Liam knew where his life was going, or so he thought until an incident at football practice turns into his worst nightmare. And the fun is only beginning.

I want to thank Maggie Finson and all the other authors for creating the Whateley Universe. This story is Fan-fiction and may not conform to Canon rules or timelines. I am only playing in their sandbox. I also want to thank Connected and my wife for all the editing work put in to turn my scratchings into a readable story.

Mother’s Child

Chapter 3
August 13th, 2008

Telling his parents didn’t go exactly as Lee had expected. He thought his dad would hit the ceiling, maybe throw him out or possibly even call the MCO on him, but that wasn’t at all what happened.

To say Lee was anxious was calling Noah’s flood a drizzle.

Both of his parents were home when they got there, waiting on them. His mother met him at the door, looking drawn. With a wan little smile she bent and hugged him. Yesterday, he would have pulled away, being too old for such things, but today it felt welcome.

His dad was sitting in his recliner with a tight look, drumming a tattoo on the chair arm. He didn’t see or hear any sound of his little sisters, adding to the unreality of the scene.

Quietly, his mom ushered Coach to the sofa, and offered him a lemonade, which he refused with a wave. She sat on the other end of the sofa and looked up expectantly at Lee.

Lee looked at Coach, who had suddenly developed an enormous interest in his jacket cuff. Despite a rising thread of panic, Lee realized this was something he needed to do for himself, something that he was going to have to face himself. Not that he didn’t appreciate Coach being there for moral support.

Lee flopped on the floor beside his father’s chair. He cleared his throat. “Dad, I assume mom told you where I’ve been all day.”

His father nodded, not saying anything.

Lee took a deep breath. “I’m a mutant.” He heard his mom give a little squeak, but he didn’t look at her. He had to get this all out; he had to get this out now.

“Dad, I know how you feel about mutants, but really I’m just the same as I was, just a little more. Well, maybe a lot more, we’re not sure yet.” He looked up into his father’s face. “But, you have to know, I’d never hurt you guys.”

His father looked up and gazed at Lee. His face was pretty unreadable, but it didn’t seem angry so Lee forged ahead.

“I’m just starting to change. I don’t know where this is going, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I’m going for the ride, whether I want to or not. If you want me to… leave, I will, but please don’t call the MCO. I’ve heard they do bad… things to mutants.”

For a long moment, everyone stared at the floor.

Finally, Coach started to speak, but Lee’s father just held up his hand.
Slowly he lowered his hand and softly stroked Lee’s hair.

—————

After a few moments, his dad began speaking, slowly and surprisingly softly. “You could have let your Coach do your talking for you, but I’m glad - proud that you didn’t. I’m proud of you.” He sat and held Lee’s gaze. The room was so silent, Lee could hear them all breathing. “It took a lot of guts, but it shouldn’t have. You should have been able to come straight to me…with anything, anything at all.”

He paused, and when he began again his voice was stronger, surer, growing in conviction. “I blame Haskins for that; for holding my job over my head, for suggesting it was in my best interest, our best interest, to embrace the H-1 and the MCO - but mostly, I blame myself, for letting it change the man I was to the people I love.” He raked his hands through his hair and gave Lee a look of such intensity that he felt tears sting his eyes. This sounded, finally, like the father he thought knew, the father he wanted to know. The father he had always loved.

“Lee, you must believe me - I don’t really believe in all that claptrap. And you are my son. You’ll always be my son. Nothing means more to me than that.”

Maybe, just maybe, things were going to work out after all, Lee thought with the first real relief he’d felt since this all began. Who cares if you’re a mutant as long as you’ve got your family. He sighed with contentment.

“I love you, too, Dad.”

Lee’s dad stood and held out a hand to Coach. “I want to thank you for what you’ve done for Lee - for this family. I know it was a risk, a big risk.”

Coach Quail took his hand in a brief, strong grip. “Well, it…I know what it’s like…couldn’t have really done differently…”

“Don’t minimize this, Coach. I wouldn’t have known what to do…where to go…my God, when I think of how I might have just handed him over to the MCO in complete ignorance.” Lee’s dad sank back into his chair. “So, if there is ever anything you need, if it’s within my power to give, it’s yours. That includes open support before the school board, if they ever try to railroad you.”

“I really appreciate that, Mr. Cook. I may call that debt someday for myself or for someone else.”

“It’s Tom. My friends call me Tom.”

Lee’s mom had been sitting quietly for a long time but now she spoke. “Coach, I think you better tell us…what we really need to know.”

Coach gave her an encouraging grin. “Lee’s a great kid - full of drive and fortitude, one of the best I’ve ever seen. And, he’s going to need that, and more. Today’s tests show Lee is just beginning to manifest, and we don’t know yet where that’s going to lead. But it’s going to be a difficult, scary and maybe dangerous process for him. And, even for those around him.”

Lee’s parents looked at each other and Tom asked, “Dangerous? How?”

“Well, there’s H-1 and the MCO for a start, they’re always ferreting about looking someone to grab. But there are other dangers a powerful mutant, and believe me, Lee is going to be a powerful mutant, have to face. He’s already stronger and more agile that the best Olympic athlete. Ignoring his other powers, those are enough to put him in danger from people like H-1, and you know it. Couple that with his other powers and it’s going to be a trial for him to conceal his mutant status - if he can.”

Lee’s mom spoke up, “The MCO, we know about them, but you said something about other dangers. Like what? What kind of…”

“Burnout.” Coach answered grimly. “When a powerful mutant overuses his powers before his body is accustom to housing those powers it can be very dangerous for him, sometimes even fatal. If he ever starts running a high fever or shows signs of delirium, call me. Immediately.” He paused. “Good training can help avoid that, by learning to exercise control. He’ll need to avoid stress, as well, to keep down unconscious overuse.”

“And then there’s always the possibility of accidents.” He continued. “Accidents can be a big problem! Lee’s manifestation was pushed forward by his instinctive drive to excel at football which triggered his energizer, magic or warper power…we’re not really sure which. This caused him to momentarily become a speedster, causing a cascade effect activating his manifestation. Before yesterday, he could barely bench press 225 pounds, today he lifted 650, and he’s going to get stronger.”

“Something else you need to know is that Lee has magic. This may be the hardest for him to learn to control, because at his level, a certain amount of magic use is instinctual; he seems to be developing a glamour or aura, if you will, that may project his emotions and maybe other things to those around him. Glamours can be very hard to control.”

We can’t say how powerful a magic user he may be, just yet, but I doubt he’s less than a Wiz-3, probably a 4. He could be even higher. He has to be that strong to use magic at all without training.”

That was’t the complete truth; Doc’s devise was calibrated to a Wiz-5 and could indicate even one level higher, but it had fluctuated wildly in a way even Doc didn’t completely understand. Doc thought that Lee’s changes were in such a state of flux, it simply couldn’t get a good reading on him. But how in Hades was he to explain what even Doc wasn’t sure about? Besides, he wasn’t convinced. The results had ranged from Wiz-3 to off the scale. Doc said he had never seen it do that before. Secretly, Coach thought Lee might one day be one of the most powerful Wizards on the planet. The trip back in two months was as much to see how fast Lee was changing as it was how much, but he didn’t want to scare Lee’s parents more than necessary. The boy was going to need all their love and support to get through what was coming.

“I know a magic user who may be able to help Lee control his magic. Her name is Cantrip and we should contact her as soon as possible. Lee’s magic is manifesting quickly compared to his other powers and he needs to control his glamour. If he doesn’t, it is likely to out him to other people as a mutant.”

“I think I’ve heard of her. Wasn’t she one of the leaders of that protest in Nashville last year where the mutants attacked people going in and out of the Capital Building?” Tom asked nervously.

“Yeah, she helped lead the march for mutant rights in Tennessee, but it was a couple of the MCO’s pet mutants that caused the trouble. It was a set up from the word go. Someone in the mutant organization leaked info about the timing of the march and all it took was a few attacks by the MCO mutants to taint the whole thing. They were able with minimal effort to set mutant rights in the state back years. Actually, most of the people that were supposedly attacked were H-1 supporters, who faked their injuries.”

“That makes sense. The way I heard it at the H-1 meetings, it was the protesters who attacked and killed or wounded a bunch of innocent people, but for some reason the leaders thought it was amusing. I should have known that was another load of crap or it would have made more of a splash in the news and they would have been outraged, not amused.” Tom looked embarrassed.

Coach nodded, “You can’t believe half of what you hear. It’s like the civil rights movement back in the sixties. The opponents will do or say anything to discredit the movement up to and including killing innocents. They especially like to fake violence, then call the MCO, who have a distressing habit of making the mutants disappear - permanently. That is one of the reasons it is so important that Lee get his powers under some control almost as soon as they appear. Lee must avoid under any circumstances doing anything that might be construed as hurting anyone else. He has to hide by blending in at least for now.”

“Later, there may be other options, but I don’t think he is ready for them now.” The coach looked intently at Lee’s parents, “You are going to have to help him, and so will I. I have my own reasons for helping, above and beyond thinking that Lee is one of the finest young men I have had the privilege to be associated with. I just ask that we try to keep my involvement under the radar, so I can stay a teacher and continue to help people like Lee.”

Lee’s parents nodded. “Of course.”

Cantrip is a good person and she owes me a favor for something I did years ago. I’ll call her tonight. She’ll help, I’m certain, and she just lives a few miles away in Fountain City.”

“But it’s your help that may be most important. He’s got to control his physical strength, and soon. There are things you can do. I’ll get you a list of practice exercises. An easy one is tossing raw eggs to him until he can catch them without breaking them. Also, to teach him the unconscious control he’s going to need, have him carry an egg around while he’s doing other things until he can do it consistently without breaking it. That will teach him to have a gentle touch. You can do the same type of thing for his upper body strength with something fragile like a porcelain doll or anything large and fragile that he can practice hugging and carrying in his arms.”

I am not carrying around a doll! thought Lee. That was really carrying things too far!

“Also, I strongly recommend some sort of martial arts training. Lee, you will have to be very careful to conceal your full strength, but if you think you can, the dojo is a wonderful place to learn control, meditation techniques, and how to protect yourself without at least appearing to use your powers. A good martial artist can almost appear super-powered without attracting the wrong kind of attention. Can you learn to control yourself enough to do that?”

“I honestly don’t know, coach, but I will surely try. I took aikido for about a year a while back, so that will help won’t it?”

“Sure it will. Do you remember any of the meditation techniques they taught you?”

Oh, yeah. Kuroda Sensei was big on them. Made us practice them at least a third of every class.”

“Good, I want you to practice them at least an hour every day until school starts, preferably twice a day. Do you have any idea, how Kuroda Sensei feels about mutants?”

“Well, there was a rumor that his daughter manifested and then went to a school up in New England, but I don’t know for sure.”

“I’d guess she went to Whateley Academy then. It’s a high school for mutants up there.”

The Coach mulled this around in his head for a moment. “How long ago was this?”

“A couple of years, I guess.”

“Okay, let me check my contacts and see what I can find out about the Sensei. If he looks sympathetic, then you’ll tell him about yourself. That way he can avoid putting you in situations where you might accidentally reveal your true strength and maybe help you control it. I’ll check and get back to you by Monday. We need to be confident that you can pass as a mundane before you go back to school.”

“Uh, speaking of school, Coach, what about the team?” Lee asked expectantly.

“Lee, I’ve already told you, son.” Coach was almost apologetic. “I’m not allowed to have mutants on the team; but to provide you additional cover, maybe I can put you on as a second stringer, if you think you can control your strength in practices, and no more magic! Then, later, you pretend to get bored with sitting the bench and quit after school starts. If you can avoid a repeat of Friday, everyone will soon forget it or think it was a fluke. Nobody will be surprised you don’t want to be a bench warmer.”

He saw the disappointment on Lee’s face. “I’m sorry, Lee, I know you really wanted to be on the team, but it just can’t be done. You are going to keep getting stronger, and I strongly suspect that you are going to become a lot stronger, before this runs its course.” Doc’s devise was projecting Lee’s ultimate strength might be measured in 10’s of tons. Not something to hit the kid with just yet.

Lee’s mother spoke up. “What do we do if there are physical changes or he outs himself in some other way. Will he be able to stay in school?”

“Mrs. Cook, I can’t answer that right now. Oddly enough being in the heart of the Bible belt, Knoxville is one of the more tolerant areas for mutants, but it still has it’s advocates of Humanity-First, and that so-called Church of Genetic Purity,” he nodded at Tom who grimaced, “and there are some other individuals who hate mutants. It’s hard to say what might they will do if Lee’s secret gets out.”

“If things start getting out of hand, Lee may have to be home schooled or, preferably, go to that boarding school we were talking about after Christmas break. By then I suspect it will be getting harder to hide his changes, so it’s either one of those options or announce that because of the devisor drug he has become a mutant. I don’t really think that you want to do that, do you, Lee?” Lee shook his head from side to side violently. There had been a genuine mutant student at another local middle school last year for a short time. What Lee had heard about the way she had been treated made Lee ashamed to go to the same school system.

Coach continued, “Whateley is one of the best schools for mutants in the world. They specialize in helping mutants learn to control and use their powers, while giving them a world class education. Technically, it’s a high school but many students come out with as good an education as they would get at a lot of colleges. But most importantly, it’s relatively safe. It’s well protected, even the MCO has to get permission to come on-site, and they can’t take a student without a federal warrant. However, you should know it’s a boarding school.”

“It sounds expensive,” Lee’s mom put in. And far away, thought Lee.

“It is, but they have scholarships and work programs designed to help students keep the costs down. I know some people who might help too, if you need it. I think it is going to be important that Lee gets all the help he can with controlling his powers, and they really are one of the best.”

Tom spoke up, “We’ll find a way, if that’s what we have to do. My parents are pretty well off and would probably help. Lee’s their favorite grandson, after all.”

“And Lee’s got a small trust fund for his education that my parents left him when they died.” Kathleen interjected.

Coach was really jazzed about this school, but Lee didn’t want to leave his family or his friends. Frak, things were just getting good here for him. He had his friends from the neighborhood and had a girlfriend he had just start getting serious about dating. Now they were talking about sending him away. There had to be a way to hide or explain these changes that would let him stay here.

As they continued to talk about what a wonderful place this Whateley was, anxiety began to harden into anger. This was his life they were talking about! Nobody was asking him what he wanted to do! You’d think they were discussing where to put the damn sofa!

Coach and his folks seemed to be becoming louder and more agitated,to

Suddenly, they were all shouting at each other; the coach shoved Tom and shouted, “Look, if you don’t want my help, fine! I don’t need the aggravation and risk.” With that he stomped toward the door.

Good, Lee thought, so much for boarding school!

“Fine,” Tom shouted at the coach’s retreating back, “who asked you to interfere in the first place?”

“What do you know, anyway?!” Kathleen was screaming.

As Coach left, they turned to each other, throwing insults and arguing with each other.

Lee’s anger turned to fear and misery; he knew with certainty that he was causing this. His mother was crying and his Dad didn’t look much better and it was all his fault. He just wanted to keep his life, and look what he’d done to them.

And then, Coach was back in the doorway, looking embarrassed and a little frightened.

“You’re just stirring everything up. I don’t want to go away to school, but you didn’t even ask me?” Lee said a little belligerently.

Coach shook his head as though clearing it. “No, we didn’t, did we? And, obviously, we should have.” He laid his hand on Lee’s shoulder and guided him back into the room where his parents were looking dazed and confused.

“I gotta live with this, don’t I?” Lee mumbled.

“Yes, Lee, you do…and I’m sorry I didn’t realize what we were doing and how that was making you feel much, much sooner.” He raised his voice to get Lee’s parents attention as well, “I think we have just experienced one of Lee’s powers. Glamour. Glamour can be very tricky. By the time I got to the car, I realized that Lee was projecting his emotions through that glamour. At least I think that was what was going on.”

Tom looked bewildered, as did Kathleen. “What do you mean?”

The Coach looked at Lee and asked, “Lee, tell me what you were thinking and feeling when we were talking about sending you to Whateley?”

Lee thought a moment. “I guess I was thinking I was going to have to leave all my friends and everything, and nobody was asking me what I wanted. All of you were just kind of ignoring me. It made me frustrated … and mad”

“Anything else?”

“I guess I was wishing that you all could know what I was feeling before you packed me off to some strange school, to make you all feel as miserable as I was - am, and it kinda - I don’t know - felt like I was pushing those feelings at you. I mean that really doesn’t describe it very well, but I don’t know how better to say it.”

The Coach looked thoughtful for a minute. “And after I left?”

“I kinda got scared because my parents were yelling at each other, and I was sad that I was the cause, being mutant and all. I mean - they never fight with each other. It made me feel like they didn’t want me here and I couldn’t blame them.”

“Was it about then that your mother started crying?”

“Yeah, it was, and Dad looked really uneasy and… sad, sort of. Mom was looking more and more wretched, which only made me feel worse.”

Lee looked from one adult to the next and said plaintively, “Look; I really don’t want to go away to school! I love you all. I like my friends. I just got my first real girlfriend, for Pete’s sake. Isn’t there some way I can stay here with you guys?”

His mother got up of the couch and went to him. She grasped his hands and looked into his eyes. “Lee, we love you no matter what! If you end up going away to school, it will be because we love you so much that we will bear parting with you for a while, so you can be safe and learn what you need. But never doubt this — we - will - always - love - you!” She reach out and pulled him into a fierce hug. Lee hugged her back, trying to do so gently as the memory of the Coach’s admonitions on his strength flooded back into his mind. “Besides even if you go, you will be coming home summers and holidays.” Lee felt tears running down his face, and was surprised to realize they were his as well as his mother’s.

“Tom - Kathleen, I think just Lee was projecting his feelings through his glamour. It may just be that he is a projecting empath, but it didn’t feel quite right. I’m a low level empath and I should have recognized it, if Lee was directly projecting those emotions; they would probably have been more focused at a single person. But if he was putting them into his glamour, it wouldn’t feel like a single source.” Coach could see the confusion in their faces, and went on. “The biggest difference is Lee wasn’t consciously doing it. His feelings just became a part of his glamour, without his doing anything.”

“Is that why we got so mad, so quickly?” Lee’s father asked, beginning to see how irrational and unreal the entire blow-up had been.

“I think so. It is like being caught in a big surge of emotional energy; kind of like what happens at a close fought sporting event. There may even have been some magic involved. We really don’t understand glamours like this very well. As soon as I got outside I immediately started calming down. That’s really what tipped me to what had happened.”

Kathleen looked at Lee nervously. “That’s a little scary. What if we had been in a big crowd?”

“I think we might have been caught in a riot.” Coach looked at Lee. “You see now why I keep harping on gaining control? Why it’s so important?”

“Yeah, I guess, but I’m still not happy about the idea of leaving home and everything and everyone I know.”

“Well, don’t worry that yet, kid. It may never happen and for sure not soon.” Coach said with a grin.

“Wait a minute,” both parents piped up. They exchanged a quick glance and then Tom demanded. “You have been convincing us how Lee’s got to learn to control his powers and how this place is the best place in the world for that, and now you say he won’t be going?”

“I didn’t say he wouldn’t be going or that he shouldn’t, just not now, maybe especially not now. Lee’s got to stabilize some first. What just happened proves that. Lee’s tough and tough-minded, but this school has a lot of powerful mutants most of whom already know how to use their powers and they are all teenagers. Teenagers with mutant powers - super powers in a lot of cases.”

“Do you remember your high school days?” He paused a moment to let them think back. “You remember the pranks, the bullying, the social cliches, the thoughtless cruelty of teenage kids? Now, add in that some of these kids can lift a tank, make you see things that aren’t there, shoot lightning out of their hands, throw fireballs or spells.” He paused to let that image settle into their minds. “Do you still want to send Lee before he knows what’s happening to his own body, and what it can do; and at least the rudiments of how to control his powers?”

“Ohhh!,” Lee’s mother said and her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes growing huge as she remembered her own high school days. “I don’t know if I want him to go to a place like that at all.”

“Oh, don’t take me wrong, Kathleen. Once he is trained, Lee will be able to hold his own.”

Lee looked at him quizzically.

Coach grinned at him and said cryptically, “Jason never did figure out who put pepper spray in his jock strap, did he?”

Lee’s face reddened. He glanced at his Dad, who had a ‘We’ll talk about this later.’ look on his face. Lee suddenly found his shoes very interesting. His mother giggled.

He looked up and all the grown-ups were grinning at him. He figured he wasn’t in too much trouble and began to grin also. Soon they were all laughing. Lee’s mother swept him into another hug.

While they were engaged, Coach’s took the opportunity to silently catch Tom’s eyes. He nodded his head toward Lee, then the staircase beyond. Tom nodded.

“Lee, I need to talk to the coach alone for a few minutes. Will you go check on your sisters and stay upstairs while we talk a little more? You can tell them that we’ll have a family meeting after dinner and discuss all this.”

As much Lee wanted to stay, he slowly made his way up the stairs.

—————