped right in our path.

“Go away,” Collin told the pest.

“For the record,” Peeper continued, as though not even noticing Collin. “What kind of bikinis do you girls like to wear? Slinky little things with thongs?” He held up his microphone and added, “The listeners want to know.”

Dana snarled, a flash of anger passing over her face. After the day she was already having, this was NOT a good time to mess with her. Unfortunately, Peeper didn’t seem to know when to back off.

This was only the second time that I’d run into this pervert in person, but I’d been assured that nearly every girl on campus hated him. Since he’d made sure to ambush us when Jinx wasn’t present to destroy his equipment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and began casting a quick spell.

“You really do have a thing for bikinis, don’t you?” I commented while every student nearby suddenly burst out laughing.

“Girls look great in them,” Peeper started, then paused when he realized that everyone was pointing at him and laughing, including his sidekick Greasy. He finally looked down and gasped in horror as he realized that he was now standing there wearing nothing but a bikini, or at least that was what the illusion made it seem like. He let out a loud squeal and then ran off, much to my relief.

“That was entertaining,” Collin commented with a broad grin. “Remind me not to piss you off.”

“You know she will,” Dana pointed out with a smirk.

A short time later, we were in martial arts and I found myself sparring against Cerberus, a boy who could split himself into three separate bodies, each of which had a different power. For all intents and purposes, I was fighting three opponents at once, three opponents who could coordinate their movements with uncanny precision.

One of Cerberus’ bodies was pretty strong, about the equivalent of an exemplar three or four. Another one of his bodies could actually breathe fire, or at least spit out bursts of flame like some kind of miniature flame thrower. The third body didn’t seem any stronger than normal, but it was tough and fairly hard to injure.

I’d already dumped all my storied glamour on Cerberus, hitting two of his bodies with it. Unfortunately, he seemed pretty good at staying focused and ignoring whatever it was he was seeing. I’d thrown some illusions on him, trying to trick him into attacking his own bodies, but that hadn’t worked either. He could sense where his bodies were in relation to each other. And I’d even called up several illusions of myself, but he was able to attack all three of them at once.

While I was dealing with two of his bodies, he came up and grabbed me from behind with his third. Doug had given me plenty of practice on what to do in this situation, so I elbowed him in the stomach and squirmed loose, though it didn’t work nearly as well as it normally did. Cerberus had grabbed me with the body that was difficult to injure, so he wasn’t nearly as sensitive in his soft spots as what I was used to. Still, I wasn’t completely helpless. I had another stored spell that I’d been waiting for an opportunity to use.

A moment later, I slipped right out of Cerberus’ grip with ease, much to his surprise. “I’ve got you,” he exclaimed, grabbing hold of my arm, but he still couldn’t hold onto me.

“I owe this one to a mutant named Slippery,” I said, knowing that the spell would only last for half a minute. But during that time, I had a skin tight force field that made me extremely difficult to grab hold of.

Originally, I’d been looking around for some kind of spell that would give me a real defense instead of just diversion, and Vulpine had tried teaching me a low level force field spell that she knew. However, I had a hard time with that spell, but after a little inspiration from the mutant Slippery, who’d given me such a hard time back in Seattle, I’d modified the spell a little. Instead of protecting me from direct damage, it merely made it difficult for anything to really touch me. This was the first time I’d really had a chance to test it out.

This spell had given me a small opportunity, but I still needed to make use of it. I tried to remember everything I knew about Cerberus, including what I’d read in his MID. His powers weren’t especially powerful, but he was good at making full use of them. His only real weakness was that he could only keep the three bodies out for about fifteen minutes at a time, so if I was able to drag this fight out long enough I’d be able to wear him out. Unfortunately, this spell wouldn’t last long enough for that.

Cerberus breathed out a burst of fire, which my slippery field wouldn’t protect me against, so I dodged to the side and kicked him in the back of the leg, enough to make him drop forward. Then I grabbed his head and turned it so he hit his tough body with the flame instead, setting his own gi on fire. Then while he was distracted by that, I punched his strong body in the solar plexus and then the face. It was then that my slippery field wore off, but I continued to kick his fire breathing body in the leg, then jumped back.

Ito called an end to our match, without either of us being a clear winner. I was breathing hard and feeling sore because Cerberus had gotten in more than a couple good hits. He looked a little rough as well, so I felt a bit of satisfaction.

All three of Cerberus’ bodies glowed for a second, then two of them vanished. He nodded to me and said, “Good match.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “You too.”

“Absinthe and Centurion,” Ito stated, gesturing to me and the large boy. “You two will attempt to force each other out of the circle. No powers are allowed.”

I nodded at that and stepped into the circle with Centurion, definitely familiar with this particular exercise since Ito liked using it a lot. We would spar until one of us submitted, was defeated, or was knocked out of the circle. After that, or if we took too long, Ito would probably tell us to do it again but using our powers. What made me nervous wasn’t the exercise, but who my opponent was. Centurion had been trying to get me into a fight since my first day in class, and I’d been able to avoid that until now.

Centurion watched me with a smirk that said, ‘I’ve got you right where I want you now’. Then he said, “If you run away this time, I win.”

“Only if I run outside of the circle,” I pointed out. Of course, Centurion was bigger and stronger than me, but I was pretty confident that without using our powers, I could take him.

Centurion and I began our match, with him being more cautious of me than he’d been on my first day of class. By now, he’d seen what I could do against most of the other students in class so he knew not to underestimate me. That actually annoyed me though because I liked being underestimated. It made my opponents get careless and sloppy.

Centurion didn’t hold back long before he began coming at me aggressively, so I played defense, backing away and avoiding his attacks as much as possible. At the moment, I wanted to protect myself until I found an opening to exploit. It didn’t take long before I found one, then I dodged to the side and kicked at the back of his knee as hard as I could so I could knock him to the ground. But to my surprise, he didn’t go down. An instant later, I realized why. His body was shimmering. He was using his powers.

Normally, I took a great deal of pride in being able to distract people, and in the fact that I was quite good at it. However, this time I was the one caught by surprise and I hesitated a moment too long. Centurion swung his arm at me, and I just barely had enough time to try blocking it, though there was a massive burst of pain and I was suddenly flying through the air. I flew well past the circle and hit the ground hard.

“GWEN,” Collin yelled out, suddenly rushing towards me.

At the same time, Dana was hovering in the air, standing inside a golden force field bubble and glaring at Centurion with a pissed off look. I was sure that she was about to cut loose on him, if it wasn’t for Tolman and Ito suddenly ordering her and Centurion to both stand down.

“You were instructed not to use your powers,” Ito told Centurion, his voice and mannerisms calm, though he was obviously not happy. Centurion was much bigger and stronger than Ito, but the little old man somehow seemed far larger and more intimidating. Even Centurion took half a step back. “Come. We will have words about following instructions in the future.”

“Everyone on the mats,” Tolman called out to the class, then came over to me.

“Are you okay?” Collin asked, looking more than a little worried.

I winced in pain, then said, “I think he broke my arm…”

“We need to get you to medical,” Tolman told me as she bent over to look at my arm. “I’m guessing you have multiple fractures.”

“I have a healing spell,” Vulpine exclaimed, coming over.

Vulpine sat down beside me, being careful not to sit on any of her three tails. Then she pulled out a piece of paper from her pouch and revealed that it had strange symbols painted all over it. I recognized her spells, but I didn’t know what language they were written in, or even if that was a real language. A moment later, her piece of paper burst into flame and vanished and my arm suddenly didn’t hurt quite as much.

“I’m afraid my healing spell isn’t very powerful,” she told me apologetically.

“As I said,” Tolman stated, giving Vulpine a faint nod. “You need to get to Doyle so a doctor can look at that.”

Collin helped me to my feet, being very careful not to touch my injured arm. I winced with every movement, then glared across the room at Centurion, who was taken out the back door by Ito. I would have been tempted to send a faerie to spy on the conversation, but I suspected that Ito would have noticed.

“I’ll help her,” Collin volunteered and Tolman nodded agreement.

“That bastard,” Dana muttered angrily as she came over to check on me. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll live,” I assured her. “Vulpine definitely helped with the pain.”

A minute later, Collin and I left class as he walked me to Doyle Hall which was the small hospital on Whateley. Before long, I was being looked at by Dr. Tenent, a woman who was also some kind of magical healer as well as a medical doctor.

Dr. Tenent finished examining my arm and told me, “Multiple fractures. This certainly isn’t the worst injury I’ve seen come out of that class.”

“I guess that explains why we had to have a liability waiver to take it,” Collin muttered. I just nodded at that, remembering that there had been a clear warning that students not only could get injured during class, but that at some point they most likely would.

“That class can get rough,” Dr. Tenent agreed. “But I know that what you learn there might very well save your life someday.”

I didn’t argue with her, knowing that she was completely right. The class definitely could get pretty brutal, but I’ve had several instances of people trying to kill me for real. If it hadn’t been for what I’d learned from Doug, I would have been killed for sure. I didn’t blame the class for this, I blamed Centurion.

Sure, I was annoyed that he’d used his powers when he was specifically not supposed to, but I could understand that. What pissed me off was that he’d intentionally gone out of his way to hurt me. He’d just used that sparring session as an opportunity to do so.

Dr. Tenent used a healing spell on my arm, one more powerful than what Vulpine had used. My arm definitely felt better, though it was still a bit tender. However, instead of hitting me with another healing spell, Dr. Tenent wrapped my arm up in bandages.

“It will finish healing up over the next day or so,” she told me in a professional tone. “Sometimes, the healing is more effective if you speed up the natural healing process instead of trying to force everything at once.”

“I’ll have to see if I can learn a healing spell or two,” I admitted, wondering why I hadn’t even thought about that until now. But of course, until now, my focus had been on how to avoid getting hurt, not on what to do after I failed.

Collin should have just dropped me off at Doyle and then gone back to class, but instead, he stayed with me until I was done. I appreciated that, though I couldn’t help but feeling just a little guilty about feeling that way. My new emotions were still confusing the hell out of me, even with Dr. Bellows trying to help me straighten them out.

When Collin and I finally left, I was still thinking about Centurion and the way he’d intentionally hurt me. On my first day in class, I’d hurt his pride, and then every time I managed to slip away from him after that, I’d hurt his pride again. For him, this had definitely been personal, but until now, I hadn’t really thought of Centurion as being any different than Collin or the other people who used to mess with me. I didn’t take it personally, and as long as I was able to avoid them, I almost thought of it as a game. But now, Centurion had made this personal for me as well.

“Are you okay?” Collin asked me, giving me a worried look.

“I’m just mad,” I told him with a grimace. “I should have expected something like that…”

“You’ve been avoiding that jerk for a couple weeks,” he pointed out sympathetically. “And he’s been getting pretty frustrated at that…”

“Running away doesn’t seem to be working,” I agreed, shaking my head at that. “It looks like I’m going to have to find another way of dealing with him.”

Then to my surprise, Collin put his arm around me and gave me a hug. “I’ve got your back,” he told me. “I won’t let that asshole touch you again.”

“Thank you,” I responded, blushing at being so close to him. I stared up into Collin’s eyes, feeling all warm and excited all of a sudden.

“Gwen,” he said after a moment, looking a little nervous. “Can I…can I kiss you?”

I gulped nervously at that, and though I intended to say, “No,” what came out instead was, “Yes…”

Collin didn’t hesitate, almost as though afraid that I’d change my mind if he did. He bent forward and kissed me on my lips and I found myself kissing him back excitedly. My entire body tingled with excitement, and for the first time since my change, I really felt turned on.

When we pulled apart, all I could say was, “Wow.”

“Yeah,” Collin agreed, giving me a very appreciative look. “Wow. I’ve been wanting to do that since the first time I saw you.”

I blushed at that, feeling giddy and excited as I stared at Collin, definitely wanting to do that again. All thoughts of Centurion and my injury were chased from my mind, replaced by ones of me and Collin together.

On an impulse, I grabbed Collin in a hug, then gave him another quick kiss before we continued back to class. My heart raced as we walked together, and though a part of me was confused by what I was feeling, the rest of me was enjoying it too much to care.

The rest of the school day passed in a blur, and once it was over, I took my time walking back to Poe. I felt a little like I was in a daze, wondering if this was what it felt like to be tripping on my glamour. If so, then it was no wonder why Ripple was always chasing after my faeries.

When I returned to Poe, I found Cindy and Lina in the hallway, with Lina on the floor and cursing while Cindy helped her back to her feet. Rose was further down the hallway, definitely not looking happy either.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking around but not seeing any sign of what might have happened.

“We just had a fucking white buffalo run down the hallway,” Lina exclaimed with a scowl. “Damn near ran me over…”

My eyes widened at that, then I let out a sigh. “Let me guess. Beltane.”

“Not this time,” Cindy told me wryly.

“It was that stuck up new Indian girl,” Lina said, glaring down the hall with a look of annoyance.

“Native American,” Cindy corrected her with a roll of her eyes. “And she’s not stuck up. I think she’s just shy.”

I nodded at that, having met the new girl Kayda briefly, but I didn’t really know her at all. She was pretty quiet and seemed to keep to herself, but she hadn’t come across as stuck up or anything.

I shook my head, knowing that I shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens here at Whateley, especially not here in Poe. The other residents had already set a pretty high bar for weirdness, which I’ve heard has included such things as ninja attacks and a demon living in the basement. With that kind of reputation, a white buffalo running through the hallway hardly seemed surprising at all.

With that, I returned to my room to change into my normal wear clothes, though the entire time, I kept thinking about how I’d kissed Collin. I was alternately freaking out over it and looking forward to seeing him again at dinner.

Dana came in and changed clothes, but she didn’t stay long. “Gotta go,” she quickly told me before rushing back out the door. “I’ve got to go to work peeling potatoes…”

“At least I only have to work one or two days a month,” I mused, thankful that I didn’t need to work as often as Dana.

A short time later, there was a knock on my door. When I opened the door, I found Shawn standing there.

“Mrs. Horton asked me to come get you,” Shawn told me. “You’ve got a visitor out front.”

“A visitor?” I asked, my heart jumping a little in excitement. “Is it Collin?”

Shawn shook his head. “No, it’s that Eldritch girl.”

“Eldritch?” I repeated in surprise, wondering why Caitlin would be here asking for me.

I went to the front door where I found Caitlin talking with Mrs. Horton. When Caitlin saw me, she stared at me with that odd look she had nearly every time I’d seen into her. Fortunately, her expression was a bit grim, but it didn’t seem hostile.

“Hey,” I greeted her, wondering if this was about the Parkour Hooligans.

“Hey yourself,” she responded with a faintly amused look. “You’re probably wondering why I’m here.”

“A bit,” I admitted.

Caitlin nodded at that, then said, “Let’s talk.”

We went inside and were almost immediately met with the sight of Hardwyrd and one of the other boys kissing each other in the hallway. I quickly looked at Caitlin, afraid that they may have just blown Poe’s secret, but Caitlin didn’t seem the least bit surprised.

Once we were by ourselves, Caitlin stopped and stared at me with that odd look again. Other than the odd stare, she appeared to be completely calm, but when I looked at her aura, it was very bright and kind of messed up. I quickly looked away from it.

Then Caitlin said, “I told you before that you reminded me of someone I’d met a long time ago.”

“I remember,” I responded, my thoughts going back to the dream I’d had with the Artificer in it. I stared at Caitlin and gulped.

“In fact,” Caitlin told me carefully, “you look exactly like her.” She stared at me again and admitted, “I’d forgotten all about this until I saw you, but now I can’t stop thinking about it. You see, it was a very dark time for me and I was lost in ways you couldn’t imagine. The girl you look like, she tried to help me at a time when no one else would even consider it. At the time, I couldn’t appreciate what she tried doing for me. But now…” She paused at that, her aura flashing so brightly that I had to look away again. “Now I can appreciate it…and do.”

“My God,” I whispered, feeling shaken as I realized what she was talking about. She was talking about my dream.

“I don’t remember her name,” Caitlin told me quietly. “I’m not sure I ever knew it. But I feel like I owe her a debt for what she tried to do, and it’s far too late to pay her back. Something tells me that if I want to repay the debt, I should repay it to you, not only because you look like her, but because you reminded me that there was at least one light in those dark times.”

“Caitlin,” I started, not sure what to say.

Caitlin held out a cloth wrapped bundle and then pulled the cloth back, revealing a dagger inside of a leather sheath. Without a word, she removed the blade from the sheath so I could get a better look. It had a metal ring for a pommel and the shape reminded me a great deal of one of those kunai daggers that a ninja wannabe student in my martial arts class used. However, the metal was all silvery and seemed to have a strange life to it. I didn’t know what this dagger was made of, but it definitely wasn’t steel.

“I made this for you,” Caitlin stated, looking me straight in the eyes. I was startled to notice that her eyes actually had a glowing rune symbol in the pupils.

“It’s…beautiful,” I said, not sure what else I could say about the weapon. It was just a dagger, but I instinctively knew that it was more than it appeared. When I looked at with my mage sight, I could see magic was woven all through the thing.

Instead of giving me the dagger, Caitlin said, “To bind it to you, you must give it a name.”

Ever since I’d manifested, I’d been making jokes about how I’d turned into an elf from Lord of the Rings. Because of that, my first impulse was to name the thing Sting, after the blade from those books and movies. However, I quickly discounted that, realizing it would be doing a real disservice to this thing. After all, the dagger in Caitlin’s hands was the real thing, not some piece of fiction.

After a moment, I said, “Needle.” It seemed kind of silly once I said it aloud, but it still felt right to me.

Caitlin nodded at that, then told me, “Sometimes, naming something gives you power over it.” Then she took my hand and in a quick motion, sliced the blade across my palm, making a small cut that instantly brought forth some blood. I gasped, but she held my hand firm so I couldn’t pull it away. She placed the flat of the blade against the blood, then held it up again so that I could see the blood vanishing, as though being absorbed into the metal. Only then did she put the hilt into my hand to give it to me. “Needle is now yours. It has a few features, which I’ll let you discover on your own.”

I stared at Caitlin for a moment, then at the dagger…at Needle. I could somehow feel the dagger, and when I shifted to my mage sight, I actually saw glowing threads connecting me to it. Needle was now magically connected to me.

While I was continuing to stare at my new dagger, Caitlin turned and began to walk away. “Thank you,” I blurted out, feeling stunned and almost overwhelmed by this gift. Then on an impulse, I added, “Ashtea.”

Caitlin stopped, then turned back to me with a look of surprise. Between the speech she’d just given me and her reaction to the name, there was no doubt in my mind. Somehow, Caitlin was actually the Artificer from my dream.

“I don’t just look like the Sidhe who helped you,” I told Caitlin self-consciously. “She was my ancestor. Apparently, I’m her spiritual heir or something, so I inherited her looks, her powers…and some of her memories.” I gulped with my mouth suddenly feeling dry. “I had a dream about you…about playing music for you while you made the queen’s armor. But until now, I’d thought it was just a coincidence, that you just looked like her…”

Caitlin just stared at me for several long seconds before saying, “So I’m not the only one who inherited memories…” She nodded at that and then smiled, radiating a sense of satisfaction that caught me by surprise. “I’ll see you for our run on Saturday. And you can expect me to run your ass off.” And with that, she turned and walked away.

I watched Caitlin leave Poe, then I turned my attention back to the odd blade I was holding in my hand. I stared at Needle again, both with my regular vision and with my mage sight. I licked my lips, knowing without a doubt that I’d just been given a very special gift.

--------------------

English class was over, my to my relief. The teacher wasn’t nearly as boring as Dr. Quintain was during Powers Theory, but the subject itself wasn’t as interesting either so the two classes tended to end up evenly boring. And of course, the best part about English being over was that it was now time for lunch.

I was on my way to Crystal Hall to meet up with my friends for lunch when I spotted Porcelain, who as being harassed by another student. The boy was tall, muscular, built almost like a stereotypical thug from a cartoon, with his upper body being a little too large in proportion to his lower body. I’d seen him around and vaguely remembered his name as being Unstoppable, which seemed pretty presumptuous to me. I also seemed to remember that he was a high level exemplar, about a level five or even a six.

“Go away,” Porcelain told him as she tried to walk past him, though Unstoppable blocked her path again.

“Come on,” Unstoppable taunted her. “My sister always wanted a porcelain doll. I think you’d make a great dolly for her…”

“I told you to leave me alone,” Porcelain said in her usual muffled voice, sounding more annoyed by Unstoppable than afraid of him.

I snarled, growing angry at the sight of my friend being bullied like this. I was about to come to her rescue with an illusion to lead Unstoppable away, when Fixx came rushing in before me. Fixx was always cheerful and in a good mood, but this time he was actually pissed.

“Leave her the fuck alone,” Fixx demanded angrily, glaring up at the larger and much more powerful boy.

“Damn,” I muttered in surprise. I didn’t know Fixx had it in him. This was brave…stupid…but brave.

Unstoppable absently backhanded Porcelain and knocked her to the ground, obviously doing it for the sole purpose of antagonizing Fixx more. She scrambled back to her feet, revealing that her entire face was shattered. I felt a surge of anger at the sight of that, even as her face sealed back up and returned to normal. From the look on Fixx’s face, I wasn’t the only one this pissed off.

“You need a hand?” I asked Fixx grimly, knowing that I couldn’t let my friends face this bastard alone. And I certainly wasn’t going to just walk away after what he’d done to Porcelain.

“I’ve got this,” Fixx responded, not taking his eyes off Unstoppable. And with that, he reached into the leather satchel that he always wore over his shoulder and pulled out a plastic bottle. With a quick move, he flung the liquid contents onto the ground between him and Unstoppable.

“Pretty cocky, for an Underdog,” Unstoppable said with a laugh.

I clenched my fists, knowing that I had to do something to keep Unstoppable occupied until security could arrive. My hand actually itched to grab Needle, just in case I needed more than a mere distraction. Needle was currently in its sheath, strapped to my belt sideways at my back where it would be hidden from view by my uniform jacket and easy to grab if needed. However, something told me to hold back and trust Fixx

Unstoppable took several steps towards Fixx, then as he stepped into whatever it was that Fixx had spread on the ground, his feet shot out from under him and he fell onto his butt. He tried getting back up, only to slip and fall again. All I could do was watch in in surprise as he fumbling around, and then I burst out laughing.

“Baby oil,” Fixx said almost pleasantly. “Enchanted to enhance its slipperiness.”

It probably would have been a good idea to use this opportunity to get away, but none of us could resist staying to watch. But then, Unstoppable finally got back to his feet, though he seemed just a little unstable, as though he was standing on a sheet of ice.

“Rotten little bastard,” Unstoppable snarled, obviously embarrassed and angry.

“Go away and leave us alone,” Fixx warned him. However, Unstoppable made a lunge for Fixx, only to have Fixx spray something in his face. Unstoppable grabbed at his eyes and started screaming in pain while Fixx casually stated, “Pepper spray. Magically enhanced.”

Unstoppable was still screaming and obviously couldn’t see anything as he backed away, only to hit the slippery spot and fall down again. Without a word, Fixx reached into his satchel again, this time pulling out a roll of duct tape.

“Duct tape?” I asked in surprise.

“Duct tape is like the force,” Fixx answered with a false cheerfulness. “It has a light side, a dark side, and it binds the universe together.”

With that, Fixx proceeded to tape Unstoppable’s wrists and ankles together, then he stood back with a look of satisfaction. My first thought was that there was no way something like duct tape would be able to hold someone as strong as Unstoppable, but when the bully gathered his senses enough to realize what was going on, it was too late. Unstoppable struggled against the duct tape but it held him tight.

“Magically enhanced,” I said in realization. Fixx just nodded. I stared at him for a moment, realizing that I’d seriously underestimated what he could do, as had everyone else. He might not be a high level magic user, but he certainly found an interesting way to use what he did have.

“You know,” Fixx told Unstoppable with a cheerful smile. “You really don’t live up to your name very well…”

“And after being so thoroughly beaten by an Underdog,” Porcelain pointed out with a muffled note of amusement. “He is likely to be quite the laughingstock.”

Fixx nodded at that, then asked Porcelain, “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” she answered, her uniform being a bit mussed but otherwise looking unharmed. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“Anytime,” Fixx responded cheerfully.

I watched them for a moment, thinking that it was obvious that Fixx really liked her. Porcelain’s entire body was covered with that porcelain shell so we didn’t even know what she really looked like, and she tended to be fairly quiet and reserved. She didn’t have a lot of other male attention because of this, so I hoped that she liked Fixx back and that they were able to make things work.

Two of Whateley’s security people arrived then, though both men just stared at Unstoppable and burst out laughing. “We’ve got the whole thing on video,” one of them admitted to us. “This was the funniest thing I’ve seen since the last time Bloodwolf ran away from Generator with his tail between his legs…”

“Wasn’t she wearing some kind of pink Hello Kitty outfit that time?” the other security guy asked.

“Yeah,” the first responded with a chuckle. “It was adorable.” Then the two men continued laughing for another minute before they turned their attention back to Unstoppable and commented, “You know, I’m thinking that your new name is Stoppable.”

“The duct tape will wear off after about fifteen minutes,” Fixx told them. “Or at least the enhanced effects will.”

We talked to the security guys for a few more minutes before they let us to so we could continue towards lunch. We left them there with Unstoppable, still chuckling at the defeated and now quite humiliated bully.

When we got our food and sat down at our usual table, Dana asked, “What took you guys so long?”

That just made me start laughing all over again, and it took me a couple minutes before I could stop laughing enough to tell the story. Once I had, Dana, Jinx, and Collin were nearly rolling on the floor as well.

After we’d all settled down, Dana gave me an almost evil grin and asked, “So, when are you going to use that spell you were working on last night?”

“As soon as I get an opportunity,” I told her, absently rubbing my arm where Centurion had broken it two days ago. It was fully healed and as good as new, but that wasn’t the point. I’d given Centurion every chance to get over his grudge, but now he’d gone too far and had made it personal. This time, I wasn’t going to just run away from him.

“What have you two got up your sleeves?” Collin asked, giving me a suspicious look.

I just gave him my best innocent look before I burst into giggles. Then I turned my attention to my faeries, half a dozen of which were currently in existence with three of them assigned with special tasks. One of them was keeping an eye on Peeper and Greasy, who were harassing some girls on the other side of the cafeteria. A second faerie was assigned the job of leading Ripple as far away from me as possible, and if Ripple happened to catch that faerie, he’d only be in for an unpleasant surprise rather than a nice hallucination. The third faerie was watching Centurion, who was eating lunch at a table with Slingshot, Switchblade, and a couple other friends.

“Well,” I finally said, looking around at my friends. “You know I have a talent for illusions…”

“I think we’ve noticed that,” Collin pointed out wryly.

“Well,” I explained with a grin. “Illusions are all about manipulating people’s senses. Most of the time, I’m messing with someone’s sense of sight…making them see things that aren’t there. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with some of the other senses, like making people hear voices that aren’t really there…”

I paused to let that sink in while I thought about the fact that I’d actually learned that spell from one of my dreams. It had been one of those dreams where my dream-self had been leading enemy soldiers into traps, confusing them with false orders from their superiors and generally causing all kinds of confusion. Afterwards, when I realized that I could create illusionary sounds, I’d decided to see what other senses I could mess with. Fortunately, the spell book that Mrs. Lauriant had given me provided several examples to work from.

“Now imagine if I could make someone feel something that wasn’t really there,” I continued to explain. “I could make you feel a feather tickling you, even though there wasn’t any feather.”

“Oooh, that sounds kinky,” Dana commented with a smirk, only to have Jinx start blushing.

“That sounds…interesting,” Collin said, obviously trying to keep his expression calm though I could see similar wheels turning in his head.

I just grinned at that. “You know what it’s like when you have an itch you can’t scratch?” Everyone at the table nodded at that. “Well, I made a spell that does something like that. Originally, I was trying to make it so that it would feel like you’ve got bugs crawling over your skin, but it didn’t quite work out that way…or at least I don’t think it did. I haven’t had a chance to test it yet.”

“And when are you going to do that?” Collin asked.

“Right now,” I answered sweetly.

With that, I unleased the spell that I had stored inside of one of my faeries, the faerie that was watching Centurion. I hit him with the spell, then had my faerie stay back and watch. It only took a few seconds before Centurion began scratching at his arm, and he continued scratching, first one spot and then another.

“I don’t get it,” Jinx said, looking around but not seeing any sign of my casting a spell. I just took a bite of my food, knowing that Centurion would have a hard time enjoying the rest of his lunch. In fact, the next few hours were bound to be extremely frustrating for him, much to my delight.

“She hit Centurion with it,” Dana explained with a smug look.

“That should be…interesting,” Porcelain commented.

Fixx sat there with a thoughtful look on his face, then mused, “I wonder where I could get some itching powder…” With the way his enchantment power worked, I had a feeling that this could get pretty nasty for anyone he tried it on. I wondered if I’d be able to buy some off him.

When we’d finished eating lunch, we all started for our separate classes. “Dana and I have an appointment,” I told Collin, feeling daring as I gave him a kiss. “And keep an eye on Centurion in class. It should be fun.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Collin told me with a chuckle.

As Dana and I left Crystal Hall, I saw Centurion leaving with his friends. He was scratching at himself furiously, looking extremely uncomfortable. Dana and I looked to each other, then both burst out laughing before we continued on our way.

A short time later, Dana and I arrived at Kane Hall, the Whateley security building. Security had insisted that if the MCO was coming on campus to question a student, the meeting was going to be held where they’d be able to make sure nothing happened. All in all, I thought it was probably a pretty reasonable precaution, especially considering the hostility between most of the students and many in the MCO.

Grace was already there, dressed in her professional suit and holding a briefcase. She might have looked a little strict and intimidating if it wasn’t for the way she smiled when she saw me.

“You must be Sphere,” she told Dana, holding out her hand, much to Dana’s obvious surprise. “I’m Grace Winslow, and I appreciate your agreeing to answer some of my questions.”

Dana hesitantly shook her hand, which I found kind of funny. Grace was a normal baseline human while Dana was an exemplar with more than a small amount of power. “Um…hi,” Dana said awkwardly. Then she asked, “How did you know I was here?”

“At Whateley?” Grace asked. When Dana nodded, she explained, “After I’d convinced the Liberty League that we were trying to ensure Agent Owens was fully prosecuted for his actions, Twist told me that I might find you here.”

“And you really are planning on prosecuting that guy?” Dana asked suspiciously.

“Absolutely,” Grace assured her. “Not only were his actions reprehensible, but they make the entire MCO look bad. We have more than enough image problems to contend with as it is.”

Dana seemed to relax at that and we went into an office that the security people had set aside for this meeting. I took a seat off to the side, close to Dana so she’d feel like I was supporting her, but also out of the way enough that I was making it clear that I wasn’t part of the actual interview. Once we were settled, Grace pulled several folders from her briefcase as well as a voice recorder so she could record the interview.

“This is an interview,” Grace assured Dana gently. “Not an interrogation. Now Sphere, please tell me in your own words, how you first encountered Agent Owens.”

Dana hesitated at that, obviously uncomfortable with the subject since the first time she’d encountered him, she’d still been a boy. She gulped, “I’m not…”

Grace let out a faint sigh, then reached over and turned the recorder off before saying, “To make this easier on you, I am already aware that your real name is David Michaels.”

“WHAT?” Dana gasped in horror while I was stunned by that as well. Then she glared and me and demanded, “You told her?”

“No,” I responded, just as surprised that Grace knew her original name as she was. “I didn’t…”

“Twist,” Dana said, looking worried and angry.

“Gwen didn’t tell me and neither did Twist,” Grace said. “Though I am surprised that both of them seemed to have known.” She gave me a curious look and I just met her eyes without looking away. After a moment, she turned back to Dana. “It wasn’t difficult to figure out once I began investigating. David Michaels was reported as manifesting as a mutant and being last seen in the presence of Pinball. Later on, Sphere appeared with Pinball while David appears to have vanished completely.”

“Oh shit,” Dana said, starting to glow with a faint golden light, as though she was about to use her powers.

“Da…Sphere,” I said, trying to protect her new name. “Calm down.”

“I have no intention of sharing this information,” Grace told her firmly. “My investigation is on Agent Owens, not you. However, I need you to be completely honest if this is going to be of any use.”

It took another minute for Dana to calm down, then she began telling Grace about how she’d met Pinball, manifested, and then ran into Agent Owens. Dana told her quite a bit about Owens, but was much more reserved when talking about her own abilities, and especially about Pinball. To my relief, Grace didn’t take this as an opportunity to investigate Pinball as well and kept the questions focused on Owens.

When Grace was finished with all her questions, she told Dana, “Thank you for answering my questions. This could be useful, and I think we have enough evidence against Owens and his people that we won’t need to bring in the incidents that occurred before your physical changes.”

While Grace had Dana fill out some paperwork and an official statement that could be taken to court, I mused, “You know, it’s too bad you can’t do this kind of thing every time someone like Owens pulls something… I bet it would make things a lot better if mutants actually had a place to report this kind of abuse.”

Grace gave me a thoughtful look and said, “You might be right.”

After we were all finished, Dana and Grace shook hands and then Dana let out an obvious sigh of relief. She still looked just a little nervous, as though she couldn’t quite believe she was lucky enough to have an MCO agent who was actually willing to listen to her side. If anyone was able to convince Dana that not all MCO agents were bad, it was Grace.

“That wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Dana told me, giving me a weak grin. “I mean, there wasn’t a single taser or cattle prod involved.”

“You two seem to know each other pretty well,” Grace commented, giving me an amused look, though there was a definite question in her eyes. “You’ve only been here at Whateley for a few weeks…”

“We’re roommates,” Dana told her, making me wince slightly at that revelation.

“Really?” Grace asked, giving me another curious look. “And here I was, under the impression that you were just acquaintances.”

Dana gave me a look that said ‘oops’ while I just shrugged. “Well, I’ve got to go,” Dana said. “I don’t want to miss any more class.” Then she looked at me and added, “See you later.”

“So, you two are roommates,” Grace said once Dana was gone. I didn’t know if she felt hurt or insulted at all about the fact that I didn’t trust her with that bit of information. However, she didn’t accuse me of anything and merely commented, “It seems like quite a coincidence that two people who went through a gender change would end up rooming together…”

“We noticed that too,” I said carefully, not wanting to give away the secret of Poe. In spite of keeping a few things from Grace, I did trust her, but some secrets weren’t mine to share. “One of our neighbors is a probability manipulator and she’s always having weird coincidences happen around her. We think that might be why.”

Grace nodded at that, seeming to accept the explanation. Then she smiled at me and said, “Thank you for your help with this. I have a feeling that she wouldn’t have agreed to the interview if you hadn’t talked her into it.”

“I did have to nag her a bit,” I admitted, then grinned at Grace. “But she knew I wouldn’t do anything to screw her over.”

Grace and I talked for another minute, then she took off to return to Berlin. I let out a sigh, thankful that everything had worked out fine, then I started for my next class as well.

--------------------

Sunday morning breakfast was a calm affair, at least compared to weekday mornings when Crystal Hall was a lot busier. Dana sat beside me with two plates of food, one of which was loaded up with a huge pile of scrambled eggs while the other one contained bacon, sausage, and a couple muffins. When I looked at my own plate, it seemed almost empty in comparison.

I absently poked at my sausage, which just didn’t seem all that appealing anymore. In fact, ever since I’d come to Whateley, I’d found a lot of the meat products that they had on the menu weren’t very good. It was annoying, but not worth complaining about. As I finished my meal, I left half my sausage uneaten on my plate.

“Oh yeah,” Dana exclaimed, looking at me and Jinx. “Did I tell you guys that Ron Weasley got his patronus?”

“Okay,” I responded slowly, giving her a curious look. “I didn’t know you were such a Harry Potter fan.”

Dana laughed at that, then gave me a grin in response. “Actually, I’m talking about Jackie’s brother. He’s got red hair and freckles, so I’ve been calling him Ron Weasley. It kind of annoys him.”

“I wonder why,” Jinx said with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, he calls me Mini-me, so it all works out,” Dana continued cheerfully. “Anyway, he’s a low level avatar, but since he’d never bonded with a spirit, no one had any idea that he was even a mutant, not even him.”

Jinx nodded at that, then said, “From your comment about him getting a patronus, I’m guessing he found a spirit…”

“Yep,” Dana answered with a snicker. “A goldfish.”

“A goldfish?” I asked in surprise. “You mean, he’s an avatar of a goldfish spirit?” I couldn’t help but snickering at that too.

Dana just smirked. “Actually, he told me in his email that it’s a low level water elemental that he sees as a goldfish. According to him, it isn’t very powerful. Mostly, it just lets him sense when there’s water nearby and gives him the power to purify water. Not exactly Champion level powers.”

I thought about it for a moment, then pointed out, “Actually, I think that depends on where you are. I mean, there are places where having the ability to find water and purify it would be a lot more valuable than being able to juggle cars.”

“Maybe,” Dana agreed with a shrug. “But you can bet your behind that Jackie is going to have fun teasing him about this one.” I had a feeling that Jackie wasn’t going to be the only one teasing him about his powers. Dana was having a little too much fun with that knowledge herself.

“I’ve got some news from home too,” I said, telling Jinx this more than Dana since my roommate had been there when I got the email. “Apparently, my Dad got a promotion.”

Before I’d come to Whateley, my Dad had been chasing after a mutant criminal called Slippery, and thanks to Collin and myself, Dad had not only caught Slippery, but also an entire mutant gang. Since this gang had been about to move into the ‘terrorist’ arena with a planned bomb attack against the local MCO field office, this had given Dad some nice brownie points within the organization. As a reward, they’d even given him his own choice of assignments.

“He’s transferred over to internal affairs,” I told Jinx with a grin. I looked to Dana and added, “He’s going to be supervising the case against Owens, and he’s starting an official investigation on the attack against me last week.”

“Wow,” Jinx said, looking impressed. “I didn’t think the MCO did the whole internal affairs thing…”

“I’m not really all that surprised,” I told her and Dana. “My Dad is all about rules and procedures, so now his job is making sure that other people are following them. I think this must be like a dream job for him.”

“And I’m sure the fact that he gets to go after the guy who tried killing his daughter has nothing to do with that,” Dana added with a faint smirk.

“Yeah, but I have no doubt that he’ll follow the rules while doing it,” I responded with a broad grin of my own. But as I’d learned, Dad was very good at finding the rules that supported what he wanted to do anyway. It was almost enough to make me reconsider my views on following rules. Almost.

We continued talking about my Dad’s new job for a little longer, then Jinx asked me, “Are you coming with us when we go to Dunwhich today?”

“Not today,” I responded with a sigh, actually regretting that I wouldn’t be able to go with them. “I’ve already got a couple other commitments.”

After we were all finished, Dana and Jinx went to catch the bus to Dunwhich while I went to Schuster Hall to meet up with the Hooligans. Yesterday, Caitlin and Slapdash had both gotten caught up in some kind of combat simulator thing which had taken all morning, so the Hooligans had rescheduled for today. When I arrived at the meeting spot, the two of them were caught up in some kind of discussion about firearms, comparing muzzle velocity and bullet calibers.

When Caitlin noticed me, she paused from the conversation to look at me. It wasn’t the odd looks that she had been giving me before, but one that was a bit more friendly. “So,” she asked curiously. “Have you figured out Needle’s features?”

“Oh yeah,” I responded with a grin. “Needle is awesome. Thanks.”

“What’s this?” Slapdash asked curiously.

“I gave her a holdout a few days ago,” Caitlin explained. “A blade.”

I nodded at that, thinking that it was a better holdout than I ever could have hoped for. Holdout was a term that was used around Whateley to refer to any weapons or tools that you keep with you for a fight, usually so you have something to use besides just your powers. Since my powers weren’t very good for offense, I’d been giving serious thought about finding some holdouts for myself. Needle definitely helped fill my offensive weak spot.

“Have you thought about using a firearm?” Slapdash asked me with interest. “Most magic users don’t seem to think about using a gun…”

“I’ve thought about it,” I told him, which seemed to surprise him just a little. “Before I manifested, my Dad used to take me out shooting once or twice a month. I’d like to practice on the range here, but I didn’t know where to get started…”

Caitlin suddenly seemed extremely interested and immediately began telling me about the rules and procedures for the Whateley ranges, as well as about how I could sign up for a firearm safety course. Slapdash nodded in full agreement and kept adding his own comments while everyone else began rolling their eyes.

“We came here to run,” Zenith said, giving me an amused look. “I think I’m not the only one who’d like to get to that before lunch.”

“Remind me after the run,” Caitlin told me. “I’ll help get you set up for the ranges.”

With that, we began our run, though the weather didn’t cooperate and quickly turned wet and nasty. We all not only got soaked, but it made the ground a lot slipperier and more dangerous. However, Caitlin didn’t cut the run short. Instead, she seemed to take it as an excuse to challenge us all a little more.

“I hate running in the rain,” Thrasher complained. “It’s a little different though when I’m boarding…”

“Quit complaining and just run,” Zenith teased him, almost seeming to enjoy herself, or at least the fact that she wasn’t having any problems. Then again, she was an exemplar, which meant that physically this wasn’t much of a challenge for her. Then she called over to me, “How are you holding up, Gwen?”

“I’m fine,” I responded with a grin. “I’m from Seattle. Back home, this is considered a nice day.” That earned a few chuckles.

Once we were finished with our run, everyone immediately scattered back to their dorms. It wasn’t until I was halfway back to Poe that I remembered that I’d wanted to talk to Caitlin more about the shooting ranges. It looked like that would have to wait until later though. At the moment, I could hear the hot showers calling my name.

I took my time showering, enjoying the hot water, and then I changed into some dry clothes. I looked out the window at the weather and let out a sigh, wishing I didn’t have to go out there again. Unfortunately, I’d promised to meet Mrs. Lauriant at her tree this afternoon for some more lessons.

“Why couldn’t she just use a bonsai tree instead?” I muttered. “Or at least learn to use Skype so we could do this from my room.”

I still had plenty of time to kill, and unfortunately, almost everyone else already had other plans. Half the floor had taken off to Dunwhich for the day, which meant that I was mostly by myself. However, I did have a few things I wanted to do and now was the perfect opportunity to take care of at least one of them. With that, I grabbed Needle and went to the basement.

The basement of Poe Cottage was pretty large and a sizeable portion of it had been dedicated to storing luggage and belongings for the various residents. There were some items stored there which made me scratch my head, such as a couple mannequins sitting in the corner. There was even a sign on one wall which said ‘Lovecraft Room’, but there was no door there. However, that did remind me of the stories I’d heard about a demon who supposedly lived down here part time, with a door to her room which would come and go.

I wasn’t interested in any of the luggage or stored items, nor even in the weight benches and exercise equipment that were also set up down here. My interests were in one area where someone had set some targets up against the wall in order to create their own practice range. This clearly wasn’t intended for anything like firearms, and the half dozen shuriken embedded in both the wall and targets gave a pretty good idea of what it had been used for. This was what I was interested in.

After Caitlin had given me Needle, several girls on my floor had told me about this practice range being set up down here. I’d come down here both Friday and yesterday in order to test out Needle and get a better idea of what it could do, and so far, I was definitely impressed.

With that, I drew Needle from its sheath, then just admired the blade for a moment. It was ridiculously light, perfectly balanced, and made of a silver metal that wasn’t quite like anything I’d ever seen. All in all, I was still in awe of the fact that Caitlin had given this to me.

Then with a grin, I threw Needle across the basement and right into the dead center of the target. As I’d found out previously, Needle always hit exactly where I wanted it to, though I wasn’t stupid enough to think that it was because I was some kind of natural with throwing knives. Somehow, Needle actually seemed to sense my intentions and responded to them. I’d thrown it over and over again and hit my target every time. This was obviously one of the features that Caitlin had been talking about, though there were a couple other ones as well.

I felt along the magical threat that connected me to Needle, somewhat similar to the way I was bound to each of my faeries, then I gave a mental tug. A moment later, Needle came loose from the target and flew right back into my outstretched hand.

“A boomerang knife,” I said, throwing it at another target and then pulling it back to my hand in the same way.

Through trial and error, I’d found that I couldn’t just throw Needle and then have it flying around the room by remote control. If I threw it at least close to where I intended, it would take care of aiming itself, and I could pull it right back to my hand so I could do it again. Those tricks alone made it a pretty interesting weapon.

I’d never done any knife throwing before I’d been given Needle, though I did vaguely remember throwing one in one of my dreams. However, thanks to Needle’s special features, I didn’t need to really practice throwing it…not that it would do much good. What I did need to practice, was knife fighting…which I had done before.

At least once a month, Doug would teach a class on how to deal with an opponent who had a knife, and during that time we’d take turns being the aggressor with the knife. Because of that, Doug would also teach us how to actually use the knife as well, pointing out that they were common weapons that were easily obtained from a kitchen or even your disarmed attacker. In fact, knives were the only weapon that he taught us to use, though admittedly, he was also fond of weapons of opportunity such as car keys, rocks, or glass bottles.

I practiced some if the knife fighting moves that Doug had taught me, knowing that I knew enough to use one effectively, but that I was far from being an expert. Still, Needle was quite a dangerous weapon and I wanted to make sure that I had a decent handle on how to use it before I brought it into martial arts class. That was why I spent the next hour, trying out the different things I could do with Needle and practicing some moves that I hoped would help me in a fight.

After I finished with my practice, I threw Needle one more time at the target, then willed it to return before I left the basement. I slipped Needle back into its sheath, then went upstairs. I was going back to my room when I heard noise from the common room, which surprised me a little since I thought just about everyone had gone into town. After a moment, I went to check it out, finding Breakdown there along with Phase. I wasn’t quite sure what they were talking about, though Phase did say ‘investment opportunity’ before they realized I was there and stopped talking.

“Hey, Gwen,” Breakdown greeted me. “I heard you were having more fun with your new toy.”

“Oh yeah,” I agreed with a grin. “It’s pretty awesome.”

“I’ve heard about your new weapon,” Phase said, giving me a curious look. “May I see it?”

I hesitated a moment, then pulled Needle out of the sheath to give her a look. She looked it over for a moment and her eyes widened slightly in surprise. “This is mithril…”

“What’s mithril?” Nikki asked as she came into the room, giving Phase a questioning look.

Phase gestured to Needle, which was still held in my hand. “Absinthe’s new dagger.”

Nikki stared at Needle for a moment, looking just a little startled. Then she asked, “Where in the world did you get a mithril knife?”

I hesitated again, still feeling a little nervous around Nikki, though I didn’t feel the need to run away this time. “It was a gift,” I finally said. Then on an impulse, and perhaps partly to get a little ‘I told you so’ for my long dead ancestor, I added, “From the Artificer.”

Nikki looked a little surprised and her aura flashed. For a moment, I thought that Aunghadhail was about to emerge again. However, Nikki took a breath and looked calm as she asked, “Eldritch made that for you?”

“She probably acquired the mithril from Silver,” Phase commented thoughtfully.

“Caitlin seems to think she owed me one,” I explained grimly, seeing Nikki wince slightly at that. Her aura flashed again and I took a nervous step back which seemed to settle Aunghadhail down, or at least keep her from emerging.

“Do you have any idea how valuable that is?” Nikki asked me, still looking a bit surprised.

“The material value of the mithril alone is in the millions,” Phase said thoughtfully. “But admittedly, I haven’t done any recent research on the current market value…”

“I meant magically valuable,” Nikki said with a note of exasperation.

I just stared at Needle, stunned to realize that I was carrying around something that was worth far more than everything my parents owned combined. Of course, there was still no way I’d ever consider selling it. I hadn’t owned Needle long, but before this, it had already become my prized possession. It was like a part of me now. Now, I had an even greater appreciation for Caitlin’s gift than before.

With that, I carefully put Needle back into its sheath, then slipped away while Phase and Nikki were discussing financial versus magical value. After making a quick stop back at my room to grab a poncho, I left Poe again. It wasn’t until I was already on my way that I realized I’d forgotten to put on a dress, but I wasn’t about to turn around.

Mrs. Lauriant’s tree was in the same out of the way place where I’d planted it, looking almost like any other tree. I carefully reached out to touch it, then sent a pulse of magic through it. If Mrs. Lauriant was in position and ready, she’d sense the pulse and would be able to respond. A moment later, the bark began to shimmer and change form, letting me know that she was indeed ready.

As soon as the tree finished changing shape to look like Mrs. Lauriant, she looked at me and said, “Hello Gwendolynn.”

“Hello,” I responded miserably.

“Why aren’t you dressed appropriately?” she immediately asked with a note of disapproval.

“The weather,” I explained as I huddled beneath the poncho. “It didn’t seem practical to walk out here in a dress.”

Mrs. Lauriant snorted at that, as though that shouldn’t have been a concern. “Next time, I expect to see you dressed like a young lady.”

“Yes ma’am,” I responded.

“Now where were we?” Mrs. Lauriant mused.

Yesterday, we’d talked about the advances I’ve made with my illusion spells and about how I could expand on them further. However, Mrs. Lauriant seemed to have run out at about the end of our lessons.

After I reminded her where we’d left off, Mrs. Lauriant frowned slightly. “I fear illusion spells have never been my strength and you’ve already exceeded my abilities in that area. So instead of trying to teach you more illusion, I will focus on expanding your general knowledge and teaching you what arboreal magics you are able to learn.”

“That sounds good to me,” I told her, curious about learning the kind of arboreal magic she performed. However, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as her. After all, my own talents seemed pretty strongly directed towards illusion. Still, the more I knew about the rules of magic and how it all worked, the better I’d be at improving my illusions.

“I’m glad you approve,” she responded wryly.

“I was hoping I could learn some kind of healing spell,” I told her, remembering the way Centurion had injured me. “And maybe some kind of offense.”

Mrs. Lauriant’s wooden face smiled faintly at that. “Those are both reasonable requests, so let’s get to work.”

Our lessons lasted for over two hours, which were quite wet and miserable. My poncho could only do so much to keep me dry and I didn’t know any spells to protect me from the rain, at least not yet. By the time we finished, I decided that I’d have to either learn a spell like that or invest in a tarp.

When Mrs. Lauriant and I were finished, her image faded back into the tree until it once again looked like it had before. I let out a sigh, then started back to Poe, eager to take a third shower for today so I could get cleaned up and warm…again. I mentally noted, that if I hurried, I’d probably even be able to make it to Crystal Hall before lunch was over.

“Then maybe I can find Collin,” I mused, looking forward to that. I wasn’t really sure what we’d do, but homework would definitely be a good excuse.

As soon as I got to Poe, I dropped my poncho off in my room and began to strip out of my soggy clothes. I dropped them off into the pile of other soggy clothes from my earlier run, then threw on a robe just long enough to get me to the showers and back. As I started for the showers, I just chuckled, wondering if I could talk Mrs. Horton into putting lockers in with the showers since it might be easier just to keep some of my stuff there.

I went down the hall to the showers, and as I stepped through the door, I heard the water running. It looked like I wasn’t the only one with this idea. However, a moment later, I realized that the shower wasn’t occurring in one of the stalls…it was occurring over half the room. There was a thin layer of storm clouds along the ceiling, which were pouring rain all over everything.

“What the…?” I started, though I already realized the source of this odd indoor weather. “Downpour…”

It took me a moment to spot Downpour, curled up in the corner and sobbing. I immediately winced in sympathy, remembering when I’d been curled up on the floor in here freaking out. Without hesitating, I hurried to Downpour’s side, nearly slipping on the wet floor and getting my robe soaked through.

“Are you okay…?” I started, only to freeze when I saw the knife in her hand. She was holding the blade up against her own wrist, as though she wanted to cut but couldn’t quite bring herself to do so. I gulped in fear, not wanting to make any more sudden movements that might make her cut. “Downpour…?”

Downpour didn’t answer me, nor did she even look up at me. I slowly moved closer, and when I was right beside her, I reached for the knife. She didn’t resist as I took it from her hand and tossed it aside. Then I grabbed hold of her, wishing that I could do something more than this.

“I’m so tired,” Downpour whispered as she cried. “I just want it to end…”

I hugged Downpour, wishing that I knew what to say to make this better for her…that I could do something to help her. Instead, all I could do was hold her while she cried, remembering quite well what it had been like when I’d been here. If it hadn’t been for all those other girls coming to help me… My own tears began to form as well.

As I’d learned first-hand, the ‘Downpour protocols’ as they were referred to around the freshmen floor, referred to when someone was having an emotional breakdown and needed help. As I tried to comfort Downpour, I realized just how bad her situation had to be if they’d actually named the thing after her. She needed help, a lot more than I could give. And since I didn’t dare leave her alone right now, I sent my faeries out to get help.

“Everything is going to be all right,” I told her, hoping that I wasn’t lying. “You’re going to get better…”

“Why does it hurt so much?” Downpour demanded as she cried on my shoulder. “Why won’t it ever end?”

My heart ached at those words. Cindy had told me that Downpour used to be on medication that helped with her issues, but that ever since she’d manifested, those medications just didn’t work for her anymore. It made her situation all the more tragic.

Seconds later, Breakdown burst into the showers, following behind one of my faeries. “What’s going on?” Then she saw Downpour and gasped, immediately rushing to her side.

Nikki and Mrs. Horton both came in after that and rushed to help as well. I got up and backed away from Downpour as Mrs. Horton and Breakdown took over trying to comfort her. Nikki did the same thing that she’d previously done with me and Downpour instantly went into a daze, her indoor rain turning off in the process. Then Nikki cast a quick spell and we were all suddenly dry again. And though I absently though that I’d like to learn that spell, most of my attention remained focused on Downpour and what I could do to help her.

--------------------

I sat on the mat in my martial arts class, watching as several sparring matches went on at the same time. I looked over to where Vulpine was going at it with Shawn, which was an interesting match. Shawn might not look threatening, but his telekinesis could take you out without his ever having to get near you. And to top it off, even without his powers, he was pretty good at fighting.

Then I turned my attention to the match where Centurion was facing off against Cerberus. I scowled in annoyance, silently cheering on Cerberus, who I hoped was able to win. I REALLY didn’t like Centurion, or how cocky and smug he’d been since he’d broken my arm last week. Ever since then, Centurion had definitely given me a lot of attitude, but he had backed off and no longer seemed to think he had to prove anything against me. However, now I was the one with a grudge.

Last week, I’d tested an itching spell on Centurion, and though it had been a lot of fun, it had worn off quite a bit sooner than I’d hoped. However, that was just my first attempt, and though Centurion didn’t know it, he’d now been designated as my guinea pig. I’ve already tried a more powerful itching spell on him, and today during lunch, I’d begun testing a spell to manipulate another sense…smell.

“Dude, you reek,” Cerberus exclaimed from all three of his bodies at the same time, giving Centurion a look of disgust. “Did you shit your pants or something?”

It was all I could do not to laugh too openly. Cerberus certainly hadn’t been the first person to notice the nasty smell around Centurion, nor would he be the last. I wasn’t sure how long this illusion would last, but hopefully it would be long enough to earn him the nickname of Stinky. Unlike with vision, the illusion of a smell was no different than the smell itself.

“Shut up,” Centurion demanded angrily. “It’s not me.”

With that, Centurion grabbed one of Cerberus’ bodies and threw it right into the other two. In moments, the fight was over with Centurion being the clear winner. Then he returned to his spot on the mat with an angry glare.

“Absinthe and Rapier,” Ito announced.

I took my position on the mat and watched my opponent nervously. Rapier was a lean boy with metal bracers around each of his wrists. As soon as he was in place, the metal bracer on his right wrist began to melt and flow into his hand, then it stretched out until it reformed into a long and thin sword…a rapier. A moment later, the bracer on his other wrist melted and flowed into his left hand, forming into the type of dagger that was known as a main gauche. Rapier gave me a cocky grin, obviously remembering how he’d beaten me during our last match.

I just smiled faintly, then reached behind my back and pulled Needle out from where it was hidden beneath my gi. This time, I wasn’t unarmed and actually had a weapon of my own. In fact, this was actually the first day that I’d felt comfortable enough using Needle that I’d brought it to class.

Rapier’s eyes went to Needle and he grinned. Then in a bad Australian accent, he exclaimed, “You call that a knife?” He held up his own blade and added, “THIS is a knife.”

“Nope,” I responded cheerfully. With that, I reached out along the link I had to Needle and flipped the magical switch that I’d found built into it. A moment later, the hilt suddenly lengthened in both directions. I set the pommel on Needle’s base against the floor, looked at the blade, which was now eye level, then proudly stated, “I call this a spear.”

When Caitlin had made Needle, she’d built in several special features which made it much more than a mere dagger. It could hit whatever I aimed for, return to my hand, and perhaps most interesting, it could lengthen in order to transform into a spear. And in spear form, with the pommel being a ring, it actually resembled a giant needle. It seemed that I’d named Needle even more appropriately than I’d known at the time.

“That’s new,” Rapier commented with an eager look in his eyes.

As soon as the match began, Rapier darted forth, moving with surprising speed and agility, especially since I knew his physical abilities weren’t part of his powers. His power was simply the ability to reform steel into different shapes just by touching it. In that way, he was able to keep a small arsenal of weapons hidden on his body in the form of bracelets and such. Rapier lunged at me with his sword and I knocked the blade aside with Needle. He attacked again, just a little faster, and I blocked that one as well. It was clear that he was holding back, testing how well I was able to use Needle. And unfortunately, the answer was not that well.

Doug had taught me how to fight with a knife, but not with a spear. This was actually the first time in my life that I’d ever even used one in a fight, but I didn’t really have much choice. I needed the reach advantage it gave me when dealing with Rapier. But even though I’d never actually fought with a spear, I had used one in a number of my dreams and I’d gotten an idea of what to do from there. Between that and the practicing I’d done in Poe’s basement, I could probably be considered pretty good…for a first timer.

“Not too bad,” Rapier mused, proving that I might have the reach advantage, but he had had two weapons as well as more skill. “But not good enough.”

Before I realized it, Rapier smacked the back of my hand with the flat of his blade, making me drop Needle, which he kicked as it fell so that it was knocked well away from me. I muttered a curse and jumped back, having to dodge his weapons without one of my own. I knew that if I’d been using my usual tactics and had made him start hallucinating, I probably would have kept him off balance enough so that he wouldn’t have been able to do that.

With that, I shifted gears, releasing a burst of light to bind him and then several illusionary copies of myself. Then as he began slashing his blades around to keep me back until he recovered his vision, I hit him from behind with a glamour laden faerie.

“I hate it when you do that,” Rapier exclaimed, recovering enough that he lunged at one of my illusions, immediately slashing out with his main gauche at the same time so as to hit my second illusion.

Rapier was momentarily distracted, so I made my move. I lunged at him from the side, hitting his elbow so as to force his main body further away from me, while simultaneously kicking his shin so he’d lose balance. While I was doing that, I made a mental tug towards Needle, which had returned to dagger form just seconds after leaving my hands. In a moment, Needle flew back into my hand, so just as I knocked Rapier to the ground, I was able to put a dagger to his throat.

“You win this time,” Rapier said cheerfully. After he got back to his feet, he gave an exaggerated bow with sweep of his sword, in what I thought was supposed to be a swashbuckler type move. “Till next time, my lady.”

As Rapier returned to his seat, Ito told me, “You will need to master that weapon if you intend to use it.”

I nodded at that, knowing that he was completely correct. Then I gave a self-conscious smile as I admitted, “And I got distracted by Needle and forgot to use anything else.”

Ito gave a faint nod, which I thought was of approval though it was hard to tell. “We will work on that.”

When I returned to my seat, Collin grinned at me and asked, “Where in the world did you get a knife turn turns into a spear?”

“It was a present,” I told him, being careful to avoid telling him too much. Last night, while we were dealing with the fallout of Downpour’s freak out, Nikki had warned me against telling people that Caitlin had made Needle. She’d said that if the wrong people found out about what Caitlin could do, it would put Caitlin in danger, and I definitely didn’t want that.

Collin nodded, then leaned over, and in a conspiratorial voice, told me, “If you were a guy, I’d think you were compensating for something.” That just made me burst out laughing, earning a warning glare from Ito and Tolman.

When the sparring sessions were over a few minutes later, Ito and Tolman began separating us to practice forms. To my surprise, Ito pulled me aside and showed me a few basic moves for a spear, then had me practice those for the rest of the class. I had a feeling that I’d have to do a lot of my spear practice on my own time, but Ito was definitely helping me with the basics.

After class ended a short time later, I rushed through the showers and then stuck around just long enough to watch as Centurion came out of the locker room, obviously having just showered, and still having people commenting on his stink. I grinned at that and then hurried to my next class, making a mental note to keep using that spell.

I’d barely made it to my next class when the teacher, Mrs. Abernathy said, “Absinthe, I just received a message from Mrs. Carson. You need to go to her office immediately.”

“What?” I gasped in both surprise and confusion. Mrs. Carson was the headmistress of the school, and I couldn’t think of a single thing that I’d done, or at least had been caught at, that would demand I get sent to the principal’s office. I suddenly felt pretty worried and hesitantly asked, “What’s this about?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Abernathy responded with a shrug, as though she didn’t particularly care. “But you should probably go and find out.”

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered as I turned and walked right back out of the classroom. “That was so helpful…” Then I let out a nervous sigh, hoping that this wasn’t about the fact that I’d been using Centurion as a guinea pig for my spells.

I hurried to Schuster Hall, and then into the office waiting room where I found myself staring at a strict looking blonde woman who sat at a desk. The name plate on the desk said, ‘Amelia Hartford’, which made me even more nervous. Several of the girls from Poe had warned me about Ms. Hartford, who they called Hardass. Apparently, she had a reputation as being a cast iron bitch who had no problems making your life miserable if you so much as even thought about crossing her.

“Absinthe,” Ms. Hartford said, giving me a flat look. She gestured to a closed door and said, “Mrs. Carson is expecting you. Don’t keep her waiting.”

I nodded at that, then nervously opened the door and stepped inside. Mrs. Carson was an attractive blonde woman who looked as though she was probably only in her thirties, though I’d heard rumors that she was quite a bit older than that. She was currently sitting behind her desk and looked up when I came in.

“Absinthe,” she greeted me. “Please sit down.”

I sat down in the chair in front of her desk, feeling more than a little worried. I still had no real idea what this was about.

“Do you know why I called you here?” she asked me. When I shook my head, she said, “Last week, you facilitated a meeting between a Whateley student and an agent of the MCO.”

I gulped at that, then protested, “All I did was ask Dana if she wanted to fill out a statement…”

Mrs. Carson gave me a faint smile and assured me, “You aren’t in trouble, but that is what we were just discussing.”

I wondered what she meant by that, then she reached over and pushed a button on her desk phone. A moment later, a familiar voice said, “Hello Gwen,” from the speakerphone on her desk.

“Dad?” I blurted out in surprise.

“Agent Winslow told me about the interview last week,” Dad said, being formal in how he referred to Grace so I knew that this wasn’t a social call. “She said that she wouldn’t have been able to get Sphere’s statement if you hadn’t acted as an intermediary. I wanted you to know that I’m proud of you.”

For a brief moment, I wondered if this was some kind of joke, or if someone was impersonating my Dad for some reason. For a long time, I’d been so sure that he was completely ashamed of me that hearing something like that still caught me by surprise. However, I had to admit that it was nice to hear.

“Your father and I were discussing an issue we have,” Mrs. Carson told me with a serious look. “We thought you might be able to help solve it by acting as an intermediary again.”

“What?” I asked, already tired of being surprised.

Mrs. Carson explained, “A Whateley student was home for a family emergency when he appears to have witnessed an attack by a mutant supremacist. More than three dozen people were killed during the attack, and the student seems to have been spared simply because the killer has a strict rule against harming mutants.”

“Of course, the MCO is investigating the incident,” Dad said over the speaker phone. “The investigation is outside of my jurisdiction, but I’ve learned that two agents are being dispatched to Whateley to interview the witness. What concerns me is that that there are…unconfirmed accusations against these agents that makes their methods…suspect. Because of that, I called Whateley security as a precaution and they transferred me to Mrs. Carson.”

“So you don’t trust them,” I said, not at all surprised. There were a lot of people in the MCO like that, and they give the good ones a bad name. I knew that Dad took that kind of thing pretty personally. “I know the MCO doesn’t have any legal authority here, so you could just tell them no.” I looked at Mrs. Carson as I said that last bit.

Mrs. Carson smiled faintly at that, but it was Dad who explained, “Mrs. Carson cooperates with the MCO, and though she could easily refuse to allow these agents access to the witness, there would be consequences.”

I thought about that for a moment, then nodded in understanding. “Politics.”

I didn’t understand all the politics involved, but I thought I knew enough. Whateley was neutral ground and the MCO had no legal authority here, but by cooperating with them willingly, Mrs. Carson was showing that Whateley was willing to work with the system. If she refused to let the MCO interview that witness, then the MCO and people in positions of authority might take that as a sign that Whateley somehow supported the terrorist instead.

“Does…does the student even want to make a statement?” I asked, remembering how Grace didn’t even bothering to set up an interview until Dana had agreed.

“Yes, he has agreed to the interview,” Mrs. Carson explained, almost seeming to be humoring me by answering my questions. “Had he refused, the investigators would have been denied access to him. Now, our concern is protecting a student from potentially overzealous investigators without antagonizing them. Your father suggested that you might smooth this meeting much the way you did that last one.”

“Unless I have evidence of wrongdoing,” Dad explained, “these agents are outside of my jurisdiction and I can’t interfere. However, as an MCO employee who is assigned to the local office, you do have an opening to get involved. And as you are an intern rather than an active agent, you can do so in such a way that you don’t infringe on their jurisdiction or step on their toes. This is a delicate situation so that is important.”

I sat there in my chair, squirming uncomfortably as I felt like I was being watched with two sets of eyes. Mrs. Carson was definitely watching me, and though Dad wasn’t physically present in the room, I still felt like he was watching me as well. After several long seconds, I said, “Okay… What do I have to do?”

“Good,” Dad said, his voice sounding completely professional, though I thought I could hear a note of approval in it. “Mostly, what we need from you is to just be present for the interview. Your presence alone should be a moderating influence on the agents. Of course, there is a little more to it than that, but I’ll email you a file to look at…”

I spent the next half hour talking to Dad and Mrs. Carson, listening to what they wanted me to do. For the most part, Dad had been right when he said I just had to be there. My main job was to just act as a witness so the agents didn’t try anything questionable. And since I was an MCO employee, I could actually sit in on the interview without openly antagonizing them where someone from Whateley security couldn’t.

When we were done, I said goodbye to Dad and promised to call Mom, then Mrs. Carson excused me to return to class. I hurried back to class, knowing that I’d be arriving just in time to get the class summary and the homework assignment. I absently wondered if I could get away with taking my time and skipping that class entirely, but I knew that I’d end up stuck with the homework anyway. At least this way, I’d get some of the class lesson to help with it.

After the surprise of getting pulled into Mrs. Carson’s office, the rest of the day was boringly normal in comparison. Before I’d realized it, classes were over for the day and I was free to meet up with Collin so we could ‘study’ together until dinner. We actually did study, though a little kissing was involved as well.

Collin and I walked to Crystal Hall together, and I found myself glancing at him and blushing as I thought about how we’d been kissing. I still found it hard to believe that I actually liked kissing a boy, especially one who used to try beating me up. However, I couldn’t deny the fact that when we kissed, I got all warm and gooey inside. It made me feel so…girly. I was still a little confused by these emotions, and afterwards I’d feel guilty for feeling this way, but I knew that it wouldn’t stop me from kissing Collin again. Whether I liked it or not, I was really starting to get into the whole girl thing.

“Oh look, meatloaf,” Collin exclaimed with exaggerated excitement as he began gathering food for his plate. “I so love meatloaf…”

“Oh yeah,” I responded with more than a little sarcasm. “Mystery meatloaf is my favorite.”

“Mystery meatloaf,” Collin mused with a chuckle. “That’s what we used to call it in my old school too.”

I nodded absently at that, then looked at another dish and commented, “Oooh, semi-edible food substitute.”

Collin snickered at the use of another joke that had often gone around our old school cafeteria. However, in spite of the joking, I had to admit that the food here was actually much better than at our old school. Dana told me that instead of the traditional lunch ladies, Whateley actually had real chefs working in the kitchen.

Almost as if thinking about my roommate had summoned her, I saw Dana coming out of the kitchen with a hairnet on her head and a tray of food in her hands. She put the food down in the lunch line, then nodded towards me before ducking back into the kitchen. I just shook my head, glad that I didn’t have to do a job like this. Then again, as I’d discovered earlier today, my job did require some overtime.

Collin and I were the first ones to reach our usual table, though we just barely sat down when Jinx arrived. “Hey,” she greeted us with a broad grin, taking her seat and chuckling.

“What are you so happy about?” I asked her curiously.

“Do you know Trixie?” she asked me cheerfully. When I shook my head, she explained, “Trixie is a freshman devisor who specializes in practical jokes and tricks. She’s in my survival class, and sometimes she can be really funny, but today she tried testing out a cream pie cannon in class… Well, she had a bit of bad luck…” Jinx snickered at that. “And it blew up in her face. It was hilarious.”

“I’d imagine,’ I responded with a laugh of my own.

Collin nodded, then said, “Some of these devisors… Where in the world do you come up with something like a cream pie cannon…outside of a cartoon?”

“Just imagine if Jade got hold of that thing,” I thought aloud, suddenly having images of something like that being used as the latest escalation in the war between Jade and Beltane. I shuddered at the idea, as did Jinx.

“With any luck,” Jinx told me, “Jade won’t even find out about it.” Then we both laughed. “But it’s too bad Dana has to work. I wanted to tell her about this too…”

Just then, Dana asked, “Tell me about what?” She sat down at the table with a tray full of food.

“I thought you were working,” I commented curiously.

Dana just shrugged at that. “Chef Marcel told me to take a break for dinner. I’ll go back in the kitchen when I’m done eating.”

“That was lucky,” Collin commented wryly, looking to Jinx, who just had a smug look on her face.

Jinx was in the middle of retelling the story about Trixie and the cream pie cannon, with more details, when Lina came over and joined us. “I’m not sticking around too long,” Lina warned us. “As soon as I’m done, I’m grabbing a couple ‘to go’ boxes for Downpour and Cindy.” Then she hesitated a moment, glancing at Collin before adding, “Downpour didn’t feel like going out so Cindy stayed behind to keep her company.” Dana, Jinx, and I all nodded in understanding.

Downpour had really been in bad shape yesterday, and though she was a little better today, she was still under the weather…both figuratively and literally. Nearly all the freshman girls had been taking turns staying with her so that she wouldn’t be alone, and I’d even taken my own turn last night. I frowned as I thought about the girl, really feeling sorry for her. I just wished there was something I could do to make her feel better.

“Butterflies,” I said, suddenly remembering the way Downpour had thanked me for making her hallucinate about butterflies. When everyone gave me a blank look, I explained, “I was just thinking about making some illusions to cheer up Downpour.”

“Great idea,” Jinx told me in approval.

“Oh yeah,” Dana suddenly exclaimed, pausing to take a big bite of meatloaf. “I got an email from my Dad. Apparently, my sister Katie got suspended from school…for beating up the class bully.” She was grinning proudly as she said that.

“You can’t really fault her for that one,” Lina said, smirking faintly. “I mean, you should always get a free pass if you’re beating up a bully.”

“She did the first time she did it,” Dana admitted with a chuckle. “Apparently, this time she made him start crying…”

“It sounds like your sister is quite a character,” Collin told her with an amused look.

Dana nodded enthusiastically. “Oh yeah, she’s a character all right.” Then she paused, her expression turning sad, as it often did when talking about her sister. However, that only lasted for a few seconds before she smiled again. “Did I ever tell you about last Easter when she dyed a bunch of uncooked eggs and put them in the bowl with the regular Easter eggs? I go to crack open an egg by smacking it on my forehead, and the next thing I know, I’ve got egg dripping down my face. What a brat…”

We were all laughing at that point, especially as we imagined Dana with egg dripping down her face. “And I always thought my little brother was a pain,” Lina said with a shake of her head. “I once caught him trying to put Nair in my shampoo. Good thing he’s incompetent or I’d really be in trouble.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’d imagine that kind of thing would really keep you on your toes though…”

“Siblings are always like that,” Lina said with a shrug. “You know what it’s like…”

“Not really,” I admitted with a shrug. “I’m an only child.”

“Then you missed out on all sorts of free entertainment,” Dana told me with a broad grin. “Did I tell you about the time Katie…”

By the time Dana was finished with her latest story, we were all laughing, or at least everyone was but Collin. He was just sitting there, poking at his food with a thoughtful look on his face and being strangely quiet. He didn’t respond to the rest of the conversation, though he did give me an odd look.

When we were finished eating, we all got up to leave. Dana let out a long sigh and said, “I guess I’d better get back to work. Those dishes aren’t going to clean themselves.” Then she paused, giving me a hopeful look before asking, “Gwen, can you…?”

“I could make them LOOK clean,” I responded with a roll of my eyes. “But it wouldn’t last long.”

“That’s all right,” Dana told me with a shrug. “They’ve got an awesome dishwasher back there that was made by some devisor. You wouldn’t believe what that thing can do.”

After that, Dana went back to the kitchen while Lina went to grab a couple ‘to go’ boxes for Downpour and Cindy. I began walking out of Crystal Hall with Collin and Jinx, when Collin said, “Gwen…we need to talk.” I was a little surprised by how serious he looked.

“I’ll see you later,” Jinx told me before she hurried off towards Poe.

I watched Collin for a moment, then urged him to continue, “Okay.”

Collin just stared at me for several seconds more, then he quickly looked around to make sure no one was close. Finally, he looked me in the eyes and demanded, “Who are you?”

“What?” I gasped in surprise.

“You keep saying things that you shouldn’t know,” Collin accused me, looking angry. “Things from my old school, like who Suzie Quentin is…or jokes we told in the cafeteria. I thought that maybe Adam told you about our school, but while we were eating, you said you’re an only child.”

“Collin,” I started, definitely not liking the way this conversation was going. I looked at his aura and confirmed that he was definitely hurt and angry, and it was directed at ME.

“Then it suddenly made sense,” Collin exclaimed, glaring at me with a look that made me take an instinctive step backwards. “You’re not Adam’s sister. You ARE Adam…”

Those words hit me like a physical blow and I winced as I heard them. My first impulse was to lie, to insist that he was wrong, but I already knew it was too late for that. He knew. I’d gotten so comfortable around him that I’d completely let down my guard. Now he knew and there was no taking that back.

“I WAS Adam,” I admitted quietly, feeling ashamed at having him know.

Collin blinked in surprise, obviously not having expected me to actually admit it once I’d been caught. “You lied to me,” he spat out, looking as though I’d just betrayed him. “You told me you were Adam’s sister…”

“No,” I responded quietly, not able meet his eyes. “You assumed I was Adam’s sister…and I was too embarrassed to correct you.”

“It was all a lie, wasn’t it?” Collin demanded with a hurt look. “Just like everything else you do…it was all an illusion. Just a trick to mess with me…”

“No,” I protested, horrified by the accusation.

I instinctively tried to back away from Collin, only to find that my feet wouldn’t move. He’d locked me in place with his powers, right when my every instinct screamed at me to run away. I felt a surge of rising panic which triggered a flash of memory from one of my dreams where I’d felt the same way. For a brief moment, I almost saw a corrupted bear monster leaping at me again and I responded by letting out a scream and a burst of magic. Dozens of faeries burst into existence around me as a surge of glamour slammed into Collin, causing him to release his power. An instant later, I was running away from him as fast as I could.

Tears poured down my cheeks as I ran, desperate to get away from Collin. I didn’t even know where I was going, only that I didn’t want to deal with anyone at all. Almost on automatic, I started running for the one place where I knew I’d have privacy, the large grove of trees on the edge of campus where students were strictly forbidden from going. As I got near, someone in a security uniform yelled at me to stop, but I ignored him and ran into the forested area.

When I stopped running and just collapsed to the ground, I was breathing hard and sobbing like a baby. I felt so ashamed and humiliated, it was like the thing from the showers all over again. And this time, there were no Poe girls around to call a Downpour protocol and intervene. This time, I could just cry myself out.

I had no idea how long I just sat on the ground crying before I finally stopped. I wiped my tears away, feeling like an idiot. “I can’t believe it,” I muttered bitterly. “First I turn into an elf girl, now I turn into a drama queen.” I shuddered at that, feeling disgusted with myself. I’d always hated those kinds of girls, the drama queens who had to exaggerate every little thing and make it all about them.

Now that I’d calmed down, I looked around and realized that I wasn’t really alone. There were currently several dozen of my faeries scattered about near me, and though I didn’t see anyone else, I could feel a presence watching me. I shifted over to my mage sight and let out a gasp. There were ley lines and magic everywhere, infusing all the trees and plants that surrounded me. This whole place was alive in more than just the normal way plants were.

“Mrs. Lauriant would love this,” I whispered in awe.

There was definitely some kind of force here, one that was aware of my presence and was watching me. Fortunately, it didn’t feel hostile, merely curious. In fact, it almost felt…welcoming.

“It’s because I’m Sidhe,” I whispered in understanding. Whatever this place was, it seemed somewhat fond of the Sidhe.

Then I realized that there was more than just this singular alien presence that surrounded me. There were smaller, more individual ones as well. With that, a faerie came and hovered in the air in front of me, surprising me since it had blue hair and light blue skin. There was another one with dark violet hair and a mischievious look on her face. These faeries…weren’t mine. And when I looked at them with my mage sight, I gasped at what I saw. They weren’t hobgoblins at all…or even fakes like what Jade had created to prank me with. They were real. These were real pixies.

“Hello,” I said, feeling nervous and a little overwhelmed.

As I looked around, I saw several more pixies, seven of them in total. The others were nearby, hidden by invisibility and illusion, but once I thought to look, I could still see them. They realized that they’d been seen and dropped their disguises and came out, revealing themselves to me. One by one, they flew over to look at my own faeries, checking them out with obvious curiosity.

“I’m Gwen,” I said quietly, hoping I didn’t scare them. “My faeries…my pixies aren’t real ones. Not like you…” Of course, it was obvious that they’d already figured that out, though they still seemed both curious and amused. In fact, I was sure it was all my faeries which had made them curious enough to reveal themselves in the first place.

One pixie had green hair and brown skin that was the color of tree bark. She flew to me and stared at my hair for a moment, then touched her own hair which was a few shades darker. After a moment, she spoke, in a language that I didn’t know, but which I’d heard in several of my dreams. And even though I didn’t know this language, I could still understand it when she said, “Greetings big sister.”

Then she and the other pixies giggled and darted around, appearing to play a game of tag with my faeries. I grinned at that, letting myself get distracted by the game and sending my own faeries after them. We played this strange game for about ten minutes, which the pixies seemed to be having a great deal of fun with.

But then, a familiar voice called out, “Absinthe…” I froze and looked in the direction I could hear Nikki calling from. “Gwen…”

“Over here,” I responded with a sigh.

With that, all the pixies suddenly flew off and vanished into the trees. I felt a little disappointed at that, but it seemed that they didn’t want Nikki to see them.

Seconds later, Nikki came into view, looking relieved when she saw me. “Security said you ran into the grove,” she told me, her expression turning into one of annoyance. “Don’t you know students have come in here and never come back out? Security knows I have an understanding with the grove, so they asked me to come find you…” Then she paused to stare at me before adding, “It seems you have a bit understanding with it as well.”

I just shrugged at that, trying to act nonchalant as I commented, “It seemed like a good place to get some privacy.”

“Are you okay?” Nikki abruptly asked, reminding me that she was an empath and could feel emotions. “Security said you seemed pretty…upset.”

“Upset,” I muttered bitterly.

Upset was an understatement. I’d just lost my boyfriend… Then I paused to gulp, shaking at the realization that I’d just thought of Collin as my boyfriend. I shook my head, cursing the fact that whatever I’d had with Collin was over. And not only that, I’d blown my secret. In fact, I might very well have blown the secret of Poe at the same time. But in spite of all that, I couldn’t help but remembering that I’d just discovered there were real pixies living just off campus. Even with everything that was going wrong, I still thought that was pretty amazing.

“How are you feeling?” Nikki asked me carefully, probably remembering my last freakout and wondering if she was going to have to sedate me again.

“Confused,” I told her honestly as I started walking out of the grove and back towards Poe. “Very confused.”

--------------------

Lunch was strangely quiet, or at least it was at my usual table. The rest of Crystal Hall was just as noisy and crowded as usual, though the absence of Collin during lunch was quite a noticeable one for me. I glanced to his empty seat, then turned my attention to eating in silence.

Neither Fixx or Porcelain were eating with me today either, but that was nothing unusual as they only ate at this table half the time anyway. Still, when I’d talked to Fixx earlier today, he’d been friendly and hadn’t seemed to blame me for what happened with Collin. In fact, he didn’t seem to really know what was going on, only that Collin and I had some kind of fight. Thankfully, he’d simply declared himself to be Switzerland and refused to take sides.

To my surprise…and intense relief, Fixx hadn’t shown any signs about knowing that I used to be Adam. In fact, it seemed that Collin hadn’t told anyone, or at least no one I’d noticed. One of my greatest fears was that I’d come to class today and have all the other students pointing at me and laughing. I wasn’t sure why Collin was holding back when he had such a dangerous piece of information to use against me, but I was thankful that he was.

“Are you okay?” Jinx asked me with a concerned look.

“Just peachy,” I responded, looking around the table at the Poe girls who were trying to give me support.

Dana and Jinx were at my table, as they normally were, but they weren’t the only ones. Today, I was also eating lunch with Lina, Cindy, Breakdown, and even Downpour. Other students from Poe kept stopping by to check up on me, having heard about my secret being blown. I knew a lot of them were worried about Poe’s secret being blown open because of this, and though a couple poesies seemed to blame me, most had offered their support instead.

“Hey, how are you doing?” Zenith asked as she came over.

“Not too good,” I told her. Then I gave her a weak smile and added. “So far, no one else seems to know about…” I paused at that. “But I keep expecting the other shoe to drop.”

“There are…actions we can take,” Zenith said carefully. “Several of us are considering our options.”

I gulped at that, then pleased, “Don’t hurt Collin…”

Zenith just gave me a faint smile and a pat on the shoulder before she wandered off to join a girl with dark skin and hair, her girlfriend Sahar. The two of them talked as they walked off together, making me a little worried about what they might do to keep Poe’s secret.

“Did you hear?” Dana asked with a grin. “Stoppable has been hanging out with Stinky.”

I smiled faintly at that, pleased with the knowledge that Centurion was quickly developing a new reputation. Thanks to that stink illusion I’d cast on him several times now, a few people were already avoiding him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really in the mood to properly enjoy the suffering that my actions had been inflicting on Centurion.

Then Dana gave an exaggerated sigh and said, “It’s not fair.”

“What isn’t?” Jinx asked her curiously.

“Gwen and Fixx both have arch enemies,” Dana said with mock pout. “It’s not fair. I want a nemesis too…”

“I thought you already had one,” I said, thinking of the MCO agent Owens who’d caused her so much trouble.

“Yeah,” Jinx agreed with an amused look. “Monday mornings.”

Dana brightened at that and then jumped to her feet, exclaiming, “Curse you Monday mornings. I will be avenged…” Everyone at the table burst out laughing, except for Downpour and myself. I at least gave it a faint chuckle.

With that, I reached out through one of my faeries, the one I was using to keep tabs on Centurion during lunch, and hit him with a renewed version of the spell. I smiled as I remotely watched everyone at his table scoot away from him. This actually was pretty good at picking up my mood.

When I finished eating, I started to get up to leave when Downpour put a hesitant hand on my arm to stop me. “I hope things work out,” she told me quietly.

I gulped, wondering how my life had gotten so bad that Downpour of all people would feel sorry for me. “Thanks,” I told her, appreciating the sentiment though. With as bad as things were for her, it said something about her that she was still able to care about other people.

“And if you need his ass kicked,” Lina said with a grin. “We’ll be happy to help.”

“Damn skippy,” Dana agreed.

“Well, I’ve got an appointment to get to,” I told them with a sigh. “I’ll see you guys later.”

With that, I mentally touched each of the faerie scouts I’d sent out to keep an eye on someone, making sure that none of my targets were close to me. Peeper was currently head first in a garbage can, courtesy of a girl he’d annoyed too much. Centurion was now eating at a table by himself, and Collin was sitting on a bench just outside of Crystal Hall. I made a mental note to take a different way out.

I said goodbye to my friends, then started towards Kane Hall where I had another appointment to act as an intermediary between the MCO and a student. Unlike the last time where I knew both parties, this time I was nervous. I didn’t really know anyone involved this time, but Dad and Mrs. Carson had asked me to help out so I was going to do my best.

As I reached Kane Hall, I mentally reached out to the faerie lookouts that I’d left behind, planning to remotely destroy them as I usually did. When I checked on the one that was watching Collin, I was surprised to see Dana come over and sit down on the bench beside him. Because of that, I stopped walking and paid more attention to what was going on with them.

“What in the world did you say to Gwen?” Dana asked Collin in a deceptively pleasant tone. “I mean, last night she was so upset, she ran into the forbidden forest…”

“What?” Collin responded in confusion. “Forbidden forest?”

“You know,” Dana told him with a scowl. “The grove that all the students were warned away from. The one where we were told never to go because students sometimes disappear there?”

“Wait,” Collin blurted out, looking surprised. “Gwen went in there?”

“She came back...obviously,” Dana told him. “But she was crying for half the night.” I had cried a little after returning to Poe, but not for half the night. “So what did you say to her?”

Collin scowled, starting to look angry again. He gave Dana a flat look before saying, “I found out that she’s been lying to me and I called her on it.”

“What did she lie about?” Dana asked quietly. She watched Collin with an intense look.

Collin was silent for several long seconds, then he answered, “You’re her roommate…so you probably have a right to know.” I gulped at that, wanting to tear my eyes away from the scene but I couldn’t. I had to keep watching. Then he continued, “But you’ll have to ask her yourself. It’s not my secret to share.”

I let out a sigh of relief at that, though I was a bit surprised as well. Even though he was pissed at me, Collin still hadn’t told anyone about who I used to be. I couldn’t help but respecting that. Dana nodded and visibly let out a breath she’d been holding. I suddenly wondered what she would have done if Collin had revealed I used to be a boy. Would she tell Zenith and everyone else that Poe’s secret really was in danger? Was there someone else nearby, ready to take action if she did?

“Gwen was just using me,” Collin spat out angrily. “She was just getting close to me so she could get even for…for something that happened back in Seattle.”

Dana stared at her for a moment and then burst out laughing. “Do you really think Gwen was trying to hurt you by kissing you?” She snorted at that and shook her head. “I know for a fact that she was doing it because she liked it. Hell, I had to listen to her complain about feeling guilty for liking it so much.”

“What?” I blurted out, blushing in embarrassment, hardly able to believe that Dana was telling him that.

“This is Gwen we’re talking about here,” Dana continued, smirking as she did so. “If Gwen really wanted to go after you, how do you think she’d do it?”

Collin sat there for several long seconds with a thoughtful look on his face before admitting, “She’d probably do something like use an illusion to make herself look like me, then go find the biggest and meanest guy she could, then insult his momma and his manhood… After that, she’d probably just sit back and watch as he pounded me into the ground.”

“Yeah,” Dana agreed with a laugh. “That definitely sounds like Gwen.”

I nodded at that, musing, “That’s a great idea…” I just wondered why I hadn’t thought of doing that for Centurion. Then again, I might have if I hadn’t already decided on simply using him as a guinea pig.

“Then it certainly doesn’t sound like she’s out to get you,” Dana told Collin firmly. “If she was, she could have just let the MCO have you back in Seattle.”

“Maybe,” Collin admitted grimly. “But she still lied to me. There’s something you don’t know, and…” He paused at that to shake his head.

Dana stood up from the bench and let out a very unfeminine snort. “Are you saying that you’re perfect and never make mistakes?”

“No,” Collin started.

He was about to say something else but Dana cut him off. “So, you’re just mad that she didn’t trust you with her deepest and darkest secrets?”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Collin snapped.

“Didn’t you think that maybe she had a reason for keeping her secret?” Dana asked. “A reason that doesn’t have anything to do with you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Collin said as he got up and started to walk away. “Gwen is just an illusion, like everything else she does.”

“If you can’t accept her for who she is rather than who she used to be,” Dana said grimly, “then you probably don’t even deserve her.”

Collin paused to give Dana a look of surprise, but she turned and walked away. I gulped, tearing my attention away from that faerie and ordering it to self-destruct. Tears were starting to run down my cheeks again.

“Not now,” I said, wiping the tears away and trying to control my emotions. I was good at putting my fear and worries aside when I was fighting, so why was it so difficult any other time? “Stupid girl hormones.”

I remained standing where I was for a few more minutes until I got myself back under control. I felt embarrassed, but it helped to remember that I actually had a job to do, a job that my Dad had actually trusted me with. The fact that he trusted me to do something like this meant a lot and I wasn’t going to let him down.

Once I was calm and in control, I continued to Kane Hall where the interview was scheduled to take place. I arrived in time to see that the two MCO agents were already there, both wearing dark suits and looking rather grim. One was tall and slender with thinning hair while the other was shorter and stockier, but both had expressions that made them look like they were sucking on lemons.

“I can’t believe these so called security people took our weapons,” the stocky MCO agent told the thin one. “How do they expect us to interrogate a dangerous mutant if we aren’t even armed?”

“Don’t worry,” the thin one responded quietly. “I have a backup piece in case we need it.”

I had been about to introduce myself to the two agents, but instead I sat down in a chair in the hallway, close enough that I could listen in on them and far enough away that I wouldn’t be too noticeable about it. I pulled out my cell phone and fiddled with it for a moment before putting it back into my pocket. Then I looked around, noticing that a man from Whateley Security was also nearby, keeping an eye on the MCO agents without appearing to be doing so.

“What I’m concerned about,” the thin man commented with scowl, “is that Agent Winslow insisted that if we were going to operate in this jurisdiction, we have to allow one of the local field office’s interns to sit in.”

“Well, it should be educational for him,” the stocky one responded with a faint chuckle. “Remember, we were both rookies at one time too. Maybe we teach the kid a few things, show him the ropes and all.”

“If he even shows up,” the thin one pointed out, looking at his watch. “The intern is late…and so is our suspect.”

I frowned as I silently watched the MCO agents, waiting for the witness to arrive. I hadn’t even officially met these guys yet and I could already see why Dad had been concerned about them. When they looked down the hallway, their auras were tense and wary. And when they caught sight of me, their auras both flashed with instant suspicion and hostility. From what little I could see, they were cast from the same mold as Agent Whells and Dana’s friend Owens. They seemed to think that all mutants were enemies and that they were soldiers in some kind of race war.

A minute later, a woman from Whateley security arrived with the witness, a sophomore boy named Grit. Grit was a bit chubby, with a bald head and grayish tan skin that had the look and texture of rough sandpaper. I’d never actually met the guy, but I’d looked up his MID last night and knew that he was a low level terrakinetic, able to move very small pieces of stone around at will. Basically, he could move and control sand, but no more at one time than what would fit inside a beach bucket.

“This is Grit,” the woman from security told the MCO agents. “As you already know, we’ve set aside a room for you to use during your interview.” She gestured to a doorway near where they were standing.

The agents both stared at Grit for a moment, their expressions almost unreadable. However, I could see their auras at the same time and immediately noticed flashes of fear, suspicion, and hostility. These guys might appear to be professional on the surface, but it was clear that they definitely had their issues with Grit. After a moment, all three of them went into the room. I took that as my cue and got up to follow them.

Once I was in the room, the woman from Whateley security went back into the hall, closing the door behind her. The MCO agents and Grit all gave me a look of surprise, obviously wondering who I was and why I’d just walked into their interview.

“What do you think you’re doing?” the stocky agent demanded of me. Then with a faint smirk, he said, “Unless you’re an MCO agent, you can get out of here right now.”

“I’m not an agent,” I responded with a cheerfulness I didn’t really feel. With that, I held up my MCO employee ID card and said, “I’m just an intern.”

Grit and the two agents both stared at me in surprise but it was the stocky agent who blurted out, “But you’re a mutant…”

“Yep,” I agreed with a grin. “The MCO is trying to recruit more mutants to help with the whole public image thing. As you can tell, they’re trying to get us young.”

“YOU work for the MCO?” Grit gasped, obviously confused.

“I’m just an intern,” I pointed out, then turned back to the agents and explained, “Agent Winslow asked me to observe your interview. She said it would be really educational for me to see how a couple of experience and professional agents operated.”

“But you’re a student,” Grit blurted out, obviously noticing the fact that I was wearing a school uniform.

“A freshman,” I agreed, giving him a smile. Then I introduced myself to the MCO agents. “I’m Absinthe. I’m really happy you’re letting me be here. Agent Winslow said I could learn a lot from you.”

In spite of the fact that neither of the agents was happy to see me, the stocky one puffed up a little at my compliments. Of course, I’d been flattering them up intentionally as part of my plan to smooth things over. I might be having some personal issues right now, but focusing on doing this task I’d been given to the best of my abilities had already proven to be a good way of distracting myself.

The room didn’t look anything like what I would have expected of an interrogation room. It was well lit and had carpet instead of a concrete or tile floor. There was a round table in the middle of the room with a half dozen chairs set around it. A single look was enough to show that this was a conference room rather than an interrogation room, which was probably why security had given this room to the MCO agents to use.

I took a chair and set it back from the table, so that like with my interview with Grace and Dana, I’d indicate that I was an observer and not a part of the interview. But before I actually sat down, I noticed the coffee pot in the corner and smiled. A moment later, I was getting coffee for everyone, which seemed to confuse the MCO agents even more. By the time I did sit down, it was obvious that I’d confused them and had broken the menacing mood they’d been planning.

When the interview finally began, the thin man told Grit, “I am Agent Jones and this is Agent Smith…”

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, giving my best confused look. “I’m sorry, but there must have been some kind of miscommunication. I was told Doug Harlin and Eduard McCormick would be the ones doing the interview…”

Both agents paled as I gave their real names and I could see their auras flush with annoyance and frustration. However, neither of them responded to my comments and instead went into questioning Grit on the things he’d witnessed. Grit told the story of how he was at the mall with his friends when a mutant who called himself The Walker appeared and began killing people. The thin agent…Harlin and the stocky one…McCormick, kept interrupting Grit and asking apparently unrelated questions.

“And after killing all those people,” McCormick asked, “he just happened to let you walk away…?”

Grit was shaking and in tears after telling his story. “He said that because I’m a mutant, I don’t deserve to die like the baselines…”

“I think that you were his accomplice,” Harlin said. “I think you were helping him in this attack…”

Grit looked absolutely horrified at that and blurted out, “I lost friends to that bastard… I want you to catch him…”

“We’re going to need to take you to our office for further questions,” Harlin said grimly.

“Only if you agree,” I told Grit, which seemed to surprise Harlin and McCormick.

“He doesn’t get a choice about being arrested,” Harlin pointed out with a look of contempt.

Instead of cowering back and being intimidated like he intended, I gave him my best grin and exclaimed, “Oh, I get it. You’re testing me. You guys are both really experience agents, so of course you both know you don’t have the authority to arrest anyone here at Whateley. I mean, Grit is only here because he agreed to talk with you, and he could get up and walk out any time he wanted…”

“What?” Grit asked, looking at me in surprise.

“And if you did try taking him out of here against his will,” I continued cheerfully, “that would constitute kidnapping and the Whateley security people would act accordingly.” Then I gave the agents my best innocent look as I asked, “Did I pass your test?”

“Of course you did,” Harlin responded with a forced smile, though his aura was flashing with anger and frustration that I’d called him on his BS. “Very astute of you. I’ll make sure to tell Agent Winslow.”

Since I’d reminded Grit that he had more control over this interview than he’d thought and that he could end it at any time, he became a bit more confident. Harlin and McCormick, on the other hand, were forced to be more calm and professional if they wanted it to continue.

I just sat back, flipping through a couple note cards that I’d brought with me, each making references to several MCO rules and regulations. Dad had sent me a file with some of these rules and regulations that he thought would be relevant to the interview, and part of my job here was to make sure Harlin and McCormick didn’t violate them. I felt like a hypocrite for quoting rules and regulations and knew that my Dad was probably laughing his butt off.

“I didn’t think we could do that,” I commented, again trying to act like I had no idea of what I was really doing. “I mean, doesn’t regulation thirty-four fifteen specify that…”

McCormick scowled at that and shook his head. “Yeah, you know your regulations… I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.”

The interview lasted for a couple hours, and by the time it was over, Grit had told Harlin and McCormick everything he knew about the incident…multiple times. Harlin and McCormick had gotten all the information they’d come for, but they were both frustrated by the way I’d blocked their methods. Of course, I suspected that what they’d really come here for had been a scapegoat they could take into custody, and I’d prevented that entirely.

“Thanks for letting me sit in on that,” I told the agents as they were leaving. “I really learned a lot.”

“It was nice to meet you, Absinthe,” McCormick told me with a forced smile. “I’ll let Agent Winslow know that you were really on top of your regulations.”

“You certainly are,” Harlin added, giving me a thoughtful look that made me think he’d finally realized my real purpose for being there.

Once Harlin and McCormick were gone, Grit stared at me for a moment and said, “Thanks…for all that.”

“I was just playing mediator,” I told him as I pulled my cell phone back out.

Grit snorted at that. “I’m not stupid. If it hadn’t been for you, those guys probably would have arrested me…”

“They might have tried,” I admitted. “But security wouldn’t have let them. I was just here to make sure everything went as smooth as possible.” Then I held up my phone and grinned. “And to make sure they didn’t try anything. I’ve got the whole interview recorded, and if they’d gone too far, the whole thing would have gone to Whateley security and MCO internal affairs.”

“Shit,” Grit exclaimed, staring at me in surprise. “And you really work for the MCO?” After I showed him my employee ID, he shook his head and muttered, “I never would have believed it… A mutant working for the MCO.”

After this, I started back to Poe, deciding that it was too late to catch any of my afternoon classes. The interview had lasted even longer than I’d expected, much to my annoyance. I’d actually been looking forward to catching my afternoon magic class.

I had nearly reached Poe when something suddenly slammed into me from behind, driving me face first into the ground. The impact with the ground hurt, but I was immediately hit again with what felt like punches to my kidneys. I screamed out, only to hear someone laughing.

“Gotcha now,” Switchblade exclaimed from above me.

“Bastard,” I spat out in pain, knowing that he’d hit me from behind with his enhanced speed, making sure to take me down before I’d even had a chance to see him coming.

With a thought, I sent my faerie to slam into him with a full dose of glamour while I struggled to get to my feet. He staggered and began swinging his fists as something only he could see, but before I could take advantage of this, I suddenly found myself being grabbed from behind by someone with a very strong grip. Even before looking, I already knew who it was.

“I’ve got you now, you cheating bitch,” Centurion exclaimed.

I was already feeling pretty sore from Switchblade’s attack, but I had plenty of training in how to deal with being grabbed from behind like this. I squirmed to get loose, elbowing him in the stomach and kicking him in the shin. Unfortunately, he was powered up and too tough for that to have much of an effect. But of course, this was why I had some stored spells, like the one that gave me a slippery field. I activated that and then slipped right out of his grip.

Before I could do more than move a step, I was suddenly hit with a blast of force and sent flying, courtesy of Slingshot. She came running up with a smirk on her face while I was trying to get off the ground. My entire body felt bruised from her force blast.

“I bet you didn’t think I’d find out about that curse you put on me,” Centurion snarled angrily. “People were laughing at me because of you…”

“He smelled like shit,” Slingshot exclaimed, looking as offended as if I’d done it to her. “It was disgusting…”

“You’re too big of a coward to fight me straight on,” Centurion stated as he came towards me. “You have to cheat…just like you always do.”

“And jumping me from behind with three people isn’t cowardly?” I asked sarcastically

“I don’t like beating on a girl,” Switchblade admitted, looking rather uncomfortable.

“I don’t usually like hitting girls either,” Centurion responded grimly. “But I’m making an exception for this bitch.”

With that, I unleashed my two remaining stored spells at once, creating a burst of light to blind them as well as a couple illusion copies of myself. And while they were distracted, I reached behind me to pull out Needle. But just as I drew Needle from its sheath, Slingshot fired another blast of kinetic energy in my direction, sending me flying.

“I’m all tapped out,” Slingshot told her friends.

Centurion rushed over and kicked me, apparently noticing that my illusions didn’t go flying from Slingshot’s blast the way I did. I screamed as my ribs cracked under the impact, and I tried to slash at him with Needle, only to have him grab my arm and twist. I felt the bones break with a massive surge of pain.

“I know all your tricks now,” Centurion bragged. “I’m not falling for them…”

I screamed in agony, terror and rage, unleashing all the raw magic I could. Dozens of faerie popped into existence around me…hundreds. Waves of glamour rolled off of me, washing over my three attackers. Slingshot immediately began screaming about bugs and then ran away as though being chased by her worst nightmare. However, Centurion just snarled and kicked me again, sending me flying. I lost consciousness before I even landed.

--------------------

The courtyard which served as a throne room was large and impressive, framed by trees that had branches which grew entwined together, forming intricate and artistic patterns. I stood in the middle of the courtyard, flanked by two armed guards who were to ensure I didn’t attempt to escape. However, my attention was on neither the impressive décor nor the guards, but instead on Queen Aunghadhail, who stood in front of her throne, glaring down at me.

Queen Aunghadhail was furious at me and her fury radiated with such power that the very weather trembled as a result. The sky, which was clearly visible above, was darkened with storm clouds. Lightning flashed and the thunder boomed. However, it was not the storm which held the source of my fear, but the queen who was causing it. At her full strength, Queen Aunghadhail was a force of nature which could not be escaped or defied. Her power slammed into me, past all my wards and shields, filling me with terror and making me want to simultaneously run away and drop to my knees to beg forgiveness. I did neither, using all the strength of my will to merely remain standing.

The small part of me that was aware of the fact that this was a dream remembered having this same dream before, though this was the part of the dream where I’d previously woken up in a cold sweat. This was the same dream that had sent me running away in terror the first time I met Nikki, the one still sent chills down my spine at the very mention of Aunghadhail’s name.

“You disobeyed my order,” Queen Aunghadhail said. She spoke in a cold tone at a conversational volume, but her voice easily carried across the entire throne room. “You interfered with the Artificer.”

I didn’t say a word in my defense as I braced myself against her presence, knowing that it would do no good. My thoughts turned to my crimes, to the way I’d tried helping Ashtea. For two moons, I’d come to see Ashtea every day, playing music or merely speaking to her. Once, I’d seen a spark of her soul, and since then, I’ve done everything within my power to awaken her soul…to draw it back out. I tried to make her laugh, to make her cry, and even to make her angry. None of those had elicited a response. In the end, I’d actually interfered in her work, hoping that if anything would draw forth her emotions, that would be it. And though my actions still didn’t have the desired effect upon Ashtea, they did serve to get me caught.

In my attempts to free Ashtea, I’d not only disobeyed my queen but had committed an act of treason in the process. And to my shame, even that had been for naught. Perhaps everyone else had been correct and I had merely imagined the spark of a soul. Perhaps the Artificer truly was nothing more than a construct.

Queen Aunghadhail gathered control of her emotions and power, halting the storm in the process. Her power stopped radiating out from her so forcefully, though I held no doubts that it was still there, just as strong as ever. With a mere gesture from the queen, my guards turned and left the throne room, as did nearly everyone else. The only one to remain besides the queen and myself was one of her advisors, an ancient Sidhe of great wisdom.

“You disobeyed the order of your queen,” Queen Aunghadhail stated, her voice no longer filled with fury but with sadness instead. “This is a crime that must be punished lest others think they can defy my authority as well. No one can be allowed to disobey my orders, not even you. I fear you have left me no choice but to banish you from Court of the West.”

My heart ached at the sentence, as though a dagger had been driven into it. I had known my punishment would not be light, but I had not suspected it would be so cruel.

“Your majesty,” the advisor said, pleading on my behalf. “Vauldrene has served the court well, and her skills are such that they may still be of use. With the growing threat we face, it might be wise to make use of every asset available. Might I suggest a partial banishment, an exile to our furthest territory where she be tasked to guard or borders?”

“Let it be so,” Queen Aunghadhail announced, revealing a sense of relief for those who knew her well enough to see the signs. Then she looked me in the eyes and sadly said, “I truly regret having to pass such a sentence upon the only child of my sister.”

I awoke to find myself in a hospital room, the same one that I’d briefly found myself in several times before, though I’d quickly returned to sleep each of the previous times. My mind was still caught up in the various dreams I’d had, some of which were THOSE dreams while others had been the normal variety. I was pretty sure that the dream with the polar bear chasing after me and trying to take my ice cream cone had never actually happened, not to me and not to the ancestor who’s memories I was sharing. However, there had been another dream where I’d been a Sidhe child…a little girl…

Though I’d been slipping in and out of various dreams, there was one dream that stuck with me with a stunning clarity. This was the last dream that I’d just awoken from, the one that had previously filled me with fear of Aunghadhail, but which had now answered some of my questions. After all the times I’d dreamed of my ancestor’s life, I still hadn’t even known her name, not until now.

“Vauldrene,” I whispered, feeling an even stronger connection to her than I had before, if that was even possible.

It had bothered me that I’d shared her appearance, her powers, and even her memories, but until now I hadn’t even known her name. I could have asked Aunghadhail, but that would have been quite an awkward conversation. Then again, any conversation with either Aunghadhail or Nikki was awkward, and I now knew why. Now I knew why she had seemed shaken by my appearance, though admittedly, not nearly as shaken as I had been by hers.

After awhile, I sat up in bed, only to wince in discomfort as I did so. My entire body felt pretty sore, though admittedly, not nearly as much as I would have expected. Obviously, someone had been at work with some healing spells. And considering that I’d been worked over by someone with enhanced strength, they’d probably been some pretty powerful ones. Most of my injuries appeared to have been dealt with, though I still had some healing left to do.

I settled back into the bed, then noticed that there were magical wards all around me. I stared at them with my mage sight, taking a moment to make out how the magic was formed. It was a shield to contain my glamour, and a pretty strong one at that. I could probably have blasted out with my glamour at full strength and someone standing right next to me wouldn’t have felt a thing.

Thinking about my glamour made me realize that I didn’t have a single faerie currently in existence, which said something about how long I’d been out of it. I frowned at that, having grown so used to having my faeries around that I almost felt naked without having at least one of them present. With that, I released a small surge of magic, just enough to make one of them appear. And though the wards around me served to contain my glamour, I still began sending my glamour to the faerie just out of habit. Strangely enough, I seemed to be generating a bit more of it than before.

Then my thoughts turned to how I’d ended up here. I grimaced, growing angry as I thought of the way Centurion and his friends had ambushed me. It reminded me far too much of the way things used to be, of the way bullies used to make my life a living hell. They used to jump me after school or even between classes, beating me up simply because they could, because they found some kind of twisted amusement or sense of power in being able to do that to another person.

I’d begun taking self-defense lessons from Doug so I could protect myself from those kinds of attacks, and I’d gotten into free running so I could avoid them entirely. Now, it almost felt like everything I’d learned in the last two years had been for nothing. I was right back where I’d started from.

“That bastard,” I whispered, feeling angry, frustrated, and humiliated.

I never felt the least bit ashamed when it came to running away from a fight, but I certainly did now. I felt vulnerable and helpless, things that I hadn’t really felt in a long time. I’d hated feeling like this back then and I hated it even more now. What was the point of being a mutant or having magic powers if I still ended up like this?

With a grimace, I promised, “He’s going to pay for this.”

I’d never been a big believer in revenge, thinking that it was usually kind of pointless. After all, why go looking for more trouble than what you already had? Admittedly, after Centurion had broken my arm, I’d taken it personally and had gone after him in revenge. And as if to prove my usual philosophy, that had merely provoked him to his more recent attack, or at least, that was what he’d used to rationalize it. But in spite of that, I fully intended to go after Centurion and his friends for this. If I let him get away with this, then I’d feel this weak and helpless again every time I saw him, and I absolutely refused to live like that.

Eventually, Dr. Tenent came into the room and smiled when she saw I was awake. “How are you feeling?” she asked me cautiously.

“I feel like I got run over by a bus,” I complained, though I gave her a weak smile as I did so.

“I’m not surprised,” she responded with a faint smile. “You were in pretty bad shape when you came in. We’ve healed you as much as possible, but your body was under a lot strain.”

“How bad was it?” I asked, half afraid of the answer.

Dr. Tenent was silent for several long seconds, then her tone turned almost clinical as she stated, “Three broken ribs, a compound fracture in your right arm, a cracked collar bone, as well as a concussion, severe contusions over half your body, and some internal bleeding.”

I stared at her for a moment as I absorbed that, then gulped. “Ouch… No wonder I feel like this…”

“You also entered burnout,” Dr. Tenent stated grimly, making me gulp again. Burnout could be even worse than all those injuries combined. Then as if hearing my thoughts, she admitted, “You came close to dying.”

I was shaken by that revelation but didn’t know what I could say to that. This wasn’t the first time that I’d been attacked by mutants and then ended up in the hospital with burnout afterwards, and I definitely remembered the last time. After all, the last time this had happened, I’d woken up as an elf girl. With that, I held up my hand, relieved to see that I hadn’t grown scales or anything else like that while I was out. As far as what I could tell, I hadn’t mutated any further.

“Between your glamour and the army of hobgoblins,” Dr. Tenent told me with a faint smile, “I was told that it was difficult even getting you here for treatment.” Then she began looking me over and gave me a quick examination before saying, “Most of your physical injuries have been healed, but your body still needs to finish recovering. We’ll keep you here for another couple days so we can make sure there are no complications from your burnout.”

I groaned at that, definitely not liking the idea of being stuck in the hospital for a couple days. If I was going to be stuck in bed, I’d prefer that it was at least in my own room where I had a bit more privacy, not to mention, where I had all my stuff at hand.

“Now then,” Dr. Tenent told me with an amused look. “You have some friends here who have been waiting rather impatiently to see you. I’ll let them in, but they can’t stay for very long. You need your rest.”

Dr. Tenent left the room and a minute later, four of my friends rushed in. I burst out laughing as there was a bottleneck in the doorway when they all tried coming in at once, resulting in them tripping over each other and then falling onto the floor. I absently wondered if Jinx’s presence might have caused the free entertainment, perhaps arranged subconsciously in order to improve my mood. Seconds later, Dana, Jinx, Lina, and Cindy were all standing around me.

“How are you feeling?” Dana asked with a worried look.

“I feel like someone with enhanced strength beat the crap out of me,” I answered with a wince. Then I joked, “And how are you?”

“Oh, not bad,” Dana responded with a faint grin. “I’m starting to get used to having a room to myself. If you’re not back soon, I’m gonna have to steal your closet space.”

“And she’ll do it too,” Jinx added with a faint smirk, sticking her tongue out at Dana. “For someone who was born a boy, she sure has a lot of clothes…”

“I can’t believe that fucker did this to you,” Lina said with an angry look.

Cindy nodded agreement, a glass sword forming in her hand. “I can’t believe they got away with it…”

“WHAT?” I gasped, only to wince in pain from the sudden movement.

“Everyone knows who jumped you,” Cindy told me with a scowl. “But they don’t have any evidence…”

Dana snarled, her golden eyes looking furious and a faint golden glow formed around her body for a second. “Apparently, Centurion and his buddies got something from one of the devisors that knocked out all the security cameras in the area.”

“But witnesses,” I started as my throat started to feel dry.

“A couple kids saw everything and one of them said he came over to try helping you,” Jinx said uncomfortably. She didn’t look me in the eyes as she said, “But they were hallucinating so badly, security said their testimony wasn’t reliable enough.”

“Well, one of them was yelling about the Martian invaders,” Cindy pointed out with a shake of her head. “No offense, but your glamour is some potent stuff.”

“So I’ve been told,” I responded wryly, thinking that Ripple and the rest of the Dylans must be extremely disappointed that they’d missed out on the free acid trip.

Jinx nodded at that, then said, “Anyway, Dana tried going after Centurion for you…but security broke it up.”

“Mrs. Carson gave me detention,” Dana muttered with a scowl. “In Hawthorne…for a week.” She shook her head at that, then added, “And on top of that, she gave me a lecture on being a vigilante. Jackie is never going to let me live that down…”

“Sorry to hear it,” I told her, though I actually felt pretty touched that she’d go after Centurion for me.

After the initial greetings were over, my friends filled me in on what had been happening over the last two days while I was out. Most of what they had to tell me dealt with my attack and how different people were reacting, though there were a few other things. I had to bite back a laugh when I heard about Jade’s latest prank, though I wondered how she could have possibly gotten a freeze ray and penguins into Beltane’s room.

“There is something else,” Dana said awkwardly, looking just a little uncomfortable.

“What?” I asked, letting out a loud yawn as I was getting tired again already. “Did Jade decide to target our room too?”

“No,” Dana said, giving me a wry smile. “But this isn’t good…at least not for you.”

“Stop beating around the damn bush,” Lina told her with a roll of her eyes. She looked at me and said, “Pretty much everyone on campus knows you work for the MCO.”

“What?” I gasped, only to wince in pain again.

“Someone spread it around,” Cindy told me, giving me an apologetic look.

“It was a guy called Grit,” Jinx added sympathetically. “I just happened to overhear him telling someone in the cafeteria.”

I closed my eyes at that, feeling hurt and betrayed after what I’d done for him. I’d protected him from Harlin and McCormick, and in return, he went and told everyone I worked for the MCO. And in a school full of mutants, that was bound to cause me trouble.

“I think he was actually trying to talk you up,” Jinx told me, as if that made a difference. “He was talking about how you pulled your MCO badge on these agents, then made them look like idiots by quoting their own regulations at them.”

Dana snorted at that. “This is Gwen here. I have a hard time believing she’d ever quote any regulations.”

“And I don’t have a badge,” I said defensively. “Only an employee ID.”

“You still have to tell us all about it,” Lina insisted.

Just then, Dr. Tenent said, “But I’m afraid that will have to wait for another time.” She stood at the doorway, gesturing for everyone to leave. “Visiting time is over for now. Absinthe needs her rest.”

There were a few quick goodbyes, then everyone started for the door. Dana, who was the last one to go, had barely made it out the door before I closed my eyes and quickly drifted back to sleep. This time, there were no dreams that I could remember.

After I woke up a couple hours later, I had a few more visitors stop by. Breakdown, Shawn, and Downpour came by to see if I was okay, though Downpour seemed pretty nervous about being there.

“I really don’t like hospitals,” Downpour told me quietly, almost as if admitting a secret. Then she added, “Too many bad memories.”

I nodded at that, then told her, “I really appreciate you coming anyway.” I looked at the others and added, “All of you.”

They didn’t stay long before leaving, though almost immediately, they were replaced with one more visitor. Nikki came in and stood by the door for a few seconds, looking hesitant about coming closer, almost as if afraid she’d make me nervous or uncomfortable. And considering how I’d behaved towards her in the past, those were some very legitimate concerns.

“Hey,” I greeted her with a weak smile. “Thanks for accepting my invitation.”

Nikki smiled at that and came closer, responding, “How could I refuse?”

“Pretty easily,” I admitted, feeling just a little guilty. “I haven’t exactly been the friendliest person to you.”

Nikki nodded at that, then told me, “True, but I can understand why.” She paused at that, then said, “You don’t seem as freaked out anymore, though.”

“I’m getting over it,” I responded with a faint shrug. “I just don’t know why you keep bothering with me after the way I kept freaking out.”

“We have a lot in common,” Nikki told me, giving me a wry smile. “One of the things I’ve had to deal with is the idea that since I’m Sidhe, I might very well outlive almost everyone I know and care about. Usually, it’s easier to just not think about that and to just enjoy what I have right now. But you’re in the same boat as me, and I thought it would be a shame if we weren’t even on speaking terms when we might both be around for quite some time.”

“Oh yeah,” I said with a sigh. “The Sidhe lifespan. I’ve been told I might live a long time, but I have a hard time really absorbing it. I’m having enough trouble just getting used to being a girl.”

“I know what you mean,” Nikki agreed.

We were silent for several long seconds before I cautiously said, “I’ve been having more dreams…about what happened back then.”

“Oh?” Nikki responded, giving me a curious look.

“I remembered the sentencing,” I said quietly, staring at the ceiling rather than looking at Nikki. “I remember when I…when Vauldrene was banished.” Then I paused, licking my lips and taking a deep breath before adding, “And I remember what Aunghadhail was to her before then.”

I didn’t need to look at Nikki to feel Aunghadhail emerging, but I found myself looking anyway. Aunghadhail looked at me through Nikki’s eyes and said, “That is a name I have not heard spoken in a very long time.” She frowned, looking rather sad. Then as if speaking more to herself than to me, she continued, “It had not been my intention to send her to her death. After a mere century, she was to be pardoned and returned from exile…”

For a moment, I just stared at Aunghadhail, remembering my dreams and knowing that I…that Vauldrene had no idea that her exile would ever end. She’d thought it was permanent, especially once she fled from that corrupted bear creature. I couldn’t help but feeling bad for the tragedy her life had become, especially since it had all happened because she’d tried doing the right thing.

“Tell me how she died,” Aunghadhail said, her tone being an odd mix of imperious command and almost pleading. “I knew of her death, but not how it occurred.”

Perhaps it was petty of me, but for a brief second, I actually thought about refusing. After all, Aunghadhail had been the one to exile Vauldrene and that had led to everything else that had gone wrong for her. That had led to her losing her home, her friend, her arm, and eventually even her life. However, it was obvious that in spite of her part in what had happened, Aunghadhail really did care.

“She and her scouts were ambushed,” I started quietly, feeling a cold knot in my stomach as I remembered the dreams. I knew intellectually that these events had happened to someone else, but there was still a part of me that felt like this was my own history. “By a creature…a...demon bear.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Aunghadhail as I told her the story of how the corrupted bear creature had killed all the pixies, including X’rxi, and how it had also torn off Vauldrene’s arm. I told her about how Vauldrene had survived the attack and escaped, only to spend years running until she found sanctuary with a tribe of humans. I even told her about how Vauldrene had lived in shame and loneliness, and eventually died while protecting her baby.

Aunghadhail didn’t say a thing while I was talking, and once I was finished, she just stood there with a sad but thoughtful look on her face. “Thank you,” she finally told me. “It is a relief to finally know her fate.”

With that, Aunghadhail receded as Nikki took over again. I watched the exchange in fascination, wondering what it was like to share your mind with another person like that, especially one so old and powerful. I had a hard enough time just dealing with the dreams I’d inherited from Vauldrene.

“It can’t be easy sharing those memories,” Nikki told me sympathetically.

I nodded at that, then admitted, “But I do get some good ones along with them. I mean, how many people get to have memories about dancing with pixies?”

Just then, one of the nurses came into the room and smiled. “I’m afraid visiting hours are over for now. Absinthe is going to need a little more rest.”

Though I wanted to argue with the nurse, I let out a loud yawn instead. I was definitely still feeling tired, and after Nikki said goodbye and left, I quickly went back to sleep. A short time later, I was firmly ensconced in a dream where I was a little Sidhe girl.

--------------------

I was sick and tired of sitting around in a hospital bed, which is what I’d been doing for the last twenty-four hours since I’d woken up here. And since I’d spent the previous two days here while unconscious, that was three days total, which was far too long for my tastes.

After letting out a sigh, I closed the spellbook that Dana had brought from our room. Between the books and my laptop, I’d been able to keep myself occupied, but I was still pretty bored. I was still a bit sore and tired, but at least I had recovered enough that I wanted to get up and go do something. Or at the very least, recover the rest of the way in my own room.

Of course, there had been a few other things to occupy my attention besides my reading and surfing on the internet. There had been the several exams from the doctors, not to mention the various visitors. This morning, Fixx, Porcelain, and Vulpine had all shown up, as well as some of the girls from Poe. However, there had also been one particularly noticeable absence from my visitor list. Collin. Dana told me that he’d been in the waiting room while I was unconscious, but since I woke up, there hadn’t been any sign of him. I didn’t know why I felt so hurt by that, especially when I should have expected it.

Fortunately, Dr. Tenent said that I was doing well enough that I could probably leave the hospital tomorrow morning. As far as I was concerned, it couldn’t happen soon enough. Even with my spellbooks, laptop, and visitors, I was still bored out of my mind.

Just then, there was a knocking on the door, which was wide open. Grace stood in the doorway, giving me a smile before coming in and looking me over.

“How are you doing?” She asked me, looking as though she couldn’t quite decide whether to be worried or relieved. “They told me were hurt pretty bad.”

“Just a half dozen broken bones or so,” I responded with a smile, trying to sound as though it wasn’t a big deal. “Plus a concussion, serious bruising, internal bleeding, and a small bout of burnout.”

Grace winced at that as she came in. She gave me a steady look and said, “Whateley security wouldn’t tell me who attacked you.”

I hesitated at that, knowing full well why they’d kept it quiet. This was Whateley business and they didn’t want the MCO involved. That they’d called Grace at all was simply due to the fact that I’d had her listed as my local contact in case of emergencies. Of course, they’d called Mom and Dad as well, but they’d been assured that there was no need for them to fly all the way out here. In fact, my situation had probably been downplayed in order to relieve their fears.

“Just a squabble with another student,” I told her grimly, deciding that I didn’t want her involved in this either. It might be rather satisfying to send the MCO after Centurion, Slingshot, and Switchblade, but that kind of thing was a HUGE no no here at Whateley. I might have a dislike of rules in general, but even I wouldn’t break that one. Then I gave her a grim smile and added, “I’ll deal with this one on my own.”

Grace stared at me for a moment before nodding. “Understood. You might be interested to know, we’ve started putting together some evidence against Whells. We don’t have anything to connect him directly to the attack on you, at least not yet, but it’s only a matter of time. As it is, we’ve already tied him to several leaks of information to Humanity First.”

“Good,” I responded.

“Oh, I also brought this,” she said, holding out an envelope. I opened it up and saw that it was a ‘get well’ card, signed by a few people from the field office. “Marlene wanted to send a cake that said ‘get well’, but she left it unattended in the office and a few people got into it…” Then Grace chuckled. “I did bring you a piece though…”

I laughed at that, then said, “Tell her thanks anyway.”

“How are you feeling?” Grace asked me, looking me over.

“A lot better,” I assured her. “They used some pretty strong healing spells on me, but it still put a lot of stress on my body. The doctor said I just need a lot of rest, but I’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow.” Then almost conspiratorially, I added, “But I was well enough to leave yesterday. I think they’re keeping me here a bit longer just so they can milk the insurance company.”

Grace chuckled at that. “With most hospitals, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“I just want to get out of here,” I admitted with a sigh. “It’s frustrating being stuck here like this…”

After this, Grace and I just made small talk for a bit, with her asking how Dana was doing while I pretended to be interested in a visit she had with her niece. It was polite conversation that didn’t have much real flavor, the kind you use to fill space when you wanted to talk but weren’t really sure what to talk about.

“Since Miles didn’t get a chance,” Grace finally told me, “I wanted to thank you for your help a couple days ago. Agents Harlin and McCormick sent me an email commending you for your dedication to following the rules.”

“Oh God,” I groaned at that. “Dad must be loving that…”

Grace just started to laugh. “He did find it rather funny. You must really have annoyed those two.”

“At least that part was fun,” I admitted with a chuckle

You did a good job,” Grace assured me. “Mrs. Carson even called to compliment you on how well you smoothed things over.”

“Those guys would have run right over Grit,” I said with a shake of my head. “I was glad I could make them behave.”

“You know,” Grace told me with an amused look. “I think you and your father are a lot more alike than either of you would like to admit.”

“No way,” I protested, thinking about how Dad loved having rules for everything. I doubted he could even function unless he had some rules to follow. “We aren’t anything alike.”

Grace just smiled at that, not actually saying anything. We talked for a little longer, then her cell phone began to ring. After she answered the call, she apologized to me and then hurried off to take care of business.

Once Grace was gone, I turned my attention back to the spellbook I’d been reading. This wasn’t the one full of illusion spells, which I’d already half memorized. This one the one that dealt with practical theory and had a lot of low level basic spells. I was hoping to expand my repertoire so that I’d be able to do a few more things besides just illusions.

I hadn’t been reading for very long when I suddenly realized that I wasn’t alone. Someone was standing at the doorway watching me. And when I looked up, I was startled to see that it was Collin. He looked like he’d been about to turn and walk away until my eyes settled on him.

“Hey,” I greeted him awkwardly.

Collin hesitated a moment and then came into the room. He gave me a weak smile and joked, “I guess I’ve got you cornered so you can’t run away.”

“It certainly looks that way,” I responded with a faint smile of my own.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, looking as though he probably couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“About how you’d expect,” I told him with a shrug. Then I joked, “Besides, it’s not like this is the first time I’ve gone through this.”

Collin gave me a curious look at that, then half joked, “So, you’ve been put into the hospital by mutants before…?”

“More or less,” I responded with a sigh. When he stared at me with a questioning look so I let out a sigh, deciding that he deserved to know. “I was walking home from school when I got jumped by Slippery, Vindigo, and Spot…”

“Oh shit,” Collin exclaimed, staring at me in horror. “I remember them saying that they went after Adam…you…but that you got away.”

I just nodded at that, scowling as I did so. “They thought they’d send a message to my Dad by killing me.” Collin winced at that, obviously remembering that he used to bully me because my Dad was with the MCO as well. “But I…ran away. Eventually, they caught up and surrounded me…” I gave him a wry smile as I continued, “But I was already starting to manifest, not that I knew it at the time. I just knew that people around me were getting sick and hallucinating…and that I kept seeing a green faerie following me around. When they caught me, I lashed out. Suddenly, there were faeries everywhere and all three of them were tripping out. I took advantage of the distraction to get away.”

“That must have been funny to see,” Collin commented with a chuckle.

I nodded at that, then said, “Yeah, but it caused me to go into burnout.”

Collin gave me another look of sympathy, then asked, “What happened next?”

“I woke up in the hospital,” I answered quietly, not able to look at him as I added, “Looking like this.”

Collin was silent for several long seconds before starting, “Adam…”

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped at him. “I’m not Adam anymore. I’m Gwen.”

Collin nodded at that, scowling faintly as he did so. He finally asked, “Why did you lie to me?”

“I didn’t lie to you,” I answered awkwardly. “I told you I’m Gwen…and I am. Sure, I used to be someone else, but this is who I am now.”

“And why didn’t you tell me that?” he repeated, looking a little upset. “Why did you let me think you were Adam’s sister?”

I stared at Collin for several seconds before pointing out, “Because at first, we weren’t exactly friends.” He winced at that, looking vaguely guilty again. “And the first time I saw you after I changed, you were buddies with the people who’d tried to kill me.”

“I’m sorry,” Collin started to say but I shrugged it off.

“I told you already,” I said, interrupting him. “I never blamed you for that. I mean, having you mess with me was annoying, but I kind of thought of it like a game too. I mean, if I’d really wanted to stop you for good, I could just have told my Dad that a dangerous mutant was chasing me…” Collin paled at that as he suddenly realized the danger of trying to bully someone whose Dad was with the MCO. I probably could have had him arrested in nothing flat, if I’d actually wanted to do something like that. “And when push came to shove, you saved me from Slippery.”

“But you didn’t trust me,” Collin said quietly, giving me a wry smile. “And you obviously had good reason.”

“By the time I did trust you,” I told him with a sigh, “you just thought of me as Gwen. We’d become friends and I didn’t want to ruin that. And I guess…I was just really embarrassed. This isn’t exactly easy to get used to…”

“I’d imagine not,” Collin admitted wryly. Then he stared at me with an odd expression before cautiously asking, “But when we kissed…”

“I kissed you because I wanted to,” I admitted, knowing that I had to be blushing brightly. Then I got a bit defensive and reminded him, “I’m a girl…”

Collin’s eyes went wide at that. “Are you saying you were gay?”

“No,” I answered him, blushing even more if that was possible. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him as I quietly said, “I used to like girls. Now I prefer boys.”

“Wow,” Collin said, looking a little surprised. “That’s…sort of weird.”

“Try it from my perspective,” I responded with a snort. Then I sighed and told him, “I wasn’t trying to mess with you or anything. I came to Whateley so I could learn how to be…me. I just wanted to focus on who I am now, not on who I used to be.”

“I think I get it,” he told me with a faint smile. “I think that if that happened to me, I wouldn’t want everyone to know either.”

“It is pretty embarrassing,” I admitted wryly.

Collin nodded in understanding, then abruptly asked, “Dana knows…doesn’t she?”

I hesitated a moment before answering. “Yeah, she kind of figured it out. I mean, we’re roommates so she saw all the clues, what with all the girl things I don’t know. And when I had my first monthly visitor and freaked out…”

I could see Collin recoiling a bit at the very idea, which would hopefully turn him away from the topic. However, instead of dropping the subject like I’d hoped, he said, “So she knows your secret and you know hers.”

“Her secret?” I asked in surprise, suddenly feeling very worried.

“That she’s a lesbian,” Collin said with a smug look. “She and Jinx are a thing. It’s pretty obvious from their body language.”

“Oh,” I responded, relieved that he’d missed her real secret, though I was still a bit worried that he’d come so close.

“Come to think of it,” Collin continued with a thoughtful look. “I think Peacock and Cinderella might have a thing going on too…”

I laughed at that, though it probably didn’t sound quite as genuine as I would have liked. “You’re obsessed,” I teased him. “You’re seeing lesbians everywhere…”

Collin chuckled at that, then admitted, “You might be right. But I’ve seen the way they look at each other. And then there’s that boy from Poe in Powers Theory… He’s so flamboyantly gay there isn’t any hiding it. And Phase… I’ve heard people say that in spite of what she looks like, that she’s really a guy with some weird GSD…”

My heart nearly jumped into my throat as Collin began to pick apart Poe’s secret. It was one thing for him to know about me, but quite another for him to learn about everyone else.

“You’ve heard about Reach and Jobe,” I abruptly said, desperately trying to distract him. “They both used to be guys until they both had lab accidents last year…unrelated ones at that. If there was some kind of conspiracy to keep people with gender issues all in one cottage, don’t you think they’d be in Poe too?”

“Good point,” Collin admitted with a chuckle.

“And besides,” I continued, feeling a bit relieved. “Have you seen Lancer? That boy likes girls WAY too much to ever be gay…”

Collin grinned at that and responded, “Okay. But I still think there are a lot of kids in Poe who liked to play with their own team.”

I gave an exaggerated roll of my eyes at that and said, “I think that says more for your own imagination than it does them. You know, the way you and Mike used to hang out together all the time…”

After I managed to steer Collin away from Poe’s secret, we just talked and joked around the way we had before. It was nice, almost as though we’d never had our argument. However, he obviously hadn’t forgotten about it entirely.

“I’m glad we can still be friends,” Collin told me, just a minute after saying he would have to leave. He stared at the floor awkwardly, unable to meet my eyes. “But I’m not sure I’m comfortable with… I mean… Now that I know you used to be a boy…”

“I understand,” I said, my voice catching in my throat.

“I guess I’ll see you later,” Collin told me, just a little awkwardly before he left.

After Collin had gone, I just remained where I was in my hospital bed, feeling shaken by the encounter. On one hand, I was happy that we were talking again…that we were still friends. But on the other hand…his final words hurt. I should have known that he wouldn’t be interested in me now that I knew who I used to be, but it still hurt anyway. Without a word, I rolled over and began crying into my pillow.

--------------------

I was incredibly relieved to finally walk out of Dunn Hall, having been given a clean bill of health by the doctors. It was the morning of a school day and classes were already in session, but instead of rushing to arrive in the middle of Powers Theory, I went back to Poe instead. Before I dealt with classes, I wanted to at least get a nice shower and a chance to change into my school uniform.

When I arrived back at Poe, Mrs. Horton greeted me with a concerned look, asking, “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” I told her honestly. My muscles ached a little, as if I’d gotten in a really intense workout yesterday, but all the pain was gone. I was still a bit tired, but that might have been because I’d spent the last four days in bed. “The doctors just told me not to overdo it for a couple more days.”

“You’d better make sure you don’t,” she told me, giving me a look that suggested she’d be watching me to make sure I didn’t.

I went to my room, only to find that Dana had left it a bit of a mess, leaving some dirty clothes on the floor and a bra hung over my chair. I rolled my eyes at that, thankful that I hadn’t been away longer or I would have come back to a dump. As it was, I suspected that before long, I would have had to fumigate the place.

“What a slob,” I muttered, gently kicking the clothes she’d left on the floor until they were all piled up next to her bed. “I wonder how Jinx dealt with this for so long…” Then I paused, suddenly wondering if Dana being my roommate might have been one of those situations that had been manipulated by Jinx’s powers. With the way her powers worked, it could be hard to tell.

After taking my shower and getting dressed in my school uniform, I settled down in my room to practice a few spells until it was time for lunch. I was more than tired of hospital food and was hungry enough that I suspected I’d be able to give Dana a run for her money. So when lunch finally arrived, I made sure to reach Crystal Hall before classes ended so that I’d be able to beat the rush.

I was already sitting down and eating at my usual table when my friends started to arrive. Cindy was the first to take a seat, saying, “I’m glad to see you’re back on your feet.” She formed a glass knife in her hand and began cutting her hamburger in half, absently commenting, “You know, a few of us poesie freshmen are taking bets on how you’re going to deal with Centurion…”

“I’m not even sure she will,” Lina commented as she took a seat beside Cindy. She gave me a wry look before telling her new girlfriend, “She still hasn’t retaliated against Beltane for that prank she played on us…”

“Who says I haven’t?” I responded with my best innocent expression, which earned me a couple of curious looks.

It was Lina’s eyes that went wide in realization first. “Shit,” she exclaimed, staring at me in disbelief. “You’re the one who started that thing between Jade and Beltane…”

“Shhh,” I shushed her, glancing around to make sure we weren’t overheard. “I can neither confirm nor deny that I had anything to do with that.”

Lina and Cindy looked at each other and began snickering. “I’ve seen what she can do,” Lina told Cindy with a smirk. “Centurion and his asshole buddies are in deep shit.”

“Let us know if we can help,” Cindy told me with a grim look.

“Ditto,” Dana announced as she and Jinx joined us as well. She gave me a serious look and added, “And I mean it. When you go after Centurion, I want to help.”

“Thanks,” I told them, appreciating the offer. “I’m still not sure what I’m going to do yet, but I’m not going to just let this go.”

Jinx nodded at that, then said, “Just be careful. Security will probably be watching you in case you do go after him.”

Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain all sat down as well and listened to the conversation for a few minutes before Collin pointed out, “Gwen isn’t the kind to go after him directly, not unless cornered. She’s more likely to be sneaky about it.”

“You will need to deal with him in a manner than cannot be attributed to you,” Porcelain pointed out thoughtfully. “That requires discretion and careful planning.”

“I think she has that kind of thing covered,” Lina pointed out before she and Cindy looked at each other and began snickering again.

We only talked about my grudge against Centurion for another couple minutes, then we changed the topic in case someone happened to be listening in. After all, I’d spied on other people with my faeries often enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else was doing it to me. However, that did make me realize that I was going to have to take precautions against that kind of thing in the future. I wondered if there was some kind of spell I could use that could ward me…or even our whole table from being listened in on that way.

Dana finished the large cup of coffee she’d brought with her to the table and let out a sigh. “You have no idea how much I miss having a good espresso stand… I mean, having my own machine is great, but there’s only so much I can do…”

“Just yesterday,” Jinx told us, giving Dana a smug look. “I caught her looking through the full class registry, trying to see if Whateley offered any barista classes…”

“Well?” I teased Dana. “Do they?”

Dana hesitated a moment before shaking her head. “No, but Chef Marcel offers a cooking class every winter semester, and he told me that he teaches gourmet coffee preparation as one of the subjects.”

“At least you’ll have a career lined up after you graduate,” Collin joked.

Jinx just laughed at that, then said, “And here I thought she was gonna be a super villain…”

“No way,” Dana responded with a look of annoyance. “Some of my best friends are villains, but I don’t exactly want to go into that line of work.” Then she grinned and asked, “Have you guys tried any of that devisor coffee? It tastes like crap but damn does it have a kick…”

I chuckled at that, knowing that it really did have to have a pretty strong kick for Dana to feel it. Since she was a regenerator, she’d built up a tolerance to caffeine and it no longer had any effect on her at all. And as she’d complained while having her period, her powers also made pain medications useless.

When we were done eating, Cindy and Lina hurried off together while Porcelain left on her own. Those of us who remained began gathering up our trays to leave as well, but as we were doing this, three girls walked past, with two of them glaring right at me with looks of severe disgust on their faces.

“That’s her,” one of the girls whispered to the others as they walked past. “She’s that spy for the MCO…”

I froze at that, listening in as the second girl added, “I hear Centurion put her in the hospital…”

Then the third girl responded, “Good for him.”

I winced at those words, growing angry. Suddenly, Jinx had a comforting arm around my shoulder and was saying, “It’s okay…”

“No it isn’t,” Dana stated, glaring at those girls with an angry look on her face.

“Not in the least,” Collin agreed with an angry expression of his own.

Fixx shook his head, then said, “It ain’t right that Centurion and his buddies not only got away with doing that, but that these idiots are cheering him on…” He looked at me and said, “I mean, there are students here who openly work for the Syndicate, who actually attacked the school last year, and no one seems to have a problem with them.”

“Yeah, but the Syndicate is known for being a big employer for mutants,” Jinx pointed out grimly. “And just about everyone has had a bad encounter with the MCO, or knows someone who has.” She gave me a sympathetic look and said, “It certainly isn’t fair, but they’re using you as the scapegoat.”

“I still can’t believe Centurion and his friends are getting away with this,” I complained bitterly.

“All the security cameras were knocked out,” Dana reminded me with a scowl. “And the witnesses were basically tripping out on your glamour… I mean, everyone knows, but no one can prove anything…”

I shook my head, cursing the fact that my own powers were playing a part in letting them get away with this. If it hadn’t been for my glamour being out of control, at least the witnesses would be credible enough to take a statement from and security might have been able to do something. As it was, one security guy came to my hospital room to take my statement, but since it was my word against theirs…and I had a concussion, there wasn’t much they could do.

“If I didn’t know better,” I muttered, “I’d think security was just letting them get away with this because I work for the MCO.”

“No, I’ve seen other people get away with that kind of thing,” Jinx said, not looking happy about it. “I think it’s because half the Whateley donors are villains and they don’t want the school to expel all their future recruits.”

“That would explain a few things,” Collin said with a sigh.

After this, Jinx and Fixx left while Dana, Collin and I continued to martial arts together. It was nice having Collin as a friend again, even if he wasn’t comfortable with being anything more than that. Of course, I wasn’t fully comfortable with that either, so I should be kind of happy to have this pressure removed. However, I wasn’t happy about it at all.

In martial arts, Centurion smirked as soon as he saw me, but he made no moves in my direction. I grimaced, fighting back the very strong temptation to hit him with everything I had. But as much as I wanted to hurt him, this wasn’t the time or place. However, if I was asked to spar against him today, I wasn’t going to hold back anything at all. But Ito and Tolman seemed to realize the situation because they kept the two of us well separated during the class.

I was still a bit weak and hadn’t fully recovered, so instead of having me spar against someone else, Ito had me practice forms. It was actually a relief since it gave me something to focus on and kept me too distracted to dwell on the fact that Centurion was right on the other side of the room. When class was over, I let out a sigh of relief, took a shower and changed, then hurried to my next class as quickly as I could.

The last couple classes of the day were strange, with some of my classmates being sympathetic about the attack and asking me if I was all right, while others gave me dirty glares, including some who I had thought of as friends. There were definitely mixed reactions in how I was welcomed back by the other students, and though no one said anything to my face, I overheard whispers of ‘MCO spy’ several times.

When the last class ended for the day, I started out of the classroom, only to get shoved from behind. I hit the ground face first and heard several students laughing. “Watch it,” I snapped in annoyance as I got back to my feet.

“Or what?” one boy exclaimed with a sneer. “You’re going to report me to the MCO?”

“I don’t need to,” I responded with a snort. “They already know who you are.”

Even as the words left my mouth, I knew that I really shouldn’t have said them. But I was in a bad mood and had snapped out with the first thing I could think of. His eyes went wide and he hurried away. I just shook my head and started for Poe as quickly as I could.

As soon as I was back in my room, I changed out of my uniform and into something a little more comfortable. I put on some jeans and an old Seahawks jersey, the only piece of clothing I’d brought to Whateley that I’d owned back when I’d been a guy.

I was angry and frustrated and needed a way to cut loose, so I took Needle and went down to the basement. I was just thankful that Centurion and his friends hadn’t grabbed Needle after they’d taken me out. Then again, if they had, having Needle in their possession would have given security enough physical evidence to do something about them.

I activated the magical switch that turned Needle into a spear, then began practicing the spear forms that Ito had taught me. I did that for awhile, then began to practice some of the other spear moves that I remembered using from my dreams.

After I’d been practicing for about half an hour, I suddenly heard someone clapping. I snapped around and saw Toni watching me with a grin. “Nice toy,” she exclaimed cheerfully.

“Yeah,” I agreed with a grin. Caitlin had definitely created something awesome when she’d made Needle.

“Can I see it for a moment?” Toni asked.

I hesitated a moment, then handed Needle over to her. She immediately spun Needle around in her hands like it was some kind of baton, doing it with an ease that suggested she was an expert in using weapons like that. However, this only lasted for a couple seconds before Needle returned to its normal dagger size. Toni grinned and handed it back to me.

“Do you want to spar?” she asked me cheerfully. “I can show you some moves.”

“Sure,” I responded, trying not to show how eager I was for that. After all, Toni was some kind of super martial artist who was supposedly an expert with just about any weapon.

Toni went to a corner of the basement where there were some weapons stored, apparently by her. She took out a bo staff and spun it in her hands the same way she’d done Needle.

“You can use a lot of the same moves as you would with one of these,” she told me casually.

With that, Toni began showing off with her bo staff, swinging it around with an unbelievable ease that made me think that she must have been practicing with one for years. Once she was done showing off, she began showing me a couple easy moves, slowing down enough so that I could make out what she was doing.

Toni gave me lessons for awhile, then we moved to sparring. She obviously outclassed me a great deal, but she went pretty easy on me so I could at least pretend that I could keep up. She seemed to be having fun as well, which made it a bit more interesting for me.

I got tired a lot faster than I would have liked, which was a clear reminder that I still had a bit more recovering to do. Still, by the time we stopped, I was happy at having learned a few new tricks.

“I can’t wait to use that in class,” I said, wondering if I could catch Rapier by surprise with that last move she’d shown me. “Thanks for showing me.”

“No problem,” Toni told me with a grin before she hurried off.

I returned to my floor and was about to go back to my room when I heard a commotion from the common room. Out of curiosity, I went to see what was going on, only to find Breakdown and Hardwyrd going at it.

“I can’t believe you destroyed my quantum discombobulator,” Hardwyrd exclaimed in obvious anger. “Do you have any idea how long it to build that thing?”

“Then you shouldn’t have left it lying around,” Breakdown responded, not looking the least bit guilty. “I just wanted to see how it worked…”

“But you RUINED it,” Hardwyrd yelled at her.

Breakdown rolled her eyes in an exaggerated manner, then said, “Nonsense. I can put it back together…I think.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Phase said as she came into the room and watched the two. “Breakdown, I was hoping to have a word with you about that project we were working on.”

“I’ve got the notes in my room,” Breakdown told her. Then she looked at Hardwyrd and told him, “Look, I’ll try putting your device back together. If I can’t, you can yell at me then.”

“You’d better,” Hardwyrd told her with an angry look. “You know I can never build the same thing again, so if you can’t fix it, it’s gone for good.”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Breakdown told Phase before hurrying down the hall. Hardwyrd shook his head, then left as well, muttering some profanities under his breath.

Suddenly, Iron Rose came charging into the common room, yelling, “There you are, you green haired bitch…”

“What?” I asked, jumping as she transformed into her metal form and continued coming towards me.

“You’re a damn MCO spy,” she accused me angrily.

Phase suddenly stepped between us and told Rose, “Calm down, Rose.”

“I’m not a spy,” I protested angrily, sick and tired of hearing people accuse me of that.

“Bullshit,” Rose said, not changing out of her armored form but not attacking me either.

“Yeah, I work for the MCO,” I admitted, looking her right in the eyes. “They’re paying for my tuition, and in exchange, I work part time as an intern.” I snarled as I spat out, “My job is to pour coffee for those guys…not spy for them.”

“Bullshit,” Rose repeated.

“It’s true,” I insisted, glaring at the metal skinned girl.

Phase looked at Rose and told her, “I think she’s telling the truth. A couple MCO agents came to the school to interview a boy, and she kept them from trying to arrest him. If you want to know what happened, perhaps you should ask Grit instead of listening to rumors.”

Rose powered down at that, then she snorted before turning and walking away. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that Phase had been able to stop things from turning violent. I’d already had one rough encounter with Rose and didn’t want to have another.

Once Rose was gone, Phase gave me a sympathetic look and said, “It isn’t easy going to a mutant school when everyone assumes you’re some kind of mutant hater.”

I nodded at that, realizing that she must have a pretty good idea of what that was like. “I’d imagine that you get a lot of that with a last name like Goodkind,” I told her wryly. “Even if you aren’t one of THOSE Goodkinds.”

Phase nodded at that and smirked faintly as she responded, “It’s even worse than that. I actually AM one of THOSE Goodkinds.” At my look of surprise, she added, “Needless to say, most of my family hasn’t taken well to my being a mutant.”

“Wow,” I said, not sure what I could possibly say to that.

“I’ve got them,” Breakdown exclaimed as she rushed back into the room, waving a stack of papers. “I’ve got my notes…”

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Phase told her. Then she turned back to me. “There are a lot of idiots who are willing to believe the worst, but don’t let them get to you. Not everyone believes the rumors.”

“Thanks,” I told her.

Phase went over to talk with Breakdown about their project, whatever it was. Then she paused to look at some of my faeries before commenting, “I see that you’re starting to vary their coloring.”

“What?” I asked, looking at my faeries.

My faeries looked the same as always, but then I noticed two of them that didn’t match the others. One of them had green hair that was a shade or two lighter than the others, and she had brown skin that was the color of tree bark. The other faerie that didn’t match had the skin color of a caucasian human and violet colored hair.

“Pixies,” I said in surprise, recognizing them as two of the pixies I’d encountered in the grove.

The pixie with the violet hair giggled mischieviously and then stuck her tongue out at me before both of them flew off. I just chuckled at that, wondering how long the two of them had been following me around without my even noticing it.

Between Phase’s pep talk and the pixies, I was in a much better mood than I had been. With that, I went to go see if I could find my roommate so we could go to dinner.

--------------------

It had been a long and tiring day, and unfortunately, it wasn’t over yet. Ever since I’d gotten out of the hospital a couple days ago, I’ve had to deal with the fact that a lot of other students now had a grudge against me because of my connection to the MCO. Most of the time, they were satisfied with giving me the cold shoulder or a few verbal insults. There had even been a few incidents involving me getting pushed and tripped, which were annoying but not too bad. And then there were those who actually wanted to attack me.

“Not again,” I muttered with a sigh.

I had a dozen faeries currently spread out overhead, acting as scouts so that I could look for incoming threats. Just a few seconds ago, I noticed a few students had positioned themselves ahead of me in a way that suggested that this was an ambush. Someone had tried this once yesterday as well, but I’d also seen that one in plenty of time to avoid it.

“All I want to do is get to dinner,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

With a sigh, I slipped off to the side where my would be ambushers wouldn’t see me, then I created a quick illusion that looked just like me. Once that was done, I sent that illusion off into their trap while I cast another illusion on myself, making me look like some other student entirely. A minute later, three girls began to surround the illusion while I just calmly walked right past. My illusions didn’t last more than a few minutes, but it was more than enough time for me to avoid the situation.

I made it the rest of the way to Crystal Hall without a problem, but then I saw that Peeper and Greasy had Vulpine cornered. She seemed so shaken by the camera and microphone they were sticking in her face that she didn’t appear to even think about walking away.

“So Peeper,” I asked cheerfully. “What’s your favorite color of bikini?”

Peeper took one look at me and paled a little before he hurried away, obviously not wanting another repeat of what happened the last time he’d harassed me. Vulpine let out a visible sigh of relief, then told me, “Thanks. But how’d you get him to leave like that?”

“Peeper and I have an understanding,” I told her with an evil grin. “He leaves me alone and I don’t humiliate him in front of the entire cafeteria.”

Vulpine laughed at that, then gave me a grin. “I’m going to learn how you do that…”

“He’s obviously afraid Absinthe is going to turn him in to the MCO,” one boy who was standing nearby exclaimed. He gave me a cold glare, adding, “Damn traitor to your own kind…”

I grimaced at that, more than annoyed with that kind of talk. I’d been dealing with it for the last couple days, usually from people who didn’t even know me. I was getting very tempted to start hitting people with a good dose of glamour.

But before I could say anything, another boy snarled, “Shut your pie hole, asshole.”

The newcomer was tall and skinny, almost to the point of being gaunt. Between that, his very pale skin and red eyes, he looked just a little scary. The boy who’d been calling me a traitor gulped visibly and took a nervous step back.

“You shouldn’t judge people based off gossip and rumors,” the gaunt boy said, glaring at the other boy with his glowing red eyes. “Especially when you don’t have any fucking idea what you’re talking about.” The other boy immediately hurried off, much to my relief.

“Thanks,” I told the gaunt and scary looking boy who’d come to my defense.

“No problem,” he responded, holding out a hand which had clawed fingers. I only hesitated a moment before I reached out and shook his hand. “I’m Boojum,” he told me with a grin, which somehow didn’t look intimidating in spite of his mouth full of sharp teeth. “Grit is my roommate and he told me all about what you did for him. Thanks a lot. If it hadn’t been for you…”

“Then security would have stopped the MCO from doing anything anyway,” I told him with a sigh. “I was just there to smooth things over and make sure that they didn’t even try anything.”

Boojum gave me a skeptical look, then said, “Well, Grit certainly appreciates you being there on his side…”

I nodded at that, then let out a sigh. “Yeah, but I wish he hadn’t told everyone…”

Boojum nodded in understanding. “He didn’t mean to cause you any trouble, but unfortunately, things got out of hand people only hear what they want to.”

A moment later, Boojum waved to one of his friends, then hurried off to join them. Vulpine gave me a curious look, then said, “Okay, you’re going to have to tell me what really happened. I mean, I keep hearing rumors about how you interrogated some kid, but that doesn’t sound like you. And then what he said…”

“Not much to say really,” I told her with a shrug. “A couple agents from the MCO wanted to come and talk to a witness, so Mrs. Carson and my Dad asked me to sit in on the meeting and make sure they didn’t get carried away.”

“What does your Dad have to do with it?” Vulpine asked me curiously.

“He’s with the MCO,” I told her with a sigh. Now that everyone knew I was working for the MCO, there was no reason to keep that a secret. “He’s in their internal affairs division and didn’t trust those guys. He was afraid they might try something with Grit, so he called the school to give them a warning.”

“Wow,” Vulpine said, looking at me in surprise. “I didn’t think the MCO even had an internal affairs… I mean, with everything you hear about them…”

“Which is why they REALLY need one,” I told her. “In fact, that’s the whole reason I’m with them. I’m part of a program where they’re trying to recruit more mutants in order to help fix those problems. Mostly they just pay my tuition and I occasionally go in to pour coffee, but it gives people in the office a chance to meet a real mutant and see that I’m not some kind of scary monster.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Vulpine told me. We talked about this for another minute before she walked away with a thoughtful look on her face.

A short time later, I sat down at my normal table, finding that due to my multiple delays, I was the last one to arrive. Dana had the day off from working in the kitchens and had her usual pile of food sitting in front of her. Jinx, Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain were already sitting and eating as well, though their plates were far more empty than Dana’s. Lina and Cindy had already warned me ahead of time that they were doing a romantic dinner for two off on their own.

“There she is,” Dana exclaimed with a grin. “I was afraid you’d gotten lost.”

“No, I just had to beat my way through my hoard of admirers,” I responded with a wry smile.

Fixx nodded to me and said, “Hey, glad you made it.” He had several forks and spoons in front of him as well as a few paperclips and rubber bands. At the moment, he seemed more intent on playing with his utensils than he did on actually eating.

“No one jumped you again, did they?” Jinx asked with a worried look. Collin grimaced at that, suddenly looking angry.

“No,” I responded with a shake of my head. “At least not successfully.”

“Since Centurion and his friends got away with their attack,” Porcelain said in her muffled tone, “it sends the message that others may attack you without consequence as well.”

Dana snarled and slammed her fist onto the table. A normal table would have cracked or dented under the force of her enhanced strength, but the tables in Crystal Hall were specially made to handle the kind of damage that many students could cause merely by accident.

“We’ve got to send a message,” Dana exclaimed. “We have to make it clear that no one gets away with attacking us…”

“But how do we do that without getting in trouble?” Collin asked thoughtfully. “No offense Gwen, but I’d rather not get expelled.”

“None taken,” I responded, watching Collin for several long seconds and blushing as I did so. I really wanted to kiss him, but we hadn’t done any of that since he’d found out who I really was. We might be friends again, but things were still rather awkward. “I have been playing around with some ideas of what to do…”

“And training,” Dana pointed out. “I mean, I’ve seen you practicing with your switchbade spear…” Then she grinned to Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain and explained, “That Chaka girl from Team Kimba has been giving her a few lessons.”

“And wasn’t Fey trying to teach you a spell?” Jinx asked.

I let out a sigh at that, thinking that even though we were on speaking terms, it was still a bit weird talking to Nikki. After all, the history between the voice in her head and the one in mine was pretty complicated. And then there was the fact that I’d run away screaming the first time I’d met her.

“Nikki was trying to teach me a couple easy spells,” I said wryly. “With mixed results.”

“What do you mean?” Collin asked.

I hesitated a moment, then admitted, “When it comes to illusion magic, I can do those spells really easily. But when it comes to a lot of other things, my spells kind of…twist. Nikki was trying to teach me how to make a fireball so I’d have an offensive spell…but they literally blow up in my face instead.” I shook my head at that. “It’s frustrating.”

“Rough,” Fixx told me with a sympathetic look. Then he grinned and added, “But you’re awesome with that illusion stuff. And I bet that if you stick with it, you’ll get those other spells too.”

“Maybe,” I responded with a shrug. “I mean, illusion magic is almost like second nature to me, so maybe I’m just spoiled with those spells being easy.”

“I remember you were having difficulty with the force field too,” Collin said thoughtfully.

I groaned at that. “And I still can’t get it.”

“No,” Collin agreed. “But you were able to modify it so it did work for you…”

I chuckled as I remembered the slippery field spell, which I actually had stored in one of my faeries. It was one that I’d found quite useful when it came to martial arts class. It was hard for other people to fight me when they couldn’t get a good grip, which was one of the things that had made Slippery so difficult to deal with.

“Maybe you can modify some of these other spells too,” Collin suggested.

I nodded at that, wondering what I could do in order to make a fireball actually work for me. As it was, every time I tried casting one, it was more of a threat to me than to whomever I was using it against. It seemed that the spells I had the most difficulty with were any of the ones that focused more on force than subtlety.

“So,” Dana abruptly asked, pausing to take a big bite from her plate of spaghetti. Once she had finished chewing it, she continued, “So, how did your testing go?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Fixx exclaimed, giving me a curious look. “You were going to do power testing today…”

I just let out a sigh as I thought of the long hours I’d spend doing power testing today, repeating almost everything that I’d done back when I’d first been tested by the Seattle Supers. Unfortunately, I’d just gone through a bad case of burnout, and one of the known side effects was that a burnout could sometimes have an effect on your powers. Sometimes a burnout could damage your powers, temporarily making them weaker or sometimes even doing it permanently. And at other times, going through burnout could strengthen your powers or even make you develop new ones. Because of that, once I’d fully recovered, the school insisted that I go through power testing all over again.

“Well,” I admitted with a sigh, “I’m generating about twice as much glamour as before.” At the blank looks, I explained, “If I wasn’t sending my glamour to a faerie, then people around me would get dizzy and start hallucinating in about half the time. As it is, this just means that I need to switch out my faeries a little more often.”

“That’s not so bad,” Jinx said, looking relieved.

“So, did you get a boost in your magic?” Dana asked me almost eagerly.

I shook my head at that. “Nope. I’m still a Wiz four. No change there.” Then I grinned as I added, “But I did get one change in my official ratings. The first time I was tested, they said I was esper sensitive, but was just under the threshold to be considered an esper one. Well, I’ve crossed that threshold and am now officially an esper one. They aren’t sure if it was my burnout or if I just naturally got stronger on my own before this even happened.”

“Cool,” Fixx said with a cheerful smile.

He leaned back and showed the contraption he’d been building during our conversation. It was catapult, made out of eating utensils, paper clips, and rubber bands. It didn’t look all that complicated, but it was a reminder that he was definitely a gadgeteer and devisor. Since he didn’t wear a lab coat or carry around the high tech devices that a lot of other devisors did, it was easy to forget that fact.

Then as Fixx used his new catapult to fling a piece of broccoli at another table, he asked, “So, what exactly does that mean as far as what you can do?”

“Not much,” I admitted with a shrug. “It just means I’ve got really good intuition. I mean, I named Needle before I even knew it could turn into a spear, so I think my power may have told my subconscious about it.”

“You’re getting better with your faeries too,” Jinx pointed out, gesturing to the little violet haired pixie that was sitting in the middle of our table, eating cherry which was about the size of a basketball for her. “I mean, you’re making some of them look unique, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear this was a real pixie.”

“Funny how that is,” I said wryly while the violet haired pixie stuck her tongue out at me.

Over the last few days, I found that a couple real pixies kept joining with my hobgoblin faeries and following me around. I wasn’t completely sure why they were doing this, but I suspected that they thought of it as some sort of game. I also suspected that they were using my faeries as a way to travel around campus and do a little sight-seeing while hiding in plain sight.

“She certainly is lifelike,” Collin observed.

“You can say that again,” Fixx agreed as he used his catapult to launch more food at another table.

Dana just smirked and repeated, “You can say that again...,” which got her several groans from around the table for her efforts.

Suddenly, someone at another table jumped up and yelled, “Who threw this at me?”

Without saying a word, Fixx pulled a paperclip out of his contraption and the whole thing collapsed back into a pile of utensils which no longer resembled a catapult at all. He sat there with a cheerful grin on his face as he began organizing his utensils. Everyone at our table burst out laughing, except for Porcelain, and I thought I might have heard a muffled snicker from beneath her porcelain mask.

Two nearby tables suddenly erupted in a food fight, which they each blamed the other for starting. I just watched with a smirk, feeling a little surprised since I didn’t think Fixx had it in him to start something like that. In fact, this kind of thing was usually more my style than his, so I definitely had to give him brownie points.

“I thought that might pick up your spirits,” Fixx told me cheerfully. “Collin told me that you’ve been a bit depressed since you were outed…”

“Outed?” I asked, staring at Collin in surprise. I couldn’t believe that he’d told Fixx I used to be a guy…

“As working for the MCO,” Fixx added, letting me relax a little. “I can’t say I approve of the MCO in general, but I sure as heck ain’t about to blame you for what other people did. And honestly, I think it’s a good idea to get more mutants in there. Maybe that will get more of the dipshits out.”

When we were finished with dinner a short time later, we all got up to leave. I noticed someone waving at me from another table and it took me a few seconds to realize that it was Thrasher, from the Hooligans. I waved back, remembering that he’d come to my defense during lunch when someone else had tried bad mouthing me. Then again, his Dad was apparently some kind of super villain, so he wasn’t much to judge. However, Thrasher certainly wasn’t the only one who had my back.

Yesterday, Caitlin had asked if I needed any help dealing with Centurion, and there had been a pretty intense look in her eyes. If I’d accepted her offer, I had no idea what she would have done. However, I’d turned her down, though I’d thanked her for her offer, saying, “I need to deal with Centurion on my own. Besides, you’ve already helped me more than enough when you gave me Needle.”

My friends and I were just starting to leave Crystal Hall when I noticed something from one of my faeries. I grimaced and warned everyone, “We’ve got trouble up ahead.”

“What do you mean?” Collin asked, only to pause as he saw Centurion and his friends standing a short distance ahead of us.

Centurion had Switchblade and Slingshot with him as he frequently did, but this time he had two other people by his side as well. Stoppable, as everyone had begun calling the former Unstoppable, had recently begun hanging out with Centurion and his crew. I wondered if maybe that had started out while sharing complaints about me and my own friends. After all, I knew that Stoppable had a real grudge against Fixx, the same way Centurion did against me.

The other new member of their group was a petite girl, who I’d never met before, though I knew who she was. This was Balderdash, who was Slingshot’s roommate. She was also a devisor, and I was pretty sure she was the source of the device that had killed all the security cameras during the attack on me.

Stoppable stared Fixx for a moment, then at Porcelain before grinning evilly and announcing, “Hello little dolly…”

“Leave her alone,” Fixx said, stepping forward so that he was between Porcelain and Stoppable. That just seemed to amuse the large boy, who had obviously been trying to mess with the usually easygoing Fixx.

“Damn MCO spy,” Switchblade spat out, giving me a cold glare.

“I’m surprised you’re even showing you face around here,” Slingshot added with a smirk. “I mean, no one wants you here at Whateley…”

“Then you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dana commented with a snort. “But that’s nothing new.”

“Aren’t you afraid she’ll report you to the MCO?” Balderdash asked her friends as she gave me a nervous look.

Centurion laughed at that. “She’s too much of a coward to do something like that.”

I snarled in anger, then spat out, “You’d know all about cowardice. I mean, you not only jumped me from behind, you did it three to one… Talk about being a chicken shit…”

To be honest, I didn’t really have any problem with the tactics of jumping someone without warning or outnumbering them, at least not in theory. What made me angry was the fact that he’d hurt me, not how he’d managed to do it. And what really pissed me off was that he was trying to pull this hypocritical attitude about calling me a coward while resorting to those kinds of tactics.

“You little bitch,” Centurion exclaimed with a flash of anger. His skin shimmered, showing that he’d just activated his powers. “I already gave you one warning. Leave Whateley or I’ll be forced to give you another…”

Balderdash looked a little uncertain, then told Slingshot, “I don’t know if it’s right to make someone leave like that…”

Slingshot looked annoyed, then reminded her roommate, “She’s with the MCO. We don’t want one of THOSE people around school. She’s probably plotting to have them kidnap us or something…”

I grimaced at those accusations, but I did see a weakness I could exploit. “Except that you guys attacked me before you ever knew I had anything to do with the MCO. Make up some other rationalization. The truth is, I hurt your pride and you didn’t like that…”

“Is that true?” Balderdash asked, looking just a little surprised.

“Look,” Slingshot told her in annoyance. “We’re friends, so you have to trust me…” Then her eyes narrowed slightly and she asked, “You do trust me? Don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Balderdash insisted, nodding emphatically.

“Enough of this nonsense,” Centurion exclaimed, glaring at me. “We won’t let you and your MCO friends hurt anyone else.”

I rolled my eyes at that, knowing full well that this had absolutely nothing to do with the MCO. My working for the MCO was merely the latest excuse he was using to rationalize his own behavior. This was about ego, pure and simple. I’d embarrassed him and he wasn’t going to forget that. If I’d apologized to him right after our first sparring match in martial arts, he probably would have forgiven the whole thing. But now it had built up more and more.

Stoppable was probably here for the same reason, his own ego had been bruised as well. Maybe he wouldn’t be so touchy about it if everyone in school hadn’t made fun of him for his humiliating defeat at the hands of an Underdog, but they had so it obviously bothered him a great deal.

For Centurion and Stoppable, this was definitely all about their egos, and perhaps even for Slingshot as well. After all, she’d been giving me jealous looks the first time she ever saw me. For Switchblade, he was just standing by their friend, regardless of whether or not it was the right thing to do. If nothing else, at least I had to respect his loyalty, if not to whom he’d given it.

“You’ve got that right,” Jinx announced, rolling her own eyes. “Enough of this nonsense. You idiots are nothing more than that. Idiots. Now go away and leave us alone.”

With that, a bird dropping suddenly fell from the sky and hit Slingshot right on the head. She reached up to feel what hit her, and when she pulled back her bird poop covered hand, she let out a loud scream. A moment later, Slingshot gestured at Jinx and released a blast of kinetic energy, which would have hit her if a golden force field bubble hadn’t suddenly appeared around her.

“You bitch,” Dana yelled, dropping the force field bubble she’d placed around Jinx. Another bubble suddenly appeared around Slingshot, then the bubble flew back, carrying Slingshot with it.

“Bekka,” Centurion cried out in obvious fear and anger.

And with that, Centurion charged straight at Dana, clearly intending to punch her. However, before he reached her, she formed a golden bubble around herself, though he hadn’t even gotten that far. His feet were suddenly stuck to the ground, courtesy of Collin.

Switchblade suddenly had a glowing blade in his hand and started to move towards us at an amazing speed. However, it was at that very moment that Balderdash tried to run away, only to get right in Switchblade’s path so he ran right into her.

Stoppable seemed amused by what was happening to his friends, though he apparently decided that this was the perfect opportunity to go after Fixx. He started towards my friend, only to get hit with a faerie full of glamour.

Without a word, I pulled needle out and prepared to throw it, though I also called several of my faeries to come closer. I wanted my stored spells close at hand because I was probably going to use all of them very soon.

“You fucking bitch,” Slingshot cried out as she came racing back towards us, yelling to Stoppable, “Charge me up…”

Without saying a word, he turned and hit her, though she didn’t go flying or seemed hurt in the least. Due to her power, I knew that instead, she’d just absorbed the kinetic energy from the impact and was storing it to use with her force blasts.

“The zombies aren’t really there,” Stoppable said, more to himself than to anyone else. I could only assume that this was what he was hallucinating. “I’m just seeing them…”

“Take out Flytrap,” Centurion ordered Slingshot, obviously thinking that neutralizing Collin would free him from Collin’s powers.

“You’re going down,” Slingshot stated, about to blast Collin.

Suddenly, a woman’s voice yelled, “Whateley security. Everybody freeze.”

I snapped around and saw the female security officer, a blonde girl who didn’t really look any older than any of the students. In fact, the only reason I knew that she was with security was the fact that she was wearing a uniform. Two men in uniform trailed right behind her.

For a brief moment, I thought that Stoppable was going to attack the security officers, but he stopped and glared at them instead. However, his eyes kept darting around as he looked at things that only he could see. I couldn’t resist smirking faintly at that, hoping that whatever he was seeing would give him nightmares.

“I’m officer Samantha Everheart,” the young woman announced as she looked at all of us with a grim expression. “And you are all in a lot of trouble.”

A minute later, all of us were being marched to Kane Hall by security. Most of Centurion’s crew glared at me and my friends, though Balderdash looked really shaken and afraid.

I overheard Switchblade whisper, “Think they’re going to kick out the MCO spy?”

“This isn’t fair,” Jinx complained. “They came after us…”

I just walked in silence, glaring back to Centurion and silently cursing the fact that security had chosen this time to interfere. “Where were you last week?” I demanded of officer Everheart.

Everheart scowled, then in a quiet voice that wouldn’t carry to the others, she said, “We were keeping an eye on Centurion in case he tried anything again.”

I was a little startled at that, and I couldn’t help but feeling relieved. It was too little too late, but least security hadn’t just written the entire incident off just because they didn’t have any witnesses or evidence they could use at the time.

A short time later, we were all in Kane Hall where we were ushered into a room to meet Chief Delarose, the head of Whateley security. Anyone who could manage a job like that in a school full of mutants definitely had something going for him, especially since he didn’t seem to be a mutant or have any powers.

The other security people left, except for Everheart. She stood back out of the way, easily watching the entire room without drawing notice. Something about her was definitely off, though her apparent young age was a good indication. I was just relieved to see that the real pixies had taken off when the trouble started because I didn’t know what they’d do in this situation.

“We can’t allow students to have open brawls on campus, “Chief Delarose announced, slowly looking around the room so that he met each of our eyes. He scowled intently as he added, “You’re all just lucky that officer Everheart intervened when she did. If your confrontation had gone any further, I would have had no choice but to refer this to Mrs. Carson, and she is justifiably proud of her ability to assign creative punishments.”

“Ugh,” Dana exclaimed with a shudder. “I’ve already spent the last week doing detention in Hawthorne. Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to clean snot off Achoo’s walls?”

Centurion shuddered at that, reminding me that he’d also been given detention after his fight with Dana. Unfortunately, it was just his attack on me that he hadn’t been punished for. Centurion watched Delarose with a look that seemed to be a mixture of nervousness and relief, probably wondering what else he’d be dealing with.

“It’s all HER fault,” Slingshot exclaimed, pointing to me and giving me a glare for good measure. “She keeps harassing Centurion…”

“You JUMPED her,” Collin nearly yelled, jumping to his feet. However, a cold glare from Delarose made him gulp and sit down.

Delarose looked around the room again and asked, “Who started the confrontation today?”

“She made a bird poop on me,” Slingshot immediately accused Jinx, who sat there with a faint smirk.

“Just because you have some bad luck, that doesn’t immediately mean it’s my fault,” Jinx responded, using her usual argument for whenever someone accused her of something. The nature of her powers made it difficult to prove that she was actually responsible for anything, but it also made it very easy to accuse her of just about everything, even when she had nothing to do with it. In fact, whenever anyone on our floor had any bad luck at all, they tended to automatically blame her.

“Who threw the first punch?” Delarose asked in a calm voice. His eyes immediately went to Slingshot, which made me think that he already knew the answer. Then again, I didn’t think the security cameras had been messed with this time so security had probably gotten a good look at everything that had happened. And Everheart had said that they’d been watching Centurion in case he tried something else.

“But she started it first,” Slingshot protested.

Balderdash just sat in her seat, crying a little and looking terrified. Porcelain of course, had no visible expression at all. She just sat motionless in her chair, not saying a word. I would have forgotten she was even there if Fixx hadn’t kept glancing to her to see how she was doing.

Delarose turned his attention back to Centurion, his eyes becoming cold and very hard. “First degree assault and battery is a very serious crime and the only reason you aren’t facing the very serious consequences is that we don’t have the physical evidence. However, you can be assured that if there is even a HINT of a next time, you WILL be facing those consequences.”

Centurion had a faintly smug look at the start of that, probably because he knew Delarose couldn’t do anything without evidence. However, by the time Delarose finished, Centurion was looking very uncomfortable, as were Switchblade and Slingshot. Stoppable didn’t seem bothered at all, but he hadn’t been involved in the attack on me. Balderdash, on the other hand, was now openly sobbing.

A moment later, Delarose fixed his attention on me, making me squirm a little in my seat. Suddenly, I felt like I was in the middle of getting a lecture from my Dad when he was at his worst. “And we will also not tolerate the kind of physical retaliation I suspect you have planned.”

“But…,” Dana started to protest, only to go silent as soon as Delarose glared at her.

“Your feud has been escalating,” Delarose stated, looking back and forth between Centurion and me. “You’ve even involved your friends in it. I don’t want to know how bad things could get if I let it continue, so it ends NOW. There will be no more attacks or retaliations. NONE.”

I grimaced at that, not looking at Centurion directly though I glared at him through the eyes of one of my faeries. It was bad enough that security wouldn’t do anything to Centurion and his friends after they attacked me, but now they were actually protecting him too. In spite of what Delarose said, I wasn’t going to just let Centurion walk away from this just yet. All this meant was that I’d have to be a lot sneakier about how I did it.

“I’m not so naive to think that you two will shake hands and forget your grudges just because I forbid you from acting on them,” Delarose stated grimly. “So I’m going to give you both an opportunity to resolve your differences in a more controlled environment.”

“What?” I asked in surprise, certainly not expecting that.

Delarose let that settle in for a moment before he continued. “None of you are simulator rated, so I am going to arrange a match in one of the arenas.”

I stared at Delarose, realizing that this made a lot of sense. Whateley had several arenas which had been built to train and test students in, so one of these would be the perfect place for us to go at each other. School property wouldn’t get damaged, no one else would get hurt, and there would be official supervision to make sure things didn’t go too far.

“Since your friends are already involved,” Delarose said as he looked around the room, “we can make this a team match.”

“I don’t want anything to do with it,” Balderdash said with a cringe and a guilty look at Slingshot.

“This is gonna be fun,” Stoppable exclaimed with a smirk, probably just looking forward to an officially sanctioned chance to fight. As far as I knew, he didn’t really have anything personal against me. Now Fixx on the other hand…

Switchblade, Slingshot, and Centurion all had satisfied smirks of their own, making it quite clear where they stood on the idea of this challenge. They were also obviously quite confident about their chances.

“I’m in,” Dana said immediately while Collin nodded agreement.

“Definitely,” Collin stated, giving me a quick glance.

Jinx hesitated, then gave me a guilty look as she admitted, “Fighting isn’t really my thing, but if you really need me…”

Dana gave her a reassuring smile and told her, “It’s not a problem…”

“We’ll manage,” I told Jinx, not wanting her to risk herself if she wasn’t comfortable doing so. If anyone knew the value of avoiding an unnecessary fight, it was me. “Three against four is still good odds for us…”

“Four against four,” Fixx corrected me with a grim look. “I’m in too. I don’t like bullies and especially not people who put my friends in the hospital.”

I was a little surprised at that since I hadn’t thought Fixx was the kind to fight either. However, I remembered the way he’d dealt with Stoppable before and wasn’t about to turn down that kind of help. And as I remembered what he’d done with Stoppable, I couldn’t help but being curious about what else he could do.

Porcelain didn’t say anything during this whole exchange, though I certainly hadn’t expected her to help. I liked Porcelain, but she was even less of a fighter than Jinx was. In fact, I was thankful that she hadn’t volunteered because I would have felt horrible if she’d tried helping and got injured because of it.

“Then I’ll give your teams one week to prepare for your match,” Delarose told us, his aura showing that he was relieved that things were going as intended, though his serious expression showed no hint of that. “If there are ANY further incidents outside of sanctioned matches in the arena or sims, then the head mistress will have to get involved. And I can assure you, Mrs. Carson will be far less understanding about this than I am. You’re dismissed.”

--------------------

The weather was cold and wet, and there I was, standing out in the open as rain drizzled down from above. Any smart person would go inside or at least get under cover, but I was having one of my lessons with Mrs. Lauriant so that wasn’t currently an option. Fortunately for me, I had discovered another way to deal with this.

While I’d been stuck in the hospital, I’d taken the time to think about a few spells I could really use, such as one to protect me from the weather. I’d taken the spell I use to keep other people from grabbing me and had modified it so that it only kept water from touching me instead. That had done a pretty good job of keeping the rain off me, and Mrs. Lauriant had just taught me the spell she uses to protect herself from the weather. This one keeps her warm as well as dry, so I’d just incorporated that with my own spell and had created a new version that worked better than either of the previous ones. Sure, I was still standing out in the rain, but my clothes and I not only remained dry, but also perfectly warm.

“Very good, Gwendolynn,” Mrs. Lauriant told me with a faint smile from her wooden face. “You’ve combined those spells wonderfully.”

“Thank you,” I told her, pleased by the compliment. I didn’t get a lot of those from Mrs. Lauriant, so when I did get them I valued them all the more.

“Your skills are improving,” she told me with an approving look, “faster than I would have expected for a novice.”

“Vauldrene’s memories help,” I pointed out, knowing that I’d picked up a lot of things from my dreams. “And I get classes every day, with some other tutors who occasionally help me out.”

Mrs. Lauriant nodded at that. “Very true. However, you are still having those problems with some of your spells.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a sigh.

As I’d discovered, almost any time I tried casting a spell that focused on force and raw power, it tended to go wrong. And since most offensive spells tended to rely on this kind of forceful magic, it made it difficult for me to find an offensive spell that actually worked the way I wanted. Since Nikki didn’t have these problems, this obviously wasn’t due to my being Sidhe.

When I’d hesitantly asked Nikki about this, Aunghadhail had said, “Vauldrene also had issues with certain spells going askew. Her strengths lay in other areas, as do your own.”

“I have been looking into some workarounds,” I told Mrs. Lauriant with a faint smile. “I think I may have found a few I can use.”

“I look forward to seeing what you come up with,” she told me pleasantly. “But for now, I must end our lessons for the day. My sister will be arriving to visit soon and I must get some cookies baked before then.”

After Mrs. Lauriant’s face and presence faded from the tree, I started back to Poe, taking my time as I did so. I felt rather proud of my new weather protection spell and was more than happy to keep using it. Then I smirked, thinking that the next time I went back home and it was raining, Mom and Dad were going to get so jealous that they were getting soaked while I remained nice and dry.

I was halfway back to Poe when I had a sudden feeling that someone was following me. Ever since my recent power testing had confirmed I was a low level esper, I’ve been paying more attention to my instincts. Though I hadn’t seen anyone following me, that certainly didn’t mean anything, especially not at this school. I shifted attention to one of the faeries I had flying overhead and looked around, though I still didn’t see anything. With that, I shifted to mage sight and began to look, and it only took me a second before I spotted an aura in a place where my normal eyes saw nothing. As I’d suspected, it was Ripple.

After I’d been outed across campus as working for the MCO, Ripple had stopped following me around. Apparently, he thought that messing with someone with ties to the MCO was too much of a risk for a little high. Ironically enough, it was only after he’d stopped following me that I’d been interested in talking to him. The day before Chief Delarose had warned me not to retaliate against Centurion, I’d contacted Ripple for his help in setting something up. Or more accurately, I’d wanted him to ask one of his friends in the Dylans for a little help.

With a faint smile, I sent one of my faeries over to Ripple while I walked away, heading towards an out of the way corner. Once there, I set up a quick illusion that would obscure me from being seen. Then I waited, though I didn’t have to wait long. Ripple came over to join me, then dropped his invisibility field.

“Do you have it?” I asked Ripple.

“Yeah,” Ripple agreed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a vial that was filled with a red liquid. “Bunsen came through with what you asked for. But you remember the deal?”

“Of course,” I responded as I accepted the vial. “I owe him one faerie shot full of glamour every day for a week. And of course, you get one every day too for acting as a go between.”

“Just don’t forget,” Ripple reminded me.

I nodded at that, fully intending to keep my part of this deal. After all, Ripple’s friend Bunsen was a bio-devisor, and from what I’d heard, it was never a good idea to piss off one of them. Admittedly, Bunsen was a fairly low level devisor and he specialized in designer drugs, which made him an ideal supplier for the Dylans, but it also made him ideal for my current purposes. Unfortunately, Delarose’s warning meant that I could no longer go through with what I’d had in mind, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep this ready just in case.

Ripple was still there, obviously waiting for his payment. I didn’t bother wasting a faerie on him, and instead, I just held out my hand and generated a pulse of glamour, enough to instantly send him into acid trip land. With that, I said, “It was a pleasure doing business with you,” before I turned and walked away, thinking that it was nice dealing with people who were willing to work for so little.

After I sent a faerie that was fully charged with glamour to Bunsen’s dorm room, I returned to Poe where I saw Zenith at the entrance, talking with one of the junior boys. She noticed me and gave a friendly nod, so I nodded back. We’d seen each other earlier this morning when the Hooligans had gone for a run. Thankfully, none of the Hooligans seemed to have much of a problem with my working for the MCO, or at least they didn’t after I explained what it was I really did.

“I don’t tell them anything about what I see on campus,” I’d assured them, much to Zenith’s obvious relief at the time. “What happens on Whateley stays on Whateley.”

I went to my room and found that Dana and Jinx were there, playing some kind of board game in the middle of the floor. I decided to have some fun with them and began changing out of my dress and into something a little more casual, like Jeans and a T shirt. Both girls kept giving me looks of admiration as I changed, while obviously trying to appear as though they didn’t notice.

“I just spent the last two hours out standing in the rain,” I said cheerfully. “I really needed to change clothes…”

“But your hair and clothes are dry,” Jinx pointed out with a skeptical look.

“I’ve got a new water proofing spell,” I bragged, though it was actually more of a weather proofing spell…as long as the weather wasn’t too extreme. I certainly wouldn’t want to try it in a monsoon or blizzard. Then I paused and grinned as an idea came to me. “I wonder what would happen if I cast this on someone before they went into the showers…”

“That sounds like something Jade would do,” Jinx pointed out with a smirk, which I assumed meant that she liked the idea.

“Well, you got back in plenty of time,” Dana told me, looking towards the clock. “We’ve got almost an hour until we’d agreed to meet up.”

I nodded at that. “Yeah. I was originally going to be cutting things a little closer, but Mrs. Lauriant wanted to end things a little early today.”

I sat down and began to play on my laptop, but it was obvious that Dana and Jinx wanted to spend a little time alone. Though they didn’t say anything, I decided to give them that time. I set my laptop aside, grabbed one of my magic books, then left our room and went down the hall to the common room.

“Gwen,” Nikki greeted me as I stepped into the room.

Nikki was with one of the freshmen boys, a guy called Voodude. Since he was a magic user and she was known to do some tutoring, I suspected that she’d been giving him tips or something. Nikki gave me a brief nod, then turned back to Voodude.

“Anyway,” Voodude told her. “Ms. Grimes has me partnering with Cauldron for our class project. I want to make an amulet, but she insists on making a potion…as always.”

I sat down and began reading my book, or at least pretending to do so while I listened in on the conversation. Mostly, Voodude was just whining about having to find a compromise on some class project while Nikki listened with a patient look on her face, doing a very good job of hiding the annoyance that was clearly visible in her aura.

Once they were done, Nikki left the room but Voodude didn’t seem to realize that they were done and followed after her. I waited until I was sure they weren’t coming back, then said, “Okay, you can come out now.”

With that, three pixies came out from where they’d been hiding and joined with my faeries, one again playing at being part of the crowd. There were the violet and green haired pixies I usually saw, and this time the pixie with the blue skin and hair had joined them.

“Why are you avoiding Nikki?” I asked them curiously.

The pixies had been following me around off and on, but every time they saw Nikki, they really made themselves scarce. I’d spent enough time avoiding Nikki the same way that I recognized what they were doing, though I wasn’t sure why they were doing the same thing I had.

At first, there was no response, but then the violet haired pixie came over and hovered in front of me. She was silent for several long seconds, then she spoke in a melodic voice. “We do not wish to be made to serve the queen to come.”

I was a little startled at this because it was the first time since I’d been in the grove that one of the pixies had actually communicated with me. The other two pixies flew to her side and nodded agreement.

“We choose our own path now,” the green haired pixie stated. “We do not want to return to the old ways.”

“I understand,” I told them. “Then I won’t tell Nikki or Aunghadhail.”

“We would appreciate that,” blue pixie responded with a relieved look.

A moment later, all three of the pixies took off again, though the violet haired one hesitated a moment, waved back at me, and called out, “Bye bye big sister,” before all three of them flew away, leaving me with only my own faeries for company.

I turned my attention back to my reading, but it wasn’t long before I was interrupted. Cindy came into the room along with Lina, neither of whom looked happy. Cindy stopped in front of me with her hands on her hips.

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“You said you’d let us help you go after Centurion,” Cindy announced with a scowl. “Now I find out you’ve got this whole strategy session planned and you didn’t even invite us…”

I winced at that, then quickly apologized. “Sorry, I really was going to ask you to help me go after him…” I paused at that and shook my head. “But security kind of cut my plans short and they warned me not to retaliate. Now my only chance is this arena match that Chief Delarose is setting up…”

“And I wasn’t there to get in on it,” Cindy finished for me, letting out a sigh of annoyance.

“Too bad,” Lina said with a disappointed look. She hesitated a moment before admitting, “I probably wouldn’t do much good, except as a distraction…”

“Never underestimate the value of a good distraction,” I reminded her, having done so several times before when we were trying to learn from each other’s powers. “I mean, you can probably get all four of them to just stand there like drooling idiots if you wanted, and then they’d be helpless…”

Lina grinned at that, her confidence having been bolstered. “Fuck yeah. Too bad your team is already picked or I’d guarantee you’d win.”

Cindy laughed at that, saying, “It would certainly be fun to watch. Anyway, we’ll be cheering for you. And if you happen to need any replacements for your team…”

“I know who to ask,” I assured her.

“Come on,” Cindy said, grabbing Lina and half dragging her from the common room. “Let’s go find Downpour. I think she needs to find something fun to do, even if we have to drag her kicking and screaming…”

“That part should be fun,” Lina agreed with an almost evil laugh as the two of them left.

Once they were gone, I again tried to turn my attention to my spellbook, only to hear an, “Ahem,” a few seconds later.

I looked up and was startled to see Phase standing there, especially since I was pretty sure she hadn’t come through the door. I suspected that she’d walked through the wall, or more likely, dropped down through the ceiling since her own floor was the next one up.

“Hey,” I greeted her, setting my book aside.

“I’ve heard about your arena match,” Phase said, giving me a faint smirk and holding out a folder. “I thought I might be able to help by providing information on your opponents.”

I was a little startled at that, as well as impressed. The rumor around Poe was that Phase had her own intelligence network, one that was supposedly very good. Because of that, any help she offered was likely to be more useful than just cheering me on. I opened the envelope and the first thing I saw were copies of four MIDs, specifically, the MIDs of Centurion, Slingshot, Switchblade, and Stoppable…who was still officially listed as Unstoppable on his.

“I’ve already seen their MIDs,” I commented as I glanced over them and confirmed it was the same information I’d seen in the MCO database.

“Really?” Phase asked with a curious look.

“I have access to the MCO’s MID database,” I explained with a wry smile, getting a look of interest in response.

“That could be useful,” Phase said, looking thoughtful.

The next few pages had a brief report on each of my opponents, covering their roommates, friends, class schedules, and even their real names and homes. I already knew a lot of that information, though I’d hadn’t known all their real names or where they were from, so that was new.

“Thank you,” I told Phase. “Some of this is new information…”

“Some of it?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

I couldn’t resist grinning at that and bragging, “I have my own intelligence network, though obviously not as good as yours.”

Phase stared at me for several seconds, then her eyes darted to the faeries that were flying around the room. When she looked back at me, she said, “You’re using your hobgoblins as spies.”

I was a little surprised that she’d figured that out. I knew that Phase was actually apprenticed to Circe, the head of the school’s magic department, so she certainly knew a bit about magic, but wasn’t really known as a magic specialist. In fact, none of those who did specialize in magic had realized I could use my faeries like that, not even Nikki.

“I hope this helps you in developing your strategy,” Phase told me with a faint smile. Then she added, “And I think we might be able to help each other out in the future,” before she turned and walked away.

“Thank you,” I called back before I began reading through the information she’d given me a little more carefully.

It was just a short time after this that my cell phone began beeping. I looked at it and saw that I’d just received a text from Collin, simply stating, ‘IM AT POE’.

With that, I grabbed my things and then hurried to the main entrance where I found Collin waiting with Mrs. Horton. She was giving him a slightly suspicious look, probably over the way he’d broken up with me after finding out who I used to be. However, I was pretty sure that the fact he’d kept my secret to himself instead of spreading it around had bought him at least a little favor.

“You’re a little early,” I told Collin, fighting back the urge to give him a hug. My new girlie emotions still confused the hell out of me sometimes. It would be so much easier if I was still in deniable about the way I felt too. At least then, I could fool myself into thinking it didn’t bother me.

“My Dad always says, if you’re on time then you’re late,” Collin told me with a chuckle.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “My Dad is the same way… I mean, he’s actually made Mom and I synchronize our watches to his.”

We continued to chuckle at that as we went inside, though a few seconds later, Collin told me, “Fixx probably won’t be able to make it. You know how he works part time for campus maintenance?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, knowing that they often used him to fix small issues in the various cottages. After all, Fixx was pretty good at fixing things, which was how he’d gotten his name.

Collin grinned as he told me, “Apparently, someone’s powers caused a plumbing accident in Twain and maintenance called Fixx in to help them take care of it.”

“I guess we’ll have to catch him up on things later,” I said, disappointed that out of our team for the match wouldn’t be here for the planning.

We had just about reached the common room when I heard some voices coming from inside. Dana was loudly saying, “And then that stuck up bitch Exquisite hit me that pain blast of hers…the one that sets off nearly every pain sensor in your body…”

“Ouch,” I muttered, having already heard Dana complain about that incident in her powers lab class yesterday.

Then just as Collin and I were stepping into the common room, Dana exclaimed, “It hurt worse than being kicked in the balls. Damn, at least I never have to feel THAT sensation again…”

Suddenly, everyone in the room froze as they realized that Collin was there. Hardwyrd was sitting on the couch, holding hands with another boy in what was obviously a romantic way and Dana had pretty much just announced that she used to be a boy. The fact that four people had come into the common room in the short time since I’d left it, and that three of them were engaging in activities that could give away Poe’s secret just as Collin entered, was quite a coincidence. I had a feeling that Jinx’s powers were behind this.

“Don’t touch me like that,” Hardwyrd exclaimed to the other boy in what was obviously a show for Collin’s benefit. He shoved the other boy away from him, then got up and stormed out of the room. The other boy hurried after him, giving Collin a worried look.

“Collin,” Jinx said with a very nervous smile, her eyes darting to Dana.

At first, Collin didn’t say anything. He just stared at Dana with an expression I couldn’t quite read, then he turned to me and commented, “So, there isn’t any conspiracy…?”

“Nope,” I responded awkwardly, knowing that I’d been caught lying to him again. I shook slightly, knowing he wasn’t going to take this well and preparing myself for the accusations that were about to come.

To my surprise, Collin merely said, “Okay,” as though nothing had happened. “Now about our plans?”

“Shouldn’t we wait for Fixx first?” Dana asked, obviously relieved that Collin wasn’t going to question her on what he’d overheard.

“He’ll be late, if he comes at all,” I told her. “Collin said that he’d been called up to help maintenance with something.”

“Probably using duct tape,” Dana responded with a roll of her eyes. “I swear, that guy would probably use duct tape to fix a nuclear reactor…”

Collin chuckled at that and added, “Just after telling you that a nuclear reactor is above his power level.”

“Before we start,” I announced, feeling unbelievably relieved at the way that Collin was just letting this go. “I’m going got get something for us to drink.”

With that, I hurried down the hall to my room, grabbing some cans of pop from the mini fridge that Dana and I shared. I wasn’t sure what everyone wanted, but we didn’t have a lot of selection so they could either take it or leave it.

We were about to begin when Breakdown came in, announcing, “Look what I found outside, looking all lost and alone. I just had to let the poor thing in.”

Porcelain came in right behind Breakdown, catching me a little by surprise since I hadn’t been expecting her. “I will not be able to assist you directly in your arena match,” Porcelain stated in her muffled voice, “so I thought I would come and offer what strategic support I could.”

“We’re glad to have you,” Collin told her.

Then as I noticed her look around the room, I said, “Fixx might not be coming. Something came up.”

Porcelain didn’t have an expression that I could see, but I was pretty sure she was disappointed at that news. In fact, I suspected that the real reason she’d come here had more to do with Fixx than the rest of us. However, the fact that she’d come at all was something that I definitely appreciated.

“You guys have fun,” Breakdown told us. “And call me if you need help working around Balderdash.”

“Will do,” I promised her. But from the way Balderdash had been breaking down in Delarose’s office, I didn’t think it was very likely that she’d get involved again.

Once we were all sitting down and comfortable, I spread out the files that Phase had given me. Porcelain immediately began to look through them, not saying a word as she did. I’d done my own research on Centurion and his crew, and suddenly wished that I had files like this to share as well. Unfortunately, much of what I knew had been gained from spying on them with my faeries.

“These guys aren’t pushovers,” Dana said as she gestured to the MIDs. “I mean, Centurion and Stoppable are both pretty damn strong. Hell, they’re both stronger than me.”

“They are strong,” Porcelain agreed, her tone being oddly calm. “And Switchblade is fast. However, three of our four opponents are melee fighters and Collin is well suited to neutralize any of those three.”

“I can protect us from them,” Dana said thoughtfully, “and take them out at a distance.”

“And I can definitely keep them off balance,” I agreed with a faint smile, realizing that if we worked this right, we could do quite well in the match.

Collin sat there with a thoughtful look, then pointed out, “But we don’t know what kind of competition this is going to be. I mean, I’m pretty sure Delarose wouldn’t just throw us into a straight fight. There has to be more to it.”

“Phase suspects the same thing,” Porcelain agreed, holding up some kind of analysis that Phase had left in the folder. “She says that she has reason to believe the competition will be based off the rules used in a previous combat finals examination. She says she is not certain which situation will be used, but suspects that it may be some form of race or scavenger hunt.”

“If it’s a straight out fight, they have more raw power,” I said thoughtfully. “But we’re a lot more versatile, and as long as we use that, we should do fine regardless of the rules.”

Collin just stared at me and burst out laughing. At my curious look, he said, “I didn’t think you’d be concerned about rules…”

“I just need to know what we can get away with,” I pointed out with a grin of my own. “As I’ve learned from my Dad, you can get away with quite a lot if you actually know what the rules are.” Then I hesitated a moment before adding, “Just don’t ever tell him I said that.”

We started talking about our opponents, how their powers worked and what we could do against them. Then I admitted, “I’m not even sure what all Fixx can do. It’s hard to make any plans for him when he isn’t here.”

“Will he even be able to help you guys much?” Jinx asked skeptically. “I mean, his powers aren’t exactly good for fighting…”

“Do not underestimate Fixx,” Porcelain told her quietly.

I nodded emphatically at that and reminded her, “He did take out Stoppable by himself.”

Collin nodded as well, then gave me a knowing look as he added, “I’ve learned the hard way not to underestimate someone just because they look harmless.” I couldn’t resist grinning at that.

Once we’d begun, we spent more than an hour discussing our options and making our plans. However, since Fixx was absent and we didn’t even know much about what this arena match would entail, our ability to create any solid plans was severely limited. Still, we did come up with some good ideas that we’d have to share with Fixx before then.

When we were finished, Dana announced, “Good. Now that we’ve settled that, let’s go get dinner. I’m starved…”

But just as everyone was starting to leave, Zenith arrived and stared at Collin for a moment, scowling as she did so. “I was hoping I could have a word with you,” she said carefully, obviously concerned with what Collin had seen and heard earlier. I suspected that Hardwyrd or his boyfriend had rushed to report what had happened as soon as possible in order to minimize the damage to Poe’s secret. “This concerns something you may have misunderstood…”

“I don’t think there’s any misunderstanding,” Collin said carefully. He met her gaze for several long seconds before he continued, “I haven’t seen or heard anything to misunderstand. And even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t spread any gossip or rumors about it. I’m not in the habit of sharing other people’s secrets.”

Zenith looked relieved at that and responded, “That’s good to hear.”

Collin nodded at that, then glanced to me. “I’ve seen what happens when rumors get spread about someone, and I wouldn’t want any part of starting something like that.”

There was a moment where Zenith just stared at Collin, then she smiled. “Gwen,” she said, turning to me. “I just wanted to wish you luck in your arena match. I’m looking forward to watching it.”

“Thanks,” I responded with a grin of my own.

As Zenith left, I glanced to Collin, wondering if she would have trusted him about the ‘misunderstanding’ if he hadn’t already proven himself capable of keeping a secret. The fact that he’d kept my secret certain showed that he didn’t spread tales, so I was pretty sure that Dana’s secret was safe, as was the secret of Poe.

Jinx had escorted Porcelain out when Zenith had entered, so it was just Dana, Collin and myself. He stared at Dana for a moment with a curious look, then he looked at me. Dana and I both stood there, awkwardly waiting for the questions that were sure to come.

“Well, that was kind of suspicious,” Collin finally said with a wry look. Then he told us, “Obviously, I have some questions.”

“Obviously,” I responded flatly.

“You clearly have some secrets going on around here,” Collin said carefully. “And you’ve probably got some good reasons for keeping them.” He gave Dana a thoughtful look, then said, “If you want to tell me what’s going on, I’d be happy to listen, but I won’t poke around unless you’re ready to talk.”

“Thanks,” Dana said, looking relieved. “I appreciate it.”

Then Collin turned his attention back to me, looking just a little guilty. “I’ve been thinking a lot about why you’d keep certain secrets and I think I understand. I can’t imagine that kind of thing is easy, and it would probably be a lot worse if everyone knew.”

“You have no idea,” I told him, and on an impulse, I threw my arms around him in a hug.

I expected Collin to push me away, to remind me that he didn’t want to get romantic with someone who used to be a boy. But instead, he just hugged me, and for a moment, I actually thought he was going to kiss me. When we pulled apart, he was definitely looking at me with an expression of interest.

“We should probably go to dinner,” I said awkwardly, staring at Collin with my heart racing.

“That’s probably a good idea,” Collin agreed with a bright blush that looked cute on him.

Dana just grinned and exclaimed, “About damn time.” However, as we started out the door, she gave Collin a curious look, though she definitely looked relieved as well.

I just couldn’t help but smiling. Collin might protest that he couldn’t be with someone who used to be a boy, but both his aura and the bulge in the front of his pants suggested that he was still interested.

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Whateley Academy had several large arenas where students could train and compete, the largest and most impressive of which was Arena 99. It was the size of four football fields with a modular design so that any form of obstacle or structure could easily be put in place, then covered with a hard light hologram so as to simulate nearly any environment.

Of course, no arena was complete without a place for the audience to watch. This arena came with a large seating area that included video displays to show close-ups of the action, and the seating area was separated from the field by powerful force fields. This would not only protect the audience from being injured by anything that happened in the arena, but would also prevent anyone in the audience from interfering.

I’ve been told that it wasn’t at all uncommon for students to settle their grudges either in the sims or one of the arenas. In fact, fighting things out here seemed to be the mutant equivalent of a boxing match.

This was the first time that I’d actually seen any of the arenas in person, but I’d heard about them from other students, especially over the last week. More than a few of the people I’d talked to had jokingly referred to this as Whateley’s own Danger Room, though Jade had snickered when she’d said it and had given Phase an odd look before adding something about copyrights. I’ve learned not to pay too much attention to what Jade says because she’s likely to go off into some kind of tangent about Hello Kitty, Radioactive Condor Girl, or the stopping power of various firearms.

It was finally time for my match with Centurion and I was dressed up for it in my usual exercise clothes, which included my green hoodie because I thought it looked cool. Or at least, I’d thought it looked cool until I arrived and saw what some of the other people were wearing.

Dana arrived in a red and gold spandex outfit which included a red domino mask. She actually looked like a real super hero or villain, while I looked like I was just dressed to go out on a run.

“Jackie gave this to me,” Dana said defensively when she noticed the way I was watching her. Then she proudly added, “And it’s bulletproof…at least a little.”

“It looks pretty cool,” I told her.

“I think you look totally hot in that,” Jinx whispered to her. She might have done more if there weren’t other people around who weren’t in on Poe’s secret.

Collin and Fixx showed up a few minutes later, both of them dressed up for the fight. Collin was wearing a black and white outfit that was sleek and lightly armored, including pads on the knees and elbows. He even wore a belt that had a few pouches, one of which obviously held some handcuffs. To finish it off, he wore a black domino mask over his face.

“I’ve been working on this in costuming class,” Collin told me rather proudly. “And I’ve been working on some holdouts…” With that, he snapped out a tactical baton and added, “This should give me a little extra reach.”

“Impressive,” I told him honestly. I hadn’t expected Collin to come so well prepared.

“My aunt always told me that a costume should be functional as well as stylish,” Collin said, looking just a little self-conscious as he admitted this.

I nodded at that, having met his aunt a few times. His aunt was Crucibelle, a super hero from back home in Seattle. She was the leader of the Seattle Supers, and was actually the first super hero I’d ever met, or at least the first one I’d ever met in costume. For all I knew, my neighbor Mr. Hodkins might very well have secretly been a super hero as well.

Then I looked at Fixx and sighed. “Now I’m really feeling underdressed.”

Like me, Fixx wasn’t really wearing a costume, though he’d definitely come prepared for a fight. Along with the satchel he always had with him, he was also wearing a belt with a lot of pouches on it. There was an ammo belt slung over his shoulder and across his chest which had eight pop cans strapped to it. Each can had obviously been cut open and sealed back up again, so I could only imagine what Fixx had actually done to them.

In his arms, Fixx held some sort of home-made weapon with a PVC pipe barrel, which was just the right size to fire the pop cans strapped to his chest. After staring at the odd looking gun for a few seconds, I suspected that it might be some kind of suped up potato gun…which wasn’t exactly what you’d expect from a devisor, or at least not from any devisor but Fixx. It even had duct tape holding part of it together.

Fixx had a second weapon as well, strapped over his shoulders so that it just hung from behind him. It looked like a super soaker water gun, or at least as if it was one of those which had been torn apart and combined with a second one so that it was effectively a double barreled squirt gun.

When Fixx noticed us all staring at his gear, he held up the potato gun and cheerfully said, “I’ve got a few different options with this thing. I’ve got a couple glue rounds that will stick someone in place almost as much as what Collin can do, a couple oil ones to make things slippery, and I’ve got a couple that will just make a nice boom.”

“And that thing?” Jinx asked, pointing to the super soaker.

“It shoots two liquids at once,” Fixx explained with a grin. “When they come in contact with each other, they catch on fire.”

“It’s a flame thrower?” Dana asked in surprise, as well as a little skepticism.

Fixx just shook his head at that. “More like a napalm sprayer. The stuff shouldn’t catch on fire until a few seconds after they combine…” Then he gave us a proud grin and added, “And all this is made from household chemicals and some supplies from a hardware store…”

“Amped up with devisor power and enchantments,” Collin added wryly.

Jinx just stared at Fixx with a look of surprise on her face before exclaiming, “Wow. And you’re an underdog?”

“Underdogs are easy to underestimate,” Porcelain said as she came over and joined us. She looked Fixx over, then looked at the rest of us. “This should be an interesting competition.”

“You can say that again,” I muttered with a sigh. Dana smirked at that, and just as she was about to open her mouth, I snapped, “Don’t say it.”

Dana gave me a mock hurt look while Jinx burst out laughing. “She really does know you.”

While we stood there, preparing for our match, other people kept coming over and wishing us luck. Jade came over with her sister Jinn, and I couldn’t help but noticing the same aura and the link which tied the two of them together. Obviously, there was more to Jade’s powers than what was listed on her MID, not that I was ever going to tell anyone. It wasn’t my secret to share, though it was something I’d have to keep in mind in case she ever targeted me with another practical joke, or far less likely, I somehow ended up against her in some kind of arena match.

“Good luck,” Jade told us, giving a broad grin. “Go kick their butts…”

“Thanks,” I told her, almost feeling guilty about having set her against Beltane. Almost.

Then Jade looked at my faeries, which were lacking in real pixies today, and exclaimed, “Pixie power…”

After most of the Poe freshmen had stopped by, along with a few older Poe residents, Jinx and Porcelain decided that they had to get going as well. “We want to get good seats,” Jinx told us. Then she whispered to Dana, “And if you win, I’ll give you a nice reward.” She didn’t seem to care that Collin was close enough to hear her, but it was a little late to keep that secret from him.

A few minutes later, the four of us went to meet up with Chief Delarose, who was standing there with Officer Everheart. We didn’t have to wait long before our opponents arrived, each of them glaring at us as though we’d somehow wronged them. I could understand Centurion’s enmity towards me, but the others seemed just a little too personally involved, as though they’d decided to take his grudge and make it theirs as well. Well, Stoppable was the only one who didn’t glare at me. He was glaring at Fixx instead.

When I saw Centurion and his crew, I felt even more underdressed than before. Centurion was wearing a costume that consisted of lightweight gold armor and a helmet, all designed to resemble the armor of a Roman centurion. He even had a sword strapped to his side, though it was more of a broadsword than a Roman short sword.

Switchblade wore a green and gray spandex costume, which he’d obviously made in costuming class. I knew that he took that class on making costumes, but he wasn’t in the same period that Collin was. However, Slingshot was. Her costume was violet and white with a violet domino mask. All in all, hers actually looked pretty decent, not that I’d actually tell her that though.

Stoppable hadn’t really bothered with a costume, though like me, had at least dressed up a little. He wore a large black leather jacket that had spikes on the shoulders and a few chains which hung down. On top of that, I noticed that he had a massive sledge hammer in hand, holding it casually slung over his shoulder. He stared at Fixx with a smirk, not saying a word.

Delarose looked us all over with a scowl before announcing, “If any of you want to back out, now is the time to do it.”

“I’m just happy for the chance to kick her butt officially,” Centurion stated, giving me a smug look. “With an audience.”

“Things are going to be different this time,” I told Centurion, giving my best cheerful smile, even though I REALLY wanted to just kick him between the legs. Somehow, I didn’t think that Delarose would be happy at me for doing that before the match began, so I had to make do with imagining it…for now.

With that, Everheart stepped forward and slowly looked at all of us before announcing, “The name of the game is capture the flag. In a few minutes, each of your teams will be placed at your starting locations in different places in the arena. At your starting location, there will be a flag…or more accurately, a large red button. The first team who locates and pushes the opposing team’s button wins the match.”

I nodded at that, not at all surprised by the nature of the competition. Phase had warned me that Delarose would probably pick some kind of contest that would involve something more than just a straight out fight. In fact, I was glad that he had since this kind of thing gave us options.

“We’re gonna kick your asses,” Switchblade exclaimed with a smirk while his friends gave their agreement.

“We’ll see,” Collin said, giving Centurion a cold glare.

A moment later, Delarose began leading Centurion’s team in one direction while Everheart had us follow her. She led us down a tunnel to an elevator platform which lifted us up right into the arena and into our starting location.

We were in the middle of what appeared to be a large courtyard with stone walls surrounding most of it, and with a large brick building to one side. Right beside us there was a metal pedestal that stood about three feet high, and on the top of that pedestal was a red button. Seeing a button like that, I felt an urge to push it just to see what would happen. However, I didn’t want to take the chance that this would count as a surrender so carefully kept my distance.

“Capture the flag complicates things,” Collin said thoughtfully, looking towards our button. “We need to protect our button while looking for theirs. We’ll have to split up.”

I nodded that, looking up at the dozen faeries that I’d brought in here with me. Each of them was loaded either with glamour or with a spell, and I would have brought even more if I’d thought I could get away with it. However, I wasn’t limited to just these faeries, and with that, I released a burst of magic, intentionally creating an explosion of new faeries. I continued this until I had more than a hundred faeries swarming around in the air, then I gave the mental command and most of them flew off to scout the arena.

“I’m searching for them right now,” I told my friends, having planned this move during our strategy session. Then I grinned and added, “They’ll have to search for us by foot, so this gives us an advantage in finding them.”

“So, what’s our strategy for this?” Dana asked thoughtfully.

“The way I see it,” I answered. “We have two real strategies we can use. The first is that I can locate their button, then we go straight to it, avoiding all of them except whoever they have guarding it. We can win this without having to fight them, and honestly, this would normally be my first choice.”

“And it would definitely piss them off,” Collin pointed out with a chuckle.

“And the other choice?” Dana asked me, though she already knew what it was.

“We’re not here to just win a game,” I reminded my friends grimly. “We’re here so I can settle things with Centurion once and for all. Normally, I’m all about avoiding unnecessary fights, but winning that way would only piss him off and he’d come at me again…security or no security.”

The others all nodded in understanding at that, but it was Collin who said, “Even if we win…we still don’t win.”

“The only way to really win this,” I continued, looking at my friends one at a time, “is to beat them so hard that they have no choice but to accept that they’ve been beaten. This means that instead of avoiding them, we hunt them down and hit them hard and fast. We show them that its not a good idea to mess with us.”

“I’ve seen what happens when you get cornered,” Collin said grimly. “And for all intents and purposes, Centurion has you cornered now.”

I nodded at that. “Unfortunately, putting our focus on them instead of on their button also gives them a better chance of winning.”

“This is your fight,” Fixx stated, giving me a serious look. “You make the call and we’ll back you whatever you choose.”

“He’s right,” Dana agreed.

“I can activate my power,” Collin suggested. “Then Dana can pick them up with her force field bubble one at a time and drop them into my trap. We’d have all of them stuck…”

I shook my head at that. “That would be effective at stopping them, but would be about the same as if we just avoided them entirely. We need something a little more direct…and personal.”

With that, I paused and turned my attention to my faeries, shifting through various sets of eyes until I found what I was looking for. Some of my faeries gave me a great overview of the arena, which was set up to resemble an empty city, while others showed me Centurion and his crew. I watched them long enough to determine where they were and which directions they were heading.

“I’ve found them,” I told my friends. “Slingshot is staying back and guarding their button while the other three are out looking for us. They’ve also split up, which will make our jobs easier.” Then I paused to mutter a profanity before explaining, “And they have radios to keep in contact. I wish we’d thought of that.”

“Porcelain suggested it,” Collin reminded me, making me regret that we hadn’t followed through with that.

I nodded, then began casting spells, sending them to various faeries through the links that I had to them. My friends stood there, watching me nervously as I worked, obviously impatient to get going and wondering why I was spending so much time doing this. Once I thought I had enough for the moment, I turned my attention back to my friends.

“Sphere,” I said to Dana, intentionally calling her by her codename since she was in costume. “You’re our heavy hitter. You’ve got more physical power than the rest of us and would probably be our best bet to take any of them down fast.” But as she began to grin at that, I said, “However, you’re also our best choice when it comes to protecting our button.”

“What?” she asked in surprise.

“I don’t want to take any chance at all that one of them slips around us and gets to our button,” I explained. “You’d be the best at making sure that even if they found our button, that none of them can reach it. If they happen to get lucky and win this, we’d never heard the end of it, so we need you to play goalie.”

Dana looked a little annoyed at that but nodded acceptance. “Got it. They won’t touch the thing.”

Dozens of my faeries settled down, hovering about four feet from the ground. “I’ve loaded some of these with spells,” I told Dana with a grin. “Effectively turning them into land mines. If anyone does try sneaking in, they’ll have a hard time catching you by surprise. If they do,” I pointed to one faerie that was hovering near the button. “Just pop that one and it will release an illusion that should be pretty distracting.”

“Got it,” Dana responded, looking at my faeries with an eager look. From her expression, I think she was really hoping that someone found her.

I summoned another burst of faeries, then spent a few more minutes casting some quick spells for them. Once I’d done that and was ready, Collin, Fixx, and I started heading towards the other button, and towards our opponents. We walked down the ‘street’, keeping an eye out for our opponents, though I was also doing that through the eyes of my scouts.

“Stoppable is the closest,” I pointed out when we were close. “He’s heading in this direction.”

“I’ll get a better look,” Collin told me as he went to the ‘brick wall’ of a building and began to climb it as though he was Spider Man.

Collin’s powers usually let him create a field that caused anyone near him to get stuck in it, but lately he’d been working on sticking himself to it instead. It had worked, and now he was able to create small patches of this field around his body, or even just his hands and feet, and use them to stick himself to things…like walls. He climbed up the wall, then looked out in the direction where I’d indicated Stoppable was. After a few seconds, he gave Fixx and I a thumbs up.

Stoppable arrived minute later, only to find himself confronted by Fixx, who stood right in his path. Once Stoppable stopped and stared at Fixx with an eager grin, I stepped out into view, or at least one of my illusions did.

“I’ve got two of the losers with me,” Stoppable announced over his radio. “Fix a flat and that faerie bitch.”

“I think we need to have a talk,” Fixx told him with a deceptively pleasant smile. “I’d appreciate it if you’d stay away from Porcelain.”

“From that stupid little doll?” Stoppable asked in surprise. Then he burst out laughing. “Dolls are meant to be broken. Maybe I’ll let my sister break your doll just like she does all her Barbies…”

Fixx scowled at that and I saw a flash of anger in his face. Then he opened fire with his gun, hitting Stoppable right in the chest with a round that suddenly exploded, knocking the large boy back. Stoppable was obviously startled at that, then he looked down and realized his leather jacket had been ruined. Suddenly, he became very angry.

“I’m gonna break every bone in your body for that,” Stoppable exclaimed, suddenly charging at Fixx with his sledgehammer.

Fixx dove to the side while a faerie flew in and exploded in Stoppable’s face, blinding him with a burst of bright light. That was followed up with another faerie which hit him with a full charge of glamour. I stood back and watched as Stoppable began swinging his sledge hammer around at random, smashing the ground and then the wall of one building. Then the sledgehammer suddenly became stuck and wouldn’t come loose, even though Stoppable pulled.

“What the hell?” Stoppable exclaimed, obviously confused as to why his hammer was stuck to the side of the building. Then he heard Collin laughing and looked up. Collin had stuck himself to the side of the building and had extended his field down to where it now trapped Stoppable’s hammer. “You bastard…”

Stoppable let go of the hammer and backed away, probably so he wouldn’t accidentally get stuck himself. I just smiled and sent several illusions towards him, ones that looked like Fixx. Stoppable swung at one of them with his fist and then another.

Then I was suddenly aware of several of my faeries vanishing from my awareness, ones that I’d left with Dana. I shifted my attention to the other faeries with her and saw that Switchblade had tried making a run on our button, only to have spells go off. Now Switchblade not only had to go through Dana, but the illusions that suddenly came into being making it look like there were eight more pedestals with buttons scattered around the courtyard as well.

“Sphere is dealing with Switchblade,” I called out to my friends with a grin. He was fast, but there was no way he was going to reach our button.

“The ball bitch is guarding their button,” Switchblade called out over the radio. “I need help getting past her…”

“I’ve got the other three with me,” Stoppable exclaimed in annoyance.

Switchblade made another run towards the button, though he’d targeted the wrong one and his hand went right through it. He snarled and manifested a knife in his hand, then glared at Dana for a moment before charging straight at her at high speeds. However, he suddenly had a golden energy bubble around himself before he even reached her, but not before he dropped something that looked like a metal baseball onto the ground. Seconds later, the metal ball exploded, knocking Dana back and distracting her enough that she dropped the force field holding Switchblade.

“Thank you Balderdash,” Switchblade exclaimed with a laugh, pulling out another grenade and throwing it at Dana. However, the grenade was suddenly captured in a golden force field bubble in mid-air and exploded without harm. “Damn… I can’t get past her…”

“I can use your help here,” Stoppable announced. “Too many to hit at once…”

Switchblade glared at Dana, then turned and ran away before she could catch him. I turned to Fixx, who’d just fired another explosive round at Stoppable and said, “I need what we talked about…”

“Gotcha,” Fixx exclaimed, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a ball of twine, which he then tossed to me.

“I can’t get close enough to him do lock him in place,” Collin called out, having climbed down from the wall. He was glaring at Stoppable, who was currently being held back only by Fixx, who’d hit the ground in front of him with a patch of oil.

“We’ll have company real soon,” I told my friend as I ran the twine through the hole in Needle’s pommel and tied it tight. Then I made sure I had a lot of slack before throwing the rest of the ball to Collin and called out, “Hold this for me.” Collin didn’t catch the ball of twine, but I hadn’t really been aiming at him. The ball landed in the middle of the flytrap field he had going on around him, which held that end of the long strand firmly in place.

Fixx opened fire on Stoppable again, this time shooting at his feet. There was a burst of mist where the round hit, and suddenly Stoppable slipped and fell right on his butt. When Stoppable tried getting to his feet again, his hands and feet kept slipping out from under him, reminding me of the last time those two had fought. At any other time, I would have been laughing my butt off. Then While Stoppable was on the ground, Fixx fired another round at him, but this time the effects were the exact opposite. This time, Stoppable suddenly seemed stuck to the ground, unable to lift himself up. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn he’d just been caught in Collin’s powers, but Collin was too far away.

“That was my glue round,” Fixx said with a casual smile. “Magically enhanced, of course.”

“Of course,” I responded wryly. “And be careful. Balderdash has been helping them out with toys.”

I looked through the eyes of one of my faerie scouts that was floating overhead, then I threw Needle as hard as I could. It flew across the street and stuck right into the wall of a building, though the twine that was tied to it trailed behind, hanging only a little slack. A few seconds later, Switchblade came running through at enhanced speeds, running right into my trip wire where he suddenly went flying face first into the ground.

“That has to hurt,” Collin said, starting towards Switchblade to try trapping him before he could get up again.

Switchblade was too fast and was on his feet and out of Collin’s range in moments, and he charged straight towards Fixx. Before Fixx could do anything, Switchblade caught up to him and knocked the potato gun from his hands while slashing out with one of his manifested knives. Fixx cried out in pain and grabbed his arm while Switchblade prepared to slice him again.

“I don’t think so,” I exclaimed, hitting Switchblade from behind with a glamour filled faerie while simultaneously hitting Fixx with another faerie, one that contained one of my slippery field spells. If Switchblade tried grabbing him, he’d have a hard time doing so.

Fixx was hurt, but he wasn’t completely helpless. While Switchblade was distracted by whatever he was now seeing, Fixx kicked him in the legs, then backed off. He was still holding his injured arm instead of doing anything else, so it looked like he was pretty much out of the fight. I grimaced, absently wondering what would happen if Fixx used his enhancement powers on some medical supplies. It might be worth looking into once this whole thing was over.

After a moment, I focused my attention and began casting another spell. A few seconds later, Switchblade looked around frantically and saw Centurion coming to help him. With a grin, he went to join his teammate, only to find his feet suddenly stuck to the ground. Only then did Centurion vanish, revealing that it was actually Collin with an illusion over him.

“Gotcha,” Collin said.

“I know all these damn birds aren’t really here,” Switchblade exclaimed, holding up a manifested knife in each of his hands. Then he glared at Collin and said, “I might be stuck, but you ain’t getting any closer. And as soon as Centurion arrives for real, you’re toast.”

“Oh, I’m scared of your knives,” Collin responded wryly. He pulled out his tactical baton and grinned. “There’s a reason I got this thing as a holdout. It extends my reach.”

Collin swung his baton at Switchblade, who couldn’t back up or move away. He hit the other boy in the arm, causing him to open his hand so the manifested knife vanished. However, a moment later, the manifested knife returned, not that it did much good since Collin not only had the ability to move around and maneuver, he also had a longer reach.

“Heads up,” I called out to my friends. “Centurion is incoming.”

Collin nodded at that, then suddenly lunged forward, releasing his power as he did so. Switchblade instinctively backed away from the attack, only to have Collin suddenly drop low and swing the baton at his ankles. A moment later, Switchblade fell backwards and hit the ground, only to find that Collin had activated his powers again and now held him trapped and even more helpless than before.

I hesitated a moment, then I reached out through the link I had to one of my faeries in order to check on Dana. She was standing guard next to our button, looking alert but a little bored at the same time. There was something that I’d been wanting to try for awhile, and now seemed the right time to do so. I created a quick spell, one of the ones I’d learned from my dreams when Vauldrene had used ghostly voices to confuse the enemies and lead them off course. I sent that illusion to one of the faeries near Dana and released it.

“Sphere,” my voice came out from the faerie. “Stoppable and Switchblade are down and we’ve got Centurion incoming. We can use your help over here.”

“Who says we need a radio?” Dana asked with a chuckle before a golden force field bubble formed around her and she lifted up into the air. I had a feeling that she wouldn’t have any difficult finding us, especially since she’d be able to spot the chaos from the air.

I hesitated a moment, suddenly realizing that I had an opportunity, one that I couldn’t afford to ignore. I giggled almost maniacally as I cast a couple quick spells, deciding that this was going to be fun. Sure, this wasn’t anything like leading an idiot on a merry chase while letting him think he might have a chance at catching me, but then again…

Several seconds later, Centurion came into view, holding his sword. The blade was gold metal and was cracking with electricity, which immediately drew my attention to it. Since my mage sight confirmed that this wasn’t due to magic, it had to be a device of some sort. In spite of her protests in Delarose’s office, Balderdash had definitely been helping them out.

Centurion stopped and stared in surprise at the sight in front of him. Collin was crouched down over the defeated Switchblade while Fixx had similarly posed himself next to Stoppable, as if to brag ‘I did this’. Of course, Fixx was also busy trying to put a bandage on his arm which took away from some of the ‘badass’ posing.

“So this is going to be three against one,” Centurion announced calmly.

“I thought you liked fighting three against one,” I responded with a forced smile. “I mean, you and your two buddies jumped me from behind and ganged up on me three to one when you put me in the hospital.”

“And we should have hurt you more,” Centurion answered with a cold glare. “You’re too stupid to take the hint and leave Whateley… We don’t need an MCO spy here…”

I burst out laughing at that, then told him, “Don’t make me laugh. This has absolutely nothing to do with my being with the MCO. Hell, you didn’t even know I was connected to them when you jumped me. This is just because I bruised your ego and you had to throw a temper tantrum over it.”

“Why does everyone keep calling you a spy?” Dana asked with a chuckle as her golden force field bubble settled to the ground a short distance away. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever told the MCO anything about what you’ve seen. If anything, you’re spying on them instead.”

“I don’t know,” I responded with a shrug. “I mean, my only responsibilities are to fetch coffee and do a little public relations.”

“Well, you did keep them from arresting me,” Collin pointed with a smirk. “And you kept those guys from harassing Grit…”

“And don’t forget,” Dana added with a broad grin of her own. “You helped me give an official statement against that asshole Owens…” Then she snorted sarcastically. “Yeah, you’re really a threat.”

“Enough of this,” Centurion snapped, glaring at me with a look of hate. “I don’t care if it is four against one. I’ll still kick your ass again…”

Normally, I had no problem at all with the idea of outnumbering an opponent and using ‘unfair’ tactics to take them down. However, this time my goal wasn’t just to take Centurion down but to make a point while doing so. That meant I couldn’t resort to my favored tactics, otherwise I would have just run off and let him chase me. After all, the arena was set up in a way that would have suited my free running style pretty well.

“No,” I finally said, not taking my eyes from Centurion. “For this part, it’s just going to be you and me. But admittedly, if you take me down, my friends are still going to try to win the match.”

“Understood,” Dana said with a grim look. Her force field dropped and she stepped back, making it clear that she wasn’t going to interfere.

“Gwen,” Collin started, giving me a worried look.

I just smiled, knowing that that in spite of wanting to help me, he wouldn’t be able to do so without releasing Switchblade. He might not like it any more than I did, but he knew what was at stake and why I was doing this.

“So you’re going to fight me fair and square?” Centurion demanded suspiciously.

I just laughed at that, then admitted, “I never said I was going to follow YOUR rules…”

“I didn’t think so,” Centurion snorted with a look of disgust.

Then he suddenly swung his sword and a burst of electricity jumped from the blade and shot through the air like a bolt of lightning. Centurion had aimed it right at me, or at least what he’d thought was me. But instead of hitting me, it went through the illusion copy that I’d been using as a decoy, hitting a wall instead.

While Centurion was standing there with a look of confusion, I called Needle back to my hand. It had still been embedded in the wall from when I’d used it to trip Switchblade, but my blade immediately came loose and flew through the air and back to my hand. Without saying a word, I threw it again, missing Centurion, though I hadn’t been aiming at him. Instead, I ran to the side, calling Needle back again.

Fixx’s magically augmented twine was about as strong as steel cable, and it was still tied to Needle. Thanks to the way I’d been throwing Needle and calling it back, I’d been pulling the twine around Centurion in order to wrap him up. Even someone of his strength would have a hard time getting through something as strong as this twine currently was. Of course, I still had a few more passes to go before he’d be tangled up enough for this to have much effect.

Before I could tangle Centurion up completely, he swung his sword down and sliced through the twine. I called Needle back to myself, then untied the remaining section of twine from it since that was no longer going to be an option. Then again, I hadn’t expected that to take Centurion down, only to annoy him and kill a little time.

“I’m gonna cut you to pieces,” Centurion exclaimed, swinging his sword and firing another blast of electricity at me. I dove aside and avoided what was certain to be a very painful shock. “Come here and fight me with that stupid knife…”

Centurion was strong, tough, and he could heal at a very quick rate. His biggest weakness, until this point, had been his complete lack of any kind of ranged attack. Unfortunately, that sword of his did a very good job of removing that weakness. Of course, my own weakness was that I didn’t have much offensive capability, but I’d been working on fixing that as well.

With that, I sent a mental command to my faeries, ordering a dozen of them to descend and hover in the air between Centurion and myself. Once that was done and I’d set the battle field, I made my move, sending a glamour laden faerie to hit him. He staggered as the hallucinations started, but he’d dealt with my hallucinations enough that he’d learned how to ignore them. Still, that kind of constant distraction could only help me.

“Take this bastard out,” Switchblade called from where he was still held down. “Once I’m free, I can get their button…”

Centurion grinned at that and immediately turned to attack Collin, not seeming to care about the fact that this was supposed to be a one on one fight. I snarled and sent one of my faeries to him, activating the spell stored inside. Before Centurion could release another blast of electricity from his sword, my faerie suddenly exploded in his face, knocking him back and cracking his helmet.

“What the hell?” Dana blurted out in surprise.

“What was that?” Centurion demanded as he removed his now ruined helmet. He glared at me with a look of hate.

“A fireball,” I answered with a grin. “You see, every time I tried casting a fireball spell…it blew up in my face. So I figured, why not store the spell and activate it when it’s a little further away from me…”

I sent a second faerie flying at Centurion and it exploded as soon as it came in contact with him, not seeming to do him much damage though it did have an impact on his armor. It wasn’t quite as ruined as his helmet, but with one or two more faeries it would be.

“Kamikaze pixies,” Collin exclaimed in surprise.

“And guess how many I have?” I asked Centurion with a smirk, gesturing to the floating minefield I’d set up between the two of us. His eyes widened in realization, though he didn’t know that I was bluffing a bit as well. After all, only a fraction of those faeries were loaded with the explosion spell. Some of them had other surprises waiting instead.

Instead of charging straight through the mine field like I’d expected, Centurion snarled and swung his sword, sending a burst of lightning right through the middle of my faerie cluster. Several of my faeries were destroyed by the blast, but it hadn’t triggered some kind of chain reaction that would have destroyed them all like he might have hoped. In response, I sent two more faeries after him, and he tried to dodge, though it did little good. One faerie hit him and exploded while another one released a flash of light in front of him which left him momentarily blind. That gave me the opportunity to cast another quick spell which created a couple of illusion copies of myself.

“Let me go,” Switchblade yelled at Collin, who was busy watching me and Centurion.

Stoppable snarled similar demands to Fixx, adding, “You know I’m gonna fuck you up when I get loose…”

Fixx just smiled and responded, “You know, I have a roll of duct tape and I’m not afraid to gag you…”

Dana just yelled out, “Go kick his butt…”

Centurion recovered his vision enough to see, only to realize that there were several versions of me to choose from. He charged at the nearest one, only to have another flying faerie bomb fly into his face and explode. He was knocked back a bit and his face looked a little burned and blistered, but not too badly. Obviously, his enhanced toughness and regeneration were really doing a good job of protecting him. I just wondered if I could somehow force him to drop his powers long enough to really hit him.

Then I briefly shifted attention to several of my faerie scouts and grinned. It was time to try something else. I cast another quick illusion spell and a moment later, I now appeared to be Switchblade while Centurion looked like Collin. Centurion paused, obviously confused as to why I’d made myself look like one of his friends when it had only made me stand out from my illusion copies and helped to identify the real me. Of course, this little stunt wasn’t about tricking him. This one was targeted at someone else.

“What are you up to?” Centurion demanded, though I didn’t answer.

After only a few more seconds, Slingshot ran into view and saw what appeared to be Collin going towards Switchblade. She didn’t hesitate long enough to take a closer look at the situation before raising her hands and firing a force blast right at ‘Collin’. She hit Centurion with her blast and sent him flying, while the illusion vanished in the process. Then she just stood there, staring at her boyfriend in stunned confusion.

“Bekka?” Centurion demanded. “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be guarding our button…”

“But you told me to come help,” Slingshot responded in confusion.

I just smirked at that since I was actually the one who’d called her. After I’d used an audible illusion to send a message to Dana, I’d done the same to Slingshot, making it sound like Centurion had called her to help from her radio. Now she’d left their button unguarded and had just blasted her boyfriend as well.

“That bitch must have tricked you somehow,” Centurion exclaimed angrily.

“You think?” Dana called out with a laugh. “She’s making a habit of doing that.”

“Enough of this crap,” Centurion exclaimed, suddenly swinging his sword and firing a bolt of electricity at me again. I dove to the side to avoid being hit. At the same time, Slingshot fired a blast at Collin, proving that I may have made a gross tactical error in bringing her into the fight as well.

“Sphere,” I called out, knowing that she was our best defense.

Collin dove to the side while Dana formed a force field bubble around him, making sure to protect him from Slingshot’s blast. However, this all distracted Collin enough that he’d dropped his power and now Switchblade was getting back to his feet. Without a word, Switchblade charged straight at me, going around the faeries I’d set up as an obstacle.

“Gotcha now,” Switchblade exclaimed, rushing at me with enhanced speed.

I only had a second to react, but I knew that Switchblade had a hard time maneuvering or making quick direction changes while moving fast, so I immediately dropped down and swept my leg out. He was moving so fast that he ran right into my leg kick and went flying face first into the ground again. With that, I jumped on him, grabbing his hand and pulling one of his fingers back so that he screamed in pain. I pulled his entire arm back behind his back in what was a very painful manner for him, then drove his face right into the ground with a loud smack. His nose was gushing blood from the impact, and I suspected I may have broken it.

“You green haired BITCH,” Centurion exclaimed furiously, coming right at me.

“Drop him here,” Collin exclaimed, now free of Dana’s force field. He gestured to the area in front of him, which was shimmering, showing that he’d activated his powers again.

“Gotcha,” Dana responded.

I jumped back from Switchblade as one of Dana’s force field bubbles appeared around him. He was lifted into the air and then carried over to where Collin was standing, then he was released to drop right back into the flytrap field. He was caught just as firmly as he’d been before.

Slingshot looked as though she was about to fire another shot at Collin to free Switchblade again, but Fixx said, “I don’t think so.”

Fixx held up his heavily modified squirt gun and fired. Two streams of liquid came out, combining almost immediately into a single stream and then spraying much further than any squirt gun would normally allow. However, Fixx was a devisor and they tended to bend the laws of physics when they built things. At first, nothing happened, but after several seconds, the liquid he’d sprayed onto the ground caught fire, creating an actual wall of flame that was about four feet high. The wall completely separated Slingshot from Collin, which wouldn’t prevent her from blasting him, but it did make quite a statement.

“Why don’t we both sit the rest of this one out,” Fixx said, holding his squirt gun and making it clear that this wasn’t a suggestion.

Centurion stood there with his ruined armor, his sword still clutched firmly in hand. Sparks danced along the golden blade, letting me know that I didn’t just have to worry about it cutting me if I got too close. I absently wondered what was powering it and when the batteries would die, until I realized that Centurion himself was probably the power source. After all, he was an energizer, so Balderdash had probably made the sword to tap into his internal energy, the same energy that powered his other abilities.

After a moment, Centurion fired another blast of electricity at me, and I had to run and dodge it. He was still under the effects of my glamour, as demonstrated by his occasionally swinging his blade at something only he could see, but he was doing a damn good job of ignoring the hallucinations. And unfortunately, I’d already used up most of the spells I’d cast in advance, and I wasn’t getting the opportunity to cast any new ones. Right then, I threw just about everything I had left at him, but he began picking off my faeries before they could get close enough to blow up in his face.

I was growing frustrated and even a little afraid. I could easily run away from Centurion and he wouldn’t be able to catch me, though the lightning blasts might be a problem. However, that wouldn’t solve my real problem. If I wanted to really end this, I would have to take him down and do it in such a way that he’d remember it. I’d have to show him that I was no victim to be pushed around, and that meant actually facing him head on. Unfortunately, his strength, toughness and sword all made that something of a suicidal option.

“Get over here you cheating bitch,” Centurion demanded. “It’s time to end this.”

“You’re right,” I said grimly. “It is time to end it.”

With that, I drew magic from the ley lines and then released it in a burst, creating a new wave of faerie hobgoblins. I sent all of them flying right at Centurion, keeping him distracted while I drew Needle. Then as he turned to swat at the faeries, I threw Needle, hitting him in the back of his leg, right below in the middle of his calf. His powers made him very tough, but Needle was made of magical metal and was still able to hurt him, much to my relief. I hadn’t been sure until just then. Centurion cried out in pain and dropped to one knee while I called Needle back to me.

“I’m gonna kill you,” Centurion threatened as he got back up, putting all his weight on the leg that hadn’t been injured.

Instead of responding to verbally, I let Needle answer for me. I threw Needle again, this time sinking it into his shoulder and making him drop the sword. Once again, I called Needle back to me, this time activating the magical switch that turned it into a spear. While Centurion was distracted by the pain and my remaining fairies, I charged him, only to swing Needle at his feet, knocking them out from underneath him and dropping him to the ground. I followed that up with a swift kick to his groin, which I’d hoped would hurt a little even with his toughness. He grunted, which I took as a good sign.

“Do you honestly think you have a chance at winning?” Centurion demanded as he reached over for his sword.

I just struck with Needle, driving the tip of my spear right through the back of his hand and pinning it to the ground. There was no way he was going to reach that sword of his, but more importantly, it was time that I made my point…in more ways than one.

“I’ve already won,” I told Centurion with a faint smirk. Then I raised my voice loud enough to make sure his friends could hear me as well. “I just pushed your team’s button a few seconds ago.”

With that, there was a loud buzzing sound from above us and Delarose’s voice announced, “The match is over. Team Absinthe wins.”

I pulled Needle out of Centurion’s hand and let it shrink back to normal size. My opponent held his pierced hand, giving me a look of confusion and hate as he got back to his feet. “No way,” he spat out bitterly. “You’re right here…”

“Who says I’m really here?” I asked him in an innocent voice. “I mean, I might very well just be an illusion while the real Absinthe went and pushed your button while it was unguarded…”

The truth was, after I’d lured Slingshot away from their button, I’d kept several of my faeries there to watch it until just the right time. Once I thought it would be dramatic enough, I’d had my faeries push the button for me. I won the game by remote.

I looked Centurion in the eyes and simply said, “I win…you lose.”

“Way to go,” Dana exclaimed with a loud laugh.

“We did it,” Collin said, dropping his field and releasing his prisoner. “We won…”

“You’re a bunch of damn cheaters,” Switchblade said bitterly.

Fixx just looked down at Stoppable and said, “That stuff that’s holding you should wear off in just a few more minutes… If this had gone any longer, I would have had to duct tape you to keep you stuck.”

“Fuck you,” Stoppable told him. “This ain’t over…”

I walked away from Centurion and went to join my friends, who were all excited by our win. “How in the world did you pull that off?” Collin asked. “I mean, you were right here…”

I willed one of my faeries to land on my shoulder and take a bow, which immediately got my friends to burst out laughing. Dana shook her head and said, “You had that planned the whole time, didn’t you…?”

I just smiled at that, letting her think that I had. The truth was, I’d come up with the idea at the time I’d delivered the messages to her and Slingshot. After I’d lured Slingshot away from their button, I’d realized just how easy it would be to have my faeries go and push it while they were there keeping watch.

Suddenly, Collin yelled, “Look out,” and dove at me, knocking me back just an instant before Centurion’s fist went through where my head had been. Instead of hitting me, Centurion’s attack caught Collin in the side and sent him flying backwards.

“COLLIN,” I cried out in horror, caught between wanting to rush over to check on him and needing to deal with Centurion.

“You bastard,” Dana exclaimed with a cold anger, her force field bubble appearing around her body.

“No,” I said coldly, forming a ball of green faerie fire in my hand. “I’ve got this…”

Centurion stared at me for a moment and burst out laughing. “You really think I’m going to fall for your bluff? I know that’s just an illusion….”

“Yes it is,” I responded with a grimace, throwing the ball of faerie fire at Centurion, who was suddenly engulfed in green flames. An instant later, he screamed in pain and dropped to the ground where he flailed around. “But illusions can fool more than just your sense of sight. For example, I can fool your sense of touch too…making it feel like you really are on fire.”

“Centurion,” Slingshot cried out in horror.

“Holy shit,” Dana blurted out, looking shocked.

I let the faerie fire vanish, leaving Centurion on the ground without a hint of having been burned, or at least none that hadn’t been caused by my kamikaze faeries earlier. I immediately dropped down beside him and had Needle at his throat, making it very clear that he had better not make any sudden movements. For the first time, Centurion stared at me with a look of fear in his eyes.

“I wasn’t planning on using that trick,” I commented almost casually. “It seemed just a little too cruel, but you’ve made me change my mind.”

“Gwen,” Collin gasped as he sat up, looking like he was in pain.

I grimaced at that, then looked Centurion in the eyes again. “I’m tired of playing this game of cat and squirrel,” I told him in a cold and quiet voice. “Our fight…it ends NOW.”

Switchblade blurted out, “Don’t hurt him…” He looked like he really was worried about his friend, even adding, “Please…”

“He’s a lot more loyal than someone like you deserves,” I told Centurion with an almost pleasant smile, which I was sure didn’t reach my eyes. “Ian Henderson.” Centurion’s eyes widened as I used his real name, one he’d been careful to avoid using at Whateley. I looked at Switchblade and Slingshot, adding, “Rebecca Carlton and Lewis Braekowski…” They both looked surprised as well. “Yes, I know who you are, where you’re from, and even who your parents are…” This information had all come from Phase, not that I was going to tell them the source.

“You’re threatening our families,” Slingshot exclaimed, suddenly looking even more worried than she had at my having a knife to her boyfriend’s throat.

“No,” I stated, making sure to look her in the eyes. “Not in the least. But if any of you ever comes after me or my friends again, I’m going to send a letter to your families…telling them all about how the three of you jumped a girl from behind and put her in the hospital. I’m sure that will go over real well with your families…”

Centurion’s eyes went wide at that while Slingshot and Switchblade both went pale. “You wouldn’t,” Switchblade protested nervously. “You don’t have any proof…”

“Do you really think I need proof for that?” I asked him flatly. The look on his face was enough to show that he understood and didn’t like what the results would be.

With that, I pulled Needle away from Centurion’s throat and backed away from him. However, I didn’t put Needle away just yet. He slowly got back to his feet, looking more than a little shaken.

“That’s just not right,” Slingshot said, giving me a dirty look that made me glad she couldn’t kill with her looks. “That’s…not fair.”

“I never said I played fair,” I responded grimly. “Now fuck off and leave me alone.”

I made a show of turning my back on Centurion, knowing that he wouldn’t dare try anything again. And if he did, Dana was keeping a close watch and would react to immediately deal with him. I was done with Centurion and his friends so turned my attention to Collin instead.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, giving him a worried look.

“I think he may have broke something,” Collin admitted with a wince of pain. He was standing up, which I took to be a good sign, but he was using Fixx for support. “But I’ll be fine…”

I gave Collin a gentle hug, thankful that he was all right. “Thanks,” I told him quietly, knowing that if he hadn’t interfered, Centurion probably would have killed me. Then on an impulse, I leaned over and gave him a kiss. He didn’t protest or try to pull away, which I took to be an even better sign. “Now let’s get out of here…”

--------------------

I staggered towards Crystal Hall with my friends, moving like a zombie and letting out a loud yawn as I did so. Unfortunately, I hadn’t slept well last night and really could have used another hour or so in bed. In fact, if it wasn’t for my growling stomach, which was insistently demanding breakfast, I would have just stayed in bed to get what little extra sleep I could.

I couldn’t help but thinking about the arena match yesterday, which was a large part of the problem. The event had been exhausting, but I couldn’t get my mind off the subject and had ended up thinking about it for half the night. Even now, it was hard to really think about anything else.

After the match was over, we’d been met at the exit by a healer who used his powers to fix Collin’s cracked ribs and bruised shoulder. Then we’d been forced to sit through a debriefing with Chief Delarose and Officer Everheart before we were finally released to go celebrate our victory. Before long, Dana and Jinx had gone to the room they used to share in order to celebrate in private.

Even though we’d won the match, I couldn’t help but thinking about the mistakes we’d made and what we might have been able to do better. Should I have been more subtle with how I’d dealt Centurion, perhaps taking him out without him even realizing I’d done it? Or maybe I should have been less subtle and poked him a few more times with Needle. After all, the whole reason for the match was that I needed to make a point, and Needle had a very sharp one.

One of the other things I worried about was the fact that we’d had an audience, which was something I’d forgotten all about while the whole thing had been happening. Now that it was over, I realized that I may have revealed too many of my tricks. Until now, very few people had any idea of just how much control I had over my faeries or what I could really do with them. But now, it would be open knowledge. Everyone would know I could control them remotely, use them to spy on people, and even store things like my explosion spells in them. I had a feeling that this could come back to bite me in the butt later on. After all, my biggest advantage had always been the fact that people underestimated what I was capable of.

With a shake of my head to clear it, I looked to Dana, who was loudly complaining about having to get up so early. I rolled my eyes at that, wondering what she had to complain about. After all, she’d not only had two cups of espresso already, but she was also an exemplar and was wide awake and full of energy as soon as she woke up anyway. I suspected that her complaints about the morning were mostly a mixture of habit and just general principal.

As we got into line to get food, Dana began piling waffles and bacon onto her plate, enough to feed a family of six for a single meal. I shook my head and was a little more sparing, grabbing only one waffle and then hesitating over the bacon for a few seconds before deciding not to bother. Lately, meat in general just hadn’t been all that appetizing for me, and I’d thought it was because of the way the Whateley cooks prepared it. However, I’d recently learned that it was a Sidhe thing. Apparently, the Sidhe didn’t eat a lot of meat and a lot of them were straight vegetarian.

“I’ll be damned if I become a vegetarian,” I muttered, changing my mind and taking a single piece of bacon just on general principal.

A few minutes later, we were sitting down at our normal table, but this morning it was a bit more crowded than usual. It seemed that Half the Poe freshmen wanted to sit with us this morning so they could talk about the match. Cindy and Lina usually ate breakfast with us, but Breakdown, Downpour, Shawn, and Hardwyrd were only occasional presences at our table. This morning, not only did we have all of them, but Voodude as well.

“That was fucking awesome,” Lina exclaimed with a broad grin. “I mean, the way you stabbed his hand with your spear…”

“Personally,” Breakdown commented thoughtfully. “I liked the way Fixx glued Stoppable to the ground…”

There were a few nods, but since Fixx wasn’t a Poe resident, his contributions to the fight tended to get overlooked a bit with this crowd. The same thing was true for Collin, though Dana and I both got a lot of praise for what we’d done.

“I barely even got a chance to fight,” Dana complained. “I mean, sure I got to mess with Switchblade a bit, but he isn’t a real challenge…”

“I thought you did great,” Jinx assured her. “I mean, you were there to watch Gwen’s back…”

“Oh, I watched it all right,” Dana responded with a smirk that made me blush while Jinx elbowed her. Then she gave an exaggerated sigh and told me, “No offense, but I wish they weren’t calling us Team Absinthe…”

“It’s because we didn’t actually pick a team name before it started,” I pointed out with a shrug. I certainly hadn’t picked that team name either.

Dana nodded at that, then added, “Next time, we’ll need to come up with a team name then…”

“Next time?” Jinx asked in surprise.

Cindy nodded and said, “Yeah, I think you guys make a pretty good training team. You should make it official.”

I just laughed at that, then reminded everyone, “We were pretty good together, but we aren’t a training team. Besides, this was a one time thing.”

“Well, you are going to need a training team sooner or later,” Cindy pointed out. “You might as well stick with one that works.”

Dana had a thoughtful look before telling me, “She does have a point.”

“What I thought was neat,” Downpour said, speaking quietly as she always did. The fact that she was talking at all was enough to make everyone pause to listen. “What I thought was near was how you got Centurion to admit that he was the one who jumped you.”

“What?” I asked in surprise as well as confusion. “How’d you know that?”

“We heard it,” Jinx pointed out with a smirk. “Everyone did.”

Dana and I both stared at her and blurted out, “What?” Then I added, “How’d you hear that? I mean, I know they showed footage of the match, but I thought there wasn’t any sound with it…”

“There wasn’t at first,” Jinx said.

“Normally there isn’t,” Cindy told us. “I mean, I know that they do record it all and that the guys monitoring the match can hear it, but the audience usually can’t…at least not lately. I think it’s supposed to be a security thing. But while we were watching it, the sound suddenly came on, right when Centurion was bragging about hurting you.”

Breakdown nodded and added, “Rumor is that someone hacked the system, though I don’t know who.”

Jinx just laughed and said, “Wow, it sure was lucky that it happened right then…”

I just thought about it for a moment and, “Everheart,” came out of my mouth without my really thinking about it. I wasn’t sure why, but I was suddenly sure that she had something to do with the sound being turned on at that point. I didn’t have any real reason to think she was involved, but I was still pretty sure it was her anyway. That probably meant my esper abilities were acting up.

“So anyway,” Lina said with a smirk. “Everyone in the audience heard Centurion bragging about how he jumped you…”

“And we heard what you were saying about the MCO,” Breakdown added. “I mean, about doing public relations stuff instead of spying…”

“Unfortunately,” Lina said with a look of disappointment. “The sound turned off again as soon as you won. I mean, you kicked Centurion’s ass again after that, and I couldn’t even hear what you said to him…”

Dana just burst out laughing at that, then said, “She threatened him and his friends with the worst thing possible…” Everyone stared at her expectantly and she just held off a few more seconds to give a nice dramatic pause before adding, “She threatened to tell their parents what they were up to.”

“Ouch,” Cindy responded with a smirk while everyone at the table began chuckling at that.

Normally, that kind of thing would be frowned upon and was against some unspoken rules, but I didn’t particularly care. What I cared about was making sure that those idiots left me alone from now on. After that demonstration, I was pretty sure they would.

Unfortunately, Delarose hadn’t been thrilled with my threat and had actually chewed me out for it during our debriefing. Actually, he hadn’t been so upset about my threat to tell their parents but by the fact that I’d used their real names in the arena. Apparently, we were only supposed to use codenames while in the Arena for security reasons, but I hadn’t known that. But in spite of how angry he’d appeared, I couldn’t help but noticing the hint of amusement in his aura over my unusual tactic.

“I thought threating families was a huge no no,” Breakdown commented, looking just a little confused.

“It is,” Dana agreed. “But as Abbie here pointed out to Delarose during our debriefing, she never threatened their families at all. She just said she’d send them a letter…and there aren’t any rules against that.”

“Sometimes you can get away with a lot by following the letter of the rules,” I commented self-consciously, hoping that Dad never heard me admit that.

While we were eating, various people kept coming over to congratulate Dana and I on our victory. I was a little surprised by some of them since there were not only people I’d never met, but a few who I was pretty sure didn’t like me. Still, it seemed that they’d enjoyed the show if nothing else.

Rapier came over and exclaimed, “It was like watching a magic show. I just kept watching to see what trick you’d pull out next.”

“I really thought you were going to get your ass kicked,” Iron Rose told me, then almost reluctantly added, “Good job.”

Caitlin came walking past our table along with a snake girl who was slithering along beside her. She paused long enough to give me an approving nod and said, “I’m glad to see you’re making good use of Needle.”

I just grinned back at her and said, “Yeah, I couldn’t have done it without Needle. Thanks again.”

Caitlin nodded at that, then smiled as she responded, “I was just repaying an old debt. I’ll you this weekend for our run.” With that, she and the snake girl wandered off.

When Jade arrived a minute later, she excitedly told me, “I loved the way you beat them up with pixies… That was awesome… And I really liked that trick where you tied string to your knife, but next time, you might want to use nanowire instead…” She gave me a grin that was almost evil as she added, “You could cut them to pieces instead of just tripping them…”

“Thanks for the advice,” I responded cautiously, though I had to admit, it was actually a really good idea.

The multiple interruptions made it difficult to focus on either eating breakfast or continuing the conversation with those at my table, so by the time breakfast ended and we had to get to class, I was almost glad. At least in class, I’d be able to focus on what was going on without other people constantly coming over to talk with me.

Once it was time for Powers Theory class, I slipped into my usual seat near Collin, Fixx, and Porcelain. The way Collin was sitting suggested that he was still a bit tender from his injuries, even after the healer had fixed him up. Of course, I knew first hand that just because someone uses magic or super powers to heal you, that doesn’t mean you’re back to full health right away.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Collin.

“Not bad,” Collin responded, staring at me with an appreciative look before he quickly tore his eyes away, blushing as he did so. I couldn’t resist smiling faintly at that.

“He’s doing a lot better than Centurion,” Fixx added with a smirk that had us chuckling.

However, Porcelain pointed out, “Except that Centurion has regeneration and will have already recovered from his injuries…”

“Take all the fun out of it,” Fixx teased her, though he was grinning cheerfully as he said it. “If it’s all right with you, I’m going to keep imagining that he’s walking with a really bad limp.”

“You may if you like,” Porcelain responded, sounding faintly amused, though it was difficult to tell with her muffled voice.

“Did you hear about Centurion?” Collin asked me, lowering his voice as class had just started and Dr. Quintain had begun his lecture.

When I shook my head, Fixx added, “Rumor has it that after the match, he was called to Mrs. Caron’s office…”

“What?” I asked in surprise.

“He confessed to attacking you during the match,” Porcelain explained. “I believe that security now has enough evidence to respond to his actions.”

I sat there for a moment, feeling giddy about the idea of Centurion being hauled into Mrs. Carson’s office and actually having to pay for what he did, even if this did take a long time coming. Then something suddenly struck me. Delarose and Everheart had arranged for Centurion and I to settle our differences during this match, and then the sound just happened to be turned on right as Centurion and I ran into each other, then turned off again before I blurted out Centurion’s real name. It was almost like someone was controlling what information had been released to the audience. I couldn’t help but wondering if Delarose and Everheart might have set this whole thing up just as a way to get something on Centurion.

While I was distracted with these thoughts, Fixx continued, “Rumor also has it that he’s been given detention…”

“Detention?” I asked with a sinking feeling. That hardly seemed like a decent punishment for what he’d done.

“For a month,” Fixx continued. Then he paused to smirk before adding, “In the sewers.”

“That sounds…highly unpleasant,” Porcelain said.

“That sounds pretty detailed…for a rumor,” I pointed out wryly.

Fixx just shrugged and told me, “I heard this all from one of the guys in the maintenance department, so it should be pretty reliable. Apparently, the sewer maintenance guys have been notified that Centurion will be working for them for the next month, and if he doesn’t show up or refused to do what they tell him, they’re supposed to report it to Mrs. Carson right away.”

“It sounds pretty disgusting,” Collin said with a grimace. “But he’s still getting off pretty light for what he did…”

“I am not certain of that,” Porcelain commented. When I gave her a curious look, she explained, “I have heard that there are a great many dangerous creatures living in those sewers.”

“I’ve heard that too,” Fixx agreed, nodding emphatically. “I mean, this is Whateley. What do you think happens when some biodevisor flushes a genetically modified goldfish down the toilet, and it gets in with some super soldier serum that someone poured down the drains? Or when some nanites get into the sewage and turn it into a sentient poo monster? I’ve heard from some pretty reliable people that they don’t ever go down there unless they’re heavily armed.”

I was more than a little skeptical of that, though Porcelain stated, “From what I have heard, being expelled may be a preferable punishment to the one that Centurion received.”

“Excuse me,” Dr. Quintain announced, looking straight at us. “I do hope I’m not interrupting your conversation with my lesson…”

I cringed in embarrassment and muttered, “Sorry,” before lowering my head and at least looking like I was paying attention to his lecture. My friends did the same, with even Porcelain somehow seeming embarrassed at having been called out like that.

When lunch arrived, I once again found myself back at my usual table with my friends, though this time it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it had been this morning. The four of us who’d competed in the arena match were present, as were Jinx and Porcelain. Cindy and Lina had also joined us for lunch, but everyone else from Poe seemed to think that they’d already done their congratulating and had returned to their normal routines.

As I sat there, I had my faeries hovering overhead, keeping a watch over the cafeteria and looking out for any potential threats. Normally, most students ignored them, but I noticed a couple people were actually pointing to them. I frowned at that, realizing that thanks to my match, people now realized I was using them as scouts.

From one of my faeries, I did overhear some of a conversation, with one boy gesturing towards my table and saying, “And she’s spying on the MCO for Mrs. Carson…”

I couldn’t resist chuckling at that. That rumor was no more accurate than the one about me spying on the school for the MCO, but it was less likely to get me attacked. Or at least, it was less likely to get me attacked here at school. If some of the people in the MCO like Whells heard it, they’d probably take it to heart and try to act on it.

Once I turned my full attention back to my own table, I realized that Collin kept giving me odd looks before quickly looking away. At first, I thought he might be checking me out again, but then I began to worry that it was something else. I tried to act as though I hadn’t noticed anything, but I was getting worried.

“I think we did damn good yesterday,” Dana said, looking to those who hadn’t been sitting with us during our breakfast conversation. She looked to Cindy and grinned. “Maybe we should make it official…”

“Make what official?” Fixx asked blankly.

“She means,” Jinx pointed out with a grin, “that you guys should become an official training team. You know, get your own team name and everything…”

“What?” I asked in mock hurt. “Isn’t Team Absinthe good enough?”

Almost everyone at the table responded with a resounding, “NO,” at once.

I just grinned and said, “Well I like it…”

“You worked well as a team,” Porcelain said carefully. “When you were working as a team.”

“True,” Collin agreed, not seeming offended by that. “Yesterday was Gwen’s show and the rest of us were just playing backup.” Then he paused for a moment before admitting, “I’m happy to help out, but I’m not sure I’m happy just being a backup player…”

“It was just a one time thing,” I told him, quickly adding, “And I really appreciated it.”

Collin nodded at that, seeming to be pleased by my comment. Then he said, “Admittedly, my powers are a little too specialized for me to be much of a starting player… Hell, Fixx can pretty much do what I do using a bottle of glue.”

“Perhaps,” Porcelain said thoughtfully. “But he cannot instantly release his prisoners, reposition them, or move the trap to a new location. You have a great capacity to remove dangerous players from the battlefield, and working in tandem with Gwen or Dana, you can lead them into your waiting trap.”

“I think your powers are awesome,” I told Collin. “I mean, you can stop teleporters. Who else can do that?”

“Thanks,” Collin told me with a grin.

“You are adept at distraction and misdirection,” Porcelain told me. “And you’ve demonstrated other surprising abilities as well.” She looked at Dana and said, “You have a potent combination of offensive, defense, and maneuverability.”

“You guys are pretty cool,” Fixx agreed.

Then Porcelain turned her full attention to Fixx, and though I couldn’t see her eyes through her mask, I was pretty sure they were locked firmly on him. “You often speak as though you are inferior to other devisors because you do not work with advanced technology, yet you easily convert common items into effective tools. Your versatility could be a great asset to a team.”

“That’s true,” Collin agreed with a grin. “I mean, you turned a squirt gun into a flame thrower. How long did it take you to do that?”

Fixx sat there for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face before responding, “After I had the parts, it took me about fifteen minutes to put everything together, then I had to treat the insides of the tanks and barrels so they wouldn’t dissolve from the ingredients, and that took about an hour to completely dry…”

“There you go,” Jinx told him. “Most devisors would build a flame thrower from scratch and probably spend days making it.”

“You’re like a walking episode of Mythbusters,” Dana told him with a smirk.

“I love that show,” Fixx responded with a broad grin. “I watch it for ideas of things to try at home all the time…”

Dana and I looked at each other, then at one we both blurted out, “It figures.”

“The point I am attempting to make,” Porcelain continued, slowly looking around the table, “is that you have the foundation to be an effective training team, if you learn to work together. You would benefit from additional membership, such as a probability manipulator who can ensure things go your way…” She looked at Jinx as she said that.

Jinx burst out laughing and said, “Sorry, but I’m not the training team type.”

“And we aren’t a training team,” Collin pointed out cheerfully. “We’re just friends.”

Porcelain merely bowed her head at that, then added, “Perhaps. But you should keep this in mind for when it comes time to pick training teams.”

We continued talking about this for the rest of lunch before we all separated to go to our next class. Since my next class was martial arts, I just hoped that Ito or Tolman didn’t put me up against Centurion again. After what we’d gone through yesterday, it would be a good idea to avoid him as much as possible from now on.

My last few classes of the day went the same as always, though a few students and one teacher complimented me on my arena match. However, not everyone was a fan and almost as many said, “You cheated,” or “You just got lucky.” And one guy who was apparently part of a regular simulator team, simply told me, “Wait until you go up against a real team.” Someone else had quickly added that they couldn’t wait to see the Grunts kick my team’s ass.

“We’re not a training team,” I protested several times. “This was just a one time grudge match…”

I was glad when classes finally ended for the day, and as I started back towards Poe, I met up with Dana. “Don’t worry about it,” she told me with a shrug. “In a day or so, everyone will have forgotten all about our match. I mean, I hear the Grunts and the Outcasts have a big sim match coming up and that should take everyone’s minds off some no names like us.”

“I know the Grunts are the junior ROTC,” I told her, also knowing that Slapdash from the Parkour Hooligans was one of their members. “But I don’t know who the Outcasts are…”

Dana just gave me an odd look and burst out laughing. “I think your buddy Eldritch is their leader.”

“Caitlin?” I asked in surprise. When Dana nodded, I imagined the two Hooligans going at each other and said, “I’m definitely going to have to watch that.” If Caitlin could make something like Needle for me, I just had to see whatever she’d made for herself.

A minute later, Dana and I reached Poe, only to find Mrs. Horton standing at the front entrance and talking to petite Asian girl, who looked like she was about nineteen or twenty. I’d never seen her before and didn’t think she was a student, but with the way some of the kids at Whateley looked, it was hard to judge by her age. Maybe a member of the school staff…

They stopped talking as we approached and the Asian woman stared at Dana for a moment before simply saying, “Sphere.”

Dana froze, her eyes going wide while her entire body tensed up. After a moment, she stated, “Twist.”

I was a little confused by what Dana meant, until I realized that this Asian girl had to be Twist. Dana had told me that when she’d been traveling to Whateley and got caught up in a fight with the Liberty League, that she’d ended up fighting a hero called Twist. From what Dana had told me, Twist had actually let her go.

“What are you doing here?” Dana demanded, her voice almost accusatory.

Twist stared at Dana for a moment, though she was much more relaxed than my roommate. “The Liberty League is sponsoring a new student here at Whateley,” Twist finally said, using a casual tone as though talking with a friend. “I just finished getting him settled into Emerson Cottage and thought I’d come over and say hi to Mrs. Horton. I used to live here in Poe after all.”

Dana hesitated a moment, then cautiously asked, “So you’re not here for me?”

Twist smiled faintly at that and shook her head. “No, but it is interesting to run into you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk with you. Maybe we could go into Dunwhich for dinner. My treat.” Then as Dana stared at her in surprise, she added, “I’m not trying to arrest you or anything. As far as I’m concerned, what happened before is over.”

Dana relaxed at that but quickly glanced to Mrs. Horton. When Mrs. Horton just had an amused smile, she looked back to Twist and said, “I’m not telling you where Ja…where Pinball is.”

“And I’m not asking,” Twist assured her. “Just a little friendly conversation. And maybe I can fill you in on what’s happening with that MCO agent responsible for that debacle.”

“Oh, you mean Owens,” Dana said, getting a faint look of surprise in response. She looked a little smug as she added, “The MCO has been keeping me up to date…”

“I’m a little surprised that you’re on such friendly terms with the MCO,” Twist said carefully. “Considering how they were after you…”

“Oh sure,” Dana told her with a chuckle. “Some of my best friends are with the MCO.” Then she gestured to me and said, “This is my roommate Absinthe. She’s with the MCO.”

For about the first time, Twist really looked at me, her expression being one of surprise and confusion. “Okay,” she said, sounding a little skeptical.

“Grace Winslow is my reporting official,” I offered, knowing that she’d know who Grace was if nothing else.

“I see,” Twist responded, still looking a little surprised by that.

Just then, I heard a familiar voice calling out, “Hey Gwen…”

I turned and was a little startled to see Collin coming towards us. He quickly caught up to me, though gave a curious look at Twist.

“Hey,” I greeted him, wondering what was going on. After all, we didn’t have a study session scheduled and we’d be seeing each other at dinner soon anyway.

“Can we talk?” Collin asked me, looking a little nervous. Then he glanced to the others and added, “In private…”

“We can talk in my room,” I said, then paused to glance at Mrs. Horton. Since Collin had already stumbled onto Poe’s secret, even if he didn’t know any of the details, I wasn’t sure if she’d be comfortable with him being here and perhaps finding out more. She stared at Collin for a moment before nodding.

Collin stared back at her and simply said, “I don’t see anything. I don’t hear anything. I don’t say anything.”

“So, you’re saying you’re a monkey?” I teased him while Mrs. Horton smiled.

Twist gave Collin a curious look but didn’t say anything. Dana nodded to me and said, “I guess I’ll see you guys later.” Then as we started inside, she turned back to Twist and commented, “You said your treat… You do know I’m an energizer?”

Collin didn’t say anything as we went inside, though he did seem increasingly nervous. His behavior only made me nervous as well.

When we got to my room, I looked to the violet haired pixie who’d slipped in among my faeries sometime after lunch, and told her, “We’d like a little privacy.”

Violet, as I’d begun thinking of her since she’d never told me her name, nodded at that and then left before I closed the door. Collin watched the exchange with a curious look.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” I said as an explanation. I wasn’t sure if he was ready to believe that there were a group of real pixies living here at Whateley.

“This is Whateley,” Collin reminded wryly. “I’m learning to believe a lot of new things.”

We both chuckled at that for a moment before things settled into an awkward silence. I finally broke it by asking, “So, what’s up…”

“I’ve been thinking about yesterday,” Collin said after a several second hesitation. “About how Centurion nearly took your head off…”

“But you saved me,” I reminded him with a smile.

Collin nodded at that. “But I was worried about you getting hurt, even before then. During the whole part where you were going one on one against him.”

“I was worried too,” I admitted quietly.

During my fight with Centurion, I’d thought about the previous times we’d fought, when he broke my arm while sparring and when he’d put me in the hospital. I’d been very aware of the fact that if he got his hands on me at all, it would all be over. I’d been afraid of him, which was why I’d been so determined to take him down.

“I’ve also been thinking about…that argument we had,” Collin continued in a near whisper. “And our talk when you were in the hospital.”

“Oh,” I said awkwardly, not wanting to talk about that again. The last time we’d talked about it, I’d cried myself to sleep.

“I’ve been thinking about who you used to be,” Collin said, making an effort to look me in the eyes as he did so. However, I had a hard time meeting his gaze. “I wanted you to know that I don’t think of you as Adam. I realized that when I think of you, I only think of you as being Gwen. A lot of times, I completely forget that you weren’t always…”

“It’s getting easier for me to forget too,” I told him wryly. “But…” I paused at that, unable to put it into words.

“I didn’t really know Adam,” Collin told me, sounding almost guilty. “I was a complete and total jerk to him, and I never bothered to know him. But I do know Gwen...and I like her.” He was blushing bright red at that.

My heart was racing at these words, but I didn’t know if it was from happiness or dread. I both anticipated and feared where this conversation might be going since it could go several different ways.

“You’re gorgeous,” Collin exclaimed, now looking beet red. “You’re smart, and funny, and I love how you look at things. I’m always looking forward to seeing what you’re going to pull next…” Then he paused before blurting out, “What I’m trying to say is that I don’t care who you used to be. I like YOU and I want to be with you.”

I stared at Collin for a moment, feeling almost giddy with happiness. At the same time, I felt guilty for feeling that way. After all, I was excited about a guy saying he liked me…

“Are you sure?” I asked him awkwardly. “I mean, I’m a total mess.”

“You don’t seem like a mess to me,” he insisted. I just laughed at that.

“I went through a sex change,” I pointed out bitterly as a part of me actually tried driving him away. I knew the irony of that even as I did it. “A lot of my thoughts and emotions are all confused… The first time I had my period, I freaked out and made half the floor start hallucinating. I share my ancestor’s memories, and last night I dreamed about when she was pregnant. I have to go see a shrink every week…”

“And I don’t care about that,” Collin stated, looking me in the eyes. “I can’t imagine what it would be like going through all that, but I don’t care who you used to be. I care about who you are NOW. I like who you are and I want to be with you…if you’ll have me.”

I just stared at Collin for several seconds, fully aware of the way my heart was racing. Then before I realized it, we were kissing. The feel of his lips on mine was enough to drive back much of the confusion, making me aware that at the moment, I was very much a girl and quite happy about that fact.

For a brief moment, I glanced towards the bedroom door, afraid that Dana would walk in on us at any moment. But then I remembered that she’d gone off to Dunwhich with Twist and probably wouldn’t be back for a few hours. This meant that Collin and I had the room to ourselves until then, and I intended to take full advantage of that time.

--------------------

I was in the middle of a dream, one of THOSE dreams, the kind that I had every few days. Whenever I shared one of Vauldrene’s memories, I never knew what I’d end up experiencing. Sometimes, I shared her greatest moments of fear, shame, or loneliness, while other times I’d get the excitement of outwitting an enemy or the easy joy of dancing among a cloud of pixies. Whatever the dreams were, at the time I had them, they always felt like they were my own experiences, not secondhand memories from a long dead ancestor.

In my current dream, I was a little Sidhe girl, and I was standing in the middle of an open courtyard with a giant Sidhe warrior. Or at least, he seemed like a giant to me, as did all the adults. In his hand, he clutched a spear, one that was twice as tall as I was. I knew father was very proud of that spear and that he said it had saved his life many times.

“Now pay attention Vauldrene,” my father told me with a gentle smile.

With that, my father attacked a training dummy with his spear, then looked at me to do the same. My spear was much smaller than my father’s, but it was all mine and I was very proud of it. I attempted to do as my father showed me, though I did not do so very well. But instead of chastising me for not doing it right, he merely smiled and showed me again. Our lessons with the spear continued for some time before they eventually broken down into a session of my father tickling me, as these lessons often did.

When I woke up, it was with a smile, which was something that I was rarely able to do after one of these dreams. Even Vauldrene’s pleasant memories often left me depressed, due to the fact that I knew what had become of her. Still, this was definitely one of the better ones.

I sat up in bed and looked across the room to Dana, who was still gently snoring from her own bed. I smiled at that, then grabbed the dream journal from my nightstand and quickly began writing down the details of this dream. This was definitely one of the ones I didn’t want to forget. In fact, there was something else I could do to help the memory of this one to stick.

A few minutes later, I was dressed in my workout clothes and making my way down to the Poe basement. Once I was there, I transformed Needle into its spear form, then began to practice some of the moves that I’d learned in my dream. In my dream, the spear moves I’d been taught were basic ones, but they were also similar to the things that Ito had been teaching me in class.

While I was practicing with Needle, trying out the new moves I’d learned from my dream as well as the other things I’d previously been taught, I realized that I wasn’t alone. One of the pixies had come in without my realizing it and was sitting on top of a pile of luggage, watching me as I practiced.

“Hello Blue,” I greeted the blue pixie.

Three of the pixies from the grove kept following me around, but none of them had told me their names. Because of that, I’d simply begun referring to them by their hair colors, Blue, Green, and Violet. Instead of being offended by that, they actually seemed amused. Blue nodded her head in acknowledgement and made no effort to correct me by providing a different name to use.

I took a break and watched Blue for a moment, noting that she was the only one of the pixies who was here, which was rather odd. My most frequent pixie visitor was Violet, while Blue herself was the one I saw the least of. At the same time, Blue also seemed to be the most serious of the group.

After a few seconds, I noticed that Blue was holding a tiny spear of her own. Without a word, she stood up on top of the luggage and made a lunging motion with her spear. She looked to me, then repeated it several more times. I blinked at that, then realized that she wanted me to do the same thing. So I took Needle and copied her movements. She nodded, then made another lunge that was somewhat different. I copied that move as well.

As strange as it was to realize, Blue was actually trying to teach me how to use a spear. I’ve previously been given lessons by Ito, Toni, and from my dreams, but I still paid close attention since the tiny pixie seemed to know what she was doing. We continued these spear lessons for more than an hour before we finally stopped.

Blue flew up into the air and came towards me, pausing to hover about a foot away from my face. She smiled at me, then gave a faint bow before saying, “Until next time, big sister.” And with that, she flew off.

I chuckled at that and mused, “Now that has to be the most unusual teacher I’ve had so far.”

I took a few minutes to practice some of my other movies, then I returned Needle its kunai form and went back upstairs so I could get showered up before breakfast. After that workout, I was feeling pretty hungry, and there was no way I wanted to miss out on Sunday breakfast.

When I got back to my room, I found Dana was already up and was sipping a cup of espresso with a satisfied look on her face. “This stuff is pretty good,” she told me cheerfully. “Are you sure you don’t want me to make one for you?”

“No thanks,” I told her with a wry smile. “You know I’m not a huge fan. I prefer my morning caffeine in the form of hot cocoa.”

“Well, I can steam the milk for that,” Dana pointed out with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes, knowing that she was about to go into a spiel about all the great things her espresso machine can do. I decided to beat her to the punch by exclaiming, “It slices, it dices, and it makes julienne potatoes in nothing flat…” She stared at me for a moment then we both just burst out laughing.

As I got ready to go take my shower, I noticed that I had a missed call on my phone. I was a little startled to see that it was from my Dad, especially since it seemed a bit early for him to be calling me. I debated calling him back when Dana let out a groan.

“Oh yeah,” Dana told me with a sigh. “Last night, Amanda told me that she caught Beltane snooping around the showers. She thinks that she caught her before she could pull anything, but we need to be on the lookout just in case…”

“Good thinking,” I agreed, knowing that if anyone had been lucky enough to ‘accidentally’ stumble across Beltane when she’d been in the middle of setting up a prank, it was Jinx.

Fortunately, there were no surprises in the showers, or at least none other than when Lina got a boner and had a few of the other girls teasing her about it. However, that was pretty common, as was her responding with profanity and the occasional threat of physical violence.

Breakfast was the same as it usually was on the weekends, relatively quiet and laid back since so many students took the opportunity to sleep in. After that, we returned to Poe and I went to work practicing some spells, trying to find some new ones that I could add to my repertoire. Illusion spells were pretty easy, but so many other spells twisted on me when I attempted to cast them, so I hoped that I could find a way to twist them in a way I could use.

It had been more than a week since my fight with Centurion, and though he’d left me alone since then, I didn’t want to let down my guard. Centurion might very well decide to come at me again, regardless of the threats that Chief Delarose or I gave. If that happened, I wanted to be ready. I wanted a few more tricks up my sleeve, especially since I’d revealed too many of them during that match.

“What are you working on this time?” Dana finally asked me, which was being patient of her since I’d been occupying the center of our bedroom during all this practice. She smirked, then asked, “Working on more of those faerie bombs?”

“Not right now,” I told her with a grin. I might not be able to make a proper fireball to throw at someone, but those exploding faeries had been pretty effective. Since they were my only real offensive magic, other than causing illusionary pain, I was definitely going to keep using them. “Right now, I’m working on something else.”

I looked up at my faeries, which were flying around near the ceiling. Most magic users considered hobgoblins to be mistakes, nuisances, and a waste of magic, but I considered mine to actually be the most important part of my power. They were versatile and extremely useful, as I’d demonstrated quite well during that arena match.

One of the most useful things about them was that I could use them as scouts…and as spies. But since I used them to spy on others, I’d become increasingly aware of the fact that other people might very well spy on me the same way. Because of that, I’ve been working on some spells that would let me have a little privacy.

The spell I was currently working on was a combination of three different spells, a very basic anti-eavesdropping spell…which would probably be really easy for someone who knew magic to get around. One was a privacy spell that Mrs. Lauriant had tried teaching me yesterday, though it twisted on me a little whenever I tried casting it. And the third was a spell of my own devising, one which had been inspired by Ripple. Where Ripple’s power let him bend light around himself, this spell actually bent sound, or at least created an illusion of bending sound, creating an area which let no sound in or out, and did it in such a way that it shouldn’t mess with the nearby acoustics. Hopefully, once I’d combined these three spells, I’d have a privacy spell that worked.

Once I was finished with my spell, Dana apparently decided that she’d had enough of being good because she teased me, “So, you and Collin…?”

“We’re just friends,” I told her with a bright blush.

“Yeah, sure,” Dana responded with a smirk. “That’s why he had your lipstick all over his collar…”

I blushed even brighter at that, then reminded her, “I don’t wear lipstick…”

“But you should,” Dana told me with a broad grin. “That way you’d have something to leave on his collar to mark him as yours…”

Dana had a smug look on her face as she added, “You know, Cindy told me that when I was out having dinner with Twist, you and Collin were in here together the whole time…” Then, just when I thought she couldn’t get any worse, she asked, “Did he pop your cherry?”

I nearly choked at that before blurting out, “No… We just kissed…” Then I paused before admitting, “And I let him feel my boobs…through my shirt.”

Dana and I nodded at that, then admitted, “Amanda and I haven’t really done much more than that either…”

I could still hardly believe how much I’d enjoyed making out with Collin last week, or that we’d done it one more time since then. However, the idea of going all the way both excited me and scared the hell out of me at the same time. Not that long ago, I’d been a guy myself, so the thought of actually having sex with one… I shuddered at that, having a feeling that it would take more than a few more sessions with Dr. Bellows before I was comfortable enough to try something like that.

“You know,” I told Dana with a sigh. “What really scares me are the dreams I have…Vauldrene’s memories.”

“Oh?” Dana asked, obviously startled by the change of topic.

“I keep sharing her experiences,” I explained wryly. “And in those dreams, it really feels like it’s me… So when happens when I finally have a dream about her having sex?”

Dana thought about it for a moment, then chuckled. “That could be kinky.”

“I’m not ready for something like that,” I told my roommate with a roll of my eyes. “I mean, it would be like losing my virginity without actually losing it.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Dana responded.

For a moment, I just stared at Dana, then admitted, “I just don’t want my first time to be…secondhand from her.”

“Oh,” Dana said with a look of sudden understanding. “Yeah, I guess that could be weird.” She was silent for several seconds before saying, “So you’re afraid to have sex, but you’re also afraid that if you wait too long, you’ll get it from her instead of on your own.”

“More or less,” I said with a shake of my head. Then I gave her another wry smile and said, “This whole thing is so confusing.”

Dana just nodded at that. “I know what you mean. I mean, my own Mom threw me away while one of my best friends is a super villain. If you’d tried telling me that a few months ago, I would have laughed my ass off. And when you add in the fact that I’m a girl now too…”

We both chuckled at that, then sat there for several minutes before I said, “Crystal Hall should be opening for lunch in a couple minutes. Let’s get everyone together for lunch.”

Dana grinned at that. “That sounds great to me. I’m starving.”

Just then, my cell phone started ringing, and when I glanced at the caller, I saw it was my Dad. I hesitated a moment, then decided that I’d rather get to lunch than listen about whatever rule I broke this time. Actually, I was pretty sure he’d found out about my fight with Centurion and wanted to chew me out for letting things get that far, or maybe just for not telling him about it. Either way, I’d deal with that later.

Dana and I went to her old room, then she started singing, “Knock knock knocking on heaven’s door…,” until Jinx opened up.

“Singing is definitely not one of your powers,” Jinx told Dana with a faint smirk. “It’s a good thing you’re so cute.”

“And I’ve got a great rack, too,” Dana pointed out cheerfully. Jinx blushed but nodded at that, making me laugh.

We were just about to leave Poe when Team Kimba returned, coming in as a group and looking a little worn. From what I saw, my guess was that they’d just finished with one of their simulator matches, which from what I understood, were like the arena matches on steroids.

“I can’t believe Loophole pulled that on me,” Toni complained with a shake of her head. “I mean, I completely had her, then she gets me on some technicality…”

“What else did you expect,” Nikki pointed out wryly.

I nodded to Nikki, no longer wanting to turn and run the other direction. In fact, I was still a bit embarrassed about all the times I had done just that. Fortunately, the talks I’d had with Aunghadhail had eased those problems a great deal. And of course, the dream I’d had a few days ago had helped remove my remaining fear. It was difficult being afraid of someone when I remembered her sneaking me treats when I was a little girl.

Then on a sudden impulse, I used something I’d learned in one of my dreams and made a traditional Sidhe greeting, even using the proper hand gesture. Nikki looked a little startled, then she smiled in amusement and gave me the traditional response.

While Nikki and I had this exchange, Jade bounced around in a hyperactive state while exclaiming, “Lollypop bazooka for the win…”

“Do I want to know?” I asked, giving Jade a worried look.

Phase shook her head and responded, “No, you don’t.”

Then Toni gave an exaggerated sigh and announced, “Some things, once they’re seen, can NEVER be unseen…”

Jinx leaned over and whispered to Dana and I, “Just be thankful you two weren’t here when she discovered that Atomic Kitten card game…”

Team Kimba all continued upstairs to their floor, while Mrs. Horton watched them go with a faint shake of her head. Then she turned her attention to us.

“Don’t forget that afternoon seminar,” Mrs. Horton reminded us, making me grunt.

Yesterday afternoon, the school had sent out an announcement to all the cottages, that today, there would be some sort of optional seminar on how to deal with MCO harassment. Apparently, it was all put together at the last minute, and it obviously wasn’t well planned or they would have done it on a school day rather than on the weekend. After all, who wanted to spend a Sunday afternoon taking some kind of class when you didn’t have to? I know that I didn’t.

Mrs. Horton looked at me and said, “Gwen, I strongly recommend you attend.”

I just nodded at that, not at all surprised by her recommendation. After all, the seminar was on how to deal with the MCO, so of course she’d think I should attend. Maybe she thought I could offer some ‘valuable insight’ or something. If it had been someone other than Mrs. Horton, I probably would have assumed that they just wanted to rub my nose in the fact that no one liked the MCO.

As we left, Dana pointed out wryly, “I’ve had plenty of experience with MCO harassment…”

“It might be nice finding out how to avoid it,” Jinx pointed out. Then she looked at me and said, “At least you’ve never had to deal with that kind of thing.”

I snorted at that and responded, “Want to bet?”

When I’d caught the flight from Seattle to Whateley, I’d run into an MCO agent at the airport who’d been quite a bastard, just because I was a mutant. If my Dad hadn’t interfered, I didn’t know what I would have done. I was pretty sure I would have missed my flight at the very least.

“Imagine serving coffee to some guys who hate your guts,” I said, thinking of my time working in the Berlin field office. And that didn’t even cover the fact that Whells had tried to have me killed afterwards. “I spend more time with the MCO than you guys, which means I have more opportunity to run into the assholes.”

“Ouch,” Jinx said sympathetically.

We reached Crystal Hall and got in line just as Collin and Fixx arrived. And before we could even greet them, I saw Porcelain coming our way as well. The fact that we’d all arrived here at the same time was quite a coincidence, or at least it would have been if Jinx hadn’t been here with us.

One of the Whateley security people stood a short distance away, casually watching out over the cafeteria. We frequently saw security making a presence in Crystal Hall, though it was largely for show, to remind the students to behave.

Then I saw Centurion walking across the cafeteria, though his skin had red blotches all over it and he was scratching furiously at his arm. I quickly looked away, not wanting him to see me staring at him. Instead, I shifted my perspective to one of my faeries and used that to stare at him instead.

“What the hell happened to Centurion?” Collin blurted out in surprise. Then he looked at me and asked, “Did you…?”

“I haven’t been near that asshole since our match,” I responded with a scowl. The only time I’d come close to him had been in class, when I didn’t have a lot of choice. Even then, Ito and Tolman had been keeping me and Centurion apart.

The guy from security obviously heard us because he came over and commented, “Centurion has been like that for the last few days. Honestly, Chief Delarose thought you were behind it at first too…”

“But I haven’t been near him,” I protested again.

“I know,” the security guy responded with a chuckle. “But this kind of thing does fit your MO and what you’ve done to him before. We looked into it and verified that neither you nor your faeries have been anywhere near him, and the doctors say there’s no trace of magic. It looks like he’s just having some kind of allergic reaction…probably to something he encountered in the sewers.”

The guy from security chuckled faintly, obviously not having a lot of sympathy for Centurion. Then he wandered off to continue walking around the cafeteria.

We all stared in Centurion’s direction for a moment, watching as he scratched himself with a look of misery on his face. Then Fixx commented, “Those look like some pretty nasty hives…”

“Yeah,” Collin agreed. “What in the world could he be THAT allergic to…?”

“Strawberries,” I answered with a faint smirk, suddenly having all of my friends stare at me with looks of surprise.

“Okay,” Dana said, giving me a suspicious look. “Spill it Abbie.”

“Let’s sit down first,” I suggested, making a point of putting more food on my tray.

Once we all had our food and were sitting down at our usual table, I activated the privacy spell that I’d cast a short time ago. It created a bubble of privacy around our table, which I hoped would be good enough. I was pretty confident it would prevent any kind of casual eavesdropping or spying, but I wasn’t sure about listening devices someone might bring inside.

“What do you know?” Dana asked me.

“Yeah,” Jinx agreed, looking curious. “I mean, security said that wasn’t caused by magic.”

I just sat there for a moment, soaking up all the impatient looks of curiosity that my friends were giving me. Then I finally started, “Hypothetically speaking…”

“Hypothetically,” Collin agreed with a smirk.

“Before Delarose told me not to retaliate against Centurion anymore,” I explained with a grin, “I started to put a plan in place. You see, Centurion is allergic to strawberries. I mean, bad enough that they put it on his MID.”

“Wow, that is allergic,” Fixx responded with a look of surprise.

“Then I assume you somehow fed him strawberries,” Porcelain commented thoughtfully.

“Hypothetically speaking,” I said again, smirking as I did so. “If I wanted to really mess with someone with a strawberry allergy, I might go to a biodevisor and have him make me a concentrated strawberry extract…one that was loaded up on the elements that might trigger a specific type of allergic reaction.”

“No magic,” Collin said thoughtfully. “Just strawberries…”

“That was the plan,” I agreed with a shrug. “But I cancelled it after Delarose warned me not to retaliate. I was holding onto the stuff in case Centurion started to make a pest of himself again, but…”

“So, what changed your mind?” Porcelain asked me curiously.

I shrugged again. “Nothing. Let’s just say, someone…or several someones who knew what I’d previously had planned, decided on their own initiative, to teach Centurion a further lesson by pouring this stuff on his pillow and blankets.”

I stared at the table in front of me where Violet was standing, looking rather smug. She made a show of buffing her fingernails and then blowing on them. Green was hovering in the air, giggling to herself.

“But Centurion has regeneration,” Collin started to point out.

“Yeah, but it has a bad reaction with strawberries,” I explained. “Whenever he activates his powers and tries to use his regeneration, the regeneration only makes the effects worse.”

“Damn,” Fixx exclaimed.

“That is…very devious,” Porcelain said, staring at me though I couldn’t see her expression.

Jinx nodded at that, then said, “And nasty. How long is that going to last?”

“Until he changes his sheets and pillow,” I responded with a shrug.

Dana just burst out laughing. “Everyone is already calling him Stinky because of all the time he’s spending in the sewers lately. Between this and that…his reputation is toast.”

“Burnt toast,” Jinx added with a giggle.

“Hey,” Collin suddenly exclaimed, pointing to Violet. “Is your faerie doing a victory dance?”

Everyone stared at Violet, who made an exaggerated bow, then flew up into the air and took off, with Green following right behind her. My friends all stared at the departing faeries with confused expressions, then looked to me.

I just shrugged and wryly commented, “It’s almost like they have minds of their own.”

It took an effort not to look in Centurion’s direction again, at least not with my own eyes. I was still keeping an eye on him with my faeries, though from a distance. I didn’t want to give Delarose any reason to think I was ignoring his warning about retaliation, at least not for the immediate future. However, I did still have half a vial of that strawberry extract left and that might come in handy someday.

When we finished eating, Fixx announced, “I’m going to check out that Seminar. Anyone else interested?”

“I am,” Collin responded. “My aunt has a lot of encounters with the MCO, and she told me that it’s a good idea to be prepared when you’re dealing with them.”

I snorted at that, then pointed out, “Most of her time with the MCO is spent filling out paperwork in the field office.”

“True,” Collin agreed. “And she HATES paperwork.”

We debated on whether or not to go, though I definitely didn’t want to. However, since Collin was going, I figured that I’d keep him company. Before long, everyone had agreed to attend the seminar.

--------------------

A short time after lunch, my friends and I arrived where the seminar was being held, a large classroom that was far too small to hold the entire student body. Apparently, the school administration realized that most students wouldn’t want to spend their Sunday afternoon attending a class on the MCO, especially when it was optional. Still, the room was filled a lot more students than I would have expected.

“Every mutant has to deal with the MCO,” Collin pointed out to me. “That makes this a very practical seminar.”

When the class actually began, Mrs. Carson stepped up to a podium and looked over the gathered students. As I looked around, I realized that there were more than a few staff and faculty present as well.

“Everyone present has had some experience dealing with the MCO,” Mrs. Carson started, echoing what Collin had told me a few minutes earlier. “They issue our MIDs, provide a security check point at airports, and of course, many here have had unpleasant experiences with them.”

“That’s an understatement,” someone said, and there were a lot of muttered agreements.

“Regardless of your persona opinions on the MCO,” Mrs. Carson continued, “as mutants, dealing with them is a fact of life. Because of that, I have invited an expert to Whateley in order to speak on the subject.”

With that, a man came into the room and walked up and stood beside Mrs. Carson. He was tall and athletic looking, with short cropped dark hair that was turning to gray. He wore a dark suit and projected an air of stern professionalism as he stood there. My jaw dropped at the sight of him.

“Let me introduce Miles Wylann,” Mrs. Carson announced. “An agent from the MCO’s internal affairs division.”

“Isn’t that your Dad?” Collin gasped while I nodded dumbly.

“Your Dad?” Fixx asked in surprise.

“Why didn’t you tell us your Dad was coming?” Dana asked me, watching my Dad, since unlike Collin, this was the first time she’d ever seen him.

I just let out a loud groan, then admitted, “Because I didn’t know.”

“As Mrs. Carson just said,” my Dad began, “my name is Miles Wylann, and I am an agent of the Mutant Commission Office.”

There were several loud boos from around the room, though Dad acted as though he hadn’t heard them. Instead, he slowly looked around the room, his eyes stopping only when he saw me. A very faint smile formed on his lips, but I was probably the only one who noticed it.

“I have served with the MCO for seventeen years,” Dad continued. “In that time, I have worked as a liaison for several super groups, the most recent of which is the Seattle Supers, and I even spent some time issuing MIDs here at Whateley. During those years, not a single mutant has mysteriously disappeared on my watch. In fact, I take a great deal of pride in following the rules and ensuring that any mutant suspects are read their rights and have access to their lawyers.”

The air was filled with skepticism and hostility, and I was pretty sure that students would begin to get up and walk out at any moment. After all, the MCO was definitely not popular in Whatley, so Dad was fighting an uphill battle just to get them to listen.

“I am currently assigned in the internal affairs division,” Dad said, still acting as though he hadn’t noticed the hostile mood. However, I knew Dad well enough to know that he was undoubtedly very well aware of it. “As I said, I take a great deal of pride in following the rules, and my current job is to investigate and deal with the MCO agents who violate those rules. In fact, I was in the area investigating an agent who attempted to murder a young mutant when Mrs. Carson invited me to come speak with you.”

“Yeah, right,” someone called out. “Like you’d ever arrest one of your buddies…”

“All you bastards hate mutants,” someone else added.

“I can assure you,” Dad stated, looking at the speaker and then around the room. “I have no personal feelings against mutants…”

There more jeers and outright skepticism at that, and then Rapier called out, “But you wouldn’t want your daughter to marry one…” That elicited a few laughs.

Dad actually looked annoyed at that, or even offended. “Actually,” he responded, careful not to look in my direction, “since my daughter is a mutant herself, it wouldn’t surprise me if she married another one.”

It was obvious that a lot of the students in the room didn’t believe that, so I called out, “Hey Dad, you never told me you were coming…” I knew that this would probably make things easier for Dad, but it might cause me problems later on. Still, I had to help him.

“Hello Gwen,” Dad said with a smile, looking straight at me. “You should answer your phone more often.”

Suddenly there was a different kind of murmuring from around the room and nearly everyone was staring at me. I turned bright red and slumped down in my seat at all the attention, knowing that I was probably going to pay for this later on. After all, if the students got the wrong idea because the MCO was paying for my tuition, I was sure that they’d also react to the news that my Dad was with the MCO.

“Now that my family reunion is out of the way for the moment,” Dad joked, which was a rare thing as he wasn’t usually big on humor. “As I was saying, the MCO operates on rules and regulations, though unfortunately, not everyone follows them as they should. My office is responsible for dealing with those who disregard these rules, though that isn’t why I’m here today. Today, I’m here to talk about your rights and responsibilities as mutants. Overzealous and unprofessional agents may attempt to take advantage of any ignorance you have about your rights, so the more you know about your rights, the better you can deal with the situation.”

“But what if the MCO doesn’t follow the rules?” someone called out, though it actually sounded more like a legitimate question than taunting.

“Good question,” Dad responded with a serious look and a nod. “As my daughter recently pointed out to a colleague of mine, mutants who suffer abuse or a violation of their rights at the hands of an MCO agent have little recourse. Because of that, we are implementing a program which allows these acts of misconduct to be reported.”

Dad continued his lecture for the next two hours, going into a lot more details of the rules and regulations than I thought he needed to. And unfortunately, most of this was incredibly boring, especially since Dad had already made me sit through all this before I even came to Whateley.

Most of the outright hostility quickly vanished as everyone realized that Dad might be an MCO agent, but he was also the first one they’d ever encountered who was openly siding with mutants. Or at least, he was teaching them about what their rights were and pointing out the legal limits of the MCO’s authority. By the time Dad finished, he even got some clapping and cheers.

“Students on campus are cheering for an MCO agent,” one of the teachers commented with a look of amazement. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

After this, several students went to talk to Dad and ask him questions. However, he wasn’t the only one who had people approaching him with questions. Rapier came over to me and asked, “Is that really your Dad?”

“Yeah,” I responded self-consciously. “He’s the one who got the MCO to pay my tuition.”

After answering a couple similar questions, I finally managed to approach the front, where Dad was responding to one of the students. “No, I’m not concerned by having so many mutants gathered in one place,” Dad explained. “I personally believe Whateley to be a great idea. Mutants who don’t know how to control their powers are a danger to themselves and everyone around them, and this school provides a safe place to learn that control…”

Then Dad saw me and smiled, giving me a hug as he did so. It was a little strange since Dad had never been this affectionate with me back when I’d been a boy, but I had to admit that I kind of liked it.

“Hey Dad,” I greeted him with a grin. “What in the world are you doing here? I’m pretty sure that you didn’t fly all the way out here just to teach a class…”

“No, I didn’t,” he admitted. “I had a short notice business trip to the Berlin field office, and only found out about it yesterday. When I called the school to arrange a visit with you while I was in the area, Mrs. Carson talked me into this…” He gestured around the classroom.

I nodded at that, then gestured to my friends who’d followed me up to the front of the room. “You’ve met Collin.”

“Um…hi,” Collin said, suddenly looking nervous. That might have been because Dad was with the MCO, but I had a feeling that it had more to do with the fact that the two of us were dating. Of course, Dad didn’t know about that yet. I hadn’t exactly told him or Mom that I was into guys now, much less that I’d begun dating one.

Dad nodded, obviously remembering Collin, then said, “When Crucibelle found out I was coming to Whateley, she asked me to bring you a care package. I have it out in my car.”

“Okay,” Collin responded in surprise.

“This is my roommate, Dana,” I said, gesturing to Dana, who looked just as nervous as Collin did. Then again, she’d had a lot of bad experience with the MCO in the past.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Dad told her, giving her a curious look as he shook her hand.

I introduced Fixx and Jinx as well, then realized that Porcelain was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, she’d slipped away when I hadn’t been paying attention, though I didn’t know if it was because my Dad was MCO or if she just had a general disinterest in meeting him.

After this, Dana, Jinx, and Fixx took off while Collin and I went to my Dad’s car so Collin could pick up his care package. As soon as Collin had the box in hand, he tore it open and got excited.

“Oh yeah,” he exclaimed, pulling out some cookies, and then what appeared to be a utility belt and some shuriken. “She sent me some holdouts…”

“Did you bring ME anything?” I asked Dad, giving my best ‘puppy dog eyes’ look. Since I was a girl now, I thought I should at least try it out.

Dad suddenly looked uncertain as to what to do until Collin spoiled the effect by laughing. I stuck my tongue out at him but he just grinned. For a moment, I thought he was going to give me a kiss, but then he gave my Dad a quick look and that passed.

“I’ll see you later,” Collin told me with a grin. Then he held up the box of goodies and said, “I need to go make a phone call…” And with that, he hurried off, leaving me with my Dad.

“I do have something for you,” Dad said, now looking faintly amused. “But I’m afraid it has to do with business.”

“Does this have anything to do with that asshole Whells?” I asked him.

Grace had asked me to be patient and let her deal with Whells, and I’ve been trying. However, I hadn’t heard a lot of progress on the situation, other than that my Dad had gotten involved in the investigation. That was the only real business I could think of that would bring Dad to the Berlin field office.

Dad nodded at that. “One of the Humanity First people who attacked you is willing to testify that Whells was their informant as well as a regular attendee to their meetings. We have enough to bring him in right now, but our investigation has also tied him to several prior incidents…as well as to some questionable agents we don’t have any evidence against yet.”

“So you’re not going to arrest him?” I asked, feeling hurt.

“Oh, we will,” Dad assured me, his eyes getting a look of firm determination and cold anger. “But for now, we’re giving him plenty of rope to hang himself with, and when the time comes, we’ll hopefully get a few others along with him.”

I nodded at that, frustrated that they weren’t moving against Whells just yet. It pissed me off that he’d tried to kill me and he was still walking around free. However, I’d seen that look in Dad’s eyes and knew that Dad was taking this very seriously. I could be patient a little longer.

“But when you arrest him,” I told Dad, looking him in the eyes. “I want to be there. I want to see it.”

Dad hesitated a moment before responding, “I can’t promise that. But if the circumstances allow this to happen safely, then I’ll try to arrange for you to be present.”

I nodded at that. “Thank you.”

“There is something else I wanted to discuss with you while I was here,” Dad told me with a faint smile. “Something relating to the new misconduct reporting program that we’re putting in place. However, that can wait for a little longer. Right now, I want to know how you’ve been doing…”

I began filling Dad in on what I’d been up to since arriving at Whateley, though I toned it down and left out quite a few details. He didn’t need to know about how bad my feud with Centurion had gotten, or how vicious I’d been when it came to taking him down during our arena match. In return, Dad was extremely vague when it came to telling me about what he’d been up to as well. Of course, he used words like ‘confidential’ and ‘need to know’ as an excuse to avoid talking about the cases he’d been working on, but I figured that it all balanced out.

While we talked, I noticed from some of my faerie scouts that several people from security were following us at a distance. I mentioned that to Dad, but he wasn’t the least bit surprised and merely said, “I wouldn’t expect them to allow any agent of the MCO to wander around here unsupervised.”

I would have taken Dad to see my room, but I had a feeling that the other people who lived in Poe wouldn’t appreciate having an MCO agent walking through the halls. Fortunately, Dad didn’t ask to see my room so I didn’t have to make any excuses.

Dad and I went to Dunwhich where we wandered around as we walked. It was strange to just be hanging out with Dad like that and talking because we’d never really been that close. In the past, most of our bonding time together had taken place on the shooting range. Then while we were having dinner, he brought up the subject of the new program he’d talked about during his lecture.

“What we have in mind is a simple form that people can fill out and submit to my office,” Dad explained. “We won’t be able to use these complaints in any form of legal capacity, but they should show us who our trouble agents are and who we need to investigate.”

“That sounds pretty cool,” I said, knowing that there were a lot of kids around Whateley who would love to file complaints. “I mean, it’s great that you’re doing this…”

Dad nodded at that, then pointed out, “It was your idea. You told Grace that it would be a good idea if mutants had some recourse to deal with misconduct. She told me and I agreed that it was a good idea.”

“Wow,” I said, more than a little surprised that a casual observation could lead to something like this.

“I’ve talked to Mrs. Carson about this,” Dad told me, “and she agrees that it would be beneficial to have an MCO representative on hand to answer questions about the program and help assure the students that we are taking this seriously.”

I nodded at that, then said, “I guess I’ll be seeing more of Grace then…”

“Grace has her own responsibilities,” Dad told me, actually smiling, which set off warning bells. “Actually, I was thinking that you would be perfect for this.”

“What?” I blurted out, sure that I must have misheard.

“You’re at the school full time,” Dad pointed out with a serious expression, “which means that you’d be on hand and available should you be needed. And you’ve already proven yourself to be more than capable of acting as an intermediate between students and the MCO.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I asked, “Would I get a raise?”

Dad smiled faintly at that before responding, “This would mean further responsibilities which are outside of your previous agreement, so I’m sure we can come to some arrangement.”

I stared at Dad for a moment, not bothering to ask if he was serious. After all, Dad was ALWAYS serious. I also knew that he wouldn’t even have brought the subject up unless he’d already thought about it a great deal.

“What would I have to do?” I asked him thoughtfully.

Dad and I talked about what would be expected of me, and to my relief, it wouldn’t be anything too difficult. I’d just have to be available to help students fill out the complaint form and answer all their questions. And as with my previous tasks with the MCO, a large part of my job would be public relations, showing that the MCO was taking this new program seriously.

After we’d returned to Whateley, I told Dad, “I need to think about it a bit more.” But the truth was, I already knew that I’d accept this job.

In spite of all the trouble I’d had because of helping Grit, I’d actually enjoyed the experience and the fact that I’d been able to keep the MCO from steamrolling over him. It made me feel like I was doing something useful, like there was actually a purpose to my working with the MCO beyond just getting my tuition paid for. And of course, the additional money from doing this would certainly be nice as well. However, though I’d probably never admit it to Dad, the fact that he actually trusted me with something like this was all the motivation I really needed.

Then Dad finally told me, “I’m afraid I have to get going if I want to make my flight.”

“It was nice seeing you,” I told him honestly, a little surprised at myself after all the time I’d spent resenting him while growing up. I even gave him a hug, which was something I never would have done before turning into a girl.

“It was nice you too,” he responded with a faint smile that reached his eyes far more than his expression. “You’ve changed…and more than just your appearance. I suppose that means you’re growing up...just not in quite the way any of us expected.”

Dad had never been big on long goodbyes, so a minute later, and after telling me to call my Mom, he climbed into his car and left. I watched him drive off, having mixed feelings and wondering if maybe I should have told him more about what was going on. What would he have said about my having a magic knife? About my having real pixies following me around? Or about my inheriting the memories of an ancient Sidhe ancestor? The truth was, my life had become pretty weird and I wasn’t sure how much of it my Mom and Dad could possibly understand. Dad was proving to be a lot more open minded than I would have previously believed, but this would probably be too much for him.

I slowly made my way back to Poe, lost in thought the entire way. After I entered Poe, I was so distracted that I nearly walked right into Iron Rose in the hallway.

Instead of glaring at me like she usually would, Rose merely said, “Your Dad doesn’t seem too bad…for MCO.” It was a grudging admission, but more than I would have expected of her. Then she snorted, looking a little skeptical as she added, “But let’s see if he puts his money where his mouth is.”

“Fair enough,” I agreed before continuing to my room.

When I reached my room, I was surprised to find Dana sitting on her bed crying while Jinx sad beside her with an arm over her shoulder. “What’s going on?” I asked, feeling worried and hoping that we didn’t need to call a Downpour protocol. Then Dana suddenly burst out laughing, though tears were still pouring down her cheeks.

“She got an email,” Jinx told me while Dana just nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

“Your Dad shows up for an unexpected visit,” Dana said, giving me an odd smile. “And at the same time…I got an email from my Mom.”

I stared at Dana for a moment, suddenly realizing exactly why she was acting like this. Dana had told me that when she was in the middle of manifesting, her Mom had pretty much disowned her and turned her over to the MCO, or at least to some dirty agents who’d tried to make her disappear. According to Dana, she hadn’t heard a word from her Mom since then.

“Are you okay?” I asked cautiously, taking a look at her aura and seeing that it was mostly happy though streaked with nervousness.

“Yeah,” Dana said, bending over to look at her laptop and saying, “Listen to this. She said…I miss you David and I hope we can talk…”

I nodded thoughtfully, then pointed out, “She called you David. She doesn’t know about...?” I gestured to Dana, pointing out that she didn’t look anything like a David anymore.

“I’m pretty sure my Dad told her,” Dana admitted with a shrug. “I just don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I mean, she hasn’t actually seen me since I changed. Dad told me that he’s been working on her…trying to get her to accept that I’m still me, in spite of being a mutant...so I guess he’s made some progress. This isn’t a huge apology or begging my forgiveness…but it is a first step.”

“A BIG one,” Jinx added with a grin. “And to think, you both get unexpected contacts from your parents on the same day. What a coincidence.”

“Yeah,” I responded wryly, knowing that Jinx took a certain pride in all the coincidences that happened around her. “What are the odds?”

“Come on,” Jinx exclaimed excitedly, jumping to her feet and trying to pull Dana up. “Let’s go out for ice cream to celebrate. My treat.”

Dana grinned at that, then pointed out, “But the ice cream in the Crystal Hall is free…”

“Then you can have an extra scoop on me,” Jinx responded smugly.

“Oooh, that sounds kinky,” Dana stated with a grin, only to make Jinx blush bright red. But in spite of the blush, Jinx continued to half drag Dana out of the room. From watching them, I never would have guessed that Dana was the one who had enhanced strength.

“Good for her,” I said, feeling happy for my roommate. Dana didn’t talk about it much, but I knew she really missed her family. I definitely hoped that this worked out for her.

I sat down on my bed, deciding to look through the information packet that Dad had given about that new misconduct reporting program, when I suddenly had a feeling that someone was at the door. My esper powers weren’t very strong, but on the occasions they did give me a ‘hunch’, they hadn’t been wrong yet. I got back up and opened the door, just as Jade was about to knock on it.

“Hey, Gwen,” Jade greeted me with a smile that made me instantly wary. “Can we talk?”

“Yes,” Beltane added from beside Jade, giving me a similar smile to the one Jade had. “I think we need to talk.”

The fact that Jade and Beltane were approaching me together gave me a VERY bad feeling, one that came from my common sense more than my powers. “Okay,” I responded cautiously.

“Jade and I were talking,” Beltane said pleasantly, “and she accused me of starting our little disagreement by making her dress like Jericho. Now, while I think that sounds funny, I didn’t have anything to do with it…”

Jade nodded at that, then added, “And Belle here says that I hit her in the face with a whip cream pie…which I haven’t done in like…months.”

“So, it seemed to me,” Beltane continued, not taking her eyes off me, “that someone set us both up. So we got to talking about who might have the ability to pull something like that off…and the motivation.”

“It wasn’t a long list,” Jade added with a grin. “And guess who was on top of it?”

“Thorn?” I asked with a forced smile of my own, naming the third big practical joker in Poe. He was a sophomore who had almost the exact same powers as Beltane, not to mention a similar sense of humor.

Beltane and Jade both shook their heads at that, letting me know that they weren’t about to follow any more red herrings. They knew I was the one who set them against each other in that little practical joke war, so there was only one thing to do for it. Come clean.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” I admitted.

“That was really funny,” Jade admitted with a broad grin. “You really got me good…”

“That was quite a unique retaliation,” Beltane agreed with a gleam of amusement in her eyes. Then a hat suddenly appeared on her head, just so she could take it off and give an exaggerated bow. “My compliments on your work.”

“Um…thanks,” I responded, not having expected them to be such good sports about it.

Jade just giggled, then started down the hall saying, “Just wait until Billy hears that you were the one who did that…”

Beltane just smiled, then started to walk away as well, saying, “You’ve won this round.”

“This round?” I repeated, gulping since that indicated there was going to be more. “Oh shit.”

I sat down on my bed with a sigh, realizing that I might have gotten Centurion off my back, but now I’d have to keep looking over my shoulder for Jade and Beltane. Their methods weren’t nearly as violent or direct, but they were bound to be a lot more creative.

If nothing else, those two would keep me on my toes and force me to be even more devious. I would definitely have to improve my game if I wanted to get the best of them again, especially now that they knew what I was capable of. Still, that could be quite an interesting challenge. Then again, Whateley was full of odd challenges.

Everyone on campus knew that I worked for the MCO, and after today, everyone would also know that my Dad did as well. After my fight with Centurion, most of the students had backed off on the whole ‘MCO spy’ stuff, though not all of them had. A few students seemed to take my ties to the MCO as not only a personal insult, but also as one against all mutants. Those same students would probably dislike me even more after today, regardless of the fact that my Dad was trying to help make things better.

Centurion and his friends had been dealt with, but I wasn’t confident that this was for good. In spite of the threats that both Delarose and I presented, I’d hurt Centurion’s pride a great deal and he wouldn’t forget that. And unfortunately, since my pixie friends had retaliated against him on my behalf, that could potentially come back to bite me as well.

And of course, there were all the challenges and complications that came from turning into a girl, becoming Sidhe, and just being a mutant in general. Each of these things was having a dramatic impact on my life and sense of self, and any one of them would provide enough emotional fodder to keep a psychiatrist busy for years. It was a good thing for me that Dr. Bellows’ services were included with the Whateley tuition.

But in spite of all the problems and challenges that had come into my life since I’d manifested and turned into an elf girl, there had also been a lot of great things. I’d developed some incredible powers and had even learned real magic, something that I never would have imagined possible before this. I was having dreams from another life, which while traumatic at times, were also educational and were giving me a unique perspective on things. I was seeing and experiencing things that most kids my age…that most people could only dream of. I had even gained Needle, a real magic weapon that had been made just for me.

Ever since I’d come to Whateley, I’d made some friends, ones who actually understood me and the issues I was going through. I’d managed to not only turn my old school bully into a friend, but into my boyfriend as well. I still had a hard time believing that one myself, as Dr. Bellows would definitely hear more of. And while overcoming my terror of Nikki and Aunghadhail, I’d also discovered a distant relative in the process.

And then there was my relationship with my Dad, which had improved in ways I never would have expected. I would have thought that turning into a girl would have brought me closer to my Mom, and though it had a bit, it had done far more for my relationship with my Dad. The two of us had never been close and I’d always thought he was strict, inflexible, and completely disappointed in me. Perhaps my being a girl had softened him, or maybe it just took my being a mutant before I had the opportunity to see a different side of him. What I did know was that I was proud to call him my Dad, even in a place where doing so could cause me problems.

As I thought about all the pros and cons of my new life, I found myself leaning back on my bed and absently watching my green faeries flying around the room. I smiled faintly while I did so, still amused by the sight of these things, even after they’d become so much a part of my life that they were almost like extensions of myself. These faeries had become like my eyes, ears, and hands, not to mention constant companions.

Sure, I still had a lot of problems ahead of me and challenges to deal with, but I had enough going for me that I was sure I could handle anything. Centurion, this new job, Jade and Beltane, or even that asshole Whells. Whatever came next, I’d deal with it.

With that, I grinned and said, “Bring it on.”

This endeth book 2.

Author’s note: I do have further plans for Absinthe and crew, but after writing two Absinthe stories in a row, I need to take a break from the character for awhile. However, I am currently writing a shorter side story to expand on one of the characters from this one.