"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

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Chapter 9

Kelly found himself standing in front of a desk, behind the desk an older man stood, his graying hair cut military short. Both Kelly and this man were dressed in the black fatigues only worn by special forces. “Pay attention soldier!” the older man barked.

Kelly came to full attention, feet together and arms flat against his sides, “Sir, yes sir!”

“Do you agree that the end justifies the means?” The older man barked.

“Sir, that would depend on the situation, sir.”

“Just as I thought,” The older man grinned, “You refuse to answer a simple question.”

“Sir, no disrespect intended,” Kelly tried to explain, “But the question is too broad. It’s like saying killing another person is something that should never be done. But what happens if someone is trying to kill you and the only way to stop them is by killing them?”

“So you are saying that killing is okay?”

“Sir, no sir.” Kelly tried again, “I’m saying that under the correct circumstances doing something that would normally be considered a bad thing, can be a good thing.”

“Well for now I am temporarily assigning you to the motor pool,” The older man stated, “I hope you will not have any problems following orders to fix the vehicles.”

“Sir, no sir.”

“Then you are dismissed!” The older man barked. Kelly did an about face and left the office.

The older man sat down at the desk, removing the dark aviator style sunglasses he wore revealing eyes black as coal with no whites in them to be found. This one is very interesting, I cannot remember ever encountering one tied to the mortal realm as this one is. All the times this one has managed to continue when he should not have. I should find out more about this unusual link he has before I consider severing it. He has strong memories, he can reside within those for now.

“Mr. Kontos,” The white haired man wearing a white lab coat came around the nurses’ counter. A stethoscope wrapped around the back of his neck with both the ends hanging in front of his shoulders. “I’m Doctor Kline. Mr. Lekka’s doctor.”

“How’s Kelly doctor?” The concern showing on Jake’s face.

“Let’s talk in my office.” The doctor motioned Jake to follow him. Jake followed the doctor into an office, the doctor closing the door behind them. “Please have a seat Mr. Kontos,” Motioning toward the chairs that faced the desk. The doctor walked around to the other side of the desk and sat down in the leather desk chair behind it. Picking up a folder on the desk the doctor looked over at Jake, “Our records indicate that you and your wife are Mr. Lekka’s next of kin?”

“Well other than his wife Helen, we are the closest thing he has to any relatives.”

“Yes, I see.” The doctor looked back at the files, “Mrs. Lekka was also admitted, with a gunshot wound and severe burns.” Jake nodded, his mind still reeling at what had happened to his best friend.

“Okay, I’m not going to try to sugar coat this,” The doctor explained, “Mr. Lekka has a very poor chance of survival. He has deep third degree burns covering roughly forty percent of his body with fourth degree burns covering seventy five percent of the remaining skin area. His lungs also received internal burns from inhalation of the overheated air during the fire.”

“Before you say it, Kelly is a fighter, if anyone can pull though this it will be him.”

“Sir I do not want to get your hopes up,” The doctor looked Jake in the eyes, “In my medical opinion I believe it is only a matter of time. We will do our best,” the doctor shook his head slowly, “but the best we can do in cases as extreme as his, is to keep him hydrated and comfortable. The flammable substance that was used was very nasty.”

“Anything he needs,” Jake leaned forward in the chair, “Anything what so ever. Make sure he gets it, whatever the cost. I’ll make sure any expenses are covered. He gets the very best of care! If you need someone flown in, just say the word and I’ll get them here.”

“Mr. Kontos, I’m not sure if you understand what I am trying to tell you.” The doctor explained, “On the small and I do mean very small chance that Mr. Lekka’s does survive, he will need extensive reconstructive surgery along with multiple prosthetics.”

“Doctor Kline,” the agitation apparent in Jake’s voice, “I don’t mean to try and tell you your job, but that man in there has stared Death in the face before and won, mark my word, he will do it again!”

Doctor Kline sighed heavily, how can I make this man see the truth. The patient is dead already, only waiting on the time and date to be pronounced. Well maybe some good can come of this. “Mr. Kontos there is an advanced Burn care unit in Atlanta. I’ll make some calls and see if they are interested in this case, they may have some experimental procedures they are willing to try, but you would have to sign consent forms for any such radical treatments.”

“Give me the name and number and I’ll make sure they become interested.”

Chapter 10

In the shower Kelly scrubbed at the dark black stains on his skin, damn diesel engines, oil form one is impossible to get off! Kelly continued to scrub but the black stains refused to come clean. Realizing he was fighting a lost cause, the only way the stains would come off was with time, Kelly turned off the water stepped out of the shower stall and dried himself before putting on a tee shirt and pair of shorts.

Walking back to his barracks room Kelly stowed his toiletries bag in his locker before sitting down on his bunk. How long is the commander going to stay pissed at me? He’s had me in the motor pool for over a week now. Damn Jarhead, if he would have only listened the first time that girl had told him no, I would have not gotten involved and there would not have been a fight.

Kelly had been working under the hood of one of their jeeps when he realized someone was watching him. Turning toward the eyes he felt upon him Kelly saw the woman dressed in black, smiling at the sight of such a beautiful creature, “Hello and you are you?”

“My Name is Selene and I need your help. My child is being held hostage by some Nazis.” The woman pleaded, “I need your help.”

“Nazis?” Kelly found it difficult to believe what he had heard, “You gotta be shitting me!” I wonder who put this gal up to pulling this prank? Probably Jake, it has his sense of humor written all over it. I would bet my bottom dollar that she is a hooker he paid to do this.

“Please, they have my daughter, will you help?” The woman’s eyes were watering up like she was about to cry. Damn she’s a good actor too. May as well play along for now and see where this leads.

Turning away from the Jeep Kelly nodded, “Where are they?”

“You’ll need this!” Kelly turned to find another beautiful woman, younger than the first dressed in a short red dress with orange in the skirt that made it look like her dress was ablaze when she moved. Holding out a dark leather belt that held a scabbard with what looked like his own fighting knife in it. “You will need this warrior!”

Taking the belt from the new girl, Kelly noticed that the handle instead of the dark mahogany that he was used to seeing, was some black material with red swirls embedded into it. Drawing the knife a few inches to check the blade, it had a strange red hue to it now. Okay this is getting weird, the hookers I can understand but what in the hell did Jake do to my knife? And this belt scabbard must have cost a fortune to have made, the workmanship was excellent and the intricate designs on the belt and scabbard must have taken months to do. Can these women be real? Are there really Nazis around that would do something like this? And a little girl was involved! I can’t take the chance, a little girl’s life could be at stake.

Kelly was broken out of his thoughts by the younger woman, “Do you accept this responsibility?”

Looking toward the older woman for any signs of this being some elaborate trick, “These Nazis have your little girl?”

“Yes!” Kelly saw tears begin running down the woman’s cheek.

“Point me at the bastards!” Kelly’s own sense of justice and morality allowing him no other options.

Chapter 11

Mark had accompanied Jake up to burn center in Atlanta Georgia when they had transported Kelly from the Tampa hospital to the burn unit. The two sat in a waiting room as the doctors and nurses began their own triage of Kelly in another room. “I always thought he would be the last to go,” Mark commented, his head hung low.

Not bothering to look up from the out of date magazine he held Jake stated, “He’s not gone yet.”

“But that other doctor said—”

“Doctor Kline does not know Kelly like we do!” Jake spat.

“True,” Mark stifled a chuckle, “If anyone could whip the grim reapers ass and come back, it would be Kelly.”

In the operating room, two doctors and several nurses worked to remove the bandages that covered Kelly’s entire body. As they peeled the bandage off his left arm, chunks of charred skin and muscle came away with the bandages along with a terrible smell of burnt meat. One of the nurses darted away from the operating table leaving the room. A short ways down the hall the sound of someone retching was heard outside of the ladies room. Continuing to remove the bandages from what was once a healthy man. The sight and smell of the damage done to the body forced one of the doctors and another nurse to race out of the room to the nearest bathroom before the task was complete.

With the bandages removed, the medical team saw what could only be described as something one would see in of a horror movie. The only resemblance that the patient bore to human was the basic shape. Even his gender was impossible to tell as any sign of his manhood had been lost to the terrible heat and flames. Bone was exposed on one side of the lower jaw, the skin and muscle having being burnt away. What little skin that did remain on the body was charred black and much of the muscle tissue underneath was exposed throughout the remainder of the body.

Gently rolling the body to one side, they removed the bandages and placed a rubberized mat under him before rolling Kelly the opposite direction to remove the last of the bandages and pull the mat through to the other side. Metal poles were slid through grommets in both sides of the rubberized mat, then connected together with two other metal pipes at the head and foot of the mat forming a framed gurney. The operating table was wheeled into another room that held a large tank filled with a sickly looking greenish yellow fluid. The breathing tube taped in place to Kelly’s face was reconnected to a hose in the room, while others worked at connecting several cables that hung from above to the poles of the gurney.

The cables raised the gurney where they team pushed it over the open top of the tank where Kelly was lowered into the thick fluid. Wearing long latex gloves the cables were disconnected from one side while the makeshift gurney was pushed down below the patient where it could be extracted. Kelly’s body was then gently pushed down into the jelly-like consistency of the fluid until completely submerged.

Leaving the room the doctor and remaining nurses went into another room where they could clean up and remove the scrubs they had worn over their clothes. “You sure about using that devise doctor?” A nurse, who after removing the mask and hair bonnet was easily in her sixties, asked.

“His next of kin signed the consent forms,” The doctor stated.

“But do they know we are using a devise?” The nurse’s concern and distaste of mutants highly evident, “It has not gone through all the testing.”

The doctor continued removing his scrubs, “Linda your dislike of Larry is well known, but if that devisor’s machine can save one single life, then I will use it!”

Chapter 12

Kelly staggered a bit when he suddenly found himself standing in a grassy field beside the woman who had called herself Selene. In the distance a large mechanical monstrosity with three legs was firing some kind of science fiction ray at over two dozen of what Kelly could only call knights in full plate armor on horseback. “Where the hell are we?”

“These are the fields of sorrow. My sister gave you a valuable part of herself in which you can defend yourself, it can be kinda rough here.” Selene stated.

“Duh, figured that.”

“Follow me!” Selene ordered, leading them around the pitched battle towards the sound of what could only be gunfire in the distance. The grassy plain soon became sandy soil that quickly turned into a desert wasteland. What Kelly had thought of as stray gunfire was now directed intentionally at them. Suddenly Selene had a large battle axe in her hand using it to deflect the rounds that came closest.

“Whoa, where did you pull that from?”

“Deflecting another barrage of bullets, “It’s my physical form outside of this dimension.”

Your what! Kelly thought, then noticed that she was not gripping it in her hand, it was her hand! Her hand and forearms had turned into the weapon she was wielding! Pulling his own knife from its scabbard, “Whatever! We need to get closer!”

“Are you ready?” Selene gripped Kelly’s shoulder.

“Hell yeah!”

Kelly was disorientated when they appeared in a cloud of smoke some distance further toward the gunmen, again and once again, Selene mysteriously teleported the closer to the men firing at them. On the final teleport the two were within the group of men. Letting her grip on Kelly’s shoulder fall, Selene became a blur of motion, mowing the attackers down like a farmer harvesting a wheat field.

Kelly sprang into action himself, dispatching one then another opponent. With each strike he dealt Kelly felt a strange sensation coursing through his body, almost as if he was gaining energy from the fighting. Although Kelly did not have time to dwell on this unusual sensation as one of the gun men was bringing the barrel of his AK47 in Kelly’s direction. swinging his knife in an arc to deflect the barrel of the gun as he tried stepping into melee range of the gunman, Kelly felt his knife slice though the heavy gun barrel, lopping off several inches from the end. Which of course did not stop gun from being pointed at Kelly.

Kelly felt the burning as three rounds from the gun hit him in the side before he had turned out of its line of fire. What neither he nor Selene saw was the fine red mist from the exit wounds turn to red smoke that seemed to get sucked back into his body, healing the wounds instantly. The gunman’s eyes went wide in terror, “Moi—” was all he got out before Kelly’s knife ended his life.

The fight over, all the attackers now lifeless on the ground, Kelly looked down where he felt himself get shot. Three holes stitched across his shirt, but underneath he couldn’t find a single mark.

“What’s your name?” Selene turned toward Kelly, her arm having become a normal arm once again, that is if any of this nightmare could be called normal.

“Just call me Kelly, and don’t make any stupid jokes. I’m not in the mood.”

“Do I look like I would do that?” Selene replied as she motioned with her head towards the cave behind the men’s camp.

Chapter 13

“How’s the patient doing Larry?” The doctor that had admitted Kelly looked over at the small short squat man that was hunched over the huge control panel of the machine watching the various gauges and computer screens.

Turning around to greet the doctor, “Hi Carl, yes, yes everything is going fine here. He is stable at the moment. There was a little glitch a while ago but it has been resolved.”

“A glitch?”

“Yes his vitals seemed to increase dramatically, then fall just as dramatically for a few minutes. I still haven’t worked out what caused it, everything here is working correctly. The stasis fluid is holding his body temp at a constant 98.6 degrees, respiration has not fluctuated, although his heart rate did climb during that time.”

“Could he be dreaming?”

“No, no way, his brain wave patterns have not changed one single bit. It’s as if the lights are on but nobody’s home.” The small man stated.

“I hope there is something left of him in there.”

“Well if not this does prove to be a great test for my machine.” The little man grinned. “It is what it was designed for after all.”

The doctor thought about all the string he had to pull and favors he called in so that they would allow his old school buddy to build his invention. Larry was a pure genius but his bedside manner was lacking. Hell not just his bedside manner his complete disregard for how others may feel. But Larry had told him that this machine would stabilize badly burned victims that would otherwise have no options, and Carl believed him. When had Larry ever been wrong? Yes his machinery was impossible for anyone but Larry himself to keep running, but his machines never failed to do as promised.

“Just don’t let his family hear you call him a test subject, okay Larry?”

Larry had already gone back to fiddling with the controls, “Oh yes, yes, I heard you, no test subjects.”

“Have you eaten anything?” Carl asked, knowing that once Larry was involved with one of his projects he would forget.

“Is it lunch time already?” Larry looked back over his shoulder smiling.

“It’s dinner time Larry.” Carl sighed, “I’ll have one of the nurses bring you something to eat.”

Not bothering to run around, “Fine, fine, yes, can your mom make us some of those grilled cheese sandwiches she made us Saturday? She makes the best grilled cheese in the world, I really love them.”

Carl shook his head as he walked out of the room, his mother died fourteen years ago, Larry had been at the funeral. But then Larry had been like this since his mutation manifested. Time meant nothing to him, what happened yesterday was no different in his mind than what occurred thirty years ago. Both just as fresh in his memories and occupying the same relative time within his mind.

Carl had taken him to every specialist he could find, but none had a cure or even a medication for Larry. His memory was cross wired so badly that if you asked him what he did yesterday he might tell you about something he did when he was five years old. To him everything not today was yesterday. One of the neurologists had once told Carl it was like placing all your computer files in one folder, then erasing the date stamps and labeling every single file with the exact same name then mixing them up into a random order.

Chapter 14

“Damn we’ve been walking through this cave for more than three hours, does it ever end?” Kelly asked as he followed Selene.

“Shhh, don’t make so much noise, you don’t want to wake anything up here, believe me.” Selene whispered, “We’re getting close.” Turning back to Kelly she handed him a large gold coin, “Here you will need this to pay the ferryman.”

Looking at the strange inscription of a winged angel holding a scythe on the coin, “Is this gold?”

“Yes, don’t lose it. They are rare these days and the ferryman only accepts those. You can’t bribe him with anything else.”

Moments later the cave finally opened up into an immense cavern that appeared to be filled by an underground sea. The path led out onto a small wooden dock, the wood of which appeared older than time its self, the dock its self well worn by the passage of untold number of boots that had walked across it. At the end of the dock a single brass bell, not more than six inches across, hung in solitude. Selene walked out across the ancient wooden structure without as if she held no doubt the old wood would carry her weight without issue and rang the bell.

Following her out onto the dock, “What now?”

“We wait.” Selene leaned back against the tall wooden pylon that held the bell.

“Wait for what?”

“For the ferryman to make his way over the sea. It’s not unusual to cross from this side, so usually he is either somewhere on the sea or at the other side of it.” Selene explained.

“You seem to know allot about this place?”

“Oh,” Selene grinned, “You could call me a regular here.”

“A regular?”

Before she could answer his question a long narrow wooden boat that seemed to be made out of the same ancient wood as the dock and about the same state of disrepair, came out of the fog that shrouded the extent of the cavern. A tall thin man wearing a cloak with the hood pulled far down over his head, obscuring his face from view stood in the back of the boat, propelling it with a long pole.

As the boat pulled to a stop at the end of the dock Selene straightened up and walked over, stepping into the boat. Going up to the hooded figure Selene wrapped her arms around him in a hug, “Hello brother. It’s good to see you.” Looking up into the figures hidden eyes, Selene grinned wide, “You won’t charge me this time?”

“Sister,” The man’s voice was quite but very rough, “Don’t worry, your past activities have filled the quota. However your friend must pay.”

Kelly gulped, Holy crap! that isn’t who I think it is, is it? Can this nightmare get any stranger? Stepping into the boat the robed figure held out his hand. Kelly dropped the large coin into his palm, a palm that seemed more like gray skin stretched across nothing more than bone.

Holding the coin up close to the opening of the hood that obscured his face, “This will do.” Looking over in Kelly’s direction, Don’t look in the water or touch it. It would be a waste to lose you on the way over.”

Kelly sat down in the middle of the boat looking down at his feet, This cannot be happening, I’m dreaming. That’s it I am dreaming.

The boat began moving out into the fog that obscured the sea. “You’re looking better again sister, something happened?”

“Oh yeah, but it’s a long story and I’m kinda short of time, even here.”

“We need to talk about it another time then sister.”

For Kelly all sense of time and distance was lost in the dense fog that made even the bow of the boat difficult to see. The only noise was of the long pole the ferryman used to move the boat along its path. This water must be shallow for him to be able to pole us across its length. We could have probably waded across, although why would he have warned us about not touching the water? Is something in it? Is it even water? Kelly wasn’t about to put his warnings to a test.

The fog lifted as quickly as it had come. Kelly could see another dock almost identical to the one they had left, with another bell hanging at the end. As the boat stopped at the dock the ferryman spoke, “Visit me soon sister, I’m kinda bored these days.

“Of course brother, if I can make some time free, I’ll be over.” Selene looked back over her shoulder while stepping out of the boat onto the dock.

Kelly followed Selene into another cave, this one nowhere near as long as the last one, until reaching a staircase that looked too made of black marble. Along each side giant white marble columns held the vaulted ceiling above.

Following her up the long wide staircase they came upon a landing at the top where an opening was covered by a large wooden gate covered in symbols, similar to those on the belt and scabbard Kelly had been given, although the ones on the gate seemed to move and change as he tried to look at them.

Selene approached the gate, reaching out with her hand to touch it. The symbols seemed to swirl into a new pattern then the gate began to move, swinging back out of the way, opening the path into the cave tunnel beyond.

Chapter 15

Emerging from the cave tunnel onto another grassy field, although this one differed in that it appeared to in an area of rolling hills, in the distance a large mountain, it’s snow covered peak immediately recognizable. “I know this place, that’s Mount Fuji isn’t it?”

“Your perception is sharp, it is indeed Mount Fuji. We are close to our destination.” Selene pointed in the direction of a hill not far away. Moving in the direction Selene had pointed the two crested a hill to find an ongoing battle between two medieval armies.

Selene hurled herself down the slope into the front lines of both armies. Kelly watched as a large gaping hole opened in both combatant’s lines with Selene in the center weaving and slashing her dance of death to the troops.

Kelly launched himself into the side line closest to him, his knife slashing and cutting through armor, weapons and bone as he made his way toward that army’s command tent leaving a trail of soldier’s corpses behind him. Kelly felt one with the weapon, it becoming an extension of his own body as it cleaved through the combatants. The energy he felt coursing through the knife ran up into his arm, deep into his inner being, into his soul its self. Granting him strength no ordinary man could imagine.

Kelly felt this energy driving him toward the enemy commander’s tent. He needed to get there, it was stronger than any need or want he had ever felt before. He knew that evil existed in that tent, it was calling to him, begging him to come.

Evading the first attacks by two of the bodyguards outside the tent by rolling sideways between the two spears they had swung at him. Slicing a third across the chest with a deep cut that cleaved clean though the armor chest plate deep into the man behind. Coming to his feet Kelly cut though both short spears, then on the backstroke his knife found the necks of the spear wielders.

Kelly feared the energy driving him, it was not a fear of those he fought against but of why he was being pulled toward this darkness. With every step Kelly took that brought him closer to that dark force, his excitement grew. It felt exhilarating to be so close to it. No matter how much he tried to ignore those feeling or stop his progress toward that evil Kelly could not.

Springing on his hands into a double back flip that would impress any gymnast, Kelly poised to attack the remaining five. Jumping the twenty feet that separated him from the men that stood between him and his goal. Kelly’s blade slashed in a flurry of strikes as he landed, the last men to stand in his way dropped to the ground dead as Kelly landed. The men inside the tent were too surprised to even draw steel against Kelly and all fell but one.

Kelly held his blade against the lone man’s neck. Kelly’s heart was racing, pounding in his chest there was no other way he could describe the feeling, he was in pure ecstasy now so close to the darkness that called to him.

The man’s eyes were wide full of terror at the sight of the blade in Kelly’s hand, “You, you hold Moira’s blade. How, how is it possible? Only she can hold that damned sword!” Looking around the man began screaming, “You swore that those fucking whores would never be able to lay a hand on me! Especially this one!” Looking into Kelly’s eyes, “Go ahead, DO IT! I don’t know how you managed this but I hope you choke on my soul you fucking whore!” Kelly could hold back no longer, everything in his own being knew this was what he was here to do, why the darkness called so demandingly loud to him, to destroy it. Drawing back he sliced across the man’s neck, severing his head.

Word spread quickly that two inhuman warriors had joined the battle as was destroying the forces on both sides. Their leaders dead, the troops retreated from the battle field, forgetting whatever cause or reasons they had been fighting over or at least fearing the two avenging spirits that had descended upon them more.

Atlanta Burn Center

Larry hit the big red button on his control panel to alert Carl and whoever was on duty there was a problem as he saw the man’s heart rate jump and his vitals once again begin to climb dangerously high then plummet only to rise again.

Carl raced down the hall slamming the double doors open as he reached Larry’s Lab, “What happened?” he yelled across the room. Seeing Larry, another doctor and two nurses standing there watching the computer screen.

The other doctor turned, Carl recognized as Doctor Hive, “His vitals are rising and falling at an incredible rate, his body temperature has risen two point 3 degrees, and his heart rate is over 200.”

“Reason for this Doctor Hive?”

“None that we can find.” Doctor Hive reported, “ Mental activity has not changed, the stasis machine appears to be functioning perfectly.”

“Then what is causing this?” Carl tried to calm himself. He could not let a patient died in this machine. If that happened Larry would be devastated. He has worked too hard over the years to build devises that saved lives. One that killed its first patient could take the poor man’s mind over the edge forever, “I need answers. I will not allow this patient to die in my center!”

Chapter 16

Selene led Kelly up the hill from the battle, opposite of the way they had come. At the crest of that hill Selene raised her hand as she stopped, “We’re here.”

Looking around, Kelly saw a few small boulders, scrub brush and a couple small trees, “There’s nothing here?”

“Let me show you.” Selene then began waving her hand in a small circular motion in front of her. The air began to shimmer in front of her hand, quickly rotating to match her movement, the small shimmering circle began to expand outward quickly becoming over eight feet in diameter with the center perfectly calm. In the center of the circle Kelly saw what had to be some warehouse district back on Earth. “Take my hand,” Selene reached out to place her hand in Kelly’s before stepping through the portal with him.

The portal behind him closed as soon as Kelly had stepped through. Kelly found himself in a space between two of the large warehouses with just enough space between them to possibly park against one building and still allow two way traffic to pass if there had been any, but the alleyway was deserted of both men and vehicles with the exception of a lone forklift parked near a service door. Looking around and no seeing Selene anywhere he swore, “Where the hell did she go?”

*I am still with you warrior,* Kelly heard Selene’s voice in his head.

“What the fu—” Kelly whispered.

~In your realm I take on the form you now hold in your hand.~

“You’re a battle axe?” Kelly continued to whisper.

~I’ve shortened my length so that you may wield me one handed.~ He heard her voice once again, realizing he wasn’t truly hearing her but feeling her thoughts that she directed at him.

Trying something, Kelly thought toward Selene without speaking, ~Can you hear me?~

~Of course.~ Selene replied, ~As long as we are touching we can speak by using our thoughts. I have also informed my daughter that we are here and she should be ready.~

~How?~ Kelly thought.

~Melanie and I do not require physical contact to communicate.~

Creeping out to the end of the alley they were in Kelly could see two guards armed with submachine guns guarding the entrance. ~So what’s the plan?~ He thought to Selene.

~Cleanse the world of their darkness.~

~That is not a plan,~ Kelly sighed, ~They have machine guns.~

~You have me and Moira’s sword!~ Selene sounded insulted, ~Mortal weapons are no match against us.~

“Here’s goes nothing,” Kelly whispered to no one in general before sprinting around the corner toward the guards. Time seemed to slow down as Kelly’s mind kicked into his ‘battle mode’ as he called the time compression people experience when under high stress, when your mind goes into over drive making it appear as if things are slowing down around you.

Halfway across Kelly saw one guard motion toward him then begin raising his machine gun, the second guard on the opposite side of the door looked then began raising his own. Rearing back with his left arm, Kelly started to throw Selene at the guard on the left. ~How can this be, you—~ He heard Selene begin to say something just as the battle axe left his hand and began twirling end over end at his target. Raising his right arm, Kelly threw the blade in his other hand at the guard on the right both weapons buried themselves into the chest of each guard throwing them with great force against the building behind them and pinning their lifeless bodies to the wall.

Three quarters of the way there and the door began to open. Kelly thought how that was the bad part about carrying only bladed weapons and using them at a distance, he was now weaponless. No sooner than he thought this the sword was back in his hand, pulsing with energy as if it could feed strength into him. The door continued to open as Kelly prepared to throw the blade again. As it opened enough to allow him to see the guard coming out, Kelly launched the blade once more, directly at the guards chest before sprinting the remaining distance to the left of the door to pull the battle axe out of the body and swing her horizontally at the now open doorway as another guard tried coming out.

Ducking his head quickly around the corner then back Kelly looked to see if the way in was clear. ~I could have done that for you.~ Selene stated in his mind.

~Now you tell me?~ Kelly thought as he came around through the door frame and entered the building. Two bodies lay one on top the other both facing up, on the floor behind the one he had just hit with Selene, the handle of his blade sticking out of the chest of the one laying on top. Reaching for the blade it suddenly was in his hand again. That is a neat trick! He thought as he stepped over the bodies looking for any further guards.

Not two steps later several guards appeared at the end of the short hallway and began firing their automatic weapons in Kelly’s direction. Kelly launched himself sideways into a door, smashing through the cheap wooden interior door and rolling back up to his feet in the room. The guards raced down the hall when they heard a loud crashing sound come from inside the room, thinking the invader was trying to escape. The wall of the adjoining room exploded outward into the hall, showering the men with pieces of drywall and two by fours as Kelly entered the hall though the wall. Five men were down before they knew what hit them the remaining man his feet dangling off the floor, held against the opposite wall by Kelly’s forearm against his neck. “Where’s the little girl you bastards kidnapped?” Kelly saw the man’s eyes dart in the direction the men had come from. Releasing the man Kelly plunged his blade into the side of his head, before pulling it out and letting the body fall to the floor.

At the end of the hall were steps leading both upward and down, Kelly could feel that he needed to go down and went that direction. More gunfire at the bottom of the stairs, Kelly felt a stabbing hot pain in his shoulder for a split second before it was gone. Throwing his blade at the first of two that were firing at him, the man went down with Kelly’s blade sticking out of his throat. More sharp pain was felt in his left thigh in several places. Kelly knew he had taken several rounds, more pain in the stomach from more automatic weapons, His blade was back in his hand and sailing toward the other gunman. Kelly forced himself to run, knowing that the pain going away so quickly was a bad omen, he knew he was hit badly and needed to free the girl before he went down. Racing down the hall Kelly went on a killing spree with blade and axe swinging hard and fast at all targets of opportunity. Halfway down the next hall Kelly saw a guard fly out of a room into the wall hard and slump down into the floor. A small teen girl possibly oriental from her appearance stepped out into the hall naked.

~MELANIE!~ Kelly heard Selene scream in his thoughts, ~Throw me to her!~ Kelly tossed Selene to the girl watching as what he had used as a single handed battle axe grew to an enormous sized halberd as it reached the small girls hands. The girl took off in the opposite direction once she had Selene in her hand. Kelly followed and watched what he could only describe as a blood bath when the girl entered what appeared to be a barracks and found four guards. She cut them to ribbons with Selene.

“Thank you very much for your help,” The small girl turned and smiled at Kelly. It was unnerving how such a small child could stand there in the middle of the carnage she had just created and smile like that. The look in her eyes was one of pure joy.

Kelly was about to speak when he felt a sudden pull. He found himself in a grassy field with the sun shining bright above. Before him stood the younger woman, the one who had given him the blade and his commanding officer. Quickly going to attention Kelly saluted the commander.

“At ease soldier,” The commander waved his hand. Looking back toward the woman, “I think you have some explaining to do dear sister? Taking this soul AWOL without permission.”

“I am sorry, but the circumstance—” The woman pleaded.

“Bullshit!” The commander yelled at her, “Moira you may be young but you have been around long enough to know better!”

The red and yellow of the irises of her eyes appeared to contain pure flame as she stood up to the much larger man, “It was to save your niece! Our niece!”

“I have no nieces?” The old man questioned.

“Izanami had a daughter before, before…” The woman seemed ready to break down in tears.

“Izanami?” The commander rubbed his chin, “I have a niece? But Izanami is not gone, I of all people would know if that came to pass!”

“She bonded, merged her soul with a human.”

“That is not possible!” The commander yelled, “Where is Selene? She and Izanami are inseparable. I will get to the bottom of this!”

“She is in the mortal realm with Melanie.”

“Who is Melanie?” The old man shouted.

Kelly watched in awe as the two argued back and forth wondering if he would bleed to death before they noticed that he was injured badly. Realizing he needed to inspect just how bad he was hurt Kelly looked down at the numerous bullet holes in his shirt and pants. Kelly was startled to find no trace of blood, nor any sign he had been shot other than the holes in his clothing. Looking back toward the two, the commander was still yelling at the young woman.

“Do you realize you almost destroyed his link back to the mortal world? A link that I was trying to determine why it existed?”

“But all human have a link to their world?” She argued.

“Not like this one, his is also tied to the upper realms.” Looking at the woman sternly, “Tied doubly now that you interfered and obliterated any chance I have of discovering where now to look for the other end of that connection.”

“How could I ruin the connection?”

“By overriding it with a stronger one, your own!” The commander almost screamed.

“But it was only temporary!” she screamed back.

“Oh it’s temporary?” The commander laughed. Crossing his arms across his chest smiling, “Then release him.”

“I, I can’t” Moira quietly stated after concentrating for several minutes.

“You have two choices my dear sister.” The commander now began using a more civil tone and volume, “The both of you can waste away together here or you can attempt what your older sister has done.”

Chapter 17

No one had left even after the man’s vitals had stabilized once again, everyone was working on finding out what was causing the burn victim’s vitals to randomly go completely crazy then restabilize. When it began again without warning Heart rate began climbing quickly over 200 body temperature began rising. Vitals spiking dangerously high then dropping dangerously low Heart rate and body temperature continued to rise. One nurse stood at the screen and began calling out numbers as the rest furiously tried to find out what was causing it and stabilize the man in the tank.

“Heart rate 255 body temp 112 still climbing!” the nurse yelled over the noise.

Suddenly Larry started yelling, “Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” as he ran over to the console, “I know what’s happening!” he yelled as he began moving dials, “We have to cool him down!”

Carl stopped and looked at his childhood friend, “Larry he’s a burn victim!”

“NO!” Larry screamed, “He’s going through burnout! We have to cool him!”

Carl ran over trying to stop Larry, “Larry NO! This is not what burnout looks like and he’s too old to go through that!”

“Yes it is burnout,” The stasis fluid kept us from seeing it as it is a highly conductive fluid by design,” Larry continued moving dials, knocking one of the doctors down to the floor that tried to stop him. Larry explained as he continued to work quickly, “The fluid was absorbing the heat, that is what it’s designed to do. But he needs colder temps to drawn the heat away from his body faster!”

“Doctor!” a nurse beside the tank yelled, “He’s thrashing around in there!” As Kelly’s body thrashed in the tank parts of his skin began coming off in the thick fluid. More and more burned tissue filled the thick fluid until it was impossible to see the man in the tank, but the movement of the chunks of flesh floating in the tank along with the ripples on the surface told them that the man was still flailing about inside the tank.

Carl stood there shocked at everything that was happening, but he had no intention of losing this patient. Yelling at those near the tank, Get some gloves on and get him out of there!”

Before they could get the long gloves on that would allow them to reach into the tank a small perfectly healthy hand shot up out of the fluid. Running up onto the platform that surrounded three sides of the tank, Carl reached over and grabbed the hand and began pulling. Another perfectly healthy but small hand shot up latching onto his hand as he pulled. As Carl pulled a head appeared above the surface, covered in long dark hair, gasping for air. Getting the person’s torso above the fluid Carl reached in and grabbed him by the waist and hauled the now much smaller man out of the fluid and stood him on the platform beside himself.

Carl could not believe it, the man had went into the tank should have been taller than his five foot eleven, but he was very short not even five foot in height now. And the skin, not a single blemish or scar to be seen as Carl’s gaze followed the man’s body down inspecting him for any signs of trauma. “Oh my god!” Carl gasped, when he realized this was a small girl not ten or twelve years old that he had pulled out of the tank. Quickly stripping off his lab coat Carl wrapped it around the shivering little girl both for warmth and modesty.

From the control panel Larry began clapping, “From the chrysalis a beautiful butterfly emerges.” Larry was highly pleased with himself, he was the only one that had seen the problem and he had found the solution. Without him that little girl would have died from the fluid continually trying to stabilize her temperature at the wrong temperature!

Looking around everyone in the room was staring wide eyed with their mouths open. “You all act like you have never seen a case of burnout before!” Looking over at one of the nurses, “YOU! What’s your name?”

The nurse said, “Nancy.”

“Whatever! Take the girl and help her get that nasty fluid off her and cleaned up!” Pointing at another nurse, “YOU! Go find that lass something to wear other than one of those god damn hospital gowns that shows everyone your ass!” With that Larry began skipping exuberantly out of the room whistling the tune from the Wizard of Oz.

"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 18

Once Carl saw that the two nurses did in fact begin to follow the orders Larry had given them, Carl left the lab in search of Larry, the last thing he needed was Larry telling the family that Mr. Lekka was now Miss Lekka. The first thing Carl needed to do was determine if the machine had anything to do with the gender change and age regression. If Larry’s devise did that to him, no he could not think like that, Larry may be strange but he was never wrong, Carl would have to prove that before the press got hold of this story. Finding Larry at a table in the staff cafeteria Carl sat down across the table from him.

“Larry?” Carl watched as Larry shoveled the food on the tray in front of him into his mouth, “Is there any possibility that your devise caused him to change?”

Larry looked up across the table at Carl with a confused look, speaking with a mouthful of food, “My devise only regulates the temperatures and circulates the stasis fluid.”

“What about the fluid?”

“Not a devise, Just simple cryogenic fluid combined with a nutrient solution.” Larry swallowed what was in his mouth, “Any moron can reproduce the stasis fluid.”

“There will be an investigation.”

“Why” Larry dropped the fork he held onto the tray, “My devise worked flawlessly, I will need to create something so it will detect something like this in the future. How was I to know our first test subject was a mutant going through burnout? I thought you said his injuries came from a house fire?”

“He was from a house fire.”

“Did you happen to ask what caused the fire?” Larry’s eye brows arched upward.

Realizing Larry had a point Carl got up from the chair, “Alright, I need to go check on the patient. Are you going to be okay here?” Larry nodded and began shoveling food once again. “Then I will have to talk to the relatives and explain what happened.” Larry nodded again.

~o~O~o~

Kelly followed the nurse though a door into another room. A short row of lockers and benches along each side told Kelly this was some type of locker room for the staff. Through there he was led into a large bathroom that had several shower stalls along the wall and toilets along the opposite wall. “Okay let’s get that gunk cleaned off you okay sweetie?”

Kelly was already too overwhelmed with everything that had happened today to care that this woman treating her like he was some kind of kid. All the fighting, that one asshole calling him a whore, as if he was even female and then the little Japanese girl that fought like she was some kind of Samurai god or goddess in her case. Being really short and treated like a kid was the sanest this nightmare has been so far.

The nurse turned on the water, checking its temperature before turning and helping Kelly out of the doctors coat. “Jump on it sweetie, I made sure the water wasn’t too hot.”

Reaching his hand into the cascading water, Kelly felt its temperature for himself before stepping in. Once he was in the water the nurse stepped away for a minutes, Kelly saw her now standing on the other side of the low walls of the stall wearing a plastic coat, that looked almost like a rain poncho with gloves made for the hands.

The nurse began working on Kelly’s long hair, “I’m surprised you haven’t said anything?”

“What do you want me to say?” To Kelly his voice sounded squeaky very much like a little girl. “Not like any of this is real, this has been one big nightmare from the beginning.”

Sweetie I hate to tell you this, but this is real.” The nurse continued working on hair that could not be his own, “You are at the Atlanta Regional Hospital, you’re in the burn center.”

“Sure it is,” Kelly’s high pitched voice annoyed him, “Next thing you’re going to tell me is that woman can really turn herself into a battle axe!”

The nurse chuckled, “I know a few I think of as an old battle axe but I doubt they can turn into a real axe.”

“So the axe woman is not real?” Kelly asked, “What about the ferryman, the one who brought me back across the river Styx?”

“No sweetie, those don’t really exist.”

Kelly was truly confused now, how could his dream nurse not know of the others in the dream if he was still dreaming? Damn when would he wake up? When would the nightmare end? “Okay if I was burned so badly that they sent me here, why don’t I have any burn marks on this body?”

“You’re a mutant sweetie, and a really cute on at that. I doubt anyone would even guess if it wasn’t for your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“They are a very unusual color. When we’re done here you can see for yourself in the mirror.”

Once the nurse had finished rinsing out His hair, Kelly reached for the handle to turn off the water, “Hold on sweetie we aren’t done quite yet!” The nurse grabbed his hand, “We got to put some conditioner in your hair or else we’ll never get a brush through it.” Kelly stood still and let her use the conditioner to wash his hair a second time.

“I feel like a little kid doing this!” Kelly groaned.

“Sorry to say this but with how you look it’s hard not to treat you like one.”

“Okay so if this is real, when do I get to see Helen?”

“Who’s Helen?” The nurse asked.

Hah! Kelly thought, That proves I am still in the nightmare! How could she not know who Helen is, either Helen is waiting or she would be in the hospital too and the nurse would know that! At the very least Helen would be listed on whatever paperwork they have.

After rinsing the conditioner out of Kelly’s hair, the nurse reached over and turned off the water before wringing out what water she could from Kelly’s hair. Wrapping Kelly’s hair in one towel, the nurse then wrapped another around her body, up under her arms. “Are you going to be okay if we go to a mirror?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“Well sweetie I’m not sure what you looked like before, but it can’t be anything like you look now.”

“When I wake up, I’ll have a good laugh over this crap.” Kelly realized he giggled like a little girl when he laughed.

The nurse led Kelly over to a counter that had several sinks built into it and a large mirror along the back wall. Standing behind Kelly with both hands gently but firmly on Kelly’s upper arms, the nurse turned Kelly so she was looking straight at the mirror.

Kelly saw the girl in the mirror looking back at him. The nurse was right that girl was very cute with her large almond shaped eyes and slightly upturned nose. A white towel wrapped around her covering her breasts like women always did, along with another with another towel on her head turban like concealing her wet hair. Her skin had a medium olive complexion which reminded Kelly of the younger woman from the last part of this dream, her skin had looked exactly the same tone much like many of the Greeks and other southern Europeans he had spent many years around. Everything about the girl’s looks screamed small innocent little angel except for her eyes. Kelly leaned forward over the counter to get a better look at the eyes.

The first thing that stood out about her eyes was the color. Reds, oranges and yellows made up the color of her irises. The colors almost looked like flames that began at the outer part of the iris that pointed in toward the pupil. Her pupils seemed to have shorter radiating lines of black that make her pupils appear as if they were tiny black suns in the center of the bright red, orange and yellow irises. The whole effect made it seem as if her eyes were on fire.

“Whoa!” Kelly sputtered, “Those are some freaky eyes!”

“You know,” The nurse standing behind her informed, “Some colored contacts could hide those easily.” Kelly continued looking at the image of the girl in the mirror. “If you think you’re going to be okay, I’ll go grab some things so we can dry your hair.” Kelly nodded, not taking his eyes off the mirror. The nurse stepped out and was back in less than three minutes with a hair brush in one hand and a blow dryer in the other.

“Think you can hop up and sit on the counter for me sweetie?” The nurse asked as she plugged in the blow dryer. Kelly jumped on the counter and sat with her side to the mirror, one leg dangling off the edge of the counter. Unwrapping the towel from the girls head, the nurse began blow drying her hair.

Twisting around to look at the nurse, “Thank you.” Kelly said.

“For what?” The nurse smiled at the child.

“For trying to help me,” Kelly returned the smile. “I’m Kelly.”

“So you’ve already picked a new name?” The nurse realized the girl would have to do this, but so soon? While she did not have any experience with mutations but coming to terms with such drastic changes this quickly could not be healthy.

“No that’s what my name has always been. I guess it works for boys or girls, although I guess I will have to pick a new middle name. I don’t think Michael will work now.” Kelly giggled.

“I think you’ve got a point there sweetie,” The nurse smiled wider, “My name’s Nancy.”

“Thank you for helping with all this hair Nancy,” Kelly frowned, “I’ve never had my hair long enough to even run a comb through it since boot camp. I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Well then you best pay attention, as I’m sure they’ll be sending you home within the next day or two.”

“Home?” Kelly’s face went pale as he remembered the house fire, “The, the fire wasn’t a dream. I don’t have a home anymore.” Kelly’s eyes watered up and she began to sob.

Nancy put the brush down as she turned off the blow dryer then wrapped her arms around the small girl trying to console her. “It’s going to be okay sweetie, you have family here. Mr. Kontos has been here since they brought you in.”

“Jake’s here?” Kelly sniffed back the tears.

“Refuses to leave from what I hear.” Nancy smiled at the girl she was holding.

“OH SHIT!” Kelly shouted, “Jake can’t see me like this!”

“That’s why we’re getting you cleaned up and presentable sweetie.”

“No I mean… I’m a girl!” Kelly hands clutched onto Nancy like her life depended on not letting go, “This can’t be real, it can’t be!”

Nancy hugged the girl tight, “It’s okay sweetie, cry it out. I’m here and I got you.” Nancy knew the small girl she held was probably older than her and a mutant no less, but the girl seemed so fragile she couldn’t have stopped herself from consoling the girl if she wanted to.

“Everything alright Nancy?” The nurse that had been sent to find Kelly some clothes walked in from behind them.

“Yes, everything will be fine,” Nancy answered, “Reality just caught up with her is all.”

“I found some underwear and some scrubs that should fit her over in the children’s ward.” The other Nurse sat a stack of folded clothing on the counter. “I think everything should fit her alright.” The other nurse turned to leave, “Oh, doc Peters wants to see her soon as you are done in here.”

Seeing that the small girls crying had ran its course Nancy went back to drying and brushing out Kelly’s hair after helping her to wash her face. Reaching over to the clothes the other nurse had brought Nancy found a pair of pastel pink panties and held them out in front of Kelly. “Okay sweetie let’s get you dressed.”

“You can’t be serious?” Kelly looked at the pink underwear.

“What’s wrong?” Nancy seemed confused.

“They’re girl’s panties!”

“Uh yea,” Nancy looked directly into Kelly’s fiery eyes. “They kind of fit the situation. Now step into them.” Nancy held the panties so that Kelly could put them on.

“But they are pink!” Kelly continued to protest.

“It’s underwear, and any girl will tell you that you do not want to go without them.” Nancy explained, “What color they happen to be doesn’t matter, it’s not like you’re going to go around flashing everyone are you?”

Kelly shook her head, realizing that Nancy was right, no one would see what color of underwear she had on and lifted her leg so that Nancy could help her put them on. Once the panties were pulled into place, the towel that had covered her body was tossed onto the counter. Nancy then held up a training bra for Kelly to put on.

Looking down at her chest, Kelly saw she had the beginnings of breasts maybe a large A cup, but nothing anywhere near large enough to require a bra, “Do I really need to wear that?”

“It’s not for support,” Nancy explained, “It’s for protection. You’re going to be very sensitive there since it appears that you have begun puberty. A shirt rubbing against your breasts all day long will be very irritating.”

Holding up her arms, Kelly let Nancy help her put on the training bra and adjust it in place. It felt strange to have it on but Kelly did have to admit her chest didn’t seem to jiggle so much with it on. “It looked like it’s a tad too small for you,” Nancy said as she inspected her work, “You’ll have to get measured for a proper fit when you get home, I think you may be a bit too large for training bras and need to move up to a regular bra, but this will do for now.”

Now dressed in pink underwear and bra, Kelly’s resistance to wearing clothing that screamed girl died and he put on the scrubs that had been brought for her to wear, which was also a pastel pink color. Slipping on the pink flip flops she let Nancy lead her out of the women’s locker room.

Chapter 19

Nancy led Kelly out a different door that opened into a hallway. Kelly kept her head down trying to avoid letting anyone see her eyes as the two walked down the hall, Nancy gently holding Kelly’s hand the whole way. They made a turn into another hall and a short ways down that hall Nancy stopped in front of a door. Kelly saw the plaque on the wall beside the door read, “Exam Rm 9.”
When no one answered the knock Nancy opened the door and led Kelly into what was obviously a standard doctor’s examination room. A padded exam table occupied the center of the room. Off to one side sat a cushioned metal chair, on the other side of the exam table a metal stool on wheels sat between the exam table and a counter that had a small sink. Above and below the counter were cabinets with various sized drawers that were labeled to show what must be their contents.

Motioning to a scale on one side, “Let’s get your weight first sweetie.” Kelly stepped up on the scale and Nancy adjusted the weights until she was satisfied. “Seventy eight pounds!” Nancy stated as she pulled the height scale up that was attached to the scale and checked Kelly’s height, “fifty four inches, that makes you four foot six.”

“I shrunk!” Kelly quavered.

“I think you’re about average for your apparent age.” Nancy replied while picking up a tablet off the counter, “Let me get that info into your chart. Could you jump up on the bed while I do that?”

“My apparent age?” Kelly quizzed.

“Yes, you look to be just starting puberty so you are somewhere between the ages of nine to thirteen.” Nancy informed the small girl, “I would say eleven but the Doc will be able to determine that better once the exam is complete. Now up on the table please sweetie.”

Nodding her head, Kelly went to the side of the exam table before realizing she was too short to get on it without help, noticing it had a step built into the end, Kelly went over to that using it to get up on the table.

After taking her blood pressure and temperature, which she noted on the tablet also Nancy smiled, “Okay I’m going to go get doc Peters, you going to be okay here for a few minutes by yourself?”

“I’ll be fine.” Kelly smiled.

“Good, I’m glad you’re doing okay so far with what has happened,” Nancy stepped over to one of the cupboards above the sink pulling out a hospital gown, “Doc’s probably going to want to give you a complete physical so strip out of those clothes and put this on sweetie,” handing Kelly the gown.

“Why did you have me put these on, knowing I had to take them back off?”

“For one, to give you some modesty, you didn’t want to walk over here showing everyone your tush did you?” Nancy grinned, “Once the Doc is done you can put your clothes back on.”

Kelly remembered how much he hated physicals, especially the prostrate exam. “Is, is this a full physical? Prostrate exam and all?”

Nancy chuckled, “No, no prostrate exam. We don’t need them.” Seeing how Kelly cocked her head giving Nancy a confused look, “Women don’t have prostrates sweetie.” Kelly sighed in relief. Nancy pulled the privacy curtain out enough to conceal Kelly from the door before she left.

Once undressed Kelly put on the backless gown and climbed back up on the table. Sitting there waiting, Kelly began to realize the pink underwear and scrubs were not so bad compared to the hospital gown and wished she still had them on. It was not long before Nurse Nancy and the doctor that had pulled Kelly out of the tank of nasty jello came into the room.

“Hello Kelly!” The doctor smiled at Kelly, “I’m sure you are feeling much better now that you’ve had the chance to get that slime off you.”

“Yes, thank you.” Kelly nodded.

“Okay since your manifestation caused such an extreme change I would like to do a complete physical on you, is that okay?”

“Can, can Nancy stay?” Kelly begged.

“Of course I’ll stay sweetie!” Kelly felt the warmth of Nancy’s smile.

“Yes of course,” The doctor stated, “Its procedure when a male doctor examines a female patient that a nurse be present.” Stepping over and sitting down on the metal stool. “So what can you remember, that is before we pulled you out of the tank?”

“Um, it’s kinda confusing.” Kelly began, “I remember the people attacking the house and the firebomb, but it feels kinda like the weird dreams I was having too. Both seems so real but not at the same time.”

“Dreams?” The doctor asked.

“Yea,” Kelly continued. “In one my old C.O. had put me in the motor pool as punishment for a bar fight I had gotten into off base. That really did happen but it was a long time ago. Then these two women came and talked me into helping them rescue the one woman’s little girl from Nazis. There was allot of fighting and we saved the girl, but the girl was no ordinary little girl, she took the battle axe that the one woman had turned into and went freaking ape-shit on the remaining Nazis tearing them into hamburger with the Axe after it grew.”

“That sounds like your mind was trying to cope with the pain and situation you were going through.” The doctor stated. Kelly nodded knowing turning into a girl was crazy, but the dream was too far out there to be real.

The doctor began Kelly’s physical, doing his best to explain what he was doing as he went. Finally reaching what Kelly thought was the end, the doctor stated, “Okay only one more thing to do. I know it’s uncomfortable and embarrassing but all women go through it.”

Knowing what the doctor was referring to Nancy spoke up, “Is that necessary at her age Doctor?”

“On a normal person I would say no, but with Kelly I think we need to know if the changes she has underwent are complete.”

“Sweetie,” Nancy took Kelly’s hand, “Remember how I said women don’t get a prostrate exam?” Kelly nodded. “Well there is another one, a different one that women have to go through.”

Kelly’s eyes went wide as she began to realize what Nancy was telling her, “You, No, no way! I don’t want anything stuck up my…”

“We all go through it sweetie, it’s uncomfortable but it doesn’t hurt.” Nancy apologized. “I’ll be right here holding your hand okay? Now lay back for the doctor.”

Completing the external exam the doctor produced a clear plastic Speculum that was sealed in clear plastic from a drawer in the exam table. Showing it to Kelly then explaining that this was the smallest one available, specifically sized for teenage girls and that he would be as gentle and quick as he could. Kelly gripped Nancy’s hand tightly when she heard the doctor rip the package open. “Now is going to feel cold,” The doctor stated. When the cold plastic touched her Kelly screamed.

Nancy had been holding the scared child’s hand when the doctor started to inset the speculum. Kelly began to scream then suddenly the exam table was covered in red smoke and Kelly was behind the head of the exam.

“COLD!” Kelly screamed at the doctor, “Holy fucking shit! Why don’t you let me dunk your balls in a glass of ice water so you know how that feels!”

Both Nancy and the doctor stared at Kelly their jaws agape. Nancy was the first to say something, “Kelly sweetie, how did you get over there?”

“I jumped!” Kelly was not finished yelling, “You’d jump too if someone put something that cold on your, your, well down there!”

“Kelly you did not jump,” The doctor finally found his voice, “I believe your mutation allows you to teleport.”

“I did what?” Kelly looked to Nancy as her jaw fell. Nancy nodded.

“You disappeared from the table and reappeared over where you are now Kelly.” The doctor stated.

“Oh my god!” Kelly’s hand flew up covering her mouth. “The woman in the dream could do that!” She spoke barely above a whisper.

“Can you do it again?” The doctor asked.

“I don’t know, I don’t know how I did it that time?”

“Okay, It’s nothing to be concerned about Dear,” The doctor cautioned, “Can you get back on the table while I see what I can do about warming this up a bit?” Kelly nodded then began walking slowly back around the table to get back on it. Holding the device in his gloved hands until it had absorbed some of the warmth from his hand the doctor tried again. This time Kelly did not vanish, but squeezed Nancy’s hand hard.

“Sweetie, not so tight,” Nancy winced, “you’re extremely strong.”

“Sorry.” Kelly looked up at Nancy releasing some of the pressure as a tear ran down the side of her cheek. “I, I can feel it.”

“I know sweetie,” Nancy squeezed Kelly’s hand, “It’s very uncomfortable.”

“No,” Kelly kept her eyes focused on Nancy, “I can feel myself wanting to jump. I think I know how I do it.”

“Okay all done,” The doctor removed the speculum from Kelly. “One last thing, now this is almost as uncomfortable but necessary Kelly. Can you not teleport on me please?”

“I think so,” Kelly chocked out.

Kelly gasped when she felt the doctor’s finger penetrate her. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she fought the urge to jump away from the fingers that had invaded her while his other hand pushed down against her stomach. “Okay all done, no more invasive tests. And Kelly it appears that you are one hundred percent female now.”

“Oh goody. Lucky me,” Kelly deadpanned.

Nancy looked down at the girl, “Yes it is lucky. Much better than being halfway or any other strange combination that could and has occurred with some mutants.”

“What could be worse that being turned into a girl?”

“Try snake scales instead of skin?” The doctor assured, “Or tentacles instead of arms and legs?”

Kelly averted her eyes from the two, “I, I guess being a girl isn’t that bad.”

“Hey its has its perks!” Nancy chimed in, “Bat those pretty eyes a couple times and I bet you can get the boys to do most anything for you.” Kelly groaned at that remark. Nancy turned to the doctor doing exactly that, batting her eyes and striking a pose, and in her best southern bell accent, “Doctor would you be so kind as excusing us so that I can help Miss Kelly get properly dressed? I do believe she has exposed herself enough for one day and would like to regain her modesty.”
The doctor smirked at Nancy’s antics then left the room. “See it works!” Nancy chuckled, Kelly fought it but found herself giggling along with Nancy.

Chapter 20

Mark and Jake waited as patiently as they could in the small room the nurse that had come out to get them, led them to. She had said the doctor was finishing up an exam and would be there as soon as he was done, and that he needed to speak to Kelly’s next of kin. Both men feared the worst as they sat waiting in the overstuffed chairs. They did not wait for more than five minutes although it was five minutes that seemed to take hours before the Doctor came in and sat down in a chair opposite of the two men.

“How’s Kelly?” Jake barked just as the doctor sat down.

“Mr. Kontos, Mr. Payne, I’m Doctor Peters, I head the burn unit here at the hospital.”

“Is Kelly…” Mark choked on his words.

“Mr. Kontos, In our records you are the next of kin for Kelly Lekka.” Doctor Peters looked at Jake then to Mark. “Patient confidentiality as it is, this can only be discussed with immediate family.”

Jake looked over at Mark, “Don’t worry I’ll be right out to tell you everything.” Mark nodded, pissed to be sure but he understood the Doctor’s reluctance.

Once the door closed behind Mark the doctor began, “Okay this is a very complicated situation Mr. Kontos.”

“Is Kelly dead?”

“Mr. Kontos, that is part of the complication. No Kelly is not dead, but he doesn’t look like himself anymore.”

“I kinda figured that.” Jake clucked.

“Mr. Kontos, you seem like the type that doesn’t beat around the bush so I’ll just come out with it. Mr. Lekka is a mutant.”

Jake’s eyes widened at hearing this, “That can’t be true, I’ve known a few mutants they don’t manifest that late in life.”

“From what has occurred and the facts that we do have, we have come to the conclusion that Kelly Lekka was a low level mutant to begin with. He probably didn’t even know himself.”

“Okay if that is true then how do you suddenly know he is one now?”

“Kelly has completely healed all injuries from the fire, including any previous injuries and or scars he had prior to the fire.”

“So Kelly’s alright!” Jakes eyes lit up.

“Yes physically Kelly is fine, better than fine.”

“So when do we get to see him?” Jake leaned forward toward the doctor.

“Mr. Kontos, this is not the same Kelly that you know, at least not outwardly. Kelly appears to be the same person on the inside but the outward changes were drastic.”

“What are you saying?” Jake barked. “He’s not some kind of monster now is he?”

“No, quite the contrary, other than an unusual eye color she appears completely human in all respects.”

Jake scooted a bit further forward in the chair, “Then what’s all this bull…” Jake paused realizing what the doctor had said, “You said she?”

“Yes Mr. Kontos I did.” Doctor Peters sighed heavily, “Kelly has the body of an eleven year old girl.”

“WHAT!” Jake gasped.

“A little girl that is scared to death of how you will react when you see her,” the doctor explained. “I believe she really looks up to you. Not sure how far you two go back, but she really needs her friend right now.”

“Anything he, um, she needs,” Jake began to choke up, “Anything, cost is no object, you make sure she gets it! When can I see her?”

“I assume with that reaction you are more than ready to help her?”

“Doc if it was not for Kelly I would not be standing here today! Him, her makes no difference, its Kelly and that is what matters.”

“I’m glad you feel that way.” The Doctor stood up, “I can take you to see her now.”

Mark was standing in the hall right outside as the door opened. Jake held up his hand before Mark could say a word, “Kelly is alive and okay. I’ll let you know the rest later.” Jake continued following the doctor, “I’ll meet you in the waiting room in a bit.”

Nancy watched as Kelly sat on the couch in the doctor’s lounge twirling a lock of her hair in her fingers. “There is no need to be so nervous sweetie.”

Looking up at the woman who had one arm around Kelly’s shoulder, Kelly gave her a cheesy grin, “That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t get turned into a girl!”

“Nope,” Nancy grinned down at the small girl, “I did it the old fashioned way, I was born a girl.” Her grin widened, “It was terrible too! All those boys that wanted to carry my books for me, do anything to impress me, terrible!” Kelly giggled. “Oh and all the pretty clothes too!” Nancy shuddered.

“You are just pure evil!” Jake heard a young girl giggling as he opened the door to the room the doctor pointed out. A woman possibly thirty five-ish sat on a couch with a young girl, both looking up at him as he entered the room. The girl froze as all the color drained away from her face.

Jake stopped in his tracks, it was one thing to be told what had happened, but to see it for himself, “Kelly?” Jake looked at the girl then to the woman.

The woman nodded at Jake and held the girl tighter. Looking down at the girl she held, “It’s okay sweetie, breathe.”

Jake closed the door behind him then went over and sat in a chair facing Kelly, “Kelly is it really you?” Jake saw a slight nod from the girl as tears began to streak down her cheeks. Leaning forward Jake took the girls hand, “Kelly speak to me.” The girl suddenly vanished in a cloud of red smoke. “What the hell?” Jake gasped.

The woman seemed less confused by the girls sudden disappearance, “Kelly it’s okay, please come back.”

“What the hell happened?” Jake looked at the woman.

“She’s very scared and emotional right now.”

“But what… how…?”

“She is afraid that you won’t accept her. Terrified actually.” Nancy explained, “She, she can teleport although I don’t think she went far.” Nancy put her finger to her lips motioning for Jake to be quite. Soft sobbing could be heard from behind another door in the room.

Getting up Jake walked over to the door he could hear the crying coming from. Once at the door he spoke softly, “Kelly, you are family and you know what I say about family. We stick together no matter what. You know that Marie and I don’t care if you turned into a three headed martian, you are family!”

Jake could hear some noise coming from the other side of the door, some shuffling mixed in with the sobs, right before the door slowly began to open. As soon as the door opened wide enough, Jake knelt down and swept the small girl into his arms. “I got your back, always have and always will be there for you.”

“What am I going to do?” Kelly sniffed back the tears.

“What are we going to do!” Jake corrected her, “First thing is call Marie and let her know what happened, then get you home.”

Kelly’s eyes got wide hearing Jake mention his wife, “Ma, Marie? We have to tell her?”

Jake pulled Kelly back far enough to look her in the eyes, “You really want her to find out on her own?”

Kelly grinned up at Jake and began giggling, “You got your cell phone?”

“Oh no!” Jake moved back and got to his feet. “I don’t care what you look like now, I know that look anywhere.”

Kelly held her hand out palm up wiggling her fingers waiting on Jake to give her his phone. Glancing over to Nancy Kelly winked, “Can I please call Marie and let her know I’m okay?” Kelly lowered her head but kept looking Jake in the eyes, giving Jake the best puppy dog eyes she could, “Please?”

Turning to look at Nancy who was sitting on the couch laughing, “Did you teach her that or is it natural for females?” Turning his attention back to Kelly, “Not going to work, I have three girls that have already worn out that trick. I’ll call Marie, then after I’ve explained all this, I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you.”

Chapter 21

Marie was busy packing a suitcase that she had laid out on her bed, “You are in charge Kay, and your brother has already been told this!”

“Yea momma, Mike and I have heard that already,” Kay replied. “What I don’t understand is how is bringing Uncle Kel home from the hospital a family emergency? And why would daddy fly to Athens if this was such an emergency?”

Twisting her neck around to look at her oldest daughter, “Close the door.” Kay walked over to the door shutting it. “Come sit with me,” Marie sat down on the bed beside the suitcase patting her hand on the bed beside her. Kay walked over and sat down by her mother. “Kelly is not Kelly anymore.”

“Well yea, he got burned pretty bad from what everyone said.”

“No, there’s more,” Marie leaned closer to her daughter, “Turns out Kelly is a mutant.”

Kay’s hand shot up to cover her mouth as she gasped. Looking her mother directly in the eyes, Kay knew her mother was serious. Kay remembered back in high school when a boy had started manifesting during class It had scared not only the students but the teacher as well when the boy began screaming and bat like wings began growing out of his back. “How, how bad was his mutation momma?”

“It, it was…” Marie searched for the right words, “I guess its best I show you.” Marie reached over and pulled her cell phone out of her purse. Bringing up the picture Jake had sent her from his phone, she handed the phone to Kay.

“Uh momma, the girl’s a real cutie but you were going to show me a picture of Kelly?”

“Honey that is Kelly.”

Kay’s eyes darted back to the picture and grew wide and her jaw dropped as she sat staring at the smart phone’s screen.

“Now you know why it’s a family emergency.” Marie stated, “We have got to get her home and away from those redneck bigots in Atlanta. Your father has went to talk to friends of his that can help. I am going to go pick up Kelly and drive her home.”

“Take Mike with you, he can help with the driving.” Kay was now very worried, “Kel also taught him how to use a gun and to fight if something happens.”

“I don’t want any of you kids to get hurt.”

“Momma!” Kay shouted, “We don’t want you to get hurt either, Take Michael with you!”

“Mark is staying until I get there, he’ll be driving back with me.” Marie explained, “So no more talk about this. One thing I need from you while I am gone, I want the spare room that Kel always used cleaned and ready for her to move in.”

“Yea I guess she’s a little young to live on her own now.” Kay giggled, “No problem momma, it won’t look like the same room when you get back!”

Noticing the look in her daughter’s eyes, “Nothing extravagant honey, the wrapping may have changed but it’s still your uncle Kel on the inside.”

“I won’t go overboard, but she will need a vanity and it will need to look like a girl’s room, she is a girl after all.”

“Okay a vanity and paint.”

“Maybe some pictures and a feminine lamp,” Kay continued, “No girl in her right mind would have that horrid lamp in her room that is in there now!” Kay grinned, “And I promise not to let Sarah put up any boy band posters! What do you think her favorite color is?”

“Honey this is Kelly we’re talking about.”

“Okay then Sarah can help pick out the new color.”

Kay helped her mother finish packing then carried the suitcase down to the car for her. All four of Marie’s children saw her off before going back inside the house. Kay herded everyone into the kitchen and sat them down at the table. “Okay everyone we got a room to redecorate before Mom returns! Mike you’re our muscle and assembler in this. Sarah you need to help me with picking out the paint and things for the room.”

Their youngest sister spoke up, “What do I get to do?”

“Anne, you have the most important job of all!” Kay stated, “You have to pick out the new stuffed animals to live in the room.” Anne’s eyes lit up and a huge smile came across her face. “So everyone go grab your things, we have shopping to do!” As the younger girls ran off to get their purses, “Mike I need you to follow us in the truck. Once we are done at Ikea you can come on back. I’ll take Sara and Anne to pick up the rest of the things we need.”

Mike smiled knowing he would not have to spend the entire day following his sister around on one of their shopping quests. “Okay I’ll grab the keys and meet you guys outside.”

~o~O~o~

Marie found the driving actually relaxing after everything that had happened, that is until she reached Atlanta. Between road construction and traffic it too nearly two hours to get from the outskirts of the city to the hospital. Once she found a parking spot, Marie dialed Mark’s number to let him know she had arrived. He had told her that he would meet her at the entrance and take her to Kelly’s room since the hospital was very large and a bit overwhelming to navigate in at first.

Leading Marie down the corridors toward Kelly’s room he leaned close, “I’ve been telling the staff that is on right now that Kelly is your daughter. Only a handful down in the burn center know the truth and most of them are not on duty now.”

“Good!” Marie grinned, “No sane person would get between a mother and her child.”

“From what I know of Jake’s plan, he’s going to get Kelly a new identity to hide her from the MCO.”

“Yes, Jake and I talked it over.” Marie replied, “Once Jake gets back from Greece, she will be our legal daughter.”

“I don’t see why he flew to Greece to do that?”

“When you think about it later on, look up the name of the current prime minister,” Marie chuckled.

“Oh crap let me guess, one of you is related to him?” Mark grinned.

“You could say that, he’s my father and he loves Kelly like his own son.” Marie grinned over at Mark, “Why do you think I call Kelly my little brother?”

“I always thought it was because he and Jake were so close.”

“I met Jake though Kelly.”

“Here it is.” Mark stopped in front of a door, the plaque read ‘RM 207’ “Want me to get lost for a bit?”

“Would you mind?” Marie asked, “I really could use a little private time with her.”

“No problem,” Mark chuckled, “Want me to bring you back a cup of coffee or something?”

“Sure coffee would be great, thanks Mark.”

Mark returned about forty five minutes later to find Marie up on the hospital bed holding Kelly who was asleep in her arms and Marie fast asleep with her. From the look on their faces both had been crying. Pulling out his phone, he sent a text message to Jake letting him know that Marie had arrived safely and another to Kay’s phone with the same message before falling asleep in the chair himself.

Chapter 22

Kelly stood in the cockpit of his sailboat trimming the large spinnaker billowing out over the bow as he adjusted his course downwind to give him every available ounce of speed the wind could grant him. Helen sat just forward of his position smiling back at him, wearing that Dark blue bikini that set off her figure so well, the wind blowing though her hair. Kelly smiled back at his love. He could not ask for more, it was a piece of heaven, the wind at his back on the boat he loved with the woman he loved, his soul mate.

Kelly would have never believed that such a thing was possible as having a soul mate. To Kelly a soul mate was a fictional idea only found in those romance novels women so loved to read. No, it was an idea that did not exist, an idea that drove women to look for something impossible to find. An idea that kept many women from finding happiness in their life and instead hunted to fill a void, an emptiness within their soul that could not be filled, or so Kelly thought until that void had been filled within his own soul. Kelly never knew this emptiness existed within him until it had been filled and filled it was, as Kelly felt he would burst at the seams if room his soul occupied within him was forced to contain a single bit more of whatever souls were measured by.

Smiling, Kelly gazed back over to his love, where she sat. Helen smiled back then her image seemed to blur and begin changing. Helen shrank and took on different features, seconds passed and in her place a small girl sat. Kelly knew he should recognize the girl but from where eluded him. The girl wore a one piece bathing suit, similar to what one would expect of a small girl that age to wear, tie dyed in Reds, yellows and orange colors. Her waist length long dark hair whipped about in the light wind propelling that propelled the boat forward on its course. Brushing the hair out of her face, she looked over to Kelly smiling.

Kelly saw her eyes and knew beyond any doubt that he knows this girl. Those reddish orange eyes were so familiar and so different. Kelly had seen those eyes before but no matter how hard he tried he could not remember the girl’s name. Searching his memories he membered seeing those eyes like that twice before, once on the woman who gave him the new blade and on the child that sat there on his boat, but where had he seen this small girl before? Kelly wanted answers but finding them within himself evaded him.

“You, I should know you!” Kelly commanded, “But you are not the woman that gave me my new blade.”

“Yes we do know one another, very intimately, “The girl giggled, “And yes I also gave you the weapon.”

Kelly’s face bore a look of bewilderment, “No, it was a young woman that gave me the blade.

“It was I,” The girl tried to explain, “I… for us to survive, I was forced to change.”

“You are that woman?”

“Yes, I was but no longer. For both of us to survive we both had to drastically change. The room for our souls to exist together was insufficient, I had to either lose part of myself or change so that my whole being could fit within the space that existed. Your changes are just as evident.” The girl waved her hand, motioning at Kelly.

Kelly looked down at himself, finding that he now had the body of the little girl, “Noooo!” he shouted.

~o~O~o~

“NOOOO!” Kelly sat both upright in the bed, almost knocking Marie out of the bed as she did.

Mark sat up in the chair he had slept in quickly looking around as his hand dove inside his jacket to his holster. Realizing no threats existed he relaxed.

Marie wrapped her arms around the small girl, “Shhh, it’s okay I’m here, agapi mou, mikroula mou, I’m here.”

Burying her head in Marie’s chest, Kelly began sobbing, “She told me that she did this to me!”

“Who did what to you honey?” Marie’s voice was calm and reassuring.

“The girl with the fiery eyes, she did this, she changed me.”

“It was only a dream,” Marie began rubbing Kelly’s back, “Just a dream honey. Everything is going to be fine.” Placing her hand under the small girl’s chin Marie gently pulled her head up so she could look the girl in the eyes. “Jake should be with Pappa by now, between the two of them, they will work something out.” Marie smiled wide, “Do you think you could get used to calling me your mitera?”

Kelly sniffed back the tears and smiled up at Marie, “You… you and Jake would do that?”

Marie’s smile widened, “Was there ever a doubt? Since the day we met you have been my family. You were my protector, now Jake and I will be yours.”

Kelly remembered back to the days he had lived in Greece. When he left the military jobs were very scarce and the attitude toward ex-military was nothing like it was today. Out of work and with no marketable skills, at least no skills the corporate world wanted, he had taken the only job that his military skills excelled at, he had joined a mercenary team.
Now days they are called things like independent contractors but whatever name used, they are hired guns. Kelly was part of the team that was hired by a wealthy Greek businessman that had just began his political career. His daughter, Marie, had been kidnapped. Only three of their 8 man team had survived, but they were able to return Marie to her father. Marie’s father had given all three positions in security. The need for action eventually drove the other two back to their old life, but Kelly had no love for fighting, to Kelly it was only a necessity, not a life choice.

Marie saw the faraway look in Kelly’s eyes, “You okay honey?”

Hearing Marie’s voice, “Huh, what?”

“You looked like you were a thousand miles away,” Marie chided.

“Uh, I guess I was,” Kelly sputtered, “I was thinking about Greece.”

Marie knew that many of Kelly’s memories of that time were not good ones, “Shhh That was a long time ago. Let’s think about the preset and get ourselves ready to go home.”

Kelly nodded, “I’d like that. I can’t wait to see Helen. How is she?”

“Helen is still in the hospital,” Marie intentionally left out that Helen remained in intensive care, the bullet from the attack lodged dangerously against her spine. And while Kelly had used his own body to shield her from the majority of the flames, her left leg had been burnt badly enough that the doctors had discussed amputation. Marie was unsure if they had performed that procedure or not before she had left for Atlanta. Marie turned and got out of the bed before Kelly saw her tears start, the thought of what happened to two of her dearest friends, people she thought of as her family too much for her to hold back. “I need to use the rest room.” Marie darted into the room’s bathroom closing the door behind her.

After calming herself and washing her face Marie came out of the bathroom asking Mark to go out to her car and retrieving the smaller of two suitcases that were within the trunk. While Mark was gone Marie ushered Kelly into the bathroom so she could get the small girl ready for the day and their trip home. Marie disappeared back into the bathroom after Mark returned with the case, finally reemerging gently pushing Kelly out in front of her.

Mark’s jaw dropped when he saw the young girl who was once one of his best friends emerge from the bathroom. She was dressed in a knee lengths white dress that had a yellow design along the hem, the neckline and the sleeveless arms. A yellow cloth belt also accented the dress, and her hair was pulled back into a long pony tail by a yellow ribbon tied into a bow.

“You laugh and I’ll—” Kelly began to say.

“Kelly!” Marie scolded, “We discussed how I expect you to act.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kelly lowered her head in defeat.

Marie pointed a finger at Mark when she saw he was about to say something, “And you will watch what you say around Kelly now, she is a young lady and no longer you’re old, ‘drinking buddy’. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

“I, I was just going to say she looked very pretty,” Mark quickly recovered.

“Um huh, I bet that is what you were going to say.” Marie gave him a knowing look, “Now if you would please show us the way to the doctor so that we can get whatever paperwork out of the way and have Kelly released so we can all go home.”

Mark picked up the small suitcase and led them out of the room to an elevator then down to the waiting room that Mark and Jake had sat in for most of the previous day. Several nurses were at the counter, one of which was Nancy, the one that had been so helpful to Kelly the day before.

Nancy smiled wide when she saw Kelly walk in with the two, “Kelly how are you this morning sweetie?”

“Hi Nancy,” Kelly waved then turned to look up at Marie who was still holding her hand, “Nancy helped me allot yesterday before they let Jake and Mark see me.”

“Hello Nancy,” Marie smiled at the younger woman, “Thank you for helping Kelly. You cannot imagine how much I do appreciate you helping her thought this.”

“You both are most welcome,” Nancy smiled looking at Kelly, “If you three will follow me, Doctor Peters wanted me to take you directly to the conference room when you arrived. Nancy came out around the side of the counter and turned toward the large double doors to the left of the counter.

Mark and Marie began to follow her, Marie stopped when she realized Kelly had not moved. “Kelly? Kelly honey?” but Kelly was staring out the large glass doors at what appeared to be a crowd of people outside. “Kelly?” Marie squeezed the girl’s hand, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s going on outside?” Mark looked at Nancy for an answer.

“It’s those people form Humanity First, somehow they found out there was a mutant here. So far it’s been a peaceful protest so security can’t do anything more than keep them outside.” Nancy sighed, “I wish they would go find something else to waste their time with, this is a place for sick people not a clan gathering.”

Mark’s opinion of the nurse went up several notches when he realized she was comparing them to another highly prejudicial group that was infamous throughout the south. “Let’s get this over with and get Kelly as far away from those bigots as quickly as we can.”

Marie’s attention was still on Kelly who continued to stare out the doors into the crowd, “Honey please tell me what it is?”

Kelly looked up at Marie, “It’s, I don’t know how to describe it. There is something out there. It’s making my stomach feel weird.”

“Come on honey,” Marie pulled Kelly gently, let’s get go see the doctor and get you out of here.” Kelly nodded, glancing over her shoulder once more as she let Marie lead her out of the room they were in.

Nancy softly knocked on the door before cracking the door open just enough to stick her head in and telling all those assembled that Kelly was here. Nancy held the door letting Kelly, Marie and Mark into the room then began to leave.

“Nancy please stay, this also concerns you.” Dr. Peters spoke. Nancy stepped back into the room closing the door behind her.

Larry sprung up from his chair grinning as he came up to Kelly with a small plain white plastic box slightly smaller than a shoe box. Holding the box out to Kelly, “I made this for you last night.”

Kelly took the box hesitantly, “Thank you.” Not knowing what else to say and afraid of insulting him by asking what it contained.

“Please everyone have a seat,” Dr. Peters swept his hand across the table in a motion to show the empty chairs. “Kelly, you may not remember Larry,” Motioning to the short devisor standing in front of her, “He built the machine that saved your life and it was Larry who realized that you were going through severe burnout.”

Looking at the man standing in front of her that was not much taller than her, “You saved my life, thank you so much.”

Larry’s grinned from ear to ear, and then pointed at the box, “I made this for you last night. Instructions are on the inside of the lid. It’s not a devise, it’s a gadget, a gadget mind you so perfectly safe.”

“What does it do?” Marie’s concern for Kelly apparent.

Larry’s grin grew larger showing his crooked teeth, “It makes contacts for you! Colored ones! So you can go around humans without them knowing you’re like me.”

“I’m like you?” Kelly sounded confused.

“What I believe Larry is trying to say is that you both are meta-humans, mutants.” Dr. Peters interjected, “Larry here is a highly skilled medical devisor and gadgeteer. Of course we do not know the extent of your abilities, but at least one of your abilities have already manifested.” Kelly blushed when she remembered the first time she had teleported.

“Is Kelly there now?” Kelly heard a familiar voice, but not one from anyone in the room. Spotting the conference phone at the end of the table near Dr. Peters, she realized they also had a conference call running on a speaker phone.

“Pappa is that you?” Marie grinned.

“Yes darling, is Kelly with you? I want to hear her voice.”

“I’m here Mr. Papangelou,” Kelly stated.

“My my,” the voice form the speaker phone chuckled, “You do not sound like yourself any longer!”

“I don’t look much like my old self either!” Kelly giggled.

“No I guess you do not at that! Jake allowed me to see a picture he had on his phone,” they heard laughter from the speaker phone. “Before this family reunion gets going too far, Kelly, do you have any wishes for the name on your new birth certificate?”

“I’d like to continue going by Kelly, it works for a girl’s name too.”

“Good, good, What about a middle name, Michael is not a gender neutral name.”

“Moira,” Kelly said, the name popping into her mind without even thinking.

“Interesting choice,” the sound of chuckling came over the speaker, “Okay now that we have that out of the way—”

“You’re not going to ask for a last name?” Kelly inquired quickly.

Laughing came over the speaker once more, “Kelly you know I have always considered you family. It is with great joy that I can use my money and position to make that a reality. It’s Kontos my dear grandchild.” The laughter continued,

Dr. Peters spoke up, “Sir is that all you need from us at this end?”

“Yes Doctor, and please keep up the great work you are doing, you will see my gratitude arrive shortly.” The speaker sounded once again, “Marie, I’ll be coming for a visit soon also. I haven’t seen the family in some time and I do wish to meet my newest grand child in person.”

“Yes pappa, we can’t wait, see you soon.” Marie said her good byes right before static came over the speaker along with a dial tone.

One of the five men sitting at the table Kelly had never met before but immediately recognized what they were since Kelly once held the same job spoke, “We’ve been contracted by Mr. Papangelou to provide a believable distraction for the Kontos family so they may leave without the local population knowing. In this I will pretend to be Kelly, escorted by my associates who will fulfill the role of a bodyguard over me, when we leave the premises. It is our goal that anyone wishing harm to your daughter or family will follow us Mrs. Kontos. I will then board a private jet that bears marking of Greek nationality with a flight plan that shows the aircraft is destined for Athens Greece. This aircraft will experience engine trouble while crossing the Atlantic and be lost at sea. Kelly Michael Lekka will be listed as one of the passengers.”

Kelly thought about their plan, while it was a bit overdone it was simple and if done correctly could never be discredited. She hated the fact that to the world his old life would be completely gone, but then wasn’t it gone now? She could never go back to running the shop, who would believe a pre-teen owned and operated an automotive garage? No, she knew this would be the best way, but one thing bothered her.

“How are you going to pretend to be me?” Kelly looked across the table at the large mercenary, “You’re like six foot tall and I highly doubt even a blind man would mistake you for a girl!”

The man leaned forward in his chair grinning as his image began to blur, quickly shrinking and changing to an exact double of Kelly, right down to the clothes and how her hair was pulled back, strange reddish orange eyes and all. “You’re not the only mutant in the room sister.” His voice even matched Kelly’s as he continued, “Now we need to learn about your teleporting, Can you do it at will or only when you’re scared?”

“I’m pretty sure I can do it when I want.” Kelly stated.

“So you do not know?” her double asked.

“Um I haven’t tried it.”

“Then try it!” Kelly’s double demanded, “Teleport back to your room, then back here.”

Kelly closed her eyes and let herself imaging she was back in the hospital room she spent the night in. She felt something happen and suddenly she could see a large part of the wing of the hospital they were in in a strange red light, this strange vision focused on her room and just as suddenly she was there.

Kelly heard a scream a woman changing the bed linen had seen her teleport in. Kelly teleported to the other side of the bed and caught the woman before she fell to the floor, gently picking up the unconscious woman and laying her on the bed before teleporting back to the conference room but into the chair on the other side of Marie.

“Okay I can do it at will.” Marie and a few others jumped when she reappeared, “I think I may have a limited range that I can go. When I do it I can only see about fifty yards or so.”

“You can see where you want to go?” Dr. Peters seemed genuinely interested.

“Of course!” Larry scoffed, “All teleporters and translocators must have some means so they don’t re-materialize into a solid object! At least the ones that don’t get themselves killed doing exactly that! Kelly’s trick is being able to see where she will land.”

“Yes but I can’t see past the parking lot, so I can’t jump past the protesters and news crew that are outside.”

Kelly’s double spoke up, “Do you think you can land inside a moving car?”

“Bad idea!” Larry warned, “If the car moves out of her range during the transport she could be injured badly.”

“Okay then,” Kelly’s double continued, “A stationary car, into the backseat lying down?”

“I’m pretty sure I can do that.” Kelly grinned.

“Good I want you to teleport once more, this time stay in the room but look to see how close the car needs to be for you to port to it.”

Kelly did as she was asked this time appearing beside a window in the room. Pointing at the window which had its blinds closed for privacy, “I can go the furthest straight that way, and I can see just past the second street light in the parking lot.”

“Great, Okay you said you saw a TV crew?” Kelly nodded, “That’s good, your departure will be covered on local possibly national news. Alright, Mrs. Kontos you and the Fed with you leave the room five minutes after us, walk to the south entrance go out and get into your car. You should drive,” he pointed at Mark, “Doctor, give her your number. Mrs. Kontos once the car is nearing this side of the building call the doctor’s phone, he can help direct you and let Kelly know when to port out to the car. Any questions?” Kelly’s double looked around at everyone in the room, “Good, Kelly I want you behind the door when we open it so that anyone that gets a look inside does not see you.” Kelly nodded. “Okay people it’s show time!”

Once the five minutes were up, Marie and Mark left, Nancy locked the door behind them, “Just in case.” She grinned back from where she stood by the door.

Kelly walked over and gave Nancy a big hug, Thank you for everything.”

Larry came up to Kelly, “While we wait, let’s show you how your contacts work. Larry all but drags Kelly over to the table where Kelly had left the box. Opening the lid Kelly saw the directions just as he had told her. “Now it has enough chemicals to make maybe ten sets right now,” Pointing at the directions, “It lists what you can use to refill it with here.” Looking up into Kelly’s eyes, “So what color? I think a dark blue or brown would work with your features? You can always change color later but then people may notice the change.”

“Brown, most everyone in Jake’s family has brown eyes.”

“Brown it is!” Larry adjusted a dial then hit the single red button on the interior panel. Thirty seconds later a panel opened that held two small water filled chambers each one with a single contact in it.

Nancy who had been watching from behind the two, “Here let me help you put them in. Doing this take a little practice and a mirror sweetie. Nancy picked out the first contact, knelt down and explained what she was doing as she put it in Kelly’s eye, then she put in the second one. “How’s that feel?”

“Kinda weird, like I got something in my eyes.”

“I’ve been wearing them for years,” Nancy stated, “Your eyes will adjust to having them in quickly, in time you won’t notice them at all.”

“I hope you’re right, they are driving me nuts right now.”

Larry pulled out a folded bunch of papers out of his lab coat offering them to Kelly, “This is information on the school I went to. It’s a special school for mutants, Mutant high!” Larry laughed at his own joke. “It’s something for you and the family to consider. It’s the one place on earth that you will be safe from humans like those outside.

Kelly took the stack of papers then gave Larry a hug, “Thank you Larry.” Kelly closed the contact maker machine then stuffed it under her arm when she heard the doctor’s phone ring.

It would have been impossible for Mark and Marie not to notice the cloud of red smoke that suddenly appeared in the tight confines of Jake’s car, but as suddenly as it appeared it coalesced into the form of a small girl lying in the backseat clutching a handful of papers and the white plastic box under her arm.

“Home James!” Kelly giggled from the backseat.

Chapter 23

An hour later they had left Atlanta and were on their way back to Florida when Kelly realized something, “Marie, I mean mom, the double, the guy that is pretending to be me, was wearing the same dress I’m wearing right?”

“Yes honey, why?” Marie answered.

“And it’s possible that that he could have been seen leaving on TV?” Kelly continued.

Marie’s eyes went wide when she realized where Kelly was going, “CRAP! Mark pull over now!”

“No Mark, keep driving!” Kelly ordered, “I can get to the suit cases from here and change.”

“Young lady you WILL NOT teleport inside a moving car!” Marie chastised Kelly.

“Who said anything about porting?” Kelly giggled, “The backseat folds down!”

Marie turned to glare and noticed Kelly’s eyes, “What happened to your eyes?”

“Nothing,” Kelly grinned. “Why?”

“They’re brown now,” Marie saw Kelly lose the fake look of surprise and burst out giggling. “Do you really want to be grounded before you get home?”

“Sorry I couldn’t resist,” Kelly held up the plastic box, “While we waited on you to get the car, Larry showed me how to work this and Nancy helped me put them in.”

Reaching back with one hand Marie held Kelly by the chin while inspecting her eyes, “That is amazing, your eyes look completely normal with them in.” Marie continued to inspect the contacts, “Your eyes used to be blue, why did you go with brown?”

“I wanted my eyes look just like my new mom’s.”

“Horseshit!” Mark coughed.

“I think it’s very charming that she wants her eyes to resemble mine.”

“She sucking up!” Mark laughed.

“Well if she is,” Marie chuckled, “She doing a good job at it.”

Kelly pulled one half of the backseat down revealing the contents of the trunk, “Are the things that fit me all in the small case?” Kelly asked without turning around.

“Yes honey,” Marie answered.

Dragging the case out into the backseat, Kelly opened it and began going through the items Marie had brought with her. Kelly discovered a pair of blue jean shorts that she slipped on under her dress. Finding the shorts too small she dug around through the case until she came up with a pair of shorts made out of a jersey material.

“Those I think will fit you honey,” Marie watched as Kelly ruffled though the case, “Not sure if you want to wear something that eye catching though.”

Kelly looked at the shorts, the color could have been either dark pink or orange, but the splotches of black yellow blue and red gave the shorts a wild almost fiery quality, she decided she like it and pulled them on. Although she was not about to admit to liking the wild very girlish color, “I think this is exactly what I need to wear, it will draw attention away from me and what I look like.”

“Well then there is a matching tank top in there too,” Marie shrugged.

Kelly dug out the matching top, pulled the dress off and quickly put on the top.

“She right you know,” Mark stated, “anything to draw attention away from her looks, or makes her look different than what people will see on the television. Hide her in plain sight!”

“I think I understand,” Marie agreed, “Kelly turn around here so I can take out your pony tail.” Kelly did as she was told allowing Marie to remove the band that held her hair back. Digging into her purse she came out with a brush in her hand and began working on one side of Kelly’s hair, parting it along the side and making the front half fall in front of her shoulder before having Kelly turn so she could do the same with the other side. “There, what do you think Mark?”

Mark adjusted the rear view mirror so that he could see Kelly without taking his eyes off the road, “Wow, I think we could use you in witness protection. Kelly you look completely different.”

Several hours later and much closer to the state line with everyone hungry they pulled off the highway in Valdosta. As much as Marie was against fast food, getting Kelly home as quickly as she could was more important to her so instead of stopping at one of the many restaurants she made the decision to go to the fast food drive through. Kelly insisted on a dozen double cheese burgers much to Mark’s amusement, although after he watched her polish off all twelve before he could finish the one he had he did not find it as amusing.

“My god kid, where do you put it?” Mark chuckled, “You got a hollow leg?”

“Believe it or not, I’m still kinda hungry,” Kelly sounded apologetically.

“Really?” Mark gasped, “Man I am taking you out to the next eating contest I hear about and betting on you!”

“You will do no such thing Mark Payne!” Marie broke in, “People may think she is a mutant!”

“I was only joking!”

Almost four hours later Mark was pulling into the driveway, as soon as the garage door began to open the four kids came running out the front door of the house to greet them. Kelly sat in the car as Mark and Marie got out, apprehensive as to how the kids would act once they saw her. Kelly had known them their whole lives, even changed their diapers when necessary, but she could only imagine what they would say. Kelly heard the door beside her open then suddenly found arms wrapped around her in a warm hug, she heard the other door open and another set of arms embracing her.

“We’re so glad you’re okay Kelly!” She heard Kay’s voice.

From her other side she heard Sarah, “Me too Kelly, we were really scared you were gonna die.”

“Girls would you please let her get out of the car?” Marie clucked. Sarah began pushing while Kay began pulling Kelly out of the car. Once Kelly was standing both girls wrapped her up in hugs once more.

A few feet away Kelly spotted the only one shorter than her, seven year old Anne stood clutching a pink teddy bear in her hands, “Hi Anne.”

Anne stood staring at Kelly for a moment before she spoke, “You’re prettier than the picture Kay showed us. Allot prettier than when you was my uncle.” Shuffling her feet the small girl walked up to Kelly holding out the teddy bear to Kelly, “I got this for you. Kay said I didn’t have to use my own money but I wanted to. It can sleep with you just like the one you got me.”

Kelly remembered the teddy bear he bought her not more than a couple of years ago. Anne had been afraid of the dark and almost nightly she would end up running into her parent’s room due to some imaginary monster in her room. Kelly had bought the bear and told her a story about how monsters were afraid of bears, because bears were so big and could fight anything and win, but monsters couldn’t tell the difference between a real bear and a teddy bear, so sleeping with a teddy bear keep all the monsters away.

Kelly stepped forward taking the offered gift, then wrapped her arms around Anne giving the seven year old a warm hug, “I will cherish this teddy bear forever.”

Anne whispered into Kelly’s ear, “They really work too!”

“Soooo…” Sarah grinned, “Did you get any cool super powers?”

“INSIDE NOW!” Marie snapped, then looking at Kelly, “Michael, Mark would you both please bring in our things.” Marie ushered the four girls into the house then led them into the dining room. Once she had the girls sitting at the table and the two men joined them Marie began to set down some rules, “First thing and there is no and I mean NO exception to this, there will be no talk about mutants or super powers outside of this house or when anyone that is not family is around, do I make myself clear!” Marie looked at each girl then at Michael to make sure each one showed acceptance of her rule.

Anne eyes got very wide as she looked over at Kelly, “You really have super powers?” Kelly smiled back while raising her eyebrows up and down several times.

“Anne, what is the rule about that?” Marie looked at her youngest daughter.

“But momma we’re in the house!” Anne reasoned.

“You may as well show them now,” Mark laughed, “They won’t leave you alone until you do.”

Kelly watched as Marie sighed and then nodded, “Go ahead.”

Kelly disappeared in a flash of red smoke, reappearing out of the same color smoke in the kitchen beside the refrigerator, “Anyone want something to drink while I’m here?” She flashed a smile back into the dining room.

“WOW!” Anne yelled. The rest including Michael sat with their jaws open in amazement.

Reaching into the fridge, Kelly pulled out a diet coke then reappeared in the chair she had been sitting at originally. Placing the coke on the place mat she opened it and took a drink before looking over at Anne, “Pretty cool huh?”

“Wow you can smoke jump.” Anne tried to describe what she had seen.

“It’s called teleporting,” Sarah corrected her younger sister.

Kelly figuring to stop that argument before it happened, not to mention she did like what Anne had dubbed Kelly’s teleport ability, “I think I like calling it smoke jumping too, makes it sound cool.” Anne beamed with pride, knowing Kelly was going to use the name she came up with. Questions began flying toward Kelly faster than she could answer them making it quite apparent that both of the younger girls were highly impressed with Kelly’s, ‘super powers’.

Marie noticed how quite Michael had been since they arrived. Michael had all but worshiped the ground Kelly walked on when he was younger, and was probably the most devastated of all her children when they had heard of the attack on Kelly and his wife. “Kelly I’m sure the girls would like to show you what they have done to your room?” Marie smiled at the girls sitting around the table, all with the exception of Kelly grew a wide grin across their faces at their mother’s words.

“We redecorated your room for you Kelly,” Sarah grinned.

“I helped!” Anne added as she got up and grabbed Kelly’s hand, “Come on you will love it!” She began pulling Kelly out of the chair. Sarah and Kay got up and followed the two younger girls upstairs.

“Kelly?” Marie called after them, “You and the girls should take your things up as you go. Also you should take out your contacts. You need to let your eyes get used to them gradually, and I don’t want you ever sleeping with them in.”

The girls turned around and went over to the two suitcases and small contact case that Mark and Michael had left beside the door that led out to the garage. Kelly picked up the rolled up papers and white plastic case, while Sarah grabbed the smaller of the two suitcases.

Kay picked up the larger suitcase while stating loud enough that their mother could hear, “I’ll take yours up to your room for you mom.”

“Thank you honey,” They heard from the other room, “I’ll be up in a few minutes so I can see what you have done while I was gone.”

Once Marie was sure the girls could not hear her she turned to her son, “Okay what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You can’t lie to me, what is it?”

“It’s, I don’t know mom, that girl—”

“That girl is Kelly!” Marie looked her son directly in the eyes.

“I know, but it isn’t,” Michael tried to explain how he felt. For Michael Kelly had always been a man’s man, gentle but firm with others, never backing down when he was in the right, always standing up for what he believed in. Michael wanted to be just like his uncle Kelly for as long as he could remember and as he grew older he did his best to do just that.

“I know this is hard on you Michael, you always looked up to Kelly.”

Michael lowered his head nodding, “He’s gone.” A tear ran down Michael’s cheek. Mark quietly left the room to give them space to talk.

“She is still the same person on the inside.”

“Is she? How do you know that?” Michael questioned.

Marie placed her hand against her son’s chin, lifting his head so she was looking in his eyes, “Do you think anything could stop Kelly from being the way he wants to be?”

“But, but he’s not my uncle Kelly anymore!” Michael became defensive, “He’s… she’s like my baby sister!”

“And that is exactly who she is now.” Marie grinned.

“What?” Michael cocked his head slightly squinting his eyes as he tried to understand what his mother was saying.

“Kelly is now your younger sister,” Marie explained to her son, “That is where your father went, to take care of making Kelly legally your sister. I know this is harder on you than your sisters, but think for a moment how hard this is on Kelly?”

“I’m sorry mom,” Michael gazed back into his mother’s eyes. Eyes of a mother that loved her children unconditionally and would do anything possible to keep her family safe, well and happy. “I’ll try to do my best.”

“I know you will,” Marie smiled at Michael, “The lord could not have given your father and I a better son.” The problem solved in Marie’s eyes she changed the subject, “Now why don’t you show me what you and your sisters did to Kelly’s room?”

“Just remember you put Kay in charge, not me! I had nothing to do with it!” Michael laughed, “All I did was put stuff together and move the heavy things for them.”

Michael walked out of the dining room with his mother, Mark was in the living room on his phone, turned to them covering the phone with his hand, “I’m ordering pizza, any preferences?”

“Meat supreme!” Michael volunteered.

“Remember Kelly’s new appetite.” Marie reminded Mark how the girl had ate on the trip home.

“Six large?” Mark asked.

“I would hope that is enough.” Marie stated.

Michael eyes widened and he looked at his mother, “Six pizzas? Are you serious?”

Mark laughed, “You haven’t seen her eat yet.”

~o~O~o~

Upstairs Anne pulled Kelly to the room that Kelly had always used when he stayed the night. Originally a guest room it had quickly became known as Kelly’s room before Anne was even born. “You are going to love what we did to your room Kelly!” Anne reached the door then stood, a gleam in her eye that could only come from a child, waiting for Kelly to open the door to see the work they had done.

Kelly glanced around to all three girls with her. Anne of course anticipating Kelly to be just as overjoyed with the room as Anne was. Sarah was biting her lower lip, her arms behind her back, hands held tightly together fingers crossed in hopes that Kelly would like what they had done. Kay a one side of her lips raised into a half grin eagerly waited on Kelly’s initial reaction. Reaching out tentatively to the door knob, Kelly turned it pushing the door open. The door swung open silently revealing all the changes they had done.

The freshly painted walls were the first thing Kelly noticed, although noticed would not be quite the word Kelly would have used if she were not biting her tongue. A virgin white vanity with a large mirror sat against one wall with a matching wooden bench. On the wall above the vanity on each side two large butterflies that appeared to be made out of copper wire twisted into the shape of large butterflies hung at an angle that made them look as if they were in flight. The old twin bed had been replaced with a larger full sized four poster bed also in a color that matched the vanity and its bench and under the window on the other side of the bed a bench that appeared to be a combination of bench and toy or storage box sat.

A multi colored comforter covered the bed, wide stripes in pastel reds, yellows and purples, each color gradually bleeding into the next, matched cushions on both benches in the room and some of the pillows at the head of the bed and by saying some of the pillows, the only thing in the room that outnumbered the pillows piled at the head of the bed were the stuffed animals. There must have been at least three dozen stuffed animals of various sizes and types on the bed, the vanity, the toy bench, even lined up along the wall on the floor.

Kelly’s thoughts were broken by Anne excited voice, “I picked out all your new plushies!”

Knowing Anne meant well Kelly smiled warmly at her, “You did an excellent job too!”

Anne threw her arms around Kelly in a hug, “I knew you would love them!” Behind the two Kay snickered softly.

Releasing Kelly Anne pulled her by the hand into the room, “I hope you like it, I helped allot.”

Kelly saw that a white dresser that she could not see from the doorway say along the wall with the door, of course the top of which held several more stuffed animals. “I like the comforter too, it matches my eyes,” Kelly grinned over at Kay.

“Your eyes are brown!” Sarah pointed out.

Placing the white case Larry had given her on the vanity Kelly turned to Anne who had not left her side, “Want to see my real eyes?” Anne nodded grinning from ear to ear, “They’re really cool looking.” Anne continued nodding. Turning to the mirror Kelly removed her contacts, tossing them into the small purple garbage can under the vanity before turning so the other girls could see her true eye color.

“Whoa!” Anne took a couple steps back, “Cool!”

“Awesome!” Sarah proclaimed.

Kay stepped closer to Kelly to get a better look at her eyes, giggling as she did, “I guess the comforter does match your eyes.” Stepping over to the bed Kay laid the suit case on it before opening it.

Recognizing the things in the case as hers Sarah spoke up, “Hey those are my things!”

“Like this fits you anymore?” Kay grinned as she pulled a bra out of the open case that was noticeably too small to fit Sarah’s much larger chest.”

Anne began laughing, “You got big boobies like Kay!” Both Sarah and Kay glared at their youngest sister, who quickly hid behind Kelly.

“Don’t worry brat, the boobie fairy will come visit you soon enough!” Kay grinned evilly at Anne, “Then you will see how funny it is.”

“Who packed these things in here like this?” Sarah looked at the jumbled up mess in the suitcase, “Everything is wrinkled now!”

Kelly looked at the two older girls, “What do you expect, I had to change in the backseat of the car!”

Sarah put her hand on her hips looking over at Kelly, “You could have put everything back neatly, now it’s all got to be washed again.”

“Why?” Kelly truly had no idea why Sarah was so adamant about this.

“They’re all wrinkled!” Sarah explained, “No sister of mine is going to wear wrinkled clothes!”

Kelly received a reprieve from her lessons on packing a suitcase when everyone heard Marie yell upstairs “Pizza is here!”

Anne and Sarah chorused, “Pizza!” as the both raced to get out the door before the other leaving both Kay and Kelly in the room.

Seeing the look in Kelly’s eyes Kay shook her head, “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

“What?” Kelly put on her best innocent face. While thinking of how funny it would be to be sitting with a slice of pizza in her hand when the two reached the kitchen.

“You want mom to set a rule of no teleporting in the house?”

“You’re not as fun as you were when you were little!” Kelly grinned.

“No my dear sister,” Kay smiled wickedly, “I just want you to save that trick for a better time.” Both began laughing as they walked out of the room.

In the dining room it took the best part of three large pizzas to curb Kelly’s appetite, but for the first time that day she did not feel hungry. The few comments about the amount she ate were quickly shut down by their mother. Once everyone had their fill, Marie sent Kelly upstairs with Sarah to go through the things that Sarah had outgrown, “Kelly we will go out and get you plenty of new clothes, so don’t think we were planning on dressing you in all hand me downs, but having all new clothes and nothing worn would look a bit unusual.”

Kelly nodded her understanding, “I’ll make sure to find somethings that are too small for me too.”

“No, no need for that, as Anne probably has them in her closet already. Tomorrow we will go shopping, “Marie was looking at Sarah, who was looking like her mother was making her give away her most treasured items. “All three of you will need new clothes for school.”

Sarah’s despondent look immediately changed to a very wide smile when she heard the magical words, clothes shopping. Grabbing Kelly by the hand she raced up the stairs towing Kelly behind to her own room. Kelly Sarah and Anne was still putting things away in Kelly’s room when Marie came in followed by Kay, to tell the younger girls it was time to get ready for bed.

Once Sarah and Anne had left her room Kelly began working on putting away more of the clothes that Sarah had given her, “What do you think you are doing young lady?” Marie smiled.

“I thought I would finish putting this stuff away.” Kelly stopped as she tried to figure out what Marie was hinting at.

“You need to get ready for bed too.” Marie grinned.

“Marie, I’m not a child,” Kelly stated.

“That’s mom now honey, and just how long do you think it takes for an eleven year old girl to get ready for bed?” Marie questioned.

“Ten minutes, give or take.” Kelly answered, “Brush my teeth, change into something to sleep in and I’m done.” Kay began snickering.

“Oh you have so much to learn!” Marie chuckled, “If it was not for the fact that it would take me an hour to brush the tangles out of your hair in the morning I would let you do just that!”

“I’ll braid her hair mom,” Kay volunteered.

“Why do I need to braid my hair before bed?”

Marie shook her head and sighed. Kay stepped around her mother, “Come my young padawan, let me begin your training in the ways of the girl.” Taking Kelly by the hand, Kay led her to sit in on the bench in front of her vanity.

Picking up a brush from the top of the vanity Kay began brushing Kelly’s hair, “With hair as long as yours, you need to put it up so that you don’t wake up with a rat’s nest from flopping and turning in your sleep.” Kay continued brushing Kelly’s hair, “Best thing with really long hair like yours is to braid it. Then in the morning take out the braid and brush your hair out.” Kay smiled at Kelly’s reflection, “It keeps your hair from tangling so badly and it gives a little wave to your hair giving it more body. So watch what I’m doing so you can do this yourself.”

“Okay,” Kelly murmured.

“Another thing, while this may seem like a pain in the ass to do every night, it will give you the practice in doing something any girl your age should already have.”

Kelly watched what Kay was doing with her hair, not that it interested her, but in that Kay was right, this was something she needed to learn how to do if she expected to pass herself off as having always been a girl.

"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 24

Ed and Sabella had sat to watch the evening news before going off to bed so they could get back to their daughter Helen, who was still in intensive care at the hospital. The doctors had told them that they should amputate the leg, but Sabella refused to listen. This was her daughter, her own flesh and blood they wanted to do that to. Her husband had been more practical telling the doctors to do what they must to save her life before dragging his wife out of the room.

To say Ed was angry was an understatement, he was furious about what happened and he wanted whoever it was that attacked his daughter and her husband to pay. The only leads the police had were the tire tracks and shell casings. The car used in the attack was found not a mile away, gave no clues as it had been set on fire leaving only a burnt metal husk which left the police nothing to go on.

Ed considered himself a good church going man, but in his years he had met many men that were not, many of which held considerable power back in Chicago and a few of those men owed Ed favors. Ed hated himself for what he knew he would do, but one way or another the men that hurt his baby girl would be held accountable. Tomorrow while Sabella is in with Helen, I know exactly who to call, Ed thought to himself. Those monsters won’t get away with it.

Ed was snapped out of his thoughts as the news began showing a video of what appeared to be a protest in front of a hospital. Many of the protesters waving banners that read, “MUTANTS ARE NOT HUMAN!”,“HUMANITY FIRST!”, “CHILD OF SATAN,” and many more colorful and derogatory sayings.

A nice looking blond woman with shoulder length hair held a microphone in front of the camera with the crowd of protesters behind her began speaking with a distinct southern accent, “We’re here at the Grady Burn Center in Atlanta, where just a little while ago a large group of people began forming outside in protest to what we have been told is a mutant that was admitted to the hospital after the mutant caught its own home on fire, killing all the occupants in the house and severely injuring itself. Hospital security has been keeping everyone, including reporters from entering and has refused to make a statement at this time.” The camera swung across the large crowd to show the six large security guards standing in front of the glass entry doors before the camera swung back to the lady reporter.

“While the hospital has refused to release any information, sources have informed us that the mutant has the appearance of a young girl.” She turns her head toward something going on behind her, “Gary, pan the camera, see if we can find out what’s going on?”

The camera panned to the right, it was difficult to see though the crowd but a large black car was making its way through the crowd to the entrance, “It looks like some type of limo is pulling up in front of the hospital doors,” The reporter gave a running commentary, “Is that diplomatic flags on the front? Gary can you zoom in on the flag so we can tell what country it’s from?” The camera zoomed in on a flag, while the whole flag not clearly seen, blue and white horizontal stripes were easily distinguished.

No sooner than the car stopped in front of the doors a large man stepped out of the front passenger door and opened the rear door. At the same time several more large men and a small girl rushed out of the hospital doors, the men shielding her with their own bodies until they had her safely in the back of the car along with the men escorting her. While difficult to get a clear view of the girl, the strange orange red of her eyes stood out to everyone. The first man got back into the front of the car and it sped away.

“That was a Greek flag on that car!” Ed looked over at his wife who was sitting slack jawed at what she had seen on TV, “Isn’t Marie related to some Politician back there?”

Sabella nodded her eyes going wide as she realized exactly what had happened, “That, that girl, it was Kelly, he’s the mutant!”

“Grown men do NOT turn into little girls!” Ed stated.

“I’m going to call Marie!”

“You’ll do no such thing woman!” Ed commanded. “You have your mother’s temper, I’ll not have my wife yelling at one of our friends over the phone. Tomorrow after we have spent some time with Helen at the hospital I will go visit them and put your fears to rest.”

Chapter 25

Kelly had been a lot more tired than she realized and was sound asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Kelly found herself once again on her sailboat, the spinnaker fully into the wind. Kelly found she had to stand in front of the wheel to even come close to reaching the capstan to make adjustments to the sails. “I see you are coming to terms with our new form,” Kelly spun to see her double sitting leisurely along the bench in the cockpit.

“I’m busy here!” Kelly snapped in reply then motioned her head aft of the boat where a much larger sloop was chasing them down.

“They have a faster ship,” Kelly’s double stated, “They will catch us eventually.”

“Not if we get to those islands first!” Kelly pointed to what appeared to be a line of small islands ahead of them.

Kelly’s double contemplated the speed at which the larger ship was over taking them and the distance to the islands, “We won’t make it unless we work together.”

“I don’t want you here and I don’t want your help!”

“Then quit trying to postpone the inevitable and drop the sails!” The double laughed, “With my help we can fight them off!”

Kelly glared at the girl who looked like her, “I told you I don’t want your help!”

“Dear sister, what you want and what you need are two different things!”

“NO!” Kelly screamed.

The double got up and walked up so they stood eye to eye, “Do you know what those men on that ship will do to a young girl like us?” The double screamed into Kelly’s face, “Search our memories, we can feel the darkness of their souls from here! Do you really want to live through what they will do to us?”

Memories flooded into Kelly’s mind, memories that were not from her past, but from a different past, a much longer past. Memories of battles with creatures that made the sickest horror movies seemed tame by comparison and the unspeakable things those monsters did. “Take the wheel!” Kelly shouted as she dove forward and began adjusting the lines, “But I’m the one in charge!”

Her double darted behind the wheel taking control of the steering, “I’m taking us starboard a bit, that line will let us lead them past the sand shoals, where once they see how fast the bottom comes up they will have to drop sails to keep from running aground!”

Kelly nodded, “Exactly what I was thinking!” Noticing that her double seemed to be able to read the wind and the sea as well as she could.

Ten minutes later Kelly’s boat slipped harmlessly over the jagged coral reef that joined the two islands together as the men on board the larger sloop fought to change the course of the larger and deeper riding vessel they had pursued them on. The two girls watched at the larger boat came to a sudden halt as its keel dug into the sandy bottom.

“You see, we do work well together!” The double smiled at Kelly.

“I know who you are,” Kelly stated, “And I know you wanted to kill them.”

“Sister, I have never taken pleasure in ending life, but I do relish the fact that the darkness I remove can never return to lend its evil to the world.”

“It’s still killing.” Kelly argued.

“Are we both not warriors? Have we both not ended life for the greater good?

Chapter 26

Kelly woke to bright light in her eyes. Blinking several times while she brought up a hand to shade her sensitive eyes, she saw Marie standing at the window opening the curtains allowing the sun to enter the room. “You planning on sleeping all day?” Marie joked when she saw Kelly begin to stir.

“What time is it?” Kelly yawned.

“Almost eight A.M.” Marie sat down on the edge of Kelly’s bed, “We made pancakes this morning, Kay is frying the last ones now.”

“I’ll get dressed,” Kelly threw back the covers revealing she had used one of her old tee shirts with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers logo printed on the front, draped her now small body like an oversized dress as she slipped out of bed to her feet, the lower hem of the shirt reaching her knees.

“No need just yet honey,” Marie stated, “it's only family and you are covered far better than your older sisters are at times. We have plenty of time after you eat to get ready.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kelly blushed.

“Mom,” Marie smiled, “something you need to get used to honey.”

“Yes mom,” Kelly grinned.

“I’ll see you downstairs,” Marie smiled as she got up and began to leave the room.

After relieving herself in the bathroom Kelly followed the smell of Marie’s pancakes into the kitchen. Grabbing a mug Kelly poured herself a cup of coffee then piled about half a dozen of the small three to four inch pancakes onto a plate and carried both into the dining room, where Anne and Sarah both sat devouring the plates of pancakes in front of them. Anne was still in a pair of pink and white pajamas that bore the picture of a unicorn on the front while Sarah was wearing a light green sleeveless shift dress.

Placing her mug and plate on the table Kelly sat down then reached for the bottle of honey that sat on the table between her sisters. Covering her pancakes with honey, Kelly picked up the small bowl of crushed walnuts and sprinkled a good helping onto the pancakes before she dug in.

“That’s all you’re going to eat?” Sarah looked at the normal helping on Kelly’s plate.

Looking up from her plate at Sarah, “Yea why?”

“After last night I kinda figured you to eat more is all.”

Marie and Kay walked in at that time, each carrying their own plates of pancakes, “We had a lecture about that in class,” Kay explained, “When a mutant goes through their manifestation, it takes a lot of energy so for some time after they eat a lot more than normal.”

“I’m glad that’s over then!” Kelly looked across the table at Kay as she sat down, “If I had to eat like that all the time we may as well get a sign to hang around my neck that reads mutant in big bold letters.”

“It’s not that bad,” Marie sat down beside Kelly at the table, “and with your looks people around here will easily accept you.”

“Because I’m a little girl now,” Kelly groaned.

“No honey,” Marie corrected, “Because you look like one of us. I think after some time people will forget you were not born my daughter.”

“Yea you definitely look like one of the family,” Kay winked at Kelly, “little sister.”

“Sister?” Anne’s eyes lit up and a huge smile crossed her face, “You’re going to be my sister now?”

Marie nodded, “Yes honey, Kelly is your sister now.”

“Awesome!” Anne bubbled with glee.

Kelly having finished her pancakes lifted the plate to her mouth with one hand and began raking the stray pieces of walnuts into her mouth with her fork. Anne began giggling at the sight.

“Young women do not eat like that,” Marie smiled at Kelly, “You need to start acting like the young lady you appear to be, not like some barbarian.”

“Yes Mom,” Kelly remembered just in time not to call her Marie.

“Okay girls, Anne you and Kelly need to get upstairs and get dressed so we can get moving.” Marie looked at both girls, “Don’t get your hair wet, we don’t have time this morning. That means use shower caps girls! I’ll lay out an outfit on your beds for you to put on.” Marie shouted as both girls were going up the stairs, “Kelly don’t forget your contacts!”

Chapter 27

Kelly came out of the shower to find Marie had laid out the clothes on her bed. Allowing the towel to drop to the floor, Kelly picked up the white cotton panties that lay on top and slipped them on. Picking up the training bra Kelly noticed it was like the one Marie had helped her put on the day before and thought, At least it doesn’t fasten in the back like real ones do! Slipping it over her head Kelly managed to get it in place, covering her small and very sensitive breasts. After taking the time to adjust it where the strange piece of clothing felt the most comfortable Kelly looked down at her chest sighing heavily at the sight of her breasts, “God!” She mumbled under her breath, “This makes them look twice as big.”

Looking over at the last piece of clothing Marie had laid out for her a shiver ran up Kelly’s spine, another dress, of course it had to be a dress. I know Marie’s intentions are for the best, but why can’t she let me get used to this gradually? Having known Marie for too many years, Kelly knew whatever Marie’s reasons if nothing else Marie was practical and if asked she would have a logical explanation that Kelly would eventually have to agree with.

Picking the dress up from the bed, *At least I like the colors,* Kelly thought The red and orange colored roses while only managing to take up less than half of the floral pattern sharply contrasted to the material’s white background and the small amount of green from the short stems of the roses giving the illusion that the dress was predominately red and orange. The large scooping neckline and the even larger scooping back would make the dress easy to get on and off, At least that’s a plus. Kelly thought as she inspected what she would be wearing, I don’t know what I would do if Marie had given me one with one of those damn zippered backs.

Slipping the dress over her head, Kelly put it on then turned to look at herself in the mirror, her eyes going wide at the sight of her reflection. Kelly’s hands quickly grabbed the hem of the dress and tried pulling the mid-thigh length hem further down. Dammit, the tee shirt I wore to bed covered more than this thing does. Marie can’t expect me to wear this out in public!

Turning to leave her room so she could go speak with Marie, Kelly stopped. Knowing that the only way to convince Marie she would need to be fully dressed. Sitting down in the bed, Kelly put on the low one inch heeled sandals that Marie had left out for her, then stood and fastened the belt that was made into the dress.

Kelly was halfway to the door when there was a light knock on the door before it opened just enough for Sarah to poke her head in, “You decent?” Noticing that Kelly was dressed Sarah opened the door and entered, “Mom asked me to help you with your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair now?”

“You haven’t even taken the braid out yet, or brushed it!” Sarah snickered, “Sit down on the bench and I’ll help you get ready.”

Kelly was about to argue about the length of her dress but noticed that the hem of Sarah’s dress fell almost exactly the same as the one Kelly was wearing, “Aren’t these a bit too short for us?” Pointing out the length of both their dresses.

Sarah looked down at her own dress cocking her head to the side as she looked back to Kelly, “You have a lot to learn about style! This is what all the girls are wearing. If we wore knee or calf length other girls would think we are some kind of freaks.”

“I feel naked!” Kelly whined.

“You’ll appreciate how much cooler it is once we are outside, and since Mom is taking us shopping, it’s a lot easier to get on and off in a changing room than pants and a top.”

“I figured Marie had to have a reason, other than embarrassing me.”

“Mom,” Sarah corrected.

“Yea Mom,” Kelly giggled, “That is going to as much to get used to as wearing this stuff!”

“Don’t worry little sister,” Sarah giggled, as she removed the elastic that held Kelly’s hair in a braid and began removing the braid while pushing Kelly toward the bench, “I’ll make sure you don’t become an outcast at school. But you have to do your part, which means watching what I’m doing so you can learn to do it yourself.”

“I was never popular in school the first time around,” Kelly stated.

“Yes I’ve heard the stories.” Sarah giggled, “This time you won’t get away with beating up all the bullies and making them scared of you.”

“I never started any of those fight!” Kelly countered.

“Hey we got bullies at our school too,” Sarah put in, “I know how they are!” Sarah thought to herself, Girl do I ever know how they are! But I cannot let Kelly know about how they treat me or she would go ape-shit on them! No she can never find out, even as small as she is now, Kelly still knows all that kung fu stuff and would end up in trouble. And if anyone ever found out about Kelly… Thank god most of those jerks are going to high school this year. Quickly changing the subject, “I’m hoping Poppa and Daddy get your birthday so that we can be in the same class. I’m only starting the eighth grade this year because my birthday is so late. If yours is close enough we could be in the same grade.”

“Oh so I see your logic,” Kelly grinned at the reflection of Sarah in the mirror, “You want me to help you with your homework!”

Sarah put on her best look of shock as she looked at Kelly’s reflection, then quickly stuck her tongue out at Kelly, “I made the honor roll last year! If anyone is going to need help it will be you!” Kelly watched in silence, trying to learn what Sarah was showing her with her hair as she quickly braided what Sarah called a fishtail braid into one side of Kelly’s hair, then moved on to the other side.

“I’d have you do this side,” Sarah commented, “But I know Mom wants to get going soon, maybe later I can sit with you and help you practice.”

Kelly was holding the long braid in front of her so that she could inspect it better, while still watching what Sarah was doing with the other side, “I didn’t know you could braid anything with only two strands?”

Sarah’s fingers were flying along in Kelly’s hair as she braided it, “Since you're always pulling a small bit of hair from one of the strands, you’re still using three to make the braid, it’s just a different way that I like the looks of better.”

“It does look pretty neat this way,” Kelly said softly.

“Okay done!” Sarah chimed as she put the elastic in the pig tail, “Now stand up and let me even them out.” Kelly stood facing Sarah while Sarah eyed both pigtails pulling on each in different spots to make them look the same. “Okay now look,” Turning Kelly by the shoulder so she could see her reflection in the mirror.

“Uh wow, that’s me?” Kelly stood looking at her reflection. “Oh crap, I need to put in my contacts!”

Sarah began giggling, “Probably a good idea miss demon eyes.”

Sitting back down, Kelly pulled the white case over from the edge of the vanity, opened it and pushed the start button.

“Neat!” Sarah said from behind her, “What’s all the dials for?”

“I’m not sure what they all do, but there are directions there,” Kelly pointed to the inside of the lid. “I know it can make different colors and shades but I have left it where Larry set everything so it always makes the same ones for me.”

“That is so cool,” Sarah looked dreamily at the gadget, “Do you think we could make me some green ones?”

“I’m sure it can, but it can only make about a dozen before it has to be refilled. And once I take them out I am supposed to throw them away and not reuse them.”

“We should write down what you need for refilling it so Mom can pick it up while we are out today.” Sarah advised, “There are some pads of paper and pencils in the top right drawer you can write everything down with.”

Kelly reached into the drawer pulling out a steno pad and a pen and did just that.

Chapter 28

Kelly stopped abruptly coming down the stairs, causing Sarah to run into her, as she recognized Helen’s father Ed, sitting on the sofa talking the Marie. Both Ed and Marie looked up at the sudden noise spotting the two girls on the stairs. Too late to turn and hide Kelly continued down the steps into the living room.

“Hi Mr. Poulos!” Sarah walked out from behind Kelly smiling.

“Hello Sarah,” Ed’s face was as cold as stone as he looked over to where Kelly had stopped at the foot of the stairs, “Hello Kelly.”

OH SHIT HE KNOWS! Kelly was frozen with fear, her mind racing trying to decided what she should do, on the verge of, of… NO! Kelly screamed in her mind, I will not jump, I will not jump! She repeated over and over in her mind, trying to stop herself as she felt the world around her begin to turn slightly red as a three dimensional construct of the house slowly began to form in her mind, slowly growing outward encompassing more of the house, the garage, and outside. As Kelly fought to control the urge to flee the image in her mind began shrinking down until finally the colors returned to everything and the inner image was gone.

Marie saw how Kelly’s image began to ever so slightly blur and take on a red tint, “Kelly don’t you dare!” Marie hoped that the girl would pay attention, “Ed is here as a friend.” Looking at Sarah then patting the cushion on the loveseat Marie was sitting on, “Sarah, please bring your sister over here before she falls down honey.”

Sarah led Kelly by the arm over to her mother. Marie put her arm around Kelly once she had sat down, “Are you okay honey?” Kelly nodded, refusing to look up at Ed who sat across from her on the sofa.

“I didn’t come to judge you Kelly,” Ed began. “If anything I should be thanking you for saving Helen. The police told me that you carried her out of there while being burned by the flames yourself. I saw the pictures of what it did to you, I cannot image how much pain you suffered to get Helen out of there.”

Kelly looked up and began to say something. Ed quickly raised his hand stopping her, “We saw you leave the hospital on the news last night. Honestly if it had not been for the diplomatic car you left in neither Sabella or I would have made the connection.” Kelly’s eyes went wide at that revelation.

“Now, don’t worry,” Ed stated, “Only a very few know who Marie’s father is, and I’m sure they are all people she trusts. And your eyes look nothing like they did on the news.”

“Contacts,” Marie smiled down at the girl she held.

“Good thinking, having the double wear them.” Ed agreed.

“Um no,” Kelly said softly, “I’m wearing them now.”

“Oh, I see.” Ed stated, “Okay well, the big reason I came by was to find out the truth, honestly I thought you might be in Greece by now for what I saw on the news. That and to let you know how Helen’s doing.”

“How is she?” Kelly leaned almost out of the seat toward Ed, “Can I see her?”

“She is still in intensive care,” Ed looked sadly down, “They are only allowing immediate family in, and sorry to say this, but you don’t look like immediate family anymore.” Ed sighed, “Sabella is afraid that if Helen finds out what has happened to you, she could lose hope, I’m sorry to say that I agree with her on this. Helen is not in good shape, the doctors say the bullet is in a very bad location near her spine.”

Ed could see tears streaming down Kelly’s cheeks before she lowered her head. “Sabella is not as accepting of mutants as I am. So I am not going to tell her you are here, she can continue thinking you left for Greece. But I will promise to keep you updated on how Helen’s doing.”

“Thank you,” Kelly sniffed back the tears, “I, I wouldn’t want me, what I am now…” Kelly’s sobs grew louder, “To hurt, Helen.” Marie pulled Kelly close letting her cry into her shoulder.

Ed stood up, his own eyes becoming moist at the thought of how much his words had hurt the small girl, “I, I should get going.” As he walked toward the door, “I’ll call if there is any change.” Yes it may be his son in law in the body of the little girl, but none the less the small child was crying and it was his fault. If it wasn’t for the shock that it could put Helen, Ed though, I would march that girl straight into Helen’s room right now, and to hell with the hospital policies! It’s apparent whatever happened that changed Kelly, he or she still loves Helen deeply. Shaking his head as he pulled out of the driveway, Why did he have to turn into a pretty little girl? It would have been so much easier had his mutation turned him into some hideous monster, anything but what he is now.

Chapter 29

Once Marie had calmed Kelly down, she led the girl by the hand upstairs where Marie could change her blouse, it having absorbed most of Kelly’s tears, and so that Kelly could make another set of contacts to replace the one that she had lost while crying into Marie’s shoulder.

Piling all the girls into the minivan Marie began their mission to shop. After leaving the third store Kelly asked from where she sat in the rear most seat in the van, “Mom why are we stopping at all these little stores when we could grab everything at G-Mart?”

“G-mart?” Marie sounded offended, “Why I wouldn’t give those Goodkind’s a single red cent of my money for any reason! Buying from them is the same as funding terrorist like Humanity First and those hate monger power suit drivers that call themselves Knights of whatever they are. They are no more Knights than I am the Pope! And even if it wasn’t for that, that big name one stop shopping warehouse of theirs has destroyed more small businesses than you can imagine.”

“I heard that they have some sort of scanner they want to put at the entrances of their stores that will detect mutants as they walk in!” Kay added.

“Yet another reason to avoid that store!” Marie commented, “I have no idea if that’s true or not, and we are not going to find out.”

“Yea, staying away from that place sounds like a good plan if they do have some kind of scanners like that,” Kelly agreed.

“Okay we are going to stop by a friend’s home, she is a seamstress and quite possibly the best there is. She only going to need Kelly’s measurements so if you girls want, Kay can drive you down for some ice cream or something.”

“Are we going to Miss Cristina’s Mom?” Anne asked.

“Yes honey that’s where we are going.” Marie answered.

Anne was all but bouncing out of her seat, “Mom, can she make me some more nighties?” Turning around so she could face Kelly in the back, “She makes the bestest, softest nighties in the world.”

“What about you Sarah?” Marie asked.

“Um, well the ones I have are getting a bit tight.” Sara shyly looked down at her blossoming breasts.

“Okay we all go in then,” Marie grinned into the rear view mirror at the girls in back. Both Anne and Sarah were smiling.

Eventually Marie pulled into a long private drive that had a gate across the entrance. Just before the gate was a speaker with a call button that Marie pulled up to and pushed.

“Hello Marie!” A woman’s voice came over the speaker, “I’ll open the gate, Christina is expecting you.”

“Hi Sharon,” Marie spoke at the speaker, “How have things been?”

As the gate began sliding open, “Oh things are normal around here, as usual it’s all I can do to make Cristina stop and rest! Thank god she loves playing that Violin of hers almost as much as she loves making clothes or I would never get her to stop working.”

Seeing that the gate had finished opening, “We are on our way up, see you in a few.” Marie put the minivan into drive and went up the paved drive. The trees were large with limbs covered in Spanish moss that grew over the road making it seem like they were driving in a tunnel. Close to a half a mile in the trees thinned out to expose a large beautifully landscaped lawn that surrounded a very large two story home with four large columns equally spaced along the front. The drive circled up to a wide stone staircase that led up to very large double doors in the center of the house.

Before Marie could get everyone out of the van Sharon came out of the house and was most of the way down the steps to greet them. “Hi Marie, Kay, Anne, Sarah!” Looking at Kelly as she exited the Van, “And you must be Kelly! Marie said she had a new daughter that would need Christina’s special touch with some clothing. She didn’t tell me how pretty you were.”

Kelly felt her face getting warm, looking down she tried to hide the fact that she was blushing. Seeing Kelly blush Sharon walked straight over to Kelly, “Oh and shy too! Christina is just going to adore you! Let’s get you all inside so Christina can greet you.” Sharon gently pulled Kelly along with her as she went back up the steps and inside the large house.

Beautiful music filled the air as Sharon ushered them through the foyer into the living room. “Is that Miss Christine playing?” Kelly asked.

Sharon nodded, “She loves playing.”

Kelly found herself standing there, letting the music flow over and through her. It was the most relaxing thing she had felt since the attack. Closing her eyes Kelly imagined the music that surrounded her was Helen’s arms, loving arms that Kelly would do anything for. It isn’t fair! her mind screamed, We love each other, I love her more than anything and I can’t even see her! I can’t tell her I’m still here, that I still love her. Kelly did not recognize the song but she did recognize the one that followed it. A single tear ran down her cheek as she silently mouthed the words;

Tears began rolling down Kelly’s cheeks, unable to even think about anything but the song and what it meant, how true the words of that song were to her now. Helen and I have no future now, no matter how much it hurts, I have to do just like the song and let her go. It’ll be better if Helen doesn’t know, if she thinks I’m dead.

“It’s okay honey, it’s okay,” Kelly could hear Marie’s soothing words over and over. Kelly had no idea how she got there, but found herself on the couch nestled between Marie and Kay, both holding her. Sarah and Anne were kneeling on the floor, worried. Sharon and another woman stood behind them. “I know it hurts honey, just let it out, we are here for you. We’ll always be here for you.”

“I’m so sorry,” The woman that Kelly had not met yet apologized, “I didn’t know my playing would bring you to tears child.”

“It, it was beautiful,” Kelly looked up at the very tall black woman while sniffing back the tears, “It reminded me of someone.”

“Helen?” The woman said, “You kept saying her name while you were crying.”

“I, I’m sorry,” Kelly apologized.

“No need child, I can only imagine how hard it can be on a changeling.” The woman stated.

Kelly’s eyes went wide as she looked up to the very tall black woman, “You know? How?”

“I’m a mutant too, if you haven’t noticed yet?” The woman laughed, “Although I’m a bit more obvious than you are,” Waving her hand down her body.

Kelly followed her hand gesture and froze when she realized the reason the woman was so tall was that her body stopped at the waist and from there down and back was a giant hairy brown spider. Exactly how you would imagine a centaur but instead of a horse body her body was that of a spider.

“It’s alright honey, Christine is a very good friend of your father and I,” Marie stated.

“So you are adopting her?” Christine asked.

“Jake should be home today with all the legal paperwork completed.” Marie warmly smiled at Kelly.

“Well with a name like Kelly Kontos I do hope your middle name doesn’t begin with a K?” Christine chuckled at her own joke. Kelly shook her head. “Good!” Christine laughed, “Because there is no way me or any other black woman would ever monogram those initials into anything!”

Kelly cringed, finally getting the joke, “I’ I don’t think I would want those initials either.” A giggled escaped her.

“Ahh good, I finally saw you smile!” Christine grinned, “Although it wasn’t much of one. We’re going to have to see about a better one.” Reaching a hand down for Kelly to take, “Come with me, I know how to bring that smile out!”

Kelly looked over to see Marie nod her approval before reaching up and taking Christine’s hand. Christine led Kelly out of the room.

Chapter 30

“I still think is funny that she never once asked me what I liked or didn’t.” Kelly argued from where she sat now in the van.

“Honey don’t fret Christine knows what you’ll like,” Marie confided.

“But how?” Kelly fretted, “She never said anything after she took my measurements. She just stood there watching me look though those clothing books.”

“I think she has some psychic ability to know what you like when you see it or something like that,” Kay tried to explain. “I don’t think she has ever made something for someone that they did not love.”

“Kay is correct honey,” Marie added, “It has something to do with Christine’s powers. You will love everything she makes for you. Now what’s everyone want for lunch?”

From the very back where Anne was now sitting, she yelled, “Pizza!”

Kay turned around to look at her youngest sister, “That’s all you ever want Anne!”

“But it’s good!” Anne argued, “And everyone likes pizza!”

“She’s got you there,” Marie chuckled.

Kelly had thought the shopping was over when they piled back into the minivan after leaving the pizza place, but found out how wrong she was when Marie pulled into the parking lot of University Mall. The next several hours she spent being drug from one store to another as Sarah, Anne and Kelly were told to try on different dresses, tops and pants while Marie and Kay waited outside the changing rooms to inspect the outfits they tried on. Kelly quickly came to appreciate how easy the dress she had worn was to get on and off, had she dressed in jeans and a tee shirt like she had first planned, she would have been forced to spend a lot more time in the changing rooms.

Walking through the mall Anne suddenly stated, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Kelly would you go with your sister to the bathroom please,” Marie asked. Kelly looked up at Marie questioningly. Before Kelly could speak Marie explained, “There are way too many low-life’s around to take chances honey, a young lady should never be out somewhere by herself.”

Anne quickly took Kelly’s hand and pulled her toward a hallway between two storefronts that had a sign above it stating, ‘restrooms.’ Once in the long deserted hallway Anne’s pace slowed and her grip on Kelly’s hand tightened. The hallway made a quick left then another right, Kelly assumed this was probably too obscure any mall workers from being seen using the hallway although she immediately realized how some undesirable could easily hide and wait for an unsuspecting victim in the deserted hallway.

Anne held tightly to Kelly’s hand until they were both in the women’s restroom and had determined no one else was there before she let go and darted into a stall. Deciding to go now, rather than make the long trip back to the restroom, Kelly stepped into another stall.

Leaving the restroom Anne suddenly stepped behind Kelly, grabbing onto Kelly by the back of her dress nearly stopping Kelly in her tracks, when the two spotted three boys around Kelly’s age or slightly older standing in the hall near the restrooms.

One of the boys was facing in their direction waved shyly, “Hi.”

Kelly looked over at him as she was attempting to extract Anne out from behind her so they could get back to the rest of their family, “Um, hi.” Finally getting Anne to release her hold and take her hand, Anne began pulling Kelly away from the boys.

As they walked away Kelly heard another of the boys say, “You see a pretty girl and all you can do it say, ‘Hi,’ and turn all red faced?”

“Knock it off Danny,” Kelly heard another speak, “You know how Tommy gets around pretty girls.”

Kelly felt her own face become very warm, when she heard the one say she was pretty. Kelly felt butterflies in her stomach, What is wrong with me? I, I don’t want to be pretty! I don’t want to be a girl! Kelly allowed Anne to lead her by the hand, not paying attention to where they were going as her own situation bore the forefront of her mind, Get used to it, you are girl now! Kelly thought, Whether I like it or not, guys see a pretty girl when they look at me! Kelly sighed heavily as the two exited the narrow hallway back into the main part of the mall.

Kay stood up from the bench she had sat down on to wait for them. Marie and Sarah were nowhere to be seen. Kay led them into a department store where they found Marie who immediately handed Kelly several outfits and then pointed at the changing rooms. In the changing room Kelly noticed the outfits she was given appeared to be school uniforms, quickly changing into the first one she hoped that this meant their shopping was almost done. Six outfits later she came out in her original dress, “Are we going to go home sometime today?” She asked Marie.

“Just one more stop honey,” Marie grinned. “You need shoes. You can’t keep borrowing your sister’s.”

Kelly sighed knowing Marie was right, “Then can we go home?”

“Yes honey, then we can go home.”

The shoe store was only a couple stores down, once in Marie picked out and handed Kelly a box containing classic patent leather flats with the buckled strap. “You’ve got to be kidding?” Kelly commented while holding up one of the shoes.

Sarah turned to see what Kelly was talking about, saw the shoe in her hand and giggled. “We have to have them for school silly, it’s part of our uniform!”

A sales lady walked up to them right at that moment, “Can I help you find anything?”

“Do you have these in steel toe?” Kelly grinned. Kelly ignored the glare Marie gave her.

“Steel toe?” The sales woman asked, “Why would you want steel toed shoes?”

“For those times when saying ‘NO’ the first time doesn’t work.” Kelly’s grin widened. Anne and Sarah began giggling, even Kay found herself snickering as she remembered all the dirty fighting tricks Kelly had shown her over the years. The sales woman even chuckled at Kelly’s joke.

“Kelly!” Marie warned.

“Hey they’re practical,” Kelly giggled.

Reaching into a shopping bag that she was carrying, Marie pulled out a pack of ankle shocks, opened it and handed Kelly one pair from the package, “Put these on so you can try on the shoes.”

Kelly did as she was told, then before she could put her sandals back on Sarah handed her a pair of gym shoes, after the gym shoes came another pair, then another and another. Kelly’s hopes of quickly grabbing a couple pairs of shoes and leaving soon turned into yet another bout of endlessly trying on different shoes, some Marie put back on the shelf while many were carried to the counter as she tried on something else. Looking at the ever increasing size of the stack that Marie was making by the cash register Kelly finally turned to Marie, “How many pairs of shoes do you think I need?”

It was after five P.M. when the minivan finally pulled into the garage, the space behind the rear most seat stuffed high with shopping bags, along with the rear most seat and floor between it and the center seat, where the three younger girls had been forced to sit together to make room for the shopping bags.

Kelly waited while Marie and her sisters grabbed what they could carry before approaching the open rear hatch of the van to grab the bags containing her things. Threading her hands through all her bags, Kelly glanced at the closed garage door, then over at the door that led into the house. Watching Kay disappear through the door, Kelly grinned as she closed her eyes, releasing her power.

Kelly could see Anne walking up the stairs inside the house, followed closely by Sarah, then Marie and finally Kay. Beyond that she could see inside all the bedrooms even though the doors were closed. It was as if she were could see everywhere in the house at the same time from every possible angle. Focusing on her own bedroom, Kelly willed herself there with all the shopping bags she was holding onto.

Opening her eyes, a large smile washed across Kelly’s face as she realized she was able to teleport all the shopping bags with her without a single problem. Sitting the shopping bags down on her bed Kelly thought,Now that is a handy power.

Kelly was working on removing tags when Sarah walked in through the bathroom they shared, “Want some help sis?” Sarah asked before noticing that all Kelly’s bags were already in her room. “How’d you get everything up here in one trip?”

Kelly grinned as she reached over threading her hand through several of the full bags before teleporting to the other side of the room with the bags.

“That is so cool!” Sarah giggled.

“Yea now if I only knew where am I going to put all this stuff so I can find it?” Kelly whined, “I swear this is more clothes than I have ever owned at one time! And ten pairs of shoes? Who needs that many?”

“Ten? That’s just a start.” Sarah giggled, “Most girls would feel underprivileged with so few!”

“It was a lot easier when all I needed was cargo pants, polo shirts and three pairs of shoes.”

Sarah sat down beside Kelly on the bed and gave her sister a hug, “Being a girl has its benefits too, you just haven’t seen that side yet. And you have the greatest big sister any girl could dream of!”

Kelly, realizing Sarah was talking about herself looked up at Sarah grinning, “You’re right, Kay is a pretty cool sister.”

Sarah playfully slapped Kelly on the leg as both began giggling, “Oh that’s mean!”

Kelly looked into Sarah’s eyes, “You know I love you too.”

“I love you to little sister.” Sarah grinned mischievously at Kelly before standing up, “How about we get all this stuff put away.”

Sarah seemed to take great joy in explaining the how and why of arranging Kelly’s new clothes in what she thought of as a logical order in the dresser and in Kelly’s closet. How one top could be used with several bottoms or how several tops could be used with one skirt to make a variety of outfits that all looked different and how Sarah put them in the closet to make it easier to pick out an outfit easier.

Kelly dreaded the thought of having to learn these things but with the situation she was now in, listened with care since learning how to dress and act like the girl she was now would be an important part of her life. Sarah could and probably would have spent all evening teaching Kelly about the do’s and dont’s of dressing as a girl but Kelly was saved when Marie called everyone down to dinner.

At dinner Anne and Sarah were their normal talkative selves, although Kelly thought that Michael was unusually quiet during dinner. Kelly figured that was probably due to the conversation being dominated by topics that most guys would have done their best to stay out of anyway. If she had not been the center of the conversation she would have loved to sit on the quietly on the sidelines herself. The way Michael quickly left the table when he was finished without a word, told Kelly there was something else bothering the boy.

Kelly knew that something was her, she was no longer the man that Michael has idolized in his childhood, the man that Michael had done his best to emulate as he grew into the young man he was now. Kelly needed to talk to him, get him to stop holding back whatever feelings he had bottled up inside himself. Pushing her chair back Kelly began to get up from the table.

“Where are you going?” Marie interrupted her thoughts of Michael.

“I…” Kelly glanced at the door Michael had walked out while searching for a response.

“Have you been listening?” Marie asked.

“Sorry,” Kelly sat back down, “my mind was elsewhere.”

“That is exactly what I was talking about.” Marie continued, “If we are going to pull this off, you must start acting and talking your age.”

“But I’m —”

Marie held up her hand silencing Kelly’s rebuttal, “You are now an eleven year old girl and people will expect you to act like one.” Kelly nodded lowering her gaze to the table, knowing Marie was right. “I can only imagine what you are going through, but remember we are here for you, you are and have always been part of this family. We all love you very much.” Kelly looked up to see everyone at the table nodding and smiling at her.

“What may be even harder,” Marie explained, “you need to get used to people treating you like a young girl. Your father and I could get arrested just for leaving you home alone now. So everyone in this family needs, no must, treat you like an eleven year old girl.”

Marie reached across to Kelly, gently cradling her chin with her hand, pulling Kelly’s face so they were looking into each other’s eyes. “As much as it hurts me to say this, Kelly Michael Lekka is gone.” Marie hold became more solid on Kelly’s chin as Kelly tried to avert her eyes. Marie could see Kelly’s eyes watering up, “But everything he was,” Marie reached over with her free hand tapping a finger on Kelly’s temple, “Is right here, inside my beautiful daughter.”

A tear ran down Marie’s cheek. “When you were hurt I prayed, I begged, god not to take you away from us. God found a way, it may not have been what any of us expected, but you are still here with us and for that I thank the good lord with all my heart.”

Chapter 31

Kelly woke feeling something long and hairy across her face, Damn cat! she thought as she reached up to move the cat’s tail off her face. Kelly sat bolt upright in bed when she realized it wasn’t a cat, they didn’t even have a cat. Looking down Kelly spotted the long braided pony tail draping over her right shoulder and down across the pink silky nightgown Marie had insisted she wear to bed instead of one of her old tee shirts like she had the night before.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed while tossing the covers back out of the way, Kelly sat on the edge of the bed, her toes just barely touch touching the floor. Looking over at the digital clock on the bedside table it read “5:53am.” Kelly though, At least something is starting to go back to normal!

Kelly had never been one to sleep in late, too many years in the military had put her in the habit of becoming an early riser. Walking over to the bathroom that she shared with Sarah, the bathroom having a door on two sides, one opening into Sarah’s room while the other into Kelly’s room. Kelly wasn’t worried about walking in on Sarah as Sarah had always slept until her mother came in to wake her.

Back in her room, Kelly figured since she had woken up at what she thought of as a normal time, she would work on getting back into what used to be her normal morning routine. Locating a pair of tights in her dresser one of the very few items Marie allowed her to get that were actually colored in a camo pattern of white gray and black.

Kelly would have preferred a pair of sweatpants, but Marie had vetoed the purchase of any of those for now, explaining to Kelly that she needed to get used to dressing in feminine clothing and becoming comfortable in them and the only way that would happen is by doing it. Slipping on the tights, then a black tank top that she was told was a perfect fit even though she thought it was too tight. Kelly sat on the bench at her vanity and put on a pair of ankle socks and then the pastel purple tennis shoes with pink soles that Sarah insisted were the style and color all girls wanted.

Looking down at herself Kelly felt like a clown with all the colors. Looking up into the mirror behind her vanity as she began taking the braid out of her hair, she saw anything but a clown. Staring back at her was a very pretty young girl, the girl was dressed like many girls her age Kelly had seen, including Anne and Sarah. The only thing she found unusual was the strange orange-red color of her irises.

Glancing over at the white plastic case on the vanity, I’ll take care of that once I get my hair brushed out, A small smile spread across Kelly’s face, only to turn into a frown when she realized she was thinking of herself looking like a normal girl. Normal yes, but why did I have to change into a girl?

After brushing her hair out Kelly looked carefully at herself in the mirror and decided she would need it up but did not want to take the time to try anything as complicated as braiding it. Walking into her closet Kelly found she was too short to reach one of the ball caps on the top shelf above the hanging clothes. Looking around there was nothing to stand on inside the closet. Standing on her toes, Kelly stretched trying to reach the cap, she was close, but still unable to grab the cap off the shelf. It’s so close! Maybe if I jump? She thought.

Looking around as if someone could have been watching her in her own bedroom Kelly realized how stupid that idea was. All she had to do what hit her arm on the way down, or twist an ankle or even fall wrong and she would wake up the whole house. I’ll ask Marie, I mean mom, to buy a step stool for the closet. Kelly thought to herself as she walked back out into her room and sat down to put her hair up into a ponytail with one of the many elastics Marie had picked up for her. Taking care of her hair, Kelly made a pair of contacts, put them in then went downstairs.

In the kitchen Kelly found someone had already made a pot of coffee, but Marie was nowhere in sight. Looking out through the window to the backyard while pouring herself a cup, she saw Michael dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and tee shirt going through his Tai Chi forms. Taking a sip of the hot beverage, Kelly walked outside sitting the cup down on the patio table where Michael had sat his own cup of coffee. Walking out in the grass Kelly took position about five feet to Michael’s left and began mimicking his moves.

“What are you doing?” Michael sounded annoyed at the interruption.

“Same thing you’re doing,” Kelly grinned, “Morning exercises.”

“Why?”

“This is one of the few things I have left,” Kelly stopped then faced Michael, “I, I want something, anything I can get to return to normal. You know this was, is normal for me.”

Michael stopped facing Kelly, staring down at her, You are not my uncle Kelly! Kelly was a man I looked up to. A real man!, “You’re a little girl!”

Kelly shook her head, “Do you think I like looking like this? I wish I was still the same person, I wake up every morning hoping it was all a bad dream! But God, fate or whatever force is to blame for this, did not ask my opinion. I am stuck like this whether I like it or not!”

“How can you be sure!” Michael was all but screaming, “You haven’t tried anything!”

“What the hell do you want me to try?” Kelly could see that Michael was boiling over with anger and needed to relieve some of the pressure before he blew up at the wrong person. “Want me to walk through a burning building again? That didn’t work out so well for me the last time!”

Michael stepped closer, his fists balled up in rage, “Don’t you ever talk about what happened to Kelly like that again! If you weren’t a girl…”

“What you’ll hit me?” Kelly goaded, “What? You think just because I’m a girl you can actually land a punch on me now? Come on give it a try!”

Michael took a half step back lowering his head but not his anger, “Dad, dad would kill me if I hit a girl.”

He has to let this anger go, Kelly thought to herself as she worked on Michael, I know it’s about me, he needs to take his anger out now before it starts driving a wedge between himself and everyone! Kelly took a step toward Michael, “Go ahead say it! Say I let you down! Tell me I’m a disappointment! Tell me you want me to leave!”

Kelly watched as tears began to fall from Michael’s face, raising his fists he screamed, “NO!” Dropping his hands to his sides Michael’s whole body began to shiver as he dropped to his knees on the grass, “You, you’re going to hate me,” he sobbed.

Kelly dropped to her knees in front of Michael putting one of her small hands on his shoulder, “I could never hate you Michael.”

“It’s my fault,” He sniffed between sobs.

“What’s your fault?”

“I, I told dad about that devise they had at the burn center in Georgia,” Michael sniffed back tears, “I was so worried you were going to die. I found out about it on the net and, and I thought maybe it could save you.”

“Michael look at me.” Kelly moved her hand from his shoulder to his chin pulling his face up so he had to look at her. Once she was looking into his eyes, “Michael, that man that ran that machine saved my life.”

“But, look at what it did to you!”

“I think we can agree that it beats the alternative,” Kelly grinned, not sure how she felt about being a kid again, little less a girl but knowing without a doubt that anything was better than dead.

Michael let out a nervous chuckle, “I, I guess so. But I still feel that it’s my fault.”

“Michael if you hadn’t found out about that, and get them to send me there I would be dead.” Kelly explained, “So if you did anything, you helped to save me.” Kelly leaned forward wrapping her small arms around Michael into a hug, whispering into his ear, “Thank you.”

“But you’re a girl now.”

“That I blame on fate,” Kelly pulled back to look into his eyes, “and you know what I say about fate.”

“Michael began to grin, “She’s a royal bitch that loves screwing with people.”

“Exactly!” Kelly smiled, “Now you want to finish our forms or grab some coffee first?”

“I think I could use a cup of coffee,” Michael smiled helping Kelly to her feet as he rose up on his own.

The two grabbed the coffee cups they had left on the patio table before entering the house into the kitchen. “You two get your issues worked out?” Marie was standing at the kitchen counter sipping on a cup of coffee as they walked in.

Reaching out Marie took Michael’s cup from him and poured the cold coffee into the sink before refilling his cup and handing it back. Reaching out once more she took Kelly’s cup poured its contents into the sink, “You do realize that you are too young for coffee now,” Marie’s face showed no expression.

“You’ve got to be kidding?” Kelly quipped, “Marie you know I need my morning coffee!”

“That’s Mom remember?” Marie’s stoic expression failing as she began to grin at the young girl.

“But—”

“Hey like you said,” Michael grinned sheepishly, “It’s better than the alternative.”

“I don’t know,” Kelly frowned, “Turning into a girl is one thing, but no coffee?”

“I’m kidding honey,” Marie finally refilling the cup and handing it back to Kelly, “although you really do need to cut back on the amount you used to drink. People would wonder about a young girl that walks around with a cup of coffee at all hours of the day.”

Kelly nodded, “Yea that would look pretty strange.”

Walking over to the refrigerator, “Kelly I’m going to start breakfast, Will you please go wake up your sisters.”

“Uh sure… Mom,” emphasizing the last word, Kelly walked over beside Marie and pulled a bottle of water from out of the refrigerator before turning to walk out of the kitchen grinning.

“Leave the bottle of ice cold water here please,” Marie ordered.

Kelly sat the bottle on the table, “You take all fun out of it!” She said as she walked out the doorway.

“If I hear any blood curdling screams you will be doing dishes for a week young lady!” Marie shouted after her.

"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 32
Kelly could feel the subtle movement of the boat caused by someone stepping onboard, even from where she sat in the starboard rear cabin. “Kelly you down here?” She heard Sarah call out.

“Starboard cabin,” Kelly called in return.

“Starboard?” Sarah sounded confused.

“The one on the right,” Kelly’s chuckle came out as a little girl’s giggle.

“What ya doing?” Sarah asked as she walked into the small cabin.

Holding up a pair of men’s swimming trunks, “Going though things that I can’t use anymore.” Kelly folded the trunks before sitting them on a stack of folded clothes that lay on the bed beside her. “I’ll let Michael go through this stuff and see what he wants, then I guess Mar… I mean Mom can take the rest to the goodwill or something.”

Sarah sat down beside Kelly pulling the younger girl into a hug, “You don’t have to do this right now.”

“Yes I do,” Kelly sighed heavily, her hands falling into her lap along with the shirt she had just picked up. “I can’t change what happened, I’m not me anymore. I have to accept that.”

Sarah squeezed Kelly deeper into the hug, “You’re still you.”

“No I’m not!” Tears began to form in Kelly’s eyes, “Look at me, I can’t stop crying over every little thing now.”

“It’s okay for girls to cry.”

“But I’m not…” Stopping herself when she realized how stupid it would sound to say she wasn’t a girl.

“You know Mom is only trying to help?” Sarah explained, “There is only a couple of weeks before school starts.”

“I know,” Kelly’s shoulders slumped forward as she sighed, “I get it, I need to learn the basic girl stuff before I have to go to school.”

Sarah grinned, “Well telling everyone you’re my tomboy little sister will only go so far!”

“Yea how’s that going to work?” Kelly giggled, “Your long lost sister mysteriously appears after your uncle disappears?”

“I’m sure daddy and papou have it all worked out.” Sarah smiled, “Speaking of Daddy, Mom sent me out here for you, we need to get ready to go pick him up at the airport.”

“He’s flying in today? Why didn’t um… Mom say anything?”

“She told us all at breakfast this morning silly.” Sarah giggled, “Weren’t you listening?”

“I guess my mind was on something else.”

“You mean you were zoned out.” Sarah said more as a statement than a question.

“Zoned out?”

“Yea,” Sarah explained, “Just say you were zoned out or having a blond moment. You say were your mind was on something else the girls in school will think you were thinking about a boy you have a crush on.”

“WHAT?” Kelly looked up, her eyes shocked wide, “You’ve got to be shi… kidding me! NO!”

“And answering like that will make them believe it!” Sarah giggled. “Come on, let’s go get ready to pick up daddy at the airport.”

“That’s something else that is going to take getting used to,” Kelly picked up the stack of clothing she thought Michael my want before standing up and following Sarah out of the cabin.

What’s that?” Sarah looked back over her shoulder.

“Calling my best friend daddy.”

“Oh you just so have to scream daddy and run up and give him a hug at the airport.” Sarah giggled.

“I, I don’t think that would be appropriate,” Kelly blushed.

“Really?” Sarah stopped and turned to face Kelly. “I’ll bet you that Anna does it!”

“Yea but she’s still a little girl.”

“Oh yea,” Sarah grinned tilting her head to one side while deadpanning, “I forgot you look so much older.”

Kelly sighed knowing that something like that would not be unexpected but doubted she could bring herself to do it as they continued across the back yard toward the house. Sarah leaned over toward Kelly grinning, “How about we do it together? Before you say no, think about the look on daddy’s face when he sees the three of us scream and run to him.”

“I don’t know.”

“Okay, then look at it this way,” Sarah giggled, “If you’re the only one that doesn’t, it would look weird.”

“That’s blackmail,” Kelly found herself giggling.

“Come on, I want to see the fun Kelly again.” Sarah giggled, “Remember the time you came in and told Mom how you had learned how to juggle and she asked you to show her? Then told her you could only do eggs but needed help to get the third egg going.” Sarah began laughing too hard to continue.

~o~O~o~

Kelly remembered how he had tricked Marie that evening. After catching a bit of flak from Marie about not being around for some time, Kelly stated it was because he had been taking juggling classes at night to learn how to juggle. Marie had thought he was making an excuse and asked him to show her what he had learned so far. Kelly had explained that he only knew how to do it really well with eggs, but still needed help to get started. Marie still not believing a word took out a carton of eggs from the fridge and asked him to demonstrate.

Taking one egg in each hand, “Okay I need some help to get started,” Kelly stated with his best poker face. “When I say ‘now’ I need you to toss an egg over my left shoulder okay?”

Marie, still skeptical, picked up an egg from the carton on the counter as all her children gathered to watch Kelly preform his juggling act. Kelly began tossing the two eggs back and forth between his hands, “Almost ready, almost…now.”

The egg Marie tossed flew over Kelly’s left shoulder, “Wait I’m not ready!” Kelly sounded off as the egg flew past his shoulder hitting the floor with a splat.

“You said now,” Marie questioned.

Turning to face Marie, “I mean I am almost ready now, not throw it now.” Kelly apologized before turning his back to Marie again. “Let’s try again, Make sure you toss it over my right shoulder okay?”

Tossing the two eggs again, “Okay I’m ready, make sure you toss it over my right shoulder.”

“Okay,” Marie stood behind him with the egg in her hand.

“Now,” Kelly stated as the egg came over his right shoulder, breaking on the floor a few inches away from the first egg Marie had tossed.

“Why’d you toss it over that shoulder?” Kelly turned to face Marie again.

“You said your right shoulder!”

“No,” Kelly explained, “I need it to come over my left shoulder, what I meant is the correct shoulder, not the right side!”

“Sorry, I thought you wanted me to toss it over the other side this time.”

“No big deal,” Kelly stated, “It was an honest mistake. You still want me to show you that I can juggle?”

Marie looked around at her children all gathered watching intently, “Yes.”

Turing around Kelly began tossing the two eggs once again, “Now,” Marie tossed the egg just as Kelly started to turn to his right, “I want to make sure you toss it over my left shoulder not my right.” Marie’s hand went to her mouth about the same time Kelly heard the egg break on the floor behind him. The kids were all giggling.

Kelly sighed, “I said now, didn’t I? Maybe we should stop, we’re making a mess in your kitchen.”

Looking around at the four children once again, all having excited looks on their faces as they waited to watch Kelly prove he could juggle. “No, let’s continue. I think everyone wants to see you juggle now.”

“Alight if you insist,” Kelly turned his back to Marie once again and began tossing the two eggs he held in his hand. A few minutes later he said, “Okay now!”

Marie tossed the egg over Kelly’s left shoulder just as Kelly tossed the egg in that hand up, the two eggs collided in midair, one breaking on impact the other as it landed on the floor. “Damn!” Kelly exclaimed, “That was just a tad too slow. Toss the next one a bit faster.” Kelly stated as he picked up a new egg from the carton.

On and on they went, each egg landing on the floor with a different excuse each time Kelly missed one until the only eggs left were the two Kelly held in his hands. Looking at the empty egg carton on the counter, Kelly handed Marie the two unbroken eggs he held, “I guess I can’t show you tonight, not enough eggs left.”

~o~O~o~

“You know you never did pay up on that bet?” Kelly giggled as the two approached the back door.

“You lost that bet!” Sarah giggled.

“Did she or did she not break all the eggs?” Kelly grinned at Sarah.

“The bet was she broke them all on the floor,” Sarah gaped at Kelly, “The last two hit the wall when she threw them at you!” Sarah reached out for the door handle, “Now quite about it, we don’t want mom to hear us, she might ground us both.”

“That was over two years ago,” Kelly stated, “She’s forgotten it by now.”

“You really don’t know anything about women do you?” Sarah opened the door and stepped inside.

“What are you two giggling about?” Marie saw the two girls come in through the back door, Kelly with her arms full of clothing.

“Just stuff mom,” Sarah grinned.

“Yep just stuff mom, ” Kelly and Sarah both began giggling again.

“What’s with the clothes?” Marie changed the subject, thinking whatever they were going on about couldn’t be too bad as they had only been in the backyard.

“I was going through my stuff from the boat,” Kelly held the bundle of clothing out, “I think Michael may want some of this.

“That’s thoughtful of you honey,” Marie smiled, “Why don’t you take it to his room when you go up to change.”

“What do I need to change for?”

“So we can pick up your father at the airport.”

“What’s wrong with what I have on now?”

“Short-shorts and flip flops?” Marie sighed “Please go put on something more appropriate like a skirt or a dress, and brush your hair.”

Chapter 33
Kelly’s decision not to run screaming when they saw Jake walking out of the arrival gate had no effect since between Anne and Sarah screaming “Daddy” no one would have been able to hear her or tell she wasn’t screaming to. Anne was first to reach Jake, but that was probably due to the fact that Sarah had been holding Kelly’s hand and did not let go, dragging Kelly along as she ran toward their father.

Jake knew those screams of delight anywhere, turning toward their voices he saw that Sarah had Kelly in tow. He knew his middle daughter all too well, she was trying to shock him by having Kelly run up with her hugging him, Two can play that game! Jake chuckled to himself kneeling down to receive the running children in his arms. Just as soon as all three were in his arms Jake held them tightly and made a big show of showering all three with kisses on their cheeks and foreheads, not letting up his assault until all three began squirming to get free.

As Jake stood up a thin white haired lady walked up out of the line of people, “Jake your girls are as beautiful as you said on the plane, but you never told me you had twins?”

Kelly noticed the woman’s gaze was centered on her and Sarah, “We’re—”

“Not twins.” Sarah finished Kelly’s statement.

“Well you two could have fooled me,” The woman smiled.

“Abagail this is Anne,” Jake motioned to the youngest girl. Then looking at Kelly, “This is Kelly, and this is Sarah,” Nodding his head in Sarah’s direction. Looking in the direction that Marie, Kay and Michael were walking up from, “And that is my son Michael, my oldest Kay and my wife Marie.”

“It is a pleasure to meet your family Jake,” Abigail looked at the three girls. “I really hate to cut this short but I’m supposed to meet my son at the Starbucks near the baggage claim area.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Sarah and Kelly chimed together. Anne waved as Abigail turned and walked away.

“Have a nice vacation with your son Abigail,” Jake added.

“Who was that dear?” Marie walked up to the group.

“Oh just a very nice lady I had the pleasure to sit next to on the flight.” Jake explained, “Her name is Abigale, she is visiting her son and his family before she moves to her new job out in Los Angles.”

“What kind of work does she do?” Marie began walking toward the baggage claim area with everyone.

“Psychiatrist, she told me she works mostly will teens that have problems.” Jake grinned over at Kelly, “Maybe we should have her talk with you?” Kelly’s eyes went wide shaking her head.

“Well I bet she’s never had a teen with the same problem you have.” Jake chuckled at Kelly’s glare.

“I can’t believe she thought we were twins?” Sarah giggled.

“It was an easy mistake to make honey,” Marie smiled.

“What?” Surprised at her mother’s reply, “Kelly and I don’t look anything alike.” Both parents and their older brother and sister began chucking at Sarah’s statement.

“Sis,” Kay purred, “people are going to think we’re pulling their leg when we say she is adopted.”

“I didn’t realize it until I saw the two of you together,” Jake agreed, “You two do look allot alike.”

Kelly and Sarah looked at each other hard, trying to determine why everyone thought they looked so much alike, “I don’t see it?” Kelly shaking her head.

“Neither do I!” Sarah agreed.

“Everyone else does girls,” Marie chuckled.

Jake pointed over to where some push carts sat unused in the baggage claim area, “Michael would you please go grab one of those trolleys. Your grandfather sent me back with some extra things.”

“Presents?” Anna’s eyes lit up at the thought of presents from her grandfather.

“Yes baby girl I brought some of those and your grandfather sent some things too.” Jake smiled down at the youngest girl.

Michael met up with them a few moments later with the luggage trolley just as the conveyor began to move, moments later suitcases began appearing out of the small opening in the wall from which the conveyor began. They all watched as the various sizes and types of luggage paraded past until Jake pointed out the large suitcase he had taken on the trip. “That one’s mine,” Jake pointed.

Kelly closest to the one Jake pointed out, snatched it off the conveyor, “This one?”

“That’s it, just set it down for now.” Jake motioned to the floor beside the trolley, “We need to load the trunks on the cart first.” Looking back to the opening where the conveyor came though the wall Jake could see a black trunk with silver metal reinforcing the corners pass through the opening, followed immediately by another identical trunk. Both trunks about three feet long, two feet wide and tall with the same metal handles at the ends. A gap of several feet appeared with no luggage, then another trunk came through the opening before other suitcases and boxes began appearing again. “Those three trunks are ours.” Jake pointed as the trunks approached. Jake handed Marie is briefcase before moving closer to the conveyor.

Jake grabbed the first trunk by one handle, dragging it over the edge until he could reach the handle on the other end before lifting the trunk and carrying it the few feet to the trolley Michael had brought over. As soon as his father was out of the way Michael did the same with the second trunk. Turning from the trolley back to the conveyor, “I’ll need your…” Jake suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. Michael looked over at his father who was staring at Kelly.

“Uh guys, this is kind of heavy!” Kelly hinted that they were in her way. Both men moved out of the way allowing Kelly the room she needed to place the trunk onto the trolley with the other two.

“That’s everything,” Jake nodded, picking up the suitcase from where it was on the floor and placed it on top the chests. “Marie you and the girls go get the truck, Michael and I will meet you by the door to load this stuff in the back.

“Come on girls,” Marie smiled before turning to walk away. Kay, Sarah and Anne were right on her heels.

“That goes for you too,” Jake grinned at Kelly giving her a playful shove.

“Oh yea,” Kelly nervously giggled then trotted to catch up with her Marie and the girls.

Michael and Jake were waiting when Marie pulled the large Ford Excursion up to the curb. From where she sat inside Kelly watched Jake pull the rear glass up then open the tail gate. Kelly felt the heavy suspension of the vehicle suddenly squat as the first chest was loaded. The other two chests and the suitcase went in without notice, then Michael pushed the trolley back up near the wall of the building.

Jake came around to the driver’s side as Marie began to slide over so he could take over driving as Michael walked up to Kelly’s door. Realizing there would be allot more room in the back seat between the two smaller girls than in the middle seat with Kay and Michael, Kelly slipped into the rear seat with Anne and Sarah before Michael got in.

Chapter 34
Once in the garage Jake shut off the large vehicle then pushed the button on the sun visor to close the garage door behind them. Michael was the first out and already had the rear glass swung up to unload the vehicle.

“Michael, that stuff can wait till later,” Jake called to his son.

“Sure dad.” Michael pulled the real glass back down and shut it.

“Marie what did you do with my briefcase?”

“Right behind your seat dear.”

Kay stepped out if the driver’s side rear door and handed her father the briefcase.

Jake herded everyone into the family room then sat down beside Kelly on the sofa. Laying his briefcase on the coffee table, Jake opened it then pulled out a manila envelope that he handed to Kelly.

Kelly saw the official emblem of Greek government on the front of the large envelope but nothing else that could tell her what it contained.

“Well?” Jake grinned at Kelly, “You going to open it?”

Opening the top of the envelope Kelly pulled out the two pages it contained. The first one was in Greek, one of the few foreign languages Kelly could read due to the amount of time he had spent there. “It’s a birth certificate?” Kelly stated, looking up to Jake waiting for an explanation.

“Read it,” Jake grinned.

Kelly’s jaw dropped when she reached the part that told the birth mother and father. “I, I never… Iva didn’t even like me!”

Jake began laughing, “From what your grandfather says, she had a huge crush on you!”

“She did too,” Marie smiled from the chair she had sat down in. “She was scared to death that one day you would figure it out, but like most men you were oblivious.”

“Who was Iva?” Sarah looked to her mother.

“She used to work for your grandfather honey.”

“But this makes me my own daughter!” Kelly blurted out.

“The simplest lies are the easiest to maintain,” Jake smiled wider at being able to use Kelly’s own words against her now.

Kelly sighed, “Okay, if I’m Iva’s daughter, why am I not living with her?”

“Honey?” Marie looked shocked that Kelly was not aware, “Iva died in a car accident.”

Quickly gaining control of the conversation again, “After your mother died, Marie’s father, now your grandfather took care of you. You have been home schooled and tutored for most of your life while living on your grandfather’s estate.” Pulling another manila envelope from his briefcase before standing and handing them to Marie, “Her school records, you’ll need to take those with you when you go to enroll her into school here. All the originals and the interpreted papers are in there along with a copy of her birth certificate and the adoptions papers.”

Sitting back down, Jake turned to face Kelly, “Marie and I are now your legal parents.”

Kelly sighed heavily shaking her head, “I knew we were doing this but it’s a lot to take in.”

“Oh also, you knew your father, um your birth father, Kelly well,” Jake continued, “He visited when he could, wrote you and your mother letters and sent birthday and Christmas presents.”

Kelly looked up at Jake, her eyes wide, “I did what?”

“Your grandfather wanted to make your story as foolproof as possible.” Jake grinned, “Right down to the old shoe box you keep all those letters he sent you in.”

Accepting that this was all done out of their love for her, Kelly nodded before grinning up at Jake, “So I take it grandpa was his normal self?”

“Oh yes, as usual the old man brought in a team and left no stone unturned.” Jake chuckled, “You even have all the letters your father mailed to you and your mother over the years.”

The look of confusion was evident on Kelly’s face, “Letters?”

Jake laughed, “Like I said the old man thought of everything. I doubt the witness protection program does as good a job.”

Glancing down at the forged birth certificate in her hand, “Well at least you kept my birthday the same.”

“We figured it would be easier to leave that alone and only change the year.” Jake smiled, “You’re twelve years old now.”

Chapter 35
Sarah stood near the wall of the school’s wide hallway so neither her or Kelly were trampled by the multitude of students that were trying to get their own schedules and find out where they needed to be. “Look!” Sarah pointed to her schedule, “We have second period English together.”

“Oh joy,” Kelly groaned, “I was not that good at it the first time around.”

“Well at least you have an excuse this time,” Sarah giggled.

Kelly’s brow furled, “Excuse?”

“Of course silly,” Sarah grinned, “You’re Greek!”

“We’re both Greek,” Kelly stated the obvious.

“I meant you’re from Greece,” Sarah explained. “That should be easy for you since you already cuss in Greek.”

Kelly lowered her eyes as her face turned red, “I didn’t know you could understand that?”

“Hey I may not speak it like you and mom, but I’ve been able to understand what you two were saying for a long time.” Realizing she had let her secret slip, “Um, you’re not going to tell mom are you?”

“Are you kidding?” Kelly looked up grinning, “We’re on the same side now, she’s my mom too!” Both girls started giggling.

“SARAH!” They heard another girl yell above the roar of the crowded hall.

Looking the direction of the voice Kelly saw three girls making their way through the crowd toward them. Looking back to Sarah, “Friends?” Sarah nodded then began waving her hand above her head in their direction.

“Where were you?” The taller girl with the strawberry blond pixie cut began, “We waited for you at the wall.”

“Sorry I had to help my sister this morning.”

“I thought your sister was only eight?” The girl with mousy brown hair and a figure that almost matched Kelly’s

“Guys this is my sister Kelly!” Sarah introduced, “This is Lisa, Rose and Deb. Kelly’s been living with our grandfather.”

“Oh wow, are you two twins?” Rose, the Hispanic girl gasped.

Kelly looked over at Sarah, “Why do people keep asking that?”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders, “Kelly’s adopted.”

“No way!” Deb looked from Kelly to Sarah then back to Kelly, “You too look too much alike.”

“Yea, you sure you weren’t separated at birth or something?” Rose giggled.

“I for one see a perfect opportunity to have a little fun with the teachers,” Lisa grabbed Kelly’s hand and began pulling her along while walking down the hall. “Deb you do have your make up with you?”

“Of course I do!” The smaller girl stated as she tried to weave though the throng of students in the hall to keep up.

Sarah, Rose and Deb followed as Lisa pulled Kelly into the girl’s bathroom and over to the counter. Turning to the girls as they entered behind them, “Deb work your magic!”

Kelly’s eyes went wide in panic, “I, I don’t wear make up!”

“What?” Lisa giggled, “You’re kidding?” Kelly shook her head. “Where did you live that you never wore make up?”

“Greece.” Kelly and Sarah chorused.

Deb is the best in school at makeup,” Rose stated, “She does all the make up for the school plays.”

Sarah was getting into the spirit, “Come on Kelly, it’s only a little make up and this does sound like it could be fun.”

“We don’t have a lot of time before the bell rings,” Deb stated.

Kelly knew she needed to fit in and at least pretend to be the young girl she now resembled but this was a step she was not ready for, make up was just too damn girly. She could even remember the big argument that Marie, no make that mom had with Sarah when Sarah came home one day from school last year wearing makeup. I’m a girl now, I need to act like one. Kelly took a deep breath then sighed, “Alright, go ahead.” Kelly looked over at Sarah, “It’s your fault if mom yells at me when we get home.”

“Okay!” Deb beamed tossing her backpack up on the counter, “Sarah stand right beside Kelly so I can try to match her make up to yours. I’m not going to have time to braid your hair like Sarah’s.”

“That’s okay I actually like it this way,” Kelly reached up to feel the high pony tail her hair was in. Realizing what she had said, “I mean I do braid it but it’s such a pain to do every morning.”

“No worries,” Lisa grinned, “The different hair style will only add to the confusion.”

Both Kelly and Sarah were standing beside each other looking at their reflections in the mirror as Deb put away her supplies. “Deb what you do is pure magic!” Rose giggled.

“No kidding!” Lisa grinned, “There’s only one thing missing!” Lisa ran into one of the stalls coming out with a double handful of toilet tissue.

Kelly took the tissue that Lisa handed her, “What’s this for?” Kelly watched as Lisa’s eyes dropped to Kelly chest. Kelly’s jaw dropped and eyes grew wide at what Lisa wanted her to do. Taking a step back Kelly began shouting, “Óchi, óchi móno den, allá den kólasi.”

Lisa turned to Sarah, who was laughing hard, “What did she say?”

“She said she is not going to stuff her bra.” Sarah said between fits of laughter.

Kelly followed the three girls out of the bathroom her face red in embarrassment from the fact that they had talked her into it. Her breasts were more pronounced now, not as large as Sarah’s but close enough to make Kelly feel very conscientious about it.

“So what’s your first class Kelly?” Lisa asked.

“Social studies, room 121.”

“That’s my mom’s class.” Deb giggled, “She’ll get a kick out of this too!”

“I’ve got her first period too,” Rose smiled, “We can walk together.”

“I got PE first,” Lisa grinned.

“Yuck, first period?” Deb shook her body, “That sucks!”

“Are you kidding?” Lisa grinned back at her, “P.E. first thing in the morning is great, it wakes me up.”

“Kelly works out in the morning before school.” Sarah informed them.

“Really?” The other three chorused.

Kelly looked down to avoid their gaze, “Just some Tai Chi exercises.”

Lisa stopped and turned to Kelly, “Do you know like Kung Fu, karate and that stuff?”

“A little,” Kelly squeaked, her gaze not leaving the floor.

“What, are you kidding?” Sarah smiled proudly, “Kelly’s a regular Karate kid, like in the movie.” Sarah added, “The movie with the girl I mean.”

“You think you could teach me?” Lisa was all but bouncing off the floor with excitement.

“I really don’t know that much.”

“Don’t let her fool you, Kelly has like four or five black belts!”

“I don’t have that many!” Kelly stammered.

“How many do you have Kelly?” Deb asked.

“Three.”

“Please could you teach us?” Deb looked at Kelly with big soft eyes.

“I’m not sure if um, mom and dad would let me.”

“You let me handle mom and dad!” Sarah grinned.

Rose grabbed Kelly by the arm once the bell rang, “Come on girl, we need to get to class.”

Chapter 36
Kelly easily noticed that the teacher, Mrs. Bell, was Deb’s mother. Same color hair, same physique even the same sky blue eyes.

“Hi Mrs. Bell!” Rose smiled as they walked into the room.

“Hi Rose,” The teacher replied. “Uh, Sarah you’re not on my list for this class.” Rose began giggling.

Mrs. Bell chuckled at the pair of girls knowing her daughter and her daughter’s friends love for jokes, “Okay, so what kind of shenanigan are you two trying to pull?”

“Nothing honest Mrs. Bell!” Rose continued to giggle.

“Whatever girls,” Mrs. Bell stated, then looked directly at Kelly, “But it won’t be so amusing if you are late to class dear.”

“I’m Kelly, Sarah’s sister.” Kelly smiled.

“I was not aware that your mother had twins?” Mrs. Bell asked.

“They were separated at birth!” Rose giggled.

Kelly glared at Rose, “We were not!” Turning her attention back to the teacher, “Sarah’s mom and dad adopted me after my parents died.”

Mrs. Bell looked Kelly carefully over, “I am sorry for you loss dear, but I must say your resemblance to your new sister is uncanny. You must have been a blood relative?”

“Cousins, but I’ve been living with my grandfather in Athens until last week.”

“I’m sticking to the separated at birth story!” Rose grinned, “It sounds so much cooler!”

Mrs. Bell silently chuckled before shaking her head, “Have a seat girls.”

Kelly earned quite a few stares from the other students after Mrs. Bell called on her by name. There were even quite a few giggles. Once everything settled down class was pretty much like Kelly had remembered it. The teacher lectured, had everyone follow along in the book, about the only difference was instead of a chalk board the teacher had a smart board. A projector that was connected to the computer at her desk that displayed her desktop onto a white board that somehow could pick up her touch just like a touch screen tablet. Kelly actually found herself more interested in how the board picked up what the teacher was doing. The white board was obviously a plain everyday white board since Mrs. Bell was using dry erase markers outside of the projection on the sides of the board, so it wasn’t touch sensitive. Something else had to be picking up what she was doing within the projection area.

“What’s so interesting?” Rose leaned over and whispered.

Kelly jumped, “Ahmmm, that projector thing she is using.”

“You act like you never seen a smart board before?” Rose grinned, “Didn’t they have them at your old school?”

Kelly shook her head answering before she realized what she was saying, “We had chalkboards.”

“Is there something you two would like to share with the rest of the class?”

Kelly turned her head to find Mrs. Bell looking directly at her and Rose. “I’m sorry Mrs. Bell it was my fault. I asked Rose about the um, smart board thing you are using. I’ve never seen one before.” Kelly’s confession brought about allot of snickering and giggling from the other students.

“Class, Class, settle down.” Mrs. Bell brought order back quickly, “You may find Kelly a wealth of information in the coming weeks since she has lived in places we can only dream of seeing and will be studying in this class. Kelly why don’t you stand up, introduce yourself and tell everyone where you’re from?”

Now on the spot, Kelly felt she had no choice and slowly stood, “Um hi, I’m Kelly.” Waving slightly, “I just moved here from Athens Greece.”

“Greece! Way cool!” one boy shouted, “Did you ever go to the Parthenon?”

“Which one?” Kelly looked over at the boy, “You mean the one at Acropolis that held the statue of Athena? Yes, I’ve been to it.”

“Thank you Kelly.” Kelly sat down and mouthed thank you to the teacher for allowing her to sit back down.

When the bell rang most students rushed for the door, but a few wandered over to Kelly asking questions. One girl, arm in arm with a large boy came over, “Well Sarah you may have everyone else fooled, but I’m not falling for it!”

“Tess don’t you need to take your orangutan out for his daily walk?” Rose grinned at the girl.

“Come on Danny,” The girl turned and stormed off, “We don’t need to stand around and take insults from their type.”

“Orangutan?” Kelly giggled.

“Well he would have known it was an insult if I said monkey, and he thinks calling him a gorilla is a compliment.” Rose grinned.

“What if he figures out what an orangutan is?” Kelly couldn’t stop giggling.

“No worries there, he was the first of his species to be born without a tail. He can’t spell orangutan so no way he could ever look up the definition.” Rose had everyone in earshot laughing.

One of the girls who was still standing there, “Wow, I can’t believe you’re really not Sarah.”

“Twins separated at birth!” Rose quickly answered.

The girl and another walked away talking to each other while Kelly and Rose gathered their things so they could get to their next class.

“You’re going to have everyone believing that!” Kelly giggled.

“So what’s your next class?” Rose grinned evilly.

Kelly looked at the paper that had her schedule printed on it, “English with Mrs. Sorenson. Sarah has it with me.”

“Damn!” Rose exclaimed, “I so wish I could go with you to see the look on everyone’s faces when you two show up together. Look I have to go the opposite direction to my next class.” Rose pointed down the hallway, “Go that way, turn down the next hall, her room in on the left. I gotta go, see ya at lunch.” Rose turned and fled down the hall in the opposite direction. Kelly walked the opposite direction down the hall finding her next class room easily, “147” clearly marked above the door. Stepping though the door there were a few gasps and the students already in the room talking to each other grew quiet. “Hey sis, I saved you a seat!” Kelly saw Sarah waving from the middle of the room. Walking over to Sarah, Kelly could feel everyone staring at her.

Sarah, seeing how uncomfortable Kelly looked, Put away her smart phone and stood. “Okay everyone, yes I have a twin sister, her name is Kelly and she hates being stared at just as much as you do.”

One girl turned around that sat in front of Sarah, “I didn’t know you were a twin?”

Sarah smiled back, “Neither did I until a couple of weeks ago, we were separated at birth.”

“We were not!” Kelly looked over at Sarah.

“Kelly’s still in denial over the fact that the woman she thought was her mom really wasn’t,” Sarah grinned.

“You and Rose keep it up, you’ll have everyone in school believing it before the end of the day! Is that what you want?”

“Maybeeee,” Sarah snickered.

~o~O~o~

“Kelly!” Lisa yelled down the semi-crowded hall when she saw Kelly from behind. Kelly went over to the side out of the main traffic and waited for Lisa to catch up.

As soon as Lisa caught up, “thank god someone in this crazy school isn’t calling me Sarah.”

“Well I did have a bit more warning than everyone else.” Lisa giggled, “And since I know how each of you has your hair styled differently today it’s pretty easy. Where are you heading?”

“Mr. Butler, room three oh one.”

“Cool me too!” Lisa bounced on her heels, “We can cut through the courtyard and save some time.” Lisa grabbed Kelly’s hand and led her to a side door. Lisa led them out into a small courtyard that had a stone path that led a snakelike trail across its length, through a neatly manicured lawn that was broken by several dwarf trees a few benches and numerous shrubs. Exiting the courtyard into the far hallway they found themselves only a few yards away from their destination. Kelly did not realize she was still holding hands with Lisa until Lisa let go of her hand right before entering the classroom.

“Hello Lisa,” The teacher welcomed them as they entered, “and you must be Kelly. I’m Mr. Butler, your science teacher.” Seeing the look on Kelly’s face, “Your sister has my class first thing in the morning. One thing a good scientist must be is observant, I noticed the different way each of you have your hair, and you also carry yourself different than your sister.”

“I walk different?” Kelly asked.

“Not in a bad way,” Mr. Butler explained, “If I had to guess I would say you have taken gymnastics, martial arts or something of that nature. There is more confidence or grace in the way you move.”

“Thank you,” Kelly blushed, “My grandfather had me take some self-defense classes.” Lisa snorted.

“You find something funny Miss Taylor?” Cocking his head to the side, Mr. Butler looked over at Lisa.

“Oh no!” Lisa exclaimed, “Well maybe.” Lisa couldn’t stop from giggling, “Kelly has a little more than some,” Lisa made air quotes with her hands, “self-defense classes, she has three black belts.”

Mr. Butler saw Kelly’s face turn crimson, “Kelly don’t even feel embarrassed about your accomplishments, I only hope you show as much dedication to this class as you did to gain those belts.”

“Yes sir,” Kelly responded.

“Don’t call me sir, I work for a living.”

Kelly snapped her head in the teacher’s direction at hearing that. It was a common joke used among military enlisted. They had to always address officers as “sir” and it always seemed the enlisted always did all, not the officers. So the common theme was that calling someone “Sir” meant they were lazy and did no work. “You were military?”

Mr. Butler smiled proudly, “U.S. Navy.”

“My um, Dad was in seal’s team six,” Kelly proclaimed, “There was a Butler he talked about, called him Fireball…”

“No need to say more, I only hope he didn’t tell you how I earned that nickname.” Mr. Butler chuckled, “That is one story I wouldn’t mind forgetting. So who was your father?”

“Kelly Lekka, I was named after him.”

Mr. Butler bowed his head, “I’m sorry to hear about your father, he was a good man.”

“Thanks.” Kelly nodded then followed Lisa back to the table and sat down.

Chapter 37

Kelly had just sat down at one of the tables in the cafeteria with Lisa when Tess and her football hero boyfriend came storming up. “Look Sarah, I don’t know how you’re pulling off this being two places at once, but I have known you since the third grade. You need to stop the crap, you do not have a twin sister!”

“Hi Tess, Hi Link,” Sarah sat her tray down at the table smiling.

“Hey Sarah, Tess was just talking to you.” The boy smiled over at Sarah.

“What the hel..” Tess’s jaw dropped when she saw the other Sarah sit down at the table. Glancing back and forth between Sarah and Kelly, “You don’t have a twin sister!”

“Separated at birth,” Rose sat her tray down and took a seat, “They never knew until a couple weeks ago.”

Kelly looked down at her tray and groaned, “Just great, you guys have the whole school believing we are twins!” Looking over at Sarah, “What has that girl got against you?”

“Oh she’s had her panties in a twist ever since we played a little prank on her last year.” Sarah confessed.

“What did I miss?” Deb sat down at the table.

“Not much,” Rose grinned, “Tess stopped by to make a fool out of herself.”

“Oh, latest news girls,” Deb leaned over the table grinning, “I heard Mark and Kate broke up.”

The conversation went downhill from there in Kelly’s opinion. She had no wish to even think about boys in that way. Quickly finishing her lunch Kelly stood up with her tray, “I’m going to go for a walk outside.”

Lisa saw how uncomfortable Kelly seemed to appear when the other girls began talking about boys, “Hold on a second and I’ll go with you.” Lisa scooped her tray, following Kelly over where they placed them in the window to be cleaned before walking out the side door.

“You didn’t have to come with me,” Kelly remarked.

“I’m not really into all that boy crazy talk either.”

“I just don’t even want to think about that stuff right now. I, I don’t even know if I like boys that way.” Realizing what she had said, “Um I think that came out wrong.”

“It’s okay,” Lisa smiled, “I totally understand. Like I said I’m not into boys either.”

The conversation forgotten soon as they rounded the corner of the building to see a small boy pinned against the wall by two larger boys. The larger of the two’s fist slamming into the small boys stomach. “HEY!” Kelly shouted.

“What are you doing?” Lisa gulped.

Kelly ignored her and continued walking toward the boys, “Leave him alone!”

“Man Beatty I knew you were pathetic, but a girl trying to save you?” The larger boy laughed right before kicking the boy where he had fallen.

“I SAID LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Kelly walked up facing the large boy.

Looking down at the smaller girl, “Sarah why don’t you run off and tell on me like you usually do?” The boy laughed.

“You want to hit someone, try me asshole!” Kelly yelled in his face.

“Oh I can think of better things I’ll do with you,” The boy grabbed Kelly’s by the wrist.

Kelly smiled up at the boy, “You really want me to touch you in that special place that you’ve always wanted a girl to touch?”

“Yea baby, I’d like that!” He grinned.

Kelly kicked him hard enough to lift the boy’s feet off the ground. The boy crumpled to the ground, both hands between his legs.

“You’re gonna pay for that bitch!” The other boy came around his fallen friend.

Kelly reached out grabbing him by the shirt as she stepped on his right foot then pulled. Startled the boy began pulling his body back to regain his balance, Kelly slipped her foot off his and between his legs, at the same time grabbing his left leg behind the knee. Her leg continued around behind his right leg as she pulled on his kneed with her hand and pushed back against his chest. The boy fell backwards toward the ground, Kelly’s leg unwound from his as he fell until her knee was against his crotch. The boy hit hard on the ground followed by Kelly’s knee smashing against his family jewels. The boy rolled onto his side clutching his bruised manhood.

Lisa ran up as Kelly walked over to the smaller boy, “Holy shit Kelly that was awesome!”

“Are you okay?” Kelly reached out a hand to help the boy up they had been attacking.

“Better shape than Pete and Bob,” The boy nodded to the two boys on the ground still clutching their privates. The larger boy had rolled over to his side and was throwing up. “She’s right you know? That was pretty awesome, what you did.”

“I, I don’t really like to fight,” Kelly confessed, “But I hate seeing people bullied or ganged up on even more.”

“Come on, we need to get out of here before we get in trouble!” Lisa grabbed Kelly’s arm and began to pull her.

“Too late for that Miss Taylor,” They heard the deep baritone voice of a teacher. Looking over in the direction they had come from it looked like half the students that had been in the cafeteria and several teachers had found out something was going on and came out.

Sarah pushed her way through the increasing crowd running straight to Kelly wrapping her arms around her, “Are you okay?”

Chapter 38

Kelly sat with Lisa and the boy she had rescued, who she found out his name was Tim, on a bench outside the principal’s office, where all three had been told to sit and wait over ten minutes ago. The secretary sat at her desk occasionally glancing up where they sat finally looked up from her computer, “Tim, you can go in now.”

Tim got up from the bench and started walking toward the door marked, “Principal.” Knocking on the door he heard someone inside say, “Enter.” It felt like hours but Kelly saw only fifteen minutes went by before Tim came out and told Lisa Mr. Nelson wanted her next as he started to sit down.

“Tim,” I believe Mr. Nelson told you to go on back to class now didn’t he?”

“Yes ma’am,” Tim stood back up and left the office.

While Lisa was in with the principal Both Marie and Jake walked into the office. Marie immediately went over and sat beside Kelly, wrapping the girl in a hug. “Are you alright honey?”

“I’m fine mom,” Kelly mumbled.

Seeing that Kelly was okay, Jake walked up to the secretary’s desk, “Were Kelly’s parents.”

“Yes Mr. Kontos,” The secretary looked up to him, “Mr. Nelson asked me to call you. It appears that Kelly was in a fight earlier.” The secretary typed something quickly on her keyboard then looked back up to Jake, “Mr. Nelson will be right with you.” Lisa came walking out of the principal’s office a moment later, smiled at Kelly as she walked by. “You can go in now Mr. Kontos.”

Jake motioned for Marie and Kelly to go ahead of him, and once inside Jake closed the door.

“Mr. and Mrs. Kontos, Kelly,” Mr. Nelson stood from his chair offering his hand to Jake. Releasing his grip of Jake’s hand, he motioned to the chairs in the office, “Please have a seat,” before sitting back down himself. “I’m sorry to have to meet with you under these unfortunate circumstances.”

“So would you care to explain what happened?” Jake asked.

“Well Mr. Kontos, your daughter was involved a fight,” Mr. Nelson explained, “The two boys involved had to be taken to the emergency room.”

“How badly were they hurt?” Marie clenched Kelly’s hand tighter.

Mr. Nelson cleared his throat, “Nothing life threatening, but due to the nature of the injuries we felt it best to have the boys taken to the hospital.”

“Mr. Nelson it’s not in Kelly’s nature to start a fight, so I would like to know what the details of what happened.” Jake’s tone was polite but left no question that he demanded an answer.

Mr. Nelson looked over into Jake’s eyes, “Your daughter approached three boys that were fighting—”

“FIGHTING!” Kelly jumped up to her feet, “Those two ganged up on Tim and were beating the crap out of him!”

“Sit down Miss Kontos!” Mr. Nelson stood from his chair.

“I think everyone needs to sit down and tell me exactly what happened,” Marie raised her voice to match. Looking over to Kelly, “Now honey tell me what happened.”

Kelly explained what happened, including what she had said to the larger boy before kicking him in the nuts. Knowing it was best to tell the truth, rather than Marie finding out later that Kelly had omitted something.

Marie did her best to hide the grin that spread across her face when Kelly described what she had said to the boy. Once Kelly was finished Marie asked, “How much larger was this boy than you?” Kelly held her hand about a foot over her head. Standing up, Marie faced the principal, her face red with anger, “Sir was you aware THAT BOY SEXUALLY THREATENED MY DAUGHTER!” Marie’s voice carried through the closed door into the outer office.

Jake cringed, it wasn’t often that his wife’s anger rose, but when it did everyone in their family knew the best thing to do was find someplace else to be. Like most mothers Marie was no exception when it came to protecting her family. Although Marie grew up in Greece, a country where the women had no problem screaming their anger in the streets. Leaning forward in his chair so he could get Kelly’s attention, “Kelly, go wait outside.” Kelly nodded getting up so she could escape the fury that was promising to ensue.

Mrs. Kontos you need to calm down,” Mr. Nelson attempted to defuse the situation, “We only have Kelly’s word that was what was said as the security video is not equipped with audio.”

“You have it on video?” Marie demanded, “I want to see this video!” Looking back across her shoulder, “Kelly sit back down!”

Mr. Nelson brought the video up on his computer screen and turned the screen so that Marie and Jake could both see it.

“There!” Marie pointed at the video right before Kelly kicked the first boy. “He grabbed her!”

“I saw that also Mrs. Kontos.” Mr. Nelson pointed out, “But that does not give your daughter reason to kick him.”

“Are you insane?” Marie’s eyes wide as she looked at the man behind his desk, “That boy is three times her size, could easily over power a girl as small as Kelly and had already grabbed her!”

“After Mr. Nelson stopped the recording Jake spoke up, “Mr. Nelson, please make sure that recording isn’t misplaced or lost, I am sure my attorney will be wanting a copy.”

“This video is property of —”

“Mr. Nelson,” Jake interrupted, “I am quite aware of whose property the recording is. I am also aware that two boys are in the hospital after assaulting a boy, then assaulting my daughter after she tried to stop that assault, which was all caught on video. Now the only question is, are you capable of securing the safety of that recording, or do I need to have the police come out here and make sure it is kept safe until my attorney files the appropriate legal paperwork to have it secured from possible loss or damage in the event it may need to be used in court?”

Mr. Nelson glared at Jake, “We are quite capable of making sure nothing happens to the recording Mr. Kontos.”

“Good.” Jake smiled, “Because I recognized the boy that grabbed Kelly. My other daughter and her friends have had trouble with that boy on numerous occasions last school year.”

“None of those instances resulted in fighting!” Mr. Nelson glared at Kelly.

“None of those girls know how to defend themselves like Kelly does.” Jake continued smiling. “Personally I think you should thank Kelly for stopping those two from causing serious injuries to the boy they were attacking. From what I know of their past and saw in that recording, those two are a pair of thugs, looking for a long prison sentence unless something happens to change their lives.” Jake’s smiled faded as he looked directly at Mr. Nelson, “Now are you going to let those two continue to terrorize the other students or are you going to be the one that begins changing their lives?”

Chapter 39

Kelly lay in bed, the events of the day a maelstrom of thoughts and visions in her mind. First day of school and in a fight, I think that is a first for me! Kelly thought to herself, I couldn’t walk away from that though. I don’t care what I may look like now, I will never walk away from someone that needs help like that! her mind drifted to the meeting with the principal, I thought mom was going to go across the desk at Mr. Nelson! Kelly stifled a giggle that escaped at that thought. Wow did I just think of Marie as mom? I guess that’s only right since she is legally my mom. Weird, it’s only been a few weeks but she does feel more like ‘Mom’ and not Marie anymore. And dad, wow! I knew he was good, but damn! The way he had the principal eating out of his hand, I bet he could sell ice to Eskimos! Rolling over on to her side, Kelly felt the soft caress of the silken material of the night gown gently slip across her smooth skin underneath the plush comforter she was snuggled under on her bed. Within a few minutes her breathing became shallow and relaxed as she slipped off into sleep.

“What you did today was valiant,” Kelly rolled over quickly in the bed to find her doppelganger sitting on the bench at the vanity in her room.

Kelly sat up in the bed, “Okay, just a dream. Why are you back? I haven’t dreamed about you, me whatever you are in over a week.”

“Dreams are nothing more than an altered state of consciousness,” the doppelganger replied. “And I have returned because of what you did today. You felt the pull of the darkness, you sought it out and confronted it.”

“I wasn’t pulled to anything.” Kelly stated, “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to help.”

“Yes, that is true,” the Kelly that sat on the bench smiled. “Your memories are mine also, I have seen that you have a tendency to be, as you put it, ‘In the right place at the right time,’ quite often.”

“What are you saying?” Kelly threw the covers back while swinging her legs over the side of the bed so she could face her dream double.

“Very nice night dress by the way,” The double smiled at the sight of Kelly in the bubblegum pink night gown. Suddenly the double was dressed in the same gown, “This is very comfortable, I can see why you find it pleasurable to sleep in such attire.”

Kelly felt her face becoming warm, “I, I could do without the color, but yes it is comfortable.” Realizing that her double was trying to change the subject, “What did you mean that I tend to be in the right place at the right time?”

“Exactly what I said,” The double stood up smoothing the night dress out with her hands, “Is this silk?”

“You’re avoiding the question!” Kelly demanded.

The double sighed, “It’s simple really, it appears that you have the ability to sense something. I’m not quite sure what that is yet, be it evil intent, dark souls, or someone in distress but you are drawn to it.”

“That’s a crock of shit!” Kelly snorted.

“Believe what you will, but I am beginning to believe that our being together is not as simple as Selene led us to believe.”

“The battle axe lady?”

The double laughed, “We’ll have to remember to call her that the next time we see her. Hopefully by that time she will understand what it means to be called that in this age.”

“So what about Selene, the battle axe lady?”

“I do not have enough facts to come to a conclusion, but it does seem highly unlikely that our being brought together was ‘dumb luck’. In many ways we are alike but it’s our differences that I find interesting, these fit together like the missing pieces of a puzzle. I believe this was planned, although at this point I cannot say if Selene is the mastermind behind it or if she is only a pawn in whoever or whatever is behind this.”

Kelly swept both hands down her sides, “Are you saying this happened to me because of some perverted plan?”

The double nodded, “It happened to both of us. The fabric of our souls are merging.”

“What the hell are you!” Kelly shouted.

“When we merged to rescue Selene’s daughter, I was trapped in your essence, unable to leave without causing lethal harm to both our souls. I now believe that was no accident, it was a trap.”

“You were the woman with the short sword?” Kelly’s eyes wide as she ogled her double, “But you look like me.”

“Our original forms would not have survived the marriage of our two essences.”

Kelly screamed at the doppelganger, “YOU TURNED ME INTO A GIRL!”

“I did what I had to, to ensure our continued existence!” The double protested, “I do not possess the skills to change one’s entire destiny, I was not created for that purpose. When I managed to weave our souls together, the strongest parts of our combined essence rose to the top, thus we are female.”

“How can you think being turned into a small twelve year old girl stronger than I was?”

“Did those ruffians not underestimate you?”

A small giggle escaped Kelly, thinking about how badly they indeed underestimated her, “Yea I guess they did bite off a little more than they could chew.”

“You lost mass and size, but gained so much more.”

“What do you —” The annoying buzzing of Kelly’s alarm ripped her out of the dream before she could get any more answers. Turning to the annoying sound, Kelly saw the large green digital display read, “5:31 AM.” Reaching out she turned off the alarm before tossing her covers out of the way so she could get out of bed.

"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 40
“Mom?” Kelly was startled to find Marie sitting on Kelly’s bed as Kelly entered back into her bedroom from the bathroom she shared with her sister, “What are… is something wrong?”

“No honey, nothing is wrong,” Marie smiled over at the girl wrapped in the towel. Holding out a shopping bag toward Kelly, “I just wanted to give you this before you got dressed for school.”

“What’s this?” Kelly looked at the shopping bag in Marie’s hands.

“New bras honey.”

“But, I already have plenty of them,” Kelly was confused.

“These are a little different,” Marie pulled one out of the shopping bag. Pulling one of the cups in view Marie showed Kelly it was made with a pocket inside the cup.

“What’s that for?” Kelly’s look of confusion increased.

Reaching into the bottom of the shopping bag, Marie produced a small plain white box, “It’s for these,” handing Kelly the small box.

Kelly opened the box, upturning the box into her free hand. Two round clear silicon disks fell out into her hand. “What are these…” Kelly’s mouth fell open, her eyes went wide while her face turned three shades of red when she realized what the two disks were, “I, I don’t…”

Reaching out, Marie took Kelly by the hands and pulled her into a hug, “Honey it’s okay, lots of teen girls stuff their bras.”

“But, But I never wanted to.” Kelly stammered, “They, Lisa, wanted me and Sarah.”

“I understand, really I do!” Marie consoled the girl in her arms, “Now that you’ve done it, you’re afraid if you stop people will notice.” Kelly nodded. “You’ll find these are a lot more comfortable than a handful of toilet paper, they will look more natural and stay in place better honey.”

“How, how did you know I was, um you know?” Kelly’s eyes fell to the floor.

“The same way I knew Kay did it and then when Sarah started doing it, Marie chuckled. Kelly looked up at Marie questioningly. “And I suspect we’ll have yet another sudden increase in the use of toilet paper in this house when Anne gets a few years older.” Marie gave Kelly a squeeze before standing up, “Now get dressed and come have some breakfast before you have to leave for school.” Marie stated as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

~o~O~o~

Kelly was walking toward the cafeteria with Lisa after leaving Mr. Butler’s science class together. After taking a corner in the hallway Lisa suddenly stopped and pulled Kelly with her against the wall. A moment later Pete came around the corner, his eyes going wide, startled at the sight of the two girls there.

Lisa pushed Kelly behind her, “Why are you following us Pete? I promise you I can kick you a hell of a lot harder than she did!”

Pete’s one good arm went up holding out his hand in a gesture to stop Lisa, his other arm in a cast that he had returned to school with after the fight, “I swear I’m not, I only want to talk with Kelly.”

“Then talk,” Lisa folded her arms across her chest, keeping herself between Pete and Kelly.

“I, I wanted to say I was sorry,” Pete knelt down allowing his back pack to slide off his shoulder. Sitting it on the tiled floor he opened it and pulled out a plastic container, “I made these for Kelly.”

Lisa snatched the container from his outstretched hand, “What’s this?”

“Cookies, I made them.” Pete stood while slinging the backpack back over his shoulder one handed.

Pulling open the sealed lid Lisa peered inside the container, “Trying to poison us?”

Pete actually looked hurt at the accusation. Reaching over he stuck his hand in the container coming out with a cookie that he started eating, “See! Would I eat one if they were?”

Kelly had moved around Lisa enough so that she could see the container, reached over and pulled a cookie from it. Watching Pete as she brought the cookie up to her nose, “Wow, they do smell great.”

“My mom says you can’t apologize to a woman without chocolate, Pete smiled.

Kelly took a bite of the cookie in her hand. “Mmmm, this is good,” while still chewing the cooking in her mouth.

Lisa took a cookie out and tried one for herself, “Holy crap Pete, this is like the best chocolate cookie I have ever had.” Looking up at the boy, “You made these?”

Pete nodded, “Worked on that recipe for almost a year before I got it right. Although I could only do it when my dad was away,” Pete looked down to avoid the two girls’ eyes, “He wouldn’t let me bake, said that it was not something real men do.”

“So what happened, I mean how come you can bake now,” Kelly asked.

Pete continued to look down at the floor, “After my dad did this,” Pete held up his broken arm, “mom called the cops. She changed the locks and everything, said he will never be allowed in the house again.”

“He broke your arm?” Lisa’s eyes wide with shock.

“Why?” Kelly’s face displayed the same level of shock.

“When he found out I was beaten up by a girl, he got really mad.”

Kelly stepped forward and gave the large boy a hug, “Apology accepted and thank you for the cookies, they are delicious.”

“Pete looked up from the floor to Kelly and smiled, “Thanks.”

“Now let’s all go get some lunch,” Kelly hooked her arm inside of Pete’s and led them on toward the cafeteria.

Chapter 41
The shrill of the whistle Mrs. Williams wore on a lanyard around her neck filled the gym, all the girl’s stopped and turned to the slender blond woman standing a few feet from the side line, one grabbing the ball as it sailed over the volleyball net toward her.

“Alright girls, hit the showers!” The girl’s coach’s voice carried distinctly across the entire gymnasium. The girls all began filing toward the side door that led the girl’s locker room. “Kelly, I’d like a word with you please,” Mrs. Williams called out before Kelly could take more than a few steps toward the locker room.

Kelly turned and began walking toward the teacher, glancing back over her shoulder at all the girls shuffling out of the gym except for Sarah who had begun walking over. “Sarah, showers.” Mrs. Williams said loud enough to be heard by the approaching Sarah, “Your sister will be along in a few minutes.”

Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but the stern look from Mrs. Williams stopper her before she began. Looking over to Kelly, “I’ll wait for you in the locker room.” Before turning and heading there herself.

Mrs. Williams waited until Kelly stopped in front of where she stood, “Care to explain why you’ve been sandbagging in my class?”

“Sandbagging?” Kelly gave the best look of confusion she could muster.

“Yes Miss Kontos, Sandbagging.” Mrs. Williams stated, “Your clumsy act, and yes I can tell it’s an act, does not cut it in this class.”

“But I’m —”

Mrs. Williams held her hand up stopping Kelly, “Do you really want to dig that hole deeper?” Kelly shook her head. “Look I am sure you think you have a very good reason, but you are over doing it. To anyone that pays attention, it’s obvious that it’s an act. If you insist on hiding your,” Mrs. Williams cleared her throat, “athletic abilities, you need to be more subtle. Tripping over your own feet, while good for a laugh, is not something you normally do now is it?”

“No ma’am,” Kelly looked down to the gym floor blushing.

Mrs. Williams reached over gently pulling Kelly’s chin up so she could see her face, “Look I know it’s difficult to fit in, especially for our kind, but what you’ve been doing will only make you stand out.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Okay hit the shower.” Mrs. Williams smiled, “Oh and Kelly if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m always here.”

Walking toward the locker room thinking about what Mrs. Williams had said to her, Kelly took a sharp breath as it dawned on her that the teacher has said, ‘our kind’. Kelly’s thoughts were racing as she continued to walk to the locker room, She can’t be, she looks too normal. Mutant’s eyes are never normal? But what if she wears contacts like I do? No, that can’t be right because mine had to be special to cover the real color, would regular colored contacts hide her eyes if they didn’t glow in the dark like mine? Even then how could she know about me, I’ve made sure not to do anything to give anyone the idea that I’m different?

All thoughts were driven out of Kelly’s mind as she entered the locker room and found herself ambushed by no less than four girls including her sister, “Are you okay? What did she say? Are you in trouble?”

The barrage of questions from the girls kept coming as Kelly tried to get over to her locker. “She told me that she could tell I was clowning around, and that I had to stop,” Kelly gave them an answer she hoped would curb their curiosity.

The bell rang while Kelly was still getting dressed, although this failed to put a rush on her as it was the last class of the day for them. The halls were mostly clear, most students rushing out of the building before Kelly, Sarah and Rose came out of the locker room. Walking out the main doors they found Both Lisa and Pete sitting on the steps talking.

“Hey guys what ya doing sitting there?” Sarah piped cheerfully at them.

Turning to see the three girls coming down the steps Lisa grinned, “Waiting on you guys!”

Kelly looked over at Pete and giggled, “You know you’re going to ruin your reputation if you keep hanging out with us.”

“Good, I never wanted that reputation.”

Sarah, Rose and Lisa chatted constantly as they walked down the sidewalk, both Pete and Kelly remained mostly silent, only speaking enough to acknowledge questions shot at them. Near three quarters of the way down the block Pete spoke, “This is my house,” pointing at the single story ranch, “See you guys tomorrow,” before walking up the drive and into the front door.

“Wow I walk by here every day and never knew Pete lived there.” Sarah said.

Kelly shrugged her shoulders, “Don’t look at me, this is only my seconds week of school here.”

“I knew,” Rose shrugged her shoulders.

“Yea Miss observant!” Lisa giggled. Sarah stuck her tongue out at Lisa.

Rose was the next to part ways with the group, heading off down a side street to their right as they continued toward home. Finally at the end of that street, they turned left and walked down until they were in front of Sarah and Kelly’s house, “You coming in?” Kelly asked.

“No, Mom and Dad said there was some place we had to go when I got home today. “ Lisa replied, “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Sarah smiled as she and Kelly walked down the drive way toward their house.

They found the garage door open with Michael’s pickup truck backed partially into it. Walking past his truck they spotted two wooden crates both had been opened, was partially filled with straw, the other had a white fluted column that put Kelly in mind of the large columns built at many of the ancient Greek temples. This one was about three feet long and a foot wide, resting in a bed of straw. Putting her hand under it at one end she tested its weight and found that it was not as heavy as it appeared, Must be hollow? Kelly thought before picking it up and out the crate and carrying it into the house.

Once inside the house Kelly raised her voice, “Dad where you guys at?”

“In the family room,” She heard his reply. “We’re finally setting up those statues your grandfather sent back with us.”

Kelly came in though the arched entrance of the room, “What statues?” Kelly noticed both men were staring at the column she held on her shoulder one handed, “Oh I figured I would bring this in with me, Where do you want it?”

Jake regained his composure, while Michael continued to stare. “Sit it down on the other side of the fireplace Kelly.”

Walking past them she did as he asks before looking back at Michael strangely, “Do I have something on my face or something?”

Michael stood there shaking his head, before finally speaking, “Do you know how heavy that was?”

Kelly shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, a hundred pounds?”

“Try more like three hundred.” Michael stated.

“Yea right,” Kelly grinned, thinking he was trying to pull one over on her.

“He’s is telling the truth,” Jake intervened, “Even if he wasn’t, a hundred pounds is still more than an average eighty pound girl can lift and three hundred pounds should be impossible. It took the two of us to bring in the first one.”

“It, it didn’t feel that heavy?” Kelly quavered.

Jake looked at both Michael and Kelly for a few moments, “Michael I want you to take Kelly out back and play around with the weights,” Looking at Kelly, “I believe we have discovered your change came with a few more abilities that we first thought. You need to relearn what the weight of things feel like now so that you don’t accidentally show everyone you have super strength.” Kelly nodded and went with Michael out the sliding glass doors of the room that exited onto the covered rear patio.

“I have an idea,” Michael said as she pulled the sliding door shut behind them, “sit down on the weight bench.”

Kelly went over and sat down, “Okay so what’s your idea?”

“I’ll hand you a couple different weights while you have your eyes closed, you tell me what weight it feels like I gave you.”

Kelly sighed then closed her eyes, “Okay let’s give this a try.”

“Kelly!” Kelly opened her eyes to see their mother standing on the patio just outside the door that led into the kitchen. Hands on both hips and an obvious look of displeasure on her face. “You’re wearing a skirt!”

Looking down at her lap Kelly realized that with both legs on either side of the weight bench, the pleated skirt was drawn tight against her thighs, giving her mother a great view of her panties. Scooting forward on the bench Kelly closed her knees together. “Sorry mom, I wasn’t thinking.” Kelly looked back up at her mother with a cheesy smile.

“If you and Michael are going to play around with the weights, go put on something else.”

“Yes ma’am.” Kelly jumped up from the weight bench blushing bright red as she ran over to enter the house through the sliding doors on the family room.

~o~O~o~

Kelly appeared back on the patio nearly fifteen minutes later wearing a purple tee shirt and pink leggings. The front of the shirt bore a graphic of a pink pony with a darker pink long curly tail and mane that had the caption written around the picture, ‘Daddy I want a pony.’ Kelly also wore a matching pair of pink canvas tennis shoes covering purple ankle socks. Michael failed to cover the chuckle that escaped when he saw how she was dressed.

“Oh yea laugh it up. I would have been back out ten minutes ago if the fashion police hadn’t caught me!” Kelly giggled.

Would you believe she was going to wear a yellow top with those leggings?” Sarah slid the glass door shut as she stepped out behind Kelly.

“We’re only working out who cares?” Michael looked over at Sarah.

“That’s what I kept saying!” Kelly pleaded.

“It was making my eyes bleed!” Sarah quipped. “What if someone had saw you? Do you have any idea how embarrassing that would be?”

Michael shrugged his shoulders, “You ready Kelly?” Kelly nodded. “Okay I got to thinking while I sat out here waiting and I think what you should do it just start picking up the various weights. Since you can read what each weighs it will get you used to how the different weights feel now, so you don’t go picking up something in front of a bunch of people that it took three strong men to carry.”

Kelly began picking up the individual weights, while holding up the fifty pound weight she looked over where Michael and Sarah sat, “Wow you guys were right, this doesn’t feel anywhere near what I remember fifty pounds weighing.” Laying the weight back down one handed, Sarah could you pick some of these up while I watch?”

Sarah gaped at Kelly’s request, “Why?”

“So I can tell what it looks like when someone my size does it.”

An evil smirk crossed Sarah’s face, “Sure, Now pay close attention because this is how a girl lifts something heavy.” Sarah clasped both hands together in a very feminine manner, looking down at her hands as she brought them up to her chest almost as if to pray. Raising her head just enough so that she could look up at Michael with the largest puppy dog eyes she could muster, “Michael, would you please pick up that big heavy round thing for me?” batting her eyelashes at him. All three rolled with laughter.

Chapter 42
At the hospital in effort to help both Kelly and his facility, Dr. Peters had woven an elaborate scheme to cover up the truth behind Kelly’s metamorphosis. The only problem he faced was what to do with nurse Merks. After Kelly’s manifestation in the devisor burn tank, Linda Merks had been very outspoken with her views on mutants. He needed Miss Merks to fade out of sight, but firing her would only fuel her hatred of mutants and the chance that she would go to the media was too great. What he needed was the proverbial carrot on a stick, something she wanted badly enough that giving it to her would ensure her silence.

Bringing up Nurse Merks records on his computer, Dr. Peters began going through them once again, this time with an eye on where the woman’s interested lay hoping to find that carrot. Thirty minutes later while going over her records for the fourth time a thin smile slowly spread across the doctor’s face. Picking up the phone from its cradle Dr. Peters scrolled though the phones computerized index of numbers until he found the one he was looking for and hit the call button.

“Hello?” Dr. Peters heard the accent of an oriental man on the other end.

“Henry?” Dr. Peters asked, “This is Carl. Carl Peters.”

“Hi Carl, long time no see and all that,” excitement of hearing from an old colleague evident in his voice, “How are things in Atlanta?”

Dr. Peters sighed, “Actually I got a bit of a situation here, but I have an idea that could be beneficial to all parties involved. Are you still as short handed out there?”

Henry laughed, “There is never enough hours in the day as you know so well. So does this have anything to do with your burn center being on national television a few weeks ago?”

“You could say that was the spark that lit the fire.”

Realizing his friend was intentionally being cryptic, “You know the Braves are playing their home field tonight.”

Knowing Henry’s love of baseball, “I’ll get us tickets soon as I’m off the phone.”

“I expect warm beer and cold hot dogs too!”

“Of course,” Dr. Peters chuckled, “The game would not be the same without those.”

“Give me a couple hours to make the travel arrangements,” Henry sounded excited.

~o~O~o~

The short oriental man pulled the wrapping away and took a large bite out of the hot dog contained within, “Mmmm ambrosia!” he mumbled, relishing the taste of the lukewarm braves dog. Dr. Peters chuckled, looking over at his friend who had five more hot dogs in their unopened wrapper in his lap. Henry reached down by his feet to grab the clear plastic cup full of amber liquid. Bringing the cup to his lips, Henry washed down the hot dog, and then turned to his friend, “Carl I believe I can help with both issues you face.”

“Both?”

“Of course,” Henry grinned, “I think Miss Merks would make an excellent addition to our staff, and I believe once she becomes acquainted with the special problems of many of our patients, her misconceptions will fade.”

“That was my thoughts too, but you mentioned a second issue?”

“Oh yes,” Henry grinned, his mouth half full of another bite of hot dog, “You don’t have a body.” Taking another bite of the hot dog in his hand, “I know you were probably thinking of using a cadaver but that could be tricky, since there would still be a missing body and of course if the body was ever exhumed and the DNA tested it would not match.”

“Exhumed?” Dr. Peters peered over at his friend in disbelief.

Frowning at his friend, “You’d be shocked at what some of those three letter agencies will do.”

“Okay but how will we get it all the way out here?”

“Same way I got here so fast,” Henry grinned, “and it will only cost you the price of a couple Chicago deep dish pizzas.”

Dr. Peters thought back to the young man that had appeared in his office with Henry, “Must be nice to have a teleporter on staff.”

Henry laughed, “He’s not staff, he’s a student with a soft spot for Chicago style pizza.”

“I probably don’t want to know.”

“Couldn’t tell you if you did. It’s the rules,” Henry unwrapped another hot dog.

Chapter 43
Helen Smiled when she saw Jake and Marie walk into the church, followed by their children. Jake was dressed in a military uniform while Marie was wearing a tea length black dress. Helen’s smiled faded and was replaced by a look of confusion when she spotted Anne following behind her parents holding hands with Sarah and another girl that looked very similar to Sarah. All three wearing dresses that appeared to be smaller versions of the same dress Marie wore. Helen had to do a double take to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, the other girl could easily pass for Sarah’s twin. Helen reached her hand out to Marie as they came up.

Marie leaned down giving Helen a hug, “Are you okay?”

“She looks like Sarah.” Helen quietly spoke, “Who is she?”

Marie looked over where Kelly was sitting down in the front pew along with the rest of the family, “She’s my niece.”

Helen pulled back enough so she could look at Marie, “Niece? But you said you were an only child?” Helen’s eyes grew wide when she realized what Marie meant. While Marie did not have any siblings, she had always introduced Kelly as her younger brother. “Kelly?” Helen’s lower lip began quivering while her eyes became watery, glancing over at the girl, tears were also running down the young girls cheeks as she looked over at both Helen and Marie.

Marie nodded, “Her name is Kelly.”

“He, he never told me,” Helen tried gallantly to hold back the tears.

“He never told us either,” Marie explained. “Apparently Kelly and my father found out a few years ago. Jake and I didn’t know until you both were hurt.”

“I would really like to get to know her,” Helen smiled past Marie at the girl.

“You’ll have plenty of time for that,” Marie smiled at Helen, “she is living with us now, Jake and I adopted her.” Marie could see the priest walking out to the podium, “I think they are ready to start, I should go sit down.” Marie nodded then went to take her seat so the priest could begin.

~o~O~o~

The priest motioned for Jake once he concluded his service. Jake stood at the podium and gave a long and very eloquent eulogy, although Kelly thought that he really embellished the stories he told about her, or her old life before her change. The cold stare Marie gave him when he mentioned that Kelly could also juggle, stopped that story from being told. The mention of that had all their children with the exception of Anne trying their best to hold back the giggled and laughter the memory brought them. Anne being only a toddler when it happened was looking around at her siblings trying to understand what was so funny.

After Jake finished and sat down, people began lining up to walk past the casket that had an American flag covering it. Since this was a closed casket ceremony a large picture of Kelly sat upon a three legged stand. The line of people walked past the casket and picture, many of them kissing the frame or kissing their fingers then touching the frame or the picture its self.

Those that came in military uniform stopped in front of the casket at attention and gave a crisp salute to their fallen comrade before proceeding on. The number that came in uniform surprised Helen, there must have been close to thirty men and women each one’s left breast laden with medals and ribbons. Helen had no idea what any of that meant but it did look very impressive.

Kelly recognized many of the faces in uniform, some surprising her that they came to her funeral. There was even a retired Admiral that Kelly could have sworn hated her guts back in the day. Every shit job that came down from command, Admiral Potts seemed to always assign to Kelly. It was like the man got off on tormenting Kelly.

Kelly watched as the admiral stepped over to where Helen sat in her wheelchair, gave Helen a salute then took Helen’s hand and shook it, “Your husband was one of the finest men I ever had under my command!” He stated loud and proudly.

Completely stunned at his words, Kelly gasped, “What!” before covering her mouth and shrinking back into the pew between her sisters. Peeking out around her sister, Kelly could see both Helen and the admiral talking and looking toward Kelly although with the noise of others talking in the room she could not hear what they were saying. Kelly tried her best to become as small as possible where she sat, her eyes locked on the floor in front of her. Two highly polished black shoes entered her field of vision, stopping in front of her before preforming a perfect military turn to point directly at Kelly. Please don’t let it be the admiral! Please not the admiral! Kelly thought to herself, the one man that saw through me like no other. He’ll know it’s me! Slowly Kelly looked up, gulping as she met the admiral’s gaze.

“If Mrs. Lekka had not told me who you were, I would have guessed it easily enough,” Admiral Potts smiled down at Kelly. “The expression on your face reminds me of the way he would look when I’d catch him pulling one of his pranks.” The admiral went down on one knee so he was eye level with Kelly, “Your father loved his pranks, but when it came time to get serious, he was like having three of the best sailors I could ever ask for all rolled up into one. He did not know the word quit. He was like the son I never had.”

Reaching up to his collar, he unpinned the four stars that denoted his rank as Admiral then handed it to Kelly. “I want you to have this to remember how much your father meant to me, you cannot imagine how much I own him.” Reaching into his inside breast pocket he withdrew a business card that he also handed to Kelly, “If you ever need anything, I can be reached at one of those numbers.”

“Tha, thank you,” Kelly all but whispered as tears began streaming down her face, unable to control the flood of emotions that came with her new body.

“If you don’t remember anything else about your father, remember your father was a hero,” smiling at Kelly the Admiral stood and walked away.

Kelly felt an arm wrap around her back pulling her into a hug. “Are you okay?” Sarah whispered into her ear. Unable to speak Kelly nodded.

Chapter 44
Kelly sat in the very back of the large Ford along with Sarah and Anne. The funeral director had placed their SUV third in line, directly behind the car that Helen and her parents were in behind the large black Chevrolet Suburban that carried the casket. The ride to the cemetery reminded Kelly of a military convoy. Once the lead vehicle, in this case the hearse, went through a light all the vehicles following it continued through the intersection regardless of the traffic lights.

Getting out of the side door of the large SUV Kelly saw that Helen’s father was struggling to get the wheelchair she needed out of the trunk. Before Kelly could take a step forward two men jogged over and began assisting him. While every man that was not in a military uniform was dressed in a black suit, Kelly sensed these two were different. Something about them shouted three letter agencies to Kelly, but which one? Kelly watched the two carefully as they helped Helen out of the car and into her wheelchair. Noticing the left side of their jackets was cut larger, Kelly knew only one reason to have a suit jacket cut like that. Quickly going over to Jake, Kelly pulled his sleeve to get his attention, then as he leaned down to her she whispered, “Spooks with Helen.”

Jake casually glanced over at the two men, one pushing Helen’s wheelchair while the other walked close behind with her parents, the telltale bulge of their shoulder holsters apparent to his trained eye. Looking back to Kelly, “I seriously doubt that anyone would try something here, not with this much of the old team here.” Jake began walking toward the grave then stopped and turned back around to quietly say to Kelly, “If anything does happen, you do not blow your cover! Do you read me?”

“Yes daaaaaad,” Kelly grinned while dragging out the word, hoping she could keep that promise.

Sarah walked up and threaded her arm inside of Kelly’s arm, grinning up at their father, “Us girls got to stick together, right sis?” Jake shook his head and sighed at the sight of the two young girls walking arm in arm together ahead of him.

Looking around trying to spot any more people that looked out of place as she walked with her family to the grave site, Kelly saw three more loitering around at a couple other graves in the distance, one pair about fifty yards to their north hovering over a grave while the third was leaning against a tree close to one hundred yards to their east at the edge of the cemetery, casually smoking a cigarette.

Up ahead at the grave site, they had set up an awning with folding chairs lined up underneath to give the family and friends a place to sit out of the sun. Near the center of the front row two chairs had been intentionally left out to provide room for Helen’s wheelchair, where the man pushing Helen’s wheelchair maneuvered her into before walking out from under the awning to stand with his partner off to the side. Knowing that if these guys did try anything, the closer she was to Helen, the better Kelly’s chances were to intervene without giving her powers away. Figuring that if anything did happen all she would have to do is stall the two men long enough for the two dozen or so team members to react.

Helen was twisting around looking back as people began milling in toward the grave site. Spotting Sarah and Kelly she began waving to get their attention then motioning them to come over. “Kelly right? Your mother named you after him?” Kelly nodded as Helen looked over her and Sarah. “It’s amazing how much you two look alike, I bet you get asked all the time if you are twins.”

Kelly nodded shyly while Sarah giggled, “We pulled that one Kelly’s first day of school.”

“Yea, now no one believes that we are not, thanks to Sarah and her friends.” Kelly blushed.

“Please sit with me Kelly,” Helen patted the chair beside her, “You too Sarah, please.” Kelly sat beside Helen while Sarah took the chair next to Kelly. Reaching over and taking Kelly hand, “I want you to think of me as family too,” Kelly nodded while Helen looked deep into her eyes. “After all I am your step mom,” Helen smiled.

“And the envy of all the other girls in her school, to have a step mom so beautiful.” They heard from behind them.

“Mr. Papangelou you made it!” Helen said as she turned to see who was speaking.

“Grandpa!” Sarah grinned.

“Um, papou?” Kelly sounded confused as she watched Marie, Marie’s father and the rest of the family take seats behind them.

“So I see your keeping my little hellion out of her normal mischief?” Mr. Papangelou grinned.

“You can’t mean this angel here?” Helen smiled over at Kelly.

“Angel? You’re mistaking horns for a halo my dear.” Mr. Papangelou chuckled then looked over at Marie, “And you got her to wear a dress!”

“I wear dresses and skirts!” Kelly began blushing soon as she realized she was arguing with one of the few people that knew the truth about her, then added quietly, “I, I have to for school.”

Helen tightened her grip on Kelly’s hand, “Don’t let your grandfather tease you, you look very pretty in that dress sweetie.” This caused Kelly’s face to turn a deeper shade of red. “I just cannot get over how much you and Sarah resemble each other and with no true blood relation.”

“Oh they are blood relatives,” Mr. Papangelou gave Helen a knowing look, “Cousins to be exact.”

“But I thought Kelly, I mean my Kelly was not your son?” Helen looked over at Mr. Papangelou.

“He was very much the son I never had although he was my sister’s son.” Mr. Papangelou explained. Kelly gasped.

Marie looked at her father the astonishment clear in her face, “Kelly was my cousin?” Mr. Papangelou nodded.

The pall bearers had begun to move the casket from the hearse to the burial plot so everyone turned to pay attention to the funeral. Sitting the casket on the framework that would lower it into the grave, the uniformed men all took a crisp step back and saluted the casket before turning and walking off to one side. The priest came up to stand at the head of the casket and said a few more words then had everyone join him in prayer.

Feeling Helen’s grip tighten on her own hand Kelly glanced over to find Helen crying quietly during the prayer. Kelly wanted so badly to tell her that her husband was not gone, that she was still here. But as much as she wanted to, Kelly knew that telling Helen would only cause more heartache for the woman she loved. How, now in the body of a twelve year old girl, could she even begin to remain Helen’s husband. Not only was Kelly now the same sex, she was a minor. With these thoughts running through her mind, the tears began flowing down Kelly’s own cheeks.

When the priest had finished two marines in full dress blues stepped over to the casket, removed the flag draped over it and methodically began folding it into the standard triangle fold. Admiral Potts waked up just as they were completing the flag folding ceremony, took the flag as it was handed to him while returning their salute. Turning to another naval officer that had quickly followed the admiral, the admiral placed the flag gently on top of a small wooden box that measured about eighteen inches long, twelve inches wide and maybe 4 inches thick, that the other officer was holding out. Taking the box and flag from the other officer, the admiral walked over to Helen to give both to her. Thanking Helen for her husband’s service to our country, he gave Helen a salute, then did an about face and walked over to the casket.

Taking something off his jacket’s left breast, he placed the small item on the casket then used his palm to slam down against the item. As he was doing this most of the men wearing navy uniforms had lined up beside the admiral. As the admiral moved away another took his place, removed the golden trident insignia from his uniform and pinned it in the same fashion into the lid of the casket.

Helen looked over to see Kelly now sobbing heavily, tears pouring down her face. Looking around trying to understand what was happening, Helen felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around to see Jake getting up out of his chair, “What’s going on?”

“It’s a tradition,” Jake said as he rose out of the chair he was sitting in, “a show of respect and brotherhood.” Jake then stepped over to take his place in line.

Helen was watching Jake as he made his way back behind the front row of chair back to his seat, when the sharp crack of rifles firing caused her to jump almost spilling the folded flag and the wooden box out of her lap. Turning quickly toward the direction of the sound she saw the seven marines in full dress blues line up pointing rifles upward at an angle fire two more volleys of shots before they lowered the rifles turned sharply and marched away toward the paved road that wound through the cemetery.

As the casket began lowering into the grave people began moving, some leaving toward their cars while others came over to once again offer their sympathies to Helen and to Jake and Marie’s family.

Kelly tried to keep an eye on the two unidentified men through the crowd of people that had begun to gather around her and Helen. Helen had yet to let go of Kelly’s hand and was now introducing Kelly as her husband’s daughter, which made it impossible for Kelly to get away from the crowd of well-wishers. When Kelly noticed they were following Mr. Papangelou toward the rows of parked cars, her mind raced through a list of possible motives the two could have with assassination and kidnapping rising immediately to the top of that list. “I need to go say goodbye to my grandfather.” Kelly’s plea was ignored by the large crowd of adults that surrounded her, too busy in their own conversations to realize the small girl had spoken.

Do not blow your cover! Jake’s words echoed in Kelly’s mind. My cover is not worth a man’s life! Kelly fought with her thoughts, ready to jump to his side. Ready to use her teleport ability, Kelly spotted three Navy uniforms walking up to the two men, casually stopping the two men as two more Navy uniforms approached the two from their right flank. Kelly relaxed, giggling to herself knowing that Jake must have quietly passed the word on to the other members of the team when he was up pinning his trident to the casket, Dad, you slick son of a… Kelly startled herself, When did I start thinking of him as dad?

Chapter 45
Knowing that neither his wife, nor anyone would have time for any cooking after the funeral, Jake had arranged for a local restaurant they frequented to cater a buffet style late lunch, early dinner at their home. As usual with Jake he never took half measures, The tables the caterers brought were filled with Greek Salad, Dakos, Tzatziki sauces, fried squid, Florina peppers, Kolokythoanthoi, stacks of pita bread, Tiropita, Artichokes with olive oil, Fashoulakia, gyro meat, moussaka, several types of souvlaki, along several trays of baklava, bougatsa and diples for dessert.

Kelly caught a glimpse of the work going on to set up the buffet tables as she rushed up to her room to change into clothing she was more comfortable in. This turned out to be what was quickly turning into her favorite pair of cargo pants which before her change, she would not be caught dead in in the bright pinks and reds of the colorful feminine camouflage pattern, but something about the bright pattern called to her now.
Pulling a tank top on that matched the cargo pants Kelly grabbed a brush and began pulling her hair into the high pony she normally wore it in, when she saw how noticeable the black bra she had worn under the dress she wore to the funeral stood out though the top.

With a long sigh, she pulled her top back off over her head and changed her bra to one of the beige ones Marie had bought for her before pulling the top back on and continuing with her long hair. Finally having all her hair secured with an elastic, Kelly sat down and slipped on white ankle socks and a pair of pastel pink tennis shoes.

Standing in front of the mirror of her vanity, Kelly looked herself over once to make sure Marie would not have her going back upstairs to correct her clothing choices, as she had done so often in the past few weeks. Kelly thought everything looked up to par. Grinning at the camouflage ball cap that hug on the corner of the mirror’s frame, Kelly quickly put it on, pulling her pony tail though the hole in the back before bending the sides of the caps bill down to exaggerate the bills normal curve.

Kelly had a lot on her mind after the funeral, and could understand why her mother had forced her to attend. Looking at her reflection once again in the mirror Kelly thought, I’m not him anymore, that part of me is gone. This is what I am now and will be for the rest of my life.

Kelly’s plans of quickly grabbing some food then hiding from the well-wishers were smashed almost immediately. Halfway down the stairs she saw that their living room was filled with people. At the bottom of the stairs she turned going into the family room as fast as she could without gaining anyone’s attention only to almost run straight into Helen’s wheelchair.

“There’s my little agrio!” Mr. Papangelou chuckled as Kelly quickly stopped before running over the top of Helen.

“Hello again Kelly,” Helen turned away from the statuette she was examining.

“Hi, Um Mrs. Lekka,” Kelly forced a smile.

“Have you looked at these statuettes your grandfather sent you?” Helen began looking at the statuette again.

“Not really,” Kelly looked casually over at the one Helen was examining, seeing a woman in what looked like leather armor holding a short sword, “Why?”

Helen looked back to Kelly, “For one, to be made over a thousand years before Christ with the detail they have is amazing. Look closely at the face of this one.”

Kelly walked over to get a closer look at the face of the statuette, “You’re right it almost looks real.”

“Especially when the girl it resembles is standing so close to it,” Helen chuckled.

“What!” Kelly turned quickly to Helen, “That, that’s impossible!”

“Not really sweetie,” Helen reached out to grab one of Kelly’s hands, “Look at how closely you and Sarah resemble each other. Your looks come from your genetics, the statue was probably modeled after one of your distant ancestors.”

“So who is she supposed to be?” Kelly leaned closer to the statue, feeling a strange tingle in her finger tips when she reached up with her hand to trace her fingers across the statuettes face.

“According to the legend,” Mr. Papangelou stated, “She is one of the daughters of Moerae. It is said that she and her sisters controlled the destiny of both gods and man.”

“Like one of the three fates?” Kelly looked over at Mr. Papangelou.

“One of the fates… Yes,” Mr. Papangelou answered, “but there were many more than the three named in literature. This one was called Telikos.”

Kelly’s stomach, not forgetting why she had tried to slip through the house pass the well-wishers, chose that moment to complain loudly. “Um sorry,” Kelly’s face turned slightly red, “I was on my way to grab something to eat.”

“Go get yourself something to eat,” Mr. Papangelou chuckled, “History will not change, there is plenty of time for you to learn of it.”

Walking over to the sliding door, Kelly heard Helen, “You seem to know more about ancient history than what I have seen in books.”

“I have quite the library on these things,” Mr. Papangelou smiled, “passed down through the generations by my family.”

“I would love to see that one day,” Helen’s eyes lit up.

Kelly stepped through the door and slid it shut behind her, unable to hear more of their conversation.

Chapter 46
Kelly sat eating the second of the gyros she had made for herself at the large buffet laid out in their back yard, her feet dangling off the side of the of the large sailboat. Kelly’s love of the Mediterranean sandwich had not dwindled with her change. Pita bread piled with gyro meat, topped with onions and tomatoes smothered in Tzatziki sauce, a mixture of yogurt, minced cucumbers and spices. The sun was low to the west, just beginning to disappear behind the top of the houses.

A shadow fell across Kelly as she sat there. Turning her head she saw Marie walking carefully toward her on the boat, her low heels held in one had while she held the safety cable that kept anyone from falling overboard in her other. “Hi mom,” Kelly smiled as Marie made her way over to Kelly sitting down beside her and letting her feet dangle over the side like Kelly had.

“Are you okay honey?” Marie looked concerned.

“Yea,” Kelly sighed, placing the gyro down on the paper plate beside her, “I just needed a place to sit and eat without everyone telling me how good of a man my father was or how much I look like Sarah.”

“You don’t sound like that is all,” Marie reached around Kelly’s shoulder pulling her into a hug.

“Yea, I guess going to my own funeral was pretty weird.”

“I’m sorry that I made you go,” Marie consoled the young girl, “it was necessary. The rest of the world thinks you are his daughter, it’s expected for you to be there. This also gives you some closure on that part of your life too.” Marie gently pulled Kelly’s chin up so they were looking in each other’s eyes. “No matter how much you and I may want it, we cannot change what happened. Kelly Michael Lekka is dead.”

“The king is dead, long live the kin… um queen,” Kelly deadpanned.

“Wouldn’t that be princess?” Marie chuckled.

Kelly sighed heavily, “I could use a stiff drink.” Seeing Marie’s stern but motherly gaze, “See that’s another thing,” Waving both hand at her own body, “Not only did this crap turn me into a girl, it made me a kid! I can’t have a drink, hell I can’t even drive a car now.”

“Honey you have been giving a gift that most never get!”

“How can you call being turned into a twelve year old girl a gift!”

“You’ve been given a second chance,” Marie all but whispered, “You can do things you never got the chance to do before.”

“Like what?”

“Well for one young lady, you are going to finish high school this time around.” Marie stated, “Then we’ll discuss which college you will be attending.”

Kelly snapped her head up looking at Marie with her eyes wide, “College?”

“Of course college,” Marie grinned at Kelly, “I seem to remember someone giving a big speech to both Michael and Kay about the need for college.”

“I, I don’t know what to do,” Kelly sobbed, “I feel like my whole like has been turned upside down.”

Marie hugged Kelly tighter, “Things will work out honey. Now let’s head into the house, it’s been a long trying day and we all could use a good night’s rest.”

Reaching over with both hands, Kelly folded the sides of the paper plate in over the half eaten gyro then rolled the sides up encasing the sandwich inside the paper plate like a burrito before standing up with it.

Walking back toward the house Kelly saw that all the food had been removed from the folding tables in the backyard. Entering the house though the kitchen she found Jake, Kay, Sarah and Michael all working at putting the last of the food away. Helen and her parents were there, as was Marie’s father.

“Oh look who finally showed up now that all the work is done,” Sarah grinned at Kelly.

“Sarah!” Marie glared.

Sarah giggled a she stepped over and gave Kelly a quick hug, “Mom she knows I’m just joking.”

Kelly nodded reaching across the counter to grab a toothpick that she inserted into the paper plate to hold its shape wrapped around the sandwich inside. Helen noticed the unusual way the girl had saved the sandwich, “Where did you learn how to do that?”

“How to do what?” Kelly stopped, turning toward Helen.

“The paper plate,” Helen motioned to the one Kelly held, “Your father used to do the same thing.”

“I, I don’t remember,” Kelly tried to think of an explanation, “I might have seen him do it when he was visiting in Greece? I’m not sure.”

Chapter 47
Sitting in front of the vanity in her room brushing her hair, Kelly glanced up at her reflection. Even the bright multi-hued orange and red of her eyes or the beautiful sapphire blue night dress she wore could not mask the sadness held within her eyes. My life is over, Kelly thought, Why did this have to happen to me? I’m not a god damned girl! Lowering her head Kelly began quietly sobbing.

Kelly thought of the serenity prayer, something that Marie had quoted often over the years and even more so after Kelly changed, ‘God Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’

Kelly’s left hand slowly pushed the night dress down between her legs to feel the lack of male equipment, cementing the fact in her mind that she was lying to herself. Looking up again at her reflection, Kelly whispered, “I am a girl. I cannot change that.” Resolving herself to be stoic Kelly continued to brush her hair. Working on the long tresses she had, a nightly process, that sometimes took more than an hour, of brushing then braiding it so would not tangle while she slept, it dawned on Kelly that this was one of those things she could change. Reaching into the top right drawer of the vanity Kelly dug around until she found and pulled out a pair of scissors. Gathering her hair up in her left hand behind her head, Kelly reached back with the scissors in her right hand and began cutting.

Bringing the long severed pony tail around, Kelly dropped the mass of hair into the waste paper basket beside her vanity. Looking at her reflection once again, turning her head to one side then the other, she thought, This still looks like a girl’s haircut. Noticing how the sides of her hair came down to a point below her chin then angled up toward the back of her head where it was only a few inches long in what looked like a very rough pixie cut. Reaching back, Kelly took care of the loose strands of hair that she missed until she was satisfied that she had taken care of the long and annoying hair.

Her reflection smiled back at her in the mirror, No more spending hours a day taking care of long hair! Shaking her head from one side to the other, Kelly watched her now much shorter hair flap around in the mirror. When she stopped the hair fell back in place easily, This will be so much easier to take care of now!

Kelly heard a soft knock at her bedroom door, she turned just in time to see it start to open. Kelly realized immediately who it had to be. Michael and Dad would never enter without hearing that it was alright to do so. Anne never knocked, neither did Sarah most of the time, but she would have come through the bathroom as it was closer and Kay was busy studying. Crap mom’s going to freak out when she sees my hair!

“I thought I would see how you were… Oh my god what happened to your hair!” Marie shouted after sticking her head through the opening. Throwing the door wide Marie rushed over to Kelly’s side, “What happened?” Her voice sounding frantic.

Kelly gulped, knowing Marie would be furious no matter what she said, although she thought the truth was her only option. Kelly had never made a habit of lying to Marie before and would not start now, “I cut it off!” Pointing to the mass of hair in the waste basket.

“YOU WHAT!” Marie yelled. “Why on earth would you do that?”

Looking up where her mother stood, “It took me an hour every night to braid it before bed and even longer than that to wash and dry it. Every time I turn around I have to do something with my hair, it felt like my life revolved around my damn hair!”

“You know my thoughts on that, and as much as you liked long hair on women you have no place to talk!” Marie’s voice was still very loud.

“That was before I found out what a pain in the ass it is to take care of!” Kelly yelled right back.

“You’re grounded until I tell you different young lady!”

“I’m not a kid!” Kelly yelled, standing up to face Marie, “You can’t treat me like one!”

“Then stop acting like one!” Marie shouted.

“Arrrgggh!” Kelly screamed then disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.

“KELLY!” Marie screamed. Turning around Marie went to leave the room but was stopped by her husband, Jake, blocking the doorway.

Placing his hands gently on her shoulders, “What’s with the yelling?”

“Kelly,” Marie looked up at Jake, “She cut her hair off, just look!” Marie turned pointing to the now empty waste basket. “What the…” Marie walked over and picked up the waste basket then turned to Jake with a puzzled look on her face, “It was all right here.” Sitting the basket back down on the floor, “I’ve got to find her!” Marie tried pushing her way past Jake.

“Whoa, slow down,” Jake held Marie from leaving the room, “Kelly is fine, we both know where she went.”

“I need to go to her, she needs me!” Marie struggled to get past him.

“It’s been a long and stressful day for both of you,” Jake stated, “What you both need is some time to think and a good night’s rest.”

“But she’s so small and all alone.”

“You’re forgetting super human strength and ability to teleport. I would be more worried about what she would do to someone that did try something with her.” Jake chuckled, “And she’s only in the backyard. She’ll be fine sleeping on the boat tonight. Come to bed.”

Marie allowed Jake to lead her to their bedroom, but instead of getting into bed, Marie pulled a chair over to the window that looked out over their backyard, opened the window then sat watching the sailboat. Marie could see a light was on inside the boat through the side windows of the cabin. Close to thirty minutes later Marie, still watching from her chair, saw a small figure in a night gown slip across the yard onto the boat, open the hatch that led below deck then close the hatch behind her. Even in the dim light of the moon Marie could easily identify the figure as Sarah. Marie quietly got up and started toward the door.

“Where’re you going?” Jake had always been a light sleeper, normally attributing it to his days in the military as being forced to sleep with one eye open as he called it.

“Sarah just went out to the boat.”

“Figured she would,” Jake quietly chuckled, “Since Kelly’s change those two have become almost inseparable. Now come to bed, you need some sleep.”

~o~O~o~

Sarah walked down the short steps to find Kelly sitting at the table staring at a half empty bottle of Metaxa sitting on the table in front of her. From the streaks down her cheeks it was easy to tell Kelly had been crying, “Hey sis.”

Kelly did not take her eyes off the bottle, “Hey.”

Walking over, Sarah sat down beside Kelly, “What ya doing?”

“Just sitting here.”

“Planning on drinking that?” Sarah motioned toward the bottle on the table.

“Not anymore,” Kelly shook her head.

“Good, the last thing you want is to be puking your guts out.”

“I, I was going to get drunk, but I can’t.” Kelly tried to explain, “Drank that much already but nothing.”

“You drank half a bottle of dad’s brandy and you’re not drunk?”

Kelly nodded, “Cut my hair too and it came back.”

“Is that what you and mom were fighting about?” Sarah wrapped her arm around Kelly’s back, placing her hand on Kelly’s shoulder giving Kelly a gentle squeeze.

Kelly sighed, “Yea, she walked in right after I cut it.”

Sarah leaned back so she could see Kelly’s long hair behind her, “Doesn’t look like you cut much of it?”

Raising her hand up to her ear, Kelly held it straight against her head, “I cut it up to here, but after I jumped out here it was back, like I didn’t cut it at all.”

“Your hair grew back that fast?”

“No,” Kelly looked at her sister wide eyed, “It was just back like it was before. Watch,” Kelly got up and went over to open a drawer by the stove, retrieving a knife she cut a good two foot long section out of her hair that she handed to Sarah.

“Oh my god you didn’t just do that!”

“Watch,” Kelly disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, Sarah looked down at the locks of hair she held as they also disappeared in a cloud of red. Kelly reappeared by the steps that lead above desk, her hair looked as if she never cut it.

“That, that is so AWESOME!” Sarah giggled, “Now I am really jealous of your hair!”

“What?” Kelly’s jaw dropped.

“And I think I know what kind of mutant you are too!” Sarah grinned, “You’re an exemplar, you have one of those templates the teacher told us about. This is so cool, my sister’s an exemplar!”

“I’m a what?”

“Exemplar,” Sarah explained, “you have super strength, you have one of those template thingies and you’re beautiful.”

“I look like you,” Kelly reminded her.

“Exactly,” Sarah giggled, “The most beautiful girl you know. You really are my twin!”

Kelly looked down at her smaller chest, “Not quite.”

“They say when you change like that you change into the person your subconscious focuses on. You must have focused on a slightly younger me.” Sarah giggled while getting up and going over to Kelly, “Now come on let’s get your hair braided and jump in bed.” Taking Kelly by the hand she led them into the forward cabin.

Chapter 48

Kelly found herself standing on a small rocky plateau that appeared to be one hundred feet or more above the flat barren valley below. The sun low on the horizon casting long shadows across the arid landscape. A few feet away in front and to the right her dream twin stood. Kelly noticed they both were dressed in identical long flowing white dresses, both had a thick leather strap crossing between their breasts that wound around their body ending at their waist that was tied off cinching the material of the dress close to their bodies visibly causing their breasts and hips to be more noticeably feminine.

To Kelly’s left she saw a wooden stand holding a single sword. The wood of the stand looked dark as night and very old. Kelly could also see what looked like highly intricate carvings in the sides of the stand. The sword it held was familiar to Kelly, closely resembling the long knife he had carried for so many years, although the blade was a bit longer with the handle of a dark black material Kelly still recognized it, if nothing else due to the strangely glowing blade. It was the same sword the woman had given him in the first of these weird dreams.

“That is Krisi,” Kelly’s dream twin spoke as Kelly was looking at the weapon.

Kelly looked past her dream twin, spotting what appeared to be a large battle taking place using archaic swords and spears far off in the distance, “What is this place?”

The dream twin smiled, “This place has been called many things over the years, but we call it sanctuary.”

“Sanctuary?” Kelly pointed over toward the ongoing battle, “In the middle of a war zone!”

The dream twin waved her hand in disregard of the raging battle, “There is always some battle or some war going on somewhere. None dare approach Krisi, they fear the blade.” Looking toward the far off battle, “They call Krisi the blade of nightmares. Those that touch it find their inner demons, their evils unleashed upon themselves, Their worst nightmares become real, a soul can be driven mad by this.”

Remembering the statuettes, “So are you the one in the statue, Telikos?”

“Telikos?” Kelly’s twin laughed, “I was the youngest so I guess you could say that is what I was, but it was not my name.”

“Who, what are you?”

“We are the same, two parts of the whole, we are Kelly Moira.”

“No,” Kelly as getting frustrated at the answers, “I mean before you were part of me, before I was turned into a girl.”

“We were dying.”

“Both of us?” Kelly questioned if whatever her twin is was also dying.

“Yes, Kelly and Moira were both dying,” Kelly’s dream twin answered, “We merged together to save the young one. Something kept us from separating after we were done, The only way either of us could survive was to join completely.”

“Okay, so why make us a girl?” Kelly begged for an answer.

“Your body was hurt badly, beyond my ability to weave back together.” Kelly’s dream twin lowered her head, “It was the only way.”

“Thank you for saving us,” somehow Kelly knew this was the truth, she could feel it in her soul.

“We both sacrificed much to survive,” Kelly’s twin spoke then raised her head to look at Kelly, “but together we will become more than we were before, this I know will come in time.”

~o~O~o~

Marie’s temper flared when she spotted the half empty bottle of brandy on the table inside the boat’s cabin. How dare she drink that at her age! Marie took a deep breath trying to calm herself, I’m here to make up with her, not fight. Anyways the hangover she’ll have today will be punishment enough. Sitting the carafe of coffee she had carried out with her on the table she walked toward the open forward cabin door where Sarah and Kelly lay sleeping.

Marie stood in the doorway for a moment looking at her two sleeping daughters. Sarah lay with her arm across Kelly, snuggled up against Kelly back. Both girls’ hair in identical long braids. What the… Kelly’s hair grew back over night? Marie gasped, “Your hair!” which woke both girls.

Kelly turned her head to see Marie standing in the doorway, “Mom, I, I’m sorry.”

“Your hair, it grew back!” Marie smiled.

Sarah rolled over onto her back, “Umm, morning mom?”

“Your hair, but you cut it last night,” the surprise evident in Marie’s voice.

“Um yea,” Kelly blushed, “apparently I can’t cut it. Sarah thinks I have this image thing that puts me back to what it says I should look like.”

Sarah yawned, “Her hair is supposed to be long so it goes back to being long no matter what she does.”

Marie walked around to the side of the bed, knelt down and hugged Kelly tight, “I’m so sorry I lost my temper last night. I was just so shocked when I walked in.”

“It’s okay mom,” Kelly returned the hug, “It was stupid of me to do it in the first place. Yesterday was just so… so crazy.”

“It was for all of us honey,” Marie let go of Kelly and stood up, “Now why don’t you roll out of bed and come have a cup of coffee with your mother.”

“What?” Kelly’s eyes opened wide.

Marie looked down at the twelve year old girl, “What you said last night, you were right.” Marie sighed, “You may look like a little girl but you’re not, not really.” Marie’s eyes lowered toward the floor.

Kelly could see the sadness written across Marie’s face as she swung her legs off the bed and stood beside her. Wrapping her arms around Marie, “I love you mom.”

“You can’t believe how happy it makes me to hear you say that. You know I love you too.”

Sarah climbed out of bed from the other side, “Hey do I get to have coffee too?”

“NO!” Kelly quipped.

“Yes,” Marie grinned. “It’s only fair.”

Sarah stuck her tongue out at Kelly causing both girls to giggle.

Following their mother out into the main cabin, Sarah slid in behind the table while Kelly produced three mugs from a cupboard above the small sink. Sitting down at the table, Marie poured each one a cup of the steaming liquid. Kelly raised her mug up in both hands, holding it under her nose. With her eyes closed she savored the aroma. A small moan escaped her lips after taking a sip from her mug.

“God sis, you drinking that or having sex with it?” Sarah saw their mother glare at her from the corner of her eye, “Not that I have done anything like that. That’s gross, I mean to think of a boy putting his, eww…”

Marie saw the complete look of disgust that came across Kelly’s face, “I think we got the visual Sarah.” Marie picked up the bottle of brandy from the table, “While we are on the subject of do’s and don’ts, What is this doing out?” Marie looked across the table at Kelly.

Kelly looked down at her mug of coffee, “I drank it, I wanted to get drunk.”

“Got a hangover this morning honey?” Marie’s smile had a bit of evil retribution to it.

“No and don’t worry I will never do it again.” Kelly confessed, “Not like it would do any good, I can’t get drunk now.”

“Well I’m glad you are not going to take up drinking, but what do you mean you can’t get drunk?”

“Just that,” Kelly looked up from her mug, “I drank half that bottle and nothing, not even a buzz. So why waste expensive liquor when it doesn’t do anything to me.”

“Alcohol doesn’t affect you?” Marie sounded unconvinced.

“Yea mom,” Sarah put in, “It’s part of being an exemplar. Things like that don’t have any effect on them.”

Turing her attention to Sarah, “You didn’t have any did you?”

“No,” Kelly quickly answered, “And she never asked. Sarah was more worried that it would make me sick.”

“Good,” Marie sat the bottle down, “Since I have both of you here and no one to interrupt us, I think we should discuss one other item that you girls should be aware of.”

“Oh god here it comes!” Sarah groaned.

“What?” Kelly looked over at her sister.

Raising her hands up from the table Sarah made air quotes with her fingers, “The talk.”

“I think I learned this about the same time you did mom,” Kelly stated.

“Not from this perspective young lady.” Marie raised her eyebrows opening her eyes wide at the same time letting her mouth fall open in a mock display of shock in Kelly’s direction. “Are you interested in boys yet?” Marie continued looking at Kelly.

“Not even Mark Stein?” Sarah giggled.

“He makes your heart go pitter patter, not mine!” Kelly countered.

“Does not!”

“Girls,” Marie stopped them before they could say more, “It’s okay to think of boys that way,” Looking over at Sarah, “just don’t act on any impulses you may have without talking to me first alright?”

Both girls nodded.

What I want to know is how you feel about boys, “Marie looked back toward Kelly.

“I, I don’t really feel anything.” Kelly began, “I like how some of the boys at school treat me, but I’m not interested in more than being their friend.”

“What about girls?” Marie continued, “How do you feel about them now?”

“Ewww,” Sarah grimaced.

“I don’t think of girls that way!” Kelly glared over at Sarah before looking back at Marie, “Not anymore, I guess I never realized it, but it’s like when I was a guy seeing another guy in the locker room did nothing, now it’s the same with girls.”

“So I’m guessing you will eventually start looking at boys differently too.” Marie stated as Sarah grinned evilly over at Kelly. Marie continued, “So this is a good time for,” Marie held up her hands and make air quotes like Sarah had done earlier, “The talk.”

"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://whateleyacademy.net)"

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Chapter 49

“Okay girls,” Marie stood up from the table, “Let’s get you both inside before anyone starts showing up. We don’t want you parading around guests in your nighties.”

Sarah started pushing Kelly so she could get out from behind the table, “Let’s go, I can’t let anyone see me wearing this!”

“I could port us up to my room?” Kelly grinned evilly at Sarah.

“Uh no,” Sarah grimaced, “I almost barfed the one time you did that with me before. I’ll stick to walking, thank you.”

“You two go on ahead, I’m going to put this away before anyone else sees it was out,” Marie picked up the bottle of Metaxa.

“Sorry that I tried that last night mom,” Kelly stopped in front of Marie her head hanging low.

Marie hugged Kelly with her free hand, “It’s in the past, and I trust you to keep your promise, so it’s forgotten already.” Both girls stared toward the steps, “Oh and we are not going to church today so wear whatever you wish.”

Sarah turned around, “No church? Can Kelly and I go to the beach? We could walk to Sunset beach.”

“Or we could take the boat down to Clearwater beach?” Kelly added.

“Boat no, beach yes,” Marie smiled, “I don’t think the Coast Guard would find a twelve year old running at forty foot yacht by herself very funny.”

Kelly attempted to change their mother’s mind, “But we could talk Michael—”

“No boat,” Marie interrupted, “and make sure you take your phones with you. If I call you best answer and I want you both home by lunch time.”

“Yes mom,” Both girls chorused before hurrying off the boat, across the yard and into the house.

Sarah followed Kelly into her room, “Throw on some shorts and a top, I’ll grab the rest of the things we’ll need,” Before Sarah entered their joint bathroom, using it as a shortcut into her own room.

Sarah returned dressed in a pair of white short shorts and a blue sleeveless top. Kelly had put on a pair of short cutoffs and a white tank top and was brushing out her hair when Sarah came back into her room through the bathroom. Looking over at her sister, Kelly saw that Sarah had a large beach bag under her arm, the straps over her shoulder like a purse.

“Ready?” Sarah grinned when she saw Kelly nod her head, “Great, grab your purse and let’s get moving.”

Grabbing her purse, Kelly removed her phone from its charger putting it in her purse as the two left her room.

The walk to the beach did not take long, it being not much more than a half mile from their home. Sarah grabbed Kelly’s hand and pulled her into the women’s restroom at the beach, “Let’s change into our swimsuits first.”

Urging Kelly into one of the stalls, Sarah waited outside, “Hand me your clothes over the door, I’ll hand your swimsuit over and put your clothes in my bag.”

Looking in the stall Kelly thought that while it did look clean, she thought being able to put her clothes safely into the beach bag was better than laying them on the floor. “Okay,” Kelly went into the stall and closed the door behind her. AS soon as Kelly passed over the last bit her of the clothes she had worn, Sarah passed her over the bathing suit.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Kelly gasped when she saw what Sarah had handed across to her, “I can’t wear this!”

“Well it’s not a nude beach so you have to wear something,” Sarah giggled.

“This thing isn’t far from being naked!” Kelly argued, “Mom would never let us wear something this revealing!”

“Oh quit being such a drama queen, mom was with me when I got them.” Sarah stated, “Do you think she would pay for something she wouldn’t let us wear?”

“Just hand me my clothes back, I’m not wearing this,” Kelly protested, “And there is no way mom bought me a bikini!”

“Shows how much you know,” Sarah giggled. “Mom bought us both identical ones. Now hurry up and get dressed so I can change too.”

A couple minutes later Kelly unlocked the stall door and stepped out, her face turning red as soon as she saw Sarah looking at her. “Wow you look great, I can’t wait to put mine on!” Sarah pushed past her into the stall that Kelly had just exited.

Sarah came out of the stall wearing the same white string bikini that Kelly had on. Sarah twirled once in front of Kelly smiling, “See we’re twins again!”

Kelly walked beside Sarah out onto the sand, leaning over she whispered to Sarah, “Guys are staring at us.”

Sarah giggled, “Of course they are, guys do that,” While leading them both further out onto the sand toward the water. Sarah produced two beach towels and handed one to Kelly. While spreading the towel out on the sand Kelly took a good look around. The beach was not that crowded, other than the group of around fifteen guys playing volleyball, who all appeared to be all around high school age, there was couple that could have been in their early forties down at the water’s edge with two young boys the oldest of the boys probably just a little older than Anne was floating around in the water on a colorful tube. Off to their left a man and woman sat on one of the several benches provided, they faced away so Kelly could not tell how old or young they might be. Further down along the beach an older man with a boy about Kelly and Sarah’s age were fishing.

Kelly lay down upon the beach towel beside her sister. After some time had passed Kelly rolled over onto her stomach, “We going to do anything else other than lay here?”

Sarah rolled over to her stomach then began digging through the bag she brought. Holding a magazine toward Kelly that she found within, “Want a magazine to read?”

Kelly saw the front cover of the magazine Sarah was trying to hand to her, “Got any that I would actually want to read?”

Sarah turned the magazine so she could see the cover, “Oh that is mine,” then looking at Kelly with a devilish grin, “although it wouldn’t hurt you to read it too.”

“I think between you and mom I’ve been brainwashed enough?”

Sarah reached into her bag pulling out another magazine which Kelly snatched out of her hand when she saw it was Muscle Mustang and Fast Ford magazine, one of her favorites.

“Nope!” Sarah giggled, “It looks like we haven’t done enough yet.”

“What,” Kelly scoffed, “Lots of girls like cars.”

“Name one.”

“Me.” Kelly stuck her tongue out at Sarah, “Anyways I thought we came to swim, if I had known we were going to lay around all morning I could have kept my clothes on.”

Sarah grinned at Kelly, “But we look so much better in these.”

“To who,” Kelly thumbed over at the guys playing volleyball, “Them?”

“Of course silly,” Sarah giggled, “Why else wear them.”

Kelly tossed her magazine into Sarah face, “You’re terrible!”

“I had a great role model,” Sarah giggled tossing the magazine back into Kelly’s face. Opening the magazine Kelly flipped to the index and began checking out what articles it contained.

Kelly was deep into an article that was discussing the benefits of Ford’s FE block side oiling engine versus standard top oiling systems along with modifications to the venerable ‘side oiler’ engine that enhanced the unique oiling system and extended the life of the engine in racing when she heard a familiar voice, “Hi guys!” Kelly looked up to find Lisa standing there in a navy blue two piece swimsuit holding her own beach bag. “Hey Lisa, I didn’t know you came down here on Sundays.”

“Well,” Lisa smirked, “if my BFF would have called and let me know her and her sister were going to the beach I could have walked down with them.”

Sarah turned up on one elbow, “Sorry Lisa, mom doesn’t give us a pass on church that often so I wanted to get out of the house before she changed her mind.”

Lisa began spreading her towel out beside Kelly on the sand, “So how long have you guys been here?”

Kelly rolled to her side so she could see Lisa easier, “Not long, half hour maybe an hour at the most.” Sitting down on the towel she had spread out, Lisa dug through her bag retrieving a tube of sunblock that she began applying to her arms. “Sunblock?” Kelly questioned.

“Duh, redhead. Unlike you two and your perfect Mediterranean complexions, I burn real easy,” Lisa stuck her tongue out at Kelly. Covering everywhere she could reach, Lisa handed the tube to Kelly, “Would you do my back for me?”

“Uh sure,” Kelly shrugged, sitting up as Lisa lay down on her stomach. Squeezing some of the lotions into her palm Kelly began applying it to Lisa’s shoulders and neck. Kelly had applied sunscreen and lotions to his past girlfriends and his wife on numerous occasions, his hands knew exactly where and how to bring any woman to a state of peaceful bliss during a massage. Kelly’s hands while smaller now, still retained the muscle memory that had developed over the years instantly going on autopilot, massaging Lisa’s shoulders and neck as she worked the sunscreen into Lisa’s soft tender flesh.

Kelly slowly worked her hands down into the small of Lisa’s back when Sarah startled her, “You two need to get a room!”

“What?” Kelly jerked back away from Lisa.

“The way Lisa is moaning, people are going to think you two are an item,” Sarah grinned.

Lisa pulled her elbows under herself so she could rise up to talk, “Sorry.” Her face turning a deep shade of red, “But you can’t believe how great that felt.”

“I would be happy do that for you?” All three girls looked up to see a boy, maybe a year or two older, had walked over from where he had been playing volleyball with his friends.

“I bet you would,” Lisa snorted.

Um, I, the guys wanted me to ask…” The boy stammered, “Want to join us for volleyball? Some of the guys had to leave and we don’t have enough now.”

Kelly thought she recognized the teen boy from somewhere but couldn’t place him, her curiosity getting the better of her she smiled up at him, “Sure, it beats laying here doing nothing.”

Sarah glared at Kelly’s back before looking back at the boy, “Go on ahead, we’ll gather up our things and be over in a minute.” After the boy had walked off where he would not be able to hear her, Sarah reached over and pinched Kelly, “What were you thinking?”

“Oww!” Kelly swatted at her sister’s hand, “Why’d you do that?”

“Because you never asked if Lisa and I wanted to play, you just up and told them we would!”

“What’s wrong with playing a game of volleyball?” Kelly huffed, “It’s something to do.” Picking up the magazine from where she had left it, “I can read this anywhere.”

“You do know why they invited us right?” Lisa rolled her eyes.

“Yea,” Sarah sighed.

“What?” Kelly looked over to Lisa then back at Sarah.

“So they can watch our boobs bounce!” Sarah groaned.

Knowing that Sarah’s chest was almost two cup sizes larger than her own and at least one larger than Lisa’s Kelly grinned, “Then you can distract them while Lisa and I win the game for us.”

Sarah’s eyes grew wide, while Lisa and Kelly were giggling, “I don’t believe you said that!”

“Well, it’s true that you are better equipped to distract them,” Lisa laughed.

“You too!” Sarah gaped.

Lisa shrugged, “If the shoe fits, or in this case, bra.”

Chapter 50

After winning the first game, then just barely losing to the boys in the second game Sarah pulled Kelly and Lisa off to the side, “Guys I really need to stop.”

“You okay?” Lisa asked.

“Um yea, but this top doesn’t have much support.”

“Oh crap I didn’t realize…” Kelly gasped. Turning around toward the guys they had been playing against, “Hey guys hope you don’t mind but we’re going to take a break.”

“No problem,” Jeff, the boy who had asked them to join them grabbed one of his two friends by the arm as he began jogging toward the girls, “Come on Bill.” Smiling at the girls as he trotted past them, “We’ll move that picnic table into the shade for you girls.”

After moving the picnic table into a shadow of a nearby palm tree, the boys jogged back over to the volleyball area to retrieve their own belongings.

Arriving at the table’s new location, Sarah reached into her bag, pulling out one of the beach towels that she and Kelly had brought, as Kelly sat down on the opposite side of the table.

Kelly’s barely covered rear had no sooner touched the wooden bench attached to the table, when she jumped up banging her legs against the underside of the table. “Damn!” Kelly rubbed her rear end.

Snickering, Sarah held the towel out toward Kelly, “Bench hot?”

Snatching the towel out of her hand, “You could have warned me.”

Reaching up to her chin with her thumb and fore finger, Sarah gazed up slightly, “Who was it that always told me that experience is the best teacher?”

Kelly rolled her eyes, before twisting around so she could lay the folded towel onto the bench before sitting back down.

Sarah pulled the other towel out of her bag, unfolding it enough for her and Lisa to sit on. After both had sat Sarah grinned over at Kelly, who was still rubbing her sore rear, “If it hurts that bad I am sure we can find some volunteers that would kiss it and make it better for you,” glancing sideways at the boys that were walking over.

Following her sister's gaze, Kelly quickly turned back to look at Sarah, “Eww, not just no, but hell no,” she said low enough so that only Sarah and Lisa could hear her.

“Well don’t look at me,” Sarah giggled, “I don’t swing that way.”

“Well you are my best friend,” Lisa grinned then changed her voice as low and sultry as she could, “but let’s find some place a little more private to do that.”

Sarah leaned over into Lisa pushing her with her shoulder, “You’re bad!”

“Yes but I’m so good at being bad!” Lisa giggled.

Before anything else could be said Jeff came up and sat down beside Kelly at the table, his longer shorts that he wore providing the protection from the heat of the bench that Kelly’s skimpy bikini bottom did not have. “Was that a car magazine you were reading before I came over?” Jeff focused on Kelly.

“Yea,” Kelly looked curiously at Jeff, still trying to determine where she should know him from, “Muscle Mustang and Fast Ford.”

“That’s cool,” Jeff smiled at Kelly, “I’m helping my dad restore his old Monte Carlo, he says it’s mine when I get my license.”

“What year?” Kelly gazed over at the boy questioningly.

“Seventy-two,” Jeff affirmed proudly.

Kelly grinned, “Yea that body style is cool, they remind me of a long nosed Chevelle.”

“Not many girls would know that is the only real difference between them,” Jeff laughed.

Bill sat down beside Jeff while John, the third of the teen boys sat on the other side of the table beside Lisa Both began passing out bottles of water they had fished out of the cooler they had brought along. “I’ll take my CRX over those old gas guzzlers. I run low fifteens in the quarter mile and doesn’t take every dime I own to keep it full of gas.”

“Does that mean it’s fast or something?” Lisa had no clue as to what all that meant.

Sarah, having been Kelly’s shadow for years, knew her way around under the hood of a car and around the drag strip, giggled, “Well it means it could out run your mom’s minivan but not any of the Kelly’s… Um Kelly’s dad’s cars.”

“There’s no replacement for displacement,” Kelly grinned over at Sarah, trying to stifle her own giggle.

Bill puffed out his chest, ready to defend his pride and joy of a car when he realized he had seen one of the two sisters, he couldn’t tell which one as they looked so similar that it could have been either one. The only way he could tell which one was which right now was because both of them were together and Sarah was obviously a bit more well-endowed in the breast department than Kelly. “I’ve seen you before!” Bill puzzled, looking back and forth between Kelly and Sarah, “At the drag strip, but I’m not sure which one of you was there?” Looking toward Kelly, “The man who owns the scalded rat, the Chevy Monza with the big block in it said that all the time.” Bill looked between the two boys he was with, “That car is pure wicked! The whole front is motor and transmission, he actually gets in it through the rear hatch!”

Turning his attention back to Kelly his eyes went wide, “He’s your dad?”

Kelly nodded, “But it was Sarah you saw with him.”

“Yea uncle Kel used to take me with him a lot of weekends,” Sarah grinned.

“Uncle?” Jeff sounded very confused, “You two aren’t sisters?” Sarah nodded, while at the same time Kelly was shaking her head no. Anything Sarah may have wanted to add was cut off as she began digging into the beach bag for her phone that was going off.

“I thought they were twins,” The last boy, who had been very quiet up until now, quickly looked away from the group.

“It’s a long story,” Lisa quickly explained, “Kelly’s dad and Sarah’s mom were brother and sister. When Kelly’s dad died Sarah’s parents adopted her, so now they are sisters.”

“Um, sorry about your dad,” Jeff fumbled for words while looking over at Kelly with a sad smile.

“That was Mom,” Sarah put her phone back in her bag, “She said people are already showing up and wants us to come home and change before too many others get there.” Kelly nodded as she stood up from the bench.

“I’ll walk with you guys,” Lisa quickly began to get up also.

“I can give you girls a ride if you want?” Bill quickly offered.

“Thanks but no,” Sarah smiled over her shoulder as the three girls headed toward the women’s restroom. “If Mom saw us pull up in a car full of boys she didn’t know Kelly and I would end up grounded until we graduated college.”

Chapter 51

Turning off the sidewalk into their driveway, Kelly saw several cars she did not recognize in their driveway as the trio walked up and entered the house. “You aren’t coming?” Kelly looked back toward Lisa, who stopped at the end the driveway.

“No, Mom and Dad told me we were going some…” Lisa stopped suddenly at the sight of one of the cars in the drive, “Whoa, who’s limo?”

Spotting the blue and white flags on the short sticks attached to the front corners of the limousine, “Probably our grandfather.”

“Wow, my best friends are like real life princesses,” Lisa giggled.

Kelly shook her head, “He’s a politician, not royalty.”

“Too bad,’ Lisa waved as she began walking further down the sidewalk, “It would be so cool if you were.”

***

Kelly spend much of the afternoon listening to the well-wishers that came and went while many of them had to have Kelly and Sarah stand together so they could comment on how amazed they were that the two looked so much alike. Several hours passed and most the guests had left when Mrs. Poulos, Helen’s mother, caught Kelly by herself.

Grabbing Kelly by the arm, she spoke softly so that only Kelly could hear her, “I know the truth! Those men didn’t attack my daughter and her husband did they?” Tightening her grip on the young girl's arm, “They were chasing you. You ran into their house and got them involved in your gene filth! My daughter lost her leg and her husband because of you,” She hissed, “Mutant scum!”

From where Helen sat in her wheelchair, she saw Kelly run off toward the end of the dock as her own mother came walking back toward where she sat. “Momma what did you say to her!” Helen demanded of her mother.

“It’s no concern of yours,” Her mother snipped as she approached. Looking over to her husband, “It is time we went home papa.” Walking around Helen, her mother grabbed the handles of Helen’s wheelchair and tried to turn the chair around toward the house.

Helen reached down to the side grabbing the wheels of the chair stopping her mother from moving it with her in it while twisting around so she could look back at her mother, “What did you say to her!”

“I told her the truth, her kind isn’t welcome here.” Mrs. Poulos jerked the wheelchair, “Now let’s go.”

Gripping the wheels of the chair tighter so her mother could not move it, “I’m not going anywhere! That girl just lost her father, my husband! You apologize right now mother!”

“Her kind!” Marie shouted. “That’s my daughter you insulted!”

Jake saw the look in his wife’s eyes as Marie stood, reaching around Marie’s waist as he stepped behind her, “Calm down dear, I’m sure she didn’t mean to insult anyone.”

“That is a thing!” Mrs. Poulos spat.

With both hands Marie tried to free herself from his strong but gentle grip while glaring daggers at the other woman, “My daughter is not a thing! And the only kind that isn’t welcome in MY HOME is your kind, the kind that attacks little girls because they THINK they are different. I will not sit still while you insult my daughter and family. GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE NOW!” Marie screamed.

Helen’s father walked quickly over to his wife grabbing her arm, “Momma, let’s go.”

“Helen?” Helen’s mother looked down at her daughter.

“I’m staying!” Helen

“Come Sabella,” Helen’s father pulled his wife’s hand away from the wheelchair, “You have insulted our friends and embarrassed our family.”

“But Helen…” Mrs. Poulos tried to keep her husband from pulling her away from the wheelchair.

“Helen is a big girl, she doesn’t need or want your help right now.” Ed stated, “And I don’t blame her. The way you are acting toward that child is shameful and I will not tolerate it either.” Looking over at Jake, “Jake I apologize that I allowed my wife to disgrace your home. Rest assured I will not allow her to offend your family again.” Jake nodded while fighting to hold back his own wife from unleashing hell on earth.

Once Ed and his wife left, Jake released Marie who quickly ran across the backyard to Kelly, where the young girl was sitting hugging her knees drawn up to her chest, at the end of the dock near the bow of the sailboat.

“Sarah?” Helen stopped the girl when she got out of the chair she was in and began to follow her mother, “Would you mind helping me get this chair out there so I can talk with your sister?”

Sarah looked at Helen then to her father, who nodded to her, “Um sure.” Before walking over behind Helen’s wheelchair to begin pushing it across the yard.

Crossing the yard to the boat dock, Sarah and Helen could see that Marie had sat down on the wooden dock and pulled the smaller Kelly into her lap.

“No,” Marie shushed the small teen she held in her lap, “you’re my daughter now, you are going nowhere.”

“But she knows what I am,” Kelly sobbed.

“I may not have any fancy gifts like the ones God gave to you,” Helen forced Kelly to look up at her, “But Heaven have mercy on anyone that tries to hurt you, because that is the one thing I won’t give them.”

“My momma doesn’t know anything. She has been ranting about you causing the fire that killed,” Helen swallowed hard, “killed your father. You weren’t even in the country when that happened! As for what you are? I knew there had to be something for your father not to bring you out here to live with him. Family is, was too important to my husband, it’s just as important to me. Had Helen not beaten me to it, you would be calling me momma instead of aunt. Anyone try to hurt you will have to come through me.”

“And me too,” Sarah grinned.

Smiling up at her other daughter, “It’s starting to get late. Why don’t you take Kelly with you so you both can get ready for bed. You both have school tomorrow. Oh and please make sure Anne is does the same.”

Chapter 52

“Try again!”

Kelly glared over where her doppelganger stood, “How many times do I have to do this before you realize it won’t work. It’s a god damned sword not a dog that I can train to come when I whistle!”

“It’s no wonder that Krisi will not come when you call! Krisi is not some pet animal you can whistle for, she was forged out of the chaos, just as our ancestors were. She is not just some inanimate piece of metal forged into a tool, she is alive, she has purpose, she is our companion and the key to all this.”

Kelly stomped over to the dark wooden rack that held the sword, Reaching down she grabbed the sword by the hilt, “Okay now I…” Kelly was stymied when the sword refused to move from the rack.

“You are as bad as an over muscled barbarian!” The double giggled, “You think Krisi would allow anyone to wield her?” Kelly’s double seemed to be looking past Kelly at nothing for several seconds, “Krisi is angry with you, making any further work with her impossible at the moment. So let’s work on your fighting, come at me!”

“I know how to fight, I’ve had years of training.”

Both hands on her hips Kelly’s double raised her head and laughed, “I’ve seen you fight, you fight like some bullheaded gladiator, using brawn in place of cunning and intelligence. I’ve forgotten more about fighting than a mortal could learn in several lifetimes. Come put your years of training against mine.”

“Fine, if it will get this damn nightmare over any sooner.”

“Nightmare?” the double laughed again, waving her arm around to show their surroundings, “You believe this realm is not real?”

“I’m dreaming,” Kelly stated, “I don’t know why you only come in my dreams but this is a dream.”

“You fail to understand the true depths of the universe, my dear sister.” Kelly’s dream twin smiled at her, “You remember when my sister brought me to you asking for your help? The things you saw as she led you out of that place? Do you believe those were a dream too?”

“You couldn’t pick a better place?” Kelly snorted her disgust, “Desolate wasteland as far as the eye can see with armies fighting constantly with each other, this place makes Afghanistan look like a theme park.”

“This place is not of my choosing, we were appointed its governess. Compared to what can happen here, Afghanistan is a theme park. Now fight me!” the double disappeared in a cloud of red smoke, reappearing in front of Kelly punching Kelly hard in the stomach before disappearing in the red smoke. Reappearing behind Kelly she landed another blow below Kelly’s ribs on her right side before kicking out Kelly’s knee, driving her to her hands and knees. “I said fight me!” the double yelled.

“How is this even close to fair?” Kelly gasped for breath.

“Am I using some weapon you do not have?” The double grinned, “We have the same abilities, why you choose NOT to use them is your issue.”

“How can I fight someone that keeps blinking around teleporting all over the place!” Kelly not so much questioned her double but herself.

“What’s that saying humans have?” Kelly’s double grinned, “Fight fire with fire?”

Without warning Kelly ported up beside her double and swung. Her blow found only a quickly dispersing cloud of red, not a second later Kelly felt a blow to her back. Quickly teleporting again, Kelly unsuccessfully tried to land another blow only to see her double disappear before reappearing and striking her again. They fought all around the top of the mesa the two girls’ forms blinking in and out, appearing and reappearing. While Kelly never seems to get an upper hand on her double, she did manage to begin dodging her doubles attacks, teleporting away before the blow could land.

Trying to watch her opponent for any weakness she could exploit Kelly noticed that each time her double reappeared she was already striking, it was as if she preplanned her move ahead of time, winding up for the strike before she teleported. Kelly continued to watch what her double was doing when she blinked away as they fought back and forth. Seeing her double begin to crouch into what Kelly thought to be a leg sweep as she disappeared, Kelly teleported to a spot she thought would land her behind the sweeping leg beside her double while pulling her own leg up into a side kick. Her foot connected with her double’s head, although the double blinked out before she fell to the ground, appearing behind Kelly striking Kelly once again.

Round and round they continued, Kelly managing to land more blows against her opponent but nothing to the extent that her double was giving her. Kelly realized she would never best her opponent the way they were fighting, move and countermove. Her double was too familiar with using their teleporting ability to form perfect counter moves to everything Kelly tried. Kelly needed to up her game, not just counter what her double was doing as that would never gain Kelly the upper hand. What she needed to do was change the game.

Throwing a punch Kelly knew her double would blink away from, Kelly watched her double carefully for signs of her fist passed through the red cloud of her teleporting. Crouching down Kelly spun a leg sweep behind herself just as her double reappeared. Seeing her double draw back her right arm winding up for a strike Kelly spun around grabbing her double’s wrist as she reappeared. Using her doubles own momentum Kelly pulled her off balance while striking with her opposite elbow to her double’s face, Kelly’s double went to the ground face first.

Kelly stood there trying to anticipate what her double would do next. Not blinking away before she hit the ground confused Kelly, could she have actually hurt her double badly enough to force her to stop or was this some kind of ruse. Before Kelly could decide if her double was truly hurt, her double rolled over onto her back and after coughing up some blood began laughing.

Concerned that she had really hurt her double Kelly kneeled down to one knee beside her double, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” The double raised up with one elbow behind her to support her while wiping blood away from her mouth with her other forearm.

Noticing her double was missing a tooth when she smiled over at Kelly, “Shit, your teeth!”

“Yeah I think I swallowed it,” The double laughed again. “But that’s not the point, the point is that you are learning how to use our abilities.”

“Shit, I’m sorry!” Kelly pleaded, “I didn’t mean to…”

“Hey calm down,” A red cloud appeared where the girl lay on the ground. “See good as new!” Kelly heard her double’s voice behind her.

Kelly turned around while standing up to see her double standing there as if she was never hurt, “How did you do that?”

“Remember how well cutting our hair worked?”

Chapter 53

Finishing her morning ritual of Tai Chi Kelly walked back into the kitchen to find Helen there with her mother, “Helen how’d you get here so early?” Kelly was surprised.

“Hi Kelly,” Helen smiled, “After how my mother acted, I didn’t want to be around her. I still can’t believe she would talk about a child in that way. I can’t live in the same house with someone that has that much hatred, your mother offered to let me use your guest room for a while.” Leaning forward from her wheelchair Helen picked up one of the two large boxes of donuts that were on the table, “I got your mother to run me down to the donut shop this morning, thought you girls might like something a little different for breakfast.”

Kelly smiled wide spotting the name written in fancy script across the box, ‘Mmmm Delicious Donuts’ seeing a large powdered donut through the clear cellophane window, “That’s awesome, thanks!” Taking the box from Helen before sitting it back on the table to open it and retrieve the powdered sugary delight. Taking a paper napkin from the holder in the center of the table, Kelly went over to the counter unfolding the napkin onto the counter. Taking a knife from the wooden butcher-block knife holder Kelly carefully cut the fragile donut in half as if it were a bagel, placed it on the napkin then into the microwave.

Once the microwave counted down the twenty seconds she programed into it, Kelly pulled a spoon from a drawer and a jar of peanut butter from an upper cabinet. Spreading a generous portion of peanut butter on each half of the now very warm donut, Kelly sat down at the table, picking up one of the halves and took a bite, closing her eyes as she savored the taste. Kelly opened her eyes to see both Helen and her mom staring at her.

Helen gave Kelly a knowing smile, “The look you had after biting into that reminds me of…”

“The look a girl has after she has done something that you are way too young to be doing, young lady.” Marie quickly interrupted Helen.

“What?” Kelly gasped, before she realized what her mother meant, “That! No way is that ever happening!” Kelly picked up the napkin that held the other half of her donut and got up to leave the room, “I, I need to go get ready for school before Sarah wakes up and hogs the bathroom.”

Helen looked over at Marie after Kelly left, “Way to go, mention sex and she runs for the hills. Have you gave her the talk yet?”

“Both her and Sarah,” Marie smiled as she sat down at the table with her coffee cup. “Although I’m pretty sure Kelly isn’t interested in boys yet.”

“We know that can change quickly,” Helen chuckled then her expression became troubled, “Not trying to change the subject, did you notice how she ate that donut just like her father, microwaved, peanut butter and all?”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Marie took a sip of her coffee, “None of the girls or Michael will touch a Bologna sandwich without putting potato chips in the sandwich, exactly like he used to do, except Sarah is even worse and has to have barbecue chips and only barbecue chips.”

“You sure about that?”

“Even though Kelly did not spend the amount of time with her father as my children did, he did take quite a few trips, spending weeks at a time gone. Now that we know he had a daughter I think it’s obvious where he went on those trips.”

“To visit Kelly?”

Marie nodded.

***

“Hey where’d you get a donut?” Sarah came walking into Kelly’s room through their shared bathroom.

“Helen bought them.”

“Helen’s here?”

“Yeah I guess she spent the night,” Kelly shrugged.

Looking down at the peanut butter covered donut, “And you cut that donut slathered it up with peanut butter right in front of her?”

Yeah, why?” Kelly looked up from where she sat at her vanity to Sarah. Kelly opened her mouth and her eyes widened as she realized what Sarah was leading to.

“You may look like my sister, but you’re still as clueless as any boy I’ve known.” Sarah reached down picking up the uneaten half of Kelly’s donut.

“Hey that’s mine!” Kelly shouted as Sarah raced out of the room.

Kelly caught up to her downstairs in the kitchen. Sarah had a spoon doing something to the donut. Walking over Kelly could see that Sarah was creating a valley of peanut butter around the center of the donut. Tossing the spoon in the sink, Sarah reached over to the fridge and pulled out a squeeze bottle of chocolate syrup that she used to fill the valley created by the peanut butter. Putting the chocolate syrup back, Sarah picked up the donut and napkin and took a bite of the modified creation, “Mmmm, now that’s how you were supposed to do it.” Holding the donut out for Kelly to try.

Realizing what Sarah was doing Kelly took a bite of the donut. Kelly’s eyes widened surprise at the taste, “Oh my god this is so good!” Before her change Kelly had not been that big on chocolate before her change, actually avoiding anything that used chocolate as a major ingredient.

Sarah pulled the donut back as Kelly reached for it, “Uh, this one’s mine. You make your own.”

Sarah twisted around at the sound of the doorbell. “That’s probably Lisa, come on sis we got to go,” Sarah practically pranced out of the kitchen the high ponytail she had her hair in bouncing along behind her.

They could all hear Lisa once Sarah opened the door, “You got donuts!”

Raising her voice so that she could be heard by the two girls in the other room, “Lisa would you like a donut to eat on the way to school?”

“I’d love one,” Lisa entered the kitchen, a backpack slung over one shoulder. “Hi Mrs. Kontos, Hi Mrs. Lekka.”

As the teen reached the table to pick out a donut, Helen saw the graphics on Lisa’s backpack depicting several female anime characters all of which had different animal or monstrous characteristics. One of the anime girls looked to be covered in brown fur and had large fangs, another had green skin with darker green hair. This one also had what appeared to be a fish’s dorsal fins on the back of each of her legs and arms. Across the bottom of the graphic Japanese characters in bold.

“What is that on your bag Lisa?” Helen asked.

“Mutant High! It’s my favorite show,” Lisa grinned, “It’s Japanese Anime, we can’t get it here, but I can watch it on the Internet with subtitles. It’s all about these kids that turned into mutants that go to this special high school for mutants. Some of them have some really cool super powers but they all worry about the same things we do, you know school, clothes and important things like that oh yeah and they learn how to control their powers too.”

“The Japanese do seem to be a bit friendlier towards mutants than most countries,” Marie stated.

“But the school isn’t in Japan,” Lisa enthusiastically demonstrated her knowledge of the show, “In the show an earthquake made a huge part of California into an island, it’s called Angel’s island now and the school is in Angel City. The government of the island wants to be under Japan and not the US, which had been a real pain as the US has sent in the army and the school kids have to keep driving the army out.”

“It sounds like it would be a great idea for a school,” Helen smiled, “One where Mutant children would be safe from hate groups, someplace they could learn how to control their powers while finishing high school.”

“I heard that Japan was going to throw all the MCO agents out of their country,” Lisa commented while pulling a glazed donut from the box.

“Even if that country wants to do that it would take time, maybe years to do it,” Helen thought about the immense legal battles that would have to occur to remove the organization out of a country the size of the United States.”

“I think the MCO does serve a purpose but,” Marie looked up at Lisa, “they are only as good as the people they hire. When I was at the mall with the girls I saw one of their officers had of all things, a ‘Humanity First’ pin on his lapel. I seriously wonder about any official group such as the MCO, police or FBI that would allow a member of a hate group to become one of their officers.”

“I agree with your mom,” Lisa grinned over at Kelly and Sarah, “Mutants are people too.”

“I never said that but you are correct Lisa. Persecuting someone because they have a different religion, speak another language, look different or have special abilities is prejudice, plain and simple.” Marie smiled at the thought of how the youth were so much more accepting than older generations.”

“We should get going guys,” Sarah interrupted.

Once the three were out the front door Sarah handed the donut, or what was left of it back to Kelly, leaning over and whispering into Kelly’s ear, “I’ll always have your back sis.”