Dunwich, Monday August 27th, 2007
Roulette:

Dunwich. After a long and uncomfortable flight from Portland to Boston, and then a somewhat more relaxing and comfortable, yet still long, train ride to Dunwich, New Hampshire, I had finally arrived. Well, technically, I hadn’t actually arrived at my final destination just yet, but I was close enough that I could taste it.

I stared out the window of the train, watching carefully as we pulled into the Dunwich station. Once we came to a full stop, I finally put away the books that I’d been reading for most of the journey.

The first book was one on basic magical theory. Witchling, who was something of my mentor, or at least, the woman who’d given me some basic lessons in magic, had also given me this book. I read through most of it while onboard the plane, but a lot of it seemed like stereo instructions to me. I’d grown up with devisor technology, not magic, so this was still pretty new to me.

On the other hand, my second book was far more relatable, even though most people wouldn’t consider it very exciting. This was a cookbook, with a large collection of hand-written recipes, which had been given to me by Mrs. Lawrence as a going away present.

Mrs. Lawrence was my neighbor back home, and she owned her own catering business, which she ran from her own house. Until very recently, I’d worked for her, in exchange for spare food and cooking lessons. And when Mrs. Lawrence learned that I was leaving to attend a private school, she’d been kind enough to give me the cookbook...and a collection of her own personal recipes.

“I’ll have to try that one,” I mused, bookmarking a recipe for red velvet cake before I put the book into my backpack.

It was nice to leave the train, so I could walk around and stretch my legs a bit, if for no other reason. Of course, I’d been able to do that a little bit on the train, but I appreciated being able to walk around without that constant feeling of movement.

Once I was done with my initial stretching, I stood back on the platform and watched the other passengers disembarking, and the luggage getting offloaded as well. Most of the other passengers seemed to be kids my own age, which meant that they probably had the same destination. Some of them were more obviously mutants than others, which made my suspicions even more likely.

A lot of the other passengers spared a glance or two towards me, and a couple even stared a little. I wasn’t too surprised, since I knew exactly how I looked. Most people would probably describe me as looking like the hot girl next door. That is, if the girl next door happened to have purple hair and eyes.

I wasn’t the only person who stood out, or even the one who stood out the most. One girl had short hair that appeared to be dyed blue and green, with a few purple highlights. Her hair immediately reminded me of the colors from a peacock tail, and made my own hair seem tame in comparison.

Then my attention was drawn to a Hispanic girl, who was tall and obviously athletic. She had some rather pronounced muscle tone, which suggested that she either spent a lot of time in the gym, or that she had a power which contributed to that physique. I had no idea which. Between her build and the scar going across her face, most people would have found her to be intimidating.

Seconds later, while I was still watching, a boy who wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, walked straight into the large girl. She tripped over him and barely managed to catch herself before she hit the ground, but in the process, her hair fell off…revealing that she’d been wearing a wig. Beneath the wig, she was completely bald.

“Watch it,” the girl snarled angrily.

Her skin suddenly changed, transforming so that it now looked as though her entire body was made of iron. She glared at the boy for a moment longer, and he scrambled away with a look of fear on his face. It was only then that she seemed to remember that she was in a public place. The girl quickly glanced around with a worried expression on her face, then her skin changed back to normal.

“Watch where you’re going,” the large girl said, giving the boy one more glare before grabbing her wig and baggage, then hurrying away.

“Definitely a mutant,” I mused, though I’d already guessed that much, before I’d even seen her powers.

Then with a shake of my head, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths, trying to stay calm and relaxed. This made it easier for me to focus on my power, the one I currently had active. Today, I was a Package Deal Psychic, though not a very powerful one. Still, my esper sense did give me a better feel for my surroundings.

Normally, the only thing that I could do with my esper ability, was sense the presence of other people nearby. This let me know when someone was standing on the other side of a door, what room of the house my mom was in, and if my girlfriend Kara was trying to sneak up behind me. At the moment, I was surrounded by other people, and though I could tell where they were in relation to me, that was about the extent of it.

Since I only had this power for one or two days a week, I wanted to practice with it while I could. I’d done a little of this on the plane and train, or at least I’d tried to. It had been hard to focus on anything while we were moving.

But now, I was off the train, and had a brief opportunity to see if I could use my esper ability to sense more than just people’s locations. Maybe, if I focused, I might be able to tell what powers they had, or at least, whether or not they might be mutants.

After a minute of trying to expand my esper sense’s usefulness, without any success, I suddenly felt someone nearby, who hadn’t been there a second before. I opened my eyes in surprise, and immediately looked at the individual.

The girl was small, only about nine or ten years old. She had silvery-white hair, which was especially odd for her age, and she wore a frilly black dress, with white trim. But as unusual as that seemed, what was even odder was that in one hand, she held a black parasol, while in the other, she casually held a large steamer trunk, that was about the same size she was.

I glanced around to see if anyone else was watching, because I was pretty sure we weren’t supposed to be using powers in public, at least not so obviously. A moment later, I hurried towards the girl, giving her my best friendly smile so that she could see I didn’t mean any harm.

“It probably isn’t a good idea to show off in public,” I said, gesturing to the steamer trunk, then to all the people in the train station.

“Good point,” the girl responded before setting the trunk down.

Then the girl stared up at me, and I suddenly noticed that she had violet eyes, that were similar in color to my own. A moment later, I took in a few other details, such as that she was wearing both a hair clip and broach, which had nearly identical pictures of ‘cute’ skulls, with pink bows on them. The girl gave me a wry smile, which along with the knowing look in her eyes, seemed a bit…odd. Her expression seemed a bit out of place on someone that young.

“Hi, I’m Amy,” I said to distract from that awkward moment.

“Alyss,” she responded, holding out her hand for me to shake. As I did so, I noticed that she had a very firm grip. That wasn’t a surprise though, considering how easily she’d been lifting the steamer trunk.

“You…look a little young to be going to high school,” I said, trying not to offend her. “Or, are you in the junior high program?”

Alyss barked out a short laugh, then gave me a wry look. “I’m older than I look. When I manifested, my BIT made me look a couple years younger than I actually am.”

I nodded at that, understanding completely. After all, my own BIT had changed me from a guy into a girl, and had given me the purple hair as well. Of course, the same BIT also came with a few other problems, which I was trying not to think about. Compared to those ones, losing Little Austin was only a small problem.

“So, you’re an exemplar?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Alyss nodded agreement. “And a manifestor. What about you?”

I chuckled for a moment before answering. “Today, I’m a Package Deal Psychic.”

Alyss gave me a curious look at that. “Today?”

“Well,” I responded with a faint smile, “yesterday I was a devisor, and the day before, I was an exemplar.” Then at Alyss’ look of surprise, I explained, “My powers change every night. Basically, I’m a kind of shifter, but instead of changing how I look, I change my powers instead.”

“That sounds…complicated,” Alyss told me with a chuckle and a faint shake of her head. “Damn… Pardon my French, but that sounds like it could be a pain in the behind.”

I nodded my agreement. “You have no idea.” Then, remembering how Alyss had originally attracted my attention, I commented, “I don’t remember seeing you on the train…”

The strange little girl glanced towards the train, then shrugged. “I wasn’t on the train. I took a Shortcut.”

Before I could ask Alyss what she meant, a tall Asian woman appeared and began gathering all the kids who were going to Whateley. “Incoming students,” she announced. “I am Mrs. Shugendo, the Dean of Students at Whateley Academy. When I call out your names, let me know who you are and then board one of the busses.” Then she exclaimed, “Please save your questions until we arrive at the school, unless it’s an emergency.”

“That’s our cue,” I told Alyss.

Just then, a man who was dressed in a uniform like some security guard, came over to collect Alyss’ steamer trunk. However, when he tried to lift it, he stopped with a grunt. “What do you have in here?” he asked, giving her a suspicious look. “Lead?”

“Car parts,” Alyss answered in an even tone, so I couldn’t really tell if she was joking or not. “Most of an engine.”

Then, Alyss picked up one end of the trunk and made a great show of struggling to drag it to where everyone else’s luggage had been piled. I might have believed her, if I hadn’t seen her carrying the entire thing one handed.

When we climbed onto the bus a few minutes later, I took a seat next to Alyss. She was the only one on the bus I actually knew, even if that had only been for about fifteen minutes by that point. Still, I knew her better than anyone else there, and that made a difference.

“So,” Alyss as the bus began to move. “You said you were a devisor yesterday?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, giving her a curious look. “Why?”

Alyss hesitated for a couple seconds, then asked, “You didn’t happen to get Diedricks along with that, did you?”

“No,” I answered quickly, since getting Diedricks had actually been one of my greatest fears when I first manifested. “Thank God.” Then, I noticed Alyss staring at me in surprise, so I gave her a wry smile and explained, “My mom is a devisor, and she has a pretty bad case of it. It can get a little…problematic at times.”

“Problematic,” Alyss repeated with a shake of her head. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed with a sigh, remembering how much of my mom’s life had been dominated by the disease.

After that, we were silent for about ten seconds, before Alyss admitted, “I have a… There’s someone in my family who has Diedrick, and it fu…messed up her entire life.” She scowled at that and suddenly had a fierce look of determination.

I nodded at that, understanding exactly what Alyss meant, since I’d seen the results of Diedricks first hand, for nearly every day of my life. I didn’t know what to say, but since we seemed to have something in common, that seemed a good direction to continue.

“One time,” I started with a wry smile, “my mom saw a mouse in our pantry, then dricked out. She spent the next two days building a plasma cannon, just so she could go after the thing.”

I shook my head as I remembered the incident, though it was hardly the only time that kind of thing happened. I’d lost track of how many times Mom had built exotic weaponry, killer robots, or even doomsday weapons, just to go after some minor annoyance. My mom specialized in weapons…and overkill.

Alyss nodded faintly, before giving me a wry smile. “One day, Rachael… She got bit by the neighbor’s dog, one of those yappy little mutts. It wasn’t a bad bite, but she…had an episode.” Alyss chuckled for a moment, then added, “After she was done, her father had to pay for the neighbor’s fence, doghouse, and landscaping.”

“Ouch,” I said, sympathizing with that girl’s dad.

For several minutes, the two of us just sat there in silence, staring out the window and watching the scenery pass by. Then, we began talking again, sharing a few more stories of mad devisor antics as we continued on our way to Whateley.

--------------------

Poe Cottage, Monday August 27th, 2007
Ribbon:

“My name is Alyss Morgan,” I announced to the group of girls who surrounded me. “My codename is Ribbon.”

I’d arrived at Whateley just a short time ago, where I’d immediately been given the fifty-cent tour. The campus was large and pretty damn impressive, especially with the pile of gold and that huge crystal dome. However, it was also ridiculously expensive.

There was no way I could have afforded to send one of my kids to this school, though I deeply regretted that I’d never had the chance. If I’d known about Whateley when Rachael had first manifested, then maybe things would have turned out different for her.

One of the things I’d also learned after getting off the bus, was that Poe Cottage, the place where I’d been assigned to hang my hat, was secretly the dorm for gay kids, and ones like me, who’d changed sexes. That had been a bit of a surprise, and had given me a lot of questions about how they’d been able to hide something like that.

At one time of my life, the idea of being surrounded by gay people might have made me more than a little uncomfortable. But not anymore. Having a daughter manifest as a mutant, and then become a supervillain, tended to put things in perspective. And that was long before I’d hopped over the whole gender fence myself.

Now, I was in Poe Cottage, and in the wing where I was going to be living. After arriving here, all the girls in this section of hallway were pulled into some kind of ‘wing meeting’, where we were encouraged to introduce ourselves to each other.

I looked up at all the girls…the other girls, feeling short in comparison. Of course, I was usually the shortest person in a room, but I hadn’t fully gotten used to that fact yet.

Then, I glanced over at Angel, who was the resident advisor, or RA for this wing. She was a cute blonde girl, with big white wings, so she really did look like the angel she’d been named after. She nodded at me to continue.

My eyes swept the group again. During the tour, I’d been briefly introduced to the other changelings, which is what they called people like me, but I didn’t know them very well. I knew the lesbians in the group even less.

“I know I look like a kid,” I said, deciding to get that out of the way right away, because I knew what they had to be thinking. “I’m actually a little older than I look. I’m an exemplar, and when I manifested, I ended up losing a few years.” I didn’t mention that I’d actually lost forty years.

“That really stinks,” said a pretty girl with long blonde hair. She’d introduced herself earlier as Cinderella, and told everyone to just call her ‘Cindy’ for short.

“And you’re a changeling?” another girl asked.

I nodded at that. “Yeah. My outie got turned into an innie in the process.” There were a couple snickers at that, and a few sympathetic nods of understanding. “But no big deal.”

“So, you were transgender before?” Angel asked.

“No,” I responded, feeling a little self-conscious, but not as much as they probably expected. I shrugged. “I was…sick before I manifested, so if I hadn’t changed…” I paused for a moment and shrugged again. “If I hadn’t changed, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“Damn,” someone exclaimed.

Amy, the purple-haired girl whom I’d met at the train station, said, “You have an…unusual fashion sense for someone who used to be a boy.”

I looked down at the frilly dress I was wearing and chuckled. My whole goth Lolita style probably confused most of them, especially since I’d just admitted to having been a guy.

“What about it?” I asked with a look of mock innocence, which earned a couple chuckles.

“And what can you do?” someone else asked. I hadn’t been introduced to the girl yet, so didn’t know her name.

With a wry smile, I answered, “I’m an exemplar. And I can do this.” I held out my hand and a bright blue ribbon suddenly appeared, draped over my palm. “Hence my codename.”

“That doesn’t seem too impressive,” commented a petite black girl named Pamela Green, or as she’d told us to call her, Breakdown.

I chuckled at that, then gave her a smug look as I held out my other hand. A dress appeared in my hand, looking like it had come straight off the rack from some department store. “I can only manifest fabric, but I can do more than just ribbons.”

“Damn,” Cindy exclaimed, staring at the dress with a calculating look. She was probably trying to figure out how to ask me to make her a new wardrobe, or something along those lines.

Angel gave me an amused look and said, “Oh, Wondercute is going to LOVE you…”

“Who?” I asked. I hadn’t met anyone with that codename yet, or at least, no one who’d been introduced by it.

“I guess I get to go next,” Amy said. “Let’s see. My name is Amy Maguire, codenamed Roulette.”

Just then, a blonde girl with short hair, commented, “With a name like Roulette, I’m guessing you’re a probability warper too…”

“Too?” Angel asked, giving the other girl a curious look.

“I’m Jinx,” the shorter haired girl said. “I give people bad luck.”

For a moment, Angel had a worried look on her face, though she quickly covered it up with a fake smile. “Oh, how nice… I get to have two manglers in my wing…”

“I’m not a mangler,” Amy quickly corrected her. “My powers are…complicated”

“Define complicated,” I said, though I already knew the answer. I just wanted to get the conversation back on track.

Amy smiled faintly at that, though there was something almost a little…pained about it. “Technically, I’m a shifter,” she finally explained. “I don’t change how I look, just a bunch of subtle things that you can’t see. Basically, I have five different forms, but all of them look identical.”

“Now that sounds useful,” a tall, muscular, Hispanic girl said sarcastically.

Instead of getting offended, Amy just smiled a little more. “Yeah, all of my forms look identical, but each one has a different power set.” That suddenly got everyone’s attention. “Today, I’m a package deal psychic. Yesterday, I was a devisor. Tomorrow, I might be an energizer, exemplar, or magic user.” She shrugged. “It’s kind of like spinning the wheel to see which power I’m getting next.”

“Hence the codename,” I pointed out with an appreciative nod. Personally, I wasn’t into playing roulette, since poker was more my style.

“And I used to be a boy too,” Amy added, glancing to me and then Martina, another changeling in the group. Then she joked, “This is the second time I turned into a girl, and it looks like this time, it actually stuck.”

That statement resulted in a lot of questions, though I wasn’t surprised to find out that the whole situation had been caused by her mom. After all, the kid had already told me about how her mom was a high level devisor, and how she kept causing problems with her devises.

When Amy was done, the big Hispanic girl with the nasty scar across her right cheek stepped forward. She was tall, at least compared to all the other girls, standing at about six feet. The girl was also pretty solidly built, with a lot of noticeable muscles. And then, there was the fact that she was completely bald. Back at the train station, she’d been wearing a wig, but had ditched it once we arrived on campus.

“My name is Iron Rose,” the girl said in a gruff, almost hostile tone, as though she was daring us to say anything about her codename. “I’m a shifter…” She looked to Amy and added, “A real shifter.”

“As opposed to a pretend shifter?” one girl asked.

Iron Rose glared at the girl for a moment before answering. “I’m rated a shifter four. In my normal form, I’m about as strong as an exemplar 3, but when I change…” Suddenly, her entire body seemed to transform into dull grey metal, though she continued to move as normal. “I’m really strong and tough. The power testers said that my body turns into some kind of organic metal.”

After Rose was done, the remaining girls took their turns. Jinx told us about how she’d had an ‘accident’ in the middle of her old school, and had been forced to leave in a hurry. Peacock, a girl with blue and green hair, told us that she’d grown something ‘extra’ between her legs, and that was why she was in Poe. And then, there was Downpour, a rather sad looking Asian girl, who literally had rain clouds starting to form over her head.

“Okay,” Angel said, once the last girl had finished. “I have your room assignments. Amy and Alyss, you two are in room two thirty-one, right next to mine. There is a fingerprint scanner next to the door, and here are your keys, as a backup. Cindy and Jinx, you get two thirty-two…”

I looked up at Amy and gave her a friendly smile. “Looks like we’re roomies now.”

The two of us had met at the train station, and had talked for the entire bus ride to Whateley. I kind of liked the kid, and was pretty sure we’d be able to get along just fine. And besides, she understood what it was like living with a devisor, and with someone who had Diedricks. Somehow, I didn’t think I was going to find many other people around who would be able to relate.

Amy and I went to check out our new room, which wasn’t especially large. However, I didn’t take up a lot of space now, which should make things a little less crowded for us.

“Look,” Amy said, indicating our luggage, which was already waiting for us in the room. “At least we don’t have to go looking for baggage claim.” She gave me a wry smile and indicated my steamer trunk. “Unless you actually brought more than that.”

“Nope,” I assured her with a chuckle. “This is it for me.”

I popped the lock and cracked open my trunk, then began to remove the contents. The first thing I took out, not only took up the most space, but was also the heaviest.

“You brought a tool chest?” Amy asked, giving me a curious look but not seeming all that surprised.

I pulled out the large tool box, which was only a fraction of the tools I’d once owned. Unfortunately, I’d been forced to sell a lot of my old equipment in order to pay for medical bills. Cancer treatment isn’t cheap.

“You should always have good quality tools available,” I told my new roommate as I imparted a choice bit of wisdom. “You never know when you’re going to need them.”

“My mom would agree whole-heartedly,” Amy responded with a wry smile, as she pulled a small tool kit out of her own luggage. This one looked like it was aimed more towards working on electronics than on cars, but I nodded in approval anyway.

While Amy focused on unpacking her clothes, I took out a bottle of bourbon and my cigars, and slipped them into my bottom dresser drawer. I didn’t really feel like answering any questions about why someone who looked like I did, had such things in her luggage.

“Where are your clothes?” Amy asked a minute later, apparently just noticing that I didn’t have much in the way of clothing in my trunk. I had tools, shoes, a few clothing accessories, along with some other things, but about the only clothing I had was a heavy winter coat.

I gave a mock look of surprise. “Damn. I knew I forgot something.”

Amy chuckled at that, then stared at me for a moment with a thoughtful look. “Let me guess,” she finally said. “You plan on making your own.”

“Sharp kid,” I said with a nod of agreement. “Got it in one.”

“Well,” she responded wryly, “you did just give a demonstration.”

“Yep,” I agreed. “This way, I don’t have to bring as much crap…pardon my French, and it saves on closet and dresser space. Hell, I won’t even have to do laundry, since everything I make vanishes in about a day.”

“Now, that sounds like a useful power,” Amy told me with a grin.

Just then, there was a brief knock at the door. Since we’d left the door open for the moment, we didn’t need to answer it.

“Alyss,” Angel said from the doorway. “Mrs. Horton asked me to give this to you…” She held out a sealed envelope. “She said that it came from admin.”

“Thanks,” I responded with a nod.

As soon as I opened the envelope, I found that it just contained a few bits of paperwork, including my student ID. I was a little surprised to note that I was listed as being fifteen years old. There was even a driver’s permit, though I didn’t know how much good it would do me when I couldn’t even reach the pedals. Still, I had it.

“What’s that?” Amy asked.

“Just a little present,” I answered with a grin.

Since I hadn’t seen any of the other students being hand-delivered their paperwork like this, I figured that Carson had done this as a favor. After all, she knew who I really was, and my real age. And when we’d met in person, she’d actually been pretty sympathetic to my age situation.

My guess was that Carson had arranged this as a favor. Fifteen years old was probably the best that could be done for an incoming freshman, at least, while being even remotely believable. And with my appearance, it would still be stretching belief. Still, fifteen opened a few more doors and possibilities than even a year younger would have.

I stared at the driver’s permit, in the name of Alyss Morgan, and grinned. Now, I just needed to find a car where I could reach the pedals.

--------------------

Poe Cottage, Tuesday morning, August 28th, 2007
Roulette:

It was my first morning at Whateley Academy, and I was still trying to wrap my head around my living conditions. Mom and Aunt Beth had both told me stories about Whateley, for most of my life, so I wasn’t surprised much about the school itself. However, neither of them had ever said a word about the secret of Poe Cottage. Of course, neither of them knew about it either.

The hallway where I now lived, was packed full of cute girls, most of whom were lesbians. I used the same bathroom, and even showered with these same cute lesbians. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a girlfriend back home, this might be a dream come true. That, or extremely awkward. Actually, it somehow managed to be both at once.

Though I was in the middle of the girl’s bathroom, surrounded by cute girls in various stages of undress, living the fantasy of most boys from my old school, I wasn’t really able to enjoy it. Instead, I was blushing brightly and trying hard not to look at any of the girls. I was also fully conscious of the fact that I used to be a boy, and that all of them knew it.

“Don’t stare,” I quietly told myself. “Don’t stare.”

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one with problems keeping my eyes to myself. I’d noticed some of the other girls staring at each other, and at me. A couple of them weren’t even trying to be subtle about it.

Iron Rose, or just Rose as everyone had already started to call her, was the big and bald Hispanic girl I’d seen at the train station. She seemed to have absolutely no shame about checking out everyone else in the showers, including me. It was awkward and embarrassing, but I did my best to act like I wasn’t bothered by it, while I got in and out of the shower as quickly as possible.

“Keep your eyes to yourself,” the blonde girl called Cinderella told her. “Or at least buy me dinner and flowers first.”

Just as I’d finished with my own shower, and thought that I was going to escape without too much notice, one girl whose name I couldn’t recall, asked, “Hey Amy. What power do you have today?”

“The power to blush really cutely,” another girl added with a giggle, making me turn even more red.

“I’m a devisor today,” I answered after a moment.

I’d been a devisor the day before last, but sometimes that was the way my power changes worked. My power sets didn’t exactly follow a set schedule or rotation, though that would have been nice, so I’d at least be able to plan for what I’d have next.

A few seconds later, I managed to escape my bathroom, at the same time my roommate was coming in. Alyss was the smallest and youngest looking of all the incoming freshmen, and she looked even tinier compared to the other girls in the showers. She was wearing what looked like a black silk robe, which had definitely not been in her luggage. We nodded to each other briefly in passing, but didn’t say a word.

Once I was back in my room, I went about the task of drying off, trying to get finished before Alyss returned. I liked Alyss, but wasn’t used to having a roommate, or the lack of privacy that came along with having one.

I ran a hand through my long and wet hair, frowning in annoyance. “One of the downsides of being a girl,” I commented, without any real vehemence. Being a girl wasn’t really that bad, even if long hair did take forever to dry.

Fortunately, I still had the hair dryer that my mom gave me. It was capable of drying my hair completely, in less than a minute. Something that effective would probably make a fortune if it was sold in the stores, but there was one small problem with that. My hair dryer was a devise that my mom had created, which meant that it couldn’t be mass produced. As it was, the one I had would probably only work for a couple more weeks, then I’d have to mail it home to Mom so she could fix it. That was one of the problems with most of her devises. They required regular maintenance to keep functioning.

By the time Alyss returned to the room, I was already fully dried off and almost completely dressed. I took one look at her wet hair and held out my hair dryer. “Use this. It’s a devise, and will get your hair dry in no time at all…”

Alyss took the hair dryer and gave it a skeptical look. “This isn’t going to blow up on me, is it?”

“Naw,” I responded with a faint smirk. “My mom’s devises usually only blow up when they’re designed to.” I hesitated a moment, then admitted, “But knowing my mom, this is probably made to connect to a barrel and power amplifier, which would turn it into a dehydration gun or something.” I gave Alyss a wry grin. “Mom likes weapons.”

Alyss stared at me for a moment before chuckling. “Well, it didn’t blow your head off, so it’s probably safe.”

Once Alyss was dried off, she began to get dressed, which was strange to watch. I tried not to watch her, but it was hard to avoid glancing over. One second, she was completely naked and facing away from me. The next, she had on a pair of underwear. A second after that, and she was suddenly wearing a dress. It was the same kind of Victorian style as the one she’d worn yesterday, but this one was purple with black lacy trim.

“Now that is a practical power,” I commented, earning a chuckle from Alyss.

“And it really saves on clothing bills,” Alyss said.

I glanced over to the corner where she’d casually tossed her clothes last night, but they were gone, without a trace. I considered how much time that would save on doing laundry and nodded agreement.

“Nice,” I told her with a chuckle.

My childlike roommate wasn’t finished getting dressed quite yet. She put on a pair of shoes, real ones that she hadn’t summoned, and then a few accessories. There were a pair of clips for her hair, both of which looked like skulls but with bows on them. And then, she picked up a pair of black metal bracelets that had been left on her night stand overnight, and slipped those on.

“Now, you’re making me think that I need some bling too,” I joked.

I looked down at my clothes, which were jeans and a T shirt, and not nearly as fancy as hers. Since I wasn’t a big jewelry kind of girl, I decided on a somewhat more appropriate kind of decoration. I reached into my dresser and pulled out a gold metal sphere about the size of a softball.

“What kind of gizmo is that?” Alyss asked.

“It’s basically just a toy I made,” I admitted just a little self-consciously. “Floating ball, version three point oh. I finished making this one a couple days ago.”

Alyss gave me a slightly suspicious look. “And what does it do?”

I just chuckled and turned it on. “It floats.” With that, the golden sphere floated up into the air. I held out the small remote I’d made for this version and added, “With this, I can adjust how high it floats, and it’s virtually tethered to my remote, so it can follow me around.”

After I demonstrated by walking around the room, with the sphere following behind, Alyss chuckled. “Just like a puppy.”

A couple minutes later, we were finally ready to leave and head for breakfast. Dinner at Crystal Hall had been pretty good last night, and I was curious to see what breakfast was like. Since I’d been told that I would probably need to get a campus job to help with my expenses, I was hoping to get a job working there in the kitchen. After my work helping Mrs. Lawrence with her catering business, this was a logical place for me to work.

When I opened the bedroom door to leave, I was immediately struck with the sight of several girls running down the hallway in my direction. However, my attention wasn’t on them, but the cat they were chasing. I immediately recognized it as a small cougar. I was immediately hit with a flashback of a giant cat leaping straight at me, and I instantly jumped back and slammed the door.

“CAT,” I blurted out with my heart racing.

“What?” Alyss asked me in confusion.

“BIG cat,” I gasped, trying to explain, but the words wouldn’t come

Alyss opened the door and stuck her head out. However, from the confused look on her face when she closed it again, I guessed that the girls and their cat had already left the hallway. I let out a sigh at that and shook my head.

“What in the world are you talking about?” Alyss asked me.

“There…was a cat,” I started to explain, forcing myself to calm down. “A cougar…”

“Oh, him,” Alyss said with a nod of understanding. “Or her…” She shrugged at that. “That kid who turns into a cougar.” Then she gave me an odd look, clearly wanting an explanation for my reaction.

I turned bright red, feeling more than a little self-conscious. I usually wasn’t the kind of person who freaked out and overreacted to small things like that, but cats were one of my…sensitive issues. Normal cats didn’t do more than bring up a few bad memories, but this was no ordinary cat.

“Long story,” I told Alyss with a faint smile. “But it involves a shrink ray accident and my neighbor’s cat.”

Alyss burst out laughing. “Now this, I’ve gotta hear…”

After taking another peak out into the hallway to make sure it was clear, and feeling embarrassed for the need to do so, Alyss and I started off for breakfast. And of course, I had to tell her the whole story, which if nothing else, earned a few chuckles.

“I’m glad to say that I’ve never had to deal with any shrink rays,” Alyss finally told me. “A vacuum cleaner that would spontaneously combust if left on for too long, yes… But no shrink rays.”

Near the entrance of Crystal Hall, there were two boys who seemed to just be hanging out and talking to each other. They both looked to be about the same age as me, but I didn’t recognize them from Poe. Of course, that didn’t mean anything. The kids in Poe were told to arrive a day before the rest of the student body, but I’d been told that there were a number of students from other cottages who arrived early too, for a variety of reasons.

The first boy was the shorter of the two, but not by much. He had a preppy look, with light brown hair that was slicked back, and a lean and athletic build. However, just from the look of him, I had a feeling that he was more into swimming, tennis, or lacrosse, than something like football. Overall, between the preppy look and the smug expression on his face, he reminded me of Draco Malfoy.

Standing beside him was the other boy, who looked every bit as preppy. This one had dark skin, and was clearly of African descent. And though he didn’t look quite as smug as the first boy, he still had a somewhat cocky look about him.

After looking towards Alyss and me, the boys began talking quickly, though I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Maybe if I’d been in my exemplar mode, with my enhanced senses, I might have been able to make it out. A moment later, they played a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, and the first boy suddenly looked even more smug, if that was possible.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” I said in my best Han Solo impression, which admittedly, was nowhere near as good as it had been before I’d turned into a girl.

“Hello,” the boy with the slicked back hair said, giving me a friendly smile, which seemed just a little creepy. He didn’t even glance at Alyss. “My name is Gravmax, and my friend here is Iron.”

“Roulette,” I answered, since he was using codenames. “And my friend is Ribbon.”

I glanced at Alyss, who actually seemed amused by the fact that this boy was clearly trying to flirt with me. It took me a moment longer to realize that the game of rock-paper-scissors, was to determine which of them could claim ‘dibs’ on me. In fact, these two were probably hanging around in front of Crystal Hall, just so they could watch the girls coming and going, and then try to stake a claim before all the other students arrived today. I gave Alyss a dirty look, which only seemed to amuse her more.

“That is a nice codename,” Gravmax said. “And has anyone told you that you have beautiful eyes…?”

“My optometrist,” I answered deadpan, which earned a faint chuckle from Alyss.

“Would you and your friend care to eat lunch with us?” he asked, finally sparing a look at Alyss. He still had a big fake smile, but couldn’t really hide the look of annoyance at her presence.

“No, thank you,” I told him. “We’re fine…”

I started to walk around Gravmax and Iron, who were still standing in front of us, when suddenly, I felt heavy. My first thought was that I was being held in place with telekinesis, but that wasn’t it. I could still move. I just felt…heavy.

“What’s wrong?” Alyss asked, apparently not noticing the heaviness.

I stared at Gravmax in sudden understanding, seeing the smirk on his face. Iron seemed amused as well. “You’re a gravity manipulator,” I stated. His codename certainly suggested that.

Iron said, “My friend can increase the effects of gravity.”

“We just want to talk with you,” Gravmax said. “There’s no need to run off…”

“I think there is,” I responded in a cold tone.

Right beside me, Alyss suddenly looked grim. She made a show of cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner, but she was so small and cute looking that the effect was more hilarious than threatening.

“Now, why don’t you just stay here and hear me out,” Gravmax suggested. At that moment, with that smarmy look, he reminded me even more of Draco Malfoy. I was suddenly tempted to look around and see if Professor Snape was about to show up.

I stood where I was for several seconds, clenching my fists in frustration. I could still walk away, but it took a lot more effort to move, and I had a feeling that I wouldn’t be able to get very far. Then, for a moment, I cursed the fact that I was currently a devisor. Out of all my power sets, that was probably the least useful one for this kind of situation. However, that did remind me of one small detail.

“You see that,” I said, pointing towards the floating metal sphere, that was still following me around. “My little toy has a camera built in, and it’s storing the video on a remote server.” This time, I was the one who smiled at the other boys. “You see, that kind of thing is quite useful in a number of different situations. Such as, if I want to give a copy to campus security… Or, to my lawyer, in case I want to file a sexual harassment suit.”

It wasn’t until I mentioned a possible lawsuit that Gravmax suddenly seemed concerned. “We were just trying to be friendly,” Gravmax said, giving me a dirty look and then glaring at my sphere. “There’s no need to start throwing around false accusations…”

Then, Gravmax turned and walked away, acting as if he was the one who’d been wronged. Iron gave me a curious look, but didn’t say anything before he went and joined his friend.

“Well,” Alyss said with a chuckle. “I have to admit, that was pretty funny.”

“That seemed like the easiest way to deal with them,” I said, knowing that my girlfriend Kara would laugh her butt off when she found out I’d been the target of ‘aggressive flirting’. Then, as I started towards the entrance of Crystal Hall again, I gestured to my devise and asked, “Oh, and can you remind me later, I have put a camera in that thing…?”

--------------------

Poe Cottage, Wednesday morning, August 29th, 2007
Ribbon:

The cottage dayroom was a pretty nice-sized space, large enough for a decent portion of the students here to gather at one time. At the moment, the dayroom was pretty full. A lot of kids were busy chatting with their old friends, catching up on what they’d done over summer vacation. And at the same time, the newcomers like myself could meet more of the older residents.

Of course, I was the odd one out, but I’d known I would be. Most of these kids were barely older than my own granddaughters. On one hand, I was the oldest person here, by far. But ironically, I looked young enough, that even the other freshmen seemed to think of me as being the kid.

I was sitting back in my chair, watching all the other students and trying to figure out who everyone was, and where they fit in the scheme of things. It was pretty obvious that there were already various cliques and social circles, even among the kids in Poe.

“Damn,” I muttered, wishing I had a beer.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible at the moment, nor could I light up a cigar. Instead, I would have to continue playing the role of normal freshman student, which was going to be even harder than I’d imagined. At least Carson had done what she could to ease things a little, and I appreciated that. As it was, instead of a beer and cigar, I had to content myself with a small stack of books.

Just then, my roommate blurted out, “WHAT DID YOU DO?”

I nearly jumped in surprise, since other than the incident with Danny yesterday morning, I hadn’t seen her get really excited or upset about anything. Not even when that Casanova wannabe had tried harassing her. But then, I saw Amy staring at Breakdown, who had a small stack of parts spread out on the coffee table in front of her. I recognized a couple of the parts as pieces of that golden ball thing that Amy liked to play with.

“That explains it,” I mused to myself.

“Your device looked interesting,” Breakdown explained, almost seeming surprised that Amy was upset. “I just wanted to see how it works…”

Amy closed her eyes for a moment, then in a calmer tone, she explained, “I’m not like you. I’m only a part-time devisor, so I might not be able to fix it again for a week…IF I can get the right tools by then…”

“I’m sorry about that,” Breakdown apologized, though she didn’t really look sincere. Instead, she grinned excitedly and explained, “I specialize in disassembly and reverse engineering, so I can’t resist seeing how things work. I did come up with a few ideas of how you could make it better…”

“How did you even get this apart anyway?” Amy asked as she gathered up the parts. “You don’t even have all the right tools here…”

A minute later, Amy left the dayroom with a pile of parts in her arms, not looking happy about it. I couldn’t blame her, since she’d been pretty proud of that weird toy of hers. I was just thankful that she didn’t have Diedricks, because that was just the kind of situation that would have sent Rachael off into one hell of an episode.

Then, almost as though reading my mind, someone said, “A study of Diedricks.”

“What?” I asked, looking up at Martina Hughes, one of the other changelings in my hall.

“Your book,” Martina said, gesturing to the top book on my stack. “That’s some pretty heavy reading. Do you have Diedricks?”

I shook my head at that. “No, but I know someone who does…”

Martina stared at me for a moment. “Would that happen to be Lady Havoc?” At my look of surprise, she quickly explained, “Yesterday, you mentioned that you knew her…”

I hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. She has it pretty bad, so I’m trying to learn a bit more about it…” I picked up the book.

“Well, this looks like some pretty heavy reading,” Martina commented, looking over my small stack of books again. “Introduction to the Modern Theory of Super Powers by Filbert R. Z. Quintain. Calculus. Automotive design. And Incongruity by Michael Waite…”

“I go through books like they’re potato chips,” I told her with a chuckle.

“Then you must have brought a nice collection,” Martina commented. “I might have to borrow a few from you.”

“I didn’t bring any books,” I explained. “I got these ones from the school library this morning, and will probably take them back when I go to dinner.”

“That’s right,” Martina responded, giving me a thoughtful look. “You’re an exemplar. But to read those books that fast, you have to be pretty high level.”

I shrugged at that, not bothering to tell her that I was an exemplar six. Instead, I tapped my temple and said, “Speed reading and a photographic memory. Even more useful than being able to bench press a Buick, but of course, that doesn’t hurt either.”

“No, I imagine it doesn’t,” Martina agreed with a smile.

Martina and I talked for a few more minutes, and I got the feeling that she was happy to chat with someone who didn’t care that her mom was some kind of villain. After her roommate Christina’s constant bitching, she must be starving for some friendly conversation.

Suddenly, a voice called out, “There you are…” A girl ran up and nearly got into my face. She was short, Asian, and looked like she was only about two years older than what I appeared.

“Wow, that is an awesome dress,” she exclaimed, then pointed to one of my hair clips. “That is so KEWT…”

“Jade,” a pretty blonde girl called out, rushing over to join us. She gave me an apologetic look.

“All right,” the Asian girl…Jade said with a broad grin. She looked at the blonde girl with a smirk. “See Bunny. I’m not the smallest girl in the cottage anymore. Or the youngest looking…”

“Hi,” I said with a wary smile. “I’m Alyss...or Ribbon, if you prefer codenames.”

Jade beamed. “That’s an awesome codename.” Then before I could respond, she demanded, “Do you like cute things?”

“Cute things?” I asked, a little surprised by the question. It suddenly felt like I was being interrogated by my youngest granddaughter, Kimberly.

“Oh no you don’t,” Angel blurted out as she rushed over. “You are NOT going to drag any of my new freshmen into your Wondercute antics…”

While Jade began arguing with Angel, Bunny smiled at me. “I hear that you can make clothes…” Her eyes seemed to sparkle with interest at that.

I looked to Martina for help, but she’d slipped away without my being aware of it. However, a moment later, help did arrive, though from an unexpected source.

Mrs. Horton, the house mother, came into the room and called out, “Girls…” When everyone quieted down, she looked to me. “Alyss, you have an appointment to meet with your faculty advisor, and you’ve been scheduled for power testing this afternoon.” She handed me some official looking paperwork which listed the appointments and their times. “You might want to hurry for your first appointment, because this is rather short notice.”

“Thank you,” I told the woman, who was closer to my real age than anyone else in the building. However, I had no idea if Carson had told her about me or not, and I wasn’t about to bring up the subject.

Taking the opportunity that Horton had provided, I grabbed up the books, then rushed back to my room. Amy was gone, but there was a small pile of parts on her bed. I felt a momentary pang of sympathy, before I headed for my first appointment.

While I took my time walking across campus to Schuster Hall, I got a few odd looks from other students. Most of them probably figured I was one of the junior high kids, so I played along, giving an innocent smile and waving. If I actually ended up sharing classes with any of them, the looks on their faces would be priceless.

A short time later, I’d arrived at my destination with plenty of time to spare, and was soon seated in an office with Mrs. Ryan. Mrs. Ryan was an older woman, who looked to be about the same age that my mother would have been, if she was still alive. She was dressed in a flower print dress, and gave off the whole ‘little old lady’ vibe.

After the polite introductions. Mrs. Ryan asked, “So, Ms. Morgan, what are you looking for in your education at Whateley?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Mrs. Ryan gave me a friendly smile as she explained, “Some students, such as magic users, gadgeteers, and devisors, have a very natural academic progression. With your powers, your academic path is not as narrowly defined, which leaves you more options in your direction.”

“I see where you’re going,” I responded, absently rubbing my chin as I considered her words. This was something of a leftover, from the days when I used to scratch my beard while thinking things through. “You’re asking what kind of classes I want to take.”

“And whether or not you have decided on any potential career paths yet,” she added with a nod of agreement.

That made me chuckle since I’d already had a similar talk with Carson. It seemed that Carson hadn’t shared those details with Ryan, or if she had, Ryan was playing ignorant. That was perfectly fine with me, because I didn’t like the idea of my personal business being spread around.

“I actually do have something in mind,” I said, feeling just a little self-conscious. “I have a family member with Diedricks, so I want to be able to do something to help people like her…”

For a moment, I just sat there, clenching my tiny fists and scowling. I couldn’t help but thinking about my daughter Rachael, and how her entire life had been ruined by that damn disease. She’d killed innocent people. She’d become a supervillain. And at that very moment, she was locked in prison, where she’d probably remain for the rest of her life. And it was all because of her Diedricks.

“I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted. “I don’t know if I need to become a doctor…a shrink…or even a fucking exorcist. Pardon my French.”

“You have my pardon,” Mrs. Ryan said with a wry smile. “Though that didn’t sound much like French to me.”

Then with a sigh, and a little embarrassment for swearing in front of her, I said, “I just know that I have to do something.”

“Then, this is a good place to start, “Mrs. Ryan told me. “My job here is to help you find the right classes to help you achieve that goal. Admittedly, that isn’t my area of expertise, but I believe that the advanced classes you need won’t be available until you’re at least a junior. But for now, I can help you fulfil all your prerequisites, so that once those classes do become available to you, you’ll be ready to attend.”

I just nodded at that. “Yeah, I figured as much. You can’t build a car if you don’t have a solid frame to start from.”

“An…interesting analogy,” Mrs. Ryan pointed out.

That just made me chuckle. “I like cars, and I’m pretty damn good at fixing them too, if I do say so myself…”

Mrs. Ryan smiled faintly at that, though it was the same kind of smile I tended to give my granddaughter’s whenever they did something adorable. “Now, as to your class schedule… You will need to complete the basic English, Math, History, and Science requirements before you can advance to the classes related to your goal. Power Theory will cover your science credit, as will Power Lab, which you really should take for your first semester at the very least. The school strongly recommends that you take either Basic Martial Arts or Survival, both of which will fill your physical education requirements.”

“I’ll take the Basic Martial Arts,” I told her with a scowl. After dealing with that lunatic, the Marquis, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to learn how to fight better with my new body and powers.

Mrs. Ryan nodded at that. “Very well then.” Then she looked me straight in the eyes and continued, “There is also one more class, which I personally, strongly recommend you take. That would be the Costume Shop class that I teach.”

“Costume Shop?” asked in surprise. I remembered reading about that class in the pamphlet, and had gotten the impression that was all about designing costumes for heroes and villains. “No offense, but I don’t think that class is for me.” I gave her a wry smile. “I’m not planning to go into any kind of business where I need to wear spandex.”

“Why do people always bring up spandex?” Mrs. Ryan mused with a shake of her head. “Any effective costume avoids spandex, in favor of more practical materials…”

Her reaction made me chuckle, and also think about the heroes and villains that I’d met back in Pittsburgh. None of them actually wore spandex, not even the ones with tight costumes. However, that didn’t mean that I couldn’t tease Pinnacle about wearing spandex, the next time I saw him.

The elderly teacher turned her full attention back to me. “I teach several tailor and clothing related classes here at the school, with Costume Shop merely being the most notable. When I heard of your ability to manifest fabrics and clothing, I requested to be assigned as your faculty advisor, because I thought that I might be the best match. You see, I believe that with your abilities, you might benefit from my class far more than the average student.”

“I guess the whole tailoring thing could be useful,” I mused aloud. I’d read several books on the subject, but getting the knowledge and advice directly from an expert, would have to be even better. “But I’m not so sure about making a costume…”

Mrs. Ryan smiled at that, though for a moment, it seemed almost predatory rather than the friendly ones she’d given previously. “In my class, I teach far more than just how to make an aesthetically pleasing and functional costume. I will teach you how design, style, and color choices can influence the image you wish to project. From the clothing and accessories that you are currently wearing, I see that you are already familiar with the concept, and are already using it quite effectively. However, I can help you take this to the next level. Out of all the teachers at this school, I am the one best qualified to help you use your manifestation ability to the best effect.”

I stared at Mrs. Ryan for a moment, considering what she’d said. After several long seconds, I nodded my agreement. “You’ve got a good point. All right. Sign me up.”

“You have made a wise decision,” Mrs. Ryan told me. “In addition, I believe that Cecilia Rogers might be interested in working with you.” At my blank look, she explained, “Cecilia teaches ballroom dancing, but she is better known for a custom clothing boutique that she owns off campus. You might find her knowledge and experience with clothing to be educational.”

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

“Now that you mention it,” Mrs. Ryan said, giving me another friendly smile. “As you are a high level exemplar, and possess the mental package that comes with this, I suggest that you consider taking an additional class. You should be able to handle the extra course work with little difficulty, and in the long run, this may help you achieve your goals more quickly.”

Mrs. Ryan and I discussed my classes for a few more minutes and then settled on a class schedule that worked. So far, it looked like my first year at Whateley was going to be mostly prerequisite and required courses, but I got the impression that this was normal for most students. It might not be easy to stay focused, but unlike the first time I’d gone to high school, I not only had this exemplar brain to help me out, I also had the motivation to succeed.

Then, once I had my schedule printed out and thought that we were done, Mrs. Ryan asked, “Now, have you thought about a campus job…?”

When Mrs. Ryan and I were finished taking care of business, I was more than happy to be on my way. My stomach was grumbling, and I figured, that I had plenty of time for a good lunch before I had to go to power testing. In fact, from what I’d heard about power testing, it would definitely be a good idea to fill up while I could.

I hadn’t gone very far when I suddenly heard a dog growling. I stopped to look around, pausing when I saw the source of the growl. Instead of a dog, the growl was coming from a student, or at least, I assumed he was a student. He was big and hairy, looking like some kind of werewolf out of a horror movie.

“What are you looking at…little girl?” the werewolf demanded in a gruff voice.

“What are you growling at…fleabag?” I responded.

The werewolf snarled at that and came towards me, puffing himself up to look even bigger and scarier. Then, he stopped, just close enough so that he could completely tower over me. At that point, he let out a loud roar.

He probably expected me to turn and run in terror, while he just stood there and had a good laugh. However, I wasn’t about to go running away from some teenage boy, even if he did look like an extra from the Howling. Instead, I remained where I was and made a show of running my hand down my dress to smooth it out. This seemed to shock and confuse him, since I doubted this was the kind of reaction he was used to getting.

Suddenly, a boy yelled out, “Leave the girl alone…”

The werewolf and I turned to look at the newcomer, almost simultaneously. The kid appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen, and he looked athletic. He didn’t have the exaggerated build and muscles that I’d seen with some of the exemplar boys, but the kind that came from simply exercising or playing a lot of sports. And then, there was his hair, which was bleach blonde and spikey.

“I’m Aegis,” the boy announced, puffing up a bit and giving me a cocky look. “And don’t worry. I’ll protect you from this monster…”

An angry snarl was the only warning that the werewolf gave before he suddenly leapt at Aegis. A golden glow appeared around Aegis, just an instant before a pair of claws struck his chest. Aegis staggered back, but the werewolf slammed into him, sending him flying back onto his ass.

“I’ll show you a monster,” the werewolf snarled, jumping onto Aegis again, and tearing into him with a series of punches and slashes. Aegis’ golden aura seemed to protect him from some of the damage, but not all of it.

“Enough of that,” I announced. I could certainly understand the desire to kick the crap out of someone who pissed me off, but the werewolf was going way too far, especially since he was the one who started this whole mess with his attempts to bully me. “It’s over.”

“Shut it, little girl,” the werewolf said, glaring at me with a look of fury. He held his claws up to threaten me. “Go crying back to your mom, while you still can…”

I ran a hand down my dress to smooth it again, responding, “You first, fleabag.”

There was another flash of anger, then he came at me. I was a lot stronger than I looked, and pretty hard to seriously hurt, so I wasn’t worried about this punk. In fact, I was pretty sure that I could kick his ass without much problem.

Unfortunately, in spite of the fact that the werewolf was a punk and a bully, he was still just a kid too, and there was no way in hell that I was going to hurt a kid. Not unless I had absolutely no other choice. Of course, there were other ways to stop him, without giving him so much as a bruise, but he’d probably prefer the ass kicking.

“Just remember,” I said with a scowl. “You asked for this.”

------------------

Poe Cottage, Wednesday August 29th, 2007
Roulette:

I was sitting cross-legged on my bedroom floor, staring at the collection of parts that were spread out in front of me. I scowled in annoyance, knowing that even if I put them back together, it wouldn’t do any good. Unless I was a devisor when I did so, and added that hard to define ‘devisor spark’, then it wouldn’t do anything at all. Because of that, I would have to wait until I was a devisor again, and I had no idea when that would be.

“Breakdown,” I said with a sigh.

I wanted to be angry with the girl, but I couldn’t be, at least not for long. I, better than most people, knew that when a devisor got that itch, they couldn’t resist using their powers. I’d seen my mom go into that fugue state, and had even done so myself, so knew where Breakdown was coming from. Of course, most devisors used their powers to build things, and Breakdown seemed compelled to go the opposite direction, but the principal was still the same.

Since I couldn’t do anything with my devise at the moment, and it was pointless to cry over spilled milk, I carefully put the parts away. I’d reassemble them when I had the time and correct power, but until then, I’d just have to put it out of mind and be patient.

Once I was done cleaning up, I looked around the small room that I shared with Alyss. My side was spotless and nicely organized, though I could tell that Alyss wasn’t going to be the same way. Sure, she hadn’t brought much with her, so she didn’t have a lot of belongings to clutter things up with, but there are ways to tell.

After all, last night, I’d watched her casually toss all her dirty clothes into the corner, where she just left them. Those clothes might be gone now, vanishing when nobody was watching, but anyone who was so casual about leaving their dirty clothes on the floor, was bound to be a bit of a slob in other areas as well.

“Maybe I should get her a hamper,” I mused, considering how I could handle my roommate. I’d spent my entire life dealing with my mom’s quirks, so Alyss wouldn’t be any problem.

Alyss was definitely a strange girl. She said she was about my age, but she looked like a kid, and acted like… Well, I wasn’t quite sure what she acted like, but it wasn’t like a kid my age. Still, she understood what it was like to deal with a high level devisor, and with someone who had Diedricks, better than anyone else I’d ever met. Alyss actually understood. And even more importantly, I liked her, and was sure that she’d be a good roommate and friend.

“I should probably warn her about…,” I started to say, and then shook my head. I didn’t want to scare her with my BIT problems, at least not yet.

A minute later, I stepped into the hallway, which was fairly empty. Most of the cottage seemed to be empty at the moment, which was no surprise since there was still a lot to do before classes started up next Tuesday. There was also a lot of campus to explore, while we still had the free time to do so. However, the halls weren’t completely empty, and when I came to the dayroom, I overheard a couple girls talking.

“Great job,” Riptide told Jade, the petite Asian girl who barely looked much older than Alyss. Riptide, or Rip as I’d heard a couple girls call her, had a broad grin on her face and was laughing.

“Thanks,” Jade responded with a grin, before asking. “But for what?”

“Hey,” I said in greeting to the people in the dayroom. Besides Rip and Jade, there were a few other students who were hanging around as well. “I was just about to go to Crystal Hall for lunch. Does anyone want to come with?”

Two boys, who were playing a board game with each other, immediately stood up. “Sure,” the first one said. “I’m getting pretty hungry.”

The first boy was a slender black guy named Jon Homer, or Voodude, which is what he seemed to prefer. As his name suggested, he was a magic user of some sort, though I didn’t know much more about him than that, and that he usually seemed pretty laid back.

Hardwyrd, the other boy, was one of the freshmen devisors, and he looked the part. He was just a little chubby, with acne and glasses. In fact, he fit the techie stereotype pretty well, so I actually felt a little sorry for him. Being a devisor stereotype would probably be hard enough on him, but with him being gay as well... I imagined that his dating options would be rather limited. But then again, this was Poe, and I could be wrong.

“I’ll come too,” Hardwyrd told me.

Just as the four of us were leaving, Toni, the hyperactive sophomore girl came running into the dayroom, slipping past us as though we were no problem, even though we were blocking almost the entire doorway. “I heard about Bloodwolf,” she told Jade with a broad grin. “Good one…”

“What about Bloodwolf?” Jade asked with a confused look. “I haven’t seen that jerk since last spring…”

I didn’t stick around long enough to listen in on the conversation, because Voodude was already heading for the cottage exit. Hardwyrd and I quickly caught up, and we began walking towards Crystal Hall together.

“So,” Hardwyrd said, giving me a curious look. “I hear that you’re a devisor…”

“Only part time,” I told him with a shrug. “I have five different power sets, and I wake up with a different one each day. Today, I’m a wiz.”

“Really?” Voodude asked with a grin. “Awesome… Maybe we can share tips sometime…” He stared at me as we walked, giving me a very appreciative look.

“I thought you were gay,” I blurted out in surprise.

Voodude just grinned. “I prefer guys, but I still like girls too…”

Hardwyrd looked uncomfortable, then glanced around nervously, as though afraid someone would hear us talking. I could understand his concern, because outside Poe, people might not be quite as understanding about alternative lifestyle choices. Personally, I didn’t see what the big deal was, but not everyone thought like I did.

“Can we not talk about that out in the open?” Hardwyrd almost pleaded. “I got beat up back home, when some guys found out I was gay. I don’t want to get that here too…”

I nodded at that, then asked Voodude, “So, do you know a lot about magic?”

“A bit,” he admitted with a cocky grin. “My grandma is from N’awlins, and is really into voodoo magic… She ain’t no Marie Laveau or anything, but a couple of her spells really do work…especially the voodoo dolls. She taught me a few things.”

I nodded at that, thinking about Witchling, the magic user and superhero who’d given me a few lessons on magic, along with the instruction book. “Someone taught me a little about the basics,” I admitted. “But not enough to really do much.”

“I’m sure you’ll catch up quickly,” Voodude assured me. “I hear this place has some really good classes for it.”

“I hope you’re right,” I responded with a faint smile. “But to be honest, I’m actually a lot more comfortable with devises. My mom is a devisor, so I practically grew up in her work shop.”

Hardwyrd’s eyes lit up at that. “Very nice. Then your mom has probably taught you a lot…”

That just made me burst out laughing. Once I was able to control myself, I admitted, “Most of what I learned was safety procedures…and lots of what NOT to do.”

“Well,” Voodoo joked. “Knowing how to avoid blowing yourself up is an important first step.” He glanced to Hardwyrd and added, “Or so I’ve heard.”

When we reached Crystal Hall, we ended up in line behind a couple girls who were giggling about something. Since they were standing right next to me, I couldn’t help but overhearing their conversation, or at least parts of it.

“Wondercute really got Bloodwolf this time, one of the girls said. “So, he was just found tied up in a bunch of pink bows and ribbons…and hanging from a light pole.”

“That definitely sounds like Wondercute,” the second girl responded with a snicker. “I wonder what that hairy jerk did to get their attention…”

The first girl just shrugged. “Who knows. But I bet he deserved it…”

I glanced to my two lunch companions, wondering if they knew what was going on. I’d heard about Wondercute, and knew that a couple members lived in Poe. In fact, someone had pointed Jade out as their ringleader, which made me certain that this conversation was related to the one I’d overheard earlier. Once we got back from lunch, I was going to have to ask Jade about it.

Once our trays were full, we went to look for a table. I saw Alyss sitting at one table, about the same time she saw me. From her empty tray, it looked like she was just finishing up, however, that didn’t stop us from going over to join her.

“How was your meeting?” I asked my diminutive roommate.

“Not bad,” Alyss responded, handing me her class schedule. “In just a little bit, I’ve got to go do my power testing.”

“I am NOT looking forward to mine,” I admitted. “I think they’re holding off a little, because they know it’s going to take a long time.”

Then I shook my head, thinking about all the ‘power testing’ that I’d already been through at the hands of those mad scientists who’d kidnapped me. I’d already had more than enough testing for my lifetime, but unfortunately, I seemed to be the only one to think that.

In order to distract myself, I looked over Alyss’ class schedule. “Power Theory, Costume Shop, Algebra, BMA, Power Lab, English, and US History.”

“I was told that I might be able to test out of a couple of those classes and pick up more advanced ones,” Alyss explained with a shrug. “What about you? You met with your faculty advisor this morning.”

“Yeah,” I agreed with a wry smile. “My entire schedule is pretty much all power related classes. Power Theory and Power Lab, a couple classes for magic and devisor stuff, and martial arts.” Then I shook my head. “And I was told that I might even be assigned an extra power lab of some kind on Saturdays.”

“Ouch,” Voodude said, giving me a sympathetic look. “The downside of having so many powers…”

“One of the downsides,” I muttered, trying not to think of the worst one.

Hardwyrd nodded along, though he didn’t seem to be paying much attention, at least not until he adjusted his glasses and pointed out, “The downside for being on my track, is that I have to take classes with a bunch of people who will probably be building lightsabers and laser blasters in class. I wouldn’t trust most of these kids with a Nerf weapon, much less the real thing.” He gestured around Crystal Hall.

When I began to laugh, everyone else at the table gave me odd looks. “You just reminded me of something, from when I was a kid…”

“That long ago?” Alyss asked with a look of amusement.

“Because you’re so much older than me,” I teased with a grin. “Oh wait… You barely look like you’re out of diapers…”

“Bite me, kid,” Alyss responded as she flipped me the bird, which made everyone start to laugh.

“Now,” Voodude said, giving me a curious look. “You were saying…”

“Just that, when I was about seven,” I said, smiling at the memory. “I brought one of my mom’s freeze rays to school for show and tell…”

Alyss looked like she was about to choke at that, though Hardwyrd’s eyes shot wide in disbelief. “At seven?”

“And your mom just let you?” Voodude demanded.

Before I could answer, Alyss just started laughing. “You should hear some of the stories she has about her mom…”

“My mom is a little…eccentric,” I admitted wryly. “Anyway, all the kids did some ice skating in the hallway…until some teacher confiscated the freeze ray. Of course, I got in trouble for that, but I spent the next two weeks as the most popular kid in school.”

“I can believe that,” Voodude said with a chuckle.

Alyss had been laughing a moment ago, but now, her expression turned sad. When I looked at her, she gave a pained smile. “I…know someone who brought a small robot to her high school so she could show off. It…didn’t work out well. The thing spontaneously caught on fire, set off the fire alarms, and the whole school had to get evacuated until the fire department could make sure everything was safe.”

“Ouch,” Voodude said sympathetically. “And that is why I prefer magic.”

“Because there is no way that magic could ever go wrong,” I pointed out wryly, which earned a few chuckles.

Alyss had already finished with her lunch, but she remained at the able while the rest of us ate. We did get a few snickers and rude comments about eating at the ‘little kids table’ from a few people who walked past, but we ignored them. Once the rest of us had finished eating as well, we decided to start back to Poe.

We had barely stepped out of Crystal Hall, when I saw a flash of light from the direction of the Quad. The Quad was a large open area, where a lot of students seemed to gather and hang out. At the moment, that was exactly what was happening. Students were gathering in fairly large numbers.

“What’s going on over there?” I asked aloud.

I hadn’t expected an answer, but a boy, who looked like he was probably a junior or senior, laughed from beside me. “Freshies,” he commented, gesturing towards the Quad. His tone was a bit patronizing, similar to how I might have talked to small children on a playground. “Every year, the new freshies have to show off their powers…”

Before I could ask anything more, the boy walked off. The four of us looked back and forth for a few seconds, and by silent but unanimous agreement, we all started walking towards the show. I definitely wanted to see this.

In the Quad, there were probably half a dozen different groups, each clustered up among themselves and showing off their powers. In one, a kid was showing off a small robot, which actually seemed to be dancing the robot. In another, two boys who appeared to be bricks, were arm wrestling each other. And in yet another, a couple magic users were demonstrating some spells. Voodude ended up staying with them to watch, and perhaps even do a little showing off himself.

“What is that?” Hardwyrd suddenly gasped, pointing to a girl who was holding a large weapon, that was shaped like a high tech rifle. He was obviously more interested in the weapon, than in the girl holding it.

“Plasma blaster,” I answered after a quick glance. Hardwyrd and Alyss both gave me curious looks. “What? After you’ve fired a dozen of those things, you tend to recognize them at a glance. Besides, my mom makes one every couple months.”

“That does look kind of familiar,” Alyss mused.

Just then, I stopped where I was and gulped in dread. I was starting to feel hot and achy, and it had come out of nowhere, without any warning. I instantly recognized these symptoms and what they meant.

“Not again,” I gasped, right before my body was struck with spasms. I dropped to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut, and began to go into seizures.

“Amy,” Alyss exclaimed, rushing to my side.

I managed to keep my eyes open for a few more seconds, just long enough to see blue swirls through the air. In the back of my mind, I noted that I’d just shifted to energizer mode, though I knew I might not stay that way for long, not when I was going through a burnout. Seconds later, everything went dark.

Poe Cottage, Thursday August 30th, 2007
Ribbon:

Just a little more than a dozen Poe residents, more than half of which were freshmen, were gathered together in the dayroom. Mrs. Horton stood there with a grim expression on her face as she looked around the room, setting her eyes on each of them. When her eyes locked on me, I could see the sympathy and worry looking out.

“I would like to quash some of the rumors that I have heard going around,” Mrs. Horton announced.

“Is Roulette really dead?” Peacock asked with a worried look.

Downpour, the slender Asian girl with blue streaks in her hair, nodded at that. She had a dark and worried expression, which surprised me a bit. As far as I knew, she and Amy hadn’t even said two words to each other since arriving. Downpour tended to only hang out with the other lesbians, and generally seemed to avoid us changelings.

“Yesterday, after lunch,” Mrs. Horton continued, “Amy Maguire suffered a spontaneous burnout and was immediately rushed to Doyle. In spite of the rumors,” she looked at Peacock, “she did not die. I have been told that Amy is in stable condition and seems to have recovered from her ordeal with amazing speed. In fact, I have also been told that she will be released from Doyle shortly.”

“Thank God,” I said, letting out a sigh of relief.

The last time I visited Amy, just a couple hours ago, she’d still been unconscious. It seemed, if she was going to be released soon, that she was doing a lot better than I’d thought.

“So, she’s really going to be all right?” Hardwyrd asked.

“I am not at liberty to discuss her medical condition,” Mrs. Horton said with a gentle smile, “other than to say she is doing fine at this time.” Then she gave Hardwyrd a concerned look and asked, “How are you feeling?”

“A lot better than yesterday,” Hardwyrd said, looking uncomfortable with the way everyone turned to look at him.

Yesterday, when Amy had suddenly dropped to the ground and went into seizures, I’d been more than a little worried. However, I hadn’t been the only one. Hardwyrd had rushed to her side to see if he could help, and he’d been hurt because of it. Apparently, Amy had shifted into her energizer mode, because there’d been a flash of blue light, and suddenly, Hardwyrd was knocked out on the ground too. He’d been rushed to Doyle along with Amy, though unlike her, he’d been healed up and sent back to Poe a short time later.

“I’m surprised they’re going to release her so soon,” Martina commented. “I mean, burnouts are really serious, so she could have died… I have a hard time believing that she just shook it off so quickly…”

“As I said,” Mrs. Horton reminded her. “I am not at liberty to discuss her medical issues.” She looked around the rest of the group. “Now, please stop spreading unfounded rumors, because I do not want anyone else knocking on my door, asking when the funeral will be held.”

After that, everyone began to disperse and go back to whatever it was they were doing. My eyes went to Downpour, mostly because a small rain cloud was forming along the ceiling above her head. Downpour could manipulate the weather, and most notably, make it rain in small areas. I’d heard a couple girls talking about her power, and saying that it was a combination of energizer and manifestor abilities. I didn’t really care how Downpour could make it rain inside, only that she was obviously pretty miserable at the moment.

I thought about going over to talk to the kid, but while I was making up my mind, Cindy went and took care of that herself. I nodded faintly at that, hoping that Cindy could help the other girl, because I certainly didn’t know how to.

A minute later, I was out the door and on my way to Doyle. If Amy was awake and feeling well enough that they were going to kick her out, then she was feeling well enough that she might appreciate seeing a friendly face…especially one as cute as mine. I chuckled at the very idea, since it wasn’t that long ago, that no one would have ever referred to ‘Big Al’ Morgan as being cute.

When I arrived at Doyle, I immediately began to scowl, feeling just a little apprehensive. I’d spent far too much time in a hospital to be comfortable in a place like this. It brought back some bad memories. Almost without any real thought, I created a single ribbon, then began to absently play with it. That allowed me to distract myself as I went to Amy’s room.

I wasn’t surprised to find the door open, though I was to see Amy sitting there on the edge of the bed, already dressed and ready to go. “That was fast,” I said, announcing my presence.

“Alyss,” Amy said, giving me a self-conscious smile. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

“I don’t think you’ve been here long enough to call it that,” I pointed out wryly. “Besides, it looks like you’re already set to leave…”

Amy shrugged. “I’m feeling fine, so there’s no reason to stay.”

I scowled at that, then firmly reminded her, “You just had a damn burnout. You should be here for a couple more days, sitting on your ass while watching TV and eating crappy hospital food…”

Amy chuckled at that. “No thank you. You really don’t make staying sound very appealing. Besides, I’m better…”

“You had a burnout,” I repeated grimly. “Do you realize how serious that is?”

“This isn’t my first burnout,” Amy told me with a snort. Then, with a grim expression of her own, she admitted, “This isn’t even my sixth one.”

I stared at Amy in surprise, and concern. I narrowed my eyes and asked, “What do you mean?”

For a moment, I didn’t think that Amy was going to answer. Then, she let out a sigh and admitted, “I have a…medical condition.” She gave me a wry smile. “The doctors think I have a damaged BIT, and it keeps causing me to go into burnout…” At my look of surprise, she quickly explained, “Most of them aren’t this bad. In fact, most of them are just micro-burnouts, and I’m fine again a few minutes later. My body tends to heal itself when I shift modes.”

Amy was trying to act like this was no big deal, as if a burnout was just an inconvenience that she could simply shrug off. However, after my own manifestation and burnout, I’d learned a few things about the condition. Even a light burnout was considered to be a serious problem. From the look in her eyes, if not her smile, she obviously knew this too.

“You didn’t name yourself after some casino game, did you?” I blurted out in sudden realization. There was another kind of roulette that she could have named herself after, and one that I suspected was the real source of her name. Russian roulette.

“I…came close to dying a couple times,” Amy admitted quietly. “Especially the first time. If my mom hadn’t been there to cool me down in time, I probably would have died. Most of the time, it only lasts a couple minutes, and I recover right away. But…” She paused, giving me a wry look. “Sooner or later, I won’t be able to recover in time, and when that happens…”

“Shit,” I exclaimed, feeling my heart break a bit for the kid. I was suddenly reminded of when Rachael was about her age, and when we first started to realize that her Diedricks was something she’d have to deal with for the rest of her life. “Pardon my French, but that is fucked up…”

“It is what it is,” Amy responded with a shrug, as though this was no big deal. “There’s nothing I can do, so there’s no point in being worried about what ‘might’ happen.”

Without saying a word, I just hopped up onto the bed and sat beside Amy. Neither of us spoke, mostly because I didn’t know what the hell I could possibly say. If it had been my wife Meg there, or my daughter Melanie, then they probably would have just given Amy a big hug. However, in spite of turning into a cute little girl, that kind of thing still didn’t come natural to me.

Finally, I said, “I know what it’s like…having a death sentence hanging over your head. Two months ago, I was in the hospital, and I wasn’t supposed to ever leave.” I scowled at the memories, wishing that I had a beer to drink from. Instead, I absently played with my ribbon. “Cancer. My whole body was full of that crap, and there was nothing they could do except drug me to the gills and wait for me to die.”

This time, it was Amy who gave me a sympathetic look. “Damn… I know you’d said you were sick, but… I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

“I was lucky,” I told her after a moment. “One night, close to the end, a miracle walked right into my hospital room. Admittedly, my miracle came with a few strings, but it was still a miracle. I wouldn’t be here now without it.”

“You manifested,” Amy said in understanding. The truth was, my situation was a hell of a lot more complicated than that, but there was no reason for Amy to know the details.

“The point is,” I said, “that you never know when a miracle will show up, or what unexpected angel might bring it. The point is, you can’t just give up hope, because you never know when the future will pull a miracle out of its ass…”

Amy was silent for a moment, then she began to chuckle. “Good speech,” she told me. “I’m not giving up. The researchers here at Whateley are supposed to be some of the best in the world, so if anyone can figure out how to fix me, it would be them. But, that was undoubtedly the best motivational speech that anyone has ever given me.”

“Smartass,” I grumbled, fixing Amy with a glare before I started to chuckle to. “Fine then. Are you ready to get out of here?”

“More than ready,” she assured me.

In spite of Amy’s eagerness to leave, she still had to wait another fifteen minutes, until one of the doctors looked her over again. We walked back to Poe together, after that, neither of us really saying anything. We’d already had a nice little talk, and that seemed to be enough for both of us for the time being.

When we reached Poe, Mrs. Horton met us at the door. She smiled in relief at Amy, and announced, “I’m glad to see that you’re feeling better.”

“A lot better,” Amy responded with a slightly forced smile. “I’m just glad to be back…”

Mrs. Horton’s smile faded and she let out a long sigh. As a parent, who’d raised three children, I knew that look. I was the look of a parent who was forced to deliver bad news, when they wished that they didn’t have to.

“I’m afraid that I have bad news,” Mrs. Horton said, immediately confirming my suspicion.

“What is it?” I asked, keeping my expression even.

“I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, Amy,” Mrs. Horton said. “But the administration has decided, that in light of your medical condition, you should be placed in another dorm, which might be better equipped to monitor your situation and help you.” From the look on her face, it was clear that she wasn’t happy with this decision.

“What do you mean?” Amy asked in a resigned tone.

Mrs. Horton gave her an apologetic look as she answered, “I’m afraid that, for the time being, you’ve been reassigned to Hawthorne.”

--------------------

Hawthorne, Thursday afternoon, August 30th, 2007
Roulette:

Hawthorne. I’d only been at Whateley for a couple days, but I’d already heard a few things about the remote cottage. Some people called it the Freak House, and said that it was where they hid away the most freakish mutants on campus, the ones that were too extreme for Twain and Emerson. This was also the place where they housed the students who couldn’t control their powers, and who were a danger to themselves and others.

“Home sweet home,” I commented wryly. Since I couldn’t control which powers I gained when I shifted, and I had the whole damaged BIT and burnout issue, it seemed that this was where I belonged.

I fought back the tears that wanted to come, reminding myself that there was no point crying over spilled milk. Mrs. Horton said that since the administration had already made their decision, there wasn’t much I could do until I’d resolved my issues. However, Mrs. Horton had also promised me that once my burnout problem had been taken care of, I’d be more than welcome back in Poe.

Even though I’d only lived in Poe for a short time, I didn’t want to leave. I’d been making friends, and I even had a roommate I liked. Now, I feared that I was going to lose my new friends, and that I wouldn’t be as lucky starting over.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that this wasn’t the end of the world. This wasn’t nearly as big a deal as my other issues, and it wasn’t necessarily even permanent.

“It might not be so bad,” I said.

I glanced back to Alyss, who was following a short distance behind me, carrying my luggage. She had just grabbed my luggage and began carrying it, without my asking her. I think she was afraid that if I exerted myself, that I’d go into another burnout.

When we reached Hawthorne, Alyss said, “I guess this is it.”

“Yeah,” I responded with a sigh and a forced smile.

“Hey,” she added with a smile of her own. “You know, you can always come back to Poe and visit anytime. And, there ain’t no reason I can’t come over here either.”

I gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Just then, a woman came out of the building and stopped by the entrance. She was a large black woman in a wheelchair, though wheelchair probably wasn’t accurate since it had no wheels. Instead, her high tech looking chair, probably a devise, had glowing orbs on the corners instead, and the whole thing floated just above the ground.

Though I’d never seen this woman before, much less talked to her, I knew who she was. This was Mrs. Cantrel, Hawthorne’s house mother. Mrs. Horton had told me that Mrs. Cantrel was already expecting me.

“You must be Roulette,” Mrs. Cantrel greeted me with a friendly smile. “Welcome to Hawthorne. Come on in and we’ll get you settled in your new room. And don’t worry none, because we don’t bite.” Then she chuckled, “Well, most of the residents don’t.”

“Now that’s a warm welcome,” Alyss said with a chuckle.

I entered the building after Mrs. Cantrel while Alyss followed behind me. The house mother led me down the hall, stopping at the door that I assumed was mine. Then, she handed me the key.

Mrs. Cantrel remained outside the room while I went in to check it out. There was only one bed, so I had a single. At least there was one good thing from my move, though admittedly, I would have preferred to keep rooming with Alyss.

“Not bad,” Alyss told me as she dropped my luggage into the middle of the floor.

“The doctors will be sending over a biometric sensor from Doyle,” Mrs. Cantrel said. “This will monitor your vital signs and alert them as soon as you begin a burnout.”

“A good idea,” I grudgingly admitted.

“Now that we have you settled into your room,” Mrs. Cantrel told me, “I need to introduce you to a few people and get you a proper tour…”

“And that sounds like my signal to leave,” Alyss told me. She grinned up at me, looking absolutely adorable. “I’ll see you later…”

Once Alyss was gone, Mrs. Cantrel led me to the dayroom, which already had a few students there. What caught my attention immediately, was that there were a couple little girls, who appeared to be about the same age as Alyss.

“These little ones are Miranda, Ember, and Revekah,” Mrs. Cantrel told me with a faint smile. “The fourth member in this little band of troublemakers is Morgan, and who knows where he is at the moment…”

I nodded at the introductions, wishing that Alyss had stayed a little longer, because it could have been fun watching her and these kids meet up. “Hi,” I said. “I’m Amy…or Roulette.” I received a couple half-hearted ‘hellos’ from the girls, who were obviously more interested in whatever they were doing than in me.

“This is Sapphire,” Mrs. Cantrel said, indicating a girl who was wearing a cloak, that seemed to be made of blue scales. The hood was pulled down, shading her face and making it a little difficult to see.

As Mrs. Cantrel spoke, the girl pulled her hood back and stood up so I could get a much better look at her. She had long blue hair, and a killer body which practically screamed that she was an exemplar. She was lithe, athletic, and a bit curvy in all the right places, definitely more than any normal girl our age should be.

“Hello,” Sapphire said, smiling at me a little self-consciously. I noticed that her eyes were a brilliant sapphire blue, so between them and her hair, it was easy to see where she got her name from.

“Hi,” I responded with a faint smile. Then, I couldn’t resist pointing out, “You’ve got the blue hair and eyes, and I’ve got the purple. Maybe we should be friends.”

Sapphire laughed lightly. “Maybe.”

“Your rooms are right next to each other,” Mrs. Cantrel said, seeming pleased that we were getting along already. “You two are neighbors, so you’ll probably be seeing a lot of each other.”

Then, my eyes were drawn to the last person in the room, a young woman who had very pale skin, which was covered with some metallic blue tattoos. Her hair was metallic too, and when she looked at me, she actually seemed to have some kind of runes in her eyes. Interesting.

“This is Caitlin,” Mrs. Cantrel said as she indicated pale girl. “She’s your resident advisor, and will be able to help you with most of your questions.”

“Hey,” Caitlin said in greeting.

“Caitlin,” Mrs. Cantrel said. “If you wouldn’t mind giving Amy the full tour.”

“Sure thing,” Caitlin responded. Once Mrs. Cantrel had turned and left the room, Caitlin told me, “Come on.”

While we walked through the hallway, Caitlin told me, “I heard about your burnout in the quad yesterday. Tough luck.”

“It could have been worse,” I responded with a shrug.

Caitlin merely nodded at that. “Yeah, it could have been.”

When my tour guide showed me the common kitchen, my eyes went wide in delight. It was pretty spacious and looked to be fully stocked with the basic cooking utensils. However, I quickly got the impression that the kitchen had mostly been unused, except to store things in the fridge or to nuke them in the microwave.

“I might have to change that,” I mused to myself, thinking of the cookbook and recipes that Mrs. Lawrence had given me.

Caitlin led me through the cottage, pointing out some notable rooms. “Diz lives here, and she’ll try to talk you into playing Scrabble with her. Don’t, unless you like getting your butt kicked by a twelve year old.” Then, a few minutes later, she pointed to another door, “And this is where Puppet lives. She can’t leave, and you can’t go in without hazmat gear.”

Then, I saw two students standing in the hallway, who immediately caught my attention. They looked like they’d come straight out of the Sunday comics. Literally.

The first boy had a mop of dusty brown hair. I wasn’t sure what color it would have been if clean, but his hair and entire body looked absolutely filthy, as though he hadn’t showered in years. There was even a small cloud of dust floating about him, which made my neat freak side squirm in discomfort.

“This is Dust,” Caitlin introduced him to me. “He’s another new freshman, like yourself.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said politely, not offering my hand to shake.

A moment later, I turned my attention to the other boy, who was short, with a head that was large, round, and bald. The only thing he was missing, was a yellow shirt.

“Hey,” Charlie Brown greeted me with a broad grin. He held out his hand. “I’m Jimmy T…”

“Amy,” I responded, shaking his offered hand.

“This is Roulette,” Caitlin told them, gesturing to me. “She’s the one who had a burnout yesterday in the Quad.”

Dust gasped at that. “I heard you killed someone…”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. I felt bad for what I’d accidentally done to Hardwyrd, but at least he’d come out of it all right. “I only maimed him a little.”

“That’s different,” Jimmy said with a chuckle.

I looked over Charlie Brown and Pigpen, but didn’t say anything about their appearances. I suddenly wondered, if this was somehow for my benefit. Was this some kind of Hawthorne initiation? Was one of them an illusionist, making me see them this way?

After this, the tour continued, with us going down to the basement. Or more accurately, going to the first of four basement levels. And from the way Caitlin mentioned the basements, I had to wonder if there might not be even more of them down there.

“This is my room,” Caitlin told me. “And nextdoor is where Paige lives. She’s crazier than I am, and she’s a were panther to boot, so don’t ever let her bite you… But if you ever need to know anything about computers, she’s the girl to talk to.”

“Were…panther,” I repeated with a gulp, suddenly having visions of my neighbor’s cat pouncing on me. I shook my head and gave Caitlin a weak smile. “How nice.”

Caitlin gave me an evil grin. “Don’t worry. Paige is usually too busy playing with her computers to eat anyone…”

“Usually?” I asked. Caitlin just smirked.

“Down here,” Caitlin said, pointing to a bathroom door, “is where the nameless abominations live. We usually reserve this bathroom for the kids doing detention here…”

“You know,” I responded evenly, “there’s this thing called a plunger that might be able to help with that.”

“Trust me,” Caitlin said with a chuckle. “You’re gonna need a lot more than a plunger.”

After this, Caitlin took me to another room, a large one that was dominated by a swimming pool. However, there were globs of goo floating on top of the water, so there was no way that I’d ever want to swim in there. In addition, I could see something on the bottom of the pool, though the globs made it difficult to make out what that was.

“This is the Hawthorne swimming pool,” Caitlin told me with a smirk. “Just be careful, because the wild Foob might drag you down.”

“Foob?” I asked curiously.

“Our cottage mascot,” Caitlin responded.

Suddenly, a new voice announced, “I am a long term resident of Hawthorne, and also happen to be the head of the psychic arts department for Whateley.”

A man was standing a short distance away, where nobody had been just a minute before. I didn’t jump at his sudden appearance, though I was definitely curious. I sniffed the air, and as I was currently an exemplar, my senses were extremely sharp. I didn’t smell anything from this man, nor did I hear anything from him. No heartbeat. No rustling of clothing. No breathing.

“I am Louis Geintz,” the man said with a friendly smile. “But most people around here call me Fubar…for rather obvious reasons.”

For a moment, I stared at Fubar, then my eyes went down to the figure in the bottom of the pool. “Is that you?” I asked, guessing that the man in front of me wasn’t really there. He had to be a projection of some kind. And though he could have been an illusion or hologram, the fact that he’d said he was head of the psychic arts department suggested that he was an entirely different kind of projection. A psychic projection. And of course, Caitlin had just warned me about a ‘wild Foob’ in the water.

“Yes, that is,” Fubar agreed pleasantly. “That is indeed me. I was once a student here at Whateley, but after graduation, I elected to remain and help other mutants.”

Caitlin leaned over and added, “They couldn’t find a goldfish bowl big enough for him.”

Instead of being offended by that, Fubar just chuckled faintly. Then he, or at least his psychic projection, looked at me and asked, “So, Ms. Maguire, what do you think of Hawthorne so far?”

“Well,” I answered with a wry smile. “I can honestly say that it isn’t boring.”

--------------------

Crystal Hall, Friday, August 31st, 2007
Ribbon:

I was sitting at a table in Crystal Hall, eating lunch with Amy and one of her new friends from Hawthorne, a blue haired girl named Sapphire, who was actually wearing a cloak that seemed to be made of blue scales. The whole thing was swept back, including the hood, so I didn’t have a problem making out her face and body. Sapphire was definitely a looker, and well-built for her age too. Or, as I liked to put it, she was jailbait.

Of course, Whateley was full of kids who fell under the category of jailbait. But, what could you expect in a place that had so many exemplars, and when any fourteen year old girl might be built like a twenty-one year old porn star. In fact, I even shared a shower with a few exemplar girls, who could easily have gotten a guy in trouble, though, that was a problem that I no longer had to worry about.

Because of my own exemplar status, I’d hopped right back over the puberty line. Ever since I’d turned into a little girl, I hadn’t felt a single tingling in my nether regions, nor have I felt any real attraction to anyone, male or female. In fact, I seemed to have completely lost my ability to have those kinds of feelings, which was probably a good thing, considering how young I looked.

There was a good chance, that one day, I would hit puberty again, and when that happened, I had absolutely no idea if I’d start liking girls again…or if I’d begin to like guys instead. For all I knew, it might be both or neither. Fortunately, I had plenty of time to get used to the idea, so that when that day did come, I wouldn’t be too shocked by it. Hopefully.

“So,” I said, turning my attention back to Amy. “How is Hawthorne treating you so far?”

“Not bad,” Amy told me as she took a bite of her sandwich, which she called a panini, which apparently meant that it had just been squashed flat. “It’s a little strange, but the people are nice.”

I nodded at that, glad to hear it. I liked Amy, and wasn’t happy about her being dropped off into Hawthorne. I’d heard a few rumors about the place, which made me worry for the kid.

“I heard that there’s some kind of monster in the basement,” I said, which made Amy snicker.

“That’s Fubar,” Sapphire answered with an amused smile.

“He looks kind of scary,” Amy added a moment later. “Even for Whateley…hence the name. But he seems pretty nice. And besides that, he’s actually a teacher here.”

“Really?” I asked, wondering what kind of person would go by the name of Fubar, because that wasn’t a codename that suggested normalcy.

“He’s one of the psychic teachers,” Amy continued, tapping her temple and smiling wryly. “So apparently, he’s going to be the guy to help me learn to control mine.” Then she let out a sigh. “If I can ever get finished with the power testing. Because of what happened the other day, they moved up my testing and I’ve been going through it all morning.”

“Mine wasn’t too bad,” I commented, thinking about how the results were pretty much the same as when the MCO did the testing. The whole thing had kind of been a pain in the ass because I already knew how my powers worked, but at least I’d only had to deal with that for half a day.

Amy shook her head and let out a sigh. “This morning, they did a bunch of testing, trying to get a better idea of how my shifting works. Not that they can learn much about that, unless they actually catch me when I do shift…which is only when I’m asleep or going through a burnout. This afternoon, they’re going to focus on my psychic powers…since that is what I have today.”

“At least you’ll be done then,” Sapphire said.

However, Amy shook her head again. “Nope. They’ll want me in there to test each of my power sets, which means a few more trips in.”

“Sorry to hear it,” I told my former roommate. She’d told me about how she’d been kidnapped, and had spent an entire week being put through power testing. I imagined that not only did this have to be frustrating for her, but it had to be bringing back some bad memories.

“Maybe they’ll figure something out about how to control my shifting,” Amy said hopefully. “Or at least, figure out how to stop the burnouts.”

“Both would be good,” I agreed.

“As it is,” Amy continued, “they put a biometric monitor in my room, to let the doctors know if I go into another burnout.” She shook her head. “And they’re talking about making me a portable one I can just strap around my wrist or something, so they can keep an eye on me constantly.”

“Ouch,” I said. “You mean, they’re gonna lojack you?”

“Pretty much,” Amy responded with a look of faint annoyance. “For my own good, of course.”

“Of course,” I agreed wryly. Then I looked to Sapphire and asked, “So, why are you in Hawthorne?”

Sapphire hesitated a moment before blushing self-consciously and admitting, “I drool in my sleep.”

I blinked at that. “That doesn’t sound like much of a reason to be in Hawthorne…”

“It is when your drool is a neurotoxic venom,” Sapphire pointed out with a shrug.

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “You’re poisonous?”

“Venomous,” Sapphire corrected me with a faint smile. “But don’t worry, it isn’t lethal. It just causes numbness and paralysis, depending on if you get it on your skin or in your bloodstream, and on how much.”

I nodded my understanding. “Yeah, I guess that could be a problem for any roommate…”

“You have no idea,” Sapphire responded with a sigh. “I sometimes release it as a mist, so if I didn’t have a curtain around my bed, it could get all over everything in my room…”

“Including a roommate,” Amy added. Then she gave Sapphire a friendly smile and pointed out, “At least this way, you get a single.”

“You too,” Sapphire said with a grin, revealing a pair of small fangs.

Amy looked to me and asked, “So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?”

“Not much,” I responded with a chuckle. “I just need to check out a few possibilities for a campus job. My family is paying my way, but I want to make it easier on them if I can.”

“Good luck then,” Amy told me, while Sapphire echoed the sentiment.

When we were done with lunch, we all went our separate directions. Sapphire pulled her cloak tight around her, including the hood, and then started back towards Hawthorne by herself. Amy rolled her eyes, let out an exaggerated sigh, and then went back to the power testing labs with an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

I ran my hand down my black and crimson dress, smoothing out any wrinkles, not that a lot tended to form in my manifested fabric, then I tightened the crimson ribbon that I currently had tied in my hair. Once I was satisfied that I was presentable, I started off across campus to my own destination.

I hadn’t gone far when I heard some girl exclaim, “Oh my God. Is that a kindergartener?” It didn’t take much to realize that she must be talking to me. Though I tried ignoring the girl and continuing on my way, she didn’t want to leave it at that and ran up to me. “Hey, you…” Her tone was dripping contempt.

“Yes?” I responded, giving the girl a flat look. She was blonde and pretty, and the only thing missing, from turning her into a stereotype, was a cheerleader uniform.

“What are you doing here?” the girl demanded in a patronizing tone. “This is a high school, not a place for little girls.”

“Then what are you doing here?” I asked, pausing to adjust my dress again, just because I knew other people found it annoying.

The girl puffed up at that, looking offended. “I’ll have you know that I’m almost fifteen…”

I chuckled at that, thinking that if either of my daughters had behaved like this, I would have been tempted to tan her hide. Instead, I just responded, “And I’m already fifteen, in spite of my youthful looks.”

Just as I turned to walk away, the girl fired a burst of light right in front of me, to keep me from leaving. “Don’t you lie to me, you little brat. Do you know who I am?”

“Not really,” I responded, giving the girl a flat look. I was really starting to get annoyed.

“I am Starbright,” she announced, as if I should recognize the name.

With a roll of my eyes, I said, “And I’m Ribbon. Now, go bother someone else, because I’m busy…”

Starbright glared at me with narrowed eyes. “It looks like someone has to teach you some manners…”

This brat’s attitude was really starting to piss me off, and I could feel my temper starting to rise. I clenched my fist in an almost instinctive preparation to fight, but at the same time, I had enough sense to resist this rising urge. No matter how big of a brat this girl was, she was still a kid. And though I would absolutely love to throw her over my knee and give her a good spanking, with my current strength, I could seriously injure her by doing that.

“Someone needs to learn manners,” I said, “And it sure as hell ain’t me.”

A moment later, I formed a long strand of ribbon between my hands, deciding that this kid might need the same treatment as that werewolf boy. However, Just as I was preparing myself to deal with her, someone called out my name.

“ALYSS,” the familiar voice called out again, this time from a closer distance. I looked at the source and was surprised to see Iron Rose, who was coming straight towards us at a fast pace, with a grim look on her face. She glared at Starbright and demanded, “What the hell is going on over here?”

“Mind your own business,” Starbright responded with a sneer, though she still looked a little intimidated by Rose’s size.

Rose scowled more deeply, and suddenly, her flesh changed into metal. “Ribbon is in my cottage,” Rose told the other girl, who now looked even more intimidated. “That means this is my business.”

“Then you should teach your friend some manners,” Starbright exclaimed, before she turned and walked off, trying to maintain her dignity.

“Thanks,” I told Rose, even though I could have handled that without her help. Still, it’s always nice to know that you’ve got people watching your back.

“It was nothing,” Rose responded, turning back to normal flesh. “Like we were told on Monday, Poesies have to look out for each other.”

“Amen to that,” I said in agreement.

Rose glared back towards Starbright and spat out, “I hate girls like that…”

I gave Rose a curious look. “Bad experience?”

“A few of them,” she admitted bitterly. For a moment, Rose looked around, then in an almost conspiratorial tone, she told me, “Back in my old school, there were a few bitches like her who made my life miserable. They kept calling me a wetback dyke, among other things…”

I gave Rose a look of surprise. “It’s hard to believe that anyone would dare…”

“I didn’t look like this, back then,” Rose told me with a grimace. “Then I manifested and had a growth spurt…” She flexed one of her biceps to show off. “They stopped messing with me after that… At least until they called the MCO on me…” Then she paused, having a momentary pained look on her face, which quickly vanished. She ran a hand over her bald head, and looked almost chagrined as she added, “But, it turns out that turning into metal isn’t good for your hair follicles…”

With a chuckle, I nodded agreement. “I imagine not. I kind of had the opposite change… I got short, scrawny, and my hair grew out…” I ran a hand through my long white hair and earned a faint smirk. “I figured, if I’m gonna look like a cute little girl, no matter what I do, I might as well have fun with it…”

Rose escorted me to my destination, and we continued chatting on the way. Once we arrived, she said a quick goodbye, then hurried on her way. I went inside the garage and began looking for the person I was supposed to meet. It didn’t take me long to find him.

Melvin Donner was a big man, even larger than I’d been back in the days when I’d been known as Big Al. He towered over me, and he would have intimidated any normal girl my age, or at least, my apparent age. However, there wasn’t anything normal about me. I didn’t know much about Donner, other than that he was the auto shop teacher on campus, and that he was looking for a couple students to help him around the garage. That of course, was why I was there.

“You must be Alyss Morgan,” Donner said. “Ribbon.”

“That’s me,” I agreed.

Donner gave me a deeply skeptical look, obviously wondering why someone who looked the way I did, and was dressed the way I was, would even be in his garage. Back before my change, I would have reacted the exact same way.

“Carson told me that you might show up, asking about the Gearheads, or if I had any work,” Donner said, still staring down at me. “She said I should give you the benefit of the doubt, and at least see what you had to offer.” The look of skepticism didn’t really change. “I got an email saying that you were interested in a job.”

“That is why I’m here,” I agreed, keeping my voice and expression neutral.

“Then, let’s see what you’ve got,” Donner said, leading me through the massive garage and to where a 2001 Honda Accord was parked. “This belongs to one of the faculty, and it won’t start. Why don’t you see what you can do to get it running again.”

I stared at the car for a moment, already nodding my agreement. Then, I asked, “Do you mind if I change into something else first?”

“Go ahead,” Donner responded. “The wash room is that way…”

If he had any questions about what I was going to change into, since I didn’t have any bags or obvious extra clothes with me, he didn’t ask. Then again, maybe he’d been briefed on my power.

I went to the wash room, where I stripped off my dress and manifested some new clothes that were a little more appropriate. A minute later, I came out of the wash room, now wearing a set of blue coveralls, which were about as close as I could create to what I used to wear at work. My name ‘Alyss’ rested in the same spot, where I’d once had a name tag for ‘Big Al’. And on top of that, I’d taken the ribbon that was already in my hair, and used it to tie my hair back into a ponytail.

Donner didn’t say a word about my change of clothes, though I did see a faint nod of approval. As a former professional, there was no way in hell that I was about to wear a loose and frilly dress while working on a car. I didn’t give a damn if the dress got dirty or ruined, since I could just make another one. What I did care about, and was pretty sure that Donner did too, was that I wasn’t wearing something that could get caught in the engine and be a major safety issue.

Without saying a word, I popped the hood to look inside, then I tried to start the car. It didn’t start, but the lights came on so it wasn’t something quite as obvious as a dead battery. I don’t know how many times some idiot had their car towed to my shop because it wouldn’t start, when all they needed to do was put in a new battery. A few seconds later, I was back under the hood and looking more closely.

It didn’t take too long to find the problem, and to my surprise, there was a back room full of spare parts, which happened to have just what I needed. As soon as I had the part in hand, I really went to work. Donner kept coming back to check on my progress, but didn’t say a word.

When I climbed out from under the hood in order to get a socket, I noticed that someone had messed with the tool chest. They’d wrapped a large cargo strap around the whole thing, then put an engine block onto the strap, right next to the chest. Whomever did that, had removed the hoist.

“So, that’s the way it’s gonna be,” I said.

There were some chuckles around the garage, and I saw a couple students look in my direction. Obviously, they thought it was funny to mess with the new girl, not that I could blame them. I’d seen similar antics in garages full of grown men.

Ignoring the pranksters, I picked up the engine block and moved it over a few feet. The laughter stopped, and the pranksters went silent. After the brief delay, I dove back under the hood. Eventually, I ended up under the car, double checking a few things from beneath.

“That should do it,” I announced as I climbed out from beneath the car. I wiped my dirty hands on my coveralls, feeling more than a little pleased with myself. The work had been easy, but it made me feel more like my old self than I had in a long time.

Then I suddenly noticed that I had an audience. Donner was there, along with a girl I recognized from Poe.

“Alyss,” exclaimed the tall redhead named Lanie, who was one of the RAs for the sophomores. I hadn’t really talked to her before, and was just a little curious about why she was there. “I didn’t know you were interested in cars.”

“Everyone needs a hobby,” I said with a grin.

I nodded to Donner, then climbed into the car and turned the ignition. It started right up and purred like a kitten. Well, it purred like a car that could have used a tune-up, but it was still in good shape.

“You know your way around a car,” Donner pointed out with a nod of approval.

“You aren’t a gadgeteer or devisor, are you?” Lanie asked.

“Nope,” I responded with a grin. “My grandpa was a mechanic, and I spent a lot of time helping him out in his garage. Everything I know, I learned from him.”

Donner stared at me for a moment before saying, “A lot of faculty bring their cars in for maintenance and repairs. You’ll be helping with some of those and the campus vehicles, cleaning up around here, and doing whatever else I feel like having you do.”

“That sounds good to me,” I said with a nod.

“There’s a lot of basic maintenance that needs to be done,” Donner told me, “but most of the Gearheads would prefer to work on their own projects instead.”

I just shrugged at that. “Basic maintenance and small repairs are the bread and butter for any mechanic.”

Donner nodded agreement at that, then we talked for a couple minutes, discussing when I should come in and what kind of hours I could expect. By the time we were done, I was grinning. I couldn’t wait to get back to work.

Lanie stood back while we were talking, but once Donner left, she stepped forward. “So,” she asked me with a grin. “Has anyone told you about the Gearheads yet?”

--------------------

Power Testing Labs, Friday, August 31st, 2007
Roulette:

I was in the power testing labs, wearing a sensor suit and staring intently at the monitor in front of me. I didn’t bother to show my annoyance at the fact that I’d spent the entire day testing, and I didn’t learn a single thing about my powers that I hadn’t already known. Instead, I’d resigned myself to going through the motions…again.

“Well Roulette,” Dr. Quintain said. “I would have to rate your package deal psychic abilities as a level two…”

“That was about what I figured,” I said, without much emotion.

After spending several hours trying to guess what cards they’d draw, or read their minds, I was mentally worn out. I already knew from my previous testing that my esper sense let me feel where other people were around me, but not much else. I was a telepath…but couldn’t hear anyone’s thoughts unless I was physically touching them. And then there was my telekinesis. I could only lift about 20lbs at one time, which wasn’t really all that impressive.

“I think that all my abilities fall between a level two and three,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if any of the scientists were actually listening. They were still looking over the results of my testing, and seemed lost in their own little world. “None of them are especially strong.”

“Perhaps,” Dr. Hewley said. “But we still need to test each of these power modes to be certain, and to learn their full extent.”

Dr. Quintain nodded at that, though he added, “What I find most fascinating, is the shifting power itself…”

For the next five minutes, Dr. Quintain went off on a lecture about how my various modes, with their different powers, could be the key to better understanding how powers worked. He used the term ‘Rosetta Stone’ several times, and was excited enough that he actually scared me a little. I could appreciate his enthusiasm, but he sounded just a little too much like ‘Dr. Smith’, the mad scientist who’d kidnapped me, because he was interested in researching the exact same thing.

“I think that we are done for today,” Dr. Hewley told me. “We have enough data on your current form and power set, but we will need you to come back for more testing, in each of your modes.”

“And we will need to do more research on your base power,” Dr. Quintain continued. He stared at me for a moment and mused, “If we can get more data on you while you are shifting modes…”

That line of thought was less than encouraging, because the last thing I wanted to do, was sleep in the lab for a week, while wired up to some machines. Or even worse, get wired up to all the sensors, and then wait until I went through another burnout. That might get them a lot of data, but it would be less than enjoyable on my part.

Dr. Hewley looked to Dr. Quintain. “Making appointments for further testing may be rather problematic. With her powers changing each day, without any apparent pattern…”

“We’d never know which power she has ahead of time,” Dr. Quintain said, nodding agreement. “I suspect it won’t be long before she comes to testing, with powers that we’ve already tested…”

The two scientists continued their discussion, talking about me as though I wasn’t right there in front of them. And since they kept using a lot of technical terms, I couldn’t even follow along, at least not completely. Still, I understood enough of their conversation to get the point. They wanted to put me through more testing. A LOT more testing.

I groaned to myself since I’d already been through more testing than I was happy with, and the last thing I wanted to do was go through even more. However, I had to admit that if they could figure out how my power actually worked, then they might be able to figure out how to stop me from going into so many burnouts. They might be able to keep my power from killing me.

“I have an idea,” I blurted out. When neither responded, I raised my voice and repeated. “I have an idea.” This time, they both paused to look at me.

“What was that?” Dr. Quintain asked me.

“You two need me to keep coming back,” I pointed out, “so you can poke me, prod me, and run all those other tests you keep talking about.”

“That isn’t quite how I’d phrase it,” Dr. Hewley told me. “However, that is the gist.”

I nodded at that. “That sounds like it will take up a lot of my time, and be a huge hassle…” I let that soak in for a moment, then I allowed myself to smile. “Well, I really need a campus job, and they told me that I can’t work in the kitchens because of my burnouts... So…”

Dr. Quintain stared at me for several long seconds before giving a faint nod. “That sounds…like a workable idea. If we hire you to clean, file, and retrieve coffee, then you’d be on hand and available, on a regular basis.”

“And you’d be compensated for your time and trouble,” Dr. Hewley added, giving me a knowing look.

The two scientists went off and began to discuss this between themselves, just far enough away so that I couldn’t overhear. I wished I could control what modes I shifted to and when, or at least, that I was currently an exemplar. As an exemplar, my senses were as enhanced as my strength and stamina, so I would have been able to listen in without too much trouble.

Two minutes later, Dr. Quintain returned to me and held out his hand, saying, “It seems that we have an agreement.”

I shook his hand and smiled. “So, does today count as being on the job?”

A short time later, I was back in normal clothes and out of the testing labs. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about the idea of going back tomorrow, but at least now I was going to be paid for it. That would make the whole unpleasant ordeal, at least a little less of one.

Since it was about time for dinner, and I was definitely hungry, I went straight for Crystal Hall. In almost no time at all, I had a plate of food, and was looking for a table. Fortunately, I didn’t have to look for long. I saw Alyss, Voodude, and Breakdown sitting together at a table. I gave Breakdown a wary look, still not happy about the way she’d ruined my device, but with a shrug I went over and sat down anyway.

“Hello,” I said, momentarily worried that they wouldn’t want to hang out with me now that I was no longer in Poe.

“Hey,” Voodude said, giving me a concerned look. “How are you feeling?”

“Well,” I responded wryly. “After spending an entire day in power testing, and then finding out that they want me back for a LOT more testing…I’m going to have an extra dessert.”

“Amen to that,” Breakdown announced with a grin.

I looked to Alyss, who was wearing a completely different dress than when I’d last seen her at lunch, and she had what seemed to be a dark grease smudge on her cheek. However, in spite of that, she was grinning and looked like she was in a good mood.

“Don’t tell me that you’re that happy to get rid of me,” I gasped in mock hurt. “I guess you must really appreciate having a single now…”

Alyss chuckled at that. “I’m afraid I didn’t get to keep the single for long. About an hour ago, Horton went and gave me a new roommate…”

“Really?” I asked in surprise. “That was fast.”

“It’s Knockoff,” Breakdown said.

I was a little startled at that. “Martina? But why?”

“Her old roommate,” Alyss told me with a shrug. “Martina and Christina were going to kill each other, so Horton moved Martina in with me.” Alyss smiled faintly. “I don’t have any problem with Martina or her mom, so it works out for everyone.”

I nodded at that, but pointed out, “But now, Christina gets a single. That’s like rewarding her for being a bitch.”

“I doubt she’ll have a single for long,” Voodude pointed out. “I hear that there’s always students who trickle in a little late.”

We continued talking for a couple more minutes, but then, I noticed another student who was walking around, looking for a table. Sapphire was wearing her cloak, as she always did. I still didn’t know why she always had that thing, and wasn’t about to ask. At least not yet. However, I held my hand out for her attention.

“You don’t mind if Sapphire sits with us, do you?” I asked, looking around the table and realizing that I probably should have asked before waving Sapphire over.

“No problem,” Alyss responded, which seemed to decide it for the others.

The cloaked came over towards our table and gave a self-conscious smile. “Hello,” she said, pulling back her hood so that everyone could see her more clearly. “I’m Sapphire.”

“Nice to meet you,” Breakdown said, giving Sapphire a look of noticeable interest. Fortunately, Sapphire didn’t seem to realize that Breakdown was checking her out.

“This is Breakdown and Voodude,” I introduced them. “You’ve already met Alyss.”

Sapphire nodded at that as she sat down at the table, and asked me, “So, how was your power testing?”

“Long and boring,” I assured her. “But I talked them into paying me for it.”

Alyss gave me a look of surprise. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“Apparently, I’m a Rosetta Stone for powers,” I answered with a chuckle. “They REALLY want to test my powers.”

“Not bad,” Alyss told me with a grin of her own. “Not bad at all. I actually got a new job too. I’m helping out in the motor pool.”

Nearly everyone gave Alyss a look of surprise, except for me. She didn’t look anything like the kind of person who usually worked on cars, but I’d seen the tool box in her luggage. Only someone who is serious about their work, would bother to bring their own tools like that.

“So,” Voodude asked, gesturing to Sapphire. “What’s with the bling? Is that part of a costume or something?”

Sapphire pulled her cloak tighter against herself, almost wrapping herself in it like some kind of security blanket. “It…is personal,” she answered self-consciously.

Since I didn’t want to scare Sapphire away, I changed the subject and asked her, “Did they ever clean up that mess from this morning?”

Sapphire began to laugh. “I think they only finished cleaning a short time ago…”

“What mess?” Breakdown asked.

For a moment, Sapphire and I shared a look, then we both burst out laughing. Once I was able to talk again, I explained, “Well, a couple kids were sent to clean Hawthorne for detention…”

“Ewwww,” Breakdown said with a visible shudder, before quickly adding, “No offense…”

Voodoo just shook his head and asked, “How do you even get detention before school starts?”

“No idea,” I responded with a grin. “But they were there, so Fubar and Achoo had a snot rocket fight, and these boys got stuck in the middle of it…”

“It was disgusting,” Sapphire exclaimed. “There was slime over all the walls…”

“And those boys,” I added.

Alyss gave me a curious look. “You told me about Fubar, but who is Achoo?”

“He’s a manifestor,” I explained with a chuckle, thinking of the boy whom I’d only met last night. “He creates this disgusting green slime, but can control the density and texture, to make it super slimy and slippery, gooey and sticky, or even pretty hard. It’s pretty gross, and to make it worse, it comes out automatically whenever he sneezes…”

“And he has hayfever,” Sapphire added with a grin.

I nodded at that, knowing that the boy had a heavy duty air filter in his room, just so that he had at least one place where he could relax. “I’d probably feel sorry for the guy,” I admitted wryly. “If he hadn’t tried to cop a feel five seconds after we met.”

“He did that to me too,” Sapphire told me a faint smirk.

With a raised eyebrow, I asked, “What did you do?”

The blue haired girl chuckled faintly before admitting, “I showed him why he should never lay hands on an exemplar, who is several times stronger than he is.”

Breakdown burst out laughing at that. “Serves him right.”

Once we finished eating, and remained to chat a little longer, the other…the Poesies returned to their cottage. I watched Alyss leave with Voodude and Breakdown, feeling a little sad that I wasn’t going with them. However, I was beginning to make friends in my new cottage too, so I started back to Hawthorne with Sapphire.

Sapphire and I made some small talk as we walked, and I tried to make sense of her. She was an odd girl, as her always present cloak demonstrated, but I was used to odd. In fact, considering who my friends and family were, I wasn’t sure that I’d know how to have a conversation with a normal person. Some people would probably say that normal and I weren’t exactly on speaking terms.

When we reached Hawthorne, I saw Caitlin standing out front, talking to a snake girl. From the waist up, she looked pretty human, but from the waist down, she had an enormous snake tail.

Suddenly, Sapphire stopped. “What?” I asked, noticing that she was just standing there and staring straight at the snake girl. “Are you okay?”

Instead of answering me, Sapphire pulled her cloak tighter and began to scowl. Then it dawned on me. Sapphire was either afraid of snakes, or just of someone with such severe GSD.

A few seconds later, the snake girl slithered away while Caitlin turned and went back into the cottage. Sapphire lowered her head, pulling the hood up and over it so that I couldn’t see her face very clearly. Then, she continued walking into Hawthorne, not saying a word as she went to her room and vanished inside.

I stared at Sapphire’s door for a few seconds, wondering if I should knock on it and see if she wanted to talk. However, I didn’t really know her very well and had no idea of what to say. So instead, I went to my own room, pulled out my recipe book, and sat down to read.

--------------------

Poe Cottage, Saturday morning, September 1st, 2007
Ribbon:

I sat up in bed and just sat there for a moment with my feet dangling over the edge. The bed was pretty large and roomy, feeling almost like it was a queen or king sized. Ironically, just a couple months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep on it without my feet hanging over the end.

At times like this, I couldn’t help but thinking that it was as though the entire world had changed, and not just me. Everything was much larger than before, and everyone. Sometimes, I almost felt like I was in some kind of funhouse.

Using my small and delicate hands, I brushed the hair from my face, then hopped out of bed, being careful not to wake my new roommate. Martina was still asleep on the other side of the room, so I didn’t make a sound as I manifested a bathrobe, grabbed my shower gear, and slipped out of the room.

I was relieved to find the showers empty, but not surprised. After all, I had gotten up a little early just so I could beat everyone there. I hadn’t gotten up early just to avoid the line, though that was a nice benefit. The truth was, I wasn’t comfortable showering with all those other girls. Showering with them made me feel like I was some kind of pervert or dirty old man, even if I was now a girl myself, and completely lacking in a libido.

Once I was done with my shower, I slipped back into my robe and began the long and boring process of drying my hair. Long hair was a pain in the ass to dry, but I couldn’t just cut it off. For one thing, it really went with the image I was trying to project. And for another, neither my daughter Melanie, nor either of my granddaughters, would ever forgive me if I did. I did momentarily wish that I still had Amy’s hair dryer, because that thing did the job pretty damn fast, but I didn’t bother to dwell on what I didn’t have. After all, if wishes were horses, then everyone would be wearing hip waders.

By the time I was fully cleaned, dried, and dressed, the other girls in the hall were starting to get up and head to the showers. I made sure to be out of there before that happened. And fortunately, Martina had already gotten up and was preparing for her shower as well, so I no longer had to worry about waking her.

Since I was getting pretty hungry, I decided not to wait for anyone else, and left for breakfast on my own. A short time later, I had a plate full of pancakes and sausage, and even more importantly, a large mug of coffee. Black, of course. I didn’t see anyone that I really knew, so I found a nice empty table and made myself at home.

I was about halfway finished when I suddenly found myself surrounded by four girls, who all appeared to be the same age as me. However, unlike with me, I was pretty sure that these kids were the real deal.

“Hi,” a dark haired girl exclaimed with a broad grin as she sat down at my table, not waiting for any invitation. “I’m Ember…”

“You’re Amy’s friend, aren’t you?” another girl asked, and before I could answer, she added, “She’s nice…”

The first girl pointed to the one who’d just spoken, and said, “This is Miranda… And that’s Morgan and Revekah.”

“Hi,” I responded with a chuckle. “I’m Ribbon. Or Alyss…”

“That’s a really pretty dress,” Miranda said, pausing to give me a strange look.

“Thanks,” I told her with a smile. “I made it myself.”

Ember’s eyes went wide at that. “Really? You know how to sew?” She actually seemed a little impressed by that.

I looked around the table at the four girls who’d invited themselves to sit by me, and I felt a certain sense of amusement. They reminded me a bit of my granddaughters, especially Kimberly. And that just made me think that if Kimberly ever manifested as a mutant, then she’d probably be quite a handful.

“Actually, it’s my power,” I explained, holding out my hands and creating several brightly colored ribbons, which I dropped onto the middle of the table. The girls quickly grabbed for them, as if they were great new toys. “They only last about a day though, then they disappear…”

“This is cool,” Ember exclaimed.

Miranda nodded agreement, not saying a word, though she was already tying the ribbon into her hair. Then, she smiled and said, “Thank you…”

“You want to come play with us today?” Morgan asked me.

“Maybe later,” I answered with a friendly smile. “I’ve got a few things that I need to take care of today.”

“I don’t think she really wants to play with us,” Miranda said, giving me another strange look. “She’s older than us…”

“Oh yeah,” Ember added. “Amy said that you were really the same age she was…”

“But you can still hang out with us,” Revekah offered, as though she was doing me a great honor.

The girls continued chatting while they ate, and I watched them with some amusement. They were a lot younger than most of the kids in this school, which meant that they didn’t have a lot of kids to play with in their own age group. It was no wonder that they’d immediately come to join me, since I looked to be about the same age. And admittedly, I kind of liked the idea of having some people around, who were the same size and apparent age as me. For once, I didn’t feel like a midget in comparison.

I had just finished eating my breakfast, when a familiar voice announced, “So, this is the little kid table…”

I looked up and saw Starbright with a smug look on her face. “In that case,” I pointed out, “you should sit down and join us.”

“Watch the attitude, little girl,” Starbright exclaimed. She came over and grabbed my shoulder, in what was probably supposed to be a firm and painful grip. I barely felt it. “I haven’t forgotten that I need to teach you a lesson about respect…”

“Someone certainly needs to learn that lesson,” I mused, reaching up to touch her arm.

A moment later, I manifested a new dress, right onto Starbright. It was the biggest, poofiest, and most overly frilly dress that I’d ever made, and to top it off, the whole thing was a bright neon orange. The four girls at my table gaped in surprise, then burst into giggles.

“WHAT IS THIS?” Starbright screamed, jumping back and tugging at the dress.

I just smirked, because it wasn’t going to come off that easily. In fact, I’d created the dress tight against her body, not leaving any slits or openings big enough for her to slip through. The only way to get out of that monstrosity, was to cut herself out of it.

“That is a REALLY ugly dress,” Miranda pointed out, while the other girls nodded agreement.

“Get it off me,” Starbright demanded a she continued struggling with the dress.

At this point, not only were the four little girls at my table laughing, so was nearly everyone sitting nearby. Suddenly, Starbright began to glow with bright dazzling lights flashing around her, making her difficult to look at. A moment later, I realized that this was intentional as she ran out of the cafeteria as fast as she could.

“Well, that was fun,” I said with a chuckle.

This was actually quite a change of pace for me. Back in my old life, when I was still Big Al, I had a tendency to solve most of my problems with my fists, or with the threat of using them. Unfortunately, that was no longer an option, not when it would be too easy to seriously hurt someone, and especially not against a child.

“That was awesome,” Ember exclaimed, nearly bouncing in her seat.

“Can you make me a dress too?” Revekah asked eagerly.

“But a good one,” Miranda added firmly.

“Sure,” I answered, looking at the four of them. “What color do you want your dresses?”

“Pink,” Ember answered.

Miranda grinned, “I want a green one…”

“Purple,” Revekah responded.

I looked to Morgan, who just shrugged. “I don’t care.”

With a nod, I stood up and walked around the table, touching Ember and forming her dress around her. She let out a loud ‘squee’ of delight. Then I did the same for Miranda, Revekah, and Morgan. Miranda and Morgan had similar reactions to Ember, but Morgan seemed somewhat less excited.

“Thank you,” Miranda told me as she twirled around with her dress.

Before I knew it, the four of them ran off, leaving me at the table by myself. I watched them leave, amused by their delight in something so simple. It reminded me of other days, ones long ago, when Rachael and Melanie had been excited with their new dresses.

When I got back to Poe a short time later, I immediately started heading towards my room. However, the moment I stepped into my hallway, I realized that something was wrong. There were rain clouds along the ceiling, with rain pouring down onto the floor. It took me only a couple seconds to realize that the clouds were coming out of the girl’s bathroom and showers.

“What the hell…?” I started to say, only to hear a scream from the bathroom.

“DOWNPOUR!” Cindy screamed, stepping out of the bathroom into the hallway and yelling, “ANGEL! MRS. HORTON!”

I ran into the bathroom, then froze at the sight in front of me. Downpour was sitting on the floor, in a pool of her own blood. There was a knife on the floor beside her, and a deep gash on the inside of one of her arms.

“No,” Breakdown cried out, crouched down beside the bleeding girl. She was frantically tearing at her shirt, trying to tear off a strip of cloth. It took me a moment to realize that she was trying to create a bandage or tourniquet.

“Here,” I said, manifesting several ribbons, which would do a better job.

Clouds were still forming along the ceiling, and rain was falling down in a heavy flow, almost as though we were standing beneath the shower heads. However, considering what was going on with Downpour, neither Breakdown or I cared about getting wet.

“No more,” Downpour whispered with tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to do this anymore…”

“You have to,” I insisted, kneeling down beside the girl. “You can’t give up… I don’t know what’s going on, but things will get better. They always do…”

A moment later, Cindy came back into the bathroom with a small crowd of people behind her. Peacock and Jinx were trying to get in for a better look, both of them with expressions of shock, horror, and worry.

“What happened to her?” Peacock demanded with a shaking voice. “Why would she do this…?”

“Downpour has severe depression,” Angel said as she pushed past everyone else to get to Downpour’s side. I backed off to give her room. “Her medication doesn’t work on her anymore, not since she manifested…”

“Get back,” Mrs. Horton commanded as she too rushed into the bathroom. “All of you get out of here, except for Angel…”

I stood there for a moment, staring at Downpour and feeling an ache in my heart. How close had Rachael come to doing this herself? Her own life had been a living hell, for so long that she had to have at least considered ending it all. I didn’t know what demons Downpour was dealing with, but I really felt for the poor kid. I just wished that I knew how to help her.

Mrs. Horton began using magic on Downpour, apparently to heal her arm or stabilize her, but I didn’t get a chance to see. While the housemother was working, Angel began shooing the rest of us out of the room. Since we were only getting in the way, I left without argument, and half pulled the other girls out as well.

“I’m pretty sure we got to her in time,” I said, trying to reassure myself as much as the other girls. I looked to Cindy, who’d been the one to run for help. “You did good. I think you may have just saved her life…

Cindy stood there with tears running down her cheeks, though that could have been the rain that was still falling down on us. “I hope so,” she whispered, staring towards the bathroom door with a worried look on her face. “I sure hope so…”

I looked around the hallway, noting that half the floor seemed to be showing up now. Along with everyone else who’d already come, Lexi, Victory, and Christina had arrived as well. They were looking up, obviously concerned about it raining in the hallway. However, after Peacock talked to them for a few seconds, their expressions turned to shock, horror, and concern.

“Damn,” I muttered, clenching my fists tightly. It was ironic, that as strong and tough as I’d become, I still felt helpless to do anything. It was with a grimace of frustration, that I reminded myself of something I’d already come to realize, “Solid muscles and a wrench can’t fix everything…or even the most important things.”

Since there was absolutely nothing I could do, and I didn’t want to get in the way or be a useless lookyloo, I returned to my room. I changed clothes and dried myself off, but what I really wanted to do, was find some asshole to punch. I wanted to kick the crap out of whomever was responsible for this, but I knew it wasn’t that simple. Still, I had to calm myself down, and I knew something that always helped me to relax.

A couple minutes later, I was out the door of Poe again, but this time, I wasn’t going anywhere but around the cottage itself. I started walking around to the backside of the building, but paused when I caught a very familiar scent. It only took me a few more seconds before I found the source.

Standing right behind the cottage, while casually leaning up against the wall, was the largest girl I’d ever seen. Compared to me, she was enormous, with bulging muscles, bronzed skin, and fairly short hair, which was actually a metallic gold in color. This was Hippolyta, who’d been pointed out to me before, though we’d never actually met. And at that moment, she was puffing away on a cigar.

“It looks like I stumbled across the smoking area,” I commented.

Hippolyta stared down at me, fixing me with a flat look that seemed both curious and vaguely hostile. “What do you want?”

“Probably the same thing as you,” I answered as I pulled out my own cigar. “A little peace and quiet.”

I claimed my own spot on the wall a short distance away, where I leaned back and prepped my cigar. Hippolyta watched me with a look that seemed to be a mixture of curiosity and amusement, though she didn’t say a word. After lighting my cigar, I took a nice pull on it, then blew the smoke out with a certain satisfaction, imagining that all my stress and frustrations were floating away with it.

Hawthorne, Sunday September 2nd, 2007
Roulette:

I was sitting in the cottage dayroom, staring at the small pile of parts that were spread out on the coffee table in front of me. Today, I’d been lucky enough to wake up as a devisor again, which meant that I could finally put my floating orb back together. I’d been working on it for the last hour, and had reassembled the devise as much as I could, without having all the tools I needed.

“How did Breakdown even get this apart?” I asked myself with a sigh. I suspected that her devisor ability may have played a part.

Unfortunately, I’d hit the limit of what I could do at the moment, and I had no idea when I’d have both the correct power and tools to finish it. However, as I considered the problem, I remembered that there were a few other gadgeteers and devisors in the building, and I knew a few more in Poe. If I asked around, one of them might have the tools I needed, and they might even be willing to let me borrow them.

While I was considering my next step, Sapphire came into the dayroom and sat down, adjusting her cloak around her. At the moment, she didn’t have the hood up, so I could clearly see her worried expression.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Sapphire gave me a smile, which was clearly a little forced. “I am fine.” Then she looked over my partially assembled devise and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to put this thing back together,” I answered, then told her about how Breakdown had torn it apart so she could see how it worked. “And the thing is, after she did it, she made a few suggestions on how I could improve it…”

“That must be…annoying,” Sapphire told me with an amused smile.

I nodded my agreement. “Yeah. And the worst part is, I think she was right. Now that I’m in devisor mode, I keep thinking about what she said, and I’m getting some great ideas on how to improve the EM core…”

“EM core?” Sapphire asked.

“It’s…an electro-magnetic field generator,” I tried to explain. “This allows my devise to interact with the Earth’s electro-magnetic field, so that it can levitate.”

“Devises make little sense to me,” Sapphire admitted with an apologetic shrug.

“Anyway,” I continued with a nod of acknowledgement. “I have some ideas on how to make the EM core smaller and more efficient. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the parts or tools to do that either.” Then I gave her a wry smile. “The downside of my power is that I don’t have any of my power sets long enough to make much use of them. By the time I’m a devisor again, I might not even remember what I had in mind.”

“Then why not write it down?” Sapphire asked me. “Writing notes always helps me to remember things…” Then she paused before smirking. “Or at least, it did before I became an exemplar.”

“Good point,” I said with a grin. “I think I need to hit the campus store for a notebook. Want to come along?”

“Yes,” Sapphire agreed with a faint smile. “I believe I would.”

It only took a couple minutes to get my things put away in my room, then Sapphire and I were on our way. Since Hawthorne was the furthest cottage out, it was a bit of a walk, but neither of us minded that. If nothing else, it gave us time to talk.

“So, how was your power testing yesterday?” Sapphire asked me.

“Just great,” I responded casually. “You know, there is no better way to spend a Saturday, than being poked, prodded, and jumping through hoops.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” Sapphire responded. “You were an energizer yesterday, correct?”

I nodded at that. “Yeah. I didn’t really learn anything new about that power though. I already knew that I can sense and gather ambient electro-magnetic energy. About the only thing I learned from it, was that they are going to officially rate my energizer level as a three, and I’d already guessed it would probably be about there.”

Sapphire gave me a faint smile. “At least they are paying you for the testing.”

“There is that,” I agreed with a grin. “Now, if I could only figure out a way to make the school pay me for my time attending classes…”

“If you discover how,” Sapphire responded with a laugh. “Please tell me.”

I grinned at Sapphire, thankful at the moment for the cloak which helped to obscure her curves. Sapphire was definitely hot, and underneath my purple haired, girl next door looks, I still had the heart and mind of a guy. However, I quickly reminded myself that I already had a girlfriend. It was something I’d had to remind myself of a few times while in Poe.

When we reached the campus store, Sapphire and I took our time looking around. There were a few more school supplies that I’d been meaning to pick up, so they went into my cart along with the notebook. I also made sure to throw in a couple snacks.

“And popcorn,” Sapphire said, grabbing a couple boxes of microwavable popcorn. Then with a serious expression, which nearly made me start laughing, she explained, “Popcorn is very important.”

The campus store had a decent little section for snacks, and for microwaveable meals, but their selection of real food was rather limited. That was no surprise though, as most of the students had no idea how to cook, nor the inclination to do so. However, I did like to cook, and after looking over what was available, I added a few more things to my cart as well.

“What is this for?” Sapphire asked, giving the bag of flour a curious look.

“You’ll see,” I responded with a grin. I was already thinking of a certain recipe that Mrs. Lawrence had given me. Then, I tossed another ingredient into the cart, adding, “I’ll need this too…”

By the time I was finished shopping, I’d spent a bit more than I’d intended, though I’d been careful not to get carried away. At home, I’d always been the responsible one, and the one who was good at sticking to a budget. Just because I was a girl now, and my mom wasn’t here for me to take care of, that didn’t mean I was going to turn into some kind of raging shopaholic.

Sapphire and I had barely started back to Hawthorne, with a couple bags in hand, when I realized that we were being followed. I’d noticed Gravmax in the store, but hadn’t thought anything about it until now. He’d left at the same time we had, and I doubted that his choice of directions was a coincidence.

“I think we may have a problem,” I warned Sapphire.

Gravmax must have realized that we’d noticed him, because he called out, “We never got to finish our conversation…”

“Oh, I think it’s finished,” I responded, trying to continue on my way. However, I hadn’t taken more than a couple steps when I suddenly felt heavy. Extremely heavy. I gasped as I dropped to my knees, unable to keep standing.

“Oh, I think we’re going to continue it,” Gravmax said with in a smug tone.

“Go away,” Sapphire commanded. She was still standing up, though she looked like she was having a little difficulty doing so.

“I don’t think so,” Gravmax responded to her, pausing to give her an appreciative look. His lecherous smirk deepened. Then, he looked back at me. “I see you don’t have your little toy with you today. Such a pity. Now, I think we need to have a few words about those baseless threats you tried making against me…”

“I do not like this boy,” Sapphire told me with a look of growing anger.

“Me…either,” I grunted under the weight. Once again, I silently cursed the fact that I currently had a power which was completely useless for defending myself.

“Release us at once,” Sapphire commanded, taking several steps towards Gravmax, though she was clearly having to fight against increased gravity to do so.

However, instead of doing that, the preppie punk just smirked, and suddenly, Sapphire dropped to her knees as well. Obviously, he’d just increased her gravity enough to overwhelm her exemplar strength.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” Gravmax announced, looking down at the both of us contemptuously. “My father is the CEO of Paralink.”

I had absolutely no idea what Paralink was, or why I should care. It was obviously some kind of business, but I had the feeling that Gravmax had an inflated sense of not only that business, but his own importance.

“And you think that excuses you from being an asshole?” I asked with a grimace, only to feel the gravity increase again. I was being pressed into the ground so hard that it was not only painful, but was also making it difficult to breath. Sapphire was strong enough to keep resisting, at least a little, but was down on her knees. “You’re just another spoiled rich brat.”

Gravmax glared at me, then turned his attention to Sapphire. He moved closer to the blue-haired girl and stopped right in front of her, then he looked her over again with a smarmy expression. “I’ll tell you what,” he said. “You’re very pretty. Even prettier than your friend. If you come to dinner with me, not only will I treat you to a nice dinner, but I’ll forget your friend’s rudeness…”

“DON’T CALL ME A PRETTY!” Sapphire yelled, right before she opened her mouth and suddenly began to spray a thick stream of mist, right at Gravmax.

Gravmax let out a high pitched squeal, sounding almost like a little girl as he staggered back. While he did this, the weight and pressure were suddenly gone, so I took a deep breath and quickly tried getting back to my feet. Sapphire was already back on hers and glaring at the boy with a look of fury. However, he was trying to wipe his face clean and didn’t seem to notice.

“My hand,” Gravmax suddenly gasped, holding out his hand and staring at it in surprise and worry. “I can’t feel it… My face…” He was starting to slur his speech.

“My venom,” Sapphire said with an almost evil grin. “You are becoming completely numb in the areas that came in contact with my venom. I’ve been told that it feels much like novocain.”

“Come on,” I told Sapphire, deciding that it would probably be a good idea to get out of there while Gravmax was still distracted.

I picked up my bags and quickly started for Hawthorne, hoping that nothing had been ruined. If anything had been, then I wasn’t going to be very happy. Of course, I wasn’t happy about what had happened anyway, but it was still the principal of the thing.

“So,” I asked Sapphire once we were finally close to our cottage. “How long does that stuff last anyway?”

“That depends,” Sapphire told me. “If he washes the venom away immediately, the effects should wear off in about fifteen minutes. If he leaves the venom in place, it could be up to an hour.”

“Well, it seems pretty effective,” I told her with a grin. “Thank you.”

“You are quite welcome,” she responded with a grin.

The incident with Gravmax could easily have ruined my entire day, but I refused to let it. As soon as we were back at Hawthorne, I went almost straight to the common area kitchen, and began pulling out the tools I needed. Since I’d already done a quick check over what equipment was available, I already knew where everything was, which made this quick work.

Sapphire stood back and watched as I poured ingredients into a mixing bowl, waiting a little longer than I’d expected before asking, “What are you making?”

“Cookies,” I answered with a grin. “Nothing puts people into a good mood faster than baked goods.”

“I see,” Sapphire responded with a faint nod of agreement. “And after dealing with that boy, you want to improve your mood…”

“A little,” I agreed. “But I was planning this before that jerk jumped us.”

I had specific plans for some of the cookies, but was making quite a bit more than I actually needed. As Mrs. Lawrence had once told me, “You can never make too many cookies, because even if you think you’re making too many, people will still eat them.”

After I’d scooped dough out onto two cookie sheets, Miranda came into the kitchen and stared at them for a moment. “What are you making?” she asked, her eyes going wide with excitement. “You’re making cookies…”

“You can have a couple when I’m done,” I promised her. However, when I turned to grab the cookie tray so I could put it into the oven, I noticed that two of the dough balls were missing. “What…?”

A moment later, some giggles suddenly gave away the game. I snapped around and caught sight of Ember, trying to sneak away with a ball of cookie dough in each hand. She saw me and suddenly raced for the door. Before I knew it, Revekah and Morgan tried making runs for the cookie dough as well.

“Stop them,” I called out, trying to block the two kids.

“You should learn patience,” Sapphire said as she joined me, though she was smiling as she did so.

“But we only wanted a little,” Morgan protested.

But while I was focusing on Morgan, Miranda ran around and grabbed two more balls of cookie dough from the tray, then began giggling as she ran out the door. The other kids ran out after her, making me shake my head, unsure about whether I should be angry or amused.

“They remind me of my younger sisters,” Sapphire admitted with a smile.

“I never had any sisters,” I responded as I began to replace the missing dough balls on the sheet. I gave Sapphire a wry smile. “I’m an only child.” Then I chuckled and added, “But I have to admit, that half the time, my mom is like the little sister I have to take care of.”

“That sounds like an interesting relationship,” Sapphire told me with a chuckle.

After this, I got my first two batches of cookies into the oven without a problem, though shortly afterwards, Ember stuck her head into the kitchen for a peak. I gave her a stern gaze and she ran off giggling, though I had to keep a close watch on the door for the rest of the time I was cooking. Eventually though, I had about six dozen cookies sitting on the cooling racks, filling the air with their delicious scent.

“And that should do it,” I said in satisfaction. I carefully separated a dozen cookies from the rest, to reserve them for my own use. Then, I stuck my head out into the hallway and called out, “FREE COOKIES!”

Mere seconds later, other Thornies began rushing into the kitchen to help themselves, and it was no surprise when the four kids were first through the door.

--------------------

Poe Cottage, Sunday afternoon, September 2nd, 2007
Ribbon:

I was sitting in the dayroom with a stack of about a dozen books sitting beside me, though I hadn’t been able to read more than the first two before I’d been interrupted. I was vaguely annoyed by that, but then again, if I’d really wanted peace and quiet, I could have just stayed in my room.

A freshman girl named Ceecee, which was apparently short for Crimson Comet, had almost immediately cornered me while excitedly begging for a demonstration of my power. Though she didn’t quite come out and say it, I was pretty sure she was hoping that I’d make her an entire wardrobe of ‘awesome’ new clothes.

“That’s awesome,” Ceecee exclaimed as she held up the new dress I’d just made her.

Unlike my frilly dresses, this one was a nice and somewhat more ‘grown-up’ dress. Or at least, it was designed and cut to actually fit and show off her curvy body, which was way more stacked than was natural for a kid her age. Talk about jailbait.

“It will only last for a day,” I reminded her. I’d said this a couple times, but wasn’t sure she was actually paying attention.

I was actually kind of thankful for Ceecee’s interruption, because the mood in Poe had been pretty grim since the incident with Downpour yesterday. Mrs. Horton said that the doctors at Doyle had been able to heal her physical injury without much problem, but there was only so much they could do for the emotional issues that had resulted in it.

Downpour had returned to Poe a couple hours ago, but she was under suicide watch. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere by herself, and everyone was taking turns looking after her. And on top of that, I knew that she was being scheduled for a shit ton of shrink time and counseling.

“Thank you,” Ceecee exclaimed, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Can you make me a new superhero costume too? It has to be crimson, of course, and I want a really awesome cape…”

“Anything I make will be gone by this time tomorrow,” I repeated with a sigh.

Half a minute later, the busty blonde girl lost interest in me and my powers, and rushed off to do something else. I watched her leave, shook my head, and returned to my books.

It didn’t take me long to read through the entire stack, only about ten minutes. With my ability to speed read, and to remember absolutely everything I read, these books were now permanently loaded into the library that my brain had become. Still, I sat there for several minutes with my eyes closed, going through this new information and organizing it in my thoughts.

Just as I was getting up so I could go to dinner, the blonde girl Bunny came into the dayroom. She was eating a cookie and looking quite pleased with herself.

“Where’d you get the cookie?” Peacock asked from the other side of the room.

“Amy came by a little while ago and gave them to me,” Bunny responded with a grin.

“Amy was here?” I asked, wondering why I hadn’t seen her. Unless of course, she’d come while I was at the library.”

“Yeah,” Bunny agreed with a smile. “She borrowed a couple of my tools, and gave me the cookies as a thank you. She makes really good cookies…”

Peacock frowned and complained, “So, she didn’t share any with the rest of us…”

“I have some left,” Bunny offered.

While Bunny and Peacock went to Bunny’s room for the cookies, I gathered my books and returned to my own room. However, I didn’t stay long since it was about time for dinner. A minute later, I was heading for the door.

It didn’t take me long to reach Hawthorne, where I immediately went for Amy’s room. After knocking on the door, I was relieved that it opened up.

“Alyss,” Amy greeted me with a smile. “Come on in…”

As soon as I stepped into her room, I immediately noticed the golden metal orb that was floating in the middle of it. Amy saw me looking and smiled.

“I just finished putting it back together,” she told me, looking rather pleased with herself. “I would have added a video camera, but I didn’t have the parts.”

“Bunny told me that you borrowed some tools,” I said.

Amy nodded. “Yeah. I bribed her with cookies.”

“That always works,” I responded with a chuckle. “You wouldn’t happen to have some of those cookies still around.”

“Afraid not,” Amy said in an apologetic tone. Then, she gave me a wry smile. “A swarm of hungry Thornies descended on the kitchen and cleaned out the whole batch. I only had two of them myself.”

“Too bad,” I commented with a chuckle. “So, you want to hit the chow hall?”

“Sure,” Amy answered with a grin. “Sounds good to me.” Then, she picked up a notebook from her desk and added, “Do you mind if we bring Sapphire?”

“Not at all,” I responded, giving Amy a knowing smile. It was good to see she was making friends here in Hawthorne. The place had a pretty rough reputation, so I’d been worried for her.

Just as we stepped back out into the hallway, I saw another girl walking past. She was gorgeous, with the kind of perfect build that any stripper or porn star would envy, though she also had a large pair of horns that wrapped around her head to point behind her, a black devil tail, and a pair of large leathery wings.

“Now SHE is jailbait,” I muttered under my breath.

“Um…hi Adore,” Amy greeted the girl, with a bright blush on her cheeks.

The girl…Adore nodded back to Amy and continued on her way. I watched Amy, a little confused by her reaction. However, Amy quickly shook it off. A few seconds later, she knocked on the next door over, and Sapphire emerged.

While the three of us walked to Crystal Hall, I gestured to the notebook Amy had brought with. “What’s that for?”

“I had a great new idea for an EM core,” she started to explain, then paused to give me a wry smile. “An electro-magnetic core. It’s part of my floating orb, and I figure that I can make it smaller and more powerful.”

“And you’re writing your idea down,” I said in understanding. “So you don’t forget it.”

Amy nodded agreement. “I’m also writing down all the materials I think I’ll need for it. I might not be able to build it until I’m a devisor again, but I can still get a lot of the parts I need, regardless of what mode I’m in.”

I just chuckled and pointed out, “Yeah, you’re definitely a devisor.”

“I’m not anywhere near as bad as my mom,” Amy protested, looking a little defensive.

“All you need now,” I teased, “is a good mad-scientist’s laugh, and an army of killer robots.”

“Not my style,” Amy pointed out wryly. “Besides, I won’t stay a devisor long enough to build one killer robot, much less a whole army. Even my mom never managed that.”

“Your mother sounds…interesting,” Sapphire said with an amused look. “Someday, I may have to tell you about my mother.”

Amy and I both gave Sapphire a curious look, but it was Amy who said, “Now that hint suggests an interesting story.”

“Which you will not hear at this time,” Sapphire responded, sticking her tongue out at Amy.

As we went into the cafeteria, I caught sight of that werewolf boy from a couple days ago. He saw me too, then acted as though he suddenly had somewhere else to be. In mere seconds, he was gone. I didn’t even resist the urge to smirk.

“What?” Amy asked me curiously.

“Nothing,” I told her, still chuckling to myself. “Now, why don’t you tell me a little more about this EM core you’re working on, and what you think it can do.”

Amy lit up at that, which made me smile, even as I felt a little sad too. I remember when Rachael was younger, she used to get excited whenever anyone showed interest in her inventions, and I was beginning to suspect that this was something a lot of devisors probably shared.

A few minutes later, we had our food and our table, and before we’d even finished sitting, Amy began to describe her idea. Sapphire and I shared a glance and a smile, then we began to eat while Amy continued to talk.

--------------------

Monday September 3rd, 2007
Roulette:

Labor Day. The first Monday in September was Labor Day, one of those made up holidays that didn’t really mean anything. For a lot of people, the only thing it meant was that the banks were closed and the post office didn’t deliver. If they were lucky, they had the day off from work too. For me, it marked the place where summer ended and the school year began.

Since it was the last day of summer vacation and classes actually started up tomorrow, I was taking advantage of the opportunity to explore the campus. I figured that after tomorrow, I’d be so busy with classes and my ‘job’ that I wouldn’t have much time for this kind of exploring.

There were a lot of strange people on campus, and it seemed that all of them were out at the moment. Since a lot of kids with GSD and unusual features couldn’t wander around in public so easily while off campus, I could understand them wanting to take advantage of the opportunity.

What appeared to be a velociraptor, went running off across the campus in the distance. I might have been concerned, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I’d seen Caitlin talking to that same dinosaur just the other day.

I saw a tall hairy boy, who looked like a sasquatch. A girl who resembled like a human-sized porcelain doll sat out on a bench. There was an adult woman, with horns and a devil tail. She looked like she might be a teacher, but at this school, it seemed like a bad idea to judge on appearances.

“At least this school won’t be boring,” I commented to myself with a wry smile. Of course, any school that held gladiatorial combat among the students, was not a normal school.

While I watched the students with GSD, I couldn’t help but feeling a little bad for them. After all, these were the students who probably valued the opportunity to be out in the open the most, and they were the ones who would be most inconvenienced by red flag days.

When I’d first arrived on campus, I’d been warned about the red flag, and that it meant we had visitors on campus, who weren’t aware of our…unique nature. When the red flag was up, it meant that no one was allowed to use their powers in public, and that anyone with GSD had to make themselves scarce. And to make it worse, sometimes the red flag could go up with hardly any warning at all.

I reached up and ran my fingers through my purple hair, wryly telling myself, “At least purple hair and girl parts don’t count as GSD.” Or at least, they weren’t severe enough that I’d have to use the tunnels when the red flag went up.

Then, almost as though my train of thought had been predicting the future, the campus alert went out announcing that the red flag was going up. Of course, I was an energizer today and not a psychic, or I just might have thought that I had a touch of precognativity.

I looked around and watched as some kid who was flying, quickly landed on the ground. And those with GSD started to hurry towards the buildings and tunnels. I shook my head and let out a sigh.

“What good is it to be at a school for mutants,” I mused aloud, “when you still have to hide who you are?”

That thought left me feeling just a little depressed, so I decided to cut my explorations short and started back towards Hawthorne. I was near the quad, which meant that I had a bit of a walk, though that was fine with me. One thing about living in Hawthorne, I’d be getting my daily exercise just walking back and forth between there and classes.

Once I was back in Hawthorne, I retrieved my book on magic theory from my room and settled down in the dayroom to look it over. I’d been practicing some of the exercises that Witchling taught me, but I was hoping to pick up a bit more before class started tomorrow.

Magic was still the power set that I understood the least, which was kind of ironic, because it was the one I was most interested in exploring. I’d always loved Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy movies, so I was looking forward to casting real spells of my own.

I didn’t have a lot of luck studying though, because Diz and Spoof began playing Scrabble a short distance away, and were making quite a bit of noise. Most notably, Spoof was complaining about losing to the younger girl.

“That isn’t a word,” Spoof protested.

“Is too,” Diz exclaimed as she held out the dictionary to prove it.

I watched the two of them argue, keeping watch in case Spoof made any of his creatures. Yesterday, a couple of… Well, I couldn’t think of what to call them, except evil little Smurfs, began running down the hall until someone took care of them.

I was still watching Diz and Spoof, when a tall lanky boy came into the room. He had one of those cheap and disposable air masks over his mouth and nose, to try blocking out the pollen, dust, and just about everything else.
“Hey,” Achoo said in greeting. He gave me an appreciative look, staring at my chest just a little too long for me to be comfortable.

“Achoo,” I responded politely, though I wished he’d go away. Achoo seemed to be a decent guy for the most part, but he was a bit of a perv, and I was tired of him staring at my chest.

“Gazuntite,” Diz exclaimed with a giggle.

Achoo rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”

“What are you doing?” Achoo asked, coming straight over to me.

I didn’t miss the fact that his eyes once again fixed on my chest, making me wish that Sapphire was there as a distraction. She was bigger than me, and a better target. Also, it would be fun watching her scare him off.

“I’m just reading up on basic magic theory,” I explained, holding up the book.

The lanky boy nodded at that. “So, you’re all magic today…”

“No,” I shook my head. Then, seeing an opportunity, I began gathering ambient electro-magnetic energy, forming a glowing ball of blue energy in my hand. Achoo backed off a little. “Energizer.”

Suddenly, Achoo let out a loud sneeze, and a ball of green slime, about the size of a softball, shot out from the air in front of him and hit the wall with a disgusting splat. The green glob then began to slide down the wall as a disgusting ooze.

“Gross,” Diz exclaimed, jumping up from the chair she was sitting on and putting too much pressure on the table. It shattered beneath her PK enhanced strength, spilling the Scrabble pieces all over the floor.

Spoof jumped back, and suddenly, three creatures appeared on the ground around him. They were vaguely humanoid in shape, but with ridiculously wide mouths full of sharp teeth. They were also only six inches tall.

Achoo sneezed again, and another green glob of goo shot out. This one hit the ceiling, where it seemed undecided whether it should stick, or drip down. Several more sneezes followed, along with more globs of green slime.

One of Spoof’s creatures came at me, trying to bite my ankle. I stomped on the little ankle biter and got rid of it. Then, I saw one going after Achoo, who was a little too distracted to pay attention. I dove down and hit the creature with my ball of glowing energy, which did a good job of destroying the thing.

“What’s going on in here?” Mrs. Cantrel demanded from the doorway. She looked around and let out a sigh. “Bobby,” she said to Achoo, using his real name, “go back to your room and take your medication.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Achoo responded, right before letting out another sneeze. This time, the glob of green slime hit the housemother, right in her chest.

Mrs. Cantrel scowled. “Now.” Then she turned to Adore, who’d come into the room right behind her, probably to see what the fuss was about. “Ali,” you help them clean up this mess.”

“But I just got here,” Adore protested.

“I have to go get cleaned up,” Mrs. Cantrel said, looking down at the green slime that covered her front.

I watched Adore for a moment, blushing a little at the site of her. She was smoking hot, and even if I didn’t still like girls, I probably would have been all over her. Then again, everyone was all over the devil girl. I had to admit though, it was fun to watch Achoo literally drool on himself while he stared at her.

“I’ll get the cleaning supplies,” I said, thinking that this was just like back home, where I frequently had to clean up after my mom. Admittedly, my mom’s messes usually didn’t involve green slime from a sneeze, but the principle was still the same.

By the time I got back a minute later, with the mop, bucket and cleaning rags, Diz and Spoof had vanished. Without saying a word, Adore and I went to work cleaning up Achoo’s disgusting mess.

We were just about finished with the cleaning when I suddenly felt it, a growing ache through my entire body. I gasped at that and the rising fever, knowing exactly what they meant.

“Help,” I gasped as I dropped to my knees.

“Amy,” Adore exclaimed, staring at me with a worried look.

“Get...Cantrel,” I managed to say, though it was hard to get the words out since my throat was tightening and everything was getting dark. “Burnout…”

--------------------

Monday September 3rd, 2007
Ribbon:

I was in a pretty good mood as I returned to Poe, after having spent the last two hours hanging out in the garage. I’d spent most of the time talking to some Gearheads, who’d been more than happy to show off some of their cars, and to brag about what they’d already done to them, as well as what they had planned.

Most of the Gearheads had been pretty skeptical about me, having a hard time believing that someone who looked like I did, and who wasn’t even a gadgeteer or devisor, could possibly know much about cars. However, Donner and Lanie had both vouched for me, and then, after I’d talked to the kids for a bit, I’d removed any remaining doubts.

It was strange though, talking to these kids, who were gadgeteers and devisors, and who knew even more about cars than I did. However, their powers might give them an advantage or two, but they didn’t have my decades of experience. I was pretty sure that this old dog still had a few tricks she could teach them.

When I reached Poe, I went into the dayroom to see who was hanging around. The only ones currently there were four boys, who were playing a game of cards. I knew Voodude and Hardwyrd fairly well, but hadn’t talked much with the other two.

Ricardo was a Hispanic kid, and probably the most over the top, flamboyantly gay person I’d ever seen. And since I was living in Poe, that was saying something. I wasn’t really sure how much of this was just the way he was, and how much might have him playing a role, and to be honest, I didn’t really care.

The last boy playing was Shawn, or Teke as he was codenamed. Shawn was a somewhat small and feminine looking boy, but probably wouldn’t remain that way for much longer. He was a changeling like me, but going in the other direction. He was still in the process of changing from a girl into a guy, and it would probably take another year or two for him to completely finish his changes. By the time he did, he’d probably be as big and buff as a lot of other male exemplars.

“Hey, Alyss,” Voodude called out, waving to me.

The others turned to look at me and Shawn said, “Pull up a chair…” A chair suddenly slid across the room, right to their table, courtesy of his telekinesis.

For a brief moment, I considered joining their game, and trying to talk them into playing for real stakes. However, that probably wouldn’t be a good idea with Mrs. Horton hanging around. And besides, I’d feel guilty for taking their meager savings.

“No thanks,” I responded with a smile. “Not right now anyway. Maybe later.”

With that, I gave them all a nod of acknowledgement, then turned and started for my room. However, I couldn’t help but thinking that I was going to have to find a real poker game, where I could play with some people who actually knew the game.

“Like that’s likely to happen around here,” I muttered to myself.

Once I reached my room, I gathered up the library books I’d borrowed, and then created a duffel bag to put them in. The books weren’t heavy at all, but this still made it easier to carry them back to the library.

I had just left my room and was about at the stairs, when Toni leapt up them, as though it was the easiest thing in the world, and called out, “Hey Ayles. Horton says you’ve got another package…”

“I’ll be there in a moment,” was the almost immediate response.

Seconds later, Ayla came to the stairs and nodded to Toni. “Thank you for the notice.”

I remained where I was for a moment and watched Ayla out of curiosity. She was an attractive girl…or guy who looked like a girl, with short dark hair that was done up in a spikey punk style. The rumor was that he was a member of the Goodkind family, who were notorious for their dislike of mutants. If one of them was really at a school for mutants, then that would be irony at its finest. Then again, it would also be pretty damn ironic if a former member of Humanity First was attending the very same school for mutants.

“Irony,” I said with a chuckle. “It’ll give you a swift kick in the ass, every time.”

Since I was taking my time, it took me another half minute to reach the bottom floor and the main entrance to the cottage. Ayla was standing outside, holding a package in hand, which was about the size of a shoe box. There were no labels on it, so I had absolutely no idea what he could have received. Then again, it was Labor Day, and so I had no idea who would have delivered it.

Then, I saw the delivery man. He was on the short side, a bit skinny, and was dressed in a professional looking suit. But what surprised me, was that he happened to be my only son.

“Rich,” I called out.

Ayla and Rich both turned to look at me, but my son was the one who responded with a broad smile. “Alyss… I didn’t realize that you lived in this dorm…”

“Home sweet home,” I said which a wry chuckle.

“It seems that you two know each other,” Ayla commented, giving me a curious look. He might be wondering if I was a client of Trin and Macintyre, since Rich worked as a courier for them, and he’d obviously just delivered Ayla’s package.

“Family,” I answered, not bothering to explain our relationship. Somehow, I doubted that Ayla would believe that Rich was my son.

Rich nodded at that, then gave me an apologetic look. “I wish I had time to talk, but I have a schedule to keep.”

“I’ll call you later then,” I responded with a nod of understanding. “And tell Min I said hi.”

“Will do,” Rich said. A moment later, a portal opened up in the air and Rich gave me a nod before stepping through and vanishing.

Once Rich was gone, Ayla gave me another curious look. “I assume he’s an older brother or uncle…”

I just smiled faintly in response. “Something like that.”

Then, it was my turn to give Ayla a curious look. Just a couple weeks ago, Rich had told me about his job with Trin and Macintyre, and had mentioned making a delivery to someone with the last name of Goodkind. At the time, we both doubted that it had been a member of THE Goodkind family, because neither of us could imagine them using mutants as couriers.

“He’s delivered to you before, hasn’t he?” I asked.

“Yes, he has,” Ayla answered me. “Before I returned to school.” However, he didn’t expand on that, and I didn’t ask. After all, his mail wasn’t any of my business, no matter who delivered it or how. “You might want to let him know, that the school frowns upon such open displays of power on red flag days.”

“Good point,” I admitted as I adjusted my bag of books. I gave Ayla a nod and added, “I’ll let him know.” Then with a nod, I added, “I’ll talk to you later.”

I started back towards the school library, but hadn’t gone too far before I noticed Sapphire in the distance. She was walking in the same general direction as I was, but had obviously come from Hawthorne. Then, she saw me and suddenly changed direction, and began coming my way.

When Sapphire reached me, she abruptly asked, “Are you going to see Amy?”

“What do you mean?” I asked, feeling just a little confused.

Sapphire scowled deeply, looking worried at the same time. “Amy had another burnout and was taken to Doyle…”

“Shit,” I blurted out in surprise. Then, I changed direction a little, and began running straight towards Doyle. I was halfway there before noticing that Sapphire was following close behind.

I was already familiar with Doyle from the last time Amy was in there, so it didn’t take me long to find her room. To my surprise, the door was open and there were no doctors. Instead, I found Amy lying in bed, wide awake, with a hospital gown on, and with several machines hooked up to her.

“Alyss,” Amy said, smiling self-consciously at the sight of me. “Sapphire…”

“How do you feel?” Sapphire demanded, her voice filled with worry.

“Not bad,” Amy said with a shrug. Then she began to sit up

Sapphire fixed Amy with a steady gaze and announced, “You had a burnout… You need to rest.”

“You sound like the doctors,” she responded with a sigh. “I’m fine. It’s done and over with…”

When Amy started to sit up more, Sapphire warned her, “If you try to leave this bed, I’ll spray your legs…”

I blinked at that. “Spray her legs?”

“It will keep her from trying to walk out of here,” Sapphire said defensively.

“I can always tie you down,” I pointed out, manifesting a ribbon and holding it out in a threatening manner.

“Fine,” Amy responded with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll stay here for a little longer…”

“You’d better,” I stated, holding the ribbon out again.

For a moment, I just stared at Amy, wondering how she could just shrug off a burnout, as though it was no big deal. Then again, she also acted as though turning into a girl was nothing unusual either, and considering some of the things she’d told me about growing up with a devisor mom, perhaps it wasn’t. I hadn’t seen anything really throw her for a serious loop yet, though I wondered how much was just her attitude about life, and how much was an act. I’d seen the worry in her eyes, and knew that she wasn’t quite as unshaken by it all as she pretended.

About five minutes later, Dr. Tenent came into the room. She was a tall, slender, and attractive woman with long blonde hair, which actually moved round on its own. I’d met Dr. Tenent before, when I’d previously come to check on Amy, and she seemed to know what she was doing.

“It looks like all your vitals are stable again,” Dr. Tenent told Amy with a frown. “And you appear to have recovered fully. If I didn’t know better, I never would have suspected that you’d suffered a burnout less than two hours ago.”

“What can I say,” Amy responded with a wry smile. “I recover quickly.”

“And as fortunate as that is,” Dr. Tenent told her, “it also concerns me. You seem to recover from your burnouts just as quickly as you enter them. That makes it difficult to isolate symptoms, and identify treatments that might help prevent this from occurring in the first place.”

“But she’s all right?” I asked, though I quickly added, “For now?”

“Yes,” Dr. Tenent answered with a sigh. She fixed Amy with a flat look. “If it were up to me, I’d keep you here for several days, for observation. Unfortunately, it’s hard to hold a student who is…for all outward appearances, in perfect health.”

“I can keep her here if you’d like,” I offered, once again holding up the long strand of ribbon.

Dr. Tenent smiled at that. “I don’t think that will be necessary, but thank you.”

As soon as Dr. Tenent had left the room, Amy asked, “Can you hand me my clothes?”

“You should stay here longer,” Sapphire insisted as she stood there with a defiant look and her arms crossed.

“Okay then,” Amy responded with a look of mock-innocence, that told me that she was up to something.

A second later, I noticed her clothes, which had been folded up nicely in the corner, floating up into the air. Obviously, she was in her psychic mode today, which meant she had telekinesis.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer me to make you something new?” I asked.

Amy paused for a moment to look me over, then wryly responded, “Not that I’m questioning your fashion sense, but… Well, yeah…I am questioning your fashion sense.”

I just flipped the kid the bird, which made both Amy and Sapphire laugh. Considering how I looked, I probably looked pretty damn silly. The very thought made me chuckle a little as well.

It didn’t take Amy long to get dressed, though I made one more offer to speed up the process. As soon as she had her clothes on, she announced, “I’m hungry. Going through a burnout really takes it out of a girl.”

“I imagine,” I responded.

Then, with a completely straight expression, Sapphire asked, “Are you sure that you wouldn’t like to eat here? I hear that hospital food is good for you, especially the lime Jello…”

Amy paled a little, then said, “After cleaning up Achoo’s mess, the last thing I want in front of me is lime Jello.” She made a disgusted look, which caused Sapphire to laugh.

“Yes,” Sapphire agreed. “I can see that.”

Once Amy had finished checking out of Doyle, the three of us started for Crystal Hall for dinner. Amy said she was starving, while I was definitely hungry enough to eat. I flung my book bag over my shoulder, making a mental note to stop by the library after dinner, so I could switch these books out for some fresh reading material.

While we were walking across the Quad, I noticed a few familiar faces sitting around at various tables. Hippolyta was at one, and she seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with a couple ‘older’ girls, though when she saw us, she paused and gave a nod. “Alyss,” she said in greeting.

“Hey,” I responded. I’d never been a great conversationalist, and that hadn’t really changed. “I don’t know if you’ve met Amy…” I gestured to the purple haired girl. “And this is Sapphire…”

“I’m Hippolyta,” she told Sapphire. Then she glanced to Amy. “I hear you had another burnout. I hope you’re feeling better.”

“Much,” Amy told her with a wry smile. “Hopefully, a full belly will finish the job.”

“It usually does,” Hippolyta said in agreement. Then she looked back to me. “I’ll see you later, Alyss.”

“Later,” I said, with another nod.

After we’d walked out of hearing range, Amy asked, “When did you and the amazon become so buddy buddy?”

With a faint smirk, I answered, “When we found out that we share a few interests.” Then, before Amy could ask what those interests were, I said, “Come on, I’m getting hungry too. I’m a growing girl…hopefully…so I need a good healthy dinner…”

“And dessert,” Amy added.

“And dessert,” Sapphire and I both agreed at the same time, which made all three of us start laughing.

--------------------

Tuesday September 4th, 2007
Roulette:

Power Theory. Considering the nature of my powers, my third period Powers Theory class, was undoubtedly the most important and relevant class in my entire schedule. Unfortunately, a mere ten minutes into the class, and I realized that it was likely to also be the most boring.

When I first saw that Dr. Quintain was teaching the class, I’d been excited, because I already knew him from my power testing, and because of the deal I’d made with him, he was also my boss. However, I quickly learned that the excitement he showed during my power testing, never quite reached his voice during class. Instead, he lectured in a near monotone, which was sure to put me and everyone else to sleep. And the sad thing he, he wasn’t even giving us a real lecture yet, just an outline of what the class was about.

Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in my suffering. Alyss sat beside me, looking just as bored as I was. This was the first class that we actually had together, and the same was true of Sapphire, who sat on my other side.

Fighting back a yawn, I looked around the room, taking note of the other students. The first thing we’d done in class was to stand up and introduce ourselves, and said a little something about our powers. Because of that, I had a vague idea of who most of the other students were.

My eyes went to Monkeywrench first, because he was one of the more unusual students in class. He looked like a cross between a human and a monkey, with light brown fur over his entire body, and he even had a tail. However, what was even more attention grabbing, was his lab coat, which was brightly colored and looked more like a Hawaiian shirt than anything else.

I’d briefly met Monkeywrench during the second period devisor class that we shared, and where he’d made a bit of an impression on me. When everyone in class was showing off the devises we’d already made, he brought in a couple of ‘banana peel’ grenades, which he’d designed to actually look like bananas.

Monkeywrench looked unusual, but he certainly wasn’t the most unique looking individual in the room. That honor probably went to Darqueheart, who had black skin, big horns that grew out of her forehead and curved back, clawed fingers, and a devil tail. The horns and tail reminded me of Adore, but other than a few similar GSD traits, they didn’t really seem to have much in common. At the moment, Darqueheart was sitting on the far end of the classroom, where she silently glared at the more attractive students, especially the exemplar girls like Sapphire…and even me.

During the class introduction, Darqueheart had said she was an erboreal mage, which was supposed to be all about darkness. I just hoped that she wasn’t in my fifth period Magic Theory class. My issue with her wasn’t because of her GSD, or the type of magic she worked with. My problem with Darqueheart, was her attitude, and the general hostility that she seemed to have towards anyone she considered to be a ‘pretty’.

Of course, the GSD kids weren’t the only ones to draw my attention. There was a blonde girl named Mischief, who was practically bouncing in her seat and chatting away excitedly to the people beside her. I didn’t know if it was ADHD or too much caffeine, but her energy was a distinct counterpoint to Dr. Quintain’s monotone voice.

“And I can’t believe that Imp was there,” Mischief said, loud enough for me to hear. “She taught me a bunch of stuff before, and she’s a great teacher. That’s gonna be the best class EVER…”

The boy who was sitting beside Mischief had a look of annoyance on his face, and I expected him to snap at her at any moment. Aegis was athletic looking, with spikey blonde hair, and he reminded me of a couple jocks from old school. Not the ones who played sports for fun, but the ones who took it all just a little too seriously.

“At least the other students are more interesting than the teacher,” I quietly mused to myself. Of course, I’d never let Dr. Quintain know that, not when he was not only my teacher, but also the guy who performed my power testing, and who supervised me on my campus job.

I let out a sigh and turned my attention back to the two notebooks that I had open in front of me. One of them, was reserved for taking notes in class, not that I really needed to at the moment. Dr. Quintain was still doing introductory stuff today, and not yet going into the real class material. My other notebook, on the other hand, was reserved for my devisor notes

The last time I’d been a devisor, I wrote down my ideas for a new and improved EM core, along with a list of parts. I might not be a devisor at the moment, but there was no reason I couldn’t get those parts, just so that I’d have them on hand the next time I was.

Maybe I could call my mom and have her send any of the materials that she happened to have lying around. Of course, the entire conversation would depend on whether or not Mom was clear-headed at the time, and whether or not she’d remember my request afterwards. Fortunately, Mom had also opened a line of credit with Sartek for me, so if all else failed, I could probably order some materials from them.

Alyss leaned over and quietly whispered, “This guy literally wrote the book on this subject.” She held up the text book for the class, which actually did have Dr. Filbert R. Z. Quintain as the author, and added, “You’d think that he’d be more excited about it.”

When the class finally ended, I let out a sigh of relief, as did nearly every other student. I would have thought that a class about superpowers would be incredibly exciting, and I was never so disappointed about being proven wrong. Until now, I’d actually been looking forward to this class.

“I already memorized the book,” Alyss told me with a look of annoyance. “Somehow, I have a feeling that is only going to make this class drag even more…”

“Back home,” Sapphire told us with a wry smile, “I have a neighbor, who can put people to sleep just by touching them. Somehow, I have a hard time imagining that he could have done any better…”

Since class was over and it was time for lunch, nearly everyone rushed out of the room at the same time, then made their way to Crystal Hall. A few minutes later, we were in line, waiting to get food. I was fortunate enough, to be the first of our little group to arrive, with Alyss and Sapphire right behind me.

Standing in front of me, were two older girls, who were probably junior or seniors. One was skinny, with white hair that was similar in color to Alyss’, though her bangs kind of curled up like a pair of little horns. The other girl had black hair and a dour expression. She seemed vaguely familiar, and it took me a minute to realize that she reminded me of Wednesday Addams, from the Addams family. The two girls talked with each other and didn’t pay us any attention.

Then, after they got their food and went off to the tables, Aegis suddenly pushed forward and demanded, “Do you know who those girls were?”

Since I hadn’t talked to Aegis before, I wasn’t sure why he’d come up to talk to us. “Not really,” Sapphire said.

“They’re villains,” Aegis stated, glaring after the girls as though they’d kicked his puppy or something.

“Villains?” I asked a little skeptically.

“That was She Beast and Nacht,” Aegis said with a deep scowl. “Their parents are supervillains, and they’re supervillains in training…”

Alyss looked up at Aegis, giving him a skeptical look. “And you know this how?”

Aegis puffed up a bit at that and explained, “I’m going to join the Future Superheroes of America, so I’ve been learning about who the bad guys on campus are…” He pointed in the direction that the two girls had gone. “Watch out for them and the rest of the Bad Seeds. I hear that they’re nothing but a gang of dangerous criminals.”

“Then what are you talking to HER for?” another voice demanded.

I looked at the newcomer and immediately recognized Christina Violante, also known as Blue Streak. Christina used to live down the hall from me in Poe, and had been such a bitch to her roommate Martina, that Martina had been forced to move out, and to move in with Alyss instead. Supposedly, Christina’s dad was some kind of superhero, so she took it as her personal mission in life to be a pain in the butt to anyone with a villain in the family.

“What do you mean?” Aegis asked, looking curious.

“Mind your own business,” I told Christina, who stood there with a smug look on her face.

Christina pointed at Alyss and announced, “Her mom is a villain named Lady Havoc…”

Alyss and I both jumped in surprise and simultaneously stared at Christine in disbelief. Back in Poe, Alyss had admitted that she knew Lady Havoc, and had even indicated that they might be related, though she’d never said anything about Lady Havoc actually being her mom. I didn’t know if that was true, or if Christina was just jumping to conclusions. What I did know, was that I’d been under the impression that ‘what happens in Poe, stays in Poe’.

Aegis stared down at Alyss with a look of betrayal on his face. “You’re a villain…?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alyss stated, fixing Aegis with her gaze, and then glaring at Christina. “Forgive my language, but you’re a nasty little bitch. First, you bully Martina for no good reason, and now you’re trying to start something with me…”

“I knew there was a reason you didn’t have a problem rooming with a villain,” Christina announced self-righteously. “I’m going to keep an eye on both of you criminals.”

“If you want to keep an eye on the bad guy,” I offered in an even tone. “You should probably look in a mirror.”

Christina glared at me, and then without missing a beat, turned around and walked off, as though she’d somehow scored a great victory against Alyss. I glared at the girl, then looked to Alyss, who stood there with a grim expression. I noticed that her small fists were clenched tightly, and I had the feeling that she was struggling to control herself.

“This place is full of villains,” Aegis blurted, still staring at Alyss with a look of surprise. “Students. Teachers. This whole school is full of them.” Then, he turned and marched away.

“Are you okay?” I asked Alyss.

“Fine,” Alyss responded. “Just peachy.”

I glanced to Sapphire, who didn’t say a word. None of us said anything as we finished getting our food, then went and found a table. Since Sapphire was still willing to sit with me and Alyss, I guessed that she wasn’t too bothered by Christina’s claims.

After we began eating, I couldn’t resist asking. “Is Lady Havoc your mom?”

Alyss stared at me for a moment, then began to chuckle. “No. But Rachael would probably laugh her ass off if she found out that people thought she was. Pardon my French.”

“That doesn’t sound like French,” Sapphire pointed out, which made Alyss and I both start laughing.

“I’m really sorry about Christina,” I said, giving Alyss a sympathetic look. “There was no reason for her to do that, especially considering…” I paused at that and glanced at Sapphire, who wasn’t in on Poe’s secret.

Alyss nodded her understanding. “She’s a pain in the ass, but I’ve dealt with worse…”

“Pardon the French?” I asked, before Alyss had a chance to say it. I’ve heard her use that phrase a few times now.

“Something like that,” Alyss said with a chuckle. Then, her expression turned serious and she said, “I’m here at Whateley for a reason, and that isn’t going to change just because of some kid with daddy issues. I don’t give a damn what she thinks. Life is full of people like her, and some of them just ain’t worth giving a flying fuck about.”

“Pardon the French,” Alyss, Sapphire, and I all said at the same time, before we all burst out laughing.

--------------------

Tuesday afternoon, September 4th, 2007
Ribbon:

I stepped into the locker room and immediately felt out of place. If anyone noticed this, they probably would have assumed that it was because I looked like I was ten years old, while all the other girls were several years older. Of course, the truth was a bit more complicated than appearances would suggest.

“I think you’re a little too young for this class,” one girl said, giving me a friendly, though, somewhat patronizing look. She probably didn’t even realize that she was being patronizing. “This isn’t a class for the junior high kids…”

The attitude was a bit annoying, but it was something that I was getting used to. And admittedly, it was understandable, since I did look like a cute little girl. Still, I forced a smile and announced, “But I’m a big girl now…”

A moment later, I heard the laugher and turned to see Amy, who’d just come into the locker room, right in time to see the exchange. “Alyss is older than she looks,” Amy explained to the girls who were watching. “Her BIT just makes her look a little younger than she is.”

That explanation seemed to be enough to satisfy most of the girls who were watching, so they turned and went back to changing. I nodded my thanks to Amy, then went to my locker. A minute later, I’d stripped out of my dress and tossed it into the garbage, much to the shock and disbelief of several girls.

“But that looked like a perfectly good dress,” one girl exclaimed. For a moment, I suspected that she was going to dig the dress out once no one was watching.

“It’s manifested material,” I explained, suddenly creating a martial arts uniform…or gi as I’d heard it called, right on my body. “It’ll just disappear in awhile.”

A minute later, I walked into the main dojo area, where some of the kids were already sitting on the floor and waiting for class to start. I followed their example and did the same, though I did get a few more odd looks, and even a couple snickers. Obviously, they weren’t going to take me serious because of my size and appearance. That was fine with me.

In my previous life, I had a lot of experience with fights, often in bars or places like that. However, I’d never done any martial arts, so was feeling a mixture of curiosity and nervousness, not that I’d really admit to the latter. Still, after that fight with the Marquis, I knew that I was now fighting in a whole different league. If I ever had to protect my family from a monster like him again, I wanted to be able to use everything I had available, and that meant doing more than just throwing a punch or two.

I looked around the room at the other people who were taking fourth period Basic Martial Arts, and those who were coming out of the locker room. Of course, I knew Amy and Sapphire, who for once, was without the cloak. And I was familiar with a couple of the other students too, like Aegis, Cinderella, and Iron Rose. I even gave a brief nod to my fellow Poesies.

One of the instructors, a tall black woman, who was wearing a tight black bodysuit, walked around the room, looking us over. She paused to stare at me for a moment, or at least at my clothes. My gi wasn’t quite the same material or texture as the ones that everyone else was wearing, but after a second, she nodded faintly and continued on, all without saying a word.

When the class officially started a minute later, the two instructors stood up front and introduced themselves. The small Asian man introduced himself as Sensei Ito, while the tall Asian woman was Sensei Tolman. After this, Ito talked about the rules and expectations for the class, before they finally got to something interesting.

“I am a baseline,” Ito said as he calmly looked over all the students. “Who here believes, that with their powers, they can beat me in a fight?”

Several hands went up into the air. I was tempted to raise my own hand, knowing just how strong and tough I was now, in spite of my appearance. However, Ito seemed pretty damn sure of himself, and if there was one thing that I knew, it was that just because someone seemed weak and harmless, that didn’t mean they were.

“Iron Rose,” Ito said. “Please come up here.”

Rose got up and went to the front of the class, looking just a little cocky. I watched carefully, interested in what was going to happen since Rose was quite a bit bigger and stronger looking than Ito. But in spite of that, he didn’t look the least bit concerned.

Ito and Tolman went over some of the rules for sparring, then they began. Rose went at Ito, swinging hard and fast. However, the little old man slipped out of the way, grabbed her wrist, and twisted. The next thing I knew, Rose slammed into the mat, flat on her back.

“Damn,” Rose exclaimed as she got back to her feet. She gave Ito a wary look.

“Again,” Ito instructed her.

With a smirk, Rose suddenly transformed into her metal form. She went at Ito again, this time being even stronger and tougher than before. The results were almost identical.

“That looks like it hurts,” Sapphire whispered.

Amy nodded again and quietly added, “Her pride of nothing else.”

After Ito had finished making an example of Rose, and proving that skill could trump power, he and Tolman began calling students up front to spar with each other, while the two of them watched. It was a good way to get an idea of what the kids could do, which was obviously why Ito and Tolman were doing this. And then, it was my turn.

“Ribbon,” Toman called out. “Cinderella.”

Cindy and I went up, stood in the sparring circle and bowed as we’d been instructed. Then, Tolman told us to begin, and Cindy came straight at me. She punched at me faster than I would have expected, but my reflexes were a lot sharper than hers. I blocked her punches and kicks, and even let one or two of them get through to make her feel better, though I didn’t really feel them. I was a high level exemplar, while she just had normal strength and toughness, so I didn’t want to risk hurting her.

Since Cindy couldn’t really do anything to me, and I was holding back so that I didn’t accidentally hurt her, the first match was declared a tie. However, Tolman immediately told us to go again, adding, “This time, use your powers.”

“That sounds good to me,” Cindy said with a grin

Suddenly, a sword made of glass appeared in Cindy’s hand, showing why she’d chosen the codename of Cinderella. Like me, she was a manifestor, but where I created cloth, she created objects made of glass, or at least, which looked like glass. A glass shield formed on her other arm a moment later.

As soon as Tolman told us to begin, Cindy slashed at me with her sword. I used my arm to block her attack, only to feel her blade cut into my forearm. I jumped back, seeing blood on the arm of my gi, though I wasn’t too concerned. Cindy may have hurt me a little, but I was a regenerator and healed like crazy. What this meant though, was that I had to be a little more careful now.

I made a few careful punches at Cindy, which she blocked with her shield. I was still holding back though, because if I punched much harder, than even if she blocked me, I could have shattered her arm. Of course, I wasn’t limited to my strength, and I finally demonstrated this by lunging towards Cindy…then manifesting several long ribbons, which I wrapped around her body. Just a couple seconds later, she fell to the mat, tied up and unable to move.

“That’s cheating,” Cindy exclaimed, but she was grinning so I could tell she didn’t really mean it.

When Cindy and I were done, Tolman told me, “There are times when holding back is necessary, and times when it can get you killed.”

I returned to my seat and watched a couple of the other sparring matches, paying special attention to Amy. Unfortunately, once again, she didn’t have a power that was very good for fighting, so she ended up losing her matches pretty quickly. However, she didn’t go down without a fight, even when it was clear that she was overpowered and outmatched.

“Your records indicate that your powers change every day,” Tolman told Amy, once she was done. I was sitting close enough that I could easily make out the conversation. “Training you to instinctively use your powers in a fight, when those powers are inconsistent, could prove quite dangerous to you. Instead, we will focus on building a strong foundation of skill, which you can use regardless of which powers you possess. You would be best served by thinking of your powers as a revolving set of holdouts, so that you don’t rely on them too much.”

Once Tolman was done with Amy, she came back and sat back down beside me again. “That was…painful,” Amy commented wryly.

“Tell me about it,” I pointed out, holding out my bloody sleeve.

“Do you need a bandage?” Amy asked, only to pause as she remembered that I could create my own.

“Not a problem,” I assured her, raising my sleeve so she could see my arm, which was already healed. “Regen.”

Amy nodded at that and let out a sigh. “And with all these bruises, I really wish I had my regen today. At least they’ll go away the next time I change modes.”

Class ended a short time later, and I could tell a lot of the kids were relieved. Even on the first day of class, there’d been a lot of bruises, and I imagined that it would only get worse as we progressed. At that moment, I was very grateful to be a high level exemplar, and to have my regen. Unfortunately for Amy, she’d have to suffer through the aches until she went to sleep.

In the locker room, Cindy came up to me and apologized, “I’m really sorry about your arm…”

“Not a problem,” I told her, pulling my sleeve back just the way I had for Amy. “I heal fast.” Then to show that there were no hard feelings, I smiled at her and said, “That is one sharp sword you have.”

“Thanks,” Cindy responded with a grin of her own.

Unfortunately, it was time for the most awkward and uncomfortable part of class, having to shower afterwards. It was weird enough getting undressed in front of these girls, most of whom I didn’t know, but to get completely naked and shower with them… I shuddered at the thought, but managed to pull up my big girl panties…metaphorically…and get through it. Then, thanks to my power, I was quickly dressed in a brand new set of clothes. In spite of getting finished first, I waited on Amy and Sapphire.

“I have Magic Theory with a Ms. Grimes next,” Amy said. “Followed by Power Lab.”

“Algebra,” Sapphire offered. “Then Power Lab.”

I smiled at that. “English, then Power Lab, and then History. It looks like we all have Power Lab together.”

“I’ll see you then,” Amy told me with a nod and a wave, before she walked off to her next class.

For a few seconds, I just remained where I was, watching Amy and Sapphire go with a smile on my face. Then, I shook my head, chuckling at how strange the whole situation was, and at the fact that I was actually enjoying myself.

Two months ago, I was dying in a hospital bed, but now, I was not only alive, but healthier than I’d ever been in my life, even if I did look like a little girl. In my old life, I’d been a high school dropout, but now, I was back in school and making friends with some teenage girls. And ironically, even though I was old enough to be their grandfather, I looked like I was the youngest one of the group. Two months ago, I had a hard time believing that I had a future at all, but by a miracle of fate, I’d been given a second chance. I’d been given a new life, one I never would have been able to imagine.

“The world is stranger than I ever could have imagined,” I told myself as I started for my next class. Then, my thoughts turned to both my deepest regret and my greatest wish, and I quietly added, “Maybe someday, fate will give Rachael a second chance too.”

TO BE CONTINUED in A Little R&R 2: Alyss in Wondercute Land