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Hexxatious: Deja-Vu Part II
By- Savanna K. Summersette

I fluttered up towards the exhaust ventilation shaft, the huge steel industrial fan was motionless. Ms. Cantrel had told me that the LCD panel could turn the fan on and off. Flying straight up was more difficult than it might sound...butterfly wings weren't really made for vertical flight. So I had to lift vertically, toes pointed to the ground, my upper-body bent forward so that the down-strokes of my wings could flap down, allowing me to flap my wings in a way that would push me upwards.

It didn't take long really, I just flapped my wings as fast as possible and I ascended the fifty yard long shaft to the roof of Hawthorne Cottage in just slightly less than a minute. Once out of the shaft I pitched forward, soaring across the roof, the wind whistling in my ears...the scent of nature all around me. I could see students everyone...milling around the greens and the concourse in all directions.

I decided I really liked my dorm room...what can I say, I had access to as much weed as I could ever possibly want and my house mother didn't seem to care...how odd, but true.

I went higher, and unfurled my antenna...smiling as I looked sky-ward, feeling an emotional natural high as I looked lovingly upon the clear blue sky above...the afternoon sun still several hours away from sunset.

The fresh air was amazing...I could hear so well...all the bird calls echoing around the campus. It was overwhelming and also completely wonderful. I was as free as a bird as the saying went.

I looked down at the students, who were walking or talking amongst themselves. I felt so connected just floating through the air up here and looking down. I felt connected to them, to everything around me...even though they were all strangers to me, and I'd never been to this place before. It was an exhilarating feeling to feel so interconnected.

I scanned the crowds dispersed across the campus. I was so high up now that I could see pretty much the entire campus in one direction...my eyesight was so good it was like I had a pair of zoom capable binoculars. I just calmed my mind and...I felt like I could sense reality...sense time and space as it flowed around the planet...around the school and it's individual buildings. I felt it flow through and around all the students below. I could feel...events. Not exactly like a precog, but I could feel reality itself and the directions it would take. I understood very little about powers classifications, but I did understand the fundamentals. I knew I was a 'Reality' Warper 4b (r/p/d)...there might have been a 'p' in that classification, but wasn't the ability to control reality to even the small degree I was capable, a type of probability warping? I could make things that were impossible happen. I could make things that were probable become...improbable. I suppose my probability warping ability added to or compounded with...went hand in hand with my reality warping ability.

I suppose perhaps, probability warpers have a much more fine tuned sense of probability, and their ability to alter it was much more minute. More exact. I didn't know a lot about my own warping ability, but that's why I came to Whateley after all...it was a promising adventure. I decided to play with my faux-super senses. I concentrated on my eyesight...I knew my eyes were compound eyes, and sure enough, I managed to split my vision into its compound view. I now saw...ten thousand pictures of whatever I was looking at. Well maybe not ten thousand, but something like that.

It was a little nauseating at first, seeing ten thousand pictures at once in my head. I didn't quite have the ability to assimilate the information from them all...it was too overwhelming. But, I came pretty close...I realized...I must have a crazy high I.Q now, or at least a much more sophisticated brain than any baseline human. My warping classification said R.P.D. Reality...probability and density warping. Perhaps...my brain was very dense, but reality warped in a way that kept it and the rest of my body light weight. And perhaps, my reality/probability warping enhanced my brain, giving it the ability to interface much quicker. My neurons might be able to assimilate and dissimilate information signals hundreds of times more efficiently.

I didn't know what sorts of things I could do with my ability to warp probability and reality...I really had no idea what sorts of things the two could accomplish together. Reality+probability=awesome? I'd certainly look forward to finding out. I'd also certainly need some sort of serious punch to make up for my small size and fragility...oh sure, I'm an exemplar 2...not nearly as fragile as I appear. But still, I'm fourteen and a half inches tall...and weigh as much as an unopened can of soda.

Suddenly, I saw something in my compound vision. I switched it back to my standard U.V/I.R binocular vision, flying down and landing on a statue in the quad. Below, I could see some cheerleaders messing with another girl. I was startled momentarily when I realized one of the cheerleaders...was my sister. I don't know if my face can go pale or not...but I sure felt like it did. She was bullying another girl...I wanted to help, but if I acted against them...wait a minute! She doesn't have any idea what I looked like at the moment. In fact, she doesn't even know I'm attending Whateley now...and she never answers her phone half the time when my mother calls her. So yeah, I'm betting she has no clue I'm here or that I've manifested.

"I heard you went to Thuban about us, you little shit," I heard my sister saying.

The girl looked scared, but wasn't running away. She didn't answer them, she just stared back. She was about five-foot five, slim...long brown hair styled in ringlets falling to the middle of her back. Brown eyes set into a smooth heart shaped face. She was dressed like a goth, wearing a black velvet mini-dress with black lace and ruffles at the hems, cuffs and skirt. She was wearing black lace up vinyl boots...thigh highs. She also wore a black silk...bonnet? Her hair spilling out from under it. She wore dangly onyx earring and a lot of rings.

Was my sister and her band of retards seriously going to beat this girl up? In broad daylight? Just what kind of school was I attending?

"Fine, were going to beat you, strip you of your clothes, and leave you to return to your dorm butt naked, while everyone is on their way to dinner. Those ugly clothes you're wearing...well, I don't see why you'd miss them anyways. We'll be doing you a favor," my sister said...she had a sweet voice but she was...terrible. What the hell happened to the sweet girl I used to know? Sounded like a cliche to me. Can't she be more original?

"I know what you're all up to, that's why I stole it and gave it to the headmistress," the girl answered.

"You'll pay. You think you can get one up on Hekate? You don't even know who she serves. You really will be sorry when you’re cursed into some twisted writhing creature not fit to see sunlight," my sister replied. "What we're going to do to you now...is just a warm up."

I couldn't believe what I'm hearing...what exactly is she into here at Whateley?

I'm not sure what I'm capable of, but I'm going to do something! I fluttered down...I needed some type of paralysis agent that wasn't lethal in small doses, yet was strong enough to incapacitate. Something in my mind flicked. I flew silently, they never heard me or saw me coming until I flew in front of their faces, flapping my wings in an odd motion...it released some kind of mist into their faces as I flew by. I quickly flew up to put altitude between me and my opponents.

Turning, I saw that they were staggering back and seemed surprised. The one girl was turning, though her eyes were squinting half-way shut. She didn't miss a beat and was conjuring some sort of sick looking green fire into her hands, which she promptly threw at me...rapid fire style. It would be pretty funny if they turned into cheese wheels and fell on her. I felt a tingling rush leave me. I felt instantly more tired than before. I laughed as I saw her flaming green ack ack turn into Sage Derby green cheese and fall back on her.

I quickly realized...that was only pissing her off. However, now she wasn't even looking at me, but was batting at...bugs? The other two cheerleaders were fighting each other...wrestling around on the ground, it was amusing to watch my sister wrestle around in the grass like a mud-wrestler. What the hell were they doing, though?

"What the hell are they? Oh my god, they're burrowing under my skin!" Ack ack girl screamed. I was no expert...but I didn't see anything and I was pretty sure there wasn't anything burrowing under her skin.

I flew down to the goth girl, "Come on, let’s get out of here! I think this was enough drama for one fucking day."

She just stared at me, mouth agape. It took her a few minutes before she seemed to realize that her adversaries had been dealt with, and so I flew off, towards the open green near Hawthorne cottage. Some people looked up at me in awe, others waved...some even cat called. I looked back to make sure the goth girl was following me.

I fluttered backwards a bit, settling myself on the very surprised girl's shoulder. She looked at me in absolute awe.

"What are you!?" she asked in a soft alto, once she managed to catch her breath.

"I'm a student just like you, DUH," I replied with some irritation.

"Oh!" she replied, she blushed, probably realizing how ridiculous she'd sounded.

"My name is Ezra Falling Bird, nice to meet you," I said with a smile, gazing into her eyes, from my position, sitting on her shoulder, smoothing my little silk dress with my hands.

She winced upon hearing my surname, "Falling Bird? Oh no...is this a trick?"

"Not at all...I've only enrolled just today. I take it you know my sister? Perhaps too well? Well don't worry...I think she's a bad person too!"

She just frowned at me a bit, "Yeah...definitely. She's awful."

"Hmm, I didn't catch your name?" I said with a grin.

"Sorry...my name is Magwin Jenkins," she answered.

"That's an odd name," I answered, only teasing of course. Well partially, anyways.

"True, but my codename is Nightfall. I picked it out myself," she said with an enthused smile.

"Listen, I'm new here and I don't have any friends yet. But I'd like some. You headed to the dining hall at all?" I asked.

She just smiled and blushed, "Sure, nobody ever wants to sit with me usually."

"Lead the way, I'm feeling too lazy to fly at the moment."

Then I frowned, "By the way, what was that all about anyways? What did you steal that has my sister so pissed off?"

"I stole the seventh advent from her, before she was able to deliver it to Hekate...a girl who I swear is truly evil."

"What the hell is the seventh advent?" I asked, eying her extensive eye makeup. She had naturally tan skin, and only wore black lipstick and a lot of dark gray/charcoal eye shadow and liner. Mascara too now that I was looking. She had fake lashes pressed to her real ones, making her eyes really look quite beautiful.

"It's an artifact...a seal created for the last coming, designed to help keep demons from freely entering the material realm. I think they were going to use the seven advents to summon some sort of monster...see, Hekate has this vendetta with some elven looking girl that runs around campus with these other girls."

"How did you even find out about it?"

She smiled at me a bit, "I'm a shaman. Like, an avatar. Technically I'm like a Wizard 2, Avatar 5. Anyways...I can channel spirits using my shaman talents and my avatar power, I'm a medium. A spirit came to me...it called itself the Caller in the Dark. It seemed...not evil, but not good either. It seemed as if the entirety of its being was composed of loneliness and despair. It hurt me when I channeled it, but not on purpose."

"Anyways, this spirit told me...that these girls, it couldn't name them, but it showed me mental images of them. It told me that they were going to steal these seven artifacts of great power. And that they would use them to summon forth monsters...ultimately, those girls would do terrible things throughout their lifetimes. Many people would die due to their pettiness and lack of conscious."

"My sister is one of those girls?" I asked, frowning. Wondering what she'd got herself into.

"Yes...they are all cheerleaders. The team is called the Whateley Martial Arts Cheering Squad. WMACS for short. Or just call them the cheer squad. They really are the cheerleaders for Whateley, but not all of them are involved in this. Only a few. I don't think the Yellow Queen is involved...she’s the captain of the cheer squad."

"Okay, so let me get this straight; they are trying to get these seven objects of...uh, great power together, and unleash some sort of big daddy nasty to do some really freaky shit? Am I getting this right?" I bet I sounded absolutely comical with my high pitched voice.

She frowned, but then smiled and laughed, looking at me with a twinkle in her eye, "Yes...you have it quite right."

"Who do they work for?" I asked.

"Hekate." she answered.

"Who does Hekate work for?"

She looked at me, giving me yet another precocious little frown, "I'm not completely sure. And I don't have the courage to ask those other girls who are involved. Of course I'm not really involved...I just...involved myself so to speak."

"Oh trust me, you’re involved. At least with my evil sister at any rate," I said quietly.

Looking up I realized we were closing in on the front door of this large...glass dome which I suppose was the crystal hall...a.k.a super impressive dining hall that wows all noobie onlookers. As we entered, I looked at Magwin, "Well...if my sister is involved, then I'm involved. I am now especially since she won't forget this. I'm only just now realizing how incredibly like a stranger she has become to me. I really...don't know her anymore."

"You shouldn't get involved...I mean...-,"

"I already am. Or did you miss my dive bombing antics with the bimbo squad?"

"Just don't get involved!" she said in a huff.

"What?" I asked in a girlish squeak. I didn't like being questioned and second guessed.

"You're just so tiny! They'll hurt you! Don't get involved any more than you already have please," she practically begged...her voice a sweet alto; I smiled at the sound.

"I already am, damnit. We both are."

We threaded our way through the tables, over to the food dispensary counters...which reminded me of a buffet. Very different from my old high school, where you went through a line and put some slop on your plate.

She turned and looked at me, blinked twice and asked, "Do you need help with your lunch? I can't quite picture you carrying a tray and flying at the same time."

"Yes please!" I replied, awed a bit at my good fortune to save this girls ass. Otherwise I'd be lugging around objects that weigh more than I do, just to get myself something to eat for lunch. "Fruit! I love fruit. Just get me some...OO! Right there!"

I pointed at a plastic container of blueberries, "Those. And some of those oranges over there...and I'd like those olives off the salad cart...and...I'm sorry for putting you out like this, but that slice of watermelon right there!"

By the time we got to a table, I had a tray...with a plate loaded with fruits and veggies. Mainly just fruit though...but I had a hankering for carrots and celery. I wish I had peanut butter to put on my celery sticks but oh well.

She set my tray next to hers; of course I was too small to take the chair next to her so I just hopped down onto the tray and climbed all about the plate gobbling up as much fruit and veggies as I could in the allotted time.

"You know...you sort of look like you’re playing on a playground jungle gym," Magwin said, watching me climb over a clump of grapes with a raised eyebrow.

"You try being this small and see how easy it is to eat of a normal sized plate!" I said with only a slight trace of irritation.

By the time the lunch hour was coming to a close, I'd finished off half of what was on the plate. I guess my eyes were too big for my stomach.

"Excuse me ladies," a voice directly behind me intoned, scaring the crap out of me. I spun to find Ms. Carson standing there with a unreadable expression.

"Yes?" I asked a little shakily.

"Come with me please, I need to talk to you two," she replied, walking off towards the exit.

I fluttered off, trailing just behind her. My oscillating mode of flight was upsetting my stomach just a tad...ugh remind me not to fly on a full stomach from now on. Magwin was following off to the side. Again, people were dropping their plastic wear and choking on half-chewed food when they saw me fly by. Jeez, you'd think I was the only fourteen inch tall girl on campus!

By the time she'd drug us all the way back to her office in Schuster Hall, I was more than just a little worried. Magwin kept passing me nervous glances as if she was more worried than I was. I mean, wouldn't you know it, I get into trouble my first day here. Figures...but somehow doesn't surprise me now that I have some inkling of the deep shit my sister has gotten herself into, if Magwin is correct that is.

I noticed that Ms. Hartford was sitting at her desk looking a little pale. She groaned a little as we were walking by and hurried into a nearby restroom. I flew into the headmistress's office, landing on her desk, Magwin taking one of the chairs in front of it. I turned pale when I noticed my sister was already in the other chair. This...was going to be a rough night...a rough day, week, month, year...lifetime. Ugh.

"Do either of you girls know why you're here?" Ms. Carson asked, specifically looking at me with an arched eyebrow.

I signed theatrically, "I shot a man in Reno."

"Alright, I understand you two girls were involved in a fight this afternoon just before dinner?" She went on as if I hadn't said anything at all.

"It wasn't Ezra's fault at all. Nizhoni and her two cronies were totally making my life miserable for the past week. Ezra just stepped in this afternoon when she must have saw her sister picking on me," Magwin confessed, in a rushed staccato of words, blushing afterwards.

My sister frowned, looked at me...probably wondering what the chances of meeting yet another Ezra were. I mean...it was a pretty uncommon name. "You're...when did you get here?"

"Shut up Nizhoni, when mom hears about the crazy shit you've gotten yourself into she-," Nizhoni cut me off in mid threat.

"She'll do nothing...that's who and what she is. Overly meek just like-," I cut her off, "I trashed you this afternoon and I'll sure as fuck do it again you sniveling little ungrateful worm of a sister."

"We'll see who's the worm after the other's find out about your meddling," she replied grimly.

"Enough. Both of you," Ms. Carson said, breaking her brief silence. "Ezra Falling Bird, I want to know exactly what you did to your sister and her two friends."

"Why?" I asked. I mean, Nizhoni was sitting right here afterall. They were all okay right? I mean...I hope they are okay. I grimaced at the what if's.

"Laura and Mariah, Your sisters...friends, are both in the infirmary screaming and thrashing unless sedated. It's mostly passed out of their systems now. But not before they urinated all over themselves while trying to fight phantom foes and wild hallucinations," she explained.

"But my sister-," I was cut off by the headmistress, "Your sister is a regenerator 3...thus, she recovered more quickly."

I looked at my sister, "Did you piss your pants too?"

A look of rage crossed her face and she tried to slap me, time slowed down and that familiar tingling rush ran through me, slowing down the air around her arm...making it as dense as jello. It slowed her arm down a lot, giving me more than enough time to leap into the air and land on the other side of the desk. I was panting a little bit...just now realizing how much that took out of me.

"Well at least they gave you time to change. That way I don't have to smell you," I said absently, turning back to the headmistress now that I was out of arms reach and on the other side of Magwin.

"Enough. I'll tell you what you did. Asking was simply for the sake rhetoric. The nurse in the infirmary found significant doses of Scopolamine & Hyoscyamine in their systems."

"I don't even know what those are," I replied nonplussed.

"I'll tell you, they are hallucinogenic toxins found in Solanaceae family of plants. Especially the Deadly Nightshade plant," she replied...but the left side of her mouth had an odd quivering...smile? Gone as quickly as it appeared.

"The what plant?" I asked, wondering if it was as deadly as its name insinuated.

"Deadly Nightshade. Atropa belladonna?" My sister answered with a vicious smile. 

Well at least she's learned something while she's been here.

"That's right; I took control of the situation and incapacitated them long enough for me and Magwin to get away. I'm sorry we didn't tell a teacher immediately afterwards but I'm still not used to the school yet." Really, I hadn't known exactly what I was dosing them with...but I didn't want the headmistress to realize just how clueless I was when it came to my powers.

"And by the way, why is my assistant-headmistress completely unable to get off the shitter this afternoon?" she asked, specifically looking at me.

I just frowned, sensing that such crude depictions were completely out of character for her...but then I realized she had that quivering half-smile again, "You're asking me? Must have been her lunch. That was *WAY* too much information for me. Thanks a lot for ruining my appetite, Ms. Carson."

"It's alright, you've already ate anyways. You're dismissed."

"What, she isn't even going to get in trouble for this?" my sister screeched.

"Well, we need her in order to counteract the Scopolamine & Hyoscyamine affecting your friends. At the rate its leaving their systems they'll be singing ABBA songs well into tomorrow morning and fighting...well it reminded me of that old show...what was it called? Oh yes, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." Ms. Carson said in a deadpan.

"Yeah, not to mention peeing their pants all the while," Magwin said with a smirk, but was quickly cowed when my sister gave her a vicious snarl.

"I'll help them, but I won't serve any sort of detention you may give me afterward," I answered, before being asked.

"Yes, you will." Ms. Carson said, giving me a stoic straight lipped expression.

Just then the door opened and Ms. Hartford stuck her head in, "Headmistress, I...I have to go home. I...well you know."

"It's alright Amelia...it's the end of the work day anyways for us."

"I hope I can make it home in time-," she said, before turning and dashing off somewhere out of sight.

I'd done my good deed for the day and produced some sort of counter agent for the two urinating cheerleaders. Jeesh, they should have just given them both catheters and a sedative and been done with it. Carson had of course, given me and Magwin both detention...but I wasn't going to serve it. I mean seriously, it's her own damn incompetency that allows all this crazy shit to occur on her own campus. She shouldn't punish me for getting caught up in it.

"So, what cottage do you live in?" she asked, with a hopeful little smile.

"Hawthorne," I said placidly, not feeling surprised when she jumped and I nearly got thrown off her shoulder. I could fly...no biggie if I had.

"HAWTHORNE!" she shouted, as if I'd told her Jack the bloody fucking Ripper was my roommate.

"But that's for all the Ultra Violets! That's where all the crazies live!" she sputtered.

"Am I crazy?" I asked.

She sputtered to a halt, paused and said, "Um, I guess not. You seem okay."

I just gave her a manic grin, "Don't annoy the crazy person!"

She just gave me a shy little smile, "Funny."

And it probably was funny considering how my voice sounded. I mean seriously, if you gave Sally Struthers some helium she wouldn't sound like me at all, but it'd still be pretty damn funny. Maybe Dolly Parton on helium...yeah that's more like me. Still pretty amusing no doubt.

Magwin was carrying me towards Hawthorne...but I didn't think that was a good idea. I mean, I wanted to make sure she got home first...otherwise, my sister was watching from across the quad. I didn't look, but I could smell her...yeah...with my antenna. Still kinda weirded me out to smell and taste at the same time.

"Where’s your cottage?" I asked, fluttering off her shoulders and slowly circling her head.

"Dickinson."

"Well I'll drop you off there then. Don't look around when I tell you this, but my sister is watching from across the quad. If I leave you by yourself she might try something."

It wasn't a long walk. We were there sooner than not, and I fluttered off her shoulder, and rapidly climbed. It'd be so much harder for my sister to nab me when I was a hundred feet in the air. I flew rapidly...swallow-tail style towards Hawthorne. A slight breeze kicked up...I sensed nothing. Looking around just to make sure...but I could feel reality...shifting. It was like an invisible hand shaping the weaves of reality that surrounded my place in space and time. Was this...magic?

I dived quickly, but it followed me. It must be magic...but I could sense it...although that stupid perverted dishwasher wannabe at A.R.C told me that I was a wizard as well. I still felt a little shaky from using my three times earlier today. I was mostly spent...but I felt like that invisible hand, was closing around my throat. Magic is so improbable...the spell...suddenly I was pulled from the air. Looking up I could see an...arm...a giant white...no gray, white-grayish arm grabbing me and pulling me upward.

Clouds don't have arms...but this one did. It was impossible...but happening. It pulled me up to cloud level, swirling views of the sky characterizing my ascent. A large storm cloud, floating across the sun...it doesn't take a genius to realize the shit I'm in is Titanic depth and rising.

Breaking the cloud bank, I was being literally smashed in this giant hand...and once inside this...cloud I couldn't see a single thing, it was like being in the thickest fog ever. Just then, the smashing sensation suffocating the life out of me distracted me from my internal exhortations on what the fuck a cloud feels like from the inside. I could hear my bones cracking...and I knew some of them had broken when the cracks sounded more like shotgun blasts.

Couldn't breathe. Couldn't get out of its grasp.

Poison...no good. 

Flying away? 

No good. 

I could feel some blood seeping out from under my eyelids, my nose and my ears.

All magic has a source...the crumb trail to this one didn't lead back to my sister. My mind was clouded with dizziness. I realized it was only my ability to warp density that was keeping this thing from crushing me like an olive. I concentrated, my consciousness fading in and out. I tried to undo it...but I couldn't.

I couldn't warp reality around the god damn thing. It was like...it was constantly being renewed. The caster...the caster was...sending it out in a string...a wave of energy with a purpose. She didn't simply cast it and call it done. She was...channeling it...this was an avatar of her arm...a representation of her movements. She was crushing me, whoever *SHE* was.

I felt the trail lead back to...some cottage. What was it...that one...in that direction. I couldn't feel it but I could sense it. I consciously followed the curve of space and time with my mind...I felt the walls of the cottage...past them. I felt her...it was a her. Definitely. She was looking into a mirror...I couldn't see any of this. But I could feel it. I knew what I was feeling, sensing. It was all part of the reality that composes our world. Pattern sensing.

I tried to summon that tingling rush again to break the arm...but I couldn't. I didn't have it in me...it was too big, too solidly formed using magic as the building blocks. I tried to warp reality against the caster...she was too far away...I was too tired. Too far! Not happening. Ugh, this squeezing. I was using my density alteration to keep it from crushing me...but I couldn't keep it up...ugh...it was using all my energy, I didn't have anywhere near enough left in me to alter reality. That took even more than the density watchamacallit alteration bullshit did.

This situation was improbable. It was impossible if not for magic. Magic made it possible...magic made it probable. No. Magic made it happen. Magic was a probability...spells and bullshit and the strength of the caster.

Help was improbable. Improbable? Probability? How improbable? Less improbable...probable...ten to the power of ten to one? Ten to the power of two to one? More probable. One out of five...best chances.

I closed my eyes, probable or not my density resistance was giving out. I felt my rib cage partially go. Punctured lung? Punctured something...I was too exhausted to scream. I gave my density resistance everything I had...oh god, I was going to die! I wasn't good enough.

One out of three...thirty five percent...new best chance. Help was coming...help...oh no it would get here in time-

I only had time to see a woman...pale skinned. Long black hair streaming in the wind. Long form fitting black dress down to her black slippered feet. Eyes closed. No. Eyes sewn shut...I could see the stitches. Gross. I was falling, she was reaching out...but her form wavered in the sunlight. At least I was out of the cloud...at least-

Fluorescent lights...star-bursting in my vision. The world in a gray haze...woozy...dizzy. Reality was a cruel mistress. I was dead. I had to be. I felt dead. Was I breathing? Was my heart beating? What were the odds I was dead? What are the odds that I'm alive? Am I awake...or am I drifting in nothingness. Sure didn't feel like nothing. Pain!

I was...awake...

Waking up in the infirmary...was a relief. This was my first thought. My second thought was...I wasn't strong enough to fight back. I lost. I did. Opening my eyes was hard, they were swollen...but I could see well enough to prevent further panic. I was so small. They had me inside something that looked like a plastic fish bowl with tubes and wires all stuck into me...going out the top.

The plastic enclosure was about as big as a fish bowl, and had a plastic lid with circular air-holes. I squirmed and was rewarded with a nasty bout of pain. "Fuckers." I rasped.

I lost. I was such a sore loser. Sore loser? Pun. Get it?

But I wasn't dead...she failed to kill me. I was still alive. But who saved me? I'd increased the probability of someone helping me. Someone who would be able to do something about it. One in three? Not very good chances...but what were they before? Weren't the odds of someone rescuing me originally...I hate math. Ten to the power of 10? To one? I liked one in three...much better odds. Sitting here...staring at the ceiling?

I turned my head, ignoring my stabbing pain at the base of my neck. My one wing was crumpled and busted up. The other...was gone. Missing. Not there. I Felt tears in my eyes. I cried. I only had one broken wing. Just one...my other wing...oh god it was gone! I'd only had this body for two days...I saw the calendar...October third? Seven days now. But only two days...last time I remembered anything. The giant arm. The spell...the ghostly woman who saved me.

I cried so hard, my chest felt like it was coming apart, it hurt so bad to sob like this. But I'd had my body two days and I'd already gotten it busted up. Oh my god...I'd never be able to fly again. Not with one wing! Oh my god...my sister didn't do it, but it's her fucking fault. OH GOD. It's gone...I'm not even use to this body yet, but it's like I've been this way forever. The tears were real...I loved my new form. And now it was broken. I was broken. I'd never fly again.

I closed my eyes...but I didn't scream. No, I didn't utter a word. Not a single one.

October 3rd, 2007. 4:23 PM

Someone was shaking my fish bowl. Not really a fish bowl, but that's what it looked like. At least it wasn't filled with water. But if it was...I'd want a little plastic scuba diver and maybe a little castle. The kind that make bubbles and the gurgly-bubbly noises that fish love so much.

Maybe there could be a fish in here too...a goldfish. Goldfish are great. At least then I wouldn't be lying here half dead...all alone. I hate being alone. But the worst part is my wing...it’s not there anymore.

The enclosure shook...some woman; the nurse I suspect removed the lid thing to my fish bowl. Some sort of intensive care incubator I guess...like they put premature babies in. But there she was, opening it up and looking in at me.

"You're awake?" she asked, with a grim expression.

"No, you’re imagining it."

"Right, well you’re in bad shape." she said. Queen Obvious looked down on me with something passing for sympathy.

"Your majesty, go away and leave me alone."

"Hallucinations? Dementia?" she said as she marked something on her clip board.

"No your majesty. Now go away before I warp the reality of your brain...resulting in it turning into a giant nematode. I suspect it'll borrow out of your head like that alien in that one movie. Gave me nightmares for weeks that one did." I squeaked in a legitimate threat. I might sound like a female Elmo on helium, but I was a terrifying Elmo. Queen Obvious was well...not quite cowering, but...oh well.

"Actually it burst through his chest, not his head," she answered with a frown.

"Giant nematode-" I began, but she cut me off, "Alright alright, but there's two people here to see you."

She left...but she didn't put the lid on my fish bowl. That made me mad. And where the fuck was my plastic scuba diving bubbler device thingie? If goldfish got to have them, why didn't I?

Some girl approached then, bent over and looked in at me. Her giant head blocking my goddamn light...well that's alright, not I didn't have to squint up at her like Bruce Lee on Nyquil. Well, if he ever took NyQuil that is...

"Ezra?" she asked.

It was Magwin!

"Magwin, they got me. Oh my god," I started crying again, not feeling light such a smart ass anymore.

"Who?" she asked.

"I don't know but they did!" I replied. "It wasn't my sister...but she was watching from far away...far away...-"

"This is all my fault," she answered, as she too started crying. The tears running down her tanned cheeks. Her brown ringlets swinging violently back and forth as she shook her head.

"Well, yeah...probably," I bawled in my high pitched voice. "No, I take that back. I'm stupid. We're both in over our heads."

I stopped sobbing as suddenly as I started, "Whatever. Get me out of this fucking fish bowl."

"Yeah...I can't do that. Nurse ratchet would have my head," she answered...nervously.

"Is her name really nurse ratchet?"

"Yeah," she replied with a smile.

"I thought I was going to die...but somebody saved me," I said softly.

"Yeah! He's right here with me!" she said excitedly.

I just looked at her...then a...boy stepped into view. At least I think he was a boy. I sensed with my antenna and smelt...tasted, whatever, male pheromones. He was male. I wonder...do I have pheromones? My antenna say...yes. Strong ones. No wonder Magwin smiles at me the way she does...

"Your name is Ezra?" the boy asked, without expression. His eyes...were hard, but not cruel. Grey. He had white hair, looked soft as down. Silky even. His skin contrasted greatly, being deeply tanned making his ethnicity hard to determine.

Wondering about it made my mind tingle a bit...like my thoughts were rippling, as if they were the ripples in a pond after a stone had been thrown in. I felt the truth in the weave of reality...it said Caucasian. He was Caucasian but his BIT had been altered...he used to be a...girl. My mind processed this...I was still very new to the concept of reading the patterns of reality. Reminded me a big ball of yarn...and each weave of the string was limitlessly interconnected with all the others...that was our universe in a nutshell. I was able to decipher all these little threads of reality, the weave so to speak, and how they all connected. I was able to learn things from it...every thread meant something. No answer was unreadable. No pattern indiscernible to me. I'm going to call it...pattern sensing. Reality is a big ball of yarn, and with a lot of effort, I can sometimes re-weave it. But only a little at a time.

Well?" he asked, bringing me back to the present. In my fish bowl thing.

I frowned up at him, "Yes."

"My name is...Bishop. Bishop Langely. I'm the one who saved you...or rather my familiar did." His voice was still a monotone. I could sense his arousal. He was attracted to me. Did I give off my pheromones when I felt helpless? Or injured? Or just all the time? A mystery for later...

"I'm lucky you noticed my duress."

"It's odd, I wasn't paying attention to anything but my computer. But I got this weird sensation, and I just...got up and looked outside. I had no intention of doing so...that's when I looked out my window and saw you in trouble."

I smiled at him, "And then you saved me?"

"Nah, I summoned my familiar...more of a spirit really. I'm a wizard 3...avatar 4. Her name is Coffin Queen...she's the one who un-wove that spell up in the clouds, and brought you back to safety. It was all over before I was even able to run down the stairs and out the front door of Twain. She can fly you see...fast. That's why I sent her first."

"Your familiar is a spirit?" I asked, knowing absolutely nothing about familiars...or spirits for that matter.

"It's absolutely fascinating," Magwin chirped. "She's a spirit, but he can help her manifest as his familiar too. It's weird! But amazing."

"Does that make her more...powerful?" I asked aloud. Truly curious now. I was a wizard after all...but knew nothing about magic.

"Very much so...it allows her to manifest solidly in corporeal form outside my body," he replied with an odd grin. It seemed somehow girlish. Then he saw my expression he knew I'd noticed, and his face went hard again, looking almost cruel.

I felt his pattern...and it told me that he'd become bitter long ago after his mutation switched his gender. He was cruel and pragmatic...but never a bully. He strode to do good...but he was a necromancer. A natural one...so perhaps his methods made him a bit of a teenage anti-hero.

"I want out of here. I hate this fish bowl," I told them.

"Don't cry. It can't be that bad," Bishop replied with a slight sneer.

"Shutup!" Magwin defended me, "She lost one of her wings! Do you have any idea how hard things will be for her now?"

"I don't care," he replied coldly. "I saved her life and that should be enough for you and her both."

"I want out of here," I said...interrupting the beginnings of their argument.

"Can you even sit or stand?" Magwin asked, eying me nervously.

I tried...the world spun. I felt nauseous. But I got to my knees, and I didn't fall over. I felt so off balance now that my left wing was missing.

"Your last name is Falling Bird?" he asked, with a tight lipped frown.

"Yes."

"Hah. Then we should give you the codename Broken Wing. So fitting isn't it?"

"Mmhm. Which is why I'm going to give you the code name Urinator," I replied with a grin.

He looked at me...neither grinning nor frowning. Cold and expressionless.

"Pull my finger," I said, painfully extending my arm towards the top of the...bowl.

"Not a chance," he sneered. Reminded me of my sister the last time I saw her...maybe I could hook the two of them up. They'd make a good couple.

"Whatever. Too bad you can't disguise that permanent boner you seem to have for me."

I expected something from him. Another sneer. A frown...a laugh. A look of surprise. But instead I got nothing. When I felt his pattern...it felt full of frustration and derision. He wasn't embarrassed, he was frustrated. He hated being male...with a passion.

Magwin giggled nervously, "Well...we have to go...dinner in ten minutes you know. I'll come back tomorrow...the nurse said you might be able to leave then."

"Alright," I replied in a lackluster tone.

Ah...to be alone again. Yet again.

"Alright...bye. I'm glad we're friends," she said happily, then frowning at my suffering. With that she hurried off to go eat, Bishop following in a slow stride behind her.

Eventually Nurse Ratchet came back, and put the lid back on. I wasn't sure why it was there since it had air holes. Maybe it was to keep me from getting out?

I imagined the fish bowl was actually a fish bowl. I felt that tingling rush...

I spluttered, flailing around under water. My lungs burned and I realized I'd tried to gasp for breath. At the bottom of the bowl. I couldn't swim...not in the injured condition I was in. My eyesight wasn't blurred by the water...which was interesting.

I stopped flailing and held very still, floating under the water, the lights refracting throughout creating a dazzling show of light...I concentrated for all I was worth. The bowl...melted. Like it was a non-microwave safe Tupperware container in the microwave. It just sizzled and popped, and oozed apart, the hot plastic pouring down onto the floor below, the water all rushing out the fissures in the container. The entire container melted down to it's flooring panel, the water all pouring out.

I used my ability twice...I was so tired I could barely breathe let alone move. But breathe I did. I got lucky that I had enough juice in me to work my magic twice...well not my magic. If I did have magic that is. Though I was a wizard wasn't I? Or a witch...or whatever. Their powers classification system was so sexist.

Wheezing, I coughed the water up a bit at a time. I heard the annoying nurse coming back into the room...she ran over to the now destroyed fish bowl, nearly slipping on the water all over the floor.

"Oh my, what have you done now? You've melted your incubator." she said, staring down at me. Ugh...giant nurses give me the creeps.

"Your majesty...you've returned," I said aloud. All hail her highness, Queen Obvious. "I feel so honored."

"Oh my. Those medical units aren't cheap you know," she scooped me up, tiny wires and tubes and all, moving me to a bed nearby. Then toyed with some sort of machine that looked like a heart monitor. It made a noise and...I felt sleepy.

October 4th, 2007. 12:55 PM

I opened my eyes, finding myself in yet another...fish bowl. I still didn't have one of those cool plastic scuba divers yet. I still felt like ten miles of bad road...and a weight watchers club was running a marathon on me. Ugh.

I focused...I want to be better. I want to be healthy enough to leave here. I felt that tingling sensation building within me...YES. I focused on it...I shaped it and let it out and that all too familiar rush. It rippled out from me, pushing away the pain and hurt. Mending me. I was tired...the I.V fluid must not be as nutritious for me as my favored fruits. I was spent. But I shakily rose to my feet all the same.

All the tiny little wires and tubes connecting to me restricted my movements though. Damn it, I hate this place *SO* much! I felt the tingling rush out again, and...the wires and tubing simply ceased to exist, causing the heart monitor thing to beep annoyingly. I knew I shouldn't...but I couldn't help it. I released another reality rush, and the monitor started...yodeling.

Nurse Ratchet came pounding down the hall and into the room, turning the alarm off on the monitor, silencing the Swedish yodeling. Doesn't this woman's shift ever end?

"Destroying the equipment again?" she asked, looking genuinely angry this time.

"I'm well enough to leave. See I healed myself," I said...but was too tired to stand. So I just lay on my side looking up at her.

She looked at me and concentrated for a moment. "Yes...fine. I'll release you if you agree to sleep for at least a few hours. You've exhausted yourself to the point of a blackout. Better hope you don't burn yourself out doing things like this."

I closed my eyes. It didn't take long.

By the time I opened my eyes the clock said 3:42 PM. I still felt tired, but I felt well enough to stand, seeing that I was no longer inside the fish bowl thing, but was on a pillow positioned in the middle of a hospital bed.

I sat up, and looked around. Where was Nurse Ratchet? I want out of here. I felt frustrated at the idea of being stuck here for even another ten minutes. I was *NEVER* going to catch up my school work at this rate! Damnit. How improbable could it be that she'd not notice me now. I mean, I couldn't seem to get rid of her all the times before. Probable? How probable was it? Ten to the power of three, to one? The chance of her dropping what she was doing and coming to check on me?

I breathed deeply...and focused. Examining the pattern...she was at the nurses desk just down the hall. I was in the Doyle Medical Complex, which wasn't huge...but was nearly the size of a small clinic...set up in a hospital like fashion.

Chances. Probability. I breathed deeper...One in two. Fifty percent. I let the breath I was holding out. And relaxed. I smiled as Nurse Ratchet entered the room to check on me. No doubt all her own "idea" to do so. Spontaneous as it was.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

I smiled and nodded my head.

"How do you expect to get back to your dorm? Or anywhere else for that matter?" she asked.

I looked behind me...to see the one lonesome little wing, still looking a bit battered, but straight and whole. It'd heal on its own better than I could make it in time. But the other wing? I sighed. I'd never fly again, at least not in my natural way. I couldn't walk anywhere...it'd take hours to walk across campus being as small as I was.

"Oh dear," she said.

I had an idea. I stopped and focused. What's the chances that Magwin was going to come get me out of here, right now? I focused...I explored the pattern. Then I laughed. She was walking through the door right this instant, but I hadn't done that. It was nice having friends. I hadn't had any real friends since I'd graduated earlier this year, and they'd all gone off to college.

She entered the room, wearing something that looked like a black leotard with black tights up to her upper thighs. She had a black sweater jacket tied around her waist, and it looked a bit like a skirt that way, falling down to just where the tights ended. She had black arm warmers on, with white stripes, they went up to just below her shoulder joint. Weird outfit...but she looked good in it oddly enough. She was beautiful. She really was.

She handed me some clothing pinched between two of her fingers. I realized she'd retrieved some of my clothing from the little package in my room. It was a white silk blouse, with a black velvet mini skirt. I always went barefoot so I hadn't worn any shoes since my...manifestation. I slipped the clothing on quickly, noticing that the left slit in the back of the blouse now had no purpose...there was no wing to slide through it. I turned and smiled sadly up at Magwin, glad to finally be leaving this place.

"Wow...you got better quick." she said with a huge smile.

"I sort of healed myself. Reality warping or something of the sort."

"I've never known a reality warper before. That's so cool."

She extended her arm down to me, palm up. I happily stepped into her palm, and grabbed on, holding tightly to her thumb. She looked at me and sighed sadly, "You're beautiful wing...I'm so sorry."

I looked down, pushing the feeling away, "It's alright. I'll be okay. I don't know how but I'll adapt."

Yeah, maybe.

Nurse Ratchet looked up from scribbling something on her clipboard, "Magwin Jenkins is it? Take her to the head mistress. Right now, please."

"Right away ma'am," Magwin answered curtly before quickly leaving the room. Yeah, I didn't like that woman either.

"So if you could heal yourself, why didn't you just do that in the first place?" Magwin asked with a curious glance down at me, as we exited the doors to the Doyle Medical Complex, she started heading for Schuster Hall.

The fresh air hit me...and...it smelt wonderful. I was so lucky to be alive. It was a particularly warm day out and I squinted around in the bright sunlight before answering her, "I didn't know I could."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

We didn't talk much after that, but I noticed her glancing down at me more frequently than usual. Schuster Hall was cool as we entered. They still had the air conditioner running evidently, considering how late in the year it was it was a bit odd. Though it was a very warm October day...so I suppose not too odd.

Hartford's secretary waved us through and we stepped at the Assistant Headmistresses desk. She looked up at me with a scowl. I bet she heard what happened to me and simply didn't give a flying fuck. That fit her to a 'T.'

She picked up her phone, "They're here...Alright."

"Go on," she waved us through with a dull smile. I really didn't like her.

The headmistress was sitting behind her desk, with her hands folded, fingers steepled.

She grimaced when she saw my mostly bare back that the white open backed blouse bared. It had a nylon tie string, that I used to tie the two sides of the back of the shirt together, just below my wing joints. The place where my wing used to be was badly mutilated and deformed. It was so depressing...I grimaced when I looked over my shoulder at it as well. My antenna twitched in agitation, which were folded back into my hair like they usually were when they weren't in use.

"First off, I want to know exactly what happened," she asked.

"Well...it started after I walked Magwin back to her dorm,-" I proceeded to tell her the whole story to the best of my ability and memory.

When I got to the end she mumbled, "She's in trouble for other things anyways."

"How do you know who it was? Not even I know that," I replied, slowly.

"I don't, I can only guess," the headmistress replied. "In all reality, Hekate is only a Wizard 3...I'm not entirely sure she'd have the power to cast such a spell...but using outside help? If she slipped it in through the wards. I don't know...though I'm inclined to say it wasn't Hekate."

"Oh." I said, feeling slightly nervous considering she didn't know any more than I did who attacked me.

She looked at me again, this time she had a...calculating look on her face, "Normally I'd send you to Circe for the help I'm about to suggest. But...I've taken an interest in you. I'll do it myself."

"Help with what?" I asked.

"You simply can't get by without the ability to fly...I have a solution."

"And it'll help me fly again?" I asked, perking up.

"Yes and no...we're going to summon you a magical familiar. Using your magical essence to locate and bring it to us," she answered in a calm collected way.

"Oh...alright."

"You're a wizard...you'd eventually learn to do this yourself. But we don't have a lot of time for that. And you can't have someone on hand all the time to carry you all about."

"Alright." I answered.

"Ms. Jenkins, set her down."

Magwin set me down gently on the desk, and I walked across to Ms. Carson.

The headmistress cupped her hands in a Vee, "Put your palms down flat on mine."

Once I did so, she reached under her desk and pulled out some sort of...wand? Scepter? Metal glow stick? She balanced it against her shoulder and replaced her hand under mine.

"Close your eyes...try sensing with that pattern sensing ability you posses. Sense the magic within yourself."

I tried...I didn't know exactly what it felt like. But that scepter made the pattern vibrate...if reality could vibrate that is. But that's what it FELT like it was doing. I calmed down, and tried again...I looked for that vibration within myself...it wasn't exactly the same but I felt a...similar vibration. I sensed this was magic. It had to be. The way it shaped the pattern around it.

"Now, think of a...familiar. I understand the concept is slightly foreign to you. Some witches have animal companions...most are animals at any rate. Focus...focus on the perfect flying familiar for yourself."

I did as she asked, I couldn't quite picture any specific sort of animal in my head. But I eventually came to a sort of conclusion. I felt her through the pattern...she was smiling. And she focused on that rod...or whatever it was. And it shaped the pattern...it must have been magic, or something like it.

It resonated with my own power. Two vibrations syncing with each other, attuning to the same frequency...the pattern wavered...I realized it wasn't going to work. It was very improbable that it would succeed. I smiled. I reached out with my ability...and gave the pattern a push, causing flux, the pattern rippled and formed. It separated from the pattern around it and coalesced in front of me...the pattern sealed back together in its wake.

I opened my eyes, to see...Ms. Carson.

"Nothing happened," I said.

She looked at me, frowned and pointed up. Looking up...I saw the largest moth I had ever seen. It was perched on the celing, it's top facing down. It had to have a wingspan of close to twenty-four inches. It was normally proportioned for a moth...just very large. Like a house cat with wings.

"It looks like a ginormous Sunset Moth," I said slowly.

"A what?" Magwin asked, from somewhere behind me.

"Scientific name, Chrysiridia rhipheus." Ms. Carson answered.

"I'm going to name it...Mothra," I replied with a smirk.

"Mothra's a dumb name," Magwin replied, still out of sight. And I just couldn't pull my eyes away from this odd...but beautiful moth sitting on the headmisstresses ceiling.

"Fine, I'll name it Esmee," I replied. I think that was actually it's name oddly enough.

Looking at it, I realized that I could feel it in the back of my mind. As if we were telepathically linked together. I saw its compound eyes, and imagined that they glinted with reason and intellect. I felt as though it was asking me how I'd brought it here...when my magical abilites were still so unlearned and untested. In a moment it had its answer. We were telepathically linked, and we didn't have any secrets from eachother.

It's mind was both cunning and clever...and it was probably as intelligent as a fairly bright human. When I closed my eyes...and sensed it's pattern...I could feel the vibration of magic within it. It would be able to help me cast my spells and work my magic someday soon, once I learned enough to tap into my magical talent.

"It-It's talking to me," Ms. Carson suddenly said...still calm and collected. That cold commanding prescence very much in effect. But there as a hint of...surprise? "It has some psychic ability."

"Well good. Maybe it...she can help protect me. Because maybe you didn't know, but some cloud kicked my fucking ass last week." I quiped. I realized then, that it was in fact a her, and not an it or a he. And her name really was Esmee...

Ms. Carson looked at me...and I realized via a thought relay from my new familiar, that she was debating whether or not to stick me with that unserved detention.

"You give me that detention and I'm leaving this school. I've already gotten squashed like a bug and lost my wing," oddly enough, as I said that...I felt a lot of sympathy and...dare I say horror, flit through my mind-link with Esmee. Of course...who better to understand my plight than a butterfly looking moth? Esmee understands the debilitating stigma of losing a wing.

"Didn't Mothra have pixie companions?" Magwin interjected.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Oh."

I got to my feet, and looked up at Esmee. She knew what I was thinking in an instant, and flew down onto the desktop, scattering Ms. Carsons loose papers all over the place. The headmistress frowned, but got up, and walked over, opening one of the windows. I was sure that Esmee wouldn't be able to fit through that window while flying, but I carefully climbed onto the giant moths back all the same.

She turned...and launched, with a flurry of flaps...causing me to squeal in delight. We rushed through the air...my mind monetarily freezing as we came upon the window. Then...we were out, but she never actually sailed through the open window. She...sort of...teleported. No mess, no fuss...she can teleport...but only very short distances. Has to be within her visual line of sight. I wonder how Esmee would be rated if she were a mutant? Wizard 1? Esper 4? Warper 1e (l)? Something like that I imagine, as we sailed higher and higher, making me hold on all that much tighter.

She flew much faster than I was ever able too. And I could feel her psychic perceptions pinging off objects and people like sonar, all around us...psychic echolocation I suppose.

I felt so carefree once more, soaring over the campus.

I just screamed and threw my arms in the air, holding on tight with my legs and thighs. I was flying again...and I was alive. With the wind whistling through my ears once again, I closed my eyes and smiled. Things were looking up.

---

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