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Author's Note: This is the second story of my Hyperverse. I'm still working on Syryn's Song but this one came to me from Erin's weekly story challenge. This one is for you Erin ;) I hope you all enjoy. ~Amethyst.
 

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*Beep* *Beep* *Beeeep* I glared bleary-eyed at the phone on my nightstand. The digital clock beside it showed the time to be slightly after three a.m. and as I reached out to pick up the receiver I thought, this had better be good. “Hello?” I mumbled into the mouthpiece.

“Hi Daniel, its Everett we just got a call from Dorm Seven. Some of the girls there couldn’t sleep and were running a late night training session in one of their PDE rooms. Apparently there’s some sort of glitch and the program won’t shut down.” PDE rooms or Pocket Dimension Environments use a combination of technology and magic to create pocket dimensions and alter the reality inside to suit the simulation. The PDEs can be any size since with pocket dimensions there are no space constraints and roving remote cameras monitor the action inside for people in the control booth. With those very realistic environments and the holographic opponents, barriers, and other fully interactive attributes that can be programmed by the person in the control room or set to random, they’re nearly the perfect training area for mutants. Usually they’re very safe and they cut down on a lot of property damage.

“Why don’t you call the boss?” I asked sleepily. “She was one of the team that designed the damn things.”

I heard him snort on the other end. “Deep Blue is off in Ottawa. Her nephew or niece or something had their H Chromosomes activate and she’s gone to see what the damage is and bring the kid here. Since you’re the only person on call for maintenance right now with an understanding of how the damn PDEs work and some knowledge of magic and computers I called you.”

“Just because my nephew is a mutant with some minor talent in magic, does not make me a magic expert,” I retorted.

“What about all that mystical crap you’re into?” he prodded.

My family were very old fashioned and very spiritual and we worshiped the old Gods of Ireland, especially our patron Goddess Danu. “Spirituality is not the same thing as actual magic. I’m a damn computer technician, and a sleepy one at that,” I snapped.

“The night supervisor for the PDE’s in Dorm Seven is a magic sensitive and he says he can’t detect anything wrong magically, he thinks it’s probably something physical. From the sounds of it it’s something in the control panel,” he quickly replied. “We don’t want to power down the system or we’ll have hell finding the girls in whatever pocket dimension they’re in, even with the safety protocols. You’re the only one I could think of who can handle the job and it needs to be done fast.”

“Fine, fine, I’m on my way.” I hung up the phone, got into a set of overalls and a pair of boots and a jacket, and grabbed my toolkit muttering, “Just my luck to be on call while we’re already short staffed between Christmas and New Years . Another great start to a wonderful day at Aaron Morris Private School.” Then I made my way downstairs, out of the front door of my apartment complex into the cold winter air, and climbed into my car to drive to the campus.

Aaron Morris Private School, affectionately referred to as AMPS by students and faculty, is well secured by a 15 foot stone fence and wrought iron gates as well as a high tech security system to keep Joe Average out. Above ground it boasts an Olympic sized pool, fully equipped gymnasium, cafeteria, dojo, gym, emergency medical center with a hotline to the hospital in town, library with computer labs, 3 weapons ranges and working areas for learning mechanics, chemistry, and electronics. Underground beneath each of the seven dorms each dorm has eight underground practice PDE rooms. I groaned as I stepped out of my car and made my way to Dorm Seven. It just had to be the freak dorm. Three of the dorms are for males and three for females but Dorm Seven was built recently and was mixed, possibly because the last thing dorm Seven residents had to worry about was the gender of their floor mates. Every D7 student was some sort of freak.

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have anything against Hypers, my nephew is one and both my older brother and I had the H Chromosomes ourselves even if they had remained dormant. No the D7s were outcasts even amongst other mutants. Unlike the other dorms Dorm Seven is one student to a room and slated for students whose mutations are problematic for themselves or others or may cause the student to have troubles adjusting to everyday life. They often have powers that are too dangerous or unpredictable to be around while sleeping so their rooms need special modifications. Sometimes those mutants have to deal with having not only dangerous powers but strange appearances and other issues as well so they all stayed in Dorm Seven to keep from being bullied in other dorms.

I was uncomfortable thinking about mutants with uncontrollable powers and/or freakish appearances, so it was making me a little bit nervous as I made my way inside and down to the basement and to the control rooms for the PDEs. The lights were only on in one of the control rooms so I didn’t have much trouble figuring out where the trouble was. I opened the door to find a girl with purple hair, bat-like wings on her back, and a long prehensile tail of the same color watching the view screens nervously. Beside her was a tall skinny man with long brown hair in an AMPS jumpsuit. “Hello, I’m here to try to fix your little problem,” I offered.

The man turned around and said tiredly, “Good morning, I’m Tim the night supervisor for Dorm Seven, I’m the one who called.”

The poor girl though had jumped at the sound of my voice and turned around with her arms up in a fighting stance before her brain deciphered what I had said. She looked about fifteen and was strikingly beautiful with some very nice curves for her age and I had to force myself not to stare. She was wearing cut-off denim shorts and an light green AMPS t-shirt that had seen better days. Her eyes were the same purple color as her hair, wings, and tail and as I looked into them I found myself oddly attracted to her. “Oh! Umm… hi… I’m Erin but they call me Allure. Sorry, I have these pheromones I can’t control.”

“I’m Daniel O’Brien and thanks for letting me know about that.” I replied and tried not to breathe too deeply as I made my way over to the control panel. “So the simulation is complete but it’s not shutting down and letting your friends out of the pocket dimension?”

She nodded slowly, “Yessir, otherwise it was working fine.”

Tim shrugged as he put in, “I can’t sense anything wrong magic-wise but even if there were I’d be useless to fix it. I can’t do much with magic, just detect it really.”

I went to the keyboard and spoke into the microphone that would broadcast to the pocket dimension. “Hey kids, I’m Daniel from maintenance and I’m going to run some tests to see why the sim isn’t shutting down, please try not to panic.” Then I started inputting a number of commands from creating objects in the PDE or making them vanish to starting new simulations and ending them to reading the base code. Finally I said, “It’s not a problem in the code and all commands are working properly, so the software side is good. It just doesn’t want to channel the energy for the magic parts of the simulations or close the pocket dimension and transport your friends back. It could be that something on the inside worked itself loose, I’ll have a look.”

I got to my knees and pulled the access plate off the front of the panel then got a good look inside. It took some looking but soon I found a loose connector. “I think this is probably it,” I muttered as I lay on my back and moved further inside to get a better look. Yup it was definitely loose. “I think you should be able to cancel the simulation once I reconnect this. Let me know if anything happens.”

“Yessir,” Allure replied.

“Stupid loose connection,” I grumbled. Thanks to it I was stuck working in the wee hours of the morning because some freaky looking teenage mutant girls wanted to get some exercise. Couldn’t they go jogging like everyone else? I supposed it could be worse; I could be one of them and have wings like her or something. I shuddered at the thought as I reconnected the loose connector. I vaguely recall hearing Allure sounding happy as she said something but at that moment I was a little distracted by the surge of energy that ran through my body. My whole body felt like it was on fire, every muscle and bone seemed to scream in agony even as I did. I took little notice of anything else until my eyes rolled back in my head and sent a prayer to the Goddess Danu to protect her child as I passed out.

I heard voices. “… was just activated… there was a massive energy surge… seems stable, but the changes took a toll on her body, she’ll need rest…The man who brought her in said he detected magic on her… It could be from the surge but we best not take chances.” I wondered that girl Allure had been hurt too, it sure sounded like it. I hoped that she wasn’t too badly hurt and wondered if her friends made it out okay. Those thoughts were fleeting though as I passed out once again. I awoke in a darkened room where I was laying on my side on a military style cot. I figured that I was in the hospital and given what had happened that I had probably received a hefty jolt of electricity. My first assumption at least proved correct.

“Good morning Miss… ter O’Brien,” a voice said. I looked around and saw a woman sitting in a chair not too far from my bed. “I’m Dr. Jennings and you’re at Morristown General Hospital; do you remember what happened at all?”

“I was fixing a panel for one of the PDE rooms at the school and I think I must gotten a severe electrical shock or something,” I replied. My voice sounded strange to my ears, it was dry and raspy from thirst but it seemed higher as well. I raised a hand to my throat and it rubbed it absently for a moment as I tried to figure out what felt wrong. I didn’t want to sit up yet, I was just too tired but my whole body felt off somehow and there was weight pulling at both my back and my chest. “This doesn’t look like a normal hospital room.”

The doctor nodded and gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry about the accommodations; it’s a precaution we take with all newly activated Hypers. The man from the school who brought you in said he detected magic on you so this room will prevent you from using any. We need to make sure you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else and this room will prevent that by cutting you off from any sources of magic and absorbing any spells you may cast by accident.”

I lay there for several minutes trying to move and wondering just what the hell was going on. The strange weight on my chest and back had me really concerned, my face felt weird, and I was getting some strange sensations from other places that I just couldn’t make heads or tails of. There was also a pale blue glow coming from somewhere and every time I moved my head to try and spot it the source seemed to move as well. Dr. Jennings gave me a weak smile as she stood up and moved closer to my bed and began to speak. “Mr. O’Brien, the good news is that you were not victim to an electrical jolt as you believe. We believe that there was a significant surge of the reality warping energies that the PDEs use to create and alter pocket dimensions and when you reconnected the loose piece that excess energy was channeled into you.”

“Reality warping energy being channeled into someone is good news?” I asked hoarsely.

Dr. Jennings shook her head. “Not usually no, but if you had taken an equal measure of electricity you would be dead so I would like you to see that as good news. Still, that was a large amount of energy we’re talking about and in order for your body to cope with it your H Chromosomes activated. If they hadn’t you would be dead. Are there any other Hypers in your family?”

I nodded slowly, damn but I was tired. “Yes, my nephew is a magic user. He’s only Category one though, so the magic is more of a nuisance to him than a power.”

“Genetic relatives sometimes show similar gifts and we think that you had a genetic preference toward magic type abilities that saved you,” she explained. Then she went on to add, “Given that reality warping magic was the catalyst for your change we believe you likely have magical abilities and possibly may have unconsciously changed yourself to some degree with that magic. We can’t tell you to what degree yet, but it might help us to know what you were thinking before and during that energy surge.”

I thought back, trying to remember what I had been thinking about. What had them so concerned anyway, after all I was alive. Things could be worse, and that reminded me of what I had been thinking. “Well, I was a bit upset at being up at that hour but I thought that things could be worse.”

“Did you think how they could be worse precisely?” Dr. Jennings pressed.

“Yeah, I thought that I could have wings like Allure or other visible differences like the other girls she was watching in the monitors,” I said with a shrug, well an attempt at a shrug anyway.

“Well that explains some of it,” she muttered. “And did you think of anything during the surge?”

I tried to think if I had thought of anything specific but I was coming up with nothing aside from pain and prayer and those were natural reactions. “Only that I was in a lot of pain, and I sent a prayer to the Goddess Danu to protect me,” I finally replied.

“Who is this Danu?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “What can you tell me about her?”

I began to rattle off everything I could think of offhand that related to my patron Goddess. “Danu is the Moon Goddess, mother of the Gods and the Tuatha Dé Danann. She is also the Goddess of Magick, and also has influence over water, earth, creativity, and fertility. I mostly worship the moon and mother aspects of Her, but the magick is part of what makes her such a powerful patron Goddess. Her colors are blue, white, silver and green and she has a strong connection to Ireland and its people, as well as fish, seagulls, and mares.”

“And you see this Goddess as a mother figure?” She wasn’t mocking me or anything; she just wanted to get in my head I think.

“I guess so, I believe all people of Ireland are her children,” I explained. “She may be mother of the Gods but we are all her children and like any good mother she lets us make our own decisions and learn from our mistakes but she is always there to comfort and love her children when they need her. So I was praying for her to comfort and protect her child.”

Her eyes widened as I spoke those last two words. “I’m no expert on magic, but even without the reality warping magic you were exposed to mutations can be based on what a person is thinking consciously or unconsciously. Add in that same magic, and it took the manifestation of your form and magical abilities to a whole new level.”

“Excuse me?” I asked confused suddenly wondering what exactly was wrong with my form and what magical abilities I might have.

“Like I said before, the walls of this room prevent magic use by cutting you off from any sources of magic and absorbing any spells you may cast by accident,” she told me. “Sometimes we need to contain new Hypers with magical abilities, like you, to keep them from losing control and hurting someone. Without a magic source like the ley lines in the earth or air to draw on those walls should completely suppress anyone trying to draw on magical energy.”

“Should?” I asked, not really liking that she had stressed that word.

She shook her head and my eyes widened in disbelief as she said, “Yes, should. You should not be able to use magic in this room but you already cast two fairly powerful spells… in your sleep. Magic use seems to come naturally to you but you still shouldn’t be able to use it period without drawing on a source.”

“So why don’t these walls work on me?” I asked.

“They do, or at least I believe they do,” the doctor said with a shake of her head. “You probably couldn’t draw on outside magical power sources right now if you tried. I think you’re actually somehow producing magical energy as a natural process of your body and the walls are absorbing that too, but only because you used it. That’s probably part of why you look so tired. ”

“But… but that goes against all the laws of magic my nephew has been taught,” I replied, my mouth agape. “Only natural forces of the universe can create magical energy, everyone has to draw off of those.”

“That would make you a force of nature then,” she said, giving me a long look. “I believe that your prayer when you were being changed by that energy surge actually made you into the living personification of what you would believe an actual physical child of the Goddess Danu would be like.”

“That’s ridiculous; you’re basing this theory that I’m some sort of Demi-god off a theory on whatever magic powers that you believe I have? You need more than some weird magical production on my part to support that.” I said testily.

“There is more,” she insisted. “Mr. O’Brien, your body has undergone some pretty radical changes. I want you to try to remain calm and come with me to look at your reflection. This will be a bit of a shock to you and I want to remind you of how extremely fortunate that you are to be alive.”

Radical changes? Lucky to just be alive? What wasn’t she telling me? Was I some sort of hideous freak? I wearily swung my legs over the side of the bed and worked my way into a sitting position. It was as I did that that I sensed that a familiar weight between my legs was conspicuously absent. That combined with the weight on my chest would have been a cause of great concern to me if I weren’t so bothered by the strange sensations that were coming from my back. There was a weight there and a feeling of movement and I nearly fell over onto my face from losing my balance. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew what that weight was and at the moment it overrode all other concerns.

A look to my sides confirmed my fears as the large white feathery wings were near impossible to miss even with the dim lighting. The damn things were huge and they seemed to want to hit everything nearby in my stressed out state. I was having trouble breathing as Dr. Jennings helped me get to my feet and led me across the floor to a better lit section of the room where I could see a bathroom through an open door. My balance was off from the pair of huge appendages emanating from my upper back, and I would have fallen a few times if Dr. Jennings had not supported me. She had me stand up straight as she closed the door to the bathroom to reveal a floor length mirror.

“Dear Goddess,” I gasped as I saw the winged girl in the hospital gown looking back at me in that mirror. I don’t know if it was seeing the wings reflected back, that it was a girl in the mirror, or if it was how the girl looked. Perhaps it was a combination of everything. Regardless, I broke down crying at what I saw there. I fell to my knees there on the floor with those wings wrapped protectively around me and I sobbed for I don’t know how long. Who and what we are is something all humans take for granted and I was beginning to see just how much.

I’d never married or fathered any children but I was only twenty eight and always told myself that if I ever wanted to the equipment would always be there when I needed it. I wasn’t great looking but I was six foot two and always kept myself in good shape. I had always been proud of the man I was because that was all I knew how to be and I could never picture myself as anything else. Now I was something else, yes not someone, but something. I would have liked to throw something at that mirror but I was too tired to put out the effort. What was the point anyway, it wasn’t like that would change anything. My H Chromosomes had been activated and now I was stuck like this.

Dr. Jennings had left the room some time ago to let me have some time to myself. I imagined that she had other patients besides me to look after so I hadn’t said a word as she left with promises to come check on me later. I wasn’t sure how long I had been kneeling there like that on the floor but it was the discomfort of the cramps in my legs and wings which eventually made me stand. I stood up and stretched and examined my wings again, this time with a more critical eye.

I was pretty sure I had shrunk a bit in height and I wondered if somehow all the excess mass had been transferred to my wings. When they were folded against my back they reached down to about mid-calf. They were really big, bright white, amazingly soft to the touch and I guessed that with them stretched out I would have a wingspan of nearly a dozen feet from tip to tip. It was strange touching them, I could feel the soft feathers and the muscles and bones with my fingertips and yet at the same time I felt fingers prodding at parts of my body that I never had before. There is no way of conveying how fingers being run along my wing felt to someone who doesn’t have them themselves, there’s no common frame of reference. It made me shiver in a good way though and gave me the courage to face the mirror again.

The girl in the mirror looked to be around fifteen years old and five foot eight inches tall with generous breasts, a slim waist, long legs and well-rounded hips and butt. Her skin was purest white and she had wavy silvery blue hair that fell down to just beneath her chest. It was the face that really caught my attention though. A face as easily as pretty as Allure’s which featured a small chin and nose, full pouty lips and big bright aquamarine eyes with long thick lashes. There was a faint bluish glow that seemed to emanate from the forehead so I parted my hair to see what was causing it. The girl in the mirror did the same to reveal a pale blue tattoo of a full moon with outward facing crescent moons to either side that glowed in the dim light of the room.

I was still staring at the mirror when Dr. Jennings returned bearing a tray of food. “I thought you might like some lunch. Mr. O’Brien.”

“Call me Dan…” I began to say when I realized how silly that would be. “I guess you can’t call me that.”

“How about I call you Danielle? Or maybe Dana?” she suggested.

I thought about it for a moment. “Danielle would probably be easy to remember and react to, but I think I like Dana better. Could I… Could I ask you some questions Dr. Jennings?”

“Go ahead, I figured that you’d probably have some. I’m a psychologist as well as an expert in mutation and part of the reason I deal with all the newly activated Hypers here is to help you through this transition in your life and answer any questions,” she replied as she led me to the table and chair near the bathroom door and motioned for me to have a seat.

The chair had a high back so I had to sit backwards on it to prevent any issues with my wings. When I was finally comfortable I asked. “Why am I not freaking out more about this? I mean I am freaking out, but it’s more because I have changed so drastically, I don’t think I’ll ever fit in with normal people again, and I’m scared of what will happen to me now. I’m freaking out about the wings too but not as much as I should be, and aside from being so strange looking, being a girl isn’t near as terrifying as I think it should be.”

“I believe that the magic or perhaps your Archetype has changed your brain chemistry and thus your gender identity to that of a normal girl to help you adapt. It’s probably increasing your comfort with your wings as well.”

“I’ll say,” I replied with less bitterness than I intended, “Before the thought of having wings gave me the willies, but now having them it feels like they’re not as alien feeling as I feared and it’s almost a sensual feeling when I touch them.”

“When Hypers have their H Chromosomes triggered it’s usually due to a stressful situation,” the doctor explained. “Our subconscious minds want to avoid further stress so when our Archetype is written we often subconsciously create some means of coping with whatever powers or physical changes we’re given. Having them feel sensual when touched is probably your subconscious mind using positive reinforcement to get you to accept them. Did you have any other questions?”

“Yeah I was wondering,” I asked somewhat nervously, “If I do have magic could it be possible for me to change back to who I was before? Or at least look somewhat normal?”

“It’s possible that you could take on another human male form with enough power and practice but I think given the changes and your previous line of questioning that it would be extremely uncomfortable for you to stay in that form for any length of time,” she answered. “As for looking normal though, you will probably be able to cast glamours and other illusions that will make you appear normal to others.

“I was afraid of that,” I muttered. “I guess at least the possibility of using illusions to look normal gives me something to shoot for.” I started eating the cardboard tasting hospital food as I thought about what I was in for. “I have absolutely no clue what to do now,” I finally said with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well I figure I’ll need to get someone to teach me magic but how do I adapt to this?” I said gesturing to my body. “I may not have a problem with being female but I have no idea how to live as one. And I’m going to need to learn to control these things if I don’t want them banging into everything around me.”

For the next four days I stayed in that room, only leaving to perform various tests for Dr. Jennings and Dr. Sanchez. The latter was a middle aged Latino man who ran magic research at one of Morristown’s four experimental labs. He was a minor sorcerer and when we first met he was like a kid in a candy store. He was so eager to learn more about my abilities that I actually thought his brain might overload and explode from some sort of spontaneous magical nerdgasm. I found that I liked the man immediately even if he did tend to get distracted by new lines of thought more often than not.

Despite that, over those four days he discovered quite a bit about how my powers work. My metabolism seems to produce not just physical energy but magical energy as well and I store that magical energy like some sort of biological magic battery. As a result I needed to eat more to get the physical energy I needed for day to day activities but I build up more magical energy than I could ever need for daily use. I also can’t draw on outside magical energy sources for power, but it would be redundant anyway with as much power as I build up, especially at night. Whenever the moon is in the sky my body becomes twice as efficient and I generate more magic, need next to no sleep and feel more energetic.

Dr. Sanchez also had my power level as a magic user measured both during the night and the day by having me cast simple spells that he showed me. During the day I rated somewhere between Category three and four, and when the moon is out I’m a solid five. He even had a theory about the strange tattoo on my forehead. He figured that it was a sort of charge indicator for my magical energy, and the more I have stored the brighter it glows. We did discover some problems though on the magic end of things. In Dr. Sanchez’s words I am ‘too much of a natural.’ I cast major spells without thinking or even realizing I’m doing it at the time but when I try to concentrate on a spell I give it too much energy with dangerous results or use too little and the spell fizzles. He was hoping that with practice I would get over that problem but he cautioned me that like any accomplished sorceress I would have to practice for years to get to that point.

It was possible that there were other magical abilities or side effects to my powers but none that we could test for in the short term. Dr. Jennings had no other information for me than I was of good health for a teenage girl and that I seemed to exhibit no non-magical powers other than perhaps my wings and healing faster than usual at night. Other than that and needing to eat more I had normal human tolerances and physical abilities, except what I might choose to use magic to augment. Other than that she had me working on getting used to my wings being there and trying to actually fly with them. I wasn’t having much luck with the latter though, because my wings still didn’t feel quite right to me and I was having trouble actually making them do what I wanted them to do. It was like giving a goldfish hands and asking it to play the violin.

By the end of the fourth day the pair decided that I was probably safe to be out in public, at least by Morristown standards since we’re all pretty used to strange shit. They wanted to have me stay one night in a regular hospital room for observation to be sure, but I would be allowed visitors and to go wherever I wanted in the hospital until visiting hours were over so long as I kept a bracelet on that would let Dr. Sanchez constantly monitor my magic. The only visitors I was expecting to possibly come and see me was my brother and possibly his wife and son.

I was more than a little surprised when I was sitting in my room watching television and my boss walked in with Allure, the girl from Dorm Seven. Deep Blue was a tall woman with dark blue skin and pure white hair and such confidence that she easily dominated any room she entered. Usually she let me call her Karen but I wasn’t quite sure if that was appropriate any more so as soon as she entered the room I said, “Hey boss, back from Ottawa I see.”

“Hi Daniel,” she replied as she and the younger mutant approached the bed. “Yes I’m back for now but I’ll need to be heading back there for a few days to attend some meetings and bring Jessie here so we can get hir settled in and zie can start classes. But I wanted to come check on you before I leave again, how are you doing?

“I’m going by Dana now,” I replied. “I’m a little weirded out by everything that happened but I guess I’m getting used to it… well at least the wings and the magic and stuff. I should be back to work by the time you get back.”

She shook her head. “No you won’t Dana. You changing both gender and age has made things complicated from a legal aspect. We can’t employ you since Daniel no longer physically exists and Dana has no legal documentation.”

“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that.” I sank back into the hospital bed with a sigh. “How the hell am I going to afford rent now?”

“I have an alternative arrangement to offer you actually,” the blue skinned mutant offered as she handed me an envelope. “I’ve got enough cash here to cover your severance pay, but I would suggest you use that money for a new wardrobe and other necessities.”

“Okay Karen, so what’s your alternative if I’m going to need that money for other things?” I inquired as I looked inside the envelope and found that it was indeed full of cash.

“You’re going to enroll at AMPS as Dana and I’ll allocate academic scholarships for you and start getting a new identity created for you under that name and assign you a legal guardian.” I was about to argue when she halted me with a raised hand. “I know you’ve already gone through high school so I can offer you equivalency for what courses you’ve already taken but you will need other classes. You’ll be free to take whatever academic classes you want but I suggest some of the combat classes as well and you’ll definitely need the magic classes from what Dr. Sanchez has told me. Think about it Dana you’ll get the teaching you need and you’ll be able to stay in Dorm Seven and not have to worry about rent.”

She had made some good points; I was really going to need a roof over my head and those magic lessons, and given how I look now combat lessons wouldn’t be a bad idea either. “I suppose I’ll need paperwork filled out for the school?”

“I’ve already filled most of it out, you just need to fill in your name and date and sign them.” She took some papers out of her briefcase and placed them on the bedside table. “You can take them to admissions when you’re finished. Usually we assign a new student a shadow from the same dorm to help them find things and adjust and since you already have met Erin here, I decided to make her your shadow. She can probably help you adjust to your new gender and appendages as well.”

“Are you always three moves ahead of everyone else Karen?” I asked as she gave me that knowing smile of hers. “Sometimes I swear you’re a psychic instead of a tinker.”

“You’ll need to call me Miss Morris from now on like everyone else,” she pointed out. “And I may not be psychic but I do try to know everything that happens in my school, even when I’m not here. I need to leave now but I suggest that you and Erin talk for a while and get to know one another. The two of you have four days, including the weekend, before the new semester starts to help you get everything you’ll need for school and get you prepared.”

“Thanks Kar… Miss Morris. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Good luck Dana and take care,” she said as she turned and left me alone in the room with Allure.

At least I wasn’t staring at the girl this time, though that made me wonder if perhaps my sexual preferences had changed as well. I tried to put it out of my mind; I had enough on it already. “So…Erin I guess you can call me Dana now. Come have a seat on the bed with me so you can tell me what all I’ll need to have before we start school on Monday.”

“Hi Dana, I’m really glad you’re doing alright, I was really worried when you got activated.” She took a seat on the end of the bed as I asked and began to form a list. “You’ll need new clothes of course that you can wear with your wings, some make-up and accessories so you people don’t peg you for a guy…”

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked in confusion. “I mean, I was a guy.”

”I know that,” she agreed, “But you really don’t want that to be common knowledge. We D7s have enough trouble as it is without giving people more ammunition to fire at us. So for the next four days you get a crash course on being a ‘normal’ mutant girl. We’ll need to come up with a background for you as well in case anyone asks too many questions. You’ll need exercise clothes, shoes, at least one school uniform for special occasions, toiletries, a few suitcases to carry everything, possibly a laptop and cellphone if you don’t already have them and anything you want to bring from home. Do you still have a place to stay ‘til Sunday? It might be easier for you if we say you’re an out-of-towner and just moving here, that way you won’t have to move into the dorm tomorrow and have everyone trying to get the new girl before you get a chance to adjust.”

I nodded as I mentally checked a few things off. “I still have my apartment until the end of the month and I got my laptop and stereo system, they were bought recently so I shouldn’t need anything new for those. Is there anything else I really need before I get to the dorm?”

“I can’t think of anything physical right now except getting some piercings done, but we will likely think of more while we’re shopping. On the non-physical side you will need a background story as I said before and you’ll need a code name.”

I wasn’t too sure about getting anything pierced but she was doing her best to help and I appreciated that. “What do you mean a code name? I need one right away?”

She nodded insistently. “If you don’t have one some other kid will call you something and if other kids think it’s funny that name will stick to you forever here. I have a friend with seismic powers who started at the school two years ago. She didn’t have a name chosen and everyone still calls her Vibrator.”

I winced at that one. “Damn, kids can be so cruel. I generate magic energy and can use magic, do you have any suggestions?”

“I would suggest Conception but that’s just asking for trouble, how about Rune?” she suggested.

“How about Glitch?” I asked. “That’s how I got my powers.”

“I like it but I don’t really think it reflects who you are,” she said with a sigh when my forehead power indicator tattoo thingy caught her attention. “What is that and why is it glowing?”

“We think it tells how much magic energy I have generated and stored,” I said with a shrug.

“I don’t know much about magic but isn’t it impossible to generate magic energy?” she asked. “When we learned the basics on how to combat mages we were told that people need to draw magic energy from other things.”

“I have a weird metabolism and Dr. Jennings thinks I’m some sort of Demigod, or at the very least the personification of what I believe the child of the Moon Goddess Danu would be.” If I tried explaining any more than that I’d likely be at it all day.

“Child of the moon Goddess?” she inquired with a raised eyebrow before something occurred to her. “Hey, how about Moonchilde?”

I thought about it for a moment and smiled, “I think we have a winner. I like it.”

“Moonchilde it is then,” she agreed

After that was decided we started talking about the life of a student living in the dorms and going to school at AMPS, Having worked there in maintenance I knew all about the school and the location of nearly everything but hearing about it from a student’s perspective helped me see it with new eyes. There was a lot that you tend to overlook as a nine to five employee such as what cliques to avoid getting involved with, where to go when being pursued by superhuman bullies, and what foods to avoid in the cafeteria.

Despite my earlier reservations about her I found myself enjoying Erin’s company more and more as we talked. She was shy and timid at first with new people but once she warmed up to me I found that she was very clever and had a fun sense of humour. We were still talking and I was much more relaxed when my brother Andrew showed up with his wife Stacey and my nephew Curtis. Andrew was big with brown hair and eyes like I used to be and so was Curtis, whereas Stacey was slender with bright red hair and green eyes.

My big brother was now the only non-activated Hyper in the room since Curtis, who went by the codename Charm had minor magic abilities and a hypnotic gaze and his mother Stacey was called Fortune due to the fact that her powers make her incredibly lucky. All three of them stopped in the doorway and stared at Erin and me. Finally Stacey managed to get out, “I’m sorry we must have the wrong room, we were told that Daniel O’Brien was in this room.”

I was suddenly very nervous again as the possible confrontation with my family was suddenly right in my face. I swallowed the lump in my throat and replied, “Stace, do you really think your powers would ever let you go into the wrong room?” Then after a brief pause to study the disbelief on their faces I added, “It’s me, but with things the way they are now I’m going by Dana.”

“Y-you’re a chick,” my older brother stammered.

“Yes, I had noticed that thanks,” I replied drolly. “You still want powers of your own bro?”

As Andrew just shook his head and continued to stare Curtis didn’t seem bothered at all by the fact that I now looked like a girl the same age as him. He just joked, “That’s an impressive pair you have there Uncle Dan,” he paused for effect before adding, “I mean the wings of course.” He turned to his father and I could see him rolling his eyes from across the room, “Oh c’mon Dad, suck it up. We were told that he’d been through some major changes and anything can happen when there’s H Chromosomes and magic involved. Personally I think you’re rocking whatever look you have going there. I’d love to know what caused your Archetype to come up with that.”

“Thanks Curt, and if you must know I was praying for my life at the time. Dr. Jennings seems to be of the opinion that Danu found it funny to answer the prayer to protect one of her children by making me into her actual daughter,” I said with a shrug.

My nephew’s eyes widened as he realized what I was saying and used a spell to scan me. “Holy shit. How much energy are you drawing on and where the hell are you getting it?”

“I’m not, I can’t draw on outside sources,” I replied candidly. “My metabolism is producing all of this.”

“That… that’s not possible…” he said as he stared at me.

I nodded in agreement. “That’s what I said.”

“Uncle Dan… oops… I mean Aunt Dana, you have got to keep this quiet,” he warned me. “If the wrong magic users find out about this you might as well paint a big magical target on your back. And if you’re packing that much energy around you need to learn to use magic properly a.s.a.p.”

“That’s why I’m starting school on Monday,” I replied. “Erin here is going to be my shadow. Erin this is my nephew Curtis, my brother Andrew and my sister-in-law Stacey. Everyone this is Erin.” I looked at Stacey in concern; it wasn’t like her to be so quiet. “Umm Stace, are you okay?”

“She broke out in a huge grin, “Are you kidding? This is awesome! I always wanted a little sister and now I get to have one! And you’re soooo freaking adorable!”

“Adorable?” I said in disbelief. I was still trying to make the mental transition from freak to attractive exotic girl with wings so I didn’t quite see how I was adorable yet.

“Hell yeah, with that blue hair and those eyes and the wings you’re just so cuuute! Can I touch your wings?” she asked eagerly.

“Sure, I guess so…” I had barely managed to get the words out when my sister-in-law shot across the room and began to softly run her fingertips along the wing joints of my right wing with one hand as the other hand caressed the feathers. I sighed contentedly, “Mmmm that feels nice.”

After that I had to once again answer all the questions regarding some of my stranger features and how my powers worked. As time went on Andrew seemed to lose some of his hesitation and asked some questions of his own. Curtis was happy that I’d be coming to school with him and agreed with Erin that we needed a back story for me. It was decided that I would be Curtis’ cousin from London Ontario and once Deep Blue returned we would have her make Andrew and Stacey my legal guardians. I was coming to AMPS to learn to control my magic and be closer to my cousin and my favorite aunt.

And speaking of that ‘aunt’, she had offered to come shopping with Erin and I so we’d be able to put all the bags in her car to take back to my place. She and Erin were talking excitedly about what stores we should go to and what we would need to get me. I could only shake my head at their excitement and wonder if the Dark Side really does have cookies. It looked like I was going to find out soon enough. Visiting hours were almost over when I complained, “How am I even going to get into your car to go shopping with these huge… tracts of land Stace? It’s going to suck having to walk everywhere.”

“You have wings, why don’t you fly there and meet me?” she asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.

I sighed as I thought about how to explain it. “I didn’t have these five days ago and I have no idea how to use them. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re here just for decoration or to annoy me. They don’t belong on a human body.”

“That’s your problem,” Erin pointed out, “You’re still thinking of your body as human and your wings as something foreign. You’re over-thinking things just like when you use too much or too little power in a spell. You need to relax, feel your wings as a part of you and just let it happen. I’ll show you how to do it when we come to pick you up for shopping in the morning.

The next morning I was released from the hospital and Erin and Stacey showed up bright and early to collect me so that we could get a good start on the day. Stacey had brought me some clothes that she thought would make a decent fit. And once I was changed into the panties, black leggings, thigh length green halter top, boots and gloves we headed to the elevators. I was more than a little surprised when Erin pressed the button for the roof. “Why are we going up there?”

“Well since this is your first time trying to fly I thought we’d get really high first,” she began

“I’m sorry,” I answered with mock seriousness, “But I was taught to just say no to drugs.”

Stacey giggled at that as and I even heard a few titters from Erin as she said, “Smart ass.”

We arrived at the rooftop and Erin led us toward the edge. It was damn cold out and I decided that I would really need to figure out a way to wear a jacket with these wings. I blew on my hands and rubbed them together, “So now what? Pixie dust and a happy thought?”

“I wish it were that easy,” she said as she lifted a few feet into the air and used her wings to hover. “Nope, since this is your first time we need to get you used to how your wings feel when they are moving as a part of you, how the wind feels underneath them. So you need to take a good running start and take a leap of faith off this building.”

I stared at her my mouth agape. “You want me to jump off a building?”

She merely nodded as she replied, “Yes, being high in the air and in danger of falling is a great motivator for your instincts to kick in. Believe me, when you see that ground rushing toward you you’ll start using those wings pretty fast, and the higher you are the more time you have for it to happen.”

“But what if it doesn’t work?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat.

“Well, then it’s a good thing we’re so close to a hospital,” she deadpanned before adding, “At least you have magic in case you need it. Just do it and let your body take over, don’t over-think it.

“You’re crazy for suggesting this you know,” I pointed out. “And I’m crazy for thinking about it.” Then I turned to Stacey, “And you’re crazy for not trying to talk me out of it.” Stacey just shrugged and gave me a thumb up. Still muttering about how crazy all three of us were I took a deep breath and started running toward the edge of the building. As soon as my foot hit that ledge I closed my eyes and leaped into the empty air beyond.

I opened my eyes a second later to see the ground rushing toward me and suddenly my wings spread wide and I began to glide. I could feel the wind rushing around my wings, through my feathers and something in my mind clicked. These wings were a part of me and if I could feel them I could control them. At first I let instinct guide me as I got the feel for gliding, sensing the winds and using them to my advantage. Then I purposely began to flap my wings, gaining both speed and altitude and thrilling in the experience.

Soon I was high above the hospital, the cars in the streets beneath me moving about like tiny ants. If I didn’t have Stacey and Erin waiting for me I could have stayed up there forever. Flying was simply put, the most amazing experience of my life. This was where I belonged; could I really give this up just to look normal? It would be hard enough just going to school and spending my days in boring classes knowing that just outside the window there was freedom.

Erin soon flew up beside me and we glided side by side. “See, I told you that you would get it. Stacey went ahead; she’ll meet us at Edge Mall.” She turned to lead the way and I followed in her wake eager to land now that the adrenaline rush was over. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved flying and would do it again the first chance I got but it was cold out, especially at those higher altitudes and I wasn’t wearing all that much. I decided that the first chance I had I was going to learn a spell to help me keep warm.

Shopping with two enthusiastic women who seemed intent on making me dress as girly a possible wasn’t as bad as I had been dreading. Our first stop was Victoria’s Secret where we bought twenty bra and panty sets in various different colors and styles and some stockings and other ‘necessities’. The only problem was that I was a big girl at 36D and my wings necessitated that all my bras be backless and in some cases strapless as well. So as you can imagine we were in there for hours. It was lunchtime by the time we were through and all we had bought so far was underthings. We had also drained all of the money that I had been able to take out of my bank account on my ATM card and were starting in on my severance pay.

After lunch we got back to it and things were only slightly easier this time around. We bought several pairs of jeans, exercise clothes, various lengths and styles of skirts, some halter dresses and a crap load of different halter tops, again because of my wings. Then we needed some heels in different styles and colors, a pair of running shoes, and a bunch of make-up I didn’t even know how to use yet. Then we were off for all the personal hygiene products a girl needs to look and smell pretty including a small bottle of perfume that set me back fifty bucks by itself. I silently thanked the Goddess that my new physiology didn’t seem to grow body hair as that saved some money and earned me jealous looks from both of my shopping compatriots.

Finally we bought a four piece luggage set that took nearly every cent I had left. Oh well at least I didn’t have to pay for that school uniform, as Erin informed me that we would get one set for free for special occasions. It was well past seven o’clock and we were placing the luggage in the trunk of Stacey’s car when she said, “Just one more stop and we’re through for the day.”

Erin had already left us to head back to the dorm for the night with promises to call me in the morning and I was tired. Tired of walking, tired of men leering and tired of people in general outright staring. The children pointing and saying things like ‘Mommy, lookit the pretty angel’ were kind of cute though. I let out a sigh as I somehow managed to close the trunk. “Nope, no more stops, my severance pay has gone to a better place, and may it rest in peace.”

Stacey just smiled at me. “This one is my treat; we’re going to The Cutting Edge.” I tried not to groan at that. The Cutting Edge is a hair salon and body piercing shop that Stacey owns in the mall. They also sell some jewellery and such geared toward teenage girls. I thought I had managed to dodge that particular bullet for the day but it seemed that she wanted to save the best for last. So despite my admittedly weak protests I was led once more through the mall to ‘Stacey’s little shop of horrors’ as I used to call it when I was still male.

She just had to show off her favourite niece who just got activated to all her employees. She was like a proud mama and since she had done so much to help today and was being really supportive overall I let her have her moment as I walked in beside her all smiles. “Hi girls, this is my niece Dana, she just got activated earlier this week and she’s transferring here to go to AMPS.”

“Hello,” I said, giving a nervous little finger wave. I knew all of these women and I was a little worried that one of them might clock me.

The ladies were all smiles though as Mabel said, “Oh! She’s an absolute angel!” Yeah, that reference wasn’t getting old at all. I was hearing it near constantly from people who noticed my wings and the blue glow emanating from my forehead.

“She’s adorable,” Penny agreed. “Such fascinating coloring and those wings are beautiful.”

I don’t think I’d ever seen Stacey as happy as she was right now showing me off. She really must have wanted a little sister or a daughter to share her interests and experiences with and apparently I was the next best thing. If it made her happy I could take it, so I got in the chair when she asked me to. Stacey actually worked on me herself and it made for a neat and I’ll admit even enjoyable bonding experience.

First she evened out my hair and styled it with a side part that I had to admit made me look very pretty. Then she shaped my finger nails and painted them a shade of blue similar to my hair and while we waited for those to dry she did the same to my toenails. It was a little odd having my sister-in-law get so personal with my hands and feet but not really uncomfortable as while she worked she explained what she was doing and why. Then came the piercings; she did two in each of my ears, putting a set of silver studs in each. I have to admit that I was kind of getting into it at that point because on impulse I asked if she could pierce my navel when I saw a navel ring with a silver crescent moon on a short chain.

The mall was closing as we made our way back to her car. Over the past few days I had noticed that girls are much more tactile then men and they don’t really always need to be speaking to communicate. Small touches, body language, and the way they speak all contribute to a much deeper and more personal form of communication than men share. I found that I actually preferred this deeper communication so as we walked back to the car I reached out and gave Stacey’s hand a light squeeze. “Thanks for all of that Stace, it was really nice and relaxing after such a long day and I really appreciate the effort. This being a girl thing isn’t really so bad when I’ve got family and good friends with me.”

She reached out and wrapped me in a hug. “You’re welcome Dana, it was nice to have someone to share stuff like that with.”

“Maybe we can do it again sometime,” I offered. “It was nice to be able to relax after the week I’ve had. It doesn’t rate up there with flying, but it was pretty nice.”

She nodded and took a wistful glance at the sky. “There’s something I’d like to do someday, I kind of envy you that.”

“Once I have better control of my magic I’ll try to take you up with me so you can see what its like. I don’t even want to push your considerable luck until then though. But I promise that when I have better control we’ll do that.” I gave her hand a final squeeze and a smile and said, “I’ll meet you back at my place,” as I took a running start, began to beat my wings and launched myself into the air.

For the next three days Erin and ‘Aunt Stacey’ put me through an intensive girl boot camp so that when I entered that dorm Sunday afternoon I wouldn’t make any male mistakes. They had me name all sorts or articles and clothing and tell them what shade it was and what they would go well with. They had me practice makeup over and over until I could do both a daytime and evening look as quickly and easily as they could. They had me work on how I said things and using the non-verbal communication skills that I had noticed. They had me walk in various types and heights of heels until I thought my legs would fall off. They even had me practice putting my hair into various styles with seemingly no effort.

It was a grueling three days and Friday and Saturday night saw me going to bed exhausted. By Sunday afternoon, when we loaded the suitcases in Stacey’s car though, we all felt that I was as good as I could get. Any errors I did make we would just chalk up to me being a bit of a tomboy before my activation. Erin and I both took to the air and followed Stacey’s car from above so that we could land near her in the parking lot. I was again reluctant to give up my time in the sky despite the cold weather but I knew that I had to face this sooner or later so I landed and gave my favorite aunt a hug goodbye before Erin and I walked toward the door to Dorm Seven.

Erin and I paused at the doorway and I looked at it in wonder. Only nine days had passed since I last came to this door fearing what was inside but it seemed like a lifetime to me. I had changed so much in that short time and not all of those changes were physical. Now I stood here again and I no longer feared the freaks among freaks, I was one of them and I thought that maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Sometimes the most fearsome paths hold the greatest treasures and I was ready to walk my new path and brave whatever glitches the future brings.