Here's another Whateley fanfic that's been sitting around while I poke and prod at it, there's more to this one but I already have a chapter or two partitioned off, so here's the first one!

"This is fan fiction for the Whateley Academy series. It may or may not match the timeline, characters, and continuity, but since it's fan fiction, who cares? To see the canon Whateley Stories, check out Whateley Academy at ( http://www.crystalhall.org )"

Kudzu

Chapter 1: Herbology 101

By Angie "kitn" Hughes

-----

This is sort of my story. My dad said I should write this all down, to help me deal with the changes I'm going through. He says his journal really helped him, especially at first.

I guess I should start at the beginning. My name is Alyssa VanBuren, and my dad is Reginald VanBuren, He's not really my biological dad, he and Mom adopted me as a baby, after my birth mother left me at the hospital. But they are my real parents, even though I never got to know Mom, she died when I was two, from ovarian cancer. That's why they had to adopt, they couldn't have kids on their own, but by the time they knew why it was too late. Dad tells me I'm the reason he survived losing her, and sometimes he's still really sad about it.

So, anyway, I'm Alyssa, kind of a mousy girl, with brown hair and freckles, and I could pretty much disappear into any crowd. Look up "average" in the dictionary and you'll find my picture. Well, before anyway. But my dad, he's something special. He's a mage, he does real magic, he makes things that can do magical stuff, and fixes broken things like they'd never been touched. That's his job, he runs an antique restoration and repair service, with clients all over the world. We've always been pretty rich I guess, but I never really thought about it much.

We lived in a big house in the country, in Georgia, surrounded by forests and mountains, it's really beautiful. I had to ride a bus twenty minutes to school every day, but it was worth it to live there. I guess I was pretty normal in middle school and stuff, though I didn't really know a lot of people. I mean, people didn't notice me much, but I was okay with that. I did have a few friends, but I always felt a little distant from them. Maybe because my dad's kinda weird, and well, some people don't like mutants much, I don't really know.

But at home, I could do all sorts of things. Dad made fun stuff for me to play with, all kinds of magic things, but they never seemed to last very long. He thought maybe it was because he had so much magic stuff around the house, that it would get mixed together and kind of come apart or something. He tried to teach me a little bit, since he said everyone could use magic at least a little, but I never could make his spells work.

But best of all, were the forests. I've loved plants ever since I can remember. I used to walk for hours in the forest, and Dad always let me, he said he could find me no matter how I got lost, so I always felt safe. I can't remember how many times I was out until dark, only to find him standing over me with a lantern, ready to take me home. I even had him help me build a greenhouse in the back yard, so I could bring home some of the plants I found and collect them, grow them right there where I could see them any time. But no matter how I tried to take care of them, give them water and soil and plant food, they always died. So I decided to just keep visiting them where they grew.

Dad and I were really close, and I didn't spend all my time exploring the forest. He had friends of his own, more mutant friends, who would visit sometimes, and I got to meet them. He even knew some of the superheroes I saw on TV! I had a collection of autographs, and all of them were really nice to me. One of Dad's friends told him I was destined for something really special, that's when he started trying to teach me magic, but I didn't mind that I couldn't learn, I was happy the way I was.

So of course it all had to change.

It was June thirteenth, and it was really hot and sticky outside, but I went out anyway, because I wanted to explore some more of the forest. The sun shone down through the trees, just enough to be beautiful but still shady, and a slight breeze helped cut the heat some. If it got too hot there were tons of creeks to cool off in, I knew where to find them all.

No matter how many times I went out, I always found new places and things to see. I hadn't gotten lost in years, I could always find my way home, so I was free to go as far as I wanted. I was thirteen, old enough to not need Dad watching over me all the time anymore, but he still always knew how to find me, so I wasn't afraid of missing anything important.

About six miles away from the house, I found this amazing plant. It filled an entire clearing, everywhere the sun touched, with flowers of every color, vines climbing trees and covering the ground like a carpet. As I stepped into it, I could almost feel it filling me up with color, and it smelled so good, but so natural too, like soft moist soil with some sweet smell you can't quite place.

I kneeled down to smell one of the flowers up close, and it tickled the tip of my nose. It was so cool! I decided right then and there it had to be something new, something no one ever found before, because I knew my plants, and this was not one I'd ever read about. It had tiny trefoil leaves and climbing blossoms, and he vines looked like the kind that can grow faster than you'd ever expect, almost fast enough to see. It was like I could feel it growing around me, and it felt so good, so natural, I just tried to take it all in, the smell, the pretty colors, the feel of the leaves, the slight rustling of the wind blowing through everything, I could even almost taste that wonderful smell.

I carefully made sure I could find it again, and started running home to get Dad's camera and a notebook, maybe they'd name the flower after me! My nose was a little itchy, so I scratched it as I ran, but it didn't even occur to me it might be poisonous, I was just too excited. But after a while I was itching all over, and my throat and chest burned, and I couldn't run anymore. I was so scared, I was sure I'd die before making it home. Then just when I couldn't walk any more, I came out of the trees into our big yard. I itched so much, and burned like fire, and I couldn't even scratch. My skin felt like it was crawling all over, and my eyes were blurry, and I couldn't do anything but fall onto the lawn. I wanted to scream, but my throat was all tight and I couldn't breathe, then everything went dark.

-----

When I woke up again, I could still feel the itching, and for a minute I wanted to go back to sleep until it went away, but it wasn't so bad anymore, not really even itching so much as just that crawling feeling you get when you lay down too long. I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't dreaming, because I could see the ceiling even though the lights were off, but I figured if I could see then I could get to the bathroom, after all I just woke up.

Dad was next to me, sitting in a chair, and I realized I was in a hospital room. Everything felt weird, so I figured that plant must have been really poisonous. Dad looked really tired and kind of old, sleeping in the chair, but I didn't want to wake him yet, because he looked like he needed the sleep. He must have been really scared for me, it had to have been really bad then. I quietly sneaked to the bathroom and closed the door, then turned on the light, because it was weird walking around in the dark even if I could see clearly, and I wanted to see if the plant poison left any marks or scars. Then I saw the green girl and screamed a little.

It took me a few seconds to figure out I was looking in the mirror. I reached out to touch the glass, and the green reflection reached back. I was all green, and scaly! I thought, no way, this couldn't be happening, it all had to be a dream, and then Dad pushed the door open.

"Honey? Are you okay?" He looked really scared, like I might be dying or something, so I turned around to face him in my crappy hospital gown that didn't close all the way in the back, and he grabbed me in a big hug.

"Shhhh, it's okay, sweetie. Don't cry, you're alive so everything's okay." And I was crying, I could feel tears running down my face... the face of that green scaly girl in the mirror. I wondered, what had that plant done to me?

"Daddy, what's going on? That vine, it did something to me, it poisoned me or something!" My voice was softer than before, breathier, but it still sounded like me at least.

"Alyssa, you're special. A mutant, like me. Ever since Cassandra told me you were special I thought you might change, and it's okay, honey. Still, I was really scared for a while there, we all thought... Well, I'm just glad you're..." Daddy was crying too, so I hugged him tighter. I don't know how long we stood there, but at least with him holding me, I thought maybe everything would be okay, somehow.

Some time later, Daddy put me back on the bed, he carried me there from the bathroom like I was a baby. I didn't mind at all, it made me feel safe. A man in white knocked before coming in the door, with a clipboard in his hand and one of those things to listen to people's hearts on his neck.

"Hello, Alyssa, I'm Doctor Robert Hudson. You gave us quite a scare there for a while. I'm very glad you're still with us young lady, you very nearly weren't. You've obviously noticed the change in your appearance, and it will take you some time to get used to, but we will do all we can to help you adapt It's been six days since you were admitted, you know. You went through what we call a burn out, do you know what that means?" I shook my head, it didn't sound like a good thing.

It's when your mutant side becomes active, and begins changing your body, but the change occurs too rapidly. Your body heats up very hot, and burns through all of its nutrients very quickly. People can go from healthy to the brink of death in minutes during a burnout. Your father saved your life when he brought you directly here seconds after he found you. This hospital is better equipped to handle burn out better than most, but your case was an unusual one. Halfway through, the nutrient solution we were giving you stopped helping, and we almost lost you before we found out you needed nitrate and potassium solutions instead, basically plant fertilizer." It was weird, I didn't understand much of it at all. Especially why I would need plant fertilizer.

"Can you tell me what happened before you started to change?"

"I... I was out in the forest near our house, about 6 miles southwest of home. I found this clearing with this perfect ivy in it, I think it's an undiscovered species. But maybe it's poisonous or something, because when I smelled the flowers, it made my nose itch, but I didn't think of that, I just ran home to get the camera and stuff. Then I got all itchy and it burned and I passed out near the house." I winced at remembering the itching, it was worse than anything ever.

"And this plant, it had leaves with three sections, and bright flowers in every color?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Great, I thought, not only am I a weird green scaly freak now, but apparently the plant I discovered isn't even a new species, if Doctor Hudson knows about it.

"I think you've turned into the plant, somehow. Why don't you get a better look in the mirror? I don't think you've really seen yourself." Shrugging, I went to the bathroom again to get a better look in the mirror. The green girl was still there, but on closer look the "scales" I'd seen in the quick glance earlier were tiny leaves! Not only that, but they were just like the leaves of the ivy I'd found! And my hair, that wild multicolored hair, was really tiny flowers, tons of them! The flowers trailed all the way down to the middle of my back! I didn't really feel much different, a little in a hard to explain way, but I sure *looked* different! I poked one of the leaves, and it felt just like I was poking myself before. The leaf was soft and smooth, and seemed somehow connected to the leaves around it. It was even warm, and had the faintest feeling of a pulse.

"Weird... Why did this happen to me? Damn it, I don't want to be a plant!" I heard a loud crack and looked down where my hand was gripping the porcelain sink, and several cracks grew quickly outward from my hands. I was so mad, I just squeezed harder, and the thing came apart in my hands. I stared in horrified fascination as little rooted vines writhed back into my hands, from where they'd been destroying the porcelain.

"Oh God... I'm sorry..." Doctor Hudson had come to check on me, followed by Dad, I guess when they heard the crack. "I didn't mean to... I should have left those vines alone."

Before I knew it Daddy was hugging me while I cried some more, all I could think was it was all my fault, and now everyone was going to hate me and be afraid of me because I was a freak.

"Please, God... I'll do anything, just fix this..." I gasped out between sobs, "Just make it all go back... the way it was!" I couldn't stop crying, and Daddy holding me was so warm and comforting, I guess I fell asleep.

-----

I spent several days in that room, not wanting to face anybody. At first I didn't want to open the window or anything, just sit in the dark, but after the first couple of days I started to feel a little sick, and my leaves... God I hated that word then... started to grow brown spots on the edges, so my "skin" looked kind of dirty. Sometimes I would wake up with little creeper vines growing out of me, and just after my leaves started turning brown, some of the vines creeped into the window and pulled open the curtains. After that I started to feel better.

Dad tried to cheer me up too, but I really wanted to wallow in my own depression right then. I mean, all I could think of was how much of a freak I was now and how I'd never fit in anywhere. Doctor Hudson told me to take as much time to adjust as I needed, though then I was pretty sure I'd never be happy again. Still, it turned out he was a pretty good judge of these kind of things, I guess he'd had more than a few mutant patients.

It had been almost a week since I woke up changed, and once again the creeper vines had gone to the window; now there were almost more of them in the room than there was me! I climbed out of the bed and grudgingly moved toward the window, and as I did, the vines crawled back into me. It's kind of a weird sensation at first, like skin crawling, but I guess you can get used to just about anything. When I stood in front of the window, and the sunlight just soaked in, and warmed me up, I just... felt better. I felt like maybe it wasn't so bad. Even if people couldn't accept me, Dad did, and that was always enough before. And dad's friends, the mutants and magic users and other weird people he knew, maybe they would accept me too. It was like turning on a light switch, almost.

Dad was not in the room at the moment, it was just me, so I stepped away from the sunlight, still full of energy, and opened the door. Outside the room, several nurses and doctors went about their work, but one of the nurses who'd checked in on me a few times waved and smiled at me. Then I knew things would be okay.

"Hey, looks like you're feeling a little better today, huh, Alyssa?" The nurse was Mary-Beth Connors, and she had been nice to me while I was moping around, so I figured it was time to start actually making friends.

"Yeah, I let a little sunshine in and I feel a lot better now."

"You sure look it, you look prettier than my garden at the height of the season!" I wasn't sure how to take that, but since I was on a roll with feeling good, I decided it was a compliment.

"Thank you! I'm sorry I've been such a sourpuss this last week, it's just taking some time to get used to." At this point, several doctors and nurses had stopped to pay me attention. They were all smiling at me, and while it felt good, it was starting to get a little overwhelming.

"Do you know where my dad is? I think I want to go home, now that I'm feeling better."

"Sure thing, you just sit tight and I'll give him a call. He said he had a little work to do, but to call him if anything changed. He'll just be tickled pink to know you're feeling better!" I thanked her and went back to my room, which looked much cozier with the sun shining in, and sat down to wait by the window. It still amazes me, how much a little sunshine can brighten my mood.

When Dad opened the door, I jumped a little; the warm sunlight felt so good I'd gone to sleep. A few vines had crept to the window and opened it, and the fresh air felt really nice too.

"Hey, honey, I'm glad you're feeling better. I brought you some of your clothes, if you're ready to go home. Doctor Hudson said you were free to go any time. He did want to see you before you go, though."

"Alright, Dad, thanks for putting up with my mood lately. You've been a big help keeping me cheered up." I took the bag he held out and went to change in the bathroom What's funny is, I hadn't been back in there since I broke the sink. Someone must have come and replaced it while I was sleeping or moping around. Then it occurred to me I hadn't had to *use* the bathroom since the change! At least I'd never have to wait in line for bathroom privileges again, though a shower seemed like a really good idea.

"Give me a little bit, Dad, I need to wash up. I'll be right out!" The shower was warm and the water made my "skin" all tingly. I felt very refreshed and, well, healthy afterward, and I didn't even have to dry off, my leaves just kind of soaked up the extra water. While I was in there, it occurred to me I'd grown a few cup sizes, and a few inches taller. It was kind of weird, but really nothing compared to being turned into a walking flower garden. I took it in stride, and quickly slipped into the panties and jeans, but the bra just wasn't going to work anymore. I tried the t-shirt, one that had been a bit baggy on me before, and now it was a little tight up top, too. Great, I though, no bra and a top that doesn't cover much.

"Ummm, Dad, could I get a sweater or something? My top doesn't fit me right anymore."

"Okay, honey. I'll see what they have in the gift shop." It turns out I was in a new wing of Atlanta General, so what Dad brought back was an oversize sweater with "ATLANTA" in big bold blue letters. At least it wouldn't make me "stick out" any worse than any other ivy-girl with flower hair.

People in the street stared as Dad walked me out to the car. I tried not to let it get to me, but I flinched a little when some kids in the parking lot started laughing at me. It seems Dad used up one of his more powerful items to get me there in a hurry, but the ride back could be at a regular car pace. That was fine with me, I loved watching the countryside coast by while we drove. At least the plants on the side of the road didn't judge me.

It took a couple of hours to reach home, and in that time, I kind of dozed off in the sunlight again. Something about it felt so warm and good. When I woke up, little creeper vines were hanging out the window, over the dashboard, into the back seat, and even onto Dad a little bit. I think that's why he woke me, they were starting to get in the way.

"Honey, can you maybe move your... vines? I can't change gears without damaging them, and I don't want to hurt you."

"Sorry, Dad. They have a mind of their own sometimes. If I'm not paying attention, or if I'm sleeping, they just sort of wander." It was true, they usually wandered to the window in the hospital, for sunlight probably, but they never seemed to sit still. They even did it when I was just daydreaming. Sometimes they didn't want to come back, either, like now. "Ummm, Dad, they're not coming back." One of them twined around the steering wheel, while another tightened on the gearshift.

"Damn, I better pull over." Dad hit the clutch and pushed on the brakes, and the engine roared as a vine pushed the gas. With a sigh he turned off the engine, and we coasted to a stop, but he had to wrestle a vine for the steering wheel to get us off the road.

By that time I was almost in tears. "I'm sorry, Dad, they don't always do what I want them to... I didn't mean to almost get us in a wreck!"

"I know honey. Believe me, it took me a while to get hold of my powers, and the stronger they are, the harder they can be to control. Just take your time, and try to make them behave." Dad was always like that, nothing ever made him lose it. I guess it helped that I always tried to be a good daughter, we never really fought.

"You know what? When we get home, I'm going to start you on some basic magic control exercises. You'd always had the ability for magic, though I can't tell how much potential. But maybe whatever's been blocking you from learning magic is gone now. Maybe the exercises will help you control your vines too. Sound like a plan?"

"Okay, I'll try Dad. But for now..." I slowly pried the vines off the steering wheel and other controls, and stuffed them in the foot area of my seat.

"I think we can go now, as long as I'm watching them they shouldn't bother you, I'll just have to stay awake." At least we were most of the way home.

-----

As soon as we got home, Dad had me lead him to where I found the vines, but when we reached the spot, all we found was a horrible mess that smelled even worse than it looked. The vines had withered up and died, apparently several days before, maybe right after I found them in the first place. They had leaked yellow sap all over everything, and the other plants and trees around them didn't look very healthy either, like they were as nauseated by the mess as Dad and I. I resolved to come back now and then, to be sure that whatever it was didn't spread.

The next couple of weeks were some of my most frustrating ever. Dad was always patient, trying to teach me magic, but for some reason I just couldn't get it. I couldn't even do the simplest spells, though some of the meditation stuff was interesting, and I could almost feel the... well, potential is the closest word I could think of.

It was like a dammed up river, no matter how I tried to go at it, I couldn't do anything with it. Before, there was nothing, but now, I knew it was there, I just couldn't figure out how to use it. Dad said it was progress, I was sure it was just frustration.

And worse, those vines were acting up more than ever. Every morning I woke up with my bedroom destroyed, vines knocking everything over, hanging out the window, even putting roots into the ground outside. My morning wake up ritual had a whole new time-consuming problem, untangling the things from everything! But I found out the hard way it was better to untangle them than to cut or break them off. I got frustrated with some of the vines hanging out the window and refusing to un-root from the dirt and just broke the creepers, and it hurt! Just for a second, it felt like breaking a leg or something. On the other hand, all the vines crawled back in on their own when I did it.

Oh, and Dad found out a little more about the vine that started the whole thing, too. One of his friends, Sparrow, came to visit. She's a devisor, which means she makes machines that no one else can figure out. She has this cool jetpack that runs on solar energy. Anyway, when I peeked in to find out what the shouting was about, I caught Dad in the middle of a big tirade.

"-can you be so irresponsible?! If you have some magical plant that you've souped up with your devisor lights, how could you just fly around with it? Plants drop seeds, there could be more of those things all over the place! They could change everyone in Georgia into plants! The whole state could be overrun by faerie kudzu!"

"Listen, I'm sorry, I admit that was a stupid move. But I've been trying for weeks, no matter what I do, they die after no more than a week. I just can't keep them alive, faerie plants don't thrive in our soil. And I've gotten their pollen all over me, but I'm not changing. It had to have been something special about Alyssa, some interaction of the magical plant with her own latent powers. But either way, I promise you, I'll destroy all my samples as soon as I get back, and I'll patrol for any sign of them in the forest, if they do start to spread somewhere, I'll catch them. I'm really sorry about Alyssa..." I guess she saw me poking my head in the door because she looked startled for a minute, then waved.

"Oh, hey, Alyssa, didn't see you there at the door. Come on in, how're you feeling?" She seemed worried, but I shrugged.

"I'm okay. These stupid vines are getting into everything though. Is it true, am I really some kind of faerie plant now? I mean, now that I'm kinda used to the idea, well, if I have to be a plant at least I'm a special one, right?" She smiled at me when I said that, and I looked at Dad. He still looked a little mad, but he was settling down some.

"It's not her fault, Dad, if it was just the plant that did this, she'd be like me. It was an accident, and if it weren't for these annoying vines, I think I might kind of like it. But I'm just not getting this magic stuff, I can feel it, but it's like I'm doing something wrong." Sparrow looked at me a little odd, then at Dad.

"Hey, Eric, aren't there a bunch of different ways to do magic? I mean, you're great with magical devices and things, but if I remember right, you had a lot of trouble at first, because regular spells didn't work right for you, or something. Maybe she just has a different way of doing it than you do, you know?"

It still makes me laugh to remember Dad's face, having a basic concept about magic explained to him by someone who didn't know anything about magic. It was even funnier because she was right. His eyes were wide and his mouth just hung open like a fish! I didn't know real people even made faces like that.

"Sparrow, you're completely right. I've been trying to teach her symbols and equations and rituals, but if she's a faerie plant now, she'll probably do a lot better with faerie magic, or nature-based spells, I can't believe that didn't even occur to me! But, Alyssa honey, I don't know the first thing about nature or faerie magic, I'll have to send you to Whateley if you want to learn that. That's the school I went to, when I was your age. They could help you learn to control your powers, too. But it is a boarding school, which means you'd be living there instead of here with me, except summer and holiday vacations." I was a little stunned, I'd never been away from home long.

"Ummm, let me think about it, okay, Dad? I mean, school doesn't start for a couple of weeks yet, and that's a pretty big decision."

"It's a great place, Alyssa, and you'll fit in there, a lot more than any of us could ever fit into a regular public school. If you do decide to go, I want to cover your tuition, since it was my project that caused all this."

-----

I went outside to think about it, walking in the forest. That had changed too, not only did I know Dad was keeping a closer eye on me whenever I went out now, but everything felt different. The smells, the light, the feel of the dirt under my bare feet... It was even better than before, walking in the woods. I found my favorite tree, with a little niche right between its roots just perfect for me to sit in and think.

Did I want to go to Whateley? Dad had told me stories about it, and it seemed a bit crazier than regular public school, but then, if everyone were mutants with special powers, that made sense. Some of the stories he told me *had* to be made up though, no way would teachers allow students to fight! The only really important thing though, was did I want to leave home, for a chance to learn to control my magic, and my vines?

I turned it over and over in my head, as the sun slowly moved across the sky, beams filtering in through the tree canopy to drift across the bark onto my leafy skin. I don't know if I dozed off or just spaced off, thinking about it, but when I became alert again, I realized I had vines climbing around the tree, up it, rooting in its bark, in the ground around me, and generally rooting me to the spot, unable to move.

I struggled for several seconds, desperately willing the damned things back into me, or at least to let go and let me get up, but they didn't budge. It wasn't uncomfortable, but I was starting to think they wanted me to spend the rest of my life there. Life as a rooted plant did *not* seem like much fun.

"Help! Dad! Anybody!!" I screamed at the top of my breathy voice, and in a few short seconds Dad was standing next to me, holding one of his little magical things, it looked kind of like a Rubik's Cube but with weird symbols instead of colors.

"Dad! These stupid vines rooted me to the tree and I can't move!" I was crying by then, it was so damn frustrating! He carefully peeled the vines off of the bark, and as he did the little roots in the bark pulled out, instead of breaking off. At least it didn't hurt. It was, however, horrendously embarrassing,

"Do you really think Whateley can help me... control these stupid vines?" I sniffled and forced out.

"Honey, if anyone can, they can." He hugged me tight, once all the vines were pulled off, and they finally started retreating back into me.

"Okay, I'll go. But you better keep in touch!" He just hugged me more.

-----

It took me a while to pack, I tried to take only the things I needed, but it was hard to tell what I did, anymore. I needed clothes, and shoes and stuff, but most of my tops didn't fit anymore. Dad took me shopping, and let me buy almost a whole new wardrobe, but my color sense was kind of skewed too. I mean, when your skin color goes from fair with freckles to green, it kind of changes the colors you want to wear. Earth tones looked best on me now, though I did get some brightly colored gypsy skirts and blouses. Okay, so I'm no fashion Nazi, but I do like to look good, and they were what worked for my body.

Anyway, Dad said to pack light because I wouldn't likely have a lot of dorm space, and would probably have a roommate. I really hoped it would be someone nice. Dad filled out the paperwork for me, and Sparrow paid for my tuition like she said, but Dad said I should think about a part time job on campus, to help build character. I kind of got it, but I was a little more interested in making some spending money. Yeah, I know, Dad could afford to give me spending money, but if he was suggesting the job, I assumed it meant he probably didn't want to. Still, maybe it was a good idea, and I knew he'd be there for me if I really needed it, so it was worth a shot.

Dad decided to drive me up to Whateley, a twenty hour drive, but I didn't really want to take a train and be alone in a private car for the trip. He wasn't too enthused about me going alone anyway, such a long distance, so he just locked everything up and we left. Dad planned to take a 3 day trip, so that any time I started to feel sleepy, we could ind a place and rest, to keep from causing trouble with my vines again.

It's surprisingly boring, watching the roadside, trying to concentrate to keep my vines from doing anything unhelpful. I counted license plates from twenty three different states, including Alaska, I read most of a fantasy novel I'd packed for the trip, and even spent some time trying to make vines crawl out of my palm and back in, to see if they'd do it (they didn't).

On the plus side, the ride was uneventful, and Dad and I had lots of time to talk, about Whateley and how I was adjusting and his work and stuff. It really helped ass the time and I think Dad and I bonded some more. I love having such a great dad! Anyway, we finally arrived at these big iron gates, with a sign over them proclaiming "Whateley Academy." These two really creepy gargoyles stood over the gate posts; it felt like they were staring at me, even though they didn't have faces!

Dad made a call on his cell phone, letting someone know he was at the gates to bring me for admitting, and the gate swung open. The place looked like every picture of a private school I'd ever seen, with brick buildings, ivy on some of the walls, and carefully tended grounds along the driveway.

I looked around at the place I was to call home for the next nine months, minus vacations. It looked nice enough, not like a chaotic place with fights and armed guards and old magic things. The admitting process was pretty simple, since Dad had already done the paperwork and knew some of the staff apparently. One woman, Mrs. Hart seemed like the always angry type, and I made a note to avoid her, but most of the staff seemed nice.

Dad showed me around, even though he said the official freshmen orientation wouldn't start until Monday afternoon. I'd been assigned to Whitman Cottage, a girls' dorm, on the ground floor. Apparently the upperclassmen were assigned the higher floors, by year, which made little sense to me. I figured the best floor is the ground floor, no walking up and down stairs!

The great thing about being there early was, I got to pick which side of the room was mine, so I claimed the bunk under the window. Hopefully my roommate would be okay with it, but I wanted the sunshine. Dan helped me carry my stuff in, and I unpacked my clothes an things. A few other kids walked around campus, and I could see the school flag and a yellow flag waving on the flagpole outside my window.

The Whitman House Mother, Mrs. Savage, was very friendly. She was big, almost like a wrestler, but just didn't have that threatening attitude some people get. She asked if I needed any special accommodations, but I told her I couldn't think of anything. We had a late lunch/early supper at giant crystal dome building called Crystal Hall (What a creative name!), but I didn't feel very hungry so I mostly just sat with Dad while he ate. That's another thing I've given up since the change, I don't eat, or use the bathroom, and I drink in the shower.

After that, dad had to leave, but it was really hard watching him walk away, I felt like a piece of me was leaving too. I know it sounds sappy, but I always have been very close to him. I spent a little more time walking around campus, and even checked out the library, it was surprisingly big, and I leafed through a few books I found on nature and faerie magic, but I wasn't really paying much attention. All I could think of was that Dad would be back on I-95 right about then, and I didn't know anyone here.

I wandered back to my dorm as the sky darkened, and tried to get some sleep. Several other students had moved in about the same time I did, but not my roommate, and I didn't happen across any of them, so the whole place felt empty. Eventually sleep overtook me.

-----

I hadn't thought to set my alarm, so by the time I woke up Monday morning, the whole school was alive. Kids were moving in, staff were busy, and I, well, I was climbing out my window so I could get my hands on the creepers and uproot them. During the night, they'd opened the window, climbed out and rooted in the dirt outside, as well as the brick wall. There had to be some way to make them stop, I just couldn't spend all year with my window open at night!

Mrs. Savage appeared around the corner of the building and shook her head.

"Miss VanBuren, I see you have a problem here." She joined me to help out, and gently plucked vines from the brick and ground. "We'll have to find some way to control these vines of yours, and you really shouldn't be outside in your nightgown."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Savage, I can't keep them out of trouble when I'm asleep, they want to crawl all over things and out windows. That's why I came here..." She nodded, and smiled at me.

"Have you considered the possibility that maybe they're searching for your sustenance? Plants need water, nutrient-rich soil and sunlight to thrive, and I imagine your vines are no different." It was such an obvious answer, I can't imagine why I didn't think of it myself before then.

"I'll have your bed replaced with something more suitable today, and we'll see how it works. I think you'll find that tonight your vines don't wander so much." I blushed, embarrassed now, because the vines had finally retreated, and I was standing there in nothing but a nightgown, covered with dirt from digging up creepers while my house mother assessed my sleeping habits.

"I better go inside and get a shower and clean clothes. Thank you, Mrs. Savage!" I wonder if I left those speed lines like some of the speedsters do?

-----

The shower was embarrassing, I looked like I'd been rolling in the dirt, and some of the other girls stared at me. It couldn't have been my looks, I mean, yeah I was a plant, but one girl was almost all huge snake! A lot of the other girls looked different than normal humans, but I was definitely drawing attention, so it had to be the dirt caked on.

After the shower, I felt much better, and I decided to start out on a bright note, with one of my multicolor gypsy skirt and blouse combos. I was a little embarrassed because some of the girls were still watching me, but I shrugged it off and hurried back to my room. I arrived just in time to meet my new roommate.

"Oh hi! You must be my roommate! I guess you already picked the spot by the window? That's okay, as long as you don't mind me hanging out by it sometimes, it's a pretty nice view of the quad. My name's Sunny, what's yours?"

"Umm, hi, I'm Alyssa VanBuren. So, you're a freshman too, huh?" Yes, it was a lame bit of small talk, but she seemed like she could carry on the whole conversation by herself anyway. Not that I'd complain, she seemed really nice.

"Yeah, I'm new here. I can kind of control light, it's a pretty wild power, but I also glow like the sun all day and all night. So it's probably best that you get the window bed anyway, I'd just keep people awake. I hope it won't keep you awake. So how about you, can you do anything? I mean, the flower thing is cool, and you smell totally awesome, you could make a killing in the perfume market."

"Really? I mean, I guess I don't notice my flower scent, it's been with me ever since I woke up this way. And I supposedly have magic power, though I haven't been able to use it yet. And I have these vines that grow out of me, but they mostly just get into everything. Mrs. Savage is going to try something she thinks will help with that."

"That's cool, Mrs. Savage seems like a pretty nice, I asked her about my roommate before I met you, and she was all, 'I think you'll like her, she's very distinctive!' and I was like, 'Okay, cool, as long as she's not all pushy and stuff.' Mrs. Savage smiled, so I figure she's not gonna be a bitch like my stepmom. Anyway, I know we'll get along, you're a good listener, and I totally talk too much!"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. We chatted a little longer before Mrs Savage gathered all the freshmen together for orientation. She showed us this vault full of interesting stuff, apparently it was all gifts from people that graduated from Whateley and made it big. It kind of gave me a little more hope the school could really teach me to control my body and magic.

Mrs. Savage also showed us around campus, but I'd seen most of it yesterday when Dad showed me around, so it wasn't really anything new. But it was nice to be reminded where everything was, so I knew I wouldn't get lost. She warned us to stay away from the forest, but I was more curious than worried. It was just a forest right? Sure kids get lost, but I knew how to track myself well enough, and I really missed the forest back home already.

So, since classes wouldn't officially start until Tuesday, Sunny and I, along with maybe half of Whitman Cottage, just settled in and hung out in the large common room. Girls would filter in and out from their rooms or from outside, but I decided to just find a sunny spot next to a window and relax. Sunny was nearby, talking up a storm, and it was kind of like getting sun from both sides even. And surprisingly, a lot of girls came to talk to me.

"Hey, I love the flowers! What kinds of powers do you have? Those flowers smell wonderful! What classes are you in? Ooh, you're in my Magical Theory class! Can you do any magic yet? Do you read Harry Potter? Do you play GEO? How did you get your powers and stuff?" I was starting to get a little embarrassed by the attention, but it felt kind of good, too. No one called me a freak, or laughed at me, and they all seemed to want to know about me!

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't the center of attention really, but it was definitely more attention than I was used to. Not that I minded. I made more friends that first day than I ever had in my old school, and ones I didn't have to keep secrets from. It was a lot of fun, and before I knew it the trees started casting their shadows in the window and everyone began filtering out to the Crystal Hall for supper.

I was a little overwhelmed still, but in a good way, so I didn't follow everyone to supper. Instead I pulled back the vines that had climbed to the window from my shoulder and left for my room. Attention and excitement were great, but I wanted some peace and quiet too.

I spent a moment staring at what had replaced the bed under the window, it looked kind of like a waterbed frame, but inside it was a patch of what looked like potting soil. At first I thought maybe it was a prank, but then I remembered Mrs. Savage suggesting my vines wanted to root and get nutrients for soil, so I just shrugged and accepted it. Still, it seemed like an awful mess come morning.

I sat on my dirt bed and looked through my class schedule. The morning classes were all regular academics: Science, Algebra, History, English, and the like. After lunch came the weird ones: Magic Theory, Powers 101, Martial Arts and Costuming. Tuesday promised to be a whole new school experience.

I decided to go look in the mirror, I had kind of been avoiding it since waking up in the hospital. I know, going weeks without thinking about your appearance is maybe a little crazy, but it was still a bit of a shock, and I wasn't ready to deal with it. But not one person had thought I was a freak yet at Whateley, and I guess I wanted to know if I was as attractive as a lot of the girls seemed to think.

The first thing I noticed were the flowers. They bloomed like hair from my head, in every color I could ever imagine a flower being. Tiny little flowers, similar to foxglove but smaller and brighter. They hung down to the middle of my back, but they didn't look at all crushed from me leaning back on them when I was sitting earlier. My skin was tiny green leaves, three-pointed and fitting together almost like scales. My eyes were some sort of small fruit, sort of like an olive, but white, with green irises. They looked almost like they used to, except with tiny green veins instead of red, and I even had eyebrows, made up of tiny little vines growing like hair, arched higher and thinner than before. My lips were a little fuller than before, but not much, and my cheekbones a little higher. My ears were almost like elf ears, they stuck out from the flowers with high-swept lobes, but it just made me look somehow mystical.

If I'd had the same body shape, back before all this, I would definitely have been a lot more popular in school, no matter how much I pushed people away. I looked like a busty cheerleader, except for the green leafy look and elf ears. And apparently something about the way I smelled was attractive too, though I couldn't really tell. I mean, I knew I had a flowery smell, but I was used to it.

Sunny walked in while I was staring into her mirror, and waved.

"Hey, I didn't see you at supper, I guess you weren't hungry? Hey, neat new bed! Guess you needed a flower bed, huh?" she giggled and I couldn't help but smile, she seemed too friendly to be making fun of me.

"Yeah, well, as long as my vines don't go climbing out the window at night. Might not be much fun come winter. Still, it's gonna mean a lot more work keeping things clean." Sunny nodded then shrugged.

"Yeah, but no big deal. I mean, I'm not a neat freak. We can take turns vacuuming every day. Anyways, you should totally come to Crystal Hall for meals, even if you're not hungry, it's a great place to hang out and stuff. And there was already a fight today too, nobody was hurt or anything, but it was really exciting!"

"It's alright, Sunny, I'm a little worn and just wanted some time to myself. I'm not used to being the life of the party." I grinned at her sheepishly, and she laughed.

"Well, get used to it, you're hot, you smell like *totally* awesome, and you're my roomie, and I *love* to party. We're gonna bring this school to life!"

"I better get some sleep then, if you're gonna keep me that busy!"