Scald-Crow 1: The Rocky Road To Whately A Whateley Academy Tale by: ShadowedSin

High School is a living hell for Padraig, and his life is only made worse by bullying.
One night a powerful spirit offers him a deal, and his life is changed forever.
In a world where Superheroes and Villains are the norm, and mutants are hated by most of the populace
life get's complicated fast for our young hero.

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Chapter 10 - Fool’s Folly

Late Afternoon - November 2nd, 2007 - Haxton Road

Henry hated how dark it got near the end of the day in Winter. As a Floridian transplant to the state, he'd never got used to how quickly the temperature dropped near the end of October. To most a Washingtonian the low fifties were barely cold enough to wear anything more than a sweatshirt. The rain made it even worse in Henry's eyes, and as he sat along the road playing speed trapper he could feel his boredom growing by the minute. The shift was almost over though and would be ending at about Six PM.

His cruiser was one of the newer ones, a nice SUV made for speed and durability. Because he had a larger and more imposing vehicle the deputy, like others, traveled alone when out on his assigned shift. A small bag of food sat on the passenger seat, and as he glanced at the numbers tick away to five PM he decided to eat his lunch for the day. Six AM to Six PM wasn't an easy shift, and after eating small meals throughout his initial stops he wanted a nice bit of pastrami on rye. Unwrapping the sandwich his husband placed his meals in he savored the tanginess of the dijon mustard inside.

Even if the place was damn cold, he didn't have to worry about his background getting him in trouble. The young man was only in his mid-twenties and now two years on the job. A good recommendation from the Police Academy in Miami landed him this job in the first place. After about five minutes the sandwich was gone along with the Powerade he'd packed along with it. He preferred electrolyte drinks to that taurine heavy energy shit the kids drank these days.

his little break over Henry Duvalle scanned the horizon as his cruiser faced out away from the inner territory of the Lummi Tribal Reservation. He gripped the steering wheel as a series of headlights alerted him to a small convoy of passing cars. This wasn't unusual at all as many cars sped along Slater Road onto Haxton way on their way out to the Lummi Ferry Dock. But something about those lights made his gut turn. As they drew clearer he caught sight of five cars all moving at relatively the same speed as the others. The first was a nondescript sedan, black, and sped by at just five miles over the limit. He had no interest in ticketing someone for something so minuscule, but as the second car passed he caught sight of a Humanity First bumper sticker on the back of the SUV. The third car was a large Pick-Up truck with one of those strange little rigs in the back that let it fly a flag.

This one flew the Confederate Battle Flag, and upon seeing that his stomach turned further. As a southern boy, Henry was familiar with the flag itself. At times when he was growing up, he always felt proud of the Confederacy's history and even considered joining a Civil War Reenactment Society at one point. That was before he met Daisuke his husband, and before he adopted two little kids. Upon seeing that flag he decided that perhaps it best he pay a small visit to the Lummi Tribal Police. Lloyd Spencer, a drinking buddy of his and the brother of one of the Council Members owed him fifty dollars, and, if he reckoned right, was on duty right at that moment.

Just as the last car sped out of sight he turned around and reported in he was heading to the Tribal Police.

And he thought his shift was over.

Just After Five PM - November 2nd, 2007 - Jameson Home

You know all my life I'd been driven all over parts of the Lummi Reservation and even now as my parents drove through the trees enclosing the small clean kept driveway I was amazed at how beautiful it was at sunset. The Reservation itself is decent sized, It covered an entire peninsula splitting Bellingham Bay from Lummi Bay in the north. A smaller Island just off the coast by a few hundred yards was an added bit of land. Every school day since I started Middle School I was driven over parts of the reservation. Some of the homes we stopped off at weren't the best, and some were pretty ritzy. Just like any group of people, the Lummi had a middle and lower class. I mean it's not unrealistic since the reservation itself was, to a large degree, sovereign land.

So when the Jameson House came into sight I can actually claim I wasn't surprised by it. The House itself was about as big as mine post-remodel, with a total of three stories. I made out a large room facing the woods away from the driveway, and a small reception area near a covered carport. We parked a bit away from the front door and I stepped out just before my little sister followed after me. Mom and dad were already locking the car by the time I was told to get the gifts from beside my seat. I wasn't sure what dad bought for Gerald, but I knew mom was busily carrying her addition for dinner that night. A stroganoff meat casserole she made with chives and sour cream. Something I would have eaten the entire platter of.

Was probably a good measure mom brought two covered pans of it with us.

We reached the front door and I was a bit amazed. Beside the door and towering over me was an articulately carved totem pole, a smaller far cry from the large ones found across the reservation, but a totem pole nonetheless. What a lot of history teachers and professors might tell you is that totems are not a Native American wide practice. The Cedar Longhouses and their tall carved Poles are something unique to the Pacific North West. So was the beautiful style of art most of the tribes who made their homes along the Salish Sea used. Salish Art and those of other Pacific Northwestern first nations were hard to describe. It was geometric and used alternating colors and shapes to form images. Black and red were prominent in the design and I felt a warmth spread over me as I admired the pole in the sunset light.

At the base was Raven, the great sunstealer and teacher found in many parts of the Salish region. At the top was Eagle, and middle of the way through I picked out Whale.

"This is magnificent." Morgan's words broke my concentration as I felt her spiritually leaning in to get a better look at the pole’s craftmanship.

"It is right?" I whispered back to her.

Sloan gave me a side-eyed glance at my self-talk and as I turned to face the door. I was going to be the one to knock and not one for hesitation I did so. Three hard knocks to wake up whoever was in the home, and immediately I heard the barking of a few dogs. Dogs are a common sight on the reservation and unleashed animals are not at all peculiar to most when traveling it. When the door opened a massive black form whizzed out past me and was nearly tackling my sister. Sloan started to giggle like a schoolgirl as what I could only call a Newfie licked her face.

"Dammit Cody," I heard Corinne speak up as she leaned from the doorway and rolled her eyes.

"He's gorgeous," Sloan cried as she knelt down after him and hugged him around the neck.

"We brought some food, and a gift for your father," my mom said lifting up the pan of food and shuffling past me to show it.

"NICE! I smell stroganoff, gods, I've been wanting something fatty and greasy all day," she laughed.

"Good! I mean I used low fat sour cream, but plenty of chives," mom laughed.

"Can we go in and eat?" I asked with a small whine.

I was an exemplar, SUE ME, if I was hungry a lot.

Corinne gave a small shrug before asking us to take off our shoes. Just inside the foyer she showed us where we could hang our coats. The small entryway wasn't unlike my own at home. A tiled floor met my feet and the ceiling loomed just a few feet over me. It was painted green and as I looked across the room I noted that evergreen was the color of choice for the home. Green was a good color, and personally, I saw no issue with it.

"Ah, someone with a good sense of design!" Morgan chuffed as I set aside my coat and darted further into the home. A massive living room met me and upon a long couch, I spied Sophia laying down while nursing a cup of hot chocolate. Upon seeing me she sat up a bit and waved me over. My new comrade in arms pulled a blanket over us as she began to tell me about the show she was watching. Luckily, it was just Law and Order, which I readily agreed was far better than any of the "REAL MCO" shows others watched. The fact we both liked cop procedurals laid the groundwork and soon we were both talking about the upcoming change in our school life.

As part of some sick joke between our parental units, both Sophia and I would be traveling with her grandfather on a train across the country to Dunwich, New Hampshire.

"Did you get your measurements for the new uniform," she asked me.

"We're going to a tailor to get it done right," I sighed, "mom spoke to someone in the school administration and relayed how my measurements have been shifting lately."

"Oh, so your boobs did get bigger," Sophia chuckled.

"Yes! I'm up to a c-cup now and GODS," I growled. My breasts were awesome and in other cases, a fucking curse!

"Hey, being  a girl isn't all that easy," she replied.

"I know, but, I feel like I wasn't given instructions, for all this," I gestured to my body.

"Welcome to girlhood and puberty, confusion and shame are your new friends," she said.

It was true. Not only had my body undergone a rapid change it was remade. I still ached from the last jolt of changes hitting me over the past week and I could feel how hungry I was. Sophia's mom handed me a cup of hot chocolate while I sat by her daughter, and we were soon back to chatting about our upcoming school.

"So," I placed my hands in my lap as I eyed Sophia and she returned my gaze.

"So," she returned.

"Is your application package done?" I asked.

"For the most part, Grandpa's already reserving a sleeper train for us." She drank a bit of her hot chocolate and I followed suit. "Why is your's not."

"Um...nooo?" I squeaked.

"First," she took a piece of paper and booped my nose.

"HEY!" I said and scrabbled to block my nose from further assault.

"You need to take this seriously," she scolded.

"I am - I AM!" I whined plaintively.

"Hey guys," Sloan said from the entry hall, "there's a ton of cars coming down the driveway."

"WHAT?" I heard Sophia yell.

"Yeah, there are like five sets of lights making their way here." Sloan was watching from the front door just beyond the small hallway leading back to the foyer.

"Why are you even in here?" I asked as I came to stand beside her. My little sister in her usual bomber jacket and black jeans stretched before giving me the bland reply, "Cuz yer busy playing dolls with yer new buddy."

"Whatever," I growled just as a small sedan parked just outside the door.

"Mister Gerald," Sloan cried loudly as a crowd of figures began filing out of the cars.

"Yeah?" he appeared around the corner just in time to see the men through the door window.

"Did you invite anyone else?" I asked.

"No," was all he said before the lights in the house suddenly went out.