Scald-Crow 1: The Rocky Road To Whateley 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 3 - Strings Attached

Early Morning, October 19th, 2007 - Ferndale High School

"Oh my god, it's like ice picks to the soul!" Mister Olmstadt exclaimed from his place before the Orchestra. His hands were pressed against his temples, and all of us were laughing. My seat was a little hard for my back, and as I tried not to squirm in front of him I laughed along with the rest. The problem lay in one section of our merry lot somehow not getting the idea of an E-flat. Even as we began again my hands deftly moved along, and my hearing allowed me to track the pace with increased precision. Three days after my dream of making a deal with a woman claiming to be an Irish Goddess, and I felt confused.

I mean, no one was going to just make me a girl right? Sure, I'd noticed a slight loss of weight recently, and my fingers were a lot more fine-boned than before. Each time I ran my left hand along the neck of my violin I felt the strings hum along with the stroke of my bow. It was fantastic! I was decent at the violin, but my senses all felt a lot more alive than usual. Maybe a radioactive spider bit me! Or maybe the dream -was- real. Still, that sort of thing wasn't going to just happen in the middle of nowhere, right?

Class ended without any fuss as our Teacher and grump of a Conductor were grabbing the music for his next class. I gathered up my things and pulled on my jacket.

"Padraig," he said and waved me over, I came to stand in front of the conductor's stand and rolled on my feet.

"I noticed your intonation has increased pretty well recently, I just want you to consider moving into the first violin section," he said to me and gave his compliment offhand.

"Thanks, Mister Olmstadt!" I chirped and as I spoke my voice broke. This wasn't the first time I had gone through puberty joke of voice shifting, but this time it shot an octave higher.

"Okay there squeaker, just have a good day," he said and offered me a shake of his hand before shooing me out of the classroom.

A few more periods later, it was time for lunch, and I could feel my positive energy deflate. My old friend pessimism reared its ugly head again as I soon found myself shoved aside as one of the Senior's pushed his way out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, Diabolik's kids have sighted in New York apparently," I heard a girl chatting to a friend as I meandered back into the boy's room.

"Hey freak, move faster already," I heard a yell from behind and caught sight of Sophia Jameson jumping out of the way of a known Cheerleader.

Sophia was a member of the location's first name, the Lummi, who lived on a reservation across from my home island. Every day she rode on the bus behind my seat, and every day I paid her little heed. Her name and who she was only came to mind for an incident that occurred freshman year. Like most members of the tribe, Sophia usually stuck with the other native American students when at lunch. That all changed however when she had manifested as a mutant over the summer. Most of the rumors said she was some sort of thunder or lightning energizer. The truth was I didn't know anything at all about her. Mutants did exist here in Whatcom County, but generally, they stayed quiet in small cities like Ferndale.

Ferndale was a stronghold of the conservative power base and a healthy Humanity First presence. Most of the kids at school were obvious baseline purists, and any child remotely showing a sign of an eye change was usually targeted thereafter.

"Yeah, whatever," was all I heard Sophia say as she turned from the hallway and glared at me through the boy's room door. I flinched and ducked into a stall to avoid her. Once I entered, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and fell to my knees as the pain from two days ago returned. Feeling the immediate urge to vomit I shoved my face into the bowl of the toilet and wretched for the next two minutes. Once I wiped my face clean with a bit of toilet paper I rose unevenly to my feet before stumbling out of the stall. My eyes were blurry as I caught the edge of the sink and steadied myself. After splashing some cold water on my face I caught sight of a long-haired figure behind me wearing a black hoodie in the mirror. I spun around to look for another would-be bully and found nothing instead.

"Creepy," I said as I slowly shuffled out the door right nearly into Sophia Jameson's body.

"Watch it!' she growled at me, and I murmured an apology before pushing past her and out the door toward the gym.

Sophia was just not in the mood to deal with any more of Brad Finkbonner's clique when the Cheerleader, a tall Hispanic girl, decided to scream freak at her. Sure, she was a mutant, and she held no shame over it! Her mother was an established member of the Whatcom Alliance, a pan-town superhero team based out of Bellingham to the south. Even more so her grandfather was a respected Shaman! No, there was no reason for her to flinch, to shrink away, or give ground to some small-minded baseline. But while her mom, Samantha, was an Energizer, she was a Wizard or more correctly Witch. Even now as she casually loitered by the bathrooms to avoid the usual High School politics she stroked a charmed stone around her neck.

Grandfather had said to keep it on her at all times, and that it would absorb the essence around her. Sophia knew it was a simple piece of rock, but all the same, it held meaning just by being a gift from her grandfather. Her actual powers testing wouldn't happen for another week and only a cursory examination by her grandfather would she know if she truly was a Wizard. Still, there were a few things she 'felt' when she was off the reservation and away from the quiet cedar scented house she called home. Here and there she had "feelings" of things, which she assumed was magic. And just as that weird kid, she thought his name was "Paul" walked passed her she caught sight of something in the mirror just before the boy's room door closed shut.

It was a girl, well what looked like a girl. Just a second to catch the image and already she felt a wave of negativity wash over her. This is bad, very bad, I need to tell Grandpa about this!

Her thoughts raced as she turned around while fingering the stone around her neck. Small comfort for whatever she just saw which sent a chill down her spine.

Early Morning, October 20th, 2007 - Lummi Island

"Goddess!' I whined as my eyes snapped open to the green light of my alarm clock. The digital glare hurt my eyes and made the migraine warp the lines of the light into a pained haze. Lifting myself up, I sat and stared at the window twenty feet away. A bare memory of my dream left me shrinking away from the dark brown curtain I rarely opened. The damn thing was dark enough to keep my room the nice dimness I preferred.

"What bloody time is it?" I sighed to myself as I turned back to note it was Five AM. Ah yes, ye olde crack of dawn. The early morning was ick to me, and just as I was about to roll over to curl up I realized there was no way I was going back to sleep. Nope, whatever exhaustion in me remained but joined the dull leaden feeling wrapped around my limbs. I imagined a pair of weights shackled to my feet and wrists. Just trying to move resulted in my hands and my head lolling back against the pillow. Screw this, I didn't want to move anyway.

Five minutes later or what I assumed was five minutes I was splayed out over the bed atop my blankets. My back arched, as I dug my fingers into the throw blanket balled up by my head.

"It was just a dream, just a damn dream," I muttered. Alternating between staring at the ceiling tiles and my alarm clock did nothing for me. Perhaps another half hour later I summoned the strength to lift myself up a second time. The result was a creaking in my body as my right hand shot out to steady myself.

"I need a shower," I croaked.

Another agonizing three minutes later I was making my way into the downstairs bathroom. Dressed only in my boxers and a t-shirt I shivered at the chill of an early fall morning. The cement floor did nothing to help and only numbed my feet with every step. I locked the door and turned on the water. First the cold shock and a small squeak from myself, and finally the hot cleansing I needed to purge my skin of the filth from the night before.

I used a brush to scrub my skin raw, and I'd never realized how sensitive my body was. The burning I left across my own flesh was somehow a release from the aches of my bones the night before. As I hung my head and pressed it up against the blurred glass of the shower stall I felt an eerie presence once more. For a second I swore I saw the rough black shape of someone just outside but was completely impossible.

Fear gripped me and tugged at my heart. I shut off the water and listened for whoever could be just outside.

Finally, after a moment of waiting, I nudged the shower door open.

There was nothing there, and I giggled at how silly I was being. Just like the dream with the Goddess, there wasn't some scary monster woman chasing me. Nah, that was just another nightmare of a hormonal teenager.

The time to dry off took longer than usual and I growled in frustration at how thick my hair was getting. Weird, I should have a little bit to shave off my face this morning, and yet my face was totally smooth. It felt so nice, and for a fleeting moment, that sense of a burden lifted returned to me.

Still aching and strangely calm I used my towel to wipe the fog clear of the bathroom mirror. As I leaned in to look and reach for my toothbrush I noticed my eyes. They were green as usual, the green of forest moss, but there was something off about them. A ring of bronze now lightly throbbed in the center of my pupil. I gasped, as I suddenly realized that my eye color had become far more intense than before.

Oh by the Gods, it dawned on me, I'd manifested - I was a mutant.

Late Evening, October 20th, 2007 - Dreamscape

My boots crunched on the frosted grass and moss of the bogland. Out here where the fairy mounds rose out of the mists of morning fog like a mountain peak seen from the heavens. I pulled the trews higher up and readjusted my belt so the trousers weren't uncomfortable. Over my shoulder was pinned the cloak every noble wore, and around my neck was a silver torc. This was my dream, and I was sure I was lost in a fantasy straight out of Rob Roy. And I just trudged further until I came to stand by the old broken faerie ring.

Only one stone remained where once a hundred stood. The spiral cut into the stone ebbed with energy from the leyline beneath it, and I could feel the essence pulsating underneath my feet.

"This is where it all started," she said beside me. I turned to gaze at the red-headed woman from nights ago.

"So....what's happening to me?" I asked, my voice was clearly more feminine than it once was.

"What I promised to ye," she said while caressing the spiral, "I'm making you the woman you are meant to be."

"How is this possible?" I murmured.

"You're a Draoi, just like my last host, a Druid," she gave me a half-mirk with those blood-red lips.

"Okay, you are just tossing obscure terms at me now," I groaned.

"It means," she leaned forward and reminded me how tall she was, "you have the ability to host spirits like me."

"And you are making me a girl?" I proffered to her.

"That was the deal lass, an' in return ye keep me essence alive," she murmured. I watched her and stepped away from the stone.

I watched her and brushed a bit of dew off the cloak clipped to my shoulder by a raven shaped broach. I did notice that my dream self was far more girly compared to only a few days ago. Both hands ran down my torso and I felt a small satisfaction in the breasts I found upon my chest. Feeling the slight swell of my hips, this was who I was meant to be. I turned my eyes to the woman who was now kneeling by the stone.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"A shadow of who I once was," she smirked in return.

"That's a bit deflective," I sighed.

"I was not named 'The Morrigan', but it is the one I use," she said to me quietly, "But it is who I became."

The woman's features appeared uncomfortable with the question, so I wondered if I should even keep pushing. But, deep down inside I felt the need to know more about this spirit who was changing my life so suddenly.

"Can you tell me when your ready?" I asked gently and I added, "I'm sorry I'm just very curious."

"I can understand, lass, Sinéad's loss just hurts so much," she brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, "And changing you is taking nearly all my strength."

The next half-hour or so I just spoke with her and at one time we started to sing. I'm not sure how to describe it, but through the song, we started to feel a sense of closure. One part of our lives was over, and another was just beginning. Finally, as I could feel myself waking I just said, "Thank you."

Her features broke for a second time showing genuine care she had for me. I dare say I could read her expression as love! I stepped closer to her and embraced her midsection as she placed her hands upon my back.

"No thank you little one, you have saved me, and will give me this one last chance," she whispered.